Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 57

57. Childhood Friend - Memories

Lena and Leo left Torito early.

Lena wanted to explore the large village for the first time, but she packed her things without complaint when Leo said, “There’s more to see at the lord’s castle. And it takes half a day to walk there, so we need to leave early.”

As they walked, Lena was excited and chattered away.

“The road here is so straight!”, “Wow! Look at that carriage! Are those mercenaries beside it?” She couldn't contain her amazement.

Leo had heard these exclamations before but smiled warmly. How stifled she must have felt, suppressing her lively curiosity in the remote village.

Her only ways to quench her curiosity were listening to stories from the monk or reading books.

‘Should we take this journey a bit more leisurely?’

He needed to get to the Holy Kingdom and meet the prince quickly... but seeing Lena so happy made him feel a bit sorry.

A princess receives care beyond the imagination of commoners but cannot live so freely.

Leo recalculated the timeline in his head.

It would take about five months to get to Lutetia, and finding the prince and creating an opportunity for him to meet Lena might take several months...

They had at least a year of leeway.

Lena would surely enjoy traveling freely during that time.

However, a counterargument quickly followed.

‘No, no. We don’t have the money for that, and honestly, the sooner she marries the prince, the better. We still don’t know what will happen once we get to Lutetia.’

Every scenario had always had strict time constraints.

To match Lena’s optimal marriageable age, they could delay no more than three years.

Even that three years wasn’t much when considering the time spent traveling across this vast continent. They could only try something a couple of times at most.

As he pondered, Lena looked at the wide-open plains and asked, “Is that the horizon?”

Although mountains and mountain ranges interrupted the horizon where the plains met the sky, Leo responded that it seemed so.

“Amazing!”

Lena smiled brightly, not seeking a perfect answer.

Her joy left a bitter taste in Leo’s mouth.

‘Lena is so happy...’

But there was no choice. He decided, ‘It’ll take five months just to get there, which should be enough time. During that period, let’s help her see as much as possible.’ He resigned himself to this thought.

And as twilight spread over the jagged horizon, the two arrived at the lord’s castle.

The people from the small and isolated Demos village didn’t know much about the outside world and just called this place ‘the lord’s castle,’ but in reality, it was a fairly large city.

The city named ‘Bospo’ was where Lena and Leo found lodging.

They massaged their tired feet and chatted happily after walking all day.

The next day, they headed for the lord’s castle.

“Leo, there are so many people here. Do you think we’ll get our turn?”

“It’ll come. We should have come a bit earlier. Looks like we’ll have to wait a while.”

Lena and Leo stood in the middle of a long queue, waiting for their turn. They hadn’t imagined there would be so many people.

The lord’s castle opened its gates early in the morning to receive citizens’ petitions. Being responsible for both judicial and administrative tasks, it had a mountain of work, and Leo had made a mistake by thinking of it like the Avril Castle from the engagement scenario.

When Leo Dexter went to Avril Castle to file papers for the {War} event, there had been no one waiting.

Most people living in Avril Castle were from the Ainar tribe, who solved minor issues themselves or reported them to their chieftain.

Moreover, Avril Castle had a strong military purpose, so it didn’t have many merchants like Bospo did.

In contrast, Bospo, along with the southern port city, handled trade between the Right Kingdom and the Kingdom of Conrad.

Merchants who passed through the gate first stopped here, either to sell their goods and return or to disperse from here.

So, the lord’s castle was swarmed with merchants early in the morning, all filing various petitions such as, “We’re here to get a permit to pass the gate,” and “We bought goods from over there, but they’re spoiled, so we want to file a complaint.”

Fortunately, the lord’s castle had over thirty officials at the counters, so the queue moved quickly.

Lena and Leo reached their turn and approached the counter. The official behind the desk, busy with a mess of papers, didn’t even look up as he asked,

“What brings you here?”

“We’re going to the central church to become a priest. We’re here to get permission to leave the estate.”

“Do you have any proof?”

“Here it is. The priest from Demoss village put his seal on the letter. He said it would be sufficient...”

“Demos village? Let me see...”

The official pulled out another document and scanned it, eventually finding the name ‘Demos village’ at the end.

‘A church in such a small village?’

He compared the seal on the letter with the seals on his document and then looked up.

“Yes, we can issue a permit. But are you traveling together? The name on the letter is Lena, so is it this gentleman who’s leaving?”

Leo shook his head.

“No, this friend here is leaving. I’m just accompanying her.”

The official seemed momentarily surprised as he looked Lena up and down. A female priest, huh?

He continued,

“Hmm... we can issue a pass, but there’s a mobilization order right now. I hate to say it, but pretty young ladies have to work in the lord’s castle for a few months.”

“What?”

“It seems the order hasn’t reached Demos village yet, so it’s not a compulsory conscription...”

The official explained the situation in detail. To summarize, it went like this:

Soon, a VIP from the Kingdom of Conrad would arrive, and they were to meet with the daughter of the Margrave of Guidan. They were gathering pretty young ladies to serve as handmaidens for this occasion.

In reality, this place was called a 'lord’s castle,' but it wasn’t where the Margrave of Guidan or his family resided, so there were no permanent handmaidens here.

