Law of Space and Time

Chapter 30-1: Forced Arrangement (1)

After having a good meal the night before, Erwin woke up in the morning and immediately remembered that he still had a job to do. Thus, he quickly got out of bed and got dressed. Before he had even made it out of his own bedroom, the butler came knocking on his door, informing him that there was a guest who had been waiting in the hall for quite some time already.

Erwin headed directly to the guest hall upon hearing this, and once he arrived, he discovered that Lanyon was already waiting for him.

"Why are you here so early?" Erwin asked.

"You were the one who asked me to come here first thing in the morning, Master Erwin. Have you forgotten?" Lanyon asked with a resigned smile.

Erwin could only nod in response. He had said that as part of his drunken ramblings, but he wasn't going to tell Lanyon that. In any case, there really was something that they had to do together anyway, so he didn't speak any further on the matter.

On the previous night, Larwood and the others had complained that Erwin's load was too light, so they had reassigned him many new jobs, including purchasing supplies for the 500 people that were going to be recruited into the mercenary legion. In addition to that, he had to go print out the flags for the Four Winds mercenary legion, and these flags had to be submitted to the department of military affairs to be recorded.

Thus, all types of tasks were assigned to Erwin in order to balance out the workload mismatch, which he obviously wasn't very happy about. Fortunately, Lanyon quickly volunteered to assist Erwin with all of these tasks, and that made him feel a little better. Sherry also volunteered to help Erwin, but Larwood dragged him away to the horse farm to continue with the selection process.

Given how busy the day was going to be, Erwin and Lanyon made the last-second decision to skip breakfast. However, they had only just made it out of Count Friar's manor before they were stopped in their tracks by an extremely well-constructed oaken carriage.

The carriage door was opened, and a female magician in a gray robe emerged from within.

She made her way over to Erwin and took a glance at him, then asked, "Are you Erwin? Erwin Friar?"

Erwin nodded in response.

"Come with me, there's someone who wants to see you." The female magician handed an intricately crafted wooden box over to Erwin as she spoke, then turned and re-entered the carriage without even checking to see if Erwin was coming with her.

Erwin opened the wooden box to find a handkerchief sitting in it, and after taking a quick whiff, he immediately knew who it was that wanted to see him.

Prior to departing, he handed a bag of Loonies over to Lanyon, then instructed him to do the job assigned to Erwin in his absence. Judging from his character and maturity, Erwin was confident that Lanyon would do a better job than he could.

Lanyon nodded in response, then looked on as the horse-drawn carriage sped away with Erwin in it. As he did so, he couldn't help but heave a faint sigh.

"Master Erwin sure has a lot of lovers."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

After turning onto Phoenix Street, the carriage traveled directly toward the royal palace, which was no surprise to Erwin. After being shown a badge by the female magician in gray, the palace guards conducted only a brief examination before allowing the carriage free passage into the royal palace.

Generally speaking, only the king was allowed to travel by carriage within the royal palace, but it seemed that anyone carrying a badge from the princess could also enjoy this privilege, and that only further highlighted just how much the princess meant to King Cameron. For someone like Erwin, who only had the chance to enter the royal palace once every few years, it was quite an honor to be able to speed through the palace in a horse-drawn carriage, but also a rather jarring experience.

The carriage drew to a halt at the foot of an elegant pavilion, and Erwin quickly followed the gray-robed magician through the hall to the princess's bedchamber on the second floor. Along the way, all of the servants in the pavilion were quite surprised to see Erwin.

The gray-robed magician stationed herself outside the bedchamber, while Erwin entered the room alone.

As he opened the door, his breathing was beginning to accelerate. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down, but his hands were trembling uncontrollably, and he didn't know whether it was due to nerves or excitement.

After entering the room, he was finally greeted by the sight of the woman who had constantly been on his mind these past few days. She was seated in a reclining chair in front of an intricately carved window, and even though she was wearing a thick woolen robe, it did nothing to conceal her gorgeous figure. Her silver hair was lacking its usual luster, and her golden eyes were filled with exhaustion, while her lips were completely devoid of color.

Erwin stared at her in silence, unsure of what to say. He knew that she had to have also witnessed the display of fire and ice he had put on for Lana, and it had to have hurt her greatly.

"Your Highness," Erwin finally greeted in a hesitant voice.

"Welcome," Onean said without even turning around to look at him. "Take a seat."

Erwin did as he was told, sitting onto a one-seater sofa beside the window.

Even though she had barely spoken at all, Onean immediately erupted into a coughing fit after finishing her sentence, and Erwin instantly began to get up from his seat upon seeing this, but she raised a hand, indicating for him to remain seated.

"I have something I need to tell you," Onean said in an indifferent voice, and she was still looking out the window.

"What is it, Your Highness?" Erwin asked.

