Miabel Goes on an Adven-Tour of the Castle
Rewinding back in time…
“Wow, what a trip… I’m so glad it’s almost over. Things should calm down at the end of the day.”
As he walked around the outside of the hall, Connery, who was Count Lampron’s guard captain, let out a tired breath. He had been wound tighter than a spring ever since he went to Tearmoon to get the guest of honor from the Greenmoons. In a way, an Etoiline was a higher rank than his boss. One or two stress ulcers would have been enough for him, but then her “friend” showed up and turned a bad situation into a living nightmare. Now he had to watch over more than one very important girl. One of them might have been the most important girl in all of Tearmoon. Talk about unexpected problems…
“The girl from Greenmoon should be going home to Tearmoon after the ball. Most likely, her other friends will do the same.”
That thought made him feel a lot better, but also a hint of regret. Things were again going to get very quiet.
“Heh… Walking around town with a princess and a duke’s daughter isn’t half bad as a souvenir when everything is said and done.”
As he walked around, he made nice small talk with castle guards he saw and felt a wave of affection. Just as he turned a corner, though, a person ran across his path. He almost got himself to believe that he hadn’t seen anything, but his conscience made him stop, which made his stomach hurt even more. He used up all of his mental strength and turned to look at the figure.
The figure ran down the hall, with long hair the color of white gold trailing behind her. Even though she was dressed in fancy clothes, she had the mischievousness of a child who lived on the streets. Connery knew who she was.
That is…one of the girls Princess Mia brought with her. Wasn’t her name Miabel?
His feeling about this was very bad, like when you see something you know you should not have seen. At this point, he wanted to act like he had been temporarily blind…
“Oh, scorching suns… I can’t just ignore her.”
The knights of Sunkland would be ashamed if he turned away from a lost girl in the castle. They stood up for justice, and part of that meant being kind to women and kids.
It is my job as a knight of Sunkland to help Count Lampron. I must not do anything that would hurt milord’s image. He gave it more thought. Then he followed after her.
“Miss Bel…”
“Oh, Sir Connery.”
When she heard his voice, she turned around and smiled. He didn’t feel much affection for her, about as much as he felt affection for nose warts. The pure innocence of her face hurt his conscience.
“Why would you be here? Have you lost your way? If you want, I can take you back to the hall.”
“Oh, no. I’m on an adven – tour right now. I am looking around castle. For the purpose of studying.”
In the blink of an eye, the shame he had felt toward her was gone. Something like, “Did you really just try to cover “adventure” with “adven-tour”?” was going through his mind. You do know that what you said was pretty much the same, right? Also, who in the suns goes on an adventure in a castle?
Outwardly he said, “I see, I see. But there is a ball going on right now, and I think everyone expects you there. If they don’t see you, they’ll be very worried.”
Connery put his thumb on the bridge of his nose and forced himself to stay cool. He desperately tried to convince himself that kids were naturally curious. Because of this, it made sense for them to go on adventures. This castle was the right place for the chance. How could they say no? He had been the same anyway, right?
As a child, I loved going on trips too… I think young nobles girls are the same. Are they?
He stopped thinking about it because he thought it would only make him more confused.
“Anyway, let’s go back to the hall, shall we?”
“Oh, actually… I saw General Dion and Keithwood while I was adven-touring the castle, so I started to follow them. I was in the middle of doing that.”
He thought about the two names for a while. The first was a guard for Princess Mia. Even though Connery didn’t think of himself as a very experienced fighter, he could tell that Dion was a whole other level.
In his prime, King Abram was a beast with a sword, but Dion might have been stronger than him. I’m not even sure which of our Sunkland heroes is better than him.
In addition…
“So you say Keithwood…”
Keithwood, a young man who works for Sion. Helper, friend, and an arrow in the prince’s bow. He also had a lot of trust from the king. It wasn’t too strange for someone like him to be walking around the castle with someone like Dion Alaia, but Connery couldn’t help but smell something fishy.
The fact that she is with the princess makes it likely that the Great Wisdom of the Empire liked her. The girl from the Four Dukes named Citrina seemed smart, so this girl from Bel might also have something planned. She may have thought of something when she saw Keithwood and Dion together.
Even though her childlike joy made it look like she wasn’t…
“Where are those two, by the way?”
“Um… they’re that way.”
She began to walk down the hall. Connery followed her, his brows furrowed as he thought about what was coming up that way.
The private room of Prince Echard is that way…
The bad feeling came back even worse than before.
Author’s Note:
We have updated the activity page.
