Merchant Noble is out (3/4 chapters for today)
Breakdown (1)
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Under the pressure from Alma and the Laplace Kingdom, the exchange of hostages was successfully decided. The success of the rescue team, including Yuna and the others, was now at hand.
“…In three days. In three days, the hostage exchange will take place.” (Yuna)
“That’s right. Until then, we’ll just monitor the princess.” (Yulia)
Yuna and Yulia walked around, trying to remember the Lureid Kingdom, as they were about to leave.
“…We’ve subdued all the hardliners in the Lureid Kingdom, and we’ve bribed officials to ensure that any problems will be reported to us.” (Yuna)
“As expected, you’ve made thorough preparations.” (Yulia)
Since there were no longer any worries about the search efforts by the Lureid Kingdom, they were staying at a regular inn instead of the slums. Since staying at an inn with a large group would raise suspicion, Yulia, Yuna, Alma, Martina, Kanna, Lumin, and Bal, as well as Princess Alice, were all staying in separate inns, divided into three groups.
“But, the Royal Guards Alma-sama and Martina-sama. I still wonder why they ended up accompanying us. What was it that made Queen Casablanca dispatch those two?” (Yulia)
“…I don’t know. They helped during the negotiations with the Lureid Kingdom before. But blindly trusting those two is dangerous.” (Yuna)
Originally, they had no intention of involving them, but they had ended up using their status as members of the Royal Guard of Queen Casablanca to act as full-fledged ambassadors and assist them. Though Yuna was concerned about their negotiation skills, they had successfully managed to extract concessions from the Lureid Kingdom. However, they were outsiders to Yuna. She would never trust them.
“…Well, since we have Kanna with us, I’m not worried.” (Yuna)
This time, Kanna was staying in the same room under the pretense of being a caretaker. Suddenly, Yulia caught a whiff of something burning.
“Yuna, what’s that?” (Yulia)
Yulia pointed in the direction where smoke could be seen. It seemed to be coming from the west gate.
“Do you think something happened?” (Yulia)
“…Let’s go check it out.” (Yuna)
The west gate was in a chaotic state like a battlefield. There were loud voices of people in confusion. “An enemy attack!” could be heard. The fire hadn’t spread much and had already been extinguished. However, from the way the fire had burned, it appeared that someone had set it intentionally rather than it being an accidental fire. Around the gate, about ten soldiers were lying unconscious, and nearby, civilians who had likely been caught in the fire were also injured and lying down.
“This is bad! We need to treat them.” (Yulia)
Yulia tried to step away from the crowd to offer help, but Yuna tugged at her sleeve.
When she turned around, Yuna was shaking her head.
“…We can’t stand out.” (Yuna)
“But, there are so many injured…” (Yulia)
“…No.” (Yuna)
Yuna’s concern about their identities being exposed was understandable.
But Yulia wanted to act proudly as a bodyguard of Arc, the lord.
“Yuna. We’re staying in different inns than the princess, and we’re acting separately. It’ll be fine. We won’t get caught.” (Yulia)
“…Alright. Just a little bit. I’ll help too.” (Yuna)
Yuna finally nodded after Yulia insisted, and they began to treat the wounded people, working alongside the sisters, adventurers, and soldiers.
Yulia had learned some basic medical skills from Marie at Mikanda University. After receiving bandages, Yulia and Yuna started treating an injured gatekeeper who had fallen nearby.
“Are you alright?” (Yulia)
The gatekeeper was fully conscious and answered Yulia’s question clearly.
“I got an arrow stuck in my thigh.” (Gatekeeper)
“Is that the only injury?” (Yulia)
“Yeah, just this one spot.” (Gatekeeper)
Luckily, the arrow had only grazed him and caused a light wound, so this gatekeeper’s injury was not serious.
“Are you girls going to treat me? You have such wonderful hearts. I hope my daughter grows up to have a pure heart like yours.” (Gatekeeper)
As Yulia wrapped the bandages around his thigh, the gatekeeper, either from excitement or pain, kept chatting on and on.
