The Villainess Is An SS+ Rank Adventurer Chapter 527: Where The Light Shines

Apple snorted as he trotted along the familiar road towards the nearby village.

And then he snorted so more, his nose tickled by the scent of sumr’s relief.

The rain had ceased, leaving behind the earthen aroma of dew upon the grass, damp soil and the wet moss from the scattered oak trees. Elsewhere, the hint of woodsmoke ca from the chimneys in the distance, the hazy plus now rising to take the place of the clouds.

Like dawn breaking from the wrong direction, the darkness was swept aside by the sunlight streaking between the clouds. The falling light illuminated the rain pooling between the cobblestones as though guiding the path ahead of us. And all the world began to glitter.

But that was no surprise.

Indeed, no matter how many cursed objects were tossed into my ho, the mont I ventured outside, it was only appropriate that the sun would still seek to replenish itself upon my smile.

There was only one problem.

I wasn’t actually smiling.

Instead, I was busy leaning forwards, doing my best to shoo the shaggy mane from Apple’s eyes. All it did was flop back into place with a vengeance, ushered by the warm breeze.

… But that was fine!

After all, even if Apple couldn’t see, all he needed was to follow Coppelia as she rrily skipped ahead.

“Heheheh~”

With a smile so bright that every vampire librarian would need a parasol, she twirled as she went, her fluffy golden hair bouncing behind her and starry skirt swishing away.

Lacking only a flower basket in her hand, she painted the impression of a maiden in a adow.

Of course, most maidens in a adow didn’t giggle as mischievously as she did.

Nor did they occasionally count down with their fingers, clearly looking forward to sothing that wouldn’t be looking forward to her. In fact, far from drawing the songbirds and bunnies towards her, she was more likely to ward them away.

And that’s why … she was my favourite handmaiden!

“My, you appear to be in a joyous mood,” I said, giving up on Apple’s mane to ignore whatever mischief Coppelia was planning instead. “Have you spotted any crêpe stalls?”

“Mmh!” Coppelia glanced around and bead. “There should be a bunch just ahead.”

“Really? Where just ahead?”

“Right there. In the otherwise desolate human village. I can already sll them.”

Following where she pointed, I tilted my head in puzzlent.

“Hm. That’s odd. The last ti we were there, there was little but mud. Have crêpes beco so popular with commoners that they now rival goblin moss cakes?”

“Sure have! Especially since I sowed rumours that a princess would be coming in secret to judge the best crêpes, thereby ensuring the stall owners would sabotage and fight each other until only the most powerful crêpe remained.”

My mouth widened in horror.

“Coppelia! … Have you been visiting the village by yourself?”

“Yup! Was I not ant to?”

“Of course not! Why, that is highly inappropriate!”

“Oh okay. Is that because the village is marked for destruction and I shouldn’t get their hopes up?”

“No, it’s because you’re my handmaiden. That ans visiting any village by yourself is a very dangerous thing to do. There are no lack of scoundrels who would seek to kidnap you for ransom.”

Coppelia looked at in confusion.

“Eh? But if anyone tries to kidnap , I’ll just beat them up.”

“Exactly. That’s the problem. There is no slander that spreads faster than the words of bored villagers. That’s why it’s ti for an important handmaiden lesson. Should anyone try to kidnap you, rember to let them do so and take you to their hideout. Once there, you can properly dispose of them where there are no witnesses.”

“Oooh~” Coppelia lightly applauded. “I see now! Are these the sort of lessons I’ve been avoiding?”

“No, these are my own.” I shook my head to reprimand myself. “My apologies, had I known you were leaving the grounds, I would have given them earlier. I wasn’t aware you were visiting the village.”

“Yep, I like to look for new diggers for my tower once the old ones start asking about helts. But if I knew there was a risk of being kidnapped, I’d have visited a lot more!”

“Excellent. You can start visiting less. Please do not encourage the hoodlums.”

“Hey, hoodlums need things to do too! Plus I sort of want to know how much you’d pay for my ransom.”

“0 gold crowns.”

“E-Eh?! 0 gold crowns?!”