‘Another headache,’ Leo thought as he scratched his head. Could this be another {Event}?

“You’ll be paid well. The Margrave is taking special care of this matter...”

“Sorry, but we have a long journey ahead...” Leo began to refuse, but Lena interrupted eagerly.

“I want to do it! Leo, I really want to.”

“How much will you pay?” she asked.

“You’ll be paid fifteen bronze coins a day. And, of course, food and lodging will be provided by the castle.”

Fifteen bronze coins a day was barely enough for three meals in the capital, but in this rural area, it was quite a generous wage.

“Wow... That’s a lot, right? Leo, I want to do this. Please?”

“Lena, you need to get to the capital quickly to become a priest.”

“But...”

Lena pulled out her thin purse from her pocket and said,

“Mom and Dad gave me all their money. They’ll have a hard time getting through the winter... Can’t we earn some money here and send it to them before we leave? Please, Leo?”

Leo was at a loss for words. He hadn’t realized Lena was thinking about her parents like this.

When they were heading to Nevis, she hadn’t said anything like this. Probably because there was no opportunity to earn money near their home back then.

But they needed to get to the Holy Kingdom quickly...

While he hesitated, a merchant behind them urged, “Hey, hurry up and move along!”

Lena also insisted, “The monk said it didn’t matter if we were late, as long as we got there. So, a few months won’t hurt... Please?”

It was impossible to refuse when Lena clasped her hands together and pleaded with him.

Moreover, she wanted to earn money to send to her parents, not spend it herself.

‘Making her a princess is really tough.’

Grumbling inwardly, Leo began asking the official detailed questions.

Where would Lena sleep, what kind of work would she do, would it be too hard, and so on...

The merchant behind them had to wait a while longer.

That day, Lena and Leo entered the lord’s castle as maid and servant.

Leo considered doing something else while Lena worked, but since they would leave for the Holy Kingdom in a few months, there wasn’t much point. He asked the official and secured a servant position for himself.

The official, seemingly desperate for more maids, agreed easily and issued the Holy Kingdom travel permits in advance.

Lena and Leo were led inside the castle and stood before the head maid, who had a sharp, stern demeanor.

“You, come this way. And you, go to the servants' quarters over there.”

With that sharp, high-pitched command, Lena followed the head maid and disappeared.

Naturally, the quarters for maids and servants were separate.

Lena used the quarters attached to a corner of the castle, while Leo was assigned a spot in the quarters next to the stables.

Life as a commoner...

The servants' quarters were a mess.

The floor was dirt, and clothes and bedding were scattered everywhere. Beds? Such luxuries weren’t provided to servants.

Leo frowned as he looked around the quarters.

It was damp and smelled musty, the kind of place where men crammed together to live.

‘Looks like I’ll be roughing it again for a while.’

He was becoming accustomed to the hard life of physical labor.

In the beggar siblings' scenario, the economic situation was dire, and he had to care for his sister, so labor was unavoidable. In Demos village, where everyone was expected to work diligently, he had to work every day in this childhood friend scenario as well.

Only in the engagement scenario did he have some leisure, but even then, he was sweating every day due to sword training.

Grumbling, Leo began to tidy up his assigned spot.

Just then,

“Hey, newbie! You should greet us properly when you arrive.”

Servants covered in dirt from their work approached him as they entered the quarters.

‘...Aren’t they tired?’

Leo stood up and exchanged introductions with them. There was a bit of a power struggle, sizing each other up, and questions about where he was from.

They weren’t being hostile towards him. It was just the usual dominance ritual among males when meeting someone new. It was a way of saying, let’s get to know each other and get along.

‘Annoying.’

The thought of starting complex human relationships again for just a few months was irritating, but he decided to endure it.

He could easily handle these servants pretending to be tough, but Leo wasn’t one to resort to violence unless necessary.

The reason he entered as a servant despite having the {Swordsmanship.2v} skills of a knight was to pass the time quietly while waiting for Lena.

If he entered as a knight or mercenary, he would be bound to the castle’s duties.

The servants, unaware they were posturing in front of someone formidable, liked his mild attitude.

However, as the saying goes, ‘a gem cannot be hidden.’ Leo, who was relatively more capable compared to the other servants, inevitably stood out despite trying to keep a low profile.

He was a young man with strong legs from climbing mountains, and during the occasional fights at the servants' drinking parties, he subdued the troublemakers.

Thanks to that, within a week, Leo subtly became the de facto leader among the servants. The butler, recognizing Leo’s diligence, entrusted him with various tasks.

This, in turn, made Lena look at Leo with increasing suspicion. The Leo she knew was not someone who took charge of others.

He took after his father in keeping a certain distance from people, except for Lena and himself.

He worked with the village youths but remained focused on his tasks, not mingling with others.

Leo was more like a lone wolf, not a pack leader.

His speech patterns changed, habits disappeared, and his social interactions transformed. Seeing him lead the other servants only fueled Lena’s doubts, and she finally asked,

“Leo, do you remember what we caught in the spring two years ago?”

She asked about a memory that the real Leo would definitely know.