Chapter 180. The Dragoons' Naive Girl (5)

After the commotion died down, Enoch decided to leave the area as quickly as possible.

A considerable number of onlookers had gathered.

Even if being conspicuous was a foregone conclusion, there was no reason to become a spectacle more than necessary.

Besides, there was an unexpected effect.

Perhaps because of the large crowd of onlookers, April and Sirocco were also mixed in the front row of the crowd, looking at us with bewildered expressions.

“When did you two get here?”

April replied with an exhausted expression.

“I was looking for a place to rest and got swept up in the crowd…. This is why I hate crowded places…”

On the other hand, Sirocco approached with a sharp reply.

“I came a little while ago. People around here said there was something interesting going on.”

Then, with a slightly strange expression, she said, “Hmph, this one?” and stared at Alicia.

To the wolf-eared girl who had suddenly approached and was staring at her with ruby-like eyes, Alicia, slightly flustered, laughed awkwardly and bowed.

“Hello! My name is Alicia!”

“I know. I heard you earlier.”

Sirocco gave her a sharp look, then crossed her arms and glanced at me, saying.

“Hmph. This female certainly looks strong.”

“Ye-yes? Female?”

Leaving the aloof Sirocco and the flustered Alicia to their own devices after the sudden evaluation, Enoch surveyed the area.

Then, he pointed to a shaded side passage on a street where people hadn't gathered yet and suggested.

“Let's move. Too many eyes here.”

***

Surprisingly, the onlookers were persistent.

Well, looking at our group, the reason was obvious.

A Dragoon, a direct lineage member of the Elsyde, and Sirocco, who had made a spectacular debut in the outsourcing district earlier. The fact that there were more than enough elements to attract attention was undeniable.

After turning several corners to find an alley with no prying eyes, we finally stopped.

Just then, feeling another gaze, so intense it was as if it was prickling my back, from my side, Enoch turned his head.

“……”

The Dragoon girl, who had been looking up at me with innocent, sparkling eyes from the side, was staring at me with her blue eyes, not even trying to hide it.

As soon as we stopped, Alicia leaned in close to Enoch and exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.

“Lord Enoch! I-I’ve heard a lot about you from my master!!”

“You mean Equistelle.”

“Yes! That’s right! And, um, if it’s okay with you, could you speak casually to me?”

“I don't mind, but why all of a sudden?”

At the sudden request, I tilted my head. Alicia, with a look of extreme gratitude, clasped her hands together and fidgeted as she spoke.

“W-well. A direct lineage member of a Main House who speaks casually with my master using honorifics with me…. That’s a bit…”

It was an unexpected reaction, but there was no reason to refuse. Enoch looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

“Alright, if you wish, I’ll speak casually.”

Seeing this reaction, it seemed that Equistelle’s promise to speak to her properly had been well kept.

I remembered the short message that had come a few nights ago.

-[Equistelle: Direct Lineage, I have spoken to her well]

-[Equistelle: She might be stubborn]

-[Equistelle: Please do not disappoint her]

I hadn't heard any more details than that.

But it seemed clear that she had, as promised, spoken positively about Enoch to Alicia.

As if to prove it, Alicia was looking up at Enoch with her clear, bright eyes.

“Actually, Master Equistelle had never praised someone to me so much before! She's usually so blunt!”

For the ever-so-stiff-spoken Equistelle to give praise. I was a little curious about the content and asked.

“Such great praise, what was it about?”

“Yes! She said you were a ‘decent boy’!”

“…Don’t tell me that was all?”

Alicia clenched her fists with an expression that said it was obvious and nodded her head up and down rapidly.

“Yes, yes! That’s right!”

My head tilted in a daze.

Equistelle did seem a bit blunt. It seemed she was more stingy than I had imagined when it came to praising others, including her own disciple, Alicia.

To think she would take a simple ‘decent’ as high praise. Still, it seemed to be a fact that Enoch had at least earned her recognition.

Alicia clenched her fists and said.

“Ah, you said you were looking for me, right? Is it the proposal for a Follower Family that my master mentioned?”

Enoch quietly nodded.

“That's right. It's sudden, but would you join my squad and fight against the magical beasts invading the outsourcing district?”

“R-right now?”

However, Alicia's expression was momentarily one of helplessness, her eyes blinking rapidly. She lowered her head slightly, pressing her temples as if she was thinking hard about something, and groaned in contemplation.

