Chapter 78 - 78 The Ice Castle
Steve arrived at the Warner mansion. This time, it was a solo trip for Steve. Erica's magic had run wild and was dangerous, so Christina could not come along. Furthermore, since there was no war to fight, there was no need for Bella as an escort. As for Nancy, he did not want her to be seen by too many people. These were the circumstances of his solo trip.
Waiting to welcome Steve were Baron Warner, his wife, and his younger sister, Ashley.
Baron Warner immediately dropped to the ground in a deep bow to apologize.
"Your Excellency has gone to the trouble of visiting, but my daughter has run away from the mansion. I am terribly sorry."
"Oh? What kind of circumstances is this?"
Steve's eyes widened at the information that the daughter who had been staying indoors had suddenly run away.
"That is the thing; we do not understand the circumstances ourselves either. My daughter, who had not left her room for several years, suddenly left the house without warning."
"Did you not post guards?"
"Yes. She was not acting violently or anything like that."
Baron Warner kept his forehead pressed against the floor as he replied to Steve.
Once Steve regained his composure, he felt that such an apology was unnecessary and told Baron Warner that he did not need to bow so deeply.
"Baron Warner, there is no need to bow. There must be some circumstances behind this. Well, I suppose those circumstances are my visit. Did you inform her of this?"
"No, we have not informed her."
"Hmm. Is there anything else unusual compared to usual?"
"Yes. However, I also ordered the servants not to tell Erica of Your Excellency's visit."
Baron Warner had kept Erica from knowing that Steve was coming. He thought it would be troublesome if she misunderstood and went into a frenzy. Since she was staying indoors and would not leave her room anyway, she should have been able to meet Steve whenever he came.
Ashley, the daughter, whose father had turned blue with fear, made a proposal.
"Father, Your Excellency Archibalt has gone to the trouble of visiting. Is it not shameful to keep him staying here when my sister is not present?"
"That is true, but I asked Margrave Sowell to request Your Excellency Archibalt to come, hoping he might be able to improve Erica's magic runaway. It is unbearable to lock that child up in a room for her whole life. I want to do something about it on this occasion."
At this moment, Ashley realized she was making a terrible misunderstanding.
"Father, did not Your Excellency Archibalt come to dispose of Erica?"
"What are you saying? Why would I ask Your Excellency to kill my own daughter?"
Baron Warner did not understand the meaning of what Ashley was saying.
Ashley, realizing she could no longer hide it, reported that she had misunderstood and instructed Erica to run away.
Ashley cried and apologized for her hasty judgment.
"I... I thought Erica was going to be killed and told her to run away."
"What have you done!"
Baron Warner, angry, tried to slap Ashley's cheek. Steve hurriedly grabbed his hand to stop him.
"Now, now, Baron Warner. Even if it was a misunderstanding, is it not a beautiful family love? It is an action born of caring for her sister, and I am not angry. Now, shall we go call Lady Erica? Where is she?"
Seeing that Steve was not angry, Baron Warner also calmed his anger. Then, he himself asked his daughter where Erica was.
"Ashley, do you know where Erica is?"
"Yes. I told her to run away to the mountains."
Ashley said so while crying.
"Has she been spending days in the mountains?"
When Steve asked curiously, Ashley nodded.
"Erica can build a house with magic. So I thought she would be fine."
"She will need food as well."
"It is a place we played in when we were children, so I know which tree fruits are edible."
The mountains possessed rich nature, and there were many edible tree fruits. Since she had played there since childhood, Erica knew which ones were edible.
With a house and food, living would not be a problem. That was why Ashley had told Erica to run away to the mountains.
"Then, let us go search for her in the mountains immediately."
Steve and the others decided to go look for Erica in the mountains.
Meanwhile, at that time, Erica was waiting at the Ice Castle for Ashley to come calling her. According to plan, Steve should have arrived at the mansion today, found that Erica was not there, and given up and returned. If that happened, she thought Ashley would come to call her.
Just then, a Golem guard came to announce a visitor.
"Oh, Ashley has come already. We cannot play together inside this castle, but perhaps through the Ice Castle gate, I can see Ashley's face for the first time in a while."
Erica's steps were light as she hurriedly moved toward the castle gate.
However, the visitor was not Ashley. It was a misunderstanding by Erica, precisely because the Golem could not converse.
On the other side of the Ice Castle gate stood a young man with blonde hair. He stood next to the Golem outside, looking this way.
"Who might you be?"
Erica looked at the man with a suspicious expression.
"My name is Oakley. I wish to request an audience with the lord of this castle."
The man introduced himself as Oakley.
"The lord is me. What is your business?"
"Actually, I crossed the mountains from the Kingdom of Pinebay, and while looking for a place to rest, I found this castle. Could you possibly let me stay for one night?"
Oakley asked for permission to stay. Erica was troubled. Should she let a young man into the castle and spend the night with him?
"Let me think about it for a moment."
"Understood."
Since Erica could not answer immediately, she was given time to think. Oakley accepted this. In fact, at this moment, Oakley himself was conflicted. He thought the probability of someone living in an ice castle deep in the mountains being normal was low. Furthermore, upon realizing the woman responding to him was the castle lord, he felt she was even more unusual. He worried that staying there might lead to him being attacked in his sleep and eaten.
However, it was a fact that Oakley had crossed the mountains from the Kingdom of Pinebay. He was already exhausted and had no physical strength left to walk any further. And even if resting, he thought it would be better to be inside the Ice Castle than outside where there was a danger of being attacked by wild animals.
