Volume 1
Chapter 27
I was Invited
to a Nobleman's Villa
Translator : PolterGlast
"Kakyōin-san, I'm
back."
I had returned to
Kakyōin-san with the person I had found earlier.
"Is he the
culprit?"
"Who knows? I
brought someone who seems most likely to be the one, at least."
"Hmm."
Kakyōin-san approached
us and scrutinized the person I had brought.
The person I brought
along was, for some reason, a bit flustered.
"...Kushina,"
"Yeah?"
"You followed
this trail straight, right?"
Kakyōin-san pointed at
the trail left by the lightning-like attack and asked.
"That's
right."
"Was he the only
one there?"
"I might have
passed by someone in my haste, but... I think he was the only person I
found."
"I see."
After hearing that,
Kakyōin-san looked up as if she had figured something out.
"Then it must be
him. Akana-san,"
"Y-Yes!"
"You can decide
what to do with him. After all, he seems to be one of the bandits who attacked
you."
"Eh!?"
When Kakyōin-san
turned around and said that, the people behind her exclaimed in surprise.
□□□
[Akana's POV]
A series of
unbelievable events had occurred, and I was starting to give up on trying to
think.
An encounter with a
large-scale bandit group that was not supposed to appear near the city wall;
Runa-san who appeared to help me, a member of the Gillberg family, a hated
nobleman; an attack of highest-tier magic that even I, who was receiving
special lessons for nobles, couldn't handle; and an extraordinary man who blew
it away with his bare hands.
The man seemed to be
Runa-san's bodyguard. Fortunately, Runa-san didn't seem to be hostile towards
us at the moment. ...Although I don't know what will happen from here.
Then, just as suddenly
as the man had disappeared, he reappeared. But unlike before, he was dragging
another man with one hand. Apparently, he was a companion of the bandit.
He seemed to have
found and captured the long-range magic user in an instant. It was so out of
the ordinary that I couldn't say anything.
"Akana-san,"
"Y-Yes!"
When I was lost in
thought, I suddenly heard my name being called and my voice rose.
"You can decide
what to do with him. After all, he seems to be one of the bandits who attacked
you."
"………Eh?"
Does that mean...
she's leaving the disposal of the bandits to us?
"Eeeeh!?"
I was surprised again.
To entrust the
bandits' disposal means to give up the treasure the bandits had accumulated.
Normally, when someone
finds and defeats bandits, they can take all the possessions that the bandit
gang had. It's not that there's a law that says so, nor is it because the
Adventurers' Guild allows it. It's because people usually don't report it, even
when they find it.
Even if adventurers
find treasure in a bandit hideout, if they report that "there was nothing
there," they've also defeated the bandits, so they won't be investigated
further, and the adventurer who found and defeated them will get the gold and
silver treasure that the bandits had accumulated. That's the unspoken rule in
this trade. From there, it's up to the adventurer who found it to either return
the treasure to its original owner or keep it all for themselves.
Even if the adventurer
reported to the guards, or if the guards were watching nearby, the treasure
would be divided into eight for the adventurer and two for the guards as a
reward. That way, there are no hard feelings, and the guards don't have to pay
out separate rewards, which is easier for them.
In other words, the
bandit's treasure belongs to the one who defeated them───that's the common
sense of this world.
The bandits' treasure───especially that of
such a large-scale bandit gang───must be enormous. It's easy to imagine that just by looking at the
appearance of those bandits... yet, they're easily giving it up? What's going
on with these people?
I don't understand...
but───my intuition is
telling me that I shouldn't end our relationship here.
"Well then, we'll
be off. Let's go, Kushina."
Runa-san bowed
slightly and was about to leave. And then, I───
"U-Umm!"
"Hmm?"
"Could you please
spare me some of your time!?"
□□□
[Akana's POV]
I made up various
reasons on the spot and invited the two of them to my villa, which was where I
stayed the night in this town. Even though I call it a villa, it's a noble's
villa, so it's made of white bricks, has a fairly large grounds, and is more
stylish than any ordinary inn.
Why did I invite them
to this villa?
Actually, I wanted to
hurry to the royal capital at all costs. However, as Runa-san pointed out, the
guards were exhausted and the carriage was damaged. Even if we had continued on
like that, it's doubtful that we would have safely reached the royal capital.
So I decided to return
to town once, have the carriage repaired, and have the guards recover, and also
ask Runa-san and her bodyguard, who had saved me, to come with me to the royal
capital in the next departure───in other words, I thought I would ask them to be my escorts, so I had
them come to this villa.
I led the two of them
into the guest room—a room with a bookshelf and numerous books on the left wall
as we entered, a large window on the opposite wall with a reasonably decent
wooden desk and chair placed along it, and two long chairs facing each other in
the center of the room, large enough for multiple people to sit on. I sat down
on the chair closest to the entrance. The man who was her bodyguard—whose name
was Kushina—stood behind the chair without sitting.
"So? What's this
about?"
Runa-san prompted me
to get to the point.
"………Well,
actually, I have a request..."
I had been helped by
these two people. I thought there was a high possibility that they would agree
to be my escorts compared to other adventurers. Even though I thought so, it
still took a lot of courage to ask an adventurer to be my guard, and I couldn't
help but swallow my saliva, my voice becoming smaller.
"A request?"
I nodded in response
to Runa-san's question.
"Please, would
you be my escort?"
I stated my purpose
immediately.
"………."
"Of course, I
won't ask you to do it for free. I'll pay you a good price, and if you want, I
can even offer you something in exchange. If you're worried, I can even prepare
a decent advance payment as a sign of my sincerity. Considering your abilities,
guarding me to the royal capital might not be a very challenging job, but...
what do you think?"
From the fact that
they had let me handle the bandits, I understood that they were not
particularly interested in money. So, I also included a request for something
in exchange as a reward. I hoped this would motivate them a little.
But silence fell over
the room. Runa-san looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze. I couldn't understand
whether it was a look of doubt or whether she was measuring whether I was worthy
of being guarded. The silence made me sweat nervously.
"………Akana-san,"
"Y-Yes!"
After a while,
Runa-san opened her mouth.
"Do you really
understand the situation you're in right now?"
"───!!"
I felt a jolt in my
chest upon hearing those words.
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