Chapter 94
"I see. That was quite unfortunate."
"Right? You should praise me for at least making some progress in the relationship between my sister and the duke."
As I talked about that in my room, I went through the accumulated paperwork.
All of them contained important matters, but every document had a red mark in the upper-right corner.
That meant the issue had been resolved.
While I was away, Fiene had been working energetically. These documents were, so to speak, the fruits of her labor.
"Your tea is ready."
"Thank you."
Fiene brewed tea and served it with snacks, smiling happily.
Fiene wouldn't even let Sebas take care of this task.
Sebas had stopped offering to do it himself, and now accepted tea from Fiene without protest.
"Hmm? Fiene, has this matter not been resolved?"
"Ah, that's the theft case. I'm sorry. After looking into it, I thought it might be better not to resolve it..."
"Better not to resolve it?"
"Allow me to explain."
Saying that, Sebas elegantly sipped his tea and began explaining.
In short, several merchants had pleaded for someone to do something about a thief stealing their goods.
But upon investigating, it turned out that the merchants were unscrupulous businessmen who had earned condemnation from all over.
And when their goods were stolen, money was distributed among the people in the Outer Layer.
Moreover, according to witness accounts, the thief had a childlike build. Yet the thief apparently couldn't be caught by either the Imperial Capital Garrison or the patrol force responsible for maintaining public order.
Thus, apparently, they had asked Leo's faction to capture the thief in exchange for their assistance.
"A righteous thief who has given both the Imperial Capital Garrison and the patrol force headaches. I advised that we put off dealing with them, since capturing them would only turn the people against us and tie up a great deal of manpower."
"I see. Sounds like an interesting fellow."
Neither the Imperial Capital Garrison nor the patrol force was incompetent.
Despite the involvement of unscrupulous merchants, they wouldn't simply leave the thefts alone. If they had seriously tried to catch the thief and failed, then the thief must have been highly skilled.
"An assassin?"
"I don't think so. Judging by the state of the scenes and the testimony, they use fairly forceful methods when stealing. It doesn't seem like an assassin's method. If anything..."
"An adventurer?"
"Yes. The roughness and sheer boldness... If you told me they were a high-ranking adventurer, I'd believe it."
But I'd never heard of a high-ranking child adventurer.
Regardless, the thief had certainly evaded the searches by both the Imperial Capital Garrison and the patrol force.
"Next, Leo will search for a woman named Rebecca from House Sitterheim. All we know is that she's a knight, a woman, and in her mid-teens. That's about it."
"Rebecca isn't an uncommon name, either, so this won't be easy."
"Exactly. More troublesome still, we can't search openly. We can't let the other factions notice. Even so, if the kidnappers' organization is as large as we expect, they've probably already sent pursuers."
"The lord's uprising in Bassau must have reached the organization, and they likely have eyes and ears everywhere."
If they received a report that a knight trusted by the lord had left Bassau, they would certainly be pursuing her.
The reason was easy enough to imagine.
"The goal is undoubtedly the Imperial Capital. She has the lord's letter. It's probably a letter exposing wrongdoing. If we get it, we can expose the corruption in the south. But if it falls into enemy hands, they'll destroy the evidence. We have to find Rebecca before they do."
"So you need personnel for that?"
"Exactly. Linfia is away too, and I need someone who can move freely. Ideally, someone strong enough to fight assassins and capable of operating in the shadows like one."
"Isn't that asking too much?"
"I thought so too, but I know someone close to what we need. If we can bring them into our fold, it would be hard to find a more effective way to bolster our forces."
"But how are you going to catch them?"
At Fiene's question, I held up one finger.
"There's someone suitable with too much time on their hands."
Saying that, I immediately set things in motion.
■■■
"Honestly... dragging me out the very day my suspension ended..."
The one complaining was Erna, her hood pulled low.
Thanks to my sister, Leo, and Jurgen putting in a word for her, her suspension had been lifted. However, she still hadn't been allowed to return to the Imperial Guard. In other words, she currently held no position and was a free agent.
"Unfortunately, we're short-handed. Especially since we can't afford to let someone as capable as you sit idle."
"That doesn't mean I have to help transport a corrupt merchant's cargo..."
"Relax. We'll bring them down when this is over."
"Really?"
"Sebas is sneaking into their merchant company. He'll probably find some evidence and hand it over to the patrol force."
"Then that's fine."
Erna looked at the cart with a relieved expression.
We had taken custody of the cargo the unscrupulous merchants were supposed to transport. Erna and our guards had secured the area around it. The merchants had tried to send guards as well, but we declined, saying they weren't necessary.
Having them around would be a hassle. If they were one of the Imperial Capital's leading merchant magnates, they would have forced their guards on us anyway, but these men were merely middle-ranking merchants at best.
They had quietly handed the cargo over to us. Apparently, their cargo had been stolen, and their businesses were becoming untenable.
