Chapter 117
We found the kidnappers' hideout.
An abandoned logistics warehouse in the eastern canal district.
When the bell rang to signal evening, they smuggled the hostages out through the drainage culvert in the capital's southeast.
Then we strike while the young ladies are gathered in one place, before they’re smuggled out of the city.
So we had arrived at the base Kardin mentioned.
We hid at the corner of the alley and watched, only our faces peeking out.
“This smells suspicious.”
“It does.”
I immediately agreed with Aurora's opinion without hesitation.
The logistics warehouse had an eerie atmosphere, like an abandoned factory.
Several men were wandering around as if on guard. If this were truly abandoned, there should have been no one here.
This was definitely the warehouse Kardin mentioned.
After confirming that, we pulled back.
Operation time.
“Let’s go straight in through the front gate.”
“Huh?”
Did she think we were going to have a serious discussion or something?
Aurora looked utterly dumbfounded at my blunt suggestion.
“Normally, wouldn't we say we should sneak in at a time like this?”
“Usually, yes. But how are we supposed to sneak in?”
“Wouldn't it be enough for either me or Leon to sneak in?”
“Can you manage on your own?”
“...No.”
If Aurora had been a commoner, or at least a noble, I would have left her somewhere reasonably safe and moved on.
But Aurora was a princess.
By common sense, it already made no sense for a princess and a slave to be out on a covert mission together, and it made even less sense to leave the princess alone.
How could I leave this spoiled brat, who didn’t even know how the world worked, on her own when I had no idea what kind of trouble might happen?
“That said, if the two of us infiltrated together, I’m not exactly skilled at infiltration, so with you, who’s a civilian, Your Highness...”
“Noona.”
“...Sneaking in with Noona isn't as easy as it sounds in a novel.”
Aurora nodded as if she understood. But it seemed not everything had been resolved.
“But if we go in openly, there’ll be a commotion, and there’s a high chance they’ll run. They might move the young ladies or even take them hostage.”
“I can't rule out that possibility.”
“Hmm, troublesome.”
It’s because of you.
Because I said I’d move alone, and you threw a fit.
“If not that, there is one more way, but...”
“Absolutely not the knight order.”
Before I had even brought up the main point, Aurora had cut me off in one stroke, already guessing what I was going to say.
“Well, I was only saying it. I have no intention of calling the knight order.”
Using the knight order to wipe them out in one fell swoop would certainly be the surest method.
But that also came with several problems.
First of all, the knight order was too conspicuous.
If armored knights moved in as a group, even one lookout would spread the word at once.
There was a chance they’d run before we even stormed in.
Second, it would take too long to mobilize, and lastly—
We’d have to keep out of sight.
Neither Aurora nor I could show our faces before the knight order.
If we were discovered, word that Aurora had sneaked out in secret would reach the Emperor.
Compared with leaving it to the knight order, moving alone was far better.
If you factor in mobilization time and the like, that is.
“No more objections, right? Then we go in?”
It was just as we were about to truly make our move.
“Wait.”
Aurora grabbed my sleeve.
Wearing a look like a troublemaker about to pull a prank, she said,
“What about this instead?”
***
In front of the logistics warehouse’s main gate.
Bran, who was on guard, leaned against the wall and let out a long yawn.
“Haaah, I’m bored stiff.”
“Don’t let your guard down. Today is the most important day.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
Today was an extremely important day for the organization.
It was the day they would sneak the kidnapped young ladies out of the city without the guards noticing.
For that reason, instead of a few low-ranking lackeys handling it like usual, even the organization’s upper brass had come down in person.
Because one tiny mistake could blow the whole thing up, the higher-ups were on edge.
Even today, he’d already gotten thoroughly chewed out before coming on guard duty.
“I really had to be on guard duty on a day like today.”
On any other day, he would’ve at least been drinking while standing watch.
No drinking, no slacking off.
Bran vented his frustration by kicking at the pebbles rolling around on the ground.
Then, all of a sudden, a shadow fell over his feet.
“Excuse me.”
At the clear, bright voice, Bran unconsciously looked up.
There was a woman standing there.
Silver-blue hair braided into two plaits.
Worn, plain clothes with not a single noticeable accessory.
She looked like someone you could see anywhere on the street, but Bran’s instincts immediately screamed.
'This woman is definitely not a commoner.'
He had spent enough time crawling around back alleys to have seen every kind of woman.
He’d seen tavern girls, the daughters of wealthy merchants, even maids from noble houses who’d gotten lost and wandered into the back alleys.
Most of all, there were even real young ladies in the underground warehouse right at his feet.
And yet the woman before him felt even more alien than those young ladies.
'What is this woman?'
She was no ordinary noblewoman.
She was special, even among them.
