“Thank you again so much. It was really nice of you to bring me along to the city. Are you guys here for the entrance exams as well? And-” the young girl prattled on and on.

Even distracted as she was, Paige could hear the pleading, hopeful tone underlying her questions. Rubbing the back of her head while absently answering her questions, she scanned the horizon for an anomaly, even though she knew it would be hard spotting the girl’s Guardians. Looking at the girl from the corner of her eye, Paige almost pitied the girl for what she was about to do, but some things had to be done the hard way. The girl picked up on the look though and started fidgeting.

‘...good instincts. Little late, but that comes with experience,’ Paige praised in her heart. If only she wasn’t a -

“Umm, Miss…?” the girl stuttered nervously.

“Ah, sorry. I lost my focus for a second. Those boys sure were rough, huh? You should be more careful with country boys like them. They don’t play fair. At least none of them had rocks; otherwise, I’d be worried about our carts,” Paige replied with a mostly honest smile as she patted the rough canvas covering of the cart and the already damaged weatherproof canvas. “Of course, any Merchant worth their Class would make sure to protect their wares, but children will be children. And we can’t be bothered to chase children throwing rocks; after all, for all I know they could be a simple distraction so thieves could rob me blind.”

The girl nodded in agreement, though she surreptitiously looked behind at the ragtag bunch of kids following from behind.

“They can’t hit us from there… can they?” she blushed guiltily. If they did start throwing rocks, it would be because of her little scuffle.

It was surprising seeing the girl so open with her feelings. “Meh, probably not. We'll be on the lookout since there are plenty of rocks along the path.”

“If they try it, I’ll skin them to their bones. We’ve had a nice trip this far, and I’ll be damned if they break the goods when I’m this close to making some profit.”

Shavie jumped up into the cart and glared back at the children, though her face quickly turned into a pleasant grin. Paige huffed as she saw the Assassin's performance. At least Shavie had some tact, unlike a certain someone in her Party. She had been worried that Zenith’s abrupt change in attitude would startle the girl, but Shavie and Stella were oddly...persuasive at times. It had to be a Skill of some sort, and a good one at that, judging by how fast the girl’s attitude had changed. Nor was it a typical Merchant Skill either since it didn’t affect anyone else except the girl.

Paige narrowed her eyes as she thought about the potential drawbacks of that Skill. If that skill was tailored for assassinations, then either it affected only one person’s perception at a time or only someone weaker than the one casting it. Skills like that were dangerous, given the right circumstances.

Paige snapped out of her thoughts and thanked her goddess in relief as she heard the low pitch sound of a rock in flight, and even more when the back of the cart was hit. The loud thunk as the stone ricocheted off the wagon startled the younger girl, and Shavie quickly jumped up to yell at them. The kids scattered further back, though she could hear rocks skipping across the dirt path further behind her.

‘Good. Just in time too,’ she thought as the wagon reached a small curve in the path. It was just slight enough that she would have to turn the wagon a little to the right. Probably just a cartographer who needed to adjust the angle of the road, but it worked to her benefit in this case.

Her worrisome passenger next to her turned her head and stuck out her tongue rudely. “Don’t worry about them,” Paige said as she patted the hand of the girl, startling her. “Shavie scared them off. We’d probably get struck by lightning sooner than a rock. They are pretty far behind us now.”

The girl turned and smiled in relief right before something clipped her head from behind. Her grin of relief was frozen on her face as she fell to her side knocked cold.

Shavie dropped her arm and glanced down at the girl as she tilted her head. Dusting her seat off, she stretched her fingers out as she picked up the small, iron ball rolling idly across the seat. Pocketing the item she had thrown at the girl, she grabbed the air as Stella tossed a small satchel over. Looping the item around her neck, Shavie settled down and waited with a pointed gaze for a reasonable explanation.

Okay, everyone was waiting for a reasonable explanation from her. She could sense the kids trying furtively trying to eavesdrop and staring at the adults in trepidation even as Zenith crushed the mana stone in her pocket to protect their conversation.

“Child Assassin? I called it, so someone owes me some gold,” Shavie snickered with glee.

“She wasn’t a very good one if she was,” Nick frowned as he scanned the flat horizon.

“So an Apprentice then. Whatever. Wait, perhaps she’s the bait for an Assassin to capitalize on,” Shavie paused. “I wouldn’t mind duking it out with someone in the same trade. Just to see what the standards for Assassin are like nowadays. It's been years since I've had a good fight.”

Paige almost nodded her head in agreement but she caught herself. ‘I’m a Farmer. I shouldn’t be looking for a fight. Even though I would win,’ she sighed sadly. Was a little excitement in life too much to ask?

Sensing that Nick was on the lookout, she turned her head to explain and saw Shavie propping her feet on the unconscious girl back. Easing herself forward, Paige gently pushed Shavie’s feet off the girl. That got everyone’s attention and the look was almost insulting. She bristled slightly. She had perfectly good manners!

“...do none of you find anything odd about her?” Paige asked.

