I Don’t Want to Be a Heroic Spirit [236] [30 PS]

"Hmm? Are you complimenting me?"

Though Alice's voice was as soft as a shy sparrow's chirp, Nero caught every word.

"Um… that…"

"Ah, praise indeed! Your eyes are as clear as mirrors, and your compliment is most fitting!"

Before Alice could say anything further, Nero tilted her head back, basking in the admiration with pride.

"No matter where I am, I am always the most dazzling and exceptional one. Isn't that obvious? I am the Flower of Olympia! The resplendent scarlet rose in full bloom!"

"Though your compliments are entirely expected—after all, my brilliance and beauty are self-evident—I am nonetheless pleased. Thus, I shall graciously accept your praise and even feel honored by it!"

Confident and radiant, lively and cheerful.

This was Nero Claudius, Emperor of Rome.

However, Nero's exuberance left Alice at a loss.

As a princess confined to her metaphorical gilded cage, Alice had never even had the freedom to choose what she was exposed to.

Those allowed near her were invariably people who revered her. Any crude or malicious individuals were kept far away.

The books brought to her contained nothing but tales of brave heroes easily vanquishing monsters and evil dragons, as if real heroes never faced any difficulties.

Thus, this was Alice's first encounter with someone like Nero.

She had no idea how to respond.

Just then, commotion erupted outside the room.

"Princess Alice! Princess Alice! Is everything all right? There was a loud noise just now!"

"Princess Alice! Are you safe?"

Hearing the voices beyond the door, Alice snapped out of her daze.

The speaker was Claire, her personal bodyguard—always the first to arrive when trouble arose.

Alice opened her mouth to respond but hesitated, unsure of how to explain the current situation.

Even she didn't fully understand what was going on.

"Oh? Could it be that admirers drawn by my talents have arrived?" Nero glanced toward the door with delight. "Hmm! Now this feels right! With my grand entrance, of course a crowd should gather like stars in the sky, their cheers thundering like applause!"

"This is true Rome (and romance)!"

After Nero's loud proclamation, silence fell eerily outside the room.

The quiet didn't last long. Two or three seconds later, the people outside began pounding on the door with frantic intensity.

"Princess Alice! Why… why is there someone else in your room?! And it's a strange woman's voice! Princess Alice! Are you inside? If you're there, please answer me!"

Though the expressions of those outside were unseen, the urgency in their tone—and the rapid knocking, three or four times per second—made their panic palpable.

"Cl… Claire? What's going on?"

"Reine! Reine! Princess Alice has been kidnapped! It must be the Demon King's minions! Those despicable fiends must have sneaked into her room and taken her! Princess Alice is in danger!"

"W-What—?!"

Hearing the conversation outside, Alice realized Claire and Reine had misunderstood the situation. She panicked, shouting through the door:

"No! That's not it! Claire! Reine!"

"Is that you, Princess Alice? Are you safe? Don't worry, I'll get in there and deal with those vile Demon King's lackeys! Trust me! I'll rescue you safely, and I'll leave not a single one of those scoundrels alive—they'll wish they'd stayed in the sewers they crawled out of!"

"Wait! Claire! You're mistaken—"

"Hey! You inside! Demon King's lackeys! If you so much as harm a single hair on the head of our beautiful, kind, delicate, angelic, heart-meltingly adorable Princess, I'll beat the crap out of you, shove it back in, and beat it out again! I'm Claire, and I mean every word! Got that? If you're scared, let her go right now!"

Claire seemed so agitated that she couldn't even hear Alice's protests.

"Claire, calm down! The door to the Princess's room is enchanted. If you try to break it open, you'll get hurt! Let me fetch the key!"

"No way! If we wait for you to get the key, it'll be too late! The Demon King's plan will succeed! Just think about what horrors such a pure and innocent Princess might suffer after being taken away!"

"But—"

"Don't worry! I don't need a key. I'll pick this lock myself!"

"Still—"

"It's fine! Trust me! I've rehearsed picking Princess Alice's door lock in my mind 10,381 times. I won't make a single mistake!"

"Actually—"

"Almost there… Hang on, Princess Alice! Your most loyal Claire will reach you soon!"

"…"

However, the door wasn't picked open. Instead, the wall beside it suddenly exploded.

Reine stood at the newly created hole, turning to look at the stunned Claire crouching by the door. Smoke still trailed from the tip of the staff in Reine's hand.

"Actually, I was going to say… While the door has several layers of enchantments, the walls don't. They're just made of reinforced materials."

Claire was silent for a moment. When a piece of debris struck her on the head, veins bulged visibly on her forehead.

"If the door is enchanted, why didn't they enchant the walls too?! The idiot who designed this deserves a medal for stupidity!"

"Well… apparently, they accidentally added the wall's enchantments to the door instead, making it absurdly over-reinforced. Most people, upon seeing the heavily enchanted door, wouldn't think to check if the walls were unprotected…"

"Did a wyvern crush their brains?!"

This was the Princess's room! How could they be so careless?

Claire felt her blood boil, a surge of fury rushing to her head.

Still, she hadn't completely lost her cool. She remembered what mattered most.

"Demon King's lackeys! Return the Princess!" Claire stormed into the room through the hole Reine had blasted, sword drawn, shouting angrily: "Be smart about this, and I might let you die quickly!"

But as she stepped inside, she found…

Aside from the stunned Princess Alice, dressed in her nightgown, the room contained only one other person—

A girl dressed in a highly revealing outfit.

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T/N: hmmm i wonder what world this is