There are a lot of times back when I was with my friends in high school that I get into fights. Even so, I never ever once initiated it. I just had a very short temper at that time.

***

After we had our fill, we left the restaurant with Zetta and Felin smiling in delight. Princess on the other hand, she's still can't believe the fact that no one actually recognized her under because of my illusion spell. Well, if you compare her natural and her illusion beauty, both are on different categories.

In addition, that servant that was exclusive to us was adorable. I didn't expect that the manager would use her to make me spend more money and time there. Well, that could only happen IF I was living in the royal capital. And even if I did end up returning repeatedly to that place, it wouldn’t be because of the special service I received, it would be the food.

I have to admit, even if that place's service was weird for me, their food was excellent. Those were dishes that earned the genre of [Fantasy]. Who would expect a beef-like meat dish to taste like squid?

Anyhow, we're now headed to our next destination: The Carnival.

It was quite an unexpected suggestion from Zetta who was usually quiet. Followed up by Felin's puppy eyed please, I couldn't say no. It's not like I wouldn't though. I haven’t seen a carnival in this world before so I'm quite interested to see one. I wish I brought Marie with me.

But there was more unexpected than Zetta, and it's none other than the princess.

It turns out that the princess never once experienced going to the carnival for obvious reasons. In fear of getting attacked or kidnapped, she was made to stay in the castle since her childhood with only Zetta as playmate.

Leaving those unimportant dialogues by the author, we are now arriving at the carnival. And as expected, it's a very lively place. Its so lively that you wouldn’t think that there isn’t actually a festival going on.

“It's beautiful!”

Now this is interesting. The princess is peeking out the window of the carriage with a very vulnerable expression. Her eyes looks like an empty canvass getting painted by the confetti that're flying around. Just like I said, they're flying, not falling.

If she showed me that kind of face from the start, I would without a doubt fall for her. Her beauty is on par with Cherry and Matt after all.

“If you only see your expression now, princess.”

“Huh?! What, no! I didn't find them beautiful or anything at all!”

Now what's been running through her mind for her to say that?

The princess that realized her blunder of showing her weakness is blushing from ear to ear. Since I can’t help but find it cute, I can’t stop myself from smiling at her.

“Are you trying to mock me?”

“Maybe?”

Then she noticed that Zetta giggling because of her, she cutely said “Zetta is being mean!”

“There's a lot of people here!”

“Indeed. Even the carriage is having a hard time moving forward now.”

Felin looked the people outside of the carriage with an amazed expression. Just like she said, there's a lot of people out there.

If I wasn’t able to create > from dismantling the >, I wouldn't be able to create > magic which I used on the carriage. Unlike the other illusion spells that are widely used, this one makes illusions real and touchable like a real thing.

If it weren’t for this, we would have been found out by the guards that're patrolling the place.

“Well, I think we need to get down and walk from here.”

“What? In this crowd?”

“Yes, what seems to be the problem?”

For some reason, princess is against it. I wonder why?

“I would be seen by the guards. If that happens, Felin and Zetta would be in danger.”

“Oh that again? We can just apply illusion magic on you. That's not a problem.”

“B-But still, isn't just an illusion? It will get dispelled if someone touches me!”

“Oh, so you're knowledgeable about magic huh. Don't worry princess, my magic isn't something that can be underestimated. It would take a lifetime of studying to dispel it.”

Of course, that last part was just a bluff. Or was it?

Probably, the only one than can counter me is Cherry with her > gift. She could read my runes the moment I invoke them through the ring. How does that even work?

“You really have confidence in your magic huh. If what you said is true, you're probably running out of mana from using the same magic over and over again. Yet, I can't see any signs of you getting tired. Just how powerful are you?”

“That? I'll leave it to your imagination. Explaining it to someone who isn’t a magician is too much of a trouble.”

“How insulting! Even if I’m not a magician, I have confidence in my knowledge about magic. I am the princess after all. And also, some members of the royal family are [Awakened Ones], you don't know if I really am not going to be a magician.”

Even if she says that, there's no way I'm going to tell her I have the power of [Infinite]. I can already foresee her reaction if she knew.

“If we meet again, I'll tell you. For now, let's get out of here and have some fun.”

***

“Wow, what a cute animal!”

We left Victorum to take care of the carriage, which was the original plan. However, it didn't quite happen. I did not expect him to beg in front of me just so that he could come with us. It's not because he wants to have fun too, but because of the crowd.

There are a lot of people here, the chances of kidnappers hiding among them is also high. And since princess Thema is still beautiful even under my illusion spell, she could be a possible target. I know Victorum is being too paranoid about it, but in order to ease him up, I agreed reluctantly.