Zenith shook her head as the others took a closer look at her. Paige looked the girl over again. She was fairly nondescript, which would’ve helped her on her travel. Her clothes were nothing special, and her strawberry blonde hair was slightly dirty from travel. But it was the aura around her that gave away her heritage.

“You care. That’s enough for me. So? What’s so special about her?” Zenith said after a moment.

Paige smiled wryly to herself. That was the problem when working with youngsters. Their worldview was so much smaller than hers. She didn’t begrudge them or anything, it just made moments like this a tad more difficult to deal with.

“She’s half-elf. Kinda surprised we haven’t been attacked yet. Elven Royal Guardians are very, very ornery about who can associate with a Princess.”

“An Elven Princess!?”

“For god’s sake, Paige!”

“Another one?”

“Shit! I knocked out a Princess?!”

They all started and looked carefully at the girl at her feet. Paige rolled her eyes. The girl’s elven features were muted, though whether it was from magic, her mixed heritage, or simply because she hadn’t hit puberty yet. She’d clue them on her aura if they asked, but they took her at face value and accepted her judgment.

“So… what exactly are you planning to do with her?” Nick asked carefully as he notched an arrow.

“Well, ideally we use this to cement our reputation. The other Imperial Scions won’t take kindly to us intruding, especially if they think we are working for rival families. And capturing a Princess will rile up her backers. That will help us narrow down which Scions are present.

“Best case, we can get some people to owe us favors. Worst case, we found a Princess in hiding.”

“That…” Zenith hesitated.

Paige caught her unspoken question. “Nothing bad will happen to her. You know the old saying, ‘A Princess and Danger go hand in hand.’ It’ll be a slap on the wrist at worst for her. Maybe this'll work even better for us.”

Paige sat back in her seat as the mana stone ran out of power. Still, the worst-case scenario was terrible for them. Having one Princess was problematic enough, and that wasn't even counting the two ex-Princess and on ex-Demon Lord already in their little group. ‘I mean, I was intending to cause some problems anyways, but if problems come to us that works just as well,’ she thought to herself.

Consoling herself while ignoring Stella and Zenith’s dubious gazes, Paige focused on the problem at hand. She wasn’t lying when she said problems followed Princesses. If she had learned just one thing in her time as a Princess, it was problems inevitably found her. Almost like a Hero, actually, which solidified her idea that a Princess could become a Heroine if given enough time.

Still, she knew that all Elven Princesses were required to have a Guardian around them at all times, mainly because of her foolish disciple’s actions. She wouldn’t have been drawn into that political disaster if she had followed protocol in the first place. It was close to impossible that a Princess would have been able to escape notice if Glenn was telling the truth about how many Scions were muddying the water here. She couldn’t think of a single circumstance that a random Princess would be left alone… unless the Princess had help from someone. Someone powerful enough to flaunt the rules. And that was highly unusual to begin with.

But as minutes passed, the probability that she had slipped away from her guards somehow was becoming a real possibility. Or her guards were dead, but that was bordering on impossible. There would have been news if the Elves crossed the Empire's borders to retaliate. That would be the best-case scenario.

Paige winced. Zenith was not going to be happy if nothing happened. Passing the time, she could hear Shavie talking as Nick kept watch. “You won’t find an Elf that way, forest boy.”

“You’d be surprised by what I can find,” he muttered. “Trent Scouts are just as easy to pick out as a deer is in a forest.”

“Hmph. Then you haven’t fought a Trent Scout at night.”

Settling back, Paige noticed Shavie turning and staring at the unconscious girl. “You know, I’ve killed plenty of Elves before, but none of them looked like this. The ones I know had far darker skin than this. Almost ash-colored. Awfully adept at using poison, too.”

Paige frowned. “Really? Maybe it’s just a regional difference?”

This was the first she’d heard of that. She’d killed a fair share of Elves too, but it was almost universally known that Elves were known for their fair skin. And forget poison, the ones she killed were all forthright about having duels to the death, even if they used bows as their main weapon. Then again, as Paige looked down at the girl at their feet, if humans could fall in love with anyone if the conditions were right, then it wasn’t a large stretch for a demon and elf to fall in love either.

Paige grinned ruefully. Here she was just thinking about how small the others’ worldview was, and she had just learned something new.

“Nick, you can stop looking. An Elven Guardian would have attacked us by now.”

“And if she was being guarded by Humans instead?”

“It’s rather unlikely. Even Halfblood Elves get protection if they are royalty.”

Still, with no guards coming to check on their sleeping beauty, Paige could only hope that this chance encounter didn’t end up being more than she bargained for. Scratching her head, she sighed as the city came into view.

“Let’s see what the local Healer Hall has to say. And let’s hope someone attacks us soon; otherwise, we might have a real problem.”

————

“So my plan didn’t quite go as I expected. Not my fault,” Paige ruefully started to no one in particular.

Looking down at the city below from their spot in the conference room at the Healer Hall, Paige pointedly ignored the looks she was getting, but she could especially feel Isabella's gaze digging into her back. Kidnapping a random stranger had definitely not won her any points. But that didn't change the fact that the unconscious girl was sleeping soundly underneath the table. Whatever Shavie had put around her neck really worked.

