A few minutes later, I grabbed Friede's head with both hands and lifted it up.
"Even if you're tired, you need to get up now, Friede. It's morning."
Special service ends here.
It was obvious she was fully awake, but since she showed no intention of lifting her head from my thigh, I had no choice but to raise her up myself.
"Hnnng..."
Friede whined as if she wanted to lie down a bit more, but that was a request I couldn't grant.
Once you're awake, you shouldn't be lazy but jump up and get ready to start an energetic day. How could we waste time endlessly in a cave like this?
Lounging around until noon and leisurely starting activities only after the sun is high in the sky is a privilege of rich kids or unemployed people who've given up on life. It wasn't a right we could afford in our situation.
* * *
After having breakfast of fox meat with the drowsy Friede, we sat side by side against the cave wall and discussed our future plans in hushed tones.
If you're going to do something, you should always make a plan first and then act.
They say that when you actually try to follow the plan, nothing goes right due to all sorts of variables...
Still, there was a world of difference between having a plan and just charging in blindly. The idiom "Preparedness ensures success" exists for a reason.
You say the best plan is no plan? Well, the person who said that ended up completely ruining their life in the end.
Of course, that person's life seems a little better than my current life, but anyway, it wasn't an ending I wanted to take as a role model.
So, let's make some plans first. About how we should move from now on.
"Friede. I have plans for the future..."
"...Plans?"
Friede gave me a lukewarm look.
A look that seemed to say she wasn't sure whether to believe this or not.
Considering my past actions, it wasn't very trustworthy, but since the hidden dungeon exploration was relatively successful, her expression seemed to say she might believe me one more time, even if it meant being fooled.
After providing special service from the morning, to see such a face, I felt like pinching her cheek hard.
"Just listen first. I have about three things in mind."
"Three?!"
Friede covered her mouth in shock. It would be hard to be this surprised even if a woman you spent one night with in the past came looking for you with three kids.
In other words, she was deliberately joking around.
How impertinent.
"Friede, let's not joke around? This is important talk."
I impulsively reached out and stretched Friede's cheek, shaking it.
"Bueeeh..."
Friede groaned and shook her head. Her cheeks were so soft that they stretched as I pulled, to the point where I wondered if she had changed her race to rubber human.
Squish squish.
Squish squish.
...Oh, this is more addictive than I thought. I unconsciously played with her cheeks for quite a while, pulling and kneading them.
"Pweash shtop..."
"Huh? Ah, oh. Right. That's enough."
Only after Friede, who had been suffering for a while, asked me to stop in a slurred voice did I finally come to my senses, slightly embarrassed, and let go of her cheeks.
Look at me. The texture was so surprisingly soft that I ended up absentmindedly continuing to knead without realizing it.
* * *
After apologizing to Friede, who was cupping her cheeks, for being a bit too rough, I returned to the main topic and explained the three plans I had thought of.
Normally, I would have gone looking for another hidden dungeon without hesitation, but last night's events changed my thinking a bit.
The Heid assassination plan that Ord's doppelganger had revealed to me. It felt a bit of a shame to just ignore that information.
Abyss Priests trying to assassinate a prince and hero of a country and cause conflict between two kingdoms. Just hearing it sounds like top-secret level information, doesn't it?
Moreover, it's not just any secret, but time-sensitive secret information. Once they execute their plan, this information will become worthless trash.
If we want to make use of the information we've obtained somehow, we need to put other things aside for now.
However, it was also a bit ambiguous to move quickly based on that information alone.
Now that the plan has been leaked to me, there's a possibility that they might abandon the assassination operation itself or change their plans. If that happens, things could get quite complicated.
In short, this information was like a chicken rib for me - unappetizing to use but a shame to throw away.
That's why I came up with three plans.
Whether to ignore their information or use it. If we use it, which country to use it in. Considering all these comprehensively.
"So?"
"Listen, first of all..."
Plan 1. Cleanly ignore it and go our own way. It was a safe option with no benefits but also no risks.
No, maybe being able to quickly grow Friede could be considered a benefit in a way?
"...That would be fine too. You said we don't need to worry about pursuers if we have that helmet."
"That's right. Though we can't go around freely since the perception interference would break if we stand out too much."
To summarize the effect of perception interference simply, it makes people mistake me for a common existence like 'Villager 1'.
Walking around town or having simple conversations with others should be possible, but if I do anything more noticeable than that, the magic effect would break.
A town resident eating a meal or walking around the market is a very common sight, but a town resident engaging in swordplay is not a common existence.
"Anyway, so the second plan is..."
Plan 2. Find a major noble in the Kingdom of Rhine who won't try to capture and imprison us on sight, and sell the information to them.
If things go well, it was a plan that could potentially free us from our wanted status.
If they gain great benefits through the information I provide, we could ask them to become our backer.
It would be difficult to cancel the wanted order itself, but if we could just obtain a disguised identity as knights under such a noble, entering cities or dungeons would become much easier.
After clearing various dungeons and accumulating sufficient strength and fame, we could use that as a basis to negotiate an even bigger deal.
Changing the story to say that the false accusations against me and my treasonous actions were actually part of a secret mission intended by the kingdom from the start, and negotiating to reinstate me as a member of the Kingdom of Rhine's hero party.
For that, we'd need to choose a high-ranking noble who would both communicate well with us and consider this information very important...
"Do you remember Count Graine?"
"Graine...? Hmm... Ah, that Bilrod- I mean, Count?"
There was one suitable person.
