Why are all kinds of reinforcements only deployed after the crisis is over?
I quietly watched as the guards rushed in through the only entrance.
Among the silver armors, there were a few people in golden robes. They were the royal palace's mages.
They quickly examined the half-melted monster and confirmed its death.
"Since it's a creature vulnerable to magic attacks, it's rarely used in combat..."
After hearing the details, it seemed that they had brought a monster capable of infinite proliferation, specialized in physical force, taking advantage of the ban on mages participating in the hunting competition.
It was rare to see a noble like me, armed with a weapon, appear in the elegantly dressed banquet hall.
Especially since there had been a weapons check, it was even rarer for anyone to possess a magical weapon.
After all, the pride of the nobles who participate in the hunting competition every year is to win by relying on their innate hunting senses and skills without the help of magic.
Thus, my crossbow attack, enchanted with lightning magic, was the only one that worked.
Indeed, the story in this game made sense, and it was a rather plausible development.
'But how did Berte participate in this?'
The question came up again, but there was no way to find out.
Perhaps because they had put all their efforts into controlling the monster, the rebellion of the remnants of the Holy Kingdom was not as fierce as expected.
The trapped rats were quickly subdued.
"Let go of this! Let go of this! Aren't you afraid of the gods, you scoundrels!"
Curious about who these people were, I watched from a distance.
The crown prince roughly pulled off the cloths covering the faces of the writhing men.
"This, this is not the end, Calisto Regulus-!"
As expected, the leader was an old woman.
Then the faces of the other five were revealed.
Surprisingly, they were three emaciated women and two young boys around ten years old.
"The gods are watching your cruel and wicked deeds! We will surely tear your limbs apart and restore the trampled Holy Kingdom..."
The old woman continued to curse and struggle against the crown prince.
Calisto remained unperturbed by the terrifying words.
Instead, he waved his hand with a somewhat bored expression.
The old woman and the women were dragged away by the knights.
The only ones left were the two emaciated children.
The knights tried to take them away, but the crown prince raised his hand to stop them.
He turned to the captain of the guard and asked,
"Why are you so late?"
"T-that... There was a powerful no-entry magic spell around the banquet hall. We summoned mages urgently to try to remove the spell, but the magic power was so strong..."
The captain of the guard could not continue, feeling apologetic.
The crown prince, not particularly bothered, nodded slightly.
"It's the work of these people."
It seemed he had realized the reason, and his terrifying red eyes turned to the remaining children.
If they were normal children, they should have been terrified with their identities exposed.
However, the children showed no signs of disturbance even with the focused attention on them.
Their empty eyes, staring into space, were a bit chilling.
"Search their bodies."
Following Calisto's order, the knights roughly stripped the children of their clothes.
After a moment, the knights searching their bodies shouted,
"We found a magic power amplification device!"
Attached to the children's ears were small, black, square chips.
'If it's a magic power amplification device... a mage?'
The royal mages carefully removed the chips from the children's bodies.
The moment the devices were removed, the two children, who had shown no resistance until then, collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
I was startled and flinched at the sight.
However, the crown prince showed no mercy for the children.
"Take them to the underground prison."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The loyal knights roughly grabbed the children's collars.
Just as they were about to drag them away through the crowd,
"Wait, wait a moment!"
Someone quickly jumped out from among the knights.
The owner of the silver hair flying in the wind was none other than Berte.
"What is it, Count Berte?"
"Your Highness, please entrust these children to me."
Berte, who had hastily blocked the children, bowed and pleaded.
The crown prince tilted his head.
"Why?"
"These children have clearly been brainwashed through hypnosis for a long time and cannot think normally."
"So what?"
"I can remove the brainwashing. It would be more helpful to revive their memories and identify the remaining rebels rather than just killing innocent victims, as in the previous kidnapping incident in the former Viscount's territory."
Berte explained calmly why the children should be entrusted to him.
However, I could easily sense how desperately he was trying to help.
He was the one who had threatened the princess without hesitation to protect the children rescued from the anti-magic group.
"Count, this is different from an incident in a mere viscount's territory."
But the crown prince cut Berte's proposal coldly.
"This is an attack on the royal palace's banquet hall. Those involved will be executed on the spot, regardless of the reason."