“As planned? Paige, you got some nerve -“

Paige sighed as she tuned Zenith’s scolding out. She made one tiny mistake and Zenith was all over her. It was like she thought Paige had done something unreasonable. Of course, they hadn’t experienced how much trouble a Princess could get into, so Paige couldn’t quite explain how her actions weren't too bad.

Still, it wasn’t the first time she had saved a Princess from getting caught by the Imperial Family. And it would give both parties an opportunity to fight a Scion. Well, a much weaker Scion than if they were Blessed. Paige smiled internally. Combined, she was sure both Parties could kill any Scion that came around, even without her help.

Her mana churned at that thought of a battle. 'Assuming I need to fight, that is,' she thought quickly. Even using farm tools, it was hard to say if she could kill someone without experiencing Mana Rejection. Even her ‘training’ match with a Shavie was a close call for her. She knew deep down that had Shavie not blocked or dodged the attacks, she would have experienced a strong backlash with her second attack.

A knock on the door interrupted Zenith’s scolding. Paige thanked the Sunset Goddess that Zenith's nagging was cut short. But to her surprise, the people who came in were not the usual low ranking Cleric and guards. Instead, in walked the High Protector Glenn.

As he scanned the room for threats, and as he specifically looked at both her and Shavie, she realized she had overlooked one small detail. This was no mere Healer Hall. There was no way it would be, not here so close to Alduit Academy. Not with so much at stake either.

No, this was an Imperial Healer Hall. Probably the first and only one outside of Humanity’s cradle, nestled deep in the Central Territory. Had she remembered that small tidbit beforehand, Paige wouldn’t have brought the unconscious Princess here, not where she would be in danger from her own allies.

As she watched in mounting trepidation, more Protectors came walking into the room; identifying threats and getting into a defensive arrangement by the door. Old faces were hidden partially under their helms; while their armor was marked heavily with scars. Veterans, the whole lot of them. '...True High-Class Protectors, and not by current standards either. That's....a problem.'

She could sense the others around her shifting in response to the newcomers. Zenith was slowly moving toward the far side of the room while Nick quietly motioned the kids to the corner of the room, well away from the windows. He must have noticed something outside that made him wary. Stella was motioning Isabella to move closer to her as she reached for something in her pockets.

Shavie for her part smiled, which set alarms off in Paige's head. That would not bode well right now. But what was problematic was Glenn was on guard against Shavie far more than the one known Magi in the room. Glenn had pegged Shavie as something, and that did not sit well with her. If he thought they were all one Party...

“Ah, it’s the old man! And Isabella’s guards are here too!” Lily shouted.

Paige halted mid-step on the way to the table, cognizant of the covert gazes she was getting. Maybe it was because Shavie was acting confidant that she could take them, but Paige was sure that she was the priority target in every scenario she could think of. It wasn’t the fact that there were so many potential enemies that worried her. They would be almost as hard as killing an Imperial Scion just by merit of teamwork alone. But she loathed showing that much power right now. Not when she wasn’t hidden from society at large.

‘...I’m in deep trouble. Mhmm.’

Paige slumped. Her future anonymity was at stake. Ignoring the confused looks her party was giving her, she sat down, making sure to position herself close to the unconscious girl on the floor. For once, she was regretting her swift actions. The girl's presence would only make things more difficult.

“High Protector Glenn. Shouldn’t you be, you know, back in the Central Territories? Protecting your ward and such? I can’t think of a single reason why you need to be here of all places.”

Paige desperately hoped he was just there to bring back the formations she had promised. Formations such as those could warrant these guards after all.

“He didn’t have to come. But I felt it was necessary,” a tired voice said from beyond the threshold.

The rhythmic tapping of a heavy staff echoed off the marble floors and into the room. The light aura she felt radiating from beyond the door made her pause. Paige could tell the others felt it too, especially Shavie and Stella, as their faces turned into a silent grimace. Of course those two would notice the affinity changing. The highly charged mana must have been uncomfortable for them.

“We’ve come to trade,” the voice called out. As the last of the guards strolled in, a younger group of Guardians flanked the door, colored capes and sashes adorning their armor. A young, tired, and mostly irritable woman strolled in between them as they turned as one, saluting as she passed. Waving her hands grumpily, she pulled the chair closest to the door out from under the table and sat down heavily.

Paige blinked. The woman in front of her was practically radiating light from just sitting there. Not blindingly bright, but it did add a sense of holiness to her, though the grimace plastered on her face detracted from that feeling. Well, that and the crooked miter on her head, the disheveled hair and dark bags under her eyes. Most likely from hard travel, Paige thought to herself, though she wouldn’t be surprised if it was just from lack of rest. Or maybe it was just her natural look.

Veterans; an honor guard; the change in the ambient affinity; any one of these was a good indicator of the woman's status in the Imperial Healer Hall. But it was the necklace that clued her to who this newcomer truly was. The Imperial Healer Cross, one identical to the one she had given Zenith so long ago, was hanging around her neck.

Zenith's gaze drilled into the back of her head. IF the day could get worse, Paige knew she would be in big trouble.