Fled Without Realizing I Had Prevented the Apocalypse

Arlea de Raziel.

With hair the color of pale barley and amethyst eyes. There wasn’t a single citizen of the kingdom who didn’t remember the First Princess, who had captivated the hearts of countless young men with her royal dignity, as per the Queen’s words that she should be the pride of the royal family.
There were also no citizens who didn’t remember the First Princess’s good deeds, maintaining royal dignity while voluntarily sponsoring beggars in back alleys and personally standing on the battlefield with the determination to save dying war soldiers for the sake of the citizens.
Some viewed it from a political perspective and called it hypocrisy, but at least Arlea’s own image was that of a princess who cared for her citizens.
It seemed that the princess’s life would continue peacefully like that.
Until her kingdom disappeared from the map along with a sudden shower.

“Scarlet!!”
In the room directly provided by the guild master in the southern district of Beatrice’s merchant guild, I cursed the Empire’s Sword Master.
I could feel the guild master outside trembling after sensing who I was cursing, but I continued my swearing without any regard.
“This crazy woman left out the most important information!”
Scarlet clearly told me that a survivor of the Kingdom of Raziel had appeared.
An organization like the Empire’s Intelligence Department would definitely know about the survivor’s identity, so they must have told her, which means Scarlet herself didn’t tell me.
I want to contact her right away and ask why she didn’t tell me, but if I do that, she’ll probably tilt her head and ask if I didn’t inquire about such information with a high probability.
What boils my blood the most is that she’s not doing this to tease me, but she sincerely thinks that way.
No, but still, if it’s the First Princess, shouldn’t she have told me?
“If I had known, I wouldn’t have accepted…”
If it were simply a survivor of Raziel, it wouldn’t matter. Although they have no military power of their own, they wouldn’t be attacked as much, so the difficulty of protecting their identity wouldn’t be that high, and there would be no chance of any incidents occurring.
However, a princess is different.
As she was a precious figure in the original kingdom, her actions would be recognized on a national level, and the political enemies from when the Kingdom of Raziel existed wouldn’t leave her alone as she is, so the difficulty of protection would likely increase manifold.
Someone might say that her usual conduct wouldn’t make enemies to that extent, but there’s no person in this world without enemies.
Even transcendents and gods have those who hate them.
Especially if you think about enemies in a political sense.
So it seems like I need to control the situation by not just watching from afar, but approaching a bit closer and protecting from nearby…
Knock knock.
“I apologize for the sudden interruption, but some people claiming to be your companions have arrived…”
A voice from outside.
It’s the guild master who was trembling after hearing me curse Scarlet.
I shouted that I understood towards the outside, then lightly dressed and left the room.

After leaving the room and going downstairs following the guild master’s guidance, two men were standing outside the guild, staring at me intently.
With robust physiques and ordinary attire. Looking at the badges pinned to their chests, I indicated to the guild master that these were indeed my companions.
“I’m glad if they are your companions. Have a pleasant time.”
After confirming that the guild master who bowed his head was moving away from the spot, I slowly approached the two men.
“Glory to the Empire. Lieutenant Melen and Sergeant Lucas. Is that both of you?”
At my question, both standing men raised their hands above their heads and took a salute posture.
“Glory to the Empire, Lieutenant Melen Heimdall.”
“Glory to the Empire, Sergeant Lucas.”
One is the legitimate heir of the Heimdall family.
The other is a sergeant of commoner origin.
On the surface, they looked like an ordinary nobleman and citizen, which is why the guild master didn’t show caution, but these two’s identities were from the Empire’s Intelligence Department.
They were the agents for protecting the princess’s safety that Scarlet first mentioned.
Naturally, since the Intelligence Department isn’t a place where just anyone can enter, both had sharp angles in their posture, but somehow the legitimate heir of the Heimdall family seemed to be slouching a bit compared to the sergeant.
Is he originally that laid-back? Or is there another reason?
If he were a fresh second lieutenant, it would be understandable. But by the time one becomes a lieutenant, even if they’re a high-ranking noble’s child, their perception should have changed.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to discuss the operation, Lieutenant Melen spoke first.
“Um, Major Kyle. I heard you came on a cooperation request from the unit where that person is…”
By ‘that person’, he probably means Scarlet.
I nodded at the lieutenant’s words.

