I like crossing the most

Chapter 476: Marrying the Princess?
"...That's why I said that person is ridiculously strong! Most of the forest outside the fortress city has been turned into desert. I guess not many people can do that."

"Indeed. If it is really as Lin said, then its strength can't help but doubt whether it is human or not."

“Right? Gazef can understand that, too.”

"Ah, that's obvious."

After returning to the capital, Lin was chatting with Gazef, and the topic was naturally about their experiences in the fortress city over the past month.

I have to say, it's quite interesting.

Sometimes it's not just your own experiences that are worth telling about. Stories like Momo's, who became a hero in one go, are even more worth talking about, especially when he defeated the ultimate vampire who was powerful enough to sweep across the kingdom.

This is not an exaggeration at all.

Vampires who can use [Create High-Level Undead] are enemies that are happier the more people besiege them. Therefore, a kingdom without super-strong individuals (strong people) will have to retreat step by step when facing vampires until the kingdom becomes a country where the undead thrive.

"Now I have to thank that dark hero."

"Well...it doesn't matter."

"Don't you need it?"

"Mr. Momo wanted fame, and he has gained it. Now the name of the Black Hero has not spread to the capital, but it will soon be known throughout the country. In other words, he has already taken advantage of this opportunity to get enough compensation."

"Yeah."

Gazef nodded.

Since Lin has such a judgment, it is probably like this. He believes in his good friend.

“By the way, is that dark hero as powerful as Lord Ainz Ooal Gown?”

"do not know."

"what?"

"I haven't even seen that powerful magic caster, so how can I possibly compare who is stronger between the two?"

Lin went to the fortress city this time, not only to deal with Clementine's robbery of the "Crown of Wisdom", but also to seek information about the magic singer who saved Gazef.

Unfortunately, nothing was found.

No matter how he asked, the village girl with the appearance of a saint—Enri—remained silent about the matter.

Perhaps because the other party was the benefactor who saved the village, he chose to remain silent because he did not want to reveal his information. Lin also did not want to use force or criminal law. After all, he came here to express gratitude rather than to hold him accountable. In addition, he could feel that the other party was obviously hiding his tracks, so he stopped chasing him.

But even so, Lin feels that Momo is stronger than Ainz Ooal Gown.

The reason is simple.

That vampire was able to kill three of the heroes of the Theocracy, forcing those people to not even be able to take it away, and they had no choice but to leave it on the outskirts of the fortress city.

On the other hand, Ainz Ooal Gown only repelled the Theocracy's secret forces.

...Oh, yes, that's right.

This is purely a theory of battle results, but Lin also looks forward to the day when the two strong men face off.

"It's you."

Lin turned his head and looked at the young soldier sitting next to him. He had been silently eating with his head down, looking like he had no presence.

I couldn't help but ask:
“Brother Climb, you love heroic stories like this the most, so why are you so silent? Is the food bad, or are you feeling unwell?”

"No, I...how should I put it..."

The soldier who was mentioned looked around nervously.

They were currently in a large open hall, which was about the same size as the training ground. However, the warm atmosphere was mixed with appetizing aromas, so there was no doubt that this was a restaurant.

The three of them were in a corner of the restaurant.

Even so, the appearance of the kingdom's warrior chief and the second son of the largest noble family made the originally noisy space silent.

There is nothing we can do about it.

It is like being in front of the king. Even if you have not made any mistakes and may even be rewarded, you will still feel restrained and nervous.

——Because the leader is here.

The usual bragging, shouting and idle chattering were all gone, leaving only the subtle clash of cutlery and plates, and the occasional doubts and jealousy.

The atmosphere is very strange.

"Why, did they bully you?"

"Nothing like that. It's just... why do we have to come to the restaurant to eat? We've never been here before."

"What a strange question. Isn't it normal to eat after morning exercise?"

"No, I..."

Because of different identities.

When Lin went to the fortress city, Gazef and Climb had been fighting with swords, but they were still very restrained and did not sit in the restaurant to eat together to avoid causing unnecessary trouble... This was true for both Gazef and Climb.

However, now, when Lin came back, the three of them actually sat at the same table, which was conspicuous enough.

"what is the relationship."

Lin shrugged indifferently, picked up the sausage from the plate and took a bite.