"Due to the invasion from the Skycourt Kingdom, my father is going to lead an army and set off for the front lines tomorrow," Onean said.

Erwin nodded in response. It was undoubtedly the case that the king's presence on the battlefield would significantly boost troop morale.

"I begged father on several occasions to take me with him to the front lines, but he refused." Only now did Princess Onean finally turn to look at Erwin. "I also asked Teacher Piro a few times, but he also told me to stay in Sarus to recover from my injuries."

"What can I do for your, Your Highness?" Looking at Onean's terrible complexion, it was clear that the injuries that she had sustained had to have been extremely severe. Otherwise, she wouldn't be looking so worse for wear.

"I heard you and your friends assembled a mercenary squad recently, is that right?" Onean asked.

Erwin immediately realized what she was thinking, and a stunned look appeared on his face. "Your Highness, you don't mean..."

Onean nodded in response. "Neither my father nor my teacher is willing to take me with them, so you're the only one I can turn to."

"But I can't do that, Your Highness!" Erwin hurriedly stood up with a panicked expression. "You still haven't recovered from your injuries yet. If something happens to you on the way, I..."

"Have you forgotten how many times I've saved your life?" Onean asked as she turned to Erwin with a cold expression.

Erwin immediately fell silent upon hearing this. Indeed, Princess Onean had saved him on several occasions during the Pillow Sword Tournament, and he still hadn't repaid her for her kindness. He lowered his head and didn't dare to say anything. After all, it didn't take a genius to see that Princess Onean's current physical condition definitely wasn't fit for traveling to a battlefield. If something were to happen to her on the way, there was no way that King Cameron and Master Piro would spare him, and Larwood and the others would also most likely be punished as well.

Onean could see what Erwin was thinking, and she said, "Don't worry, I'm already in much better condition, so I won't weigh you down."

"With all due respect, Your Highness, you look like you have a layer of flour over your lips! How can you possibly tell me that your current condition is fit for stepping onto a battlefield?" Erwin asked in a frantic voice.

"What are you trying to say? Do you think I asked you to come here so you can give me your opinion?" Onean's attitude immediately took a shift, and a cold look appeared in her golden eyes.

Erwin faltered slightly at the sight of her hostile display. He had never seen Onean look like this before, not even during that time when she had bitten his shoulder for his inappropriate act toward her. It seemed that Onean had truly been hurt by what he had done for Lana during their semifinal match.

"I don't care if you want to take me with you or not, you have no choice in the matter. I asked you to come here to inform you of my decision, not to ask you if you'll take me with you." Onean turned back to face the window and didn't look at him any longer. "You can treat this as repayment for everything you owe me up to this point."

A perplexed look appeared on Erwin's face. "Your Highness, I don't understand why you insist on going to war with the Skycourt Kingdom! Why are you putting your own life at risk like this?"

Onean opened her mouth to reply, only to erupt into a coughing fit again, and only after her coughing subsided was she able to respond. "It's been announced to the general public that Jeff Lazaar only did what he did during our match because he was under the influence of a magic potion concocted by someone from the Skycourt Kingdom, but when I asked Father and Teacher about this, neither of them were able to give me a clear answer on who did it. If I had to guess, it's most likely an official from our royal court, but I don't think it's Prince Lazaar."

Erwin thought back to his conversation with his father upon hearing this.

"Prince Lazaar has been allowed to return to Burmen, but he must be feeling quite insulted in the wake of this incident," Onean continued. "The primary reason why Father is leading our troops to Burmen is naturally to ward off the invasion of the Skycourt Kingdom, but what do you think the other reason is?"

"Are you saying that His Majesty intends to..." Only now did Erwin realize that the king was planning to take advantage of his trip to the front lines to strike against Prince Lazaar alongside the Skycourt Kingdom. Furthermore, he was quite surprised that Princess Onean would tell him something like this.

Onean offered no reply to his question as she heaved a faint sigh. "Now that you know what you do, tell me: how can I stay behind like this? Father is surrounded by enemies from all sides. There's the Skycourt Kingdom's army, Prince Lazaar, and traitors in the royal court! Any misstep could place him in grave peril!"

"But Your Highness, you still haven't recovered from your injuries yet, so you won't be able to do anything away," Erwin countered.

Onean didn't say anything further as she turned to glare at Erwin with a cold expression. Just like she had said, this was a non-negotiable order, not a request.

Erwin could feel chills running down his own spine at the sight of her cold gaze. He felt as if he had been stripped naked on a cold day with hail pelting his entire body, and he couldn't help but shudder.

"Fine, I'll do as you say, Your Highness," Erwin finally said in a resigned voice. "It's all my fault for using the Springlay Fox bone marrow potion. Otherwise, you wouldn't be in such a terrible condition now, so I owe you at least this much."