“Naturally. That’s because I’d collect you myself. Anything else is insufficient.”

Coppelia puffed out her cheeks. The closest thing she did to showing suspicion.

“Hmmmm … I can’t tell if that’s because I’m super important or you just don’t want to spend money.”

“My, it appears the weather is brightening.”

“I got ignored … !”

I placed my hand to my chest and gently smiled.

“... Rest assured, should anyone ever kidnap you, I’ll personally co to your rescue. After all, if your dragon deserves my expensive services, then so should you. Except that unlike him, you would receive a discount.”

Coppelia feigned half a pout.

It lasted only as long as it took for a pebble to catch her interest.

Lightly kicking it away, she correctly decided that my generous 10% handmaiden discount wasn’t worth haggling over, then twirled and continued skipping towards the village with a smile instead.

“In that case, I’ll probably need to get myself kidnapped to so weird and exotic location. There’s nothing more fun than visiting new places, right?”

“I cannot think of anything less fun. So far, all that new places have offered are fresh opportunities for disappointnt. And also mud.”

“Well, to be fair, we do sort of go into places where you expect to find mud. Like muddy forests. Muddy caves. Muddy ruins. Muddy taverns. That sort of thing. But if we ignore all that, hasn’t it been great?”

Coppelia clapped her hands together and nodded, hoping her enthusiasm would be enough to blanket out all the other muddy things beyond my walls she didn’t ntion. Which was most things.

A noble, but futile effort.

Thus, I let out a sigh.

“Please. There is not a single thing outside my walls to be admired.”

“Ehhh? Really? Because you seed pretty good at the outside world thing.”

“Well, yes. But that’s only natural. As a princess, the world slowly adjusts to suit my needs.”

“Uwah~ so I wasn’t just imagining it. The muddy places we were going to really were becoming less muddy as we went.”

“Quite so. And it’s certainly not because sumr is dry and arid. Or so it usually is.”

Apple snorted, conveying my feelings precisely.

Even with the clouds slowly dispersing, the fact remained that the heavens were so dismal that even my presence wasn’t enough to shoo all the darkness away … and so long as my grandmother was around to invite intruders, that would always be the case.

Indeed, there was only one reason I was enacting Ergency Escape Protocol #39.

My quality of life was now being irrevocably threatened by one of the few people higher than on the social ladder. That ant the only answer was to flee until the instigator had left.

If that ant traversing the muddy roads outside, then so be it!

… A strange thing, then.

Because although I should have been shuddering at the sight of the common inn on the horizon, all I saw was Coppelia’s fluffy golden hair as it swayed, her rosy pink heels as she skipped and the sunlight reflecting off her smile as she twirled without care.

Each was a sight I found both nostalgic and soothing.

Enough that even the thought of leaving behind my bedroom only partially horrified .

“Well …” I said, turning to the side. “I suppose it cannot be denied that I enjoyed so of the mories I made on the road. That is if I selectively ignore the vast majority of them. So perhaps it wasn’t entirely an ordeal.”

Coppelia paused. As did Apple.

Sensing my mistake at once, I tightened my grip on Apple’s reins and urged him to resu his trot.

He didn’t.

Instead, he chewed on a single daisy growing between the cobblestones.

“Gasp,” said Coppelia, both hands covering her mouth. “Could it be that the princess just admitted to liking adventuring?”

“C-Coppelia!” I replied, rueing my poor choice of words. “Any adventuring I undertook was purely an unintended consequence of being masterfully incognito while on my royal tour! And certainly none of it was enjoyable!”

Ignoring the clear amusent, I sat up straight and looked dignified.

“... Indeed, I do only what I must. But that’s not to say I cannot find so small asure of use or enjoynt even in the bleakest of predicants. For example, it’s useful to keep up with fruit sli punting. Fewer are coming to my orchard. To flee ho is therefore an educational experience.”

“You an for you or the fruit slis?”

“For both. And also for the bakeries and crêpe stalls. It’s very useful to maintain standards by visiting those who might soday hope to see their products tossed beneath the dining table.”

Coppelia raised her arms and bead.

“Wooo! I can complete the Coppelia Guidebook! That ans visiting all the places we haven’t been yet!”