If you put a price on her, it might not be enough even if you added up several of the young ladies underground.
Why would a woman like that walk all the way to this remote warehouse alone?
“What’s the matter? Did you get lost or something?”
Bran asked as casually as he could while still wary of her. The woman carefully looked around.
“Well, Cal said this was the way to go.”
“Cal? Who’s Cal?”
“You know, the one who—Kardin...”
Only after hearing the subordinate beside him whisper did Bran belatedly realize what was going on, and he slowly turned his head, mouth agape.
“Oh, Cal. He’s a friend I know very well.”
Sure enough, this woman was a noble too. Bran thought his instincts had been right after all.
“So Cal told you to come this way?”
“Yes. I ran away from some bad people, and he said it would be safe if I came here.”
“And Cal?”
“He ran off somewhere else, saying he’d lure them away.”
“So you came here alone?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm...”
Bran met eyes with his companion.
He’d often seen Kardin, who had little going for him besides a somewhat handsome face, lure in young ladies disguised as commoners.
But this was the first time one had come on her own like this.
“She doesn’t think this place is suspicious at all?”
Just how naive was she?
“I see. I’m glad you arrived safely.”
Well, after all, it was thanks to these clueless, sheltered young ladies that they made their living.
If she was willing to become merchandise, there was no reason to refuse.
“I’ll guide you inside. Wait here a moment.”
“All right.”
Bran led the silver-blue-haired woman into the warehouse.
The inside of the warehouse was much larger than it looked.
As befitted a logistics warehouse, the ceiling was high, and wooden crates were stacked tier upon tier along both sides.
Several organization members were bustling about between them.
On the surface, it looked like nothing more than smugglers secretly using an abandoned warehouse.
Of course, that wasn’t entirely wrong.
Only, among those goods, there was also human merchandise.
“What do you do here?”
“It used to be a logistics warehouse. Now it’s more like a hideout used only by insiders.”
“A hideout?”
“A place that hides people who have nowhere else to go.”
He was making it up on the spot, but the woman nodded along obediently, unexpectedly.
Bran clicked his tongue inwardly.
'The world really is going to the dogs.'
Don’t parents teach their children anything at home?
She doesn’t know how to be suspicious.
It even made him feel guilty, like he was lying to a little child.
Of course, that was only in words; he didn’t really feel guilty. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to make a living at this.
“You can go down this way.”
“Do I really have to go down?”
“It’s safer underground than on the surface. It’s perfect for hiding secretly.”
“Ah, I see.”
Bran took the young lady down the stairs. Before long, the basement that appeared was much larger than she had imagined.
Torches and cheap mana lamps lit the underground.
Tents scattered here and there, and crudely stacked brick shacks, formed a street.
Countless people moved freely through it.
Some gathered in places decorated like taverns and drank, while others stood before stalls that looked like shops and bought things.
It was almost as if—
“It’s like an underground city...”
The woman let out an exclamation without meaning to.
Rather than a basement, it looked like they had ripped out an entire back alley and transplanted it underground as is.
“Keep going.”
Bran led her across the underground street.
Even the organization members who had first looked on without concern stopped moving one by one the moment they saw the woman’s face.
“What is that?”
“Did Kardin bring another one?”
“That’s not just any young lady.”
Whispers came from everywhere. Leering gazes clung to her from all around.
Bran glanced at the woman beside him.
She was too busy admiring her surroundings to care about the stares.
Her eyes darted busily back and forth, as if everything underground was fascinating.
'Go ahead and look all you want. This is the last time you'll be able to sightsee in peace.'
Bran sneered inwardly.
To a young lady who had grown up only in luxury, even this den of criminals must have looked like a sight to see.
Not knowing what future awaited her.
Then, at that very moment.
The eyes that had been sparkling with curiosity wavered for the briefest instant, then settled into calm.
Like a spy who had been happily sightseeing and only belatedly remembered her mission.
With the eyes of someone searching for something, she calmly looked here and there.
'...What is it?'
Was it his imagination?
Bran tilted his head. It was just as he was about to sense something off.
“Old man.”
The voice from beside him pulled Bran out of his thoughts.
He turned his head.
A black-haired man with golden eyes had come close.
Plain clothes.
A restraint collar around his neck.
A slave.
But there was something strange about him.
'What is this guy now?'
Bran unconsciously swept his gaze over the man’s face.
He was quite handsome.
Not merely the sort of looks that were just passable.
A face women would turn back to look at, and men would swallow curses over in their heads.
Just as the young lady beside him didn’t look like a commoner at all, he didn’t look like a slave at all either.
“Oh, sir. Please, I’m begging you, just spare a coin. For the past few days, all I’ve had to eat is meat, fruit, fish, and bread.”
The slave clung to him in a pitiful, servile way.