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In a few days Malty was well enough to be back on her feet so they kept moving (as she now knew) in the direction of Faubrey, where her mother was apparently trying to talk her way out of the current political shitstorm.

With their captors more cooperative now the princess found out all kinds of useful (if dated) information. Father had been increasing the military presence at Siltvelt border, but didn't dare make a move yet, or most likely the generals were reluctant to start a full scale war without the Queen's approval and with more Waves about to hit.

The Four Heroes had been summoned to Melromarc as planned. They then had moved on to different regions to train, but stayed in the country, and appeared to ignore any foreign envoys sent to them. The Shield Hero was, of course, the most interesting case. He was officially suspected of involvement in Malty's abduction (despite being in a whole another world at the time) and chased out of the capital (killing or injuring someone, it wasn't clear) so he and his party were on the run. Not much was known about the people with him, only that one was a blonde woman, most likely a commoner, and the other a demi-human slave they picked up somewhere.

Rifana showed an unhealthy amount of interest in the Shield Hero. The princess should've known. The girl was a demi-human, and most of them practically worshiped the past Shields, Siltvelt savages even had a whole religion based around it. For some reason, Malty and Rifana never talked much about the Heroes while back in their cell, so the princess was still taken by surprise by the girl's enthusiasm.

It could be that a part of Rifana's investment originated in the third party member, a demi girl (most accounts agreed that she was a young girl). Could it be Raphtalia, her little friend sold off by Rabier? It sounded unlikely, with the amount of demi slaves in the country, but still not completely impossible.

At this point the princess herself barely cared about the Shield one way or another. Once the truth came out about Rabier's crimes and the treason of the Church of Three Heroes, and Malty was back at her father's side, she'd find out more about what happened to the fourth Hero and whether or not he needed to be dealt with. If Raphtalia was with him, they'd be able to free her and get more information as well.

Feeling better by the day (thanks to the healing potions which the mole man Pat kept brewing) Malty decided she should finally begin raising her levels. So far they mostly encountered weaker monsters, with an odd dangerous beast dispatched quickly by Megar or Ulroy. This track through the woods was a good opportunity for the princess. The only problem being, well, the complete lack of weapons or armor.

So during yet another rest stop, she approached Elian.

"I need a sword. And something to wear that offers a fair amount of protection."

"Why would you need that, Princess?"

"Make a guess. Why do you think?"

"I doubt this is the best environment for you to train or level up. We need to hurry without attracting unnecessary attention."

"Well, I don't care what you think. I think I'm tired of being pushed around by every random thug!"

Malty threw a meaningful glance at the two men whose enthusiastic 'questioning' she had to endure. Elian sighed.

"And where would I get you a weapon? There's not a lot of shops in this forest, Princess."

"Where indeed?" She glanced at the birdman again. He was practically a walking blacksmith's shop. Two swords, two daggers, a crossbow, and probably a lot of things Malty couldn't see.

"Fine. Ulroy, I'm borrowing your spare sword. And some parts of your armor. Megar, share something with the princess as well."

The white tiger nodded, but the other man wasn't as obedient.

"Like hell I'll give this human a weapon! Are you out of your mind?"

"I didn't ask! Did you already forget your promise to behave?"

"You can't expect me to follow an unreasonable order!"

"What's unreasonable about it? In truth, Princess Malty's desire to level up is fortunate. We don't know what could happen on the road, and the stronger she is, the better our chances to keep her safe would be."

After a lot of pointless arguing Ulroy finally complied and gave one of his swords to Malty. She took a few experimental swings. She was much weaker than before her imprisonment, but most of her training remained intact, so after an hour of practice the princess felt much more confident and ready to battle some monsters. Unfortunately, her body disagreed as she was already out of breath, meanwhile the group had to continue walking until sundown.

On the road Rifana touched Malty's hand to gain her attention.

"Do you think I should train with a sword, Myne, um, Princess Malty?"

"A sword? I think it's too heavy for you. Probably a dagger would be better. You can take one from the raccoon. I'll start teaching you during the next stop. But I thought you didn't like fighting?"