And right now, we are watching some random animals being displayed by the keeper.

What Felin called cute just now was called “Fulrop”, a kind of animal which has the body as small as a baseball ball, has a duck bill, chicken legs, and has a body and wings of a bird. Not only that, it's feathers are glittering blue and green. According to the keeper, it's still a hatchling. How big does this thing get?

It seems that even Zetta and Princess Theme find it cute too, they're looking like they want to gobble it up anytime.

“Hey Keeper, how much is it for holding one?”

“Well, for your daughter, I'll let her touch it for free.”

Interesting misunderstanding, but I won’t clear that one up. I have a real daughter after all.

When the keeper handed Felin the Fulrop, her face grew bright.

“I-its so soft! I want to keep it!”

“I want to touch it too!”

“I want one too, but I can’t. How vexing!”

Because of Felin's reaction, she enticed the hearts of Zetta and Princess Thema. I really don’t mind Zetta letting out her true desires, but princess Thema is looking a bit sad.

“Hey keeper, your marketing strategy is nasty. How much for the Fulrop?”

Maybe I can consent them this much. Since the kids at the orphanage are used to taking care of the animals already, taking care one or two of this Fulrop should not be a problem. That place was like a barn after all.

“I'm sorry mister, they're not for sale as they are rare creatures that lives on the mountains on the northeast part of the continent.”

When he said that, the three girls’ faces drooped. Were they really expecting for me to buy it for them?!

Damn, now I'm feeling bad if I can't buy it.

But maybe I can fix that with bribe—err, I mean for the right price.

“Is that so? Then how much are they if they aren’t rare?” with a wink of course.

“I'm sorry, they really are not for sale.”

“Really?”

“Yes I'm—”

“Oh, what’s that? Did I hear 10 gold each?”

“10 GO--!”

Seems like Sir Keeper here understood money language. Though he almost yelled “10 gold” just now, nobody noticed it because he was able to cover his mouth.

Leaving aside the girls’ shocked reactions, I continue negotiating with the keeper. In whispers of course.

“B-but sir, even though they're rare, they're not worth 10 gold. That's almost 4 times the price in the black market.”

Oh? There's a word I've never heard here before.

But leaving that aside for now, the prices of these Fulrop are around 2.7 gold coins judging from what he said.

“Hmm… Then buying 2 plus the trouble of hiding it in a small box would be 25 gold, right?”

“Hah… fine, but that will be 30.”

He finally gave in to my offers. The power of money sure is more awesome than the [Infinite] inside me.

After we go our pair of Fulrop, we immediately left the place and headed to another part of the Carnival.

Felin is really happy about it and it makes me happy that she is. On the other hand, Zetta and Princess Thema are still looking at me with very puzzled eyes.

Maybe she couldn’t contain her curiosity anymore, Thema came to me and started asking questions.

“Just what do you do for a living? It seems your money bag still has a lot of gold in it for you to spend so much casually. Even for me who is a princess, moving 5000 gold pieces of coins is impossible.”

“Let's just say it's something that requires a whole lifetime of work of a magician.”

Though my answer is vague, it's the truth. Grandpa made this amount of money doing a lifetime of research about magic because his own magic was weak. The thought on itself is already impressive already, much more if you knew how it really happened.

From the weakest magician to the peerless one. Imagining it is already hard.

“Also, why do you spend them on something you can't gain anything from? Like giving the Orphanage a huge amount of money. Would you gain something from it?”

“If you want me to answer those questions princess, answer mine first. If you see a child that needs help, would you walk away or help?”

When I asked her that, she fell quiet and backed away from me a bit. I know that the question itself is simple and easy to answer, but if you take into account that she is the princess and what could happen, everything would be in conflict with each other.

While I was in deep thought while holding Felin's hand, Zetta poked me to get my attention.

“I'm sorry if I could insult you, but why are you doing this?”

“Doing what exactly?”

“Why are you treating us despite not knowing anything about us? We just met today and you're spending so much for some strangers you just met by chance.”

Now that she mentions it, why am doing this? Wait no, why am I asking that? I already knew the answer for it but I just forgot about it because of the series of events. I'm too much of a realist, I can't make a decent philosophical question. Why does my author suck at this part?

“You see Zetta, I came here in the Royal Capital to do some sightseeing. But if you think about it, doing it alone seems lonely, right? Me treating you guys is just my way of thanking you for coming along with me and my whimsical decisions. In fact, I'm really grateful to you. Especially you princess, you made this trip really enjoyable for me.”

