People chattered all day about the incident that occurred earlier.
The news of a bounty hunter from outside Ark attacking Queen Aira had spread like wildfire.
"Hooee, hooee! Hoeee-! Get your newspaper! Newspaper!"
"Hoenoi, one newspaper please."
"Theo Gospel, thank you every time. Hoeeee…!"
Even the freshly printed newspapers had the headline about Queen Aira's attack.
「Assault on the Queen of Angmar, Aira Von Tarantera-!」
「The culprit is a bounty hunter contracted by Professor Stella Bellhawk, both the church and Ark authorities are investigating the possible connections─.」
「Representative Ilna Isa of the Bellhawk House claims their innocence in this incident─.」
If there was any connection found, it could lead to a massive diplomatic issue, potentially even a war.
The attack on the Queen was a major event that would be recorded in history books. It was only natural that the world would be abuzz with such news.
"Theo, there is a mandarin duck over there."
However, the person concerned was going about her day as if nothing had happened, and was leisurely feeding the fish in a pond.
It was a peaceful artificial pond. We were stood on a bridge, gazing at the glistening water. Then, Aira's brow furrowed deeply.
Did the earlier incident upset her mood?
"No, looking at it closely, it's not a mandarin duck. It's a thunder duck."
"No, a thunder duck. It sounds like a thunder."
[T/N: Korean word play here… mallard duck and thunder duck is spelled the same in Korean]
For Aira, whether the bird swimming over there was a mandarin duck or a thunder duck seemed much more important than what had happened…
As I watched the giant fish splash and grab the feed, I couldn't bear it any longer and decided to quench my curiosity.
"Is Aira-nim really okay?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the bounty hunter. Didn't he attack Queen Aira?"
"Ah. That happened. Such a thing did indeed occur~."
Aira spoke as if she was reminiscing about a distant past. It felt as though the encounter with the Hunter had been erased from her mind and no longer remained. ℝå𝐍ŏᛒËṦ
While I usually kept a safe distance from the main character's party and only observed their movements on the side, they had crossed the line this time.
If I left things as they were, not only Aira but also my own safety and the world itself could be thrown into chaos, so I felt the need to take some action.
There was no guarantee that such an incident wouldn't happen again.
But Aira just continued to feed the fish.
"Theo, you can't let such an incident disturb your rare day off, would you?"
"Did anyone get injured?"
That was true, yet still…
As dissatisfaction crept on my face, Aira threw all the feed she had been holding into the pond. The fish below started crazily devouring the all-you-can-eat buffet.
After watching that scene for a while, Aira opened her mouth.
"Theo, remember not too long ago when we got caught in the rain together? Did you protest or demand compensation from the sky for ruining your clothes and my shoes?"
"No. But why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?"
Aira chuckled as if she found my question amusing. Then she gently patted my head, though she was still holding fish feed.
"Theo, it's fascinating how much you don't know. The man we encountered earlier is like rainfall from the sky, an inexplicable natural disaster that is difficult for humans to comprehend."
"A natural disaster?"
"Yes, exactly. No one demands explanations or protests against falling rain or shaking ground, or even erupting volcanoes. It's meaningless. That man we met earlier is a natural disaster in human form."
Aira's words struck a chord with me.
A disaster in human form…
Suddenly, I recalled that even back in the kingdom, Aira had been referred to in a similar manner by people.
"Your expression seems dissatisfied… Is it because I petted your head with the hand that touched the fish feed?"
"No, that's not it. I'm just wondering if it's right for things to end without proper consequences."
"The consequences will be decided by the Ark Board of Directors. That old man Hynax was the one that presided over."
Aira was remarkably calm.
I couldn't help but wonder if Aira had become more easygoing and open-minded since living in Ark. At this rate, I could even consider returning to the kingdom.
After all, I brought Aira to Ark to make her a wise Queen, or even an ordinary person….
Living in Ark, which was a foreign country, stepping down from her position as a Queen, and enjoying her holidays with a sense of relaxation and freedom seem to have had a significant effect on Aira.
As I had planned, Aira became more composed, so why did I still feel so uneasy? Was it because she had surpassed my expectations and became even calmer?
Aira continued as I was immersed in my thoughts.
"And, that man had no intention of killing me. The tip of the bolt was blunt. It was a non-lethal projectile."
"Yes. Even if he had intended to kill me, he wouldn't have been able to inflict even a small wound on me alone."
He had no intention of killing her…
It might just be Aira's own thoughts.
But in reality, even when facing Aira, the Hunter merely stared at her. Now that I thought about it, in the original story, the Hunter didn't kill Aira in the first place.
The Hunter didn't directly kill or harm Aira, but left her alone. Ultimately, Aira's death was caused by the angry mob's revolt, not by the Villain Hunter.
Come to think of it, this was a bit suspicious.
Why didn't the Hunter kill Aira?
Considering Aira was a powerful boss, she should have given a considerable amount of experience points.
Perhaps, the experience points given were not as much as expected?
Was it because Aira wasn't as villainous as I believed? Suddenly, I had that thought. There was no other way to explain the Hunter's behavior.
Alternatively, there might have been another reason why he didn't finish the job, but there was no explicit description of it—at least not that I could recall.
"Then why did he shoot the Queen with a crossbow?"
"He probably wanted to test something."
"Just like how Verdonas, the Knight of the Black Tea, wanted to test his own strength by facing me. That fella was probably curious about the extent of his abilities."
Well, Verdonas was not the Knight of the Black Tea, but the Knight of the Windmill. I guess that was the only impression Aira had of him.
At this moment, Aira called my name. She had a bird perching on her hand and was gently stroking its chin with her finger.
I wondered why animals would stick to her so well.
"Does Aira-nim have anything to tell me?"
"Come to think of it, you've been getting along well with my cousin, Elga, lately."
"… Well. It's more like Elga-nim is training me rather than getting along."
"Last night, actually, Elga came to visit me. The two of us had a long conversation. Do you want to know what we talked about?"
It felt like a crossbow bolt just pierced through my heart.
More than any moment today, tension surged through me, and my tightly clenched palm started sweating nonstop.
"… Um, what did you talk about?"