Chapter 25
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: A Simple Misunderstanding
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The world turned upside down, and a throbbing pain shot up from the back of my head. Nauseating dizziness washed over me, and soon, I felt the cold touch of metal against my throat.
The guards standing over me had, at some point, drawn their swords and were now holding them to my neck.
“Vera.”
As I barely managed to grasp the situation, a cold voice echoed in my ears. The young lady, without a single change in her expression, was planning to stain the cafe’s floor with blood.
“...From now on, this is self-defense, right?”
I gave a bitter smile to the man holding the sword to my neck. Honestly, I hadn't calculated for a blade getting this close to my throat...
*Crackle…!*
Well, whatever. They were the ones who started this… so my original objective was as good as achieved.
The fight from this point on would be between us and them. The cafe owner and his family were uninvolved.
They wouldn't get caught in the crossfire and suffer because of our meddling.
*Boom!*
A bright light filled the shop, and the man who had pressed his sword to my neck was momentarily engulfed in an electric current.
Having taken a massive electric shock, the man lost consciousness and collapsed onto the cafe’s wooden floor.
“It’s a mage!”
The other two guards belatedly looked at Rireu and shouted. They rushed toward her, but it was already too late.
*Zap!*
Once again, a cold light filled the shop. The two guards charging at Rireu met the same fate as the first, struck by an electric attack and knocked out cold.
As their heavy bodies fell, they knocked over nearby tables, scattering the handkerchiefs and other items that had been on them.
“What the…”
In the midst of the rapidly changing situation, the noble daughter of House Guiner could do nothing but stare with wide eyes.
I pushed myself up from the floor and slowly rose, rubbing the spot on my neck where the blade had been.
…By the way, did I really almost die just now?
This pathetically?
“It doesn’t feel real.”
“Useless bastards.”
Grasping the situation, the young lady clutched her forehead, then stood up, stomping her foot hard on the floor in frustration. The chair that had been supporting her lost its balance and toppled over.
Seething with rage, she flipped a nearby table for no reason. The various dishes on it clattered to the floor, creating a noisy chorus.
…What the hell is wrong with her?
The shop owner’s son, sitting beside her, clutched his guitar and trembled at the young lady’s crazed actions.
“Hey! You over there, you paltry mage!”
The young lady pointed a finger at Rireu with the same hand she’d used to slam the chair.
…Paltry mage?
The word ‘paltry’ attached to ‘mage’ felt strange to me. In an era like this, where people died every day, no one would dare look down on a mage.
No matter how powerful a noble was, it was common sense in this world for anyone with a shred of decency to show respect to mages and soldiers.
And yet, ‘paltry mage’… that young lady must have hit her head somewhere.
Did she really need someone to spell out who she had to thank for being able to live her peaceful, day-to-day life?
“You’ve messed with the wrong people. Not even a ducal house dares to touch my family! If my father finds out about this, he’ll have your heads, and the heads of your worthless families, all cut off!”
Seeing her guards fall so easily, the young lady lost her mind and began to scream her head off.
“Rireu, can’t you knock that woman out too?”
“I’ve never knocked out a young girl before, so I don’t have a good sense of how much electricity to use.”
Rireu replied, seemingly reluctant to use magic on the young lady for fear she might accidentally kill her.
No matter how despicable a person was, killing someone required more resolve than one might think.
“I’ll have your heads hung in the public square! Your tiny brains can’t even imagine what will happen when my father hears of this! First…”
“I don’t understand why you’re running your mouth so much when you’re the one who started it.”
“I started it? How absurd! How dare a mere commoner like you speak so informally to a noble and then say something like that?”
“What makes you think I’m a commoner?”
“Look at your clothes! Are you trying to pretend to be some backwater noble in rags like that?! How shameless!”
Look at this girl, her head filled with prejudice and stubbornness.
This is why I like stories set in the medieval era.
In the Middle Ages, most members of society displayed their status through their clothing. Nobles announced their station with ornate, lace-adorned outfits, while commoners showed their insignificance with plain cotton shirts and trousers.
It was a kind of social contract.
…And I, for one, despised such social contracts.
What kind of person did that make me?
“Just because I dress comfortably doesn’t mean I’m a nobody, you know.”
The servants assigned to me had filled my wardrobe with high-end clothes, but I had steadfastly refused them.
For me, who had experienced modern sweatpants, the clothes of medieval nobles were far too cumbersome and uncomfortable.
“Isn’t your perspective a little too narrow?”
I may have been born a vagrant, but I was now a high-ranking military officer of the royal court.
My social standing, which allowed me to have direct audiences with and report to the Emperor and the heads of each race, was incomparably higher than that of most nobles in the capital.