Probably because of that last part, princess Thema became flustered and said “Idiot!” to my face. Well anyway, at least she's not falling for me, is she?

“But even though I feel reluctant on leaving this place, I have to go back. And since I'm running out of time, we must go around this place faster! YEAH!”

While I said that, I picked up Felin and carried her like I do with Marie. She was quite surprised, but she looks like she likes it.

“W-wait! M-my dress!”

“Princess! Please don't pull my hand.”

I grabbed Princess Thema's hand when I started running. At the same time, she also grabbed Zetta who also managed to grab Victorum's attention and made him chase us.

I did this since the sun is already setting. I had too much fun today that I ended up missing the time.

***

“Did you ladies had fun?”

“Although you dragged us most of the time, I can't deny that I did.”

“Yes, it was really fun. It was the most fun experience I've had since I became a caretaker. It somehow reminds me of me and the princess's childhood days where we play inside the castle walls.”

After we had gotten tired of running around the carnival, we decided to go back to the carriage.

Felin has gotten tired after playing too much and fell asleep on my chest. On the other hand, Zetta and Princess Thema are talking to each other reminiscing their past.

“I've always wondered, how did the two of you meet? A princess and a commoner, what's the story?”

When I asked that, both of them giggled like I said something funny. This is the first time I've heard the princess giggle.

“Well actually, her mother was a maid in the castle when we were young. Since her mother did not have a husband or a lover, Zetta was allowed to be brought in with her. It is a rule of the castle that we only employ maids that're unmarried for security purposes.”

“Yes, and to think mother was employed despite having me. Truly, that was a miracle in itself.”

“It's just a hunch but, the reason why your mother Zetta was hired was because of you. They probably wanted Princess Thema to have someone to play with (serve actually) on the same age gap.”

I kind of saw this trope on the movies once, I might be wrong. This place is reality of course.

When I said that, both of them giggled at me again.

“That may be the reason. If so, I will thank father, the king, for letting her in.”

“So now I know your past (the gist of it), I want to know how the river split between you. I hope it's not something gloomy.”

Although I said that, their faces gloomed. I pushed the wrong button again.

“Actually, my mother was kicked out of the castle for the rumor of being a mistress of a marquis.”

“I understand, there's no need to continue on that part. You're already a beauty, I’m expecting your mother is too. Where is she now?”

Before answering that, she made a sad smile towards me.

“She was beautiful. The most beautiful woman you’ll ever meet. However, she already passed away.”

“I'm really sorry for asking.”

I should have known. I wish I didn’t run my mouth without thinking.

“By the way, Princess. Remember the money I gave to Zetta? It might be late for me to ask this, but can you assist Zetta regarding the Orphanage's refurnishing and expansion. I want that place to grow since I've been seeing a lot of kids going around the streets while we were walking around, I want them to go to the orphanage and make it their home.”

“Even if you say that, I will have a hard time convincing the upper nobles.”

I was expecting her to say that.

I took out a letter from my pocket and gave it to her. I actually wrote this back at the Restaurant's restroom before I saw the kid outside the restaurant.

“This might help you with that problem.”

Slowly, she opened the letter I gave her. Since I expected her to open that, I didn’t put a wax seal on it but a mark instead.

“A letter by…”

While reading the letter, her expression changes slowly from calm to shock. I guess she wasn’t expecting this huh.

“So you ARE a noble! Though you're just a Chevalier, you're a retainer of Duke Dalseriev! Not only that, you are also associated with the Dwarven King of Berigious?! You're even the rumored shareholder of Roldenrauf Firm who bought half of the company on a whim?!”

Aside from the last part, the only thing I wrote on the letter are about me, my interests on the current matter about the orphanage, possible benefits if they associate themselves to me, and the things they’ll possibly receive if they get to my good side. I know it sounds like I'm showing off, but that's how this world's business works.

But those aside,

“Where did you hear that weird rumor?”

Princess Thema managed to calm herself down when I asked her that.

“It was something that caused an uproar in the Department of Trade and Industry. I did not hear who you were at that time, but I heard that the moment you bought half of the shareholdings of Roldenrauf Firm, the prices of some products that goes through that firm had their prices decreased since the secret shareholder, you, increased the rate of which the suppliers could benefit without changing the original prices. Which also caused most of the products in the market to become imbalanced. Because of that, the noble businessmen and merchant have been battling to know your name. To think that this man is actually in front of me, this is truly beyond surprising.”

“I-I don't really understand, but does this mean that Key is actually a very important person?”

Since Princess Thema is talking some complicated stuff, Zetta has lost track and got confused.

