Avalon's Dungeon

The paper spread all over the table was so large that one had to stand up and lean forward to write on it.

Fransisca stood up from her chair and stretched out her hand. Her thighs rubbed against each other, and a tingling sensation was produced in her lower body, as if her spine was being stroked.

「...—」

Fransisca manages to stifle her voice, but then she stops moving.

Then, a curious look came from all of them, and Fransisca's cheeks are reddening.

（A-Alexis-sama, don't torture me like this...）

Fransisca turns her eyes to Alexis with tears in her eyes, as if to say something. Alexis, however, does not seem to be bothered by it. No, he must be enjoying the situation. As a proof, Alexis is sitting next to Fransisca, and his hand lightly caresses Fransisca's thigh, which is slightly peeking out from her knee socks.

「Hyah—」

A voice comes out from her.

This draws more and more stares from those around her, and Fransisca hastily shuts her mouth.

「Y-Your Highness...」

Valencia gives her a worried look. But, Fransisca answered that she was fine with her eyes only, and tried to concentrate on her work.

After a while, the new drawing on the paper was better than expected. In addition, not only the drawing but also the writing was very sophisticated.

No, as for the writing, Alexis knew it from when he had taken over the captain's post before.

「You...」

Alexis blinks.

「...I didn't know you had a normal princess side to you...」

「Normal, what do you mean by normal...」

Fransisca replied in a trembling voice.

「Well, I was under the impression that you were more of a priestess.」

Alexis said, but decided to cut to the chase.

「Okay... Considering the fourth area that we are currently conquering and the areas up to that point...」

Alexis now turns to Valencia for his opinion.

Thanks to this, the eyes of the participants shifted from Fransisca to Valencia.

Fransisca pats her chest in relief, and then takes a moment to rest.

* * *

Alexis says that as long as Fransisca is not talking about Avalon because it is the kingdom secret, he can only consider the situation based on his experience and guesses.

There is a big difference between the previous areas and the fourth area. The difference is that there is a foggy terrain without walls, and there is a concentration of objects that seem to have been carried into Avalon.

「Perhaps— I can guess that we have entered the next phase of Avalon. We'll be able to confirm that when we go down to the lower layers, but this time, for some reason, we can't seem to find it...」

Alexis lets out a sigh. The one thing they can't find. It was the stairs to the lower layer.

「This is my guess. As there are no walls in the fourth area, the absence of walls, which had been commonplace in the previous areas, means that it would not be surprising if there were no stairs.」

Alexis then turns to Fransisca, wanting to know her opinion on the matter. But Fransisca seemed to be in a daze again and did not seem to be listening.

「Ah... y-yes. W-What's wrong?」

Fransisca replies with a bright red face.

Fransisca's seeming lack of participation in the discussion moved on to something that particularly displeased the Krangal people. Especially—for Maria, who did not know the deeper circumstances of the situation.

「Uh, uh, uhh...」

Maria's voice was shaking as she spoke up.

「Why does Fransisca-sama... seem to think it's someone else's problem... like she doesn't have anything to do with it? I mean, we've been ordered to this place, and she didn't even say anything to the prince... shouldn't she at least tell us a little bit about what's going on?」

Fransisca and Alexis look at Maria at the same time.

Maria looks embarrassed and says in a low voice, "I-I'm sorry".

「I-I didn't mean to go too far...」

Maria says this, but it's more than she would say for someone of her character. If that's the case, it must be something serious.

If Maria is like this, the feelings must be even stronger for the other soldiers.

Alexis recalled the rift between Krangal and Sagrado that existed before he came here.

「...Indeed, I understand what you mean. It's not just the volunteers that are here in this fort. But you are wrong to think that she doesn't have anything to do with it.」

Alexis tells her after the preamble.

「Now that Avalon has been conquered and is shrinking, you know that it was expanding rapidly at first, don't you? If we had not helped them, our country would have been swallowed up. With Sagrado almost completely destroyed, we have to do our part.」

「T-That's true, but...」

Maria replied in a hushed tone.

「Well, that's because Sagrado is responsible for all of that, and for Avalon in general. ...Though, I, I don't know anything about this...」

Seeing Maria's surprisingly persistent attitude, Alexis blinks involuntarily. But as soon as her expression softened, Alexis answered.

「Well. I can't say anything about that since I don't know what happened. But if you have a problem because she's keeping her mouth shut, you can complain to me. I know how to get her to come clean. But as of now, I'm not doing it. That's my answer for now. Understand?」

「......」

Maria was silent, then nodded her head.

Maria was shaking after that, but Dorothea, who was sitting next to her, put her hand on her shoulder and whispered a word or two to her, which seemed to help her get back on track.

Seeing this, Alexis wonders if Maria's shyness might be partly due to gender differences.

But he suddenly remembered the repulsive look she had given to him the other day. Maria may have a man-hating attitude.

Nevertheless...

Suddenly, Alexis turns his attention to Fransisca.

She seems to be making an effort to listen to it, but she seems to be getting fuzzy again.

（...I should do something about this...）

Alexis thinks so and smiles secretly.

Then he feels a reproachful look coming, mainly from the Sagrado people, but Alexis decides to ignore it.

But. Fransisca is at fault.

She is responsible for having such a teasing body. Alexis thought to himself.

After the strategy meeting, they disperse.

「...I'm shocked, to be honest...」

Alexis turned to Fransisca, who remained in the room.

She is sitting in a chair, looking distressed and shaking with breath.

Her eyes were completely vacant and she was sloppily leaning her back against the backrest, probably because the tension had relaxed.

「I didn't think you could hold out so long...」

But it was like Fransisca, Alexis thought.

She is the type of person who will do whatever Alexis tells her to do.

It makes him wonder if she will obey him once he orders her to pleasuring herself publicly in front of the soldiers, and what will happen to her.

（...Well, let's not do that...）

It's the least he can do.

Well, it's not like he's going to let the princess do it, even if it's a little too hard.

「Well then...」