The Main Family Is About to Die Out, so I, from a Branch Family, Am a Seed Provider (WN): Chapter 36

 

Episode 36: Preparing to Retreat and Pampering the Young Lady

 The morning sun rose over the horizon and black smoke rose slowly in front of it.

 With such a scene, Gruve City was filled with injured people, a complete change from yesterday.

"How many people escaped yesterday?"

 I had returned safely from last night's battle, which was titled "stalling for time," and asked one of my family's knights, who was defending the town, as I walked through the central square with Elfie and Armes in tow.

"Roughly five hundred or so, sir."

"......That's not very many."

 From the sight of the central plaza, I had an idea that there might be more, but the percentage of injured people might be more from supply units than those who had fled to safety.

"In addition, it appears that they are probably fleeing in pieces."

"It was a night attack after all."

 Apparently, from the interviews conducted while I was fighting, all the Kingdom soldiers who were attacked fled in all directions as they saw fit. There were some brave soldiers who stayed behind, but they were all killed.

 Well, since General Be'mond was killed at the beginning of the battle, the chain of command had collapsed. It would be easy to clean up the rest.

 Anyway, now we need to get all the people here together and move on to the next stage. The time we've earned is not so long.

"All right, for the time being, divide those who have escaped into two groups, those who can move and those who can't. The ones who can move will be given armor and will start working tomorrow. Anything else unusual?"

"I wouldn't call it unusual, but, you know, the princess of the main family is......"

"Hmm? Ojousama?"

"Ah, there he is!"

 Before the knight could say anything, I heard the voice of the young lady from across the square, and when I turned to look, she was running toward me. Her movements, which gave no hint that she was carrying a child, made me feel on edge.

"Wait a minute, Ojousama! You can't get too close now or you'll get blood on your clothes!"

 I am now a warrior covered in blood. I don't want her to stick to me when I'm like this.

 But the young lady, without caring about it, grabbed my face between her hands and pulled it into hers.

"You're hurt! Here, bring your face closer!"

 After saying that, she then touched the wound on my cheek, accepted a medicine box from Glass, who was on her side, and began to patch it up.

"No, this is just..."

"Don't move. It won't take long."

 I can't help but notice how close I am to Lady Ritia's face, how we can feel each other's breath, how I could still smell the slightly sweet and citrusy scent, and how I can't help but notice the skin peeking through her clothes.

"Yep, that's better."

"T-thank you."

 I waited for a while, looking to my right and left so that my eyes would not go to the young lady's chest. After the treatment is finished, the young lady looked at my cheek with satisfaction.

 But when I think about it, it's surprising that the young lady would take care of my injuries, or rather, she seems to have changed a lot in terms of her personality since we first met.

 When I first met her, she would never have taken care of me, nor would she have cared about my injuries in the first place.

"So what are you going to do tomorrow?"

 As I was thinking about that, Lady Ritia asked me about it while handing the bloodstained cloth to Glass after the treatment.

"Of course, we're going to retreat."

"Huh?"

 It was not the young lady who responded to my declaration of retreat, but Glass, who was picking up the cloth with my blood on it that the young lady handed to her with only her index finger as if it were a piece of dirt and throwing it into a bag. Apparently, her master had changed, but the maid is still the same. That's surprisingly hurtful, so don't do that......

"Huh? I mean, it's natural, right? If we stay here and fight with this many people, we wouldn't last a week anyway, would we?"

"But to turn your back on an enemy who was chasing you......"

 Glass frowned, as though she had some knowledge in war.

 Well, if you are born into or serve a noble or knightly family, you know that it is folly to turn your back on an enemy who wanted your head, as Glass says, and the fleeing ones are not an enemy at all, but a pack of beasts.

 However, if you ask me if it is best to stay here, the answer is no.

 The city of Gruve was originally ruled by the Empire, and it is located in a key position in enemy territory. In addition, there is no hope of reinforcements, and if a defeated general were to stay here, the only thing that awaits him would be annihilation.

 We must flee to the next town, we must be prepared to take some risks. This is that kind of battle. We should not make the mistake of throwing our lives away.

"I'm okay with that. That's what I'm thinking about."

"......"

 I try to talk to Glass about it, but she still stares at me with a stern expression on her face.

"And I'll take Ojousama back to the kingdom alive. I guarantee it." 

"...Then, it is fine."

 Hearing that, she believed me for the time being, and Glass implicitly threw the cloth she picked up with only her index finger into the bag. That's terrible......

"So, Ojousama, it's time for you to get ready to retreat and get into the carriage...... what's the matter?"

 I looked at Lady Ritia's face, which was stained red up to the back of her ears, and her mouth, which was knit in a straight line, was wincing and staring at me with her tense body.

"N-nothing!"

 With a bang, she turns away so vigorously that her long golden hair flowed in the air, followed by "Auauauu~!" and stomping all over the ground.

 ......Yeah. I knew she was different, this Ojousama.

 Leaving Lady Ritia aside, I turn to the two people who were standing behind me.

