The New Section
On the carriage ride over, I ask the king for the Encryption blessing. He agrees.
We arrive.
Massive trenches stretch across the construction site. Some already have huge concrete pipes fitted inside; others are still empty. A faint blue glow pulses inside certain trenches farther behind the progress line—like enchantments marking completed sections.
Dirt suddenly launches out of one trench as if thrown by an angry earth spirit. I stare. The king turns to the head assistant.
“Where?”
He points. I follow his finger. One trench is advancing far faster than the others. Dozens of muscular workers sprint up and down moving scaffolding, trying to keep pace with whatever is digging.
We move closer.
When I lean over the edge, I see a young woman—yellow hardhat, black dust-covered coat, pants, and combat boots. Her pickaxe moves at superhuman speed as she tears through the earth like it owes her money.
Behind her, several less-muscular workers lie collapsed on the ground. One weakly reaches toward her, on the verge of tears. The others look like their souls have already left for the afterlife.
“Please, Princess, no more, I beg of you!”
Princess? Her?
I look at the king and point frantically. He sighs, raises his hands, shrugs, and shakes his head.
I turn back. She stops and turns toward the exhausted men. That’s when I notice a white bandage wrapped around her chest. I focus and activate Appraise.
She lifts her arm to yell at the men—
The instant Appraise activates, she snaps her head toward me, eyes narrowing. Before I can even read her stats, a pickaxe whistles past my head at mach speed.
She clicks her tongue as I fall on my ass.
The head assistant helps me up. My heart is trying to escape through my throat. The status window vanished—looks like I must keep the target in view to read it.
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I peer over the edge again. She’s glaring up at me, fists clenched, baring her teeth. Her hardhat has fallen off, revealing black hair tied in a ponytail.
The king steps beside me. She looks up at him, shields her eyes from the sun—
“Ah!”
She suddenly darts toward the scaffolding. Dirt kicks up behind her like an anime afterimage. She sprints up the scaffold, skids to a stop at the top, straightens her posture, and continues toward us—now walking slowly with hands outstretched, palms down, smiling sweetly. I can practically see sparkles and flowers around her.
She stops in front of the king.
“Honorable Father, who might this gentleman be?”
She gestures toward me.
“Sir Kaijuu Ryu.”
“The Hero? …Which one was that again?” She taps her chin. “Ah, from the Shadow Forest incident.”
She claps lightly. “And who did he choose? I’ll start preparing my bridesmaid dress immediately and—”
The king cuts her off with a raised hand. She looks up.
“You.”
“What about me?”
She points at herself innocently.
“He chose you.”
She looks at me. Then at her father. Then at me again.
“WHAT!? SERIOUSLY!?”
She hops back, crossing her arms in front of her defensively.
“Roka! You’re being rude.”
The king glances at me.
“Please excuse my daughter, Sir Kaijuu.”
He waves a hand, tired already.
Roka takes another step back and gestures Shannon over. She raises her hand to whisper.
gotcha gotcha gotcha
“He asked for a doorway.”
“A what!?”
She stares at me while whispering again.
gotcha gotcha
“Yes. A door freak.”
DON’T CALL ME THAT.
I clench my fists.
“First of all—forget about that!”
I point at her.
“Second—why the hell did you throw that thing at my face!?”
She gives me a blank, matter-of-fact look.
“Because you used Appraise on me.”
…What?
The head assistant leans in and whispers:
“It is considered extremely rude to appraise a lady without her permission.”
Ah. That explains it.
I straighten and bow.
“Please excuse my rudeness, Princess Roka.”
She looks at her father. He crosses his arms and gives her a stern look.
“It’s fine. Just don’t do it again without permission, okay?”
She winks. She actually looks kind of cute saying that. My face warms.
She bows, turns, and waves.
“Well then, so long!”
She jogs toward the scaffolding.
…Did she forget the entire conversation we just had?
She gets halfway, freezes, then whirls around. She sprints full speed toward me, head down, stopping inches from my face.
She flicks her head up.
“What do you mean, you chose ME!??”
She leans forward. I lean back, holding my palms out.
“Uh…”
I look left and right for help. The head assistant grabs her by the shoulders and begins dragging her away. She looks up at him, blinking innocently.
“I’ll explain everything later. For now, let’s get you cleaned up for your marriage interview.”
Everyone looks away, exhausted. The king turns to me.
“Well, Sir Kaijuu, what do you think?”
“What do I think… Mmm… I mean, I’d like to get to know her a bit more before deciding.”
“You mean you’ll consider it?”
The king brightens, clapping his hands.
“Please attend the marriage interview tonight, then.”
I nod.
We return to the carriage. Two horses remain from the four we arrived with. The other two must have been taken by Roka and the head assistant who left earlier.
Shannon is driving now.
