Too Perfect a Rescue
Too Perfect a Rescue
Yuzel buried her face in my chest and wept bitterly.
As I touched her heaving shoulders, my heart ached.
'Why is there nothing left but bone?'
Her shoulders and forearms had become so gaunt in that time.
Yet even so, the mass of her chest remained the same, which really makes you feel how absurd Sword Masters (Hildea) are.
"Uwaaang! I'm hungry! Colonel-niiiim!"
"Alright, alright. Let's start with lobster first."
"Ca, castella! I really really want castella!"
"Castella? Got it."
Castella is even simpler.
No need to cook, I can just buy it from the PX.
Since a colonel rank can purchase most daily necessities from the PX, except for electronics.
'Ten should be enough, right? Yuzel can't eat much anyway.'
After taking out the castella, I checked the doorknob and came back.
In that brief moment, half of them had already disappeared.
I sat next to Yuzel and offered her some chocolate milk as well.
"If you just eat bread like that, you'll choke, so have some milk too."
"Heok heok, thank you!"
After she ate the castella and chocolate milk, I passed her a Melona.
Her previously dying expression turned blissfully happy in an instant.
She had bread crumbs all around her mouth, so I wiped them with a handkerchief, and she blushed and lowered her gaze.
I patted her shoulder and asked.
"What on earth happened?"
Actually, I already knew everything.
I was curious how Yuzel would come out with it.
"I, actually, I'm being watched."
"Watched?"
"Yes, thankfully, you recognized me, Colonel-nim, and pretended not to know while making a customer consultation spot, so I could meet you like this."
I called her over to confirm if she was an insolent customer who had no ability to pay in kind, recklessly won the bid first, and then tried to throw a tantrum saying she'd pay in gold coins later....
I decided not to say that.
"I knew you would recognize me, Colonel-nim."
"As expected. So that's why you outbid all the other competitors with that reckless bid."
"What? Considering the taste of that sandwich bread and castella, 100 tons of hay for 1 ton is absolutely not a reckless bid at all?"
"...."
"The other participants were endlessly lowballing the value of northern flour! I cannot tolerate it being sold for such a dirt-cheap price!"
"...Alright, alright."
Even if it's modern flour that even an emperor would struggle to eat.
A 1:100 ratio with hay is way too excessive, but as expected of the Empire. The scale is different.
'But this kid isn't curious at all about how that kind of flour is produced in the north.'
Indeed, people never dare to approach curiosity that could cut off their own meal ticket.
'By now, no one must think it's wheat received from the Empire.'
Since the Empire participated in the auction.
The speculation that it's a mystical wheat growing somewhere in the Elf Forest, like the one-horned rabbit, seems to be gaining strength.
Of course, we will not officially disclose the source of the wheat.
There's no need to, and we have the power not to.
'If you want to know the source, try starting a war.'
"But you're being watched? Is your house cracking down on you so you don't run away again?"
"Yes! I begged and cried that I was the best person for the flour auction, so I managed to come somehow, but a watcher followed me."
"Oh dear, so once the auction ends, you'll just be dragged back?"
Yuzel's eyes instantly became dewy.
"Colonel-nim! Please save me! Please don't abandon me!"
"Huh?"
"Actually, there's something I haven't told you, Colonel-nim! It's not that I was a handmaid serving the imperial family...."
"I know. You're Princess Yupiana, right?"
"Kyaaaang!"
She sprang up like a startled kitten at the sound of furniture falling, then threw her arms around my neck and clung tightly.
Nice reaction.
She whimpered in my arms for a long while, then carefully lifted her face.
"H, how did you know?"
"You came out to eat lobster."
"...."
"Why on earth did you come out anyway? I think that's how you got caught."
Her face reddened, she let her lips twitch, and finally spoke in a small voice.
"I, I was going to just pack my things and quickly run away, but...."
"But?"
"I, I smelled it and absolutely couldn't stand it."
"Aigoo, you could have just asked for it later."
"La, lobster can't be guaranteed how much will be left, you know? What if the generals take their share and there's none left when it's my turn?"
"Don't worry. There's plenty of lobster."
"Really?"
Her brightening complexion was so cute that I held her tight.
It feels like a large kitten.
One with an enormous appetite, but a small stomach that can't actually eat much.
"This doesn't seem like the time to worry about lobster and castella? You said someone is watching you?"
"Colonel-nim, you must reclaim your beloved attachment doll that warms your bed from the wicked Imperial Household!"
"Is it okay for a princess to talk about the Imperial Household like that?"
"Rather than a pitiful princess who eats burnt bran-filled wheat bread and foul-smelling rabbit meat every day!
I will live as the handmaid of the Northern Archduke, who can eat delicious sandwich bread, castella, burgers, samgyeopsal, steak, ice cream, and lobster every single day!"
"Aigoo."
"If I'm not here, who will do the laundry, dishes, and cleaning for you and the generals, Colonel-nim? Later, I even have to diligently attend to your night service, hiiiing...!"
I lightly flicked her forehead.
Talking such dangerous words, for a big baby.
"For now, I'll discuss it with Hildea-nim, so go back."
"Uwaaang, if I leave here now, I'll never be able to return."
"This is something that could make us enemies with His Majesty. We need Hildea-nim's approval. Go back."
Yuzel, almost in tears, held out her necklace.
One look and it's clearly a subspace magic tool.
"Hiing, Colonel-nim. I'm really really shameless, but...."
"Alright."
I stuffed it full of sandwich bread, castella, honey apples, Melona, potato chips, and burgers (instant individual sale).
"This much should last you a few months."
"You'll recover it... before I eat all this, right?"
"What do you mean, recover? Are you a thing?"
"I'm already your possession, Colonel-nim."
Before I opened the door, Yuzel looked at me with sorrowful eyes and gave me one last deep hug.