Count Bilrod Graine. The head of an elven family that settled in the Kingdom of Rhine hundreds of years ago.
* * *
The Graine family was originally a wild elf family living outside the capital of Elfenland.
Elves who turned to the Kingdom of Rhine, saying it would be better to rub shoulders with short-lived races than to beg for entry into the capital while licking the feet of High Elves.
The humans of that time knew nothing about the circumstances of wild elves, so they warmly welcomed them and gave them great preferential treatment, they say.
It's natural.
To the humans of that time, elves were just noble, beautiful, and largely unknown long-lived beings from fantasy.
In a situation where such beings came bowing their heads and swearing allegiance to the human king, there couldn't have been anything more delightful for the king. It became an anecdote that would be passed down for generations.
They say the interior of the royal palace is full of paintings and sculptures depicting the situation at that time, so one can imagine how pleased the king of that time must have been.
Anyway, after that, the Graine family was able to grow into a high-ranking noble family in the Kingdom of Rhine despite being a different race, using the king's preferential treatment and favor as a stepping stone.
The current head of the family, Bilrod Graine, was even in charge of administrative advice to the royal family, they say?
Although his title was just a count, his actual power exceeded those with higher titles.
...Of course, this is just a story of the past.
As far as I knew, the current Graine family wasn't in a very good situation. Their trust from the king and their position within the kingdom had been greatly diminished?
It wouldn't be to the extent of losing their title and falling into ruin, but their power had been greatly reduced to the point where even their administrative advisory position was in jeopardy, they said. In the original work.
The reason was simple.
They made a mistake in vouching for someone.
"Vouching...?"
"Yes, haven't you heard about it before, Friede?"
It was a very fatal mistake.
"That woman Irina said so, didn't she? That her father was acquainted with Count Graine. Thanks to that, she was able to receive identity verification and recommendation through those connections and enter the hero's party."
"Ah...! That's right, I had forgotten. It was such a long time ago."
Yes. The reason the Graine family lost the king's trust was none other than because of Irina Winter's betrayal.
Count Graine probably never expected it either.
He had complete faith in her because she was the daughter of an old friend and quite capable, so he recommended her to the king, but then that friend's daughter ended up severely backstabbing the kingdom.
The material loss was just that the activity support funds given to the hero's party were wasted, but because of that incident, Count Graine lost the king's trust.
Having lost the king's trust in a monarchical state, naturally, their power declined. Because of that incident, wouldn't they be grinding their teeth at Irina Winter?
Since Burgundy, a stronger country than Rhine, and their hero Gunther are protecting Irina, they probably can't even dare to protest or attack, just nursing their grudge.
A noble in such a situation would be highly likely to very willingly accept our information and the conditions we'd demand in return.
If they could prevent the Abyss Priests' plan to make the Rhine Kingdom's army and Heid fight each other, they could regain the king's trust in one fell swoop.
Even if the assassination plan itself becomes nonexistent and they lose that opportunity, they would at least be recognized for the merit of finding the missing hero.
So, going to him and trying to negotiate like this doesn't seem like a bad choice.
However, if there's one thing that's concerning...
"The problem is, we don't know if that human- no, elf will really take my side."
He might not believe my words at all, or pretend to believe and then backstab us, handing over a neutralized Friede and my well-packaged head to the king as a set. Well, the possibility of that wasn't zero either.
Moreover, in the worst case, there was also a possibility that he was in cahoots with Irina from the start.
Although his position within the Kingdom of Rhine has been greatly diminished because of Irina, if he could enter Alfheim, he might be willing to throw away his count title in the kingdom.
Although it's said to be a family that came to the Kingdom of Rhine because they didn't want to flatter the High Elves, that was only what the previous head of the family did. The current head, Bilrod's thoughts might be different.
To summarize, if we attach ourselves to the Graine family, we could gain many benefits in various ways, but the risk when things go wrong is also great.
And, the last plan is.
"It's similar to the second plan, but it's about going to negotiate with someone higher than Count Graine."
"Someone higher... You don't mean His Majesty the King, do you?"
"No, not His Majesty. How could I meet him in my current situation?"
I shook my head to deny Friede's guess, then continued with a detailed explanation.
"We'll rely on this helmet and go back up. To Hervor, the country we were staying in before we were discovered."
There's one person there who would be very interested in this information.
Someone much higher than a count.
Someone who wouldn't care about the bounty on my head at all, but would be very concerned about matters related to Heid.
"Who is it?"
Friede showed interest. I grinned and revealed that person's name.
"Argentir. Argentir Gardarik Hervor."
The name of the second prince of Hervor and the crown prince who received the right of succession that originally belonged to his older brother.
* * *
After being surprised for a moment at the unexpected name, Friede showed a skeptical reaction, asking if that would be possible.
Saying that while we don't even dare to meet the king of the Kingdom of Rhine, how could we possibly meet the crown prince of another country?
"Yes, it's natural to think that way. However..."
However, it's possible, you see.
It's obviously impossible through 'official' channels, but if we go through unofficial channels...
I explained to Friede in detail about Argentir's behind-the-scenes circumstances. Within the limits of not being suspected about how I knew this information.
Friede hummed lowly as if quite doubtful, but in the end, she nodded saying she would believe my words.
And so, right after finishing the explanation about all three plans, I passed the choice to Friede. Telling her to choose the plan she thought would be best.
"Me?"
"Yes, in a way, all three are plans for my sake, so I wanted to at least give you the right to choose."
It's not because I don't trust my own decision-making luck. Really.
And, Friede's choice was...