Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World

Chapter 277: Catching Up

“Your Highness, how come you are in the Northwest Bay?”

When Mond Landon saw Eileen again, his face still bore an expression of disbelief, thinking what happened when he left the lord’s mansion might have been a hallucination.

The young princess of the Kingdom of Ordo, how could she be in such a remote place, and… and… it seemed she was working under a local lord.

Hearing Mond’s words, Eileen pouted unhappily: “What ‘Your Highness’ this and that? Senior, how many times have I told you, just call me by my name. But… here you have to call me Betty.”

“Uh… okay, Betty,” Mond awkwardly called her by her current name.

Eileen explained why she was there: “I was forced to come here!”

“Forced?” What could compel a princess to run away from home?

Eileen immediately became indignant, hands on hips in an unladylike manner, saying: “That old man, King Rodney XVII, actually wants to marry his younger daughter to the Duke of the Eastern Territory!”

“Uh… His Majesty the King actually…”

Mond was extremely surprised; he hadn’t heard of this while in the Gabella Empire. It seemed the news had been suppressed.

He looked at Eileen with a new sense of sympathy. During their studies together, despite their different statuses, Mond had always treated this lively and adorable princess like a sister.

Ah! Girls born into royalty, their marriages always carry a shade of political color.

His junior, showing such courage, deserved his silent admiration, Mond thought to himself.

But then, had the royal family of Ordo been driven to such straits? Thinking this, Mond felt a wave of guilt and asked, “Can you tell me more about the situation?”

“Sure, I’ve been wanting to talk to someone familiar!”

So, Eileen sat down and detailed how she and her guard, Ladi, escaped the capital, headed north, and were eventually rescued in the woods by Count Grayman.

Perhaps feeling too embarrassed, Eileen didn’t mention her original plan to go to the Gabella Empire and ended up in the Northwest Bay due to her poor sense of direction.

Upon hearing that Ladi, the female guard, was accompanying Eileen, Mond breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “Looking at the situation today in the lord’s mansion, Count Grayman is still unaware of your true identity, right?”

“Yes, I’m using the alias Betty Dias, staying here as a scholar.”

“I see… so you are… working inside the lord’s mansion?”

“Yes, you saw. When I arrived, the lord’s mansion was recruiting talents, so I applied. Initially as a consultant, later Count Grayman appointed me to oversee educational matters.”

“Education? Who would have thought that this young lord would value it so much?”

“Yes! That’s one of the things I admire about him. In the north, even in all of Ordo, there aren’t many lords who realize the importance of this.”

“Hehe, Ei… ahem! Betty, it’s not that they don’t realize, but… it’s not always good for the common people to know too much.”

“Enough! Stop there!” Eileen pushed her hands forward: “I’m not interested in those so-called ‘arts of rule.’ Let me tell you, I’ve already established six schools, albeit very basic ones. My ultimate goal is to make everyone in this land literate.”

As Eileen spoke these last words, her face was filled with pride.

“That’s quite a challenging task!” Mond said, but inwardly he was shaking his head. What was the lord thinking? Allowing the young princess to act so recklessly — was he bewitched by Eileen’s beauty?

“By the way, how is the teacher? And how did you come to be here, Senior Mond?”

“The tutor is in good health! I came here to fetch a child who was recognized by the tutor a long time ago. Ha ha, you’re about to gain a junior.”

Eileen’s face lit up with surprise: “The teacher has been here too? That child is lucky indeed. What’s his name, and which village or town is he from? I’m quite familiar with the local names here.”

Mond introduced her to Kevin and his nearly being banished to the northern forests for pioneering.

“Indeed, he’s a lucky child,” Eileen remarked again. “If it were a little later, perhaps, Senior, you would have had to go to the great forest in the north to find him.”

Eileen then asked, “And… how is my cousin doing?”

“The Prince… well, how should I put it, our neighbors in the east are causing trouble again, and the Prince has led troops to deal with them.”

Eileen was both surprised and worried, asking anxiously, “Ah? There’s no danger for my cousin, is there?”

Mond laughed and said, “Ha ha, don’t worry. Not to mention the strength of Gabella’s army, just based on the Prince’s capabilities alone, there won’t be any problems, it’s foolproof.”

“Ah…” Eileen still seemed worried. “Damn wars, they’re everywhere. In the south, in the north, and now in the east.”

Mond suddenly thought of something and asked, “Are you safe here? I heard that Count Grayman and several other lords seem to be at war with the current Duke of the Northwest?”

“Very safe!” Eileen said confidently. Being a high-ranking member of the Administration Council, she naturally knew the strength of Alda’s army, more than sufficient for self-preservation in the Northwest.

Mond reminded her, “In any case, reveal your true identity if necessary.”

“I will.”

“Eileen…” Mond softly uttered the real name of the princess, his face showing a hint of shame.

Seeing his expression, Eileen was quite puzzled: “What’s wrong, Senior?”

Mond hesitated before asking, “What do you think about using despicable means for a noble goal?”

Why would Senior suddenly ask such a question?

However, Eileen quickly answered, “From the perspective of an outsider, it’s undoubtedly a heroic act.”

Mond’s eyes brightened: “Oh? So you agree?”

“Not entirely. If I were an insider, especially a victim of the so-called ‘despicable means,’ then I would probably be filled with hatred.”

Mond’s face instantly lost its brightness.

“Eileen, in the future, you may encounter situations where you have no choice but to choose the least bad option among terrible ones.”

That was all he could explain, but his words only made Eileen more puzzled.

“Senior, what’s wrong with you? Why suddenly bring this up?”

“I… ah, never mind.”

Mond didn’t know how to explain, so he just brushed it off softly.

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