“Your guidebook will need to have several chapters missing. My apologies, but I’ve no intention of journeying far from ho. rely enough that my marriage suitors cannot find . And also sowhere the servants’ bell still functions.”

All I received was a giggle.

I hardly saw why. There was a reason I made sure to bring one. If nothing else, I wanted to inspect the range and response ti when rung from across the horizon.

“In that case, should we ring for so premium apples? We’ll definitely still need provisions.”

“Yes, but we’ll have to acquire them on the road. Escaping is the priority. Even if I only intend to go a little distance, it’s clear that any delay would an peril. My grandmother is one thing, but the insane elven woman is another. I have no idea what they’re planning. Or why. I only know that neither can be underestimated.”

I shuddered.

Even now, I could scarcely believe that those two were so well-acquainted.

It was the worst possible scenario. And I didn’t even understand why. I just knew it.

“Mmh! I dunno about Granny. But I’m pretty sure that even locked in a bathtub, the funny elf can escape so fast it’s like the wall doesn’t even exist.”

I nodded … then waited.

A mont later, I glanced to the side, fully expecting to see the bright smile of the Snow Dancer as she skipped beside along with a pair of waddling ducks.

Instead, I tilted my head slightly.

“... Uuuuugghhhhh …”

Because instead of any quacks, all I heard was a pitiable groan in the distance.

Like a ghoul dredged from its grave and forced to et its master, it was nothing but the sound of familiar despair.

I wisely chose to ignore it. As did Coppelia as she raised her arm.

“... Question!”

“Go ahead.”

“After we reach the first crêpe stall, do you know where we’re heading afterwards?”

“Not in the slightest. The priority is escaping.”

“Ooh, then I have an idea! … How about we go in a random direction until we find another crêpe stall, and then once that happens, we go in another random direction until we find another, repeating until we’ve eventually visited all the crêpe stalls?”

I was appalled.

Why, that was less a suggestion of where to go and more a concise guide for how to end up wading through the Grand Duchess’s own tower!

It was obviously unworkable. In order to properly escape those who’d spent their entire lives scheming how to be rejected by , I needed a clear plan. Anything less was to invite the Snow Dancer directly into another bathtub I’d need replacing.

… Or was it?

After all, if I didn’t know where we were going, then surely even she wouldn’t know either, right?

Could it be? Was that the solution all along? To make myself so unguessable that even the mice in the ceiling wouldn’t be able to follow?

Because if so … it wasn’t a map I needed, but a blindfold!

I pursed my lips as I considered the practicalities of this plan. Or at least until Coppelia leaned forwards slightly, her hand shielding the edge of her lips.

“For the first random direction, I suggest the human town east of here,” she whispered at normal volu. “I hear there are hedgehog sightings. I bet if nobody deals with them, they’ll start nibbling through all the crops, fields, gardens, plus the local crêpe stall fad for its triple marshmallow and warm hazelnut brownie deluxe parfait filling.”

I paused for a mont.

Then, I nodded, satisfied at what needed to be done.

“Ohohoho … is that so? Well, I suppose we’ll just need to start heading in random directions.”

"Okies~!"

Coppelia wore a look of excitent as she skipped ahead.

I smiled behind her. And just like that, all the light pierced the remaining clouds.

Indeed, I had little desire to leave my bedroom tower. If I did, I’d be Grandmother. And there’d be no less true an accusation.

Yet while the thought of muddy roads was enough to make my head spin until the world blurred, to have t so many I now deeply cherished upon them was sothing worthy of any amount of hardship.

Mostly.

Thus, I looked ahead and nodded.

The heavens had clouded over to obscure my path. Just like it always did. But that wasn’t enough to dim my light, nor my purpose.

The scent of autumn was in the air. Sumr was soon over. But a princess’s duties were not. For when one journey ends, another always begins.

… Except this ti, I only intended to journey to the nearest picnic spot!

Fortunately, nothing could possibly go wrong! … And in the rare event it did, no princess was better accompanied! I could rest assured in the knowledge that I had Coppelia by my side!

Hmrphm.

And also Apple.