Basically, since it’s a cooperation request that came to Scarlet’s unit, I inevitably had to become a member of her unit as well.
Of course, since it’s a false identity, Scarlet said she had adjusted my rank to major and used just Kyle without the surname.
The appearance doesn’t matter anyway since there’s a perception interference device.

“Since we’ll have to carry out operations together, I’d like to have a time to confirm each other’s abilities… What do you think?”
Ah, so that’s what he meant.
I once again confirmed Lieutenant Melen’s posture, which was starting to slouch slightly.
I thought the arrogance and pretentiousness typical of nobles was still ingrained in his gestures, but it’s the exact opposite. In other words, he’s itching to fight me.
Well, I’m sure he also intends to confirm each other’s abilities as he said.
However, since that intention isn’t so bad, I slightly raised the corner of my mouth.
“Confirming each other’s abilities, huh.”
To be honest, there’s no particular reason to do it, but…
“Why don’t we make it a dinner bet? The loser pays for dinner. How about it?”
I need to confirm these two’s abilities as well, after all.

Sergeant Lucas, from the Empire’s Intelligence Department, put his hand to his chin.
‘A sparring match with the Special Forces.’
And it’s a sparring match with a direct subordinate of that Scarlet Frausia.
Of course, the Intelligence Department also values combat ability and only recruits elites who can’t even approach if they’re below a certain level of ability, but the Special Forces, especially the direct subordinates of the Empire’s Stars, are on a different level.
Elite among elites.
The Star’s direct Special Forces are where only those who are outstanding enough to be known just by their names can barely enter.

Unlike Lieutenant Melen who suddenly proposed the sparring match, in his case, as a commoner who had stayed in this Intelligence Department for quite a long time, he was well aware of the notoriety of those Star-affiliated Special Forces.

Stories like how they sweep away mission areas without leaving even corpses once they go on a mission, or how they return without a single injury despite going to magical realms where there’s not a single official survivor.
Especially the Special Forces under the Empire’s Second Star have even more such rumors.
How many jobs would they have to handle for their annual hospital expenses to exceed 500 million sel? It’s an impossible figure unless the unit members’ arms or legs are smashed once a month.
On top of that, there’s even a rumor that they received guidance from the First Star, who now has an arrest warrant.
Considering the rumors created by the First Star so far, even the guidance itself probably wasn’t ordinary at all.
Even to Lucas, who had rolled through battlefields in his own right, the stance of the man clenching his fist in front looked extraordinary.
“But he just requested a sparring match.”

If that major finds this proposal itself unpleasant, what kind of experience are we going to go through?
Although he had somewhat shed his noble air as he was promoted from second lieutenant to lieutenant, it seems he couldn’t completely get rid of it.
Sergeant Lucas heaved a deep sigh and looked ahead.

The process is the process, and the result is the result.
Now that things have happened, what we need to watch is the result.

Since things have come to this, the best strategy is to lose as less embarrassingly as possible.
This isn’t just a sparring match between the two.
If there’s such an intention, it could even lead to a pride battle between the Intelligence Department and the Special Forces.
Of course, most people wouldn’t believe such rumors, but the fact that such rumors spread is enough reason to write a circumstantial report.
And Sergeant Lucas didn’t want to write such a circumstantial report in the first place.
So please, just hold out for a while and then lose.
He doesn’t even hope for a win.
It’s unconscionable to expect a mere lieutenant to defeat a major from the Special Forces in the first place.
However, if he holds out for a few exchanges and then loses, it would be considered a good fight for a lieutenant.
In other words, it would be a case of “you fought well even though you lost.”
That should be enough for even the head of the Intelligence Department, who terribly dislikes Scarlet Frausia, to let it slide without much comment.
‘So please, just hold out for about 1 minute.’
“Sparring… begin.”
Lucas, who didn’t want to write a circumstantial report, gritted his teeth and cheered for the troublesome noble lieutenant, but.
“Aaaaaargh-!”
“Your waist is empty. Foot. Hand. Foot. Head. Where did you learn swordsmanship?”
Not even 5 seconds after the sparring began, Lucas humbly recalled the content of the circumstantial report he would write in the future, watching the noble, Lieutenant Melen, who had become a tutoring student.