Well, the goods seemed to have been acquired through some pretty nasty means, so it was only what they deserved.
I pretended to be a merchant and stood atop the cart.
"All right... Move out! Listen up! Don't let them take the cargo! Protect it even if it costs your lives! The cargo comes first!"
Putting on the air of an unscrupulous merchant, I proceeded through the Imperial Capital at night.
We were transporting the cargo from a warehouse to a shop, and the plan was to be attacked along the way.
We could have simply moved it during the day, but transporting questionable cargo in broad daylight was risky.
Thus, we continued farther and farther through the Imperial Capital at night.
"Stay alert! Don't you dare doze off! No pay if you do!"
"Sigh... Is that really necessary?"
"Makes me sound like a shady merchant, doesn't it?"
"Yes. Convincing enough that a stranger would believe you."
I nodded with satisfaction at Erna's words.
If that was the case, there was no problem.
They wouldn't show themselves if I made them think something was different from usual.
As I thought this, two guards walking ahead suddenly collapsed.
"Here they come."
"Quite the young merchant this time, eh? Kid, if you don't want to get hurt, leave the cargo and scram."
The one who appeared was a small man wearing a hood and carrying a spear. Still, I could only tell that he was a man from his voice.
His body was about a meter tall. The spear in his hands was longer than he was.
Judging by his body alone, he was a child, but his manner of speaking made him sound older than me. What was this strange incongruity?
"Are you the thief who's been making off with our cargo lately?"
"Your cargo, huh? What's that supposed to mean? You're the thieves here. I'm just here to take back what's mine."
"The cargo was acquired legally."
"Is that so? Then we have nothing to discuss. I'll take it from you!"
Saying that, the man lunged at me.
Erna leaped between us.
She caught the man's sharp blow on her sword.
"Oh? You can stop my spear? Not bad."
"It's been a while since I've had to deal with an attack this sharp. It's a shame I never got to spar with Lieselotte-sama, but it looks like I can make up for that disappointment here."
Saying that, Erna unleashed a flurry of blows that drove the man back.
The other guards tried to intervene, but Erna stopped them with a shout.
"You're in the way! Stay out of this!"
"Quite the feisty girl. I like you. If some weaklings had gotten in the way, it would've killed the mood."
Saying that, the man readied his spear.
Then, for an instant, he spoke in a low voice.
"I can't hold back. Don't die."
"That's my line. I'd be in trouble if you died, so do your best to hang in there."
"Hmph... Don't be ridiculous!!"
And so, a blindingly fast battle began.
The wind pressure from each blow damaged the surrounding buildings. Was this someone Erna was taking seriously? Who was that man?
The man compensated for his short reach with his spear, trading blows with Erna brilliantly. Was he a dwarf or something? No, even for a dwarf, he was too small.
As I thought this, Erna unleashed a thrust.
The man slipped past it, then suddenly turned toward me.
"Sorry, this isn't a duel. Take this!!"
Saying that, the man's spear came toward me.
But Erna seemed to have anticipated it and swept the man's legs out from under him.
"Too easy!"
"What!?"
Erna attacked the off-balance man. He somehow blocked it with his spear, but was sent flying.
He crashed into a pile of hay nearby.
"Impressive."
"Not really. Something felt off."
"Off?"
"You've got to be kidding me. You were fighting on lifts?"
Sure enough, two wooden poles were lying beside the man.
Had he really been fighting while standing on those? Against Erna?
No, more importantly, had even that body been the result of lifts?
As I wondered about this, the man emerged from the hay.
However, his appearance was far beyond anything we had expected.
"You really got me, girl."
"..."
"..."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
He probably hadn't noticed.
His hood had come off, and with the lifts gone, his true form had been exposed.
What stood there was...
"A bear cub?"
"What!? Oh no!?"
He spoke normally, but his appearance was exactly that of a bear cub.
Brown fur and black, round eyes. He looked completely like a plush bear cub.
The man hurriedly pulled his hood back on, but it was already too late.
The hood, originally worn to accommodate the lifts, hung loosely, and there was no longer any menace to his appearance.
"Tch! No choice! I'll let you off today!"
"Wait!"
"Don't chase him."
Stopped by me, Erna looked at me in displeasure.
Erna probably wanted to finish the fight, but our objective had been achieved in a sense.
His true identity had been shocking, but we had uncovered it. Now all we had to do was find him.
Judging by the way he distributed money and goods throughout the Outer Layer, we could make a good guess where he was hiding.
"Let's head back for now. Put anyone who's unconscious on the cart."
I gave that order.
Erna glared at me unhappily, then looked in the direction the man had gone.
That clash must have kindled her fighting spirit.
"When we catch him, let me fight him again."
"That depends on him."
As we talked, we started down the Imperial Capital's nighttime streets.