"Armes, I want you to take about a hundred people from our own family and leave two bonfires unlit at the end of the road and secure a retreat route to the city of Kraha."

"Understood!"

"Elfie, take some men and gather as much cloth and wood as you can here in town."

"Understood."

 Almost at the same time, they start running off on their own. I watched them and thought about my next plan.

 For the time being, I will abandon this place and flee to Kraha City. However, if we are only running away, we will surely be attacked by the enemy somewhere.

 To prevent that from happening, first of all, I want to have a gap of one day here. To do so, I need to visit.......

"Ojousama."

"W-what?"

"Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, you ladies will depart from here for Kraha City. Armes will be your escort."

 I told the young lady, who had turned her back on me, and added that she should sleep today to save her strength.

 We can't leave Lady Ritia in this place that could become a battlefield. And moreover, she was going to be riding in that carriage, which was full of decorations that disregarded functionality. It would be best to get her out of here before anyone else.

 ......And why do you react so surprised when I just call out to you?

"Y-you're not coming with us?"

"I would if I could, but I still have things to do."

 But the surprise and blush quickly fade away and the young lady thought about my words with a serious...... or rather a slightly anxious look on her face.

 Well, even with escorts, we are in hostile territory. I know she's worried, and I can understand the young lady's feelings without words. We are not alone right now, but we stare at each other.

 But, in an effort to at least take away her anxiety, I put together a string of words.

"It's okay, Armes is a better fighter than me, and she has enough soldiers."

"But I'm..."

"And I'll catch up with you later, and maybe some of our allies who escaped separately are gathering in Kraha to some extent, so even if I'm not there......"

"I didn't mean that! Ah, mou!"

 With that, Lady Ritia suddenly leaned her body against me, and a slight softness came over me with a light shock.

"Hey, there's blood......."

 The young lady jumped into my chest, squeezed her hands tightly behind my back, and hugged me.

 I tried to pull away from her, but she didn't care about the blood on my armor, and when I put my hand on her shoulder to pull her off......

"Idiot!"

 I was not expecting to hear a word of abuse, and the force that tried to pull her away softly slipped out of me.

"Insensitive, unkind, foolish idiot!"

 And it was a series of curses. Should I think that this kind of language is still the same even though people are paying attention to us, or should I lament that she hasn't changed at all?

 However, contrary to the words, the young lady muttered, hugging me tighter than before.

"You know how I feel about you, but you are pretending not to. You're a teasing idiot."

"No, Ojousama, that's......"

 I'm aware of what? Or rather, what is a teasing idiot?

 I was about to say something back but stopped. On the battlefield, in a situation where you don't know what will happen, at least if you know, you should say it regardless of publicity or otherwise.

"I'll catch up with you later. Don't worry."

 I hugged her slender body and whispered softly in her ear.

 Like Lady Ritia, I honestly don't want to leave her either. It pains me to leave her alone in such a dangerous situation, and if I could, I would stay by her side until the end.

"Still 50:50."

"Ehh......"

"You must reassure me properly. Otherwise, I won't listen to you."

 But since I couldn't allow that, I revealed my current honest feelings, but apparently, she didn't like it.

 She knew it was a situation where she had to escape, even though she had to listen to what I said...... Well, if I don't go that far, she's seriously not going to leave me like this.

 But until she shows me how selfish and troublesome she is...... To put it bluntly, she wanted me to answer the young lady's explicitly sweet pleas.

“…………Sigh*. You won't regret it later, right?”

 I could feel the young lady nodding silently when I asked. Really, don't go "Waa-, waa-" me later.

 We held each other, keeping our faces apart so that we could look at each other, but keeping our breath and the tips of our noses touching only occasionally, I could feel her jade green eyes larger than usual, and then......

"Nhh."

 From either side...... or rather, this time from me, I put my own lips on the young lady's.

"...Chu."

 I didn't put my tongue in. We just put our lips on top of each other, but for longer than usual.

 The breathing from her nose tickled a little, and I could feel the wetness of our lips that was touching each other.

 We held each other's bodies closer and we not only held each other, but also attached our bodies to each other without any space between us.

“…………Nhh.”

 Eventually, the satisfied young lady slowly pulled away, her eyelids, which had been closed, opened, and her jade-green eyes, with a few tears in them, reappeared in front of me.

"……Is this okay?"

 When I said that while shaking my sweet and numb lips, the young lady nodded her head after a moment's pondering.

 She nodded her head, but then lightly bumped her lips against mine again and murmured in that sweet voice I used to hear when I'm alone with her.

"Stay with me tonight."

"Ahー, nhhー, yes. I'll do my best."

 I probably won't be able to tonight because I have a lot of things to do, but I'll at least make a visit to the bedroom if I have time.

"It's a promise, okay?"

 And yet, I think it's a foul from the young lady to look at me with that expectant, or rather cute, look. No, this is really.

 After that, Elfie, who had gathered the materials as instructed, asked, "What are you doing?" I felt a lot of stares from people around me, but I felt embarrassed and awkward if I put it into words, so I quietly threw my gaze into the morning sky.