Interrogating the event
1278 Words
The princess looked very shy as she spells out the name of her crush.
“He said that his name is Lance and we’ll meet again if fate allows.”
“Lance, is there such a family member of a swordsmen family with that name? Elmer, do you know something about this?”
The crown prince seemed to be very eager in finding out Lance’s identity but it can be said the same for the princess as she looked at Elmer with eyes full of expectation. The princess itself has a wide network due to her ability in administrative and court-related business but she didn’t know someone named Lance so he might be related to military affairs and there’s no one more knowledgeable about them than Elmer.
“Lance… I never heard anyone of such names or hear someone brought up his name to me.”
While Elmer is thinking, he heard Clyde muttering something.
“Lance, is it possible to be that Lance?”
“Clyde, do you know someone called Lance?” Elmer asked him after hearing his mumble.
“Ah, there’s indeed someone named Lance from the group of people that come with me. However, I didn’t know whether he has great swordsmanship just like what the princess described or not. Not to mention he arrived at the same time as me, for him to be near the church is somehow confusing too.”
While he is saying that, it seemed that princess Alicia starts to have less impression on Clyde as if he is someone petty who couldn’t accept if his peer is more amazing than him.
“Sir Elmer, who is this person?”
“Ah, we haven’t got the chance to introduce you two. This is Clyde, he is someone who managed to pull out the holy sword, Caliburn.”
Letting out a small gasp as it was completely unexpected, Alicia then tried to change her impression of Clyde but it is already ruined by his earlier words.
“The, mister Clyde, is it possible to bring me to meet with mister Lance?”
Hearing princess Alicia’s request, the queen seemed to realize something.
“Wait a minute my daughter. How about we asked Elmer to verify whether he is the person that saved you earlier or not. If he is the one, then we should invite him to the castle to reward him.”
“Ah, you are correct royal mother. Forgive me for my careless conduct.”
“That’s alright, as long as you understand where you’ve been wrong.”
Princess Alicia’s then stepped a little backward and returned back to her original position after earlier moved towards Clyde when he mentioned that he might know Lance, her savior.
“If there’s nothing else, then please excuse me. I want to take some rest.”
“My daughter, you must be shocked and scared. Please take a good rest tonight. I’ll ask the maid to bring you royal honey tea to help you relax.”
“Thank you, royal mother. Then, please excuse me.”
Princess Alicia then exited the hall while Elmer and Clyde once again become the focus in the hall.
“Elmer, you have heard what I said earlier. Please go with Clyde and confirm whether the Lance that Clyde knows is the same person as the one who has saved my daughter. If he is really the one, please bring him to meet with us tomorrow.”
“Understood your highness.”
Clyde and Elmer then exited the castle hall and returned back first to Elmer’s place.
“How was your audience with the king, are you nervous?”
“To be honest, I still couldn’t believe that I meet with the most important figure in the country, the king.”
“That was to be expected since you are destined to be the hero. You won’t only be meeting with the king of Brunia's kingdom. In the future, you will be representing humanity and other races. You will be meeting kings from other races too. You should make yourself get used to it. However, is Lance really someone from your group?”
“Yes, although I barely have any recollection of him in the village, he is indeed a member from my village.”
“Alright, let’s meet with him then.”
Elmer and Clyde then heading towards the direction of the inn where the villagers are residing. Of course, Lance is acting as nothing happened as he stayed quietly inside his room.
It didn’t take long before Elmer and Clyde arrived in front of Lance’s room. They easily get the information after asking with the inn receptionist.
*knock knock*
The sound of the door being knocked can be heard as Lance replied to it nonchalantly.
“Who is it?”
“Lance, this is my Clyde.”
“Oh, wait a minute.”
Lance then opened the door and he acted to be surprised to see Elmer there with Clyde.
“Oh, sir knight is here too. How may I help you? Ah, please come in first.”
The two people come in and sit down at two chairs inside the room. Since it would be awkward if Elmer opened the speech, Clyde takes the opportunity to ask about what happened earlier.
“Lance, can you tell me, perhaps did you go out to the church earlier?”
“The church?”
Seeing that Lance seemed to be confused, Elmer finally stepped in to add some detail. “It was the biggest building at the northwest of the town. It has a unique design with pointy ends and a bell tower.”
“Oh, that building. Yeah, I am around that area earlier today. I was walking to the market to sell some monster equipment, then with the money, I stroll around the market to get some change of clothes, food, and weapon. After that, since it was still early, I walk around and happened to arrive near that building.”
Hearing Lance’s explanation, Clyde and Elmer are already 80% sure that the person that saved the princess earlier is Lance. However, as Elmer asked about Lance’s identity to Clyde on the journey to the inn, there’re several points that are doubtful.
Firstly, from how Lance is able to defeat the two men, it could mean that he should have some basic combat knowledge. Elmer didn’t know how Lance grows up but hearing that he is a halfling from Clyde’s mouth, the suspicion becomes even bigger. Normally, a halfling won’t be able to learn a combat-related skill in fear of them raising a revolt or rebelling against the humans.
Secondly, Lance's entrance was so timely that Elmer afraid that the two men, are Lance’s hired goon or Lance is working together with them under someone’s order. This also has a high probability considering that Lance is someone new to the city and still a young teenager. For him to be tricked into helping the mastermind to unleash this plan is also high.
“Then, do you remember saving the princess?”
“Princess? I don’t think I meet someone of such caliber. I just helped two women inside the church that is going to be violated by two unlawful men. That’s all.”
- Writer