“Man, I’ve been working as a gatekeeper for a long time, but I’ve never had a gatebreaker like this. The person went from inside to outside the gate.” (Gatekeeper)
“…From inside to outside!?” (Yuna)
Yuna reacted sharply to his words.
The gatekeeper, a little confused by her intense response, continued talking.
“Yeah, it’s strange, huh? Usually, thieves try to break into the castle from the outside. But this time, someone tried to leave from the inside. There must have been some kind of problem that prevented them from leaving normally.” (Gatekeeper)
“…What were they like?” (Yuna)
“Huh?” (Gatekeeper)
“What did they look like!?” (Yuna)
The gatekeeper was bewildered by Yuna’s harsh tone, but after the treatment was done, he answered as a thank you.
“There were three of them. They were all women, but they wore hoods low over their heads. You could tell by their figures. One of them was a great archer. She could shoot three arrows at once! It was that bow that caused our gatekeeper squad to be wiped out.” (Gatekeeper)
Before he could finish his story, Yuna and Yulia were already running off.
They pushed through the crowd and ran at full speed toward the inn where Bal, Lumin, and Princess Alice were staying.
“The princess’s inn is… Ah, over there!” (Yulia)
The inn was empty.
Because of that, there was little chance of the princess being discovered even if she was hidden there, so Bal and Lumin had kept her there. Yulia and Yuna confirmed the room where they were staying and, just in case, unsheathed their swords in the hallway. After taking a deep breath, they forcefully opened the door and rushed inside.
“Ugh…” (Yulia)
Yulia’s eyes widened in shock. A large pool of blood had formed in the center of the room, and Lumin and Bal were lying on the floor.
“Lumin! Bal!” (Yuna)
Yuna rushed to them, trying to lift them up.
Lumin, who was lying face down, had a large slash on his back and was no longer breathing. Meanwhile, Bal, who had several arrows stuck in him, was still barely alive.
“Y-Yuna-sama…” (Bal)
“…Bal. What happened?” (Yuna)
Yuna gently propped Bal up, asking as calmly as possible.
“Two members of the Royal Guard came to visit… Lumin was stabbed in the back the moment she turned to make tea. I was shot with Martina’s arrows at the same time… Cough… cough…” (Bal)
Bal, who was already on the brink of death, spat blood but gathered his remaining strength to answer.
“Hah… Hah… I’m sorry. The two of them took Princess Alice.” (Bal)
“Ha… We need to call for help!” (Yulia)
As Yulia tried to run out to call for help, Bal called out to her in a raspy voice.
“Yulia-sama… Do not call for help. If the Lureid Kingdom finds out… it will be a disaster.” (Bal)
“But if we don’t, you’ll die!” (Yulia)
Yulia pleaded desperately to save Bal, but he quietly shook his head.
Then, he looked up at Yuna, who was holding him, and raised a trembling hand.
“Yuna-sama… please… end it.” (Bal)
In the next moment, a blade was already drawn across Bal’s neck, and he died instantly.
Yuna had given him the final blow.
“Yuna…” (Yulia)
Yulia was left speechless, unable to do anything but stand there.
Yuna, in silence, held Bal’s lifeless body for a while.
“…Kanna. I need to check on Kanna.” (Yuna)
She laid Bal down and stood up, as if making a resolution, but staggered slightly.
“Yuna!” (Yulia)
Yulia quickly caught Yuna, who was about to collapse.
“…Sorry, Yulia. I got blood on me.” (Yuna)
“Don’t apologize for something like that. Should we take Lumin and Bal’s bodies back to Mikanda?” (Yulia)
The hope of successfully rescuing the Tadont couple by using Princess Alice was now shattered. But Yuna rejected Yulia’s suggestion, unwilling to give up.
“…As a member of the Order, I knew this would happen. Right now, there are more important things for us to do.” (Yuna)
Yuna was crying.
Even Yulia, who had been with Yuna for a long time under Arc’s command, had never seen Yuna cry before.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” (Yuna)
Then, as if in a daze, Yuna kept apologizing and set fire to the room.
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