Roland was at complete loss. Not only did he fail to kill his intended target, but she even confessed to him while asking for his hand in marriage. Isn’t it usually the other way around?

What was more important, however, was the fact that she called it an order. The Costa Principality was very peculiar in various aspects, but one was made abundantly clear in the history of the kingdom. Here, the women ruled and their words were law.

Thankfully, this only applied to the royalty, as the commoners were more or less gender equal. Nevertheless, a princess of this kingdom just ordered him to marry her. Needless to say, his mind was working in overdrive to find a way out of this ridiculous situation. He imagined the woman who killed him and his sister, being married to her and never leaving her side for better or worse…

Hell no. DEFINITELY NOT GONNA DO THAT. I’d rather swallow poison right now than be hers…at least my death would be less painful this time around…

He shuddered while recalling his former last moments in this world, then looked at the princess. Roland stared into her eyes, took a deep breath, and said one thing.

“Fuck you.”

Then he immediately ran for it. Roland got only three steps before said princess recklessly tackled him to the ground with all of her might.

“NO, you must me mine! We are fated to be together, I just know it. Besides, I gave you an order!” Harmonia held onto his arm with every ounce of strength she could summon, which prevented Roland from running away after he got up from being tackled.

“HELL. NO.” Roland sternly said as he tried to pry the surprisingly strong princess off of his arm. “I’m neither from this world, nor am I your citizen. Who said I have to do anything you say?”

The princess obviously wasn’t listening to him, since she was still clinging onto him for dear life.

“No, you WILL BE MINE! I’ll do anything, even ask my mother for you!” Harmonia said with a strange confidence.

This damn princess...

Her asking her “mother” was obviously going to bring a lot of attention to him, and that was the last thing he needed. Needless to say, her “mother” was the current ruling Queen.

Everyone knows that long ago, the first Queen made a royal law. It stated:

“Under the orders of the Crown, all people of the Costa Principality who can use mana at the rank of D and above, will be made to pledge an Oath of Servitude under witness of the royal family. Those found hiding their talents will have themselves and their families be put to death under public eye.”

It could be argued, however, that his entire class could be counted as his "family”. Fortunately, he neither felt like they were close, nor did he have any family left besides Andreas and he was far too valuable for them to harm. However, even though he had no family in danger, his life would still be forfeit should he shun royalty. That, and Roland really didn’t feel like taking on an entire nation’s army, just because some crazy princess wanted to be with him.

Roland recalled his Saetus card and remembered what was on it.

=SAETUS= ROLAND WALKER

You're broke (lol)

=CLASSES= =REQUIREMENTS FOR ADVANCEMENT= SPELL FANG - ROGUE 1 of 2 pre-requisites completed AD???????A??R of ?????-???? 0 of 10 pre-requisites completed H$%# of Nolene 0 of 3 pre-requisites completed =TITLES= (ERROR) RANK: D Guild Rank: NEET

Yep…definitely don’t want to be forced into serving the royalty again...also when did his card start mocking him? That pissed him off a little but he ignored it at the time.

Roland was really sweating inside now. He just got to this world, and already it wanted to mess with him like a dog with its favorite toy. Roland cursed in his mind, he didn’t want to deal with this bullshit since he had things to do. He couldn’t be shackled to his worst nightmare before even setting out to realize his goal.

He looked at the pitiful princess that was hanging onto him while in her jammies and scowled. “I will never marry you Harmonia. Even if you were the last woman on this planet!”

“YOU-!” Harmonia was cut off when they heard the sound of many pairs of iron boots hitting the ground, and it was becoming louder every second. Then she gave Roland a meaningful glance while grinning.

“If you don’t accept, perhaps I’ll scream?” She smiled.

“…”

Roland sighed and grabbed her hand softly. The princess saw this sudden change and felt very happy that he was finally agreeing to marry her. Roland held her hand up as if he was going to kiss it…but at the last minute he pulled her hand as if aiming for a real kiss on the lips. As he pulled her quickly, she closed her eyes with expectation…and right before they kissed, he dodged and chopped down on her neck hard while whispering:

“Graciously, go fuck yourself princess.”

