I clumsily separated from Ricardo, and after pulling myself together I continued speaking.
“I’m really sorry, I did something unreasonable. For now let’s leave this cabin.”
“The man lying there said the hand off would be at a nearby hut. As this guy’s allies may be nearby, lets move with caution.”
I searched the man and confiscated his weapons. I found a dagger…
From the shelves near the entrance, we also found Ricardo’s seized weapons.
“… Oi-, Britney. You, how proficient are you with a dagger?”
Ricardo looked at me holding the borrowed dagger with a dubious expression.
“I’ve never used one before. For now, I’ll try swinging it.”
This body of mine is unsuited for covert actions, but, for the unlikely case where I need to use it, I carried it using the ribbon on my dress as a makeshift scabbard.
After that, we escaped from our temporary prison.
In the surroundings were several old cabins like the one we were kept in.
Some distance away I saw a horse-drawn carriage from the Hakusu estate. I spontaneously increased my walking pace.
(This is bad, Ojii-sama might already be here.)
The current Hakusu estate’s finances can’t afford to pay a large ransom.
Even at the best of times we still have debt. I cannot let our expenses increase just because of me.
“Britney, do you think the Earl’s in the building over there? I see lots of people inside it.”
Ricardo said that and indicated a building where he thought Grandfather might be. It was slightly larger than the other cabins.
Together with him we walked over to the building and stealthily peered through a window.
“Ah, Ojii-sama… or not, that’s Ryuze-oniisama. Did he come as as Grandfather’s representative?”
“Since it’s Ryuze, he probably won’t hand over the money so easily. I’m sure he came personally because he was worried about you.”
“Is that so~? That man, since he’s a schemer, he must have thought of something.”
While we talked about such a thing, Ryuze abruptly turned to face us.
(We’re outside the window, so there’s no way he heard us right?) [TLN: That sixth sense of his! How scary.]
After confirming Ricardo and I were safe, the corner of his mouth slanted upwards into a fearless smirk.
Breaking up his conversation with the enemy halfway through the conversation, Ryuze abruptly left the cabin. As for us, we hid ourselves in a location where the enemy couldn’t see us.
Ryuze guided our enemies towards the carriage. Likely, he had told them “the gold is in the carriage” or something similar.
While anxiously watching, someone other than Ricardo strongly grabbed my shoulder.
Before I could scream in fright, Ricardo next to me quickly covered my mouth.
“Britney, it’s alright. It seems reinforcements have arrived.”
Calming down I turned to look over my shoulder. There I saw two guards from the mansion standing there.
“We received an order from Ryuze-sama to rendezvous with the two of you.”
“From Onii-sama…?”
“It’s alright. We have surrounded this entire area. It’s only a matter of time until we catch all of your captors.”
As expected, my cousin took precautions before coming here.
“We have already located most of the enemies, so all that was left was locating the two of you. However, there are a lot of cabins… since you two were able to escape on your own that saves us a lot of trouble. We have prepared another carriage over there, so please board it and rest.”
“Did Ojii-sama remain at the mansion?”
“Not at all, this time it’s the Hakusu Earl himself who took command.”
“Ehh~-?”
After hearing that I reflexively exchanged a glance with Ricardo.
(I was so certain Ryuze-oniisama was the one giving instructions though.)
Likewise, knowing my grandfather’s disposition, Ricardo was surprised as well.
“We as well were surprised by the gentle Earl’s ability to take action. However, despite being old now he has a long history of service in this country, and in his youth the Earl was known as a hero (TLN: Eiyuu) who protected this country from abroad… I hear he was exceedingly skilled at warfare.”
“I had heard that from my father too. A long time ago, while my father was still very young and the Earl was still in the latter half of his teens… a foreign country was invading this country from the North, and the ones to hold them back was the Hakusu earldom. Thanks to him, the Astaru earldom was able to avoid the horrors of war. Although this is the first time I’ve seen him being active myself, I think that’s the reason my father always admired and idolized your Grandfather the Earl.”
“I… this whole time I thought it strange that the Astaru Earl thought so highly of my gentle Ojii-sama. After all he’s incredibly poor at territory management and really weak with debt.”
I had heard about my grandfather’s past from some of the older servants, but I thought that he was only ever the representative of the Hakusu earldom and someone else led the troops. Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine he played an active role himself.
(To be honest, I thought Grandfather forced the servant to tell the story so I would raise my evaluation of him.) [TLN: Yeah… seems like something he’d do.]
Grandfather never told his grandchild, me, stories about himself directly.
I never had the chance to hear about him from Mother or Father, and Aunt and Uncle were apathetic to Grandfather’s past.
(Those two probably didn’t hear anything about Grandfather’s past in detail. That’s probably why they used this type of strategy.)
It’s disgraceful, but I also didn’t know anything about Grandfather.
“The older guards are in high spirits since it’s been so long since the Earl last took command. They’re so enthusiastic, I feel a little pity for their enemy.”
The eyes of the guards talked about were sparkling with respect for Grandfather.
I was certainly surprised by Grandfather’s history as a wartime commander, but for now standing here I imagined I was a nuisance, so I cheerfully boarded the prepared carriage.
By the way, when I showed the dagger I borrowed from an enemy to a guard, I learned it was a splendidly made and valuable thing.
Most likely, all of the enemy’s possessions would be seized, so I think I’ll hand it over to Ryuze later.
I hope it will be at least a little helpful to repay our debts and pay the guards their wages.
Translator’s Corner:Her grandfather’s cool! I want a chapter about his past now!
By the way, have they mentioned this country’s name yet? As far as I can tell, we’ve only ever heard territory names but not the country’s name. Have we heard the prince or princess’ last name yet either? Almost feels like the story is intentionally not giving the name to us.
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