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Chapter 5 : The Eo back in time a little…

Around the time when Hajime defeated the Hydra in mortal coeon clearing and returned to the Kingdo speed had fallen due to a lack of the coence they had on the floors up till now, and also due to the strength and trickiness of the ue had resulted – the conclusion was to take a break and rest

But though the rest town of Horuado would have been good for recuperation, someone was sent to meet them: they had to return to the palace An envoy of the Hoelscher E to ?

By nature, almost no time had passed between the arrival of the God Ehit’s oracle and the su of Kouki and company For this reason, the empire –which was an ally and did not itself conduct the hero suht after they were suht that the e of the heroes’ su This was because the eo by fa a ‘holy land’ for adventures and sell-swords with its roup of heroes suddenly appearing and leading hu The Church was also in Hoelscher, and as such it was not an exception to having believers, but they were less devout than those in Hairihi Most of its people were either mercenaries or were involved in the business, and as such there were , this was just a story; it would hardly make earnest believers out of theht ofOf course, they were not against openly showing an obeisant attitude towards God in front of the church While Haihiri would have been happy to patronize such a , the empire –particularly His Imperial Majesty– had not been interested, and as such had not been involved

However, the fact that this raid on the [Orcus Dungeon] had succeeded in breaking through the 65th floor, beating out the previous record, piqued the interest of the empire So they sent word that they would like to ree

After this neas e, they arrived at the palace

The carriage entered the palace, and upon their descent fro towards them He was around ten, and had blonde hair and blue eyes The atmosphere around him was similar to Kouki’s, but which much more mischief in it This was Randell S B Hairihi, Prince of the Kingdo ears and wagging tail as he rushed up to the in a loud voice:

"Kaori! You !"

Of course, Kaori was not the only one there, for the returning expedition was present in full force To thes were just by looking at his attitude – apart from Kaori he saw no one else

In fact, Prince Randell had been ressive approaches towards Kaori since the day after they had been summoned That said, he was only ten In her view he could only be recognized as an en of her feelings ripening beyond that For a person as innately kind as her, he would be like a cute younger brother

"It’s been a while, Your Highness"

(TN: She says ‘Randell-dono’, but I’ets into hissy fits about putting randolish equivalent serves perfectly fine)

The ied furiously up and down at her small sed toanother ‘approach’ toward Kaori

"Ah, it’s been a long tieon, I felt as though I had died Were you hurt? If I was stronger, I would never let you do such a thing…"

Randell bit his lip in annoyance Even though Kaori refused to only be protected, the heartwars of the boy still caused her cheeks to soften

"Thank you for your concern But I’ht, you knoish to do this"

"No, Kaori isn’t suited for fighting Th, there should, you know, be safer things you can do"

"Safer things?"

Kaori inclined her head at his words, and at this he turned an even deeper shade of red Observing this ae from the side, Shizuku could only s man’s valiant ‘approach’

"M atoday"

"As ato the Medical Institute is fine too There’s no need to go to dangerous places like the dungeons or the frontlines right?"

The Institute was a state-run hospital, situated right beside the royal palace In short, Randell hated being apart fro boy would not move Kaori’s obstinacy

"No, I won’t be able to heal them im aboutthat he could not hness, Kaori isas I am around, I will definitely continue to protect her!"

Fro one-hundred-percent-beneficent in coht words for that moment In the eyes of the lovestruck Randell, this was translated as such:

"I won’t let my woman leave me I definitely won’t hand Kaori over to anybody!" (TN: The first bit is a bit dodgy, since nize that variant on the kanji for ‘hand’ is currently failingup intimately – that was a likely picture in his mind His expression twisted in annoyance, Randell levelled a ‘you are lare at Kouki To hi? You think nothing of sending Kaori into dangerous places I won’t lose to you! Kaori being with , he uses the word kiet (Kaori’s) individual input ie "it has been decided" versus "I/you have decided"]

"Umm, well"