Then she fainted.

He wanted nothing more than to stab her and be done with it, however he knew that behind the Costa Family was a force far greater than he could afford to piss off. They would make that damn princess look cute by comparison. He quickly laid her on the ground and activated two of the few [Rogue] skills that were still working, even with his chaotic mana. They were [Shadow Step] and [Subterfuge]. [Subterfuge] was an upgraded version of [Stealth].

Not only could he easily erase his presence and stick to the shadows, but he could also actively become like the background noise and cause people to subconsciously ignore his actions. This helps him actively stay out of other people’s memories if they weren’t paying strict attention to him.

A good example for [Stealth], would be for someone to ask another person to find Waldo in a “Where’s Waldo?” book; whereas [Subterfuge] would be asking them to do the same exact thing without telling them what they are looking for. Unless you knew to look for Roland and his exact figure, you would tend to tune him out like background noise.

[Shadow Step] on the other hand, was an upgraded version of [Sneak]. It allowed him to walk anywhere with no sound whatsoever, even in broad daylight. When it was night or in heavy shadows, he could walk inside the shadows and come out somewhere else in the same shadow. It was also allowed him to traverse a distance of 100m almost instantly. It was a shame though, that he couldnt do it very often or go very far due to the fluctuations in his mana.

Roland ran back to the wall while grabbing the broken shafts of the cross-bow bolts and slowly flanked the oncoming soldiers. When the last one left the door that led to the garden, Roland activated [Shadow Step] and slipped between the last soldier and the closing door. When the soldiers found the princess, Roland was already long gone and headed towards his room.

He opened the door quietly, slipped inside, and immediately locked the door behind him. He plopped down on his bed and let out a deep breath. Things just got complicated and he needed a plan…

***

The Queen woke up from her sleep when two knocks rang out from her door. She was a light sleeper, so she was slightly annoyed whenever something woke her up from dreamland. The Queen got up from the warm bed and walked over to the door to let the servant girl in.

“Your highness, a report.”

“Speak. What is it so late in the evening?”

“As ordered, I have come to report to you before reporting to his highness.”

“About the man?”

“No ma’am, earlier there was an assassination attempt on the princess Harmonia. One of the guards came to her room for the routine check and saw the light on. As per your orders, she is supposed to have her light out one hour after sunset. The guard came in and saw her missing, and immediately ordered the other to search for her.”

This immediately woke up the queen from her half-asleep state.

“Tell me! Is she alright? What happened!?”

“The guards went to the garden quickly to see if she was doing one of her night walks, when they came upon her lying on the ground unconscious. There were definitely signs of a struggle as well as a hole in the ground.

“She is currently unconscious, so we don’t have the exact details of what happened. After she wakes up, we will inquire about what happened. Currently, our healers are seeing to her. Another note, is that the man whom you asked us to track lost the tail we placed on him at this time and currently don’t know how he did it.”

“Ugh...that man is suspicious. Please keep a closer eye on him and make preparations should he be the culprit.”

The Queen didn’t blame her servants for losing the now suspicious man. If the man could lose the Dark Edge group, then no one else could have done any better. The Dark Edge group were a select few servants that were used for more…subtle activities that dealt with the darker side of things.

The servant girl smiled and bowed. She knew exactly what the words closer and preparations meant.

“Take me to see my daughter immediately. As for the report, leave out the bit about the man.”

“Yes, your highness.” The servant bowed again and led the way.

The Queen worriedly followed behind while thinking of various things as she went to see her daughter.

***

Harmonia woke up with a start. She looked around furiously for the man who was to be her future husband.

“Harmonia, are you alright sweetie?” Her mother looked at her with worried eyes.

“Where is he?” The princess asked.

“Who are you talking about. Do you mean the assassin? You can tell me what happened dear.”

“No I mean my future husband. I must find him!” She looked at the Queen with determination.

This proclamation shocked the Queen greatly. “Who are you talking about? When they found you, you were lying on the ground unconscious.”