Before Erica could make a decision, the area outside the castle walls became noisy.
"There he is! This way!"
A man different from Oakley appeared and shouted that.
Soon, the companions of the shouting man appeared, and Oakley was surrounded.
"Prince Oakley, we will take your life. Oh, before that, please give us the Royal Jewel."
A man who seemed to be the leader pointed a sword at Oakley.
(Prince Oakley?)
Erica found it strange that the young man before her was called a prince. Even stranger were the people pointing swords at the prince. They did not have the vulgar air of thieves; they looked like regular soldiers.
It was an intuition, but thinking she must save Prince Oakley, Erica ordered the Golems to eliminate the men surrounding him.
"What is this ice doll?"
"Captain, we cannot cut it with swords."
"Damn it, let's go back and bring a mage."
The soldiers, realizing their attacks were ineffective against the Ice Golem, turned back the way they came.
With the enemies gone, Erica opened the castle gate and invited Prince Oakley inside.
"Welcome to my castle, Prince Oakley."
Erica greeted Prince Oakley.
"It seems my identity has been revealed. I am Oakley Pinebay, the First Prince of the Kingdom of Pinebay. Thank you for saving me from a dangerous situation. By the way, what is your name?"
"I am Erica Warner, the daughter of the lord of this land."
"The daughter of a lord? Then, is the lord of this castle present?"
"No. Only I am here."
Erica revealed the circumstances of why she was here to Oakley.
"I see. I have also heard of Your Excellency Archibalt's story. So a martial man like him came to dispose of Lady Erica?"
"Yes. But my sister should have driven him away. So, today will be the last time I part with this castle."
"Then, could you take me with you when you return home?"
"Why would a prince go to a house?"
Oakley had circumstances regarding this, and he spoke them to Erica.
"In fact, there is currently a movement in my country for my younger brother to usurp the throne. My father, the King, fell from his horse, suffered a severe injury, and has not regained consciousness. Therefore, it was decided that he would not live much longer. At that time, nobles supporting my younger brother, the Second Prince, launched an attack targeting my life. I escaped here protected by my subordinates, but finally, even the last one became a decoy to let me escape, and now there is no one left."
"How could that be. But, why come to my house?"
"Lady Erica's father is a lord. Therefore, I wish to have him introduce me to the King of this country. In fact, the group just now was also targeting the Royal Jewel I brought with me, simultaneously with my life. This is something held by the legitimate heir to the throne. According to the laws of the Kingdom of Pinebay, the King must possess this Royal Jewel. While acting in the King's stead, I held this, but without it, my younger brother cannot succeed to the throne. I intend to present this to the King of this country and borrow troops to quell the rebellion in the Kingdom of Pinebay."
A typical family feud was occurring in the Kingdom of Pinebay. When it became clear that the current King would not regain consciousness and had no future, the faction of the Second Prince attempted to usurp the throne by force. The Oakley side, caught off guard, somehow succeeded in escaping Oakley from the Royal Capital, but the pursuit by the Second Prince's faction remained relentless, eventually cornering them all the way to the border.
And now, conflicts by various factions are occurring in different places. Oakley wanted to quell this.
Erica, who was far removed from such family feuds, voiced the question she had in mind to Oakley.
"Is it not okay for my younger brother to succeed to the throne? I have a younger sister, but I think it is fine for a sister to inherit the family."
"If my younger brother were capable, that would be fine. However, it is clear that my young brother would become a puppet. In some cases, he might be killed somewhere. Therefore, the nobles who planned this usurpation must be eliminated."
The Second Prince, Oakley's younger brother, was still a minor. That was why he was easy to push forward. The one pushing him was the Duke, the King's actual younger brother. If he eliminated Oakley and then disposed of the Second Prince later on, the throne would become his own. That was the intention behind these actions.
However, such circumstances were unimaginable to Erica, and
"It is quite difficult,"
was all she could say.
At that moment, Oakley's stomach growled.
"Oh, I apologize before a lady. I could not eat anything while running away."
While desperately fleeing from pursuers, there was no time to eat. Furthermore, he did not have any food to begin with.
Erica offered fruit to such Oakley. It was a bright red apple.
"What is this?"
"It is sweet and delicious. You eat it as is, but would it be improper for a Prince?"
"No, that is not the case. I will take it."
As Oakley reached out his hand to the apple Erica had offered, Erica let out a cry.
"Ah!"
Startled by this, Oakley stopped his hand.
"What is it?"
"My magic always runs wild. If you touch me, Prince Oakley, you will surely end up in a terrible state."
Erica said so, but Oakley, unable to withstand his hunger, took the apple from Erica's hand. Erica looked at Oakley anxiously, but there was no change in his appearance.
"No, nothing happened, but will something happen from now on?"
"That is not the case. Is it really nothing at all?"
"Nothing. Then, let me take it."
Saying that, Oakley took a bite of the apple.
"It is delicious."
"Right? If you make this into jam and put it on bread, it is very delicious."
"I would like to try eating it sometime."
"Then, when we go home, I will try asking to prepare it."
The two said so and naturally smiled.
Just then, the Golem came again to announce a visitor.
"This time, I think it is my sister, Ashley."
"I see. Then I must greet her as well."
Saying that, the two headed toward the castle gate.
And there at the castle gate was Ashley. However, Baron Warner, Steve, and the soldiers were also with her.