166 – Big Deal 8

Immediately after the intense light disappeared, Ophelia’s face hardened.

However, it wasn’t the pain that made her face look like this.

‘this..’

There was no sensation of pain at all.

The coldness in her expression at this moment was the result of recognizing her mistake.

“Did I win?”

“… ”

A wooden sword draped around Ophelia’s neck.

It contained no magical energy, but on the contrary, even if it contained only a small amount of magical energy, it meant that Ophelia’s life would have ended here.

‘I never thought I’d pretend to use that ultimate magic… To be honest, I thought I lost my cool and ran out of energy in the situation where my finger was cut off.’

A match that was decided at once as a result of one’s mistake in making a wrong judgment in an instant.

At this, Ophelia tasted a very painful feeling and slowly knelt down as if collapsing.

“I lost. It is my defeat.”

“Whoops~”

Elios smiles happily at Ophelia’s declaration.

Then, she put the wooden swords in her hands into her waist and held out her hand to Ophelia.

“Thanks, it was quite fun. I think it’s the first time I’ve felt this much excitement even though it’s a simple sparring.”

Elios laughing and talking

However, seeing that her finger had been cut off as she spoke, Ophelia asked cautiously.

“..Are you okay? Your finger…”

Although it was a battle openly risking their lives, the situation in which the princess’s body was injured during the sparring anyway.

Of course, that kind of wound could easily be recovered with magic, but I thought that it might be a problem from Ophelia’s point of view.

Seeing Ophelia expressing such concern, Elios said without losing his smile.

“With this much, wouldn’t it be possible to get hurt a little while playing with a friend?”

“friend?”

Princess Elios said something unexpected. Ophelia momentarily began to have doubts, and the princess spoke in a bright voice as she looked at her.

“Yes friend, as you know, we have been fighting quite a few times in the meantime, haven’t we? While facing each other with swords enveloped in magical power, aiming for the other’s life. At this point, can’t we both regard each other as mere enemies?”

Ophelia didn’t really want to admit Elios’ words, but she couldn’t quite deny it.

As a warrior, the act of fighting to the death against the existence of an enemy.

In a way, it was the sharing of intense emotions as much as the affection between a man and a woman, which Ophelia also acknowledged in her heart.

He puts swords into swords with his opponent, gauges his skills, and spends countless hours and effort to defeat them.

In order to find even a little bit of gap, I try to figure out even the smallest habit, and I try to find out in detail about the ability to use and the part of that capacity.

Except for the fact that the purpose was to defeat the other person, it could be said that this was an act of understanding someone deeply and accurately, more than a lover finding out about each other.

‘The so-called. The blood-divided friendship between warriors must be a story about something like this.’

Plus, crucially, Bahamut, her current owner, is conducting a deal with Emperor Robezecha, the owner of this country and mother of this woman.

In the past, they were in the position of enemies, but now they are on the same boat.

from that point of view. As she said, the expression friend is not very wrong.

Reaching such a conclusion, Ophelia stood up holding the hand of the White Dragon Princess, who was reaching out to him, and Elios smiled flawlessly.

*

Bahamut and the others prepare to leave after a long story about the deal.

To see them off, Elios and the Duke of Selib personally came out to the front of the imperial castle.

“Sorry, to be honest, I had a lot of fun talking to you.”

“I, too, was able to have a very meaningful time while talking with the Duke. I don’t know if I will have another opportunity like this in the future, but I will never forget the stories we shared here.”

Duke Sellive expresses his sincere regret and Bahamut responds with a smile.

However… Apart from the appearance of smiling with regret on the outside, Bahamut was actually full of thoughts of wanting to leave this disgusting place as soon as possible.

It wasn’t because of the transaction part.

To be honest, the stories I had met and shared with Emperor Roseveta in person were prepared in advance, so there was no great pressure.

The problem… was about the Duke of Selibe, who was in front of him at this moment.

‘Seriously, why are you asking so many questions? Even each one is so large and complicated that the scale is useless. I’m a trader, a trader! No matter how many questions I ask about politics or diplomacy, there is a limit to how I can answer them!’

Seriously, if it weren’t for the duke, Bahamut was pretty exhausted from answering a barrage of questions that he would have been afraid to skip.

Of course, more than half of them were really rough answers, but for some reason, this bastard prime minister seemed to accept even those answers as if they meant something big.

‘Well… I don’t know how he would have known. It probably has nothing to do with me. Anyway, I should refrain from visiting the Dragona Empire in person if possible in the future..’

While thinking so, Bahamut climbed into the carriage as it was without regret.

On the other hand, apart from the owner who was experiencing such a disgusting feeling, Ophelia began to feel a bit regretful while looking at the person in front of her eyes.

‘I really never thought that I would feel this kind of feeling while looking at this person..’

Aside from his master’s busy dealings, Ophelia had a relatively leisurely time with Elios.

Chatting, going around the tourist attractions near the imperial castle, or having sparring while adjusting to some extent.

Literally, the fact that I had to break up with her now automatically made me feel sad, as much as I had had a good time doing things I could do with friends.

“Sorry, see you later. At that time, he will probably come stronger than he is now, right?”

“..I will try my best to make it happen.”

“Whoops.”

Seeing Ophelia respond politely to his words, Elios gave a small smile.

Certainly, compared to the first time she came here, her appearance, which had become noticeably softer, was giving her considerable satisfaction.

“Then, until we meet next time, please be healthy.”

With those words, Ophelia climbed into the carriage, and right after that, the carriage started running along the road, heading towards Schwyz.

And after a while, they disappear completely from view.

Elios, with a little curiosity, asked the Duke of Selib next to her.

“Looks like you had a pretty good time with those people, too. What were you talking about?”

“hahahaha. That’s the point..”

At Elrios’s question, a smile slowly began to form on Duke Selib’s lips.

It was such a smile that seemed to contain deep anticipation for what was to come.

“Very important. At the same time, we had a very interesting story. I’ll go into details in a bit, and I’ll do it in Your Majesty’s presence.”

“Huh… Seeing that Sellive said that much, it must have been quite an interesting conversation, right? what. great. Then let’s wait for a while.”

With those words, Elios returned to the castle as it was.

Following her, Marquis Selibe once again began to recall the contents of the conversation he had with Bahamut.

‘It’s a change of gaze… Bahamut, that person told me a very good story. Is it true that the colossus that shakes the continent is different? Just like Rosebeta said, even if it means paying a heavy price, we need to keep it on our side.’