Chapter 3: Shirou and the Princess

August 17th, 2022

The princess, which her name was Christia, glared at the surrounding soldiers.

“You dare lock a royalty such as me inside a place like this…”

The noble-like woman, which must be the princess’ enemy, only laughed.

“No way we can just put Regalta’s war princess under house arrest. It will be safer to put you in here instead”

“Don’t think this is over. The eastern garrison has not yet fall”

“Coming from someone who lost the capital, it only sounded like the howling of a losing dog”

“Guh…. If only General Houston didn’t betray us”

“Whatever you say now is useless, useless, useless, you know. Anyway, it might feel a bit cramped but until the execution three days from now, we’re going to have those handcuffs stay just like that. At least you can have that man to take care of any necessities you might have. A right person at the right time I’d say. Who knows, maybe you can ask him to comfort you from your misfortune too”

The noble-like woman then left the cell while laughing loudly.

Doesn’t seem like they would let me out of the cell anytime soon.

This is very troubling…

After seeing that her enemy already left, the princess then sits on the bed.

Even though she didn’t order me to stand, but I remain standing as is.

Looking ahead with a troubled expression, I can see that her face is full of sorrow. Doesn’t seem like this is a good time to start a conversation.

Even though there’s mountain of things I want to ask about.

“Fuuuh….”

Suddenly, the princess let out a heavy sigh.

“Jeez… this is a bad situation, isn’t it”

Instead of speaking to me, I feel like she’s only talking to herself.

But I can use this to start a conversation.

“It seems like Your Highness is in a terrible situation indeed”

The other party is a princess, so I need to be mindful to use honorific.

Since I’m a sensible member of a society, at least I can do this much.

The princess that I spoke to looked at me as if she was surprised.

 “To think that you would directly speak to me… Well no matter, after all I’m just a captured princess now. I don’t think social standing no longer matter at the moment, right? Fufu”

She laughed self-mockingly, but I think I’m in the clear to have direct conversation with her.

 “Would it be fine for me to ask questions?”

“Hm? It’s fine. Ask as much as you want. It’s not like we have other things to do now anyway”

Since I have the permission, I’ll be asking many questions now.

“Where are we now?”

“We’re at the prison cell now”

Many of my superiors back then also like to throw lame jokes like this, and I hate most of them.

But since the one doing it right now is a princess, I better behave myself.

Looking at my troubled face, the princess slightly smiled.

“My bad, I guess it was a bad joke. Naturally this is Regalta kingdom’s capital, Regalta. Were you brought here from somewhere else?”

Rather then brought here, I was transported here.

Thanks to that flounder, it was an inter-worlds-transportation.

“I’m not someone from this world. I don’t know how to explain it very well, but I was actually transported here from another world”

The princess stared at me intently, as if trying to digest what I’ve said. She then pulled my hand to let me sit on the edge of the bench.

“Poor thing, it seems you got hit in the head. Since you’re well-dressed I assume you’re a son from a good family. What’s the name of your parents? Can you tell me that?”

Yeah, I’m aware that what I just said must sound crazy, however, there is magic in this world right? Then it shouldn’t be surprising if there’s actually some kind of magic to summon people from another world!

“My name is Sanada Shirou”

“Sanada… Sheero?”

“Sanada is my family name”

The princess then slightly nods her head. It seems like she’s thinking with her eyes half-closed.

“I can’t recall a family name of Sanada. From the sound of it, it looks like a foreign family name. It doesn’t seem like the family name of the people in our country. Also I don’t think such family name exist in the empire either.”

I don’t think the empire here would refer to Japan, since the last time Japan referred to itself as empire would be when my grandparents were just little kids.

“And you are called Shirou, huh? How old are you?”

“I will be 24 this year”

“You’re saying that you’re older than me? Even though you look this young?”

While saying that, the princess sitting beside me is stroking my head.

I’m totally being treated like a kid with a loose screw.

That being said, the woman of this country really has large body size.

Maybe comparable to the Germans, or the Dutch.

My height is 168 cm, but the princess here is much taller than me.

Also, her breast is quite big.

On top of being a beauty, the princess has a really good style.

Involuntarily, my face is starting to turn red.

“Fufufu, are you feeling shy? Such a cute reaction. Don’t worry though, I won’t do such a thing like forcing myself upon you”

Compared to the woman soldiers before, I feel that the princess is really good-natured.