"However, Your Highness, it is too harsh to treat them the same as the main perpetrators when they had no say in the matter. Please show some leniency..."
"Enough. Take them away."
The crown prince cut him off, clearly not wanting to hear more.
Berte looked at the children being dragged away with a dazed expression.
'Why is he going to such lengths?'
I suddenly wondered.
But recalling the children with animal masks huddled together, I couldn't easily dismiss his concern as overacting.
Just as the knights were about to drag the children away through the crowd,
I stepped forward and gently blocked their path.
"I agree with Count Berte."
People's attention immediately turned to me at my soft voice.
Among them were the other male leads, excluding Berte and the crown prince.
The blue eyes that met mine felt particularly piercing.
Derrick, whose face was cold, and Renald, who frowned deeply.
I felt the pressure to stay out of it.
However, I ignored it and spoke.
"Please allow the children to be entrusted to Count Berte so he can remove the brainwashing, Your Highness."
"…What?"
The crown prince's eyebrows twitched as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
I glanced up at his slightly flickering blonde hair and slowly continued.
"The signs of abuse are so clear; it seems too harsh to execute them."
I pointed to the children, whose collars were grabbed by the knights.
Their necks, exposed by their tattered clothes, were covered with bruises and scars.
The crowd finally noticed and began to murmur, showing sympathy for the children.
The crown prince, clearly displeased by my intervention, glared at me with his blood-red eyes and laughed coldly.
"Since when does a princess have a say in the affairs of this country?"
"Then, if I had killed them all, would I not even be allowed to speak this much?"
I looked around and asked.
I saw the servants cleaning up the remains of the melted monsters scattered around the banquet hall.
It was embarrassing to say, but the evidence of my incredible performance was clear.
The crown prince clenched his jaw and glared at me.
'Well, he has nothing to say, I guess.'
The top of his head flickered precariously.
I quickly bowed and repeated my request, disguised as a plea.
"They are just children. I beg for your leniency, Your Highness."
I wasn't particularly trying to help Berte.
I'm not that kind of incredibly kind person.
It was just that the sight of the emaciated children, who had been used and were about to be discarded like trash...
Was hard to watch. That's why I did it, uncharacteristically.
I felt a sharp gaze from the side. Soon,
"...Restrain them and put them in Count Berte's carriage."
The crown prince finally reluctantly agreed.
I immediately looked up to check his affection. Fortunately, it hadn't changed from 9%.
Relief washed over me as a white square window appeared before my eyes.
〈SYSTEM〉 Your reputation has increased by +10 due to the rise in your reputation. (Total: 90)
Although it wasn't intentional, my reputation had increased. I stared at the system window in surprise.
"I didn't know the princess had such a compassionate heart."
The crown prince mocked me.
"I was going to give you a special reward, but it seems unnecessary now."
He walked past me.
'Tch, what a stingy guy. I don't need your reward anyway.'
As I grumbled, watching the crown prince walk away, I felt a strange sensation.
[Affection 10%]
The crown prince's affection had increased by 1%.
'Well, at least this episode is over without any major issues?'
Although I nearly fainted when the monster suddenly appeared and wreaked havoc, the outcome wasn't bad.
Not only did the crown prince's affection increase unexpectedly, but the hunting competition would likely be canceled due to today's incident.
'Please, just let it end here... and please don't bring up that main quest or whatever it is.'
Even if it did, I wouldn't do it again.
Apart from the discomfort of my body moving involuntarily, it was really not a good thing to do.
As the tension eased with the crown prince's departure, my whole body ached.
'I need to lie down immediately. Otherwise, I'll die.'
Looking around, it seemed the situation was being brought under control.
There were injured people being carried away on stretchers, but fortunately, there were no fatalities.
'I need to go to Emily as soon as possible.'
I didn't know which direction Kavana was in.
But I didn't want to wander around looking for the two brothers who had suddenly disappeared.
Since the entrance to the banquet hall was strictly controlled by the guards due to the attack, I had to go outside to meet Emily.
Other nobles were also leaving the banquet hall one by one after giving brief testimonies and confirmations to the guards and mages.
I was about to follow the trend, slinging my crossbow over my shoulder and turning to leave when,