CHAPTER 70: CHAPTER 70 - A CASUAL STROLL

"Will we enter the city so you can visit Levinna, Mom?"

"No... As much as I want to, the guard is probably still on high alert looking for us. And this red hair of ours stands out too much."

"That’s true... So, what’s the plan?"

"We’ll skip the city and go to the main road after it. As soon as we reach the next city, I’ll send her a letter."

"Hmmm... Wouldn’t the guards in the next city be on the lookout for someone like us as well? Wouldn’t it be better if we skipped the main cities in the Duke’s domain?"

"Fair point."

We talk as we walk through the Barrens. The three of us—Mother, Lovelace, and me—casually strolling side by side.

It’s kinda funny the way that a very tense traversal became just a casual stroll for me in only three years.

Yet again, I have this feeling of being trapped inside a videogame. Because that’s exactly what I used to feel in MMOs and certain Survival games.

After you level up enough, the areas that used to be really scary become a walk in the park, and then we get access to a new area.

Well, in this case the ’new area’ is an urban setting. So, I don’t expect to have to fight monsters on a daily basis.

Instead, the dangers will be the knives in the dark. Humans are the real monsters, after all. Or, at least, that’s what I learned from that cartoon with the skittish dog.

"The saddest part about political intrigues is that most of the time the enemy doesn’t have a face I can shove a lightning bolt into."

"I don’t know where that comes from, but I fully agree."

My mother answers me, laughing.

"Wait, did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did."

"Well, I was thinking about the challenges that lie up ahead and comparing them to the dangers of the wilderness."

"Oh, you’re right about that, then. Here you can see the enemy from miles away, and the troubles end after you’ve killed them."

"And in the city, if you kill them, then there would be another round of problems..."

"Exactly. Murder is a crime, after all. Not even we royals are exempt from the law."

"We royals... You know, it still feels weird to say that. I don’t feel like a royal at all."

"I was born there, but I never felt part of it as well, so it’s okay. One of the reasons I made my marriage with Levinna public was because it would put a stop to any talks about me getting the throne."

"There were those talks?"

"Of course. I am a princess, after all. My older brother is the nominal heir, but a faction formed to put me in that position."

"So you married a woman in the hopes that it would make you unfit for office by default."

"Indeed. Love between women is forbidden by the Church, after all. Even if it’s legal under the laws of the country."

"The Church has its own laws."

"..."

We both looked at Lovelace at the same time. She has a weird expression on her face. A mixture of sorrow and anger.

She’s been silent for a while, as she usually is. But now we touched a delicate issue for her.

To have your love betrayed like she had experienced was bad enough. But for it to get to the point where the church, which worships her former lover, bans lesbian love...

And it was under the goddess’s orders. I didn’t tell her about it, but I did read it in that sacred book I took from the young priest.

It not only never mentions Lovelace’s name or role, crediting the creation of the Adventuring System entirely to the goddess.

It explicitly states that women aren’t able to love women. That any relationship between women will always be driven uniquely by lust and a desire to break the godly rules.

She definitely doesn’t need to know that that’s what’s written in that book. But, even then, it must hurt a lot.

I grab her hand and hurry to change the subject of our talk.

"So, what are the plans for when we go to the capital?"

"I want for us to enter the city incognito. We get a room at an inn in the lower city, and I’ll try to learn what I can about the situation in the court."

"Hmmm... we should buy wigs in a city on the way there."

"Of course, that’s part of the plan. Commoner’s clothes, wigs, hoods, and makeup, and nobody will recognize us just by looking."

"Do you have people we can trust so we can inquire about stuff?"

"I used to think that I had. Now, I don’t know anymore."

It makes sense. She was betrayed by some of the people she trusted the most, after all.

"I can infiltrate the Duke’s mansion; I’m good at moving in the darkness."

That was Lovelace talking.

"That would be good, Lovelace. We need to gather as much information as we can before we show ourselves."

"I have an idea myself as well."

"Oh, what would that be?"

"Do you know how nobody pays attention to homeless people in the street?"

I remember seeing this in a TV show about seven kingdoms. There was a rich guy who brokered information and had a huge network of ’little birds’ who told him everything.

The ’little birds,’ in case you were wondering, were mostly urchins and other low-born children who lived in the streets.

Nobody likes to see poverty, yet it exists everywhere. Those urchins were very loyal at a low cost, and the survival skills they picked up in the streets came in handy for gathering information.

And that’s what I explain to them. Omitting the part about the TV show, of course.

"That looks like a great plan... For when we have the money to pay for it. And to protect those children from the assault of other factions."

"What do you mean, Mom?"

"Those kids don’t exist in a vacuum. There are already gangs, slavers, and other factions with influence in the streets. If they see the rise of any new organized group, they will take action against it."

Urgh, that’s a fair point. And here I was so proud of that idea.

I guess we can’t simply apply ideas from TV shows in the real world, after all.

"But that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad idea. It just needs more polish and a bigger investment than you thought."

She probably noticed how deflated I was and is trying to console me.

But it’s okay; I can handle a little frustration. I’m not a child, after all. Tears? What tears? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Damn, those hormonal fluctuations are the worst. And I bet they’ll become even worse after my first period.

I don’t look forward to going through puberty a second time, to be honest.