“Are you alright?” she came to my immobile body and offered me a hand.

This could be dangerous. Assuming she’s an actual princess, I need to watch my step. I don’t know how it works out for others who happen to be transported to bizarre worlds, but acting in inappropriate manner in front of a royalty is the quickest way to lose your head.

From what I remember, it’s all about bowing as much as you can, not looking them straight in the eye, and not speaking unless spoken to.

As much as I would like to avoid any unnecessary attention, now that I was addressed it would be worse not to reply.

“Your Highness… Someone as lowly as I does not deserve a moment of your thought,” being so meek should be fine.

Or so I thought, but what I got instead, were three confused faces staring down at me.

It seems, I’ve said something wrong. She doesn’t look angered, rather genuinely surprised. Was it wrong of me not to take the hand that she had offered?

“My apologies, your Highness, it seems I am yet to recover the strength in my body,” as I say that, the surprise in her eyes intensifies. “And thus, I will be unable to properly salute you.”

What’s with those startled looks, anyway? Commander is the only one whose expression remained unchanged, even though he seems to be a little more interested now.

Or was I just being made fun of? Were these people actually joking around and now they are surprised to see that I actually bought it? Have I been watching too much anime?

“It seems the drowner isn’t a sailor after all,” said Jerome.

So that’s what it was…

“Then speak up, drowner! What is your name?” commander interrupted with a harsh tone. Based on how he was called Sir Renig, he must be an actual knight. A noble.

“My name...”

This could turn out to be bothersome.

Figuring out what the hell is going on can wait, for now I’ll play along. Even if I’m being made fun of, the worst thing that could happen I’ll lose some face. But if this is real, I could lose my head altogether.

They expected me to be a lowly sailor, however the moment I spoke up something clearly gave me away. It wouldn’t be a longshot to assume that sailors weren’t that well educated or well mannered. Considering how quickly they picked up on that, the difference between myself and a sailor must be close to astronomical.

As far as I can tell, the way I talk isn’t that different from the princess or the knight commander. Which probably means, that now they expect me to be some sort of a noble…

No matter how big of a country this Kingdom was, the number of well educated people should be very limited. If this world is anything like the middle ages I read about in high-school, less than tenth of the population should be able to use proper grammar, not to mention able to read or write.

My options were rather limited. I can’t pretend to be a noble or a priest, I would get found out immediately. Same goes to being a knight, or an officer. My best bet is pretending to be an aide. But what was I doing on a ship? Who am I serving under?

“Don’t tell me...” Sir Renig leaned forward.

I have to come up with something fast! If they suspect me of being a spy, I will lose my head for sure. Ah, I really don’t want to die… Knowing those responsible for the afterlife, I will probably end up in some weird place again!

I have no choice. The only way is for me to wing it and hope for the best.

“You don’t remember your name, do you?” the princess inquired.

… Or I could pretend I’ve lost my memory. That works too.

“I have seen these things happen to soldiers,” Jerome assisted. “I thought this might be the case ever since I saw that stupid look on his face.”

You’re the one to talk, you over-sized bozo.

But I’ll take it.

“My deepest apologies, it seems that my memory is really hazy right now,” I piled on. “If the princess wants to know my name, I remember it. My name is Aili, but as for the name of my lord, I am deeply ashamed to say that I do not know it.”

“Aili, you say. An unusual name... Then, Aili, you can stay under our care until you regain your strength and your memory,” the princess announced.

It looked like the knight commander was going to say something, but now that the princess had made her decision there was no way for him to reject it. Good thing for me, I could really use some silence to gather my thoughts.

“Then are you feeling better, drowner?” Jerome refused to leave me be.

“Thank you, the strength is returning to my body, I’ll be up on my legs in no time.”

“My name is Jerome van Bilderhog and I am a royal guard to Her Majesty, first princess of Jarenbourg - Frederica Maria de Jarenbourg. And this is Albert de Ragossa, he’s a royal knight to Her Majesty,” Albert politely bowed his head when introduced.

Interestingly, Jerome introduced himself as a royal guard, but Albert as a royal knight. I may be overthinking it, but they seem to behave as equals or even partners. If I’m not mistaken, under normal circumstances, a knight would have an authority over a guard.

“Do not feel obligated to carry eternal gratitude for saving your life,” Albert apparently wasn’t a very modest person. “Instead, allow me to introduce the first knight commander --”

“There’s no need,” Sir Renig interjected. “I have no intention of getting to know you, drowner. Let’s all survive the night and go our separate ways.”

Under normal circumstances I would probably get offended, but as things were right now I couldn’t agree more. The more time I spend around a royalty and her guards, the higher the chance of my little play being cut short. Right now, I have to concentrate on getting my strength back so I could explore this world, find out what the hell is going on and make my way back.

But before that, something else caught my attention.

“Then Sir Jerome, if you don’t mind me asking,” I spoke. “Where are we right now, exactly?”

Jerome looked at his commander before answering, as if he was looking for approval. Renig turned away with a ‘hmpf’. Do what you want, was what he was saying.

“We are in the North-West of the Kingdom of Jarenbourg, just South of the border with the Germanian Empire,” Jerome reported.

“Weren’t you on a lookout for their soldiers?”

“That is true, their military was active in this area recently. Seeing how we are escorting Her Majesty, it would be most unfortunate to be found out.”

“Does that mean we are at war with Germania?”

“Not quite so. This area was a matter of debate for a long while now. Of course, seeing how this area belonged to the Kingdom for many years, Germania are now trying to seize it by force." Albert added. "Those barbarians, even though they know it’s rightfully ours!”

“Don’t say it like that, Albert.”

“Your Majesty!” Jerome jumped up to his feet.

“Both sides see themselves to be righteous, isn’t that the virtue of every conflict?” the princess said, without even looking in our direction. “The conflict right now still can be contained, if one of the sides were to give in. But you do not think that to be the case, do you, Sir Renig? You think we will see an all out war?”

“... Without any doubt, Your Highness,” Commander answered. “The war will break out, it’s only a matter of time.”

The silence fell in the cave once again. I still had questions I wanted to ask, but drawing any unnecessary attention to myself would be stupid. The best I can do right now is getting my strength back.

…

...

“By the bye,” I heard a voice.

My consciousness fading into a dream land, I lift my eyes to see Albert de Ragossa looking down at me. Oddly enough, it seems not long ago my mind was racing with a million thoughts rushing through my head, it felt like I won’t be able to catch any sleep tonight. Just when I actually started drifting away, I was approached by the less memorable of my two saviors.

Just my shitty luck.

“When we found your body, you were holding onto this. It seemed to be something really important to you, so I made sure to bring it back.”

Once he stretched out his hand with an item in his hand my mind went blank for a while.

Sir Albert, I honestly thought you were quite useless for a while, but turns out there’s value to you yet.

I took it from his hands and inspected it for a long moment.

“Was it the only thing? Did you see something else there?” I asked.

“No, not a thing.”

“I see. I highly appreciate it, Sir Albert. I am in your debt.”

“So it was something really important to you after all, just as I thought...” he said looking as smug as ever.

He stands there for a bit, as if waiting for me to praise him some more, but seeing as I’m too preoccupied with the item in my hands he walks away.

Who would’ve thought… Out of all the things for me to get…If I were an anime character, tears would be streaming down my face right now.

(If you had to go to a deserted island and could only take one thing with you, what would you take?)

The trick here is to take the one thing you’ll get the most use out of. Something like a firestarter or a knife.

Instead, the choice was made for me. What I was holding in my hands, and the one thing that I had brought with myself to this world, was a party pack of “Let`s” chips.

What luck.