"I just like this kind of expression, their unhappy but helpless expression, don't you think it's great?"

"……what?"

"It's an open conspiracy. The sword fight between you and Gazef this morning has already been noticed by someone, so in order to shut them up, we have to respond. That's why the three of us are sitting here."

"Is that right?"

Climb looked at Gazef.

In fact, he was also very surprised. Because of their identities, they had always been restrained and had almost no communication except meeting at the training ground. However, now he agreed to come.

"Lin is right."

“It’s your fault that you, little brother Climb, don’t know how to restrain yourself and keep asking for more. Besides, Gazef is a good man, so I’ll give it to you if you want it.”

"Could you please not use such ambiguous words?"

Gazef sighed slightly, and then said to Climb, who looked unhappy, “Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t cause any trouble to your master, Her Highness Lana. On the contrary, you attracted a lot of attention to Her Highness Lana.”

"Really? Then..."

"That's it."

Snapped--

Lin clapped his hands, interrupting Climb's impulsive questioning, and said, "This is not a good place to talk about this. Be careful, there are ears on the other side of the wall."

"……Yes, I understand."

Seeing all the eyes on the three of them, Climb resisted the urge to ask.

As the princess's bodyguard, the most important thing is to protect Her Highness Lana, and the second most important thing is not to cause trouble or distress to Her Highness Lana. For this reason, he can endure all slander and humiliation.

"Ah, very good."

Seeing that Climb had regained his composure, Lin nodded in satisfaction.

Perhaps Gazef realized that his presence here would make the soldiers uncomfortable, so he said after the three of them finished their breakfast:
"let's go."

"it is good."

"Yes."

Lin and Climb responded one after another.

With a feeling of satisfaction, Climb, who was sitting on the outside, was about to stand up from his seat when he was bumped into by a soldier who happened to be passing by.

The part of his body that had been injured during his training with Gazef this morning was hit by an elbow. Although Climb had a blank expression on his face, he stopped moving because of the pain.

"what happened?"

"fine."

Clem shook his head.

The soldier who bumped into him walked away without saying anything, and the soldiers around him certainly didn't say a word. Seeing this, a few people frowned slightly, but still no one said anything.

On purpose?

For some reason, he was doing something tricky to embarrass Clem?

Lin and Gazef naturally noticed it, but they also did not say anything. Instead, they watched the young soldier's reaction.

Climb let out a long sigh and walked out with his empty bowl and plate.

This level of pranking is commonplace.

Almost tripped by someone's outstretched foot, pretending to bump into someone by coincidence, or spilling hot soup on him due to shaking hands.

These are all normal.

But so what.

Climb walked forward calmly. The other party couldn’t do anything more extreme, especially in a public place like a restaurant.

He always held his head high.

He had to look forward and never lower his head. If he showed any unbecoming behavior, it would cause trouble to his master, Her Highness Lana. Therefore, his every move would affect the evaluation of the woman he was loyal to - Her Highness the Princess.

Lin and Gazef walked out of the cafeteria with their heads held high. The two looked at each other and found that they were both smiling with approval.

Unlike adventurers who rely on their strength to gain respect, here all you need is your noble status.

Even Gazef was no exception.

Otherwise, the soldier would not have picked a fight with Climb in front of the Kingdom Warrior Captain. Of course, he might have restrained himself for Lin’s sake.

Leave the cafeteria.

Gazef said, “I’m going to the King. Climb is going to the Princess, right? What about you, Lin?”

“I’m with little brother Clem.” Lin sighed helplessly, “The princess is urging us to go, so it would be unreasonable if we didn’t go and take a look.”

"Okay, let's say goodbye then."

After that, the three of them walked towards their respective destinations outside the cafeteria.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the two of them stepped into the Francia Palace, they ran into the person Climb least wanted to meet.

——The second prince.

Seeing him coming towards this side, he immediately leaned to the corridor, straightened his back and put his hand on his chest to salute. Lin covered his chest with his hand and lowered his head slightly.

Warriors and priests have different ways of showing respect.

The two people coming towards them, the one walking behind was a tall and thin man with golden hair smoothed back, his name was Lord Lei Buen, and he was Lin's elder brother.

The problem is the slightly overweight man walking in front.

His name is Senac Valleo Ignar Lail Fansef, second in line to the throne and the king's second son.