Then, finally, she let out a small sigh and lifted her head with a determined gaze.

“I-I’m really sorry!”

Alicia placed her hands on her knees and bowed deeply. Her long, straight ash-brown hair danced in the air like a wave before cascading down her back.

At her excessively polite refusal, Enoch looked down at the girl before him for a moment.

“I also want to join Lord Enoch’s Follower Family right now. Since there was also my master’s recommendation! But!”

Alicia squeezed her eyes shut and exclaimed.

“As long as I am currently a member of the Dragoon Regiment, I cannot disobey orders in a situation where I have been deployed for this operation. That would be abandoning my duty as a soldier!”

Enoch stared at her.

Well, I had expected this. Since Alicia was a soldier, and an elite one at that from the Victoria’s pride, the Royal Dragoon Regiment, their regulations were also very strict.

This meant that the con man from the outsourcing district hadn't just rushed at Alicia without any basis for his confidence.

“Once this deployed mission is over, I’ll be free too! Can’t I join Lord Enoch’s direct lineage then?”

In a way, it was the most rational thing to say.

It wasn't that she wouldn't become a Follower Family, and her prioritizing her duty as a regular soldier over the recommendation from Equistelle was certainly in line with the responsible Alicia from the Official History.

But, that wouldn't do.

If she joined the Follower Family after the mission was over, it would be impossible to use her, the key to this battle in the outsourcing district, as part of our forces. I had to persuade her now.

And the way to do that was—

Just then, a small laugh was heard from the side.

“Oh my~ Direct Lineage Member, what will you do? You’ve been rejected.”

Turning around, I saw April, who had been leaning against the alley wall listening to the conversation.

The freelancer sniper, with narrowed eyes, looked at Alicia and chuckled softly.

“To reject such a rare handsome man so coldly, you’re not an ordinary person either.”

“Re-rejected! That’s not it!!”

The Dragoon girl, who seemed to have no immunity to such analogies, looked at me several times with her pupils shaking, her face turning beet red as she waved her hands frantically.

April, who was looking at Alicia with sharp eyes, just shrugged her shoulders.

“Let’s be honest, shall we? Isn’t that just an excuse?”

At her slightly sharp tone, Alicia’s eyes widened for a moment as she said.

“Huh? An excuse…?”

April, with her arms crossed in front of her chest, asked while leaning against the wall.

“You were about to be scammed by a citizen of the outsourcing district just now, weren't you? If it were me, I’d be completely turned off. So you don’t want to fight for the outsourcing district, do you?”

“Ahaha, it was a little embarrassing to be tricked, but. That’s not it! Not all the people in the outsourcing district are bad, are they?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

At that answer, April’s cat-like, sharp eyes widened slightly in genuine surprise.

“…To be honest, you’re quite surprising.”

“Huh?”

“The high and mighty Victoria Kazimieśi Domain. And on top of that, you’re a graduate of the top Royal Military Academy, right? I thought people like you would lump all of us from the outsourcing district together.”

April, standing in the shaded alley, turned her head slightly and added.

“The outsourcing district, to be frank, is a hotbed of losers and dangerous individuals who have fallen behind in the Empire.”

“N-no, it’s not!”

But Alicia waved her hands as if it was preposterous and even shook her head.

“I-I did graduate from the Royal Military Academy, but! Even though I belong to the Main House domain, I came to the capital from a very remote countryside. I’m not that different in background from the people in this city.”

“I’m not trying to discuss backgrounds. Anyway.”

Feeling that the conversation was going a bit off track, April let out a small sigh and added.

“If you really can’t act because you’re part of the Dragoons, then leaving is also an option.”

“Ah! Th-that would be a dishonorable discharge!!”

April looked at her for a moment as she spoke in a flustered tone, then glanced at Enoch. It was a look that said, That’s what she says.

Meanwhile, Alicia placed her hand over her well-developed chest and declared.

“I am currently serving in the Victoria army. As a soldier who protects the lives and property of the citizens, I want to fulfill my duty to be faithful to my orders!”

At the textbook-like answer, April let out a small sigh and shrugged as if she had lost.

“Ugh, honestly, it’s so right I can’t argue… Am I being too petty?”

Alicia smiled innocently.

“Of course not!”

