Chapter 191 The Adversity Of Being A Bystander

[Layland Kleinhaus' POV]

Looking at the Princess who is munching on the apple while looking at me intensely, I wonder if this world has no stereotypical Princess that is depicted in fairy tales. Rather than a Princess, after all, I feel like I am looking at a hungry cat eating her food.

Sighing lightly, I turn around to face the Wild Beast that still decided to come at me even after being blasted by Genelos' Mana Pressure. It is a bigger-than-normal Tigris, which is a 15 feet tall tiger with a pair of fearsome fangs protruding out of its mouth.

"Ah, bastards like this guy are indeed adrenaline junkies. They like to stick their noses into places they don't belong to," I mutter, inwardly commending the bravery of the stupid bastard.

Kicking the ground in the next moment, I dash toward the Tigris. Said Beast pounces at me when I am less than 20 feet away from it and I greet it with my powerful punch: [Death Blow].

Boom!

I hit the Tigris right in its stomach. There are a few seconds of it suspended in the air by my fist before my fist passes through its stomach.

Spurt!

I have expected something like that to happen, so I am not surprised at all when the innards of the beast come out. I have shielded myself with Mana too, so I don't worry about getting gore and bits of innards hitting me.

I retract my fist immediately and grasp the head of the dead beast. I throw it upwards at Genelos; he catches it with his mouth and immediately munches on it.

When I turn around to look at the condition of the Princess, I find her looking at me in astonishment. I put on my mask as I approach her and that somehow awakens her from her dazzled state.

"You look incredibly well compared to the state you were in before," I remark, gesturing at her fair-colored skin.

"Ah, yes… thanks to you." The Princess nods her head slowly and then hesitantly asks me, "Do you have any reason for wearing a mask?"

"Are you wondering why I showed you my face?" This question earns a nod from the Princess. "I wear a mask because of the same reason why anyone wears a mask: to hide my identity. I showed you my face for one reason—do you know what that is?"

"N-No…" the Princess shakes her head with a hint of fear.

"It's because I want to put my trust in you—I want you to stand on my side. In other words, had you refused to cooperate, I would have killed you."

"O-Oh, I see…"

Whatever the Princess is seeing, I am sure it is not the one I want her to see. I expected her to become even more fearful after what I said, but she is blushing for some weird reason.

'None of the Princess I have met is normal, eh?' I muse, fully knowing I have only met two so far.

Offering the Princess my hand, I pull her up when she takes it. Ignoring the fact that she doesn't want to immediately let my hand go, I take a proper look at her.

Lunea dis Cresundia, the sole daughter of the Solas dis Cresundia, the King of Cresundia. She has waist-length hair, silver hair that reminds me of the color of the moon and a sharp jaw but slightly chubby cheeks which make her look both mature and childish.

Physique-wise, she doesn't suit to be on the battlefield; she is fit, but she is more suited to be a model than a fighter. She has the same height as Millonia, which is 5'9", but has more noticeable mounds than Millonia's; although, not that significantly more noticeable.

"We are going. Embrace yourself," I say as I finished inspecting her.

"Eh?" she looks at me bemused.

Without saying anything, I pull her by her hand and throw her upwards with the help of Wind Magic so I don't accidentally break her fragile hand. She screams hysterically as the wind carries her to Genelos' back.

I kick the ground and land on Genelos' back soon after. Lunea is sitting there with a pale face; her whole body is trembling as she looks at me in horror.

"You… sometimes you are smooth, but sometimes you are very dense in this kind of matter. A weird one, aren't you?" Millonia remarks.

"What do you mean smooth? I have never even flirted with Valeria," I retort as I quirk my eyebrow.

"Ah, so you are that type of bastard."

I got even more confused; ignoring me, however, Millonia turns to Lunea and smiles softly at her. I have seen her smile when we are alone, so I know that smile of her is not sincere.

"Hello, Princess, or may I call you Lunea?" she asks, earning a nod from Lunea. "My name is Millonia. I am this guy's companion—a human, just like you."

"A-Ah, nice to meet you, Millonia," Lunea responds as she shakes Millonia's hand.

Millonia gestures at Winerva and says, "That is Winerva. Like me, she is that guy's companion, but instead of helping him fight, she cooks food for us—a maid, you can call her."

"Nice to meet you, Winerva."

"Yeah… nice to meet you too… Lunea."

The Princess has a good instinct. Despite how friendly Millonia behaves, she knows something is wrong with the mad woman, so she is more willing to befriend Winerva instead.

As if realizing what is happening, Millonia lets Winerva sit close to Lunea and sits right behind me. She then hugs my waist as she sighs in disappointment.

"Where are we going next?" she asks after sighing.

'Too bad that you can't make a new friend, isn't it?' I chuckle inwardly. "Well, we are going to the nearest Barony to rest. It has been two days since we had a proper rest anyway."

"So, you do care about such a thing," she remarks, acting surprised.

"I don't really think we need a rest, but we have to do something about the Princess," I gesture at Lunea. "She is targeted by a lot of people, so there is a need for her to change her appearance. I need your help to dress her so that she is unrecognizable."

"Why don't you just put a mask on her?"

"A suspicious man in our group is enough—we don't need a suspicious woman."

"Heh… so, you realize that you look suspicious," she remarks with a smirk.

"Shut it, bitch," I retort, ignoring her chuckle. "Everyone, hold on! We are going to resume the flight."

When the girls are ready, I tell Genelos to soar to the sky. He immediately does what I asked and flies through the air even faster than a bullet.

Lunea screams at the top of her lungs; not out of fear but excitement. That is weird considering how she reacted after I threw her onto Genelos' back, but she is a weird fellow so I don't think much about it.

…

The Princess is troublesome. It is still less than two hours since our landing and she has disappeared from our vision.

"I know this Barony, so I am going to look around!" was the last thing she said to Millonia after cleaning herself and changing into casual clothes.

I asked Millonia why she even let Lunea go and she confidently answered me with, "She looks just like an incredibly pretty plebeian now, you know? Don't worry, no one will think she is that Lunea."

Now, I am not worried about Lunea getting harassed by locals because of her beauty; she is a skilful Mage, so no civilian can touch her. I am worried about the Bounty Hunters chasing her butt since they will be able to somehow recognize her.

Because of that, I am forced to explore the entire Barony just to look for her. The saving grace is that my partner, Teanosvera is great at looking for people.

'You should have put a Geas on her, Layland,' Luxia comments. 'It would have been easier if you did.'

'The look people give me is rather annoying for that—that is why I didn't,' I reply.

'Is that why you canceled Millonia's Geas?'

I figured that the Geas on Millonia's forehead attracts too much attention. I canceled it on day two to minimize the attention that our weird group already attracts—it works.

Millonia, being the perverted woman she is, felt it was unfortunate since we wouldn't be able to play like a master and slave. I told her that I could spank her anytime I wanted, causing her to turn bright red and silent.

'Now that I think about it, she is just a virgin with a dirty mouth, isn't she?' as I muse about this, I pass a narrow alley. I see a movement in my peripheral vision and that causes me to turn around to look.

"N-No! I am not going to let you taint me, you vile creature!"

"Shut it, woman! I need you alive so don't move too much!"

I have found the target before Teanosvera; Lunea is pinned to the wall while trying to prevent the horny, idiotic Bounty Hunter from ripping her clothes. I sigh lightly at that and then dash at them to end the scene.

Bam!

"Kyaa! Oh, thanks for the help…"

I smashed the Bounty Hunter's head into the wall, right beside Lunea, and then stare at her unamused. She smiles sheepishly as if she didn't do anything wrong, provoking my urge to bash her head against the wall.