"Please, surely recover me before my daily rations run out."
"Don't worry and wait."
Stuffing her full of food was so she wouldn't have anxious thoughts while eating this stuff.
I plan to tie this knot up at this auction.
'When am I going to go all the way to the Empire to negotiate, pull off a great escape operation, and just sit around? I'll handle it while she's in my territory.'
After sending Yuzel back, I returned to the platform and resumed the auction.
Yuzel participated in the auction, desperately waving her placard as if to show me.
Naturally, in all the in-kind goods, the Empire overwhelmingly crushed the other nobles.
Today's winning bidder was just one person.
***
As soon as the auction ended, I summoned all the women around me and disclosed the truth.
First, Hildea.
"Customer number 171 was Yuzel? No wonder she was bidding recklessly without thinking about the consequences."
Rebecca.
"It was a bit suspicious. No territory can procure that many various in-kind goods."
Elenoa.
"I thought it was a great imperial noble. Because our territory could never procure that volume either."
Lastly, Luna.
"I just knew it right away at a glance...."
Elenoa was a little surprised at the word "princess," but that was all.
We focused on the 'Rescue Princess Yuzel' operation.
"Do we really need to sour relations with the Empire? Can't Hildeng just secretly infiltrate and bring her out pretending she ran away again?"
"But won't we get caught? From what Yuzel said, the watcher is formidable. It might even be a Sword Master."
However, Hildea was full of confidence.
"What do you take the youngest Sword Master in history for? If a Sword Master deliberately attempts infiltration, not even another Sword Master can stop them."
"If Hildeng chews on mandrake root to amplify her five senses and goes in, she'll be even less likely to be caught."
"Luna? But what if Hildea-nim delays and misses the timing for Healing Grace...."
"Piel, don't worry. I'll be monitoring from a distance with long-range reconnaissance."
"I'll also bring a priest and stand by so I can deploy at any time."
"Colonel Piel, don't worry. If we run short on time, we'll just smash everything and escape, and that's it."
Something feels fishy, but the success rate does look the highest.
The combination of mandrake root and the Fentanyl emergency kit is now a common training method in the north, so there's no sense of resistance either.
"Then I leave it to you. Please make Hildea-nim's safety your top priority."
"Understood."
"Don't worry, Piel."
"Colonel-nim, you don't have to trust those two. But you can trust me."
Alright, let's trust Luna's judgment.
When everything went to chaos at the Palace of the Thunder Dragon because of the World Tree collapse, Luna quickly got out to where the signal could reach and immediately radioed Hildea with an SOS.
In an emergency, calmly going straight to 119 to file an accurate, fast, and concise report is actually quite impressive.
"I'll be back."
"I'll be back."
"Just trust me, Colonel-nim."
The three women left in a rush.
Only Elenoa and I remained.
Feeling a bit awkward for nothing, I looked at her, and Elenoa smiled faintly and patted the seat next to her.
Like a habit, I quickly went and sat beside her, and she beamed brightly, pulling me into a hug and stroking me.
"Everyone seems to get along so well. I'm relieved, Piel."
"Yeah, well...."
"But, did you by any chance make some progress with Sir Valkenhart?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
"And with Marquis Carlton-nim too?"
"Huh, is it that obvious?"
"I just, I could see it right away?"
"...."
"Can noona look forward to some good news? Can I get to hold two nephews at once?"
Embarrassed for no reason, I averted my gaze and answered.
"It's not to that extent. Just, like, a peck...."
"Our Piel has really become a man now."
Elenoa smiled and pulled my head into an embrace.
My heart felt at ease from my noona's scent, which I hadn't felt in a while.
When noona holds me warmly like this, I suddenly think of omma sometimes.
"How far did you go with Duke Rosenberk?"
"...What? What do you mean...?"
"Seeing how you treat each other so unreservedly, did you happen to go all the way with that person?"
"That, it's absolutely not that kind of impure relationship."
***
15 minutes later.
"Colonel-nim, recovery complete!!"
"Uwaaang! Colonel-nim! Thank you for recovering me! Thank you!"
I was shocked senseless.
What, they resolved it in that short time?
It puts me to shame, I who was engaged in tedious, pedantic worries about what if the emperor gets displeased, what if war becomes imminent, and so on.
With sauce smeared around her mouth, Yuzel, weeping, ran into my arms.
It seems she had been coveting the food I packed for her right until Hildea found her.
Luna spoke proudly.
"Though Hildeng has no sense of direction, this is the result of her abandoning her ego and following only this 8-Class Wind Mage's guidance."
"I abandoned my ego and moved only as Luna directed through the in-ear radio. Indeed, there was one Sword Master, but thanks to the mandrake root buff, no one felt my presence."
It was a perfect operation.
That night, I let Yuzel, who was scared of being caught again, sleep with me in my room.
Luna stood guard, and Hildea and Rebecca slept in the rooms on either side of mine.
However, the next day.
A knight who identified himself as an imperial noble came to our villa early in the morning.
It was Duke Delpode, a Sword Master called the First Sword of the Emperor.
In the Empire, where mages are the majority, he is a knight who can be said to represent the entire knight order.
"Duke Hildea Valkenhart, I have come knowing full well that the princess is here."
"What do you mean? I have absolutely no idea."
We left no evidence, no trace.
So I confidently feigned ignorance.
"The only one who can perfectly deceive the ki sense of a Sword Master like myself and spirit away Her Highness the Princess is another Sword Master."
"...."
"Yet, in this capital, there are only two Sword Masters: you, Duke, and myself."
Suddenly, the story of the failed US military stealth destroyer came to mind.
The Pentagon ghost story that its stealth function was so perfect, the ship-shaped wave shadow showed up clearly on radar, so the whole project had to be scrapped....