Chapter 187: To the Mainz Kingdom

"I said the three of us would discuss it, but what do you intend to do?"

To be honest, my head was in chaos and I had no idea what to do. The margrave’s wife had said what she said, but I still wanted to return to the capital. Even though I had not lived together with her for very long since transferring to this world, I had felt the love poured on me as a mother. From Cass as well I had received more than enough affection both in heart and body. I was also worried about the Queen, but I did not think that woman was the type to simply take a beating and be finished. If there was to be opposition to Prince Maxim’s forces, would she not become the center of it? Ah, but if I thought that way, wouldn’t Prince Maxim be thinking the same thing as me? While I was mulling this over,

"Robby-sama, let us leave this place quickly and head for the Mainz Kingdom!"

Lily said, and Stevie also declared,

"That’s right. We should leave this mansion!"

"Why do you think that?"

When I asked, Lily stated firmly,

"No matter how one looks at it, we are a nuisance to the margrave."

I had not thought of that.

"A nuisance?"

At my question Lily answered with heavy breathing.

"Yes, that’s right! The margrave must want Robby-sama to leave the margraviate capital as soon as possible! Whether you head for the royal capital or go to the Mainz Kingdom, he must want you out of the margraviate capital in any case. If Robby-sama remains here, the margrave will be thought by Prince Maxim to be siding with Robby-sama. If the margrave were considering siding with Maxim, I believe he would either capture us and hand us over, or kill us and present the corpses. Since no such movements can be felt, the margrave is, if anything, sympathetic toward Robby-sama. It is hard to believe, but even if the margrave had given such an order, the margrave’s wife may be thinking of Robby-sama and granting a delay. Either way, I think it is better to leave the margraviate capital quickly."

When she put it that way, I thought she was exactly right.

"Certainly that’s true. If they intended to kill us they would have stationed soldiers inside the mansion, but there is no such presence."

"Yes, it cannot be felt."

"The inside of the mansion is calm, and no killing intent can be sensed."

Following Lily, Stevie offered her view. Was Stevie superior in that kind of sense?

Lily continued.

"Suppose the margrave sided with Prince Maxim and captured Robby-sama. After that, if Maxim fell from power, that would again become inconvenient for the margrave. Therefore the best thing for the margrave is for Robby-sama to depart from the mansion. Once Robby-sama has left the mansion, the margrave becomes uninvolved. Even if Maxim’s agents come, he need only say that Robby-sama has already departed."

"When you put it that way, it is certainly true."

Everything she said was convincing. My presence was a nuisance, and the fact that they had informed me of the upheaval in the capital should be taken as the greatest goodwill the margrave could show.

"I understand. Let’s leave the mansion. But I still have the desire to return to the capital..."

"I think it would be better if you refrained from that."

"The reason?"

"None of the three of us has any sense of the local geography. Both Stevie and I know only the inside of the capital. Therefore the only road back to the capital that we know is the one we came by. I believe there are side roads leading to the capital, but we do not know them either. Maxim’s agents will of course dispatch people who know the land. They will have considered that Robby-sama might use side roads to go to the capital, so those will also have been arranged. In that case, no matter which road we take we will be captured by Prince Maxim’s agents.

If Robby-sama possesses some ability that can guide the way and can travel roads that are not roads, that would be fine, but...?"

Lily and Stevie peered at my face. Umm, they were asking whether I had something like a navigation system, weren’t they. I wished I had such a convenient thing. Right now I keenly felt the value of a smartphone... Surely there were people who possessed such a skill, but unfortunately I did not. Won’t someone give it to me? Ah, even with a navigation system it is useless without an accurate map. The Japanese one was possible only because of Zen○in’s peerlessly accurate maps.

I shook my head at the two pairs of eyes filled with expectation and made them give up.

"No, I don’t have one."

"Then it would be better to think that you cannot return. Even if you travel roads that are not roads, I believe you would only get lost."

"I see... Stevie, you don’t have one either?"

I asked just in case. Stevie also shook her head and said with force,

"I don’t have one!"

There’s no need to put force into it there, Stevie.

So it was impossible after all. Anyone would think it impossible to advance through the mountains without being found by anyone and reach the capital. Hiding and advancing through those wheat fields was also impossible, right.

When I thought this way, I was useless. How high was my ability in this world? Was it perhaps average? I recalled that in isekai novels there was a story where a god gave the average of every single thing. Because I transferred without meeting a god, perhaps apart from mature-woman luck I had nothing special?

"Robby-sama, in the end let us enter the Mainz Kingdom here. Once we enter and then return to the kingdom, we can also make it appear that we have the support of the Mainz Kingdom. Since the margrave borders the Mainz Kingdom, he cannot want to be in conflict with it. Once it is known that Robby-sama has the backing of the Mainz Kingdom, his attitude should change as well, so for now let us go to the Mainz Kingdom!"

When Lily said this much, I became convinced that she was right.

"Understood. Let’s go to the Mainz Kingdom!"

""Yes!!""

Then we called the margrave’s wife and informed her that we would depart immediately. She said the attendants had already been woken and given a meal. Arrangements had been made in anticipation that I would decide to go to the Mainz Kingdom. From a third-party perspective that was surely the best course.

Considering the worst case, we decided to receive three horses. If pursuers caught up, we could abandon everything and the three of us alone could enter the Mainz Kingdom. Rather, that would be better.

When I said that, the margrave’s wife told us that the three of us should go ahead on horseback, and that the carriages would later be delivered to the Mainz Kingdom by the margrave’s subordinates. That was a good idea. I had not expected that much cooperation. Lily and Stevie also nodded.

After a hurried breakfast we went out to the entrance, where carriages were already lined up so that we could depart the moment I boarded. However, the attendants did not seem to have been told the reason for the early departure and wore puzzled faces. Yet they showed no expression of dissatisfaction.

Actually there had been a worry during breakfast. Might poison have been mixed into the food or drink? My skill judged it clean, and Lily and Stevie also nodded, so I boldly ate the meal. Even with poison, it did not necessarily mean death; there might be something that only caused paralysis. Even without mixing poison, there might be something that restrained with magic. I thought we had no choice but to believe in goodwill. Perhaps something had been cast, but maybe the Mental Magic Resistance the Queen had given me was working.