Not even one day ago, Harmonia was complaining to her mother about the boys that were summoned. They gave her strange stares and always looked at her still developing chest and butt, and now she has found one that she wants as a husband? This was really too strange, but she was more worried about the assassination attempt like a good parent.

“Alright Harmonia, we can talk about that later, but what happened before you were unconscious? Who did this to you?”

The princess looked down and was silent for some time while thinking. Various emotions flashed across her face as she looked back up at her mother and relayed what happened.

“I am alright mommy. He saved me…” She said softly. “...I must be with him. I shall have no other.” Harmonia looked at a window that overlooked into the garden.

“It can’t be anyone else, can I please marry him? You are really the only one I can ask, since he rejected my order already…”

The Queen felt a complicated feeling growing in her chest. One part of it, was that her little girl was finally growing up and wanting a man of her own. She knew that keeping her little girl in the castle was preventing her from seeing the world and maturing as she should, however the Harmonia didn’t yet understand that side of this little town and the people living in it. A naïve girl walking around the streets by herself… she didn’t even want to think about it.

The other part of it was that she really had no idea about what to do. The man couldn’t exactly be forced to marry her little girl, since he wasn’t a citizen, and nor was he a noble of this world.

However, the laws of this kingdom did apply to the summoned heroes to a certain extent. Such as raising a hand to the royalty or rebelling. Then an idea hit her.

Technically he did both go against a royal order and raise his hand against a member of the royal family…maybe we have something to work with here.

The Queen smiled and said to her daughter:

“Don’t worry honey, just let me take care of it okay?”

“Oh thank you mother!” Harmonia cried out in sheer joy.

“Alright, since you aren’t hurt then let’s talk about this in the morning ok?” She looked at the three guards in the room. “You three! You are to escort her to her room and keep her safe. You three stay with her inside and I want two guards at the door.”

“Yes, your highness.” The knights bowed.

“Now let’s go to bed and talk some more in the morning.”

Harmonia nodded and followed the guards to her room and plopped on her bed while wearing a big grin. She was ecstatic about finally making the man her husband, yet now that her mind wasn’t occupied with that man, she was overcome with fear. The realization that she could have lost her life tonight struck terror into her core. Her hands shook as she curled up into a ball while wanting to cry.

Harmonia looked at the three knights standing at attention in her room and was slightly relieved. She wouldn’t have to worry that much about another assassin coming to get her with them here, but if he was here with her…she would never need to be afraid.

Her thoughts about him relaxed her as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

***

(Next morning)

Roland didn’t sleep at all that night. He was constantly worried that knights would come knocking on his door and drag him before the court to be hanged or thrown in a cell…or even worse, a dungeon.

Dungeons were like those that Jake read in light novels with a few key differences. For one, although you can kill monsters inside of them, you can never truly clear a dungeon. For every monster that you kill, another would instantly take its place somewhere else. Another thing, is that there were no treasures inside. In fact, the only thing worthwhile inside the entirety of one was the dungeon core or mana crystals that grew on the walls to entice humans to enter. Both were heavily guarded by monsters looking for food.

No matter what kind of simulation that he ran in his head that night, it always ended up with either himself married or dead. The only way to be free was to prematurely escape, no matter what.

It was also only a matter of time that the Dark Edge would discover that he was aiming for the princess’s life and start to hunt him down. With a heavy and frustrated heart, he packed his few things into a bag that he stole from the store room on his way back.

He couldn’t take his revenge on the royal family yet. Until he could take on Neil, he would definitely lose any fight with them. He simply wasn’t strong enough, and that frustrated Roland to his very being. Roland angrily threw the last pair of his clothes into the bag and tied it up.

He had clothes, a lantern, a pillow, and a bag to his name. Roland has had to travel with worse before, but it wasn’t on a long journey while being hunted by royalty…he needed proper supplies.

Roland thought about it for a second and came to a conclusion. He would have to steal a tent, water, food, and other things from people in the city or make them himself. He sighed for a second and looked at the room he was in.

“I’ll come back for you Ms. Beatrix…you all never did anything to me after all.”

With a resolute expression, he opened the door to his room, activated [Subterfuge], and started his silent escape to freedom…