"Ah, the sky is so blue, so blue!" Princess Highness lay on a flatbed truck on the vast grassland, her hands behind her head and gazed up at the azure sky, expressing her heartfelt admiration.

The weather in January was still cold, but there was already a hint of tender green on the grassland located in the central part of the continent. Among the scattered snow on both sides of the road, tender shoots had begun to emerge.

This was the umpteenth day since leaving the Elf Kingdom. Well, she had already forgotten how many days it had been. They had covered more than half of the journey and were about to enter the territory of the Milanía Kingdom.

Although she could have transformed back into a dragon form and quickly flown back with Tiran and the still unconscious Angel, Tiran vetoed it.

"I don't want to go back so soon. My father is preparing for war, and if I go back, he will definitely force me to join him and do hard labor. It's too much trouble," Princess Highness had said at the time.

So, she had bought a flatbed truck from a human trade guild in the Elf Kingdom and planned to slowly make her way back.

The truck was simple and rough, and it jolted heavily on the muddy dirt road. However, Princess Highness didn't mind. On the contrary, she found it quite interesting to sway along the road.

"You've made this exclamation at least twenty times today," Aya, who was driving in front, replied helplessly, turning her head to glare at Angel, who was rolling around due to the bumps. "Hey! Be careful! What if you keep rolling and bump into something?"

"Ah, it's just Angel the grasshopper. Moreover, she has been chasing after us all the way. Isn't it okay for her to suffer a little punishment?" Princess Highness retorted unabashedly, but she still complained as she picked up Angel, who was rolling around unconscious, and placed her next to her, letting her lean on her shoulder.

Looking closely, this child was quite cute. She looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, a little younger than herself. Her long eyelashes, which were the same color as her hair, trembled as the carriage moved. Under the morning sunlight, her complexion was so pure and almost translucent, as if she were an expensive porcelain from the East. It was hard to imagine that such a child could throw weapons of destruction at innocent civilians without even blinking.

"A figure and countenance, extremely beautiful?" Tiran suddenly recalled a phrase he had learned a long time ago.

"Speaking of which, her injuries should be almost healed. Why hasn't she woken up yet? Could she have been reduced to a vegetative state from the blow?" Aya turned her head to look at the road ahead, her voice filled with concern.

"You shook the spatial laws in the World Tree with that strike. Do you think the damage caused by such a strike could just be a superficial wound?"

"Yeah, you're right..." Aya murmured quietly.

"Let's not talk about that. Aya, Aya, let me drive the car for a while!" Princess Highness pounced from behind, hugging Aya's neck and whispering into her ear.

So bored, they needed something to do. The scenery of the thawing grassland was beautiful, but after watching it for so long, it became monotonous and boring. They said that looking at the sky when bored was a good idea, but looking at it for too long made them want to vomit blood.

Although Princess Highness had a flat chest, she was still a girl, and her breasts were soft. When she pressed against Aya, it felt particularly obvious. If this had happened a few days ago, Aya would have blushed and been in a fluster, but now... she remained unmoved.

"I think it's better for the sake of our safety that you, miss, sit quietly in the car," Aya sighed. A few days ago, Tiran had made the same request, and she had allowed Princess Highness to drive for a while. However, after just three minutes, they nearly crashed into a ditch.

After that incident, Princess Highness had begged her to let her drive dozens of times. At first, Aya was at a loss, but later, she didn't feel anything at all - even that... had a wise mode.

"Tsk, heartless man." Seeing no reaction from Aya, Tiran showed a disappointed expression, then rolled over and jumped back to the cargo hold to continue looking at the sky.

"Well, I'm sorry, miss!" Aya felt annoyed. "First, I'm not human, and second, look at the clothes I'm wearing. I'm still in women's clothing. Do you only treat me as a boy when you're acting spoiled?!"

Since they hadn't prepared any documents for crossing the border, they had been sneaking into other countries in various ways. As for Milanía, although she was a princess, Tiran had decided to find a loophole to get in and then go directly back to the castle to avoid being discovered by her father.

At the end of this grassland was a section of the Milanía border. Building a whole wall along such a long border was not feasible due to the lack of natural barriers and terrain advantages. Therefore, the garrison troops responsible for this section of defense only built small forts in important protruding areas and deployed cavalry patrols between them to control the border.

So just pay attention and seize the gap in the cavalry's patrol to pass.

- That's how it normally goes. Unfortunately, it's wartime now, and the intensity of patrols has tripled.

"Well... gentlemen of the cavalry, we really aren't spies..."

