[Ding! System task released! (2/3)]
[Requirement: Find out the reason why the miners became mountain bandits and punish the main culprit!]
[Reward: One Forbidden Magic Ore Vein (Small)]
[Failure penalty: Forced to streak around Ushi City naked~]
[Ah, my host, unable to both claim the reward and streak at the same time, collapsed in despair, crying and wailing, so pitiful!]
Get lost!
You’re the one who wants to streak, damn it!
Willis was utterly speechless at this system that loved to add extra drama for itself for no reason.
But when she tried to call out to the system in her mind, it didn’t respond.
It didn’t seem to have artificial intelligence.
However, the failure penalty and the note at the end of the task gave Willis the eerie feeling that this system had its own self-awareness.
At that moment, someone spoke up beside her.
“Your Highness, isn’t this improper?”
Victoria hesitated nearby.
The voice of reality interrupted Willis’s exchange with the system, and she turned to look.
She saw that Victoria had already changed out of her usual women’s armor, which rarely left her body, and was now wearing ordinary rough cloth clothing.
She had also tied up her hair with a cloth, just like Willis.
She looked like a mushroom head.
As for Willis, she too was in rough cloth clothes.
“What’s improper? Just do as I say!”
Willis ordered.
Then she looked toward the three Terrence brothers in the back.
They were bound with ropes, their upper bodies exposed.
Lean, muscular, and bronze-skinned.
In the afterglow of the setting sun, there was an odd beauty to them.
“Which mine are you three from?”
Willis asked.
“Just ahead…”
Terrence’s face was complicated, and Andy and Feidi behind him looked even more bewildered.
When they were close to Ushi City, Willis suddenly took Victoria and the three of them and secretly left the convoy.
At that time, the two women had already changed clothes.
Shedding their ornate garments, even in plain peasant attire, their beauty couldn’t be concealed.
But Terrence and the others couldn’t understand why Willis would do this.
In their eyes, noble ladies treasured their reputation above all.
Let alone letting delicate skin touch rough fabric—some noblewomen wouldn’t even go near commoners.
They would consider even the air breathed by peasants to be filthy, and the roads they walked to stink.
Yet this person before them, in terms of status, was an Imperial Princess!
How noble was that!?
Shouldn’t she be even more pampered, fitting the proud and domineering image in their minds?
So what was this about?
“Willis, what are you trying to do?”
Unable to bear it anymore, the youngest, Andy, spoke up.
They already had no fondness for Willis; even as captives, they addressed her by name.
By rights, this was a grave disrespect, punishable by law.
But Willis didn’t mind.
“What am I doing? Isn’t it obvious?”
Willis looked down at her own clothes, then asked Victoria to help adjust them.
“We’re going to the mines, into the tunnels… and not as Imperial Princesses, but as daughters of commoners.”
For a moment, hearing Willis’s explanation, the three Terrence brothers stared wide-eyed, mouths agape.
“You… You… You’re going into the mine!? For what!?”
Terrence couldn’t believe his ears or eyes.
This world must be broken, right?
That brutal, heartless Imperial Second Princess—was she really this girl called Willis?
For an instant, Terrence even doubted whether the Imperial Second Princess was someone else entirely.
Similarly, Victoria, who was helping Willis adjust her clothes, felt the same illusion.
She had been at Willis’s side all this time.
Over these days, she’d witnessed every change in her with her own eyes.
“What else can you do in a mine but dig as a laborer?”
Willis laughed.
“You think I’m going sightseeing?”
But Terrence felt she made it sound as easy as a vacation.
Was it necessary to pretend to be a commoner?
Did she really want to experience a miner’s life?
What a joke!
Although Terrence wanted her to suffer, he couldn’t believe she would actually do it!
But for the sake of the miners still being escorted and imprisoned by the Imperial Army in Ushi City, Terrence had to speak up.
“Willis, do you realize… apart from us, no one knows your identity…”
“Even if you declare your status in the mine, the overseers might not believe you… unless you have something to prove who you are.”
At his words, Willis shrugged.
“It’s fine. I didn’t bring any proof of identity.”
Because such things would be too easily discovered.
And if the overseers harbored ill intent, they might not acknowledge her proof anyway.
Seeing Willis treat it so lightly, Terrence grew angry.
“Willis! Do you know what you’re doing!?”
“You’re an Imperial Princess! Just stay put in your Castle Lord’s Mansion—what are you doing here!?”
“If something happens to you, my brothers will be buried with you!”
“Even if you don’t care about your own safety, I care about my brothers!”
Terrence was trembling with rage.
Though he wished to strangle the smiling, beautiful girl before him, reason warned him not to.
Willis only brought the three of them; the remaining thousand miners had been sent as hostages to the mined prison in Ushi City!
This young girl was as skilled as an adult in manipulating people’s hearts!
For the sake of his brothers, Terrence would do anything.
Even if it meant begging Willis to go back, to a safe place…
Moreover, the three of them could never defeat Guard Knight Victoria.
He spoke again.
“And… once your identity is exposed, the miners in the mine hate you to the core. Do you know what you’ll face?”
Willis was unconcerned.
“I know, I’ll be treated like this and that…”
As she spoke, Willis bent down to pick up several lumps of mud from the ground.
Under Victoria’s horrified gaze, Willis smeared the black mud over herself, especially on her face.
“Your Highness!”
Victoria staggered back in fright, but she couldn’t escape Willis’s clutches.
When the two finished, they stood before the three Terrence brothers as two unremarkable, foul-smelling women, as if they’d crawled out of a cesspit.
“A bit dirty and smelly, but just bear with it. Sorry, Victoria.”
Willis said.
Her Guard Knight’s mind was spinning.
Was this truly her charge—the fierce, cruel, yet loyal Imperial Second Princess?
Willis turned to look at the three Terrence brothers.
“That’s about it. Only we know my identity here… so I’ll rely on you to keep the secret.”
But the three exchanged glances, feeling as if they were dreaming.
“Aren’t you afraid we’ll reveal your identity and make your life hell in the mine?”
Feidi asked.
Willis smiled.
“You won’t.”
Seeing Willis so certain, even Terrence doubted himself.
“Your Highness, why do you trust us?”
Willis explained.
“I don’t trust that you’ll be merciful, but I believe you’ll value the lives of nearly a thousand hostages more than your own!”
“Besides, even if my identity is exposed, with Victoria here and most in the mine being ordinary people, it’s not hard to fight our way out.”
At her words, Victoria rolled her eyes.
“Thank you for your trust, Your Highness, but with such a huge disadvantage in numbers, it’s not guaranteed.”
“Ah, don’t be so serious. Let’s go. From now on, I’m a miner!”