“I’m someone who’s allowed to speak informally to you.”
Therefore, my speaking informally to this no-name noble brat was, strictly speaking, not wrong at all.
Shouldn’t one use formal language with strangers?
Let me say it again: this is the medieval era, where the class system is alive and well. A medieval era where the continent’s very existence is threatened by a war with the Mazoku.
It’s the dark ages of humanity… no, of the continent, where modern common sense and etiquette do not exist.
Applying the standards of the modern era, where the class system has been gone for over a century, to these dark ages was a contradiction in itself.
Isn’t that why I stood by while that young lady slapped the commoner family doing business in her building?
If she hadn’t crossed the line by trying to cut off the family patriarch’s ankle in front of his family, I wouldn’t have let things escalate this far either.
“Don’t make me laugh! I’ve never seen a face like yours at any ball! No, I don’t even need to say it. A guy who wears such clothes is obviously…”
Unable to control her anger, the young lady pulled out a small dagger hidden in her dress and aimed it at us.
The thought that a noble lady would have any reason to carry something like that crossed my mind, but considering the bitchy personality she had shown in such a short time, it didn't seem all that strange.
“Rireu. Can’t you make that thing quiet down? Seriously, please.”
“…I’ll try shooting at about a quarter of the power.”
It seemed Rireu couldn’t stand the kid’s squawking anymore either. She changed her mind and began gathering a small bit of electricity at her fingertip.
It appeared her patience wasn’t all that great either.
“Isn’t a quarter too little? I think she’ll wake up quickly.”
“Still, it would be a problem if she dies…”
“You scum! You dare think of laying a hand on me! It won’t just end with your deaths! I’ll get my torturer and make you beg for him to cut off your heads…”
*Zap!*
A sharp current shot through the thin neck of the young lady, who was standing there screaming at the top of her lungs. She collapsed to the floor like a wooden doll, and the shop owner’s son, who had been sitting nearby clutching his guitar, flinched and curled into a ball.
“So noisy.”
“Are all nobles that talkative?”
“I don’t know. This is the first I’ve seen of that noble. Maybe there are people like the Emperor, too?”
“…I’ve never had an audience with the Emperor.”
“Ah, well, he’s, you know, a gentleman.”
“…A gentleman?”
I dusted off my clothes and casually shared my impression of the Emperor.
Rireu gave me a somewhat reproachful look, as if to ask whether it was appropriate to describe the man who leads the Allied Nations with such a simple word, but well…
‘Gentleman’ isn’t a bad expression, so what’s the problem?
With an aching back, I picked up the coin pouch that had fallen on the floor and placed it back on the counter.
…My body was already in bad shape, and I felt like this unexpected shock had made it even worse.
“Excuse me, the bill.”
“…Um.”
The wife still seemed unable to distinguish whether what had just happened before her eyes was a dream or reality.
“You should run away quickly. You seem to be adventurers from the frontier… but the family of that young lady, the House of Count Guiner, will never let this go. You should leave the capital as soon as possible and hide in some remote city…”
It seemed these people, in their panic, hadn’t heard the conversation Rireu and I had.
If they had, they would be terrified of me, not the count’s brat lying over there.
After all, I had just casually spoken of the Emperor of the Allied Nations…
“Why should I run when I’ve done nothing wrong? They were the ones who tried to kill me first.”
I tapped the pouch of gold coins on the counter, as if to say, ‘Hurry up and ring me up.’
“Count Guiner’s elite soldiers are on a different level from those guards! I’m telling you this out of gratitude for helping us, so please, run away quickly…”
“Helped you? Me?”
I let out a smug, incredulous laugh and continued.
“I was just trying to pay, but they started a fight with me first. You seem to be mistaken about something, ma’am. Why on earth would I help your shop out of some sense of duty?”
It didn’t feel great to show such a rude attitude to people who were thanking me, but it was necessary to draw a clear line like this to prevent any unnecessary trouble from falling on them.
“You… you bastard. You actually laid a hand on me.”
A completely hoarse voice crawled across the wooden floor and reached my ears.
I turned my head to see the young lady, who had been momentarily knocked out by the electric shock, crawling on the floor, having just regained consciousness.
“…I told you a quarter was probably too little.”
“But it’s my first time using magic on a young woman… I couldn’t help it. What if she actually died?”
“Crank up the output a little and give her one more shot. She’s about to start screeching again.”
“…You scum! How dare you…!”
Electricity, shining a bit brighter than before, began to gather at the tip of Rireu’s finger.
It seemed she had increased the output as I said, but…
“Eh, I think you could go a little higher than that.”