Then, she looked around at the scenery of the outsourcing district with a hand shielding her eyes and added lightly.

“But, what you just said is also true, freelancer. Personally, if possible, I would like to be able to protect this outsourcing district as a soldier.”

She glanced back and said with a smile.

“That’s why I decided to become a soldier in the first place!”

“Decided?”

“Yes! A long time ago, my hometown was attacked by magical beasts.”

She glanced up at the sky with a look full of admiration, then her expression turned happy as if she was reminiscing about the sky of her hometown, and she said.

“At that time, my mom looked so cool when she teamed up with the villagers and drove them away!”

“I-is that so?”

“Yes! So. I think it would be really cool to become strong like my mom and protect the people I can protect! Everyone admires a hero who can protect everyone, right?”

It was a high-tension answer, but April sighed as if she was slightly annoyed and said.

“I respect your taste, but I’m not really into that kind of thing.”

Despite the indifferent reaction, Alicia clenched her fists and exclaimed, as if trying to persuade April.

“Ah! Isn’t it cool? Like the stories of heroes and warriors who were active in the old days when there was no magic!”

“Hmm. Well, a warrior, I wonder if that’s a good way to make a living. That kind of thing is only once in a while…”

As April was saying that, she seemed to feel Enoch’s gaze and glanced at me, glaring.

“…What. What is it now.”

“No. It's just.”

For April, who had tried to help Ronto in the outsourcing district and had just taken the lead in helping the children during the magical beast attack, it was a surprisingly cynical reaction.

“……Hmph.”

As if she also had a guilty conscience thinking about it, her ears turned beet red and she whipped her head away.

That kind of reaction is a bit refreshing.

“So, back to the main point. What are you going to do?”

April casually asked Alicia.

“Following the Dragoons’ operation for this mission and then joining the Follower Family is an option, but that will be a little late.”

She glanced at Enoch and said.

“We need you for this operation. If you really want to protect the citizens of the outsourcing district, shouldn’t you not be in the Dragoons?”

“Th-that’s!”

At April’s words, Alicia was about to say something, but before she could say anything else, Enoch continued her words.

“That’s right.”

Enoch also nodded and took a step forward. Then, he grabbed her thin wrist.

“Ah?!”

The image of the flustered Dragoon girl, with her long, straight, luscious ash-brown hair, filled his vision.

Facing her right in front of her nose, Enoch calmly proposed.

“I would like to suggest that you fight with my squad in this operation, not follow the Dragoons’ orders. Is that impossible?”

“Ah, th-that’s—”

Perhaps burdened by Enoch’s sudden closeness, Alicia’s pale face flushed as she began to panic.

“U-um. Well, you see?”

And just as she was about to answer.

Suddenly, a deafening alarm began to spread throughout the entire city of the outsourcing district.

─WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!

The eerie siren sound that began to cover the entire city was so loud that the glass windows on the walls of the alley where Enoch was were visibly shaking from the noise.

At the sudden, ear-splitting alarm, April pushed herself off the wall and exclaimed with an urgent expression.

“D-disaster alarm?!”

Disaster alarm.

A siren that had never once sounded, no matter what kind of magical beast-related commotion had occurred in the outsourcing district until now. That alarm was now blaring madly through the alleys of the outsourcing district.

Beside me, Alicia urgently turned towards the direction of the siren and exclaimed.

“What is it? Wasn’t there still some time left until the expected date of the magical beasts’ attack?”

Just as the other squad members around Enoch, realizing the seriousness of the situation, tensed up.

The screams of the citizens echoed from the distance.

“M-magical beasts—!!”

“Why! The Victoria intelligence agency definitely said there was still time—!”

The moment that sound brushed past Enoch’s ears, a thought flashed through his mind at the same time.

The whereabouts and gathering state of the magical beasts, which had been meticulously predicted by the intelligence agencies of the Victoria and Elsyde Main Houses. I had only been briefed on the expected invasion date calculated from that.

But even if it was the result of such competent individuals, there was no guarantee that it would always be correct.

Enoch clenched his fist.

He couldn't know because it was a flow of battle that was not even properly recorded in the original work, but one thing was certain.

It was wrong.

The intelligence agency had misread it.

It begins. The biggest battle that leads to the main story, starting 5 years before the original work.

At a timing that no one here had expected.