She has polite manner and treats me with nothing but kindness.

Although it’s possible that she treated me like that because she thinks I’m pitiful… that being said, I would hate to do it with the soldiers, but if she were to become my partner, I would totally be OK with it!

Rather, I would very much want to be embrace by her!

No no no, it’s neither here nor there.  

Right now, rather than focusing on lust, it’s much better to try gaining more information.

“Your Highness, isn’t there any man around here? Ever since I came to this country, I’ve yet to see a single male”

“Since we are currently in state of war, I’m sure every man is hiding right now. If any of them would wander around, they might get taken away by the soldiers just like you did”

It seems like all the soldiers here are women.

“Isn’t there any male soldiers?”

“Man can’t use magic though? They’re also physically inferior to woman. Our country only employed female as soldiers. The enemy country, Rurugoa Empire, is also the same”

The princess explained it slowly, as if trying to get the point across to a dim-witted kid.

I see, so men can’t use magic huh?

Hmm?

Something’s not right.

If I remember correctly on what the flounder was saying.

It said something about giving me creation magic or things like that…

“Hey Shirou, where do you hail from anyway?”

I would like to ponder more about magic, but the princess asked me a question. It would be rude to ignore her.

“The country where I come from is called Japan”

“And where is it located?”

“Uh, well, you see….”

“Sorry, sorry, it seems like the question is a bit too difficult”

Again, I’m being treated like a complete dimwit. There was no malicious intent though, but it’s still a bit irritating.

“What kind of country is Japan?”

Let’s answer this question intelligibly so I can change her perception of me!

“It’s an island country surrounded by oceans. It has population of about 126 million people. An economic powerhouse with advanced technology and industry”

Did I make a good impression?

“Ahahahahahaha. I see I see, so even though it’s an island country it has more than three times the population of the empire. My my, your story is so amusing, Shirou. My bad. I guess you were just trying to cheer me up, that’s why you came up with such outlandish story. I thought you were just a bit soft in the head, but it seems I was wrong”

That’s not the reason why…

“You have my gratitude. Even though I will be publicly executed in three days but I’m really glad that you’re here with me”

“Haaaahhh… Excuse me, Your Highness is able to use magic, right?”

“But of course. It can be said that I’m one of the five top offensive magic experts in the country”

“If that’s the case, couldn’t you somehow do something to escape from here?”

I wanted to know the specific on how magic is being used.

That’s because, the only magic I’ve seen up to now is to control the man’s lower body part.

 “Unfortunately, there is this handcuff here. This is a special magic item; unless I can remove it, I’m unable to use my magic.   I can’t even use body reinforcement magic. In my current state, I’m just as frail as a man”

Hohoo… In summary, this world’s woman has superior standing than man because they can use magic.

 That’s why the soldiers and nobles were all women.

“Suppose that you can remove the handcuff, is it possible to escape from here?”

“Yeah. I’m strong you know, they called me the War Princess of Regalta. I can easily break through from this kind of prison. However, finding a secure route to avoid pursuit might be a different matter”

The princess’ wrists are being handcuffed by some metallic shackles. Doesn’t seem like it can come off by hitting it.

“Um, what will happen to me then?”

“I’m not sure… I don’t think they will kill you. Unfortunately, you might be enslaved and given to an aristocrat as a reward for participating in war. Or you might be transported to frontier area as pioneer, I think.

I can’t imagine a good future by being either a slave or a pioneer.

I need to somehow escape from this place …

“Sorry. The reason it comes to this, partly because I can’t stop the empire’s invasion to our country. I hope you can forgive me”

The princess is seriously apologizing to me.

“No, this is not Your Highness’ fault”

The one at fault is the soldiers that captured me, and that flounder.

Speaking of which, that flounder was saying that I would be able to use magic.

Right now, it’s important to confirm about the existence of magic.

“Your highness, how would someone normally use magic?”

“How to use magic? To put it simply…. the young ones would do deep contemplation to find out their own characteristics but, everybody instinctively know how to do it. That’s common knowledge”

Is that so…

So I need to do deep contemplation….

How do I do that anyway?

If I calmly search within myself, will I understand what kind of magic I’d be able to use?

…. let’s give it a try.