“Have you ever used magic on a young woman?”
“No? Do I look like that kind of pervert to you?”
I replied with a shameless smile.
“What? A pervert…? Then what does that make me…?”
“A perverted mage, of course. You’re really something else, Rireu. How could you shoot electric magic at such a young girl just because she was a little noisy? Next, you’ll be knocking out little kids with electricity because they’re bothering you to play with them, won’t you?”
“No, no. Wait, no! They clearly threatened us with a sword first, so this is self-defense! And you were the one who told me to do it, Bin…”
“So you’re the type to just do as you’re told, without any principles? I’m disappointed, Rireu.”
“No… you…!”
A rather strong reaction for Rireu escaped her lips, and a wide grin spread across my face.
Whether it was because she had never been angry before or had never been teased like this, the way her fingers, crackling with electricity, trembled was quite impressive.
*Slam!*
While Rireu and I were bantering, ignoring the young lady crawling on the floor after being electrocuted, the shop's main door flew open with a loud noise.
Had reinforcements arrived?
I turned my head with a cold gaze toward the entrance, but standing there was a person I never expected to see.
It was my personal attendant.
“…What brings you here?”
“I came looking for you, Sir Bin, after hearing you were here. I apologize for disturbing your day off, but you need to select an adjutant to take on the next mission, so I’ve come to deliver the list…”
An adjutant? Ah. Was this about the person the Overlord said he would assign to me?
I thought they would just assign someone from above.
I suppose, considering my achievements…
And since I also held the rank of general, it seemed they had given me the final say in who I would conduct the mission with.
The Overlord’s thoughtful consideration in treating me like a proper general was quite touching, but…
“…Uh.”
The timing was absolutely terrible.
“What, in the world, happened here?”
The inside of the shop was an absolute mess. The eldest daughter of House Guiner was trembling like a freshly caught fish, and three large men were passed out on the floor.
Furthermore, the unconscious men were holding massive swords that I wouldn’t even dream of lifting, and the floor was littered with the fragments of broken tables, shards of glass, and scattered dishes.
…Hm.
I’m in deep trouble.
“Nothing happened. They just got drunk, started a fight among themselves, and ended up passed out like that.”
Like a cat that shamelessly cries for food even after knocking a cup off the desk and breaking it, I brazenly spewed out the lie.
“Drunk? Isn’t this a cafe?”
“…They brought in outside food and drink. They really shouldn’t have, haha.”
“Are you saying all three of them brought alcohol into a cafe?”
“What a coincidence, right?”
“…”
If possible, I didn’t want to make things any worse.
This was the first day off I’d ever gotten, and I had no desire to create any more trouble.
There were still so many things I wanted to do today.
I’d heard there was a good instrument shop near here, so I wanted to stop by. I also wanted to watch a performance by a bard in the town square.
“…That crest on your shoulder, you’re from the Imperial Palace! Listen to me, those commoners dared to use magic on a guard and a noble. That woman over there even shot electricity directly at me! This is high treason. Throw them in prison immediately and…!”
But.
This foolish woman.
It seemed she still hadn’t come to her senses.
Did she really hit her head somewhere?
“…Pardon?”
The attendant, who had been surveying the shop with a frown to assess the situation, quickly turned his gaze to Rireu.
I immediately looked at Rireu and silently raised a finger to my lips. As she usually did, Rireu pulled the brim of her hat down to cover her face.
It was a brilliant defensive strategy that could rival a turtle’s, but it was utterly useless.
After all, besides Rireu and me, there was someone else here who could explain the situation.
“Are you the owner of this shop?”
“…Ah, yes. I am.”
The chef, with a dumbfounded expression, answered with a half-bow.
At the attendant’s question, he began to explain everything that had happened, down to the last detail.
The chef wasn’t a man with the guts to lie to someone bearing the imperial crest on his shoulder, nor did he have any reason to.
“…You’re saying they pointed a sword at Sir Bin’s throat? Just because he spoke informally? To a general of the Allied Forces?”
“What…? A general of the Allied Forces?”
Finally realizing that something was terribly wrong, the young lady, with her paralyzed body, crawled on the floor and let out a stupid-sounding voice.
I had only intended to give a light scolding to some obnoxious people in a cafe, but…
“Pointing a sword at a member of the Sword Saint’s party is tantamount to treason against the continent and a challenge to the Imperial Family. You must be aware, Lady Guiner, that this is not a matter that can be simply overlooked, correct?”
This situation was getting too…
“I will have to pay a visit to the Count.”
…out of hand.
“For now, let us return to the castle, Sir Bin. At this rate, I might end up being punished as well.”