It was halfway between morning and afternoon.
Four adventurers and a princess were walking along a road cut through the forest, and the sun was shining warmly above them.

'Well, it's a beautiful day. It's a perfect day for a picnic.

Irene, walking beside me in her boyish traveling clothes, let out such a comment.
I'm a little worried, so I ask her to confirm.

'...... Just to confirm, do you understand that this trip is a mission under the order of the king?

'Ah, what the hell is that? I know that! I'm already 17, I don't need you to keep treating me like a child!

Irene showed a hint of anger at my pointing out.
The gesture was so childish that I couldn't help but laugh.

After receiving the nomination quest that Irene had given us, we immediately left the royal capital with her and headed for the Count of Goldart's territory.

The content of the nomination quest we received was to 'assist the knight Irene and help her accomplish her mission'.
This is a very rough description, but since it is based on mutual trust, there is no problem with this.

The reward for this nomination quest is one hundred and fifty gold coins for the party.
In addition to this, the party will receive travel expenses for the journey.

This reward is four times the market price for a party of three E rank adventurers and one F rank adventurer, which is an unbelievable amount of money. I really wanted to pay more, but I was able to talk to the financiers and just barely convince them to pay this amount,' said Irene.

Now that we have received the nomination quest, Irene and I are now in a relationship of employer and employee.
Therefore, I am now in a position to support Irene.

Irene, my employer, suddenly asked me in the course of our conversation.

'So, Will, what do you think I should do?

'...... What do you mean, what should I do?

'How to attack~. Even though Count Goldert is doing evil, it's not clear if it's true or not, right? It's possible that he doesn't have any troops because he applied for an increase in the budget because he doesn't need troops as Will told him to, but even if that's not the case, he can't just suddenly invade the mansion and say he's on a mission. I was wondering what I should do.

Then, Irene crossed her arms and made a pondering gesture.
It is not clear whether she is actually thinking meaningfully or not.

Irene, though not so much like Satsuki, is more of a warrior type.
Although she has acquired a certain amount of education due to her position, she has always been a girl who is not good at brainwork, to the extent that she sneaks out of the castle during study hours under the watchful eyes of her tutor and wants to catch me and play knight.

When I was a child and we were working together, whenever something happened, she would say, "It's Will's job to think! When I was a child and we were working together, I remember that whenever something happened, I was thrown to the side and told, "Will's job is to think!
It was nostalgic to say the least, but at the same time, it brought back memories of being pushed around arrogantly, and made me feel indescribable.

But that's beside the point.

'How to attack: ......'

I put my hand on my chin and started to think.
I've already thought about this a few times, but I need to go over it again.

How do we attack Count Goldert's stronghold?
As Irene said, it would be very difficult from a social point of view to attack the Count's mansion by force, defeat the villains and settle the matter.

Irene is working under the king's orders, and she is, so to speak, entrusted with a part of the king's authority.
If Irene makes a bad move, it will damage the authority of King Andrew and the trust of the people.

Under such a premise, 'the Earl used bandits to destroy a village in his territory, so we defeated him' is too unreasonable as an external story to explain to the surrounding nobles and people.
At the very least, we need to get to the bottom of this matter before we can move on.

In that light, we should take the following steps...

'After all, we should take the straight and narrow approach here.

'What do you mean by "the right way"?

'We should peacefully enter the Count's residence and question him. It's hard to predict what will happen if we do that, but it's the kind of case where you can't get the dragon egg without entering the dragon pit.''

'I see. Then let's go with that.

Irene says this innocently and gives me a smile.
The tension is strangely high.

'...... Why do you look so happy, you?

'Heh. It's been a long time since Will and I have worked together like this, and I miss it.

'I can't say I understand how you feel. We're not children. Since you're royalty in the first place, don't you think you should learn a little more dignity and respect?

'Boo, there it is, Will's sermon! I'm sure you've heard of it, but I've never heard of it. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but I've heard of it.

I'm sure you're not the only one who has a problem with that.

It's a good thing I'm not the only one. You can forget about your position as a princess when you're traveling with Will, so cut me some slack for now!

Irene finally began to say such a thing, and to complain.
I don't want to be told not to treat her like a child while showing her this.

On the other hand, walking a little bit away from us were Satsuki, Mee, and Cyril.
The three of them were gathered together, talking about something.

'Geez, ...... Annyaro, just because we're childhood friends, you're just trying to show off your friendship with Will, ......!

'Satsuki, you've lost your position.

'But Satsuki is surprisingly a good girl for not trying to interfere there.

'Come on, there doesn't seem to be any room for you. ......'

'I don't know what Satsuki's standards are for reading the air.

......, and so on, and there were conversations going on there that seemed to be enjoyable in their own way.

In this way, the five of us proceeded on our journey towards the Count of Goldart.