Aya sat in the driver's seat, raising both hands with a wry smile on her face as she stared at the spears pointing at her in front, and she sought help from Tiran, who was hiding in the cargo hold through their contract. "Miss, please think of a solution!"

"I don't care, you figure it out on your own." After receiving such a response, communication was cut off.

In fact, the few cavalrymen in front were also somewhat surprised. This carriage looked ordinary, similar to the ones used by smugglers they had caught before. But the girl who was driving didn't seem like a smuggler at all!

In their experience of intercepting smugglers, there were those who spoke harshly, those who drew their swords and resisted with guards, and those who bribed with money and wealth. In short, they had never seen a smuggler surrendering in such a panicked and submissive manner before!

For a while, the young cavalrymen were also at a loss. They couldn't be too rough with a cute girl, could they?

"W-well, for now," the leading officer finally decided to fulfill his duty. He coughed a couple of times and dismounted from his horse, hanging the spear on the side of the saddle. He came to Aya, extending his hand, and said, "Miss, please explain why you trespassed our country's border."

"I-I-I..." Aya became incoherent. How could she say that it was because the princess in the back compartment didn't want to fly back and insisted on doing this? She would definitely be taken as a lunatic!

"Hey, hey, the captain scared the girl to tears."

"Tsk, what a shame..."

However, upon hearing the whispered conversation from his subordinates behind, the officer became even more nervous than Aya. Ah, he really was a fool, wasn't he? He had actually scared away such a cute girl to death.

"Don't, don't be nervous. I'm just asking." The officer quickly reassured, frantically trying to console her. "How could a beautiful young lady like you be a suspicious smuggler?"

"What if I said I got lost, would you believe me?" Aya thought she had come up with an excuse that could deceive them.

"Is that so?" The officer wiped off his cold sweat. "Then please go back."

"...Forget it, I still have to go through." Aya shook her head, trying to take advantage of her appearance. "Young man, I am a legitimate traveler, but I lost my customs clearance document. Can you make an exception this time?"

"Well..."

The officer was wavering between "insisting on principles" and "stubbornly dragging the cute girl back," but after noticing his subordinates giving a thumbs-up unanimously, he ultimately gave up. "Fine, but at least I need to check that there are no prohibited items in the back compartment."

As he spoke, the officer bypassed the carriage and went to the back of the vehicle.

"Hey, wait-" Aya panicked. Although there were no prohibited items in the compartment, she couldn't let the officer see the princess and Angel, who were unconscious, right?

Unfortunately, it was too late to stop him.

First, the officer bent down and glanced at the underside of the carriage—some smugglers would hide the truly important prohibited items in places like the bottom or compartments, covering them with ordinary goods. But there was nothing strange underneath this carriage, and the floorboard was thin without any compartments. Thus, the suspicion of smuggling could be eliminated, which relieved him. Otherwise, no matter what, he would have to bring this girl back for interrogation.

However, as he looked inside the compartment...

Huh, what's this?

Tiran was desperately trying to stuff the unconscious Angel into a large wooden box that was idle on the side, but he hadn't managed to close the box before being discovered.

"Um... good morning?" The princess awkwardly smiled, greeted him.

Officer: "..."

...

Not long after, in a large fortress along the border.

The heavy city gates slowly opened, and several patrolling cavalrymen escorted a cargo truck inside. The driver had already been replaced by a cavalryman.

Coincidentally, at this moment, a tall knight in silver armor walked out of the front barracks and ran into the cavalrymen escorting the carriage.

"Wait a moment." The knight halted the officer and furrowed his brow. "What's going on?"

"My lord Robert!" The officer immediately recognized the knight and quickly dismounted to salute him. "This is an invader that we caught trying to trespass the border during our patrol. It seems to be a smuggler."

"A smuggler? Smuggling what?" Robert, the knight, furrowed his brow even deeper. How dare smugglers intrude at such a critical time, just before the war?

"...It seems to be people," the officer hesitated in his tone.

"Slave traders?"

Robert's voice now carried a hint of anger. He couldn't tolerate the blatant disregard for human dignity that came with the sale of slaves, even during these dire times as a noble and virtuous knight.

The kingdom had declared a ban on slave trading over a decade ago, and whatever was left of it was limited to the black market. But now that it had appeared right in front of his eyes, he couldn't turn a blind eye.

With a cold snort, Robert strode to the back of the carriage and grasped the edge, climbing aboard with a stern voice. "I want to see who has the audacity."

"Huh? Robert?" The person inside recognized him.

"How do you know... Oh my, Your Highness?! And you are... the maid who was by His Highness's side that day?"