“Then I will reintroduce myself, My name is Key Godfre Chardelier. Grandson and successor of Godfre Chardelier. I apologize for my behavior this whole time, your highness.”

Probably because of my act, the princess gets taken aback and makes a puzzled expression.

“Now I'm more confused. Why are you doing this? Why are you giving money to charity freely without thinking of gaining anything in return? The nobles I know are always about gaining wealth, but you, you're an odd one.”

Oho? She's really mad like I've done something really bad.

“That's not entirely true, princess. I am not giving money to charity without expecting anything in return. In fact, I am expecting it to grow and return. The ones who will make my expectation come true are the children from the orphanage. If they will know who has been funding and helping them, they will show their gratitude to me in form of Loyalty. And because they are loyal to me, they will work under me. The only thing that's between me and that idea is none other than time. And if you think I'm not greedy, I'm actually greedier than you can imagine.”

From amazement, her expression slowly changes to an angry one. It seems that my way of reasoning is too much for her and I can tell, she's thinking that it's nasty.

“How twisted can you get?! I really thought that you were a good person when you treated us to places, but now, I don't know! The way you act really confuses me!”

“No princess, you're just not used to the reality I know. What you're thinking right now is normal. That's because I plainly showed you a nonexistent plan which factors are entirely made up by me. You just didn't understand it yet. Even good things can sound bad if you lay it out in full.”

The princess looked down while holding her head. I guess it was too much for her to absorb all at once.

“Well, that's about that.”

I gave the sleeping Felin to Zetta and then opened the small window and said to Victorum to send them back to the orphanage. After that, I activated my ring.

“It was fun meeting and spending my time here in the royal capital with everyone. But since my time is up, I will have to head home now. Goodbye!”

Activating > chantlessly, I disappeared from their sight in an instant without giving them time to react. I'm quite an ass if I do say so myself.

Also, > is a spell I created from the magic teleportation scroll I used before when I rescued Marie and Jane. Since I can't really enhance a magic without knowing it's full structure and original script, I can only combine it with a few of my mind magic spell runes. And as the name implies, I can teleport to places I remember for a certain amount of time.

Now, I warped myself back to the place where Sora and I first arrived. And as expected, Sora is already here.

“You took your sweet time sightseeing huh.”

“Well, I kind of run into some stuff. Furlops to be specific. They're quite cute things. By the way, aren’t you supposed to be aware of where I am like you always do?”

“There are a lot of people here in RC that has a mark. Pinpointing which one is yours is tiring and pretty much impossible to do. Just locating it alone is already mana consuming on it's own. But that aside, you didn't get in trouble, did you?”

“If you're asking about trouble about beating the daylight out of some thugs, I did that an hour after we split up. Don't worry, it happened in the alleys so no guards so me.”

I can't tell Sora that I met the princess. I don't want to get scolded by him.

Sora lets out a sigh and scratches his head.

“Leaving that for now, I have something important to tell you. I can't go home for now. The king gave us a mission that we can't say no to. Not like we could in the first place.”

“It's okay man, I understand. I can still go home by myself. Where do you think we'll meet again?”

“The RC has a high chance. This is where the conference of peerage will happen after all. And if my memory is correct, I think that will be 3 months from now.”

While we are talking, I started preparing my magic teleportation spell. Since there's quite a distance from here, I have to concentrate on it properly.

“3 months huh. I don't have that much time left then.”

When I said that, Sora giggled like it was funny.

“I think you already are near your goal. If you do more feats than what you have now, I don't think you'll just end up being a honorary baron like the one you're thinking right now.”

“Probably, I don't know this world fully moves yet so I'll do what I need to do and let fate decide what to do with me.”

“That's quite deep. And anyway, while I'm not with you, please don't mess around too much. Cleaning them up will be quite a trouble.”

“Hahaha, I won't.”

While we wave each other goodbyes, I snapped my fingers and warp myself out from his sight.

*A few seconds after the warp*

“NOOO!” *slap*

Here’s the thing about >, this magic can only activate and teleport me to a place where I could remember 27 hours back. That's almost a whole day. And not only that, the closer the magic to it's duration, the weaker and unstable it gets. That means warping back to the mansion means warping at random locations in the mansion. And because of that, I have warped myself by PURE accident, into Jane's room while Jane is in the middle of changing.

And of course, I received a very strong slap from out of nowhere. And with no preparation, I received the full damage and pain of that slap.

As a side note, she has a really sexy body. I wasn't able to tell this whole time because of her maid uniform. And her pink underwear was cute too.

-End of Chapter-