Zanak stopped walking, his face full of loose fat twisted sourly, "Hey, Clem. Are you going to meet that monster?"

There was only one person that the second prince could call a monster. Climb knew it was an act of disrespect, but he still couldn't agree with it.

"Your Highness. Forgive me for being so presumptuous, but Princess Lana is by no means a monster. That lady is gentle and beautiful at heart, worthy of being called a treasure of the kingdom."

She solved the slave trade problem and proposed various policies that put civilians first. Although she acted too hastily and the nobles often interfered, which led to deviations in policies and few implementations, he still knew how much she cared about the people.

Every time a proposal for the benefit of the people was rejected because of the nobles' boredom, how could this man who had accomplished nothing have the right to say anything about her?

Climb felt the urge to curse at the man and even wanted to punch him hard.

At this moment, I felt a little strange.

The cool and moist feeling instantly cooled down the gradually heating up brain, and the anger disappeared at this moment.

It’s Lord Lin.

Climb knew that the person who did this must be the priest standing next to him. While he was glad that he almost acted impulsively, he was also very grateful to Lin.

Because Princess Lana once said that the Second Prince wanted to provoke her so that he could attack Princess Lana, so she must not expose her weaknesses.

Climb calmed down and lowered his head even lower.

When the second prince saw the look on the young guard's face, he knew that his words had failed to anger the other party again, and he curled his lips in boredom.

He hadn’t lied to Clem.

That monster deliberately proposed some bills that would not be passed, and then hid her true purpose, using these to fool the nobles. The nobles even stayed in the palace and never went out. This was enough to show how evil his sister was.

Of course, he also wanted to use Climb to attack Princess Lana, and he didn't hide his thoughts.

Then he looked at Lin beside him.

"Leader of the Axis Cult, I remember you are not a noble, what is your intention in appearing here?"

The second prince was deliberately looking for trouble.

In a kingdom that believed in the six great gods, the emergence of a new church would naturally cause displeasure, not to mention that this church often made trouble for him and was even related to his hostile sister.

Lin lowered his head and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "You misunderstood, Your Highness, it was Princess Lana who summoned me."

"Hmm? What's the reason?"

"To discuss the resettlement of displaced slaves... no, civilians."

"Tsk."

The second prince was unhappy and shocked.

In fact, he did not support the proposal to ban the slave trade, but the nobles had rejected it too many times, and he had to pass it only after getting the king's approval.

Based on this, the responsibility for resettling the civilians was handed over to Princess Lana, and the king ordered her to be fully responsible. In other words, he had no right to drive away Lin who assisted Lana in resettling the civilians.

"The Trash Leader and the Monster Princess?... Humph, I have to say they are quite a match."

The second prince's words were somewhat vicious.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he said, "Lin, pledge your loyalty to me. If you pledge your loyalty to me, the Axis Church can be legalized, and I can help promote it and recruit more believers. Also...how about I help you and Lana get married? In this way, you will be allowed to establish a church even if you become a royal family."

There is no doubt that he regarded Lin as a useful pawn and Lana as a political tool.

The abacus is clacking loudly.

“Your Highness…!”

Climb was filled with anger, but before he could open his mouth, Lin beside him held his shoulders tightly. He must not be rude here, maybe he was deliberately trying to provoke him. And...

The blond noble said, "Your Highness."

"Lord Lei Buen... Speaking of which, this is Lord Lei Buen's family affair. Sorry, sorry, I neglected it."

Having to take into account the feelings of the biggest noble speaker who supported him, the second prince had to give up this profitable idea.

At this time, Marquis Lei Buen rarely walked past the second prince and said to the priest who bowed his head: "Lin, there is a family dinner at the Duke's Mansion tonight. Did you hear it?"

His voice was deep and sullen, indicating that he was very angry.

"……Yes, I understand."

Lin lowered his head even lower.

The second prince seemed to empathize with the situation, smiled bitterly, and walked away from the two men, followed by Marquis Leibun.

I'm sure the other person will be scolded when he returns.

Climb looked at the priest beside him with an apologetic look.

...I'm sure I'll be scolded when I return. I came to the royal city instead of the mansion after returning from the fortress city. My brother must be very angry.

Lin rubbed his head in distress.

(End of this chapter)