Captain Fritz Stiglitz and his men finally arrived at Branburg. It was early morning, the sun’s warm rays beating down on him and his wyvern as the creature lightly flapped its wings to land gently.

  Down below, soldiers from Branburg’s city guards scrambled on the landing zone. Officers barked orders, and stablemen and workhands rushed in confusion, while soldiers stood around on the side of the garrison HQ’s walls, all of them still barely awake.

  As usual, Fritz’s squadron acted as the first element to arrive in Branburg. Even after their disastrous defeat at Eisenfeld, his squadron had a renowned reputation of being good at scouting, and this time, he took zero chances, as most of his riders were flying high above Branburg, ready for any potential combat.

  Since Eisenfeld, Fritz’s men had been quite pumped. Their morale was strangely high, and even his hotshot rider, Lieutenant Heinrich, seemed to have mellowed down his cockiness, with the man turning more controlled and respectful.

  He even stopped insulting the Sordalian royal family, which was a common thing in the army’s rank-and-file, with Heinrich being one of the louder types. So it was a true surprise, an unexplained surprise, and thus, a surprise that Fritz intended to figure out.

  He absolutely did not tell me the full truth.

  He was lying in his report, Fritz knew. Too many things didn’t add up, so even the colonel was sniffing things from afar. First of all, they were saved by two high-level individuals, which wasn’t in any records, and second of all, they were all shot down but were stitched back into combat-capable condition quickly. Any man with a good head between his shoulders could put two and two together.

  It was either that Heinrich, Manfred, and everyone else in Fritz’s squadron were lying about meeting the [Saint], or they were ordered by the [Saint] to keep her secret. After all, no one in this damned continent could heal a man from assured death so quickly; not even the finest [Healers] of the Holy Church were adept at that level.

  So, things were obvious to Fritz; he just needed confirmation. Now that they were here at Branburg, where the Continental Bank picked up activity in Her Highness’s account, it was time for Fritz to make sure that his stained battle record would be fixed.

  I’m going to find you, Your Highness.

  “Gentlemen!” An officer from the city’s garrison rushed to Fritz and his men after they dismounted their wyverns. The man was out of shape, his uniform was untidy and unfit to his body, and he didn’t seem to be fully awake due to the smell of booze coming out of him.

  He was a standard Sordalian garrison officer then, Fritz thought, and the man continued yapping absentmindedly while walking side-by-side with Fritz. “It’s great to see you wyvern knights around here! Oh, right, I hope it’s not too unpleasant around here. I didn’t get any heads-up from high up, but, as you can see, Branburg’s garrison is up to the task as always.”

  Heinrich laughed lightly beside Fritz as they all entered the interior of the garrison’s headquarters building. Inside, soldiers lined up haphazardly on the side of the halls, saluting as Fritz and the wyvern knights walked past them.

  It seemed that no one expected the sudden visit of the 101st this early in the morning. They must have mistaken their presence as an unannounced inspection, so practically everyone was trying their best not to trip while attempting to look professional.

  It was a sorry sight that was all too common in the Sordalian military. After multiple stalemates—ahem, victories—against the Ridian Empire in previous border conflicts, the budget of Sordale’s military was on the downturn as King Aolis ceased his expansionist policies. As a result, the quality and professionalism of the military were starting to take a hit.

  Even the 101st had problems about this, enough that a lot of officers in the air wing gave Fritz the stink-eye for daring to lose multiple valuable wyverns. He didn’t mind it though, as he was the one who made the awful mistake of losing their expensive assets, alongside losing multiple experienced riders.

  It hurt, but he kept his chin up. The only way he could repent for his sins and failures now was to find the 4th princess, and by god, he would finish that or die trying.

  “What’s your name, good sir?” Fritz politely asked as the rest of his men except for Heinrich finally peeled off after the three officers ascended the stairs.

  “I’m Major Karl Brunswick.” A hearty laugh came from the plump officer. “What about you? You seem quite important.”

  “I’m just a captain. The name’s Fritz Stiglitz.”

  “Just a ‘captain’? Pfft, you’re from the wyvern knights! You’re a big shot, son. Be proud and act like it!”

  Karl patted Fritz’s back with a hearty laugh, so Fritz had to try to stop the urge to chastise the officer’s unprofessional behavior. The man even pulled out a flask from his coat, drinking alcohol so casually, as if the presence of two wyvern knight officers didn’t bother him.

  “Hah, so what’s the big problem, eh?” Karl asked. “Why is an entire squadron suddenly in this city? We’re quite far from the border.”

  “We’re searching for someone.”

  “Someone? How important is this ‘someone.’”

  “Yes.”

  “I see.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Karl’s mood seemed to turn sour because of Fritz’s vague answer. His posture finally began to straighten, and he started walking slightly faster to catch up to Fritz and Heinrich.

  “We’ll discuss the details in your office,” Fritz said. “Then we’ll set out early today to scour the city. The king needs this person. I think you can understand what that entails.”

  “I understand. Damn it. Is she really in Branburg?”

  “That’s what we’ll find out, sir.”

  Damn it. I guess it’s not going to be my day, huh?

