"Phew… I"m finally back."

The Royal Capital of Wilhelm, Lindwurm. Seeing the Fafnir Castle towering in its center at a distance, I deeply exhaled.

After making the King of Sahaja withdraw the army, I immediately left that country without making any detours.
My destination was of course in Wilhelm. The Fafnir Castle, where my master, Princess is waiting.
To be honest, until I crossed the border, I"d been worried about pursuers coming after me, but in the end, I reached Wilhelm without anything happening.
… Perhaps they had no time to worry about me.
On the way to the border I heard the villagers talking about the King"s death that seems to have happened right after I left the Royal Capital.
They were saying it was an unexpected accident, but probably Prince Maximilian directed it behind the scenes.
It was well-known in the underworld that Prince Maximilian was gaining allies and awaiting his chance, aiming at the position of the King, so I wasn"t surprised. If anything, I felt that it was finally over.
There were surprisingly few soldiers in the Royal Palace. It was the ideal opportunity to do it. It"s impossible that that man would waste it.

"In the end, even though I didn"t kill him, somebody else did…"

I felt quite complicated.
Even though I begrudgingly turned a blind eye to the enemy of my clan, I immediately felt like it was all for nothing.

―― If he died anyway, I wish I"d have killed him.

Those were unmistakably my true feelings that I"d sunk deep into my heart.
When I heard about the King"s death, they emerged regardless of my will.
I wanted to clear away the grudge I"d had for years. Of course, it wouldn"t really change anything, but even so, things would"ve been a little different.
I don"t want to do something that will make me unable to face Princess - my master.
It"s the truth that I withdrew my hand with that feeling. However, I wanted to kill that man about as much.
I was able to stop my blade at that time because Princess"s face flashed through my head.
Otherwise, I"m sure I would have killed that man.
I can a.s.sert that.

"… Even if I think about it, it can"t be helped."

I deeply sighed.
Supposing at that time I - when I was an a.s.sa.s.sin, I didn"t have such thoughts.
Because in that situation "supposing" didn"t happen.
If I"d been given a target, I simply killed it.
There was no other option. The question was how to reliably deal with the target.
That"s about it.
Thinking about it, my heart has considerably relaxed to have thoughts like "supposing".

"Haa…"

I looked at the distant Royal Capital. The beautiful pure-white Fafnir Castle surrounded by the four towns towered over the surroundings.
My master is there.
My only master, who"s waiting for my return.

"… Let"s hurry up and go home."

This gloomy feeling should settle down once I see Princess"s face. I"ll quickly tell Princess that I"ve returned to the country, and――.

"… I see."

I"ve spontaneously recognized Wilhelm as my home.
This is the feeling of "a place I belong to" that I had never felt in Sahaja.
Feeling it for the first time, I became deeply moved.

"Well, Princess will become the Queen before long. It can"t be helped that I think that."

Even though no one was listening, I justified myself. While I was scratching my head from the strange embarra.s.sment, a voice resounded in my head.

"What, you felt sentimental? Since you"re back in Wilhelm, stop by here before meeting that child."
"Whoa!"

Surprised by the unexpected voice, I reflexively raised my voice.
It was the familiar Granny"s voice.
I immediately understood it was telepathic communication, but I got splendidly fl.u.s.tered.

"Eh? Granny? Eh?"
"Who else could it be? Don"t be so fl.u.s.tered and answer immediately."
"Eeeh?"

I couldn"t help my surprise.
Because, I don"t remember ever making telepathic communication contract with Granny.
The only people who can be contacted with telepathic communication without the contract are blood-related family members.
Moreover.
The range I can communicate using telepathic communication is roughly on the level of covering the Royal Capital.
Right now I"m a little away from the Royal Capital. The hiding place where Granny lives is at a distance where it"s impossible for me to send telepathic communication.
While I was amazed that my voice could reach Granny despite that, a fed-up voice resounded inside my head.

"Quit your screaming. You heard what I said, right? It won"t take much time, so hurry up."
"O-Oi. Granny!"
"Then, I"m waiting."

Having said what she wanted to say, Granny cut off the telepathic communication.
In a hurry I tried to reconnect it, but naturally it didn"t connect.
After all, I don"t have a telepathic communication contract with Granny.

"… Of course. There"s… no way it would connect. Haha… Hahaha. Granny is unbelievable…"

Normally I think that about Princess"s husband, but after all, she isn"t called a witch for nothing.
Granny easily surpa.s.sed him.
She held telepathic communication without a contract. Moreover, it ignored distance.
Just what kind of magic did she use to make it possible?
No matter how I look at it, it"s impossible.

"Somehow, I only have ridiculous people around me…"

Suddenly I noticed that and muttered.
After all, the Crown Prince can freely control the return magical art, and Granny can use telepathic communication without a contract.
And of course, Princess uses neutralization magic like it"s nothing. Everyone is absurd.
However I thought.
Maybe I can be myself because I"m surrounded by such absurd people.
Because normally, I wouldn"t fit in.
I"m a former a.s.sa.s.sin and the only survivor of the Hiyuma clan. And that"s not all.
I"m aware. I"m broken in various ways.
I"m sure such a broken me can only be a Hiyuma because I"m at Princess"s side.
I"m glad I met Princess from the bottom of my heart.
Since my childhood, my life had never been decent.
However, I think that after meeting Princess, my life has finally begun going in a good direction.

"… I want to see her face soon."

While thinking about Princess, I became unable to sit still.
I want to run straight to the Fafnir Castle.
However, because I"m indebted to Granny in various ways, I can"t ignore her summons. She said it wouldn"t take long, so it can"t be helped.
Granny lives in the southern town. The Royal Castle is not far from there.
I can just think of it as a quick side trip.

"Oh well. Should I go…?"

I cracked my neck. I still have some way to go to the Royal Capital, but using Hiyumas" secret art, it won"t take long.
Freely activating the art, I finally returned to the Royal Capital where my master is waiting.