"I don't, but I don't want to stay so weak and defenseless either. I think, no, I'm sure I have to get stronger somehow."

"Oh, I agree. Very well, then be ready. We don't have much time and I want to start hunting monsters properly tomorrow."

"Alright. Thank you, Malty, I mean Princess."

"Why are you still so awkward, Rifana? Just call me whatever you want. Myne or Malty, I don't care. Drop the titles."

The girl clutched her hand for a moment and frowned, then looked back at the princess.

"What's up with the name Myne?"

"Eh, just something I made up. Nothing important. But it is convenient in case we encounter some people, so better go with that for now."

"Okay, Myne. I'll try to remember."

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For the next week or so Malty and Rifana trained and hunted monsters. Or so had been the plan anyway. It didn't go quite as well as the princess expected.

Elian the raccoon didn't part with her dagger, but Megar was more gracious. The big man seemed tamer lately and didn't attack Malty verbally or otherwise. However, the oaf had the gall to take over teaching Rifana, claiming that the princess didn't have enough experience. After a couple of arguments which took way too much time and made the poor girl miserable, Malty had to concede the point. Maybe she wasn't prepared to train somebody else yet.

Training aside, their track through the woods slowed down significantly which, in Malty's opinion, was a small price to pay for the opportunity to finally earn some EXP points. The demis let her do her own thing, only intervening to fend off an occasional high level beast. The princess was constantly exhausted now, dropping to the ground in the evenings and barely managing to eat something before falling into a deep sleep. Yet, for nearly the first time in her life, hard work felt worth it, as she gained level after level, ending the week with a nice if modest number 8.

What about Rifana? Well, her progress was slower and the ungrateful brat seemed to blame the princess.

"Myne! Why did you do that?"

The weasel girl huffed and puffed as she got onto her feet after being pushed down by a couple of mush-type monsters which Malty promptly dispatched.

"They were about to bite your little head off!"

"No, they were not! I was ready for them. Why won't you trust me?"

"It's not about trust, you brat!"

That's how a lot of their days went, snapping at each other and then resorting to silent treatment. The princess didn't remember ever fighting so often with Melty, but that was probably because she much preferred to ignore her sister.

Ulroy the bastard had his own opinion to share.

"Don't you see, weasel girl? The princess just wants you to stay weak forever so it's easier to control you."

Rifana blanched at his words while Malty nearly roared in rage and jumped in the birdman's direction to inflict some kind of damage on him, before being physically restrained by Elian.

"What were you going to do just now, Princess? Get knocked out again? And you! Be silent if you've got nothing of use to say."

Malty seethed for the rest of the evening. It was unusual for her to allow some moron to get a rise out of her. She should've Fire Blasted him, but the spell was too slow to cast, even though she could finally do it.

As she and Rifana prepared to sleep, the girl kept giving the princess strange looks. Finally, Malty had to say something.

"You know it's not true, right? I don't want you to be weak," she whispered, hoping none of the nosy demis could hear them.

"I, um, I believe you, Myne. I just wish you believed in me more."

"What do you want me to do? Let you get eaten by some creature?"

"No, of course not. But Miss Elian and others don't jump in to defend you every second. You almost got your hand bitten off the other day!"

"No, I hadn't. I had it all under control. What? I did!"

"Alright. Let's just go to sleep."

"Rifana."

"It's fine. Good night, Your Highness."

"You did not just call me that. Ugh. Fine, I'll try to restrain myself. But if you get hurt don't come crying to me!"

"I won't!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

They stayed apart, tossing and turning, but woke up entwined the next morning as usual, giving each other uncertain smiles, both eager to forget their argument.

Malty resolved herself to give Rifana more space. After all, she genuinely wanted the girl to be able to take care of herself. Some things the princess would never be able to protect her from. Somehow Malty suspected that Rifana wouldn't be happy if she ordered a squad of royal knights to constantly follow her around. In truth, neither would the princess herself, especially considering the attitude towards demi-humans of a typical Melromarc knight.

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