  “Siris. Get down,” Marcus warned while using [Mass Surveillance]. “Soldiers dead ahead.”

  “Right.”

  Following Marcus’s warning, the white fox on top of Stella’s head immediately disappeared in thin air. While she was using a light magic spell to keep herself invisible, her presence could be detected, so it was best to keep things on the down low.

  Stella, on the other hand, who was conveniently wearing a light grey cloak, was about to raise her hood. But Marcus raised his hand to signal for her to avoid doing that.

  She eyed him with a questioning look, so Marcus answered. “Too suspicious. The spell you’re using is enough.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course.”

  “Okay.”

  And so, Marcus and Stella continued walking forward. Stella was quite bubbly and energetic earlier, just like the lively streets of Branburg, but now that they were nearer the city center, it seemed that the atmosphere changed.

  Hushed tones came from bystanders, and people began walking faster, as if trying to escape trouble, while some people stared at posters depicting a rough drawing of Stella’s face, transfixed. The situation soon became fully apparent when they reached the market.

  There were three soldiers ahead of them; two of them were wyvern knights, while another was a scrawny-looking guardsman, who was plastering posters on the walls. The other two wyvern knights, on the other hand, seemed to be talking calmly to one of the vendors on the side of the street. One of them was holding a small notepad while writing on it, while the other one was describing Stella to the vendor.

  The vendor frowned before shaking his face.

  “I think…no, that’s probably not her.” The man flipped a piece of meat on his grill. “Well, I suppose purple eyes are a bit rare around these parts, so I can’t be sure.”

  “Tell me more about this person.”

  “I don’t think it’s her, sir. That lady was a human. Unless the 4th princess is human, of course. Hahaha, I don’t really know.”

  “I see. Thanks for answering our questions.”

  “At least buy my skewers.”

  “Sure. Give us three of them.”

  As Marcus and Stella walked past the soldiers, the one holding the notepad leaned close to the other wyvern knight, whispering to him.

  “We should stop asking around the streets here,” the soldier suggested. “Maybe she’s in the noble district? Or at the bank?”

  “Captain Fritz already checked there. Even the bankers don’t know where she is.”

  “Shit.”

  The two soon disappeared as the soldiers continued their discussion, using the thick crowd as cover. Later, they reached a nearby coffeehouse, where they managed to take a breather from the prying eyes outside.

  After they received their orders, Stella cast a silencing spell to begin discussing their current predicament.

  “I knew it,” Marcus pointed out as he sipped his coffee, which helped wake him a bit. “Told you that your bank activity will be noticed and traced to you.”

  “I’m not that concerned about it,” Stella said. “In fact, I hope I made my parents feel less worried about me.”

  “You probably made it worse.”

  “Maybe.”

  Stella squirmed a bit on her seat as she looked down before she finally exhaled a disappointed sigh. The way she looked at her teacup was so pitiful, Marcus felt secondhand sadness.

  “I wanted to stay here a little bit longer,” Stella continued. “But my parents are investing so much just to find me. So many people are working around the clock, wasting time and effort while I play hide-and-seek.”

  “Even I will be annoyed by you in that case, to be honest.”

  “That’s why, can you help me out, Sir Marcus? I’d like to meet my parents just once, before slipping away to continue helping you in your mission,” she tried to smile. “I just want to reassure them so they don’t send more people to trouble.”

  “I already told you earlier, right? Just ask, and I’ll help you out. How do you want to do this, though? Do you want us to go there the sneaky way?”

  “Heinrich and the others already know that I’m a part of the White Watch,” Stella said. “I think…I should let my parents know that I’m under the White Watch now. Would you mind that?”

  “No, not really,” Marcus scoffed. “No one knows who I am. No one’s going to check who I am, unless I start trouble like a moron while I’m Marcus Lieberman.”

  “For someone who placed so much effort into making this cover, you sure don’t care much if it’s compromised.”

  “I only really created it so you and I will have fewer headaches to deal with. And, well…you hiding is creating a lot of headaches right now for you. That’s why, if going to your parents to reveal yourself will help you out, I’m fine with it.”

  “I see.” Stella smiled as life returned to her face, her cheeks turning warm as her lips curled up. “Since the 101st is here again, how about we meet up with them tonight as the White Watch? I’d like to meet the friends I made there last time.”

  “You told them to lie; you do know that, right?”

  Suddenly, Stella’s tone turned haughty. “So? I’m still a princess of Sordale, good sir. If I say that they should lie in the report, that’s on me, and they should follow me, because I’m royalty.”

  “...I don’t think that’ll fly in any serious military force.”

  “Hmph. You place little faith in me. While my father is quite rough and unpleasant, I can still talk to him to not punish people involved with me.”

  “Fine.” Marcus straightened himself. “Let’s do it your way then.”

  Stella stopped raising her chin with that smug look. Instead, she beamed, pleased that Marcus listened to her this time around.

  “I know I can count on you. Thanks so much, Sir Marcus.”

  “I really wish you’d drop the ‘Sir’ part.”

  “Hmm, what was that?”

  “Nothing.”