Chapter 28
Chapter 28 (Map)
4. Alpheus's Return
"Dalia, Dalia!"
Dalia woke from her sleep. The pale light of dawn was coming through the window.
Baroness Hawin was shaking her awake, tears streaming down her face.
"What are we going to do!"
"......Why? What happened?"
"Your father has been kidnapped!"
Dalia shot upright.
Her father had been kidnapped?
Was such a thing even possible?
"And they're demanding five sacks of wheat as ransom......"
Dalia's pupils trembled.
Wheat? She could guarantee there wasn't a single grain of wheat left in the central region.
"Dalia, what are we going to do? Hmm?"
Dalia snatched the note Baroness Hawin was clutching and read it.
[We have the Hawin Baron.
We will exchange him for five sacks of wheat.
Beneath the largest zelkova tree on Erolamo Hill, tomorrow night at midnight.
Bring anyone unnecessary and the Baron's life is forfeit.]
"Wh-what about Father's knights?"
Dalia said, breathless.
"We have to send the knights after them!"
"I don't know where any of those knights are either."
Baroness Hawin said, choking back tears.
"The truth is, Dalia...... Your father went out today with those knights to get wheat."
"What?"
"I don't know the details myself, but he went to trade Brisa and the territory's people for wheat......"
"With Brisa Sears? Then was Brisa captured too?"
"How would I know that......"
As Baroness Hawin fidgeted and gasped for breath, Dalia irritably rang the bell.
The maids came running in a fluster.
"Let's go right now, Mother."
"Hmm? Where?"
Dalia shouted as she directed the maids to dress her.
"We have to go see Brisa Sears to find out what happened, don't we! Whether she was captured too, or whether she saw something!"
"Wouldn't she have been captured as well? Your father was captured......"
But Baroness Hawin was wrong.
When the mother and daughter arrived at the Sears Marquis Residence, Brisa was sitting in the drawing room, elegantly eating bread.
And it wasn't just Brisa. The knights and maids were also biting into steaming bread for breakfast.
"It's so good with wild strawberry jam."
"The wild strawberries have been growing well by the river lately."
"The young lady told us not to cut these vines, and it turns out that's because they were wild strawberry vines."
Dalia swallowed without realizing it.
It had already been over two weeks since she'd had freshly baked bread like that. If it weren't for the dairy cow, she'd at least be eating cornbread.
"What brings you here, Aunt?"
Brisa greeted them calmly.
Eating bread topped with a soft-boiled egg and spread with jam all by herself, she tilted her head.
"Why have you come all the way here this early in the morning?"
Baroness Hawin was dumbfounded at the sight.
The sight of Brisa's unruffled face felt like a splash of cold water to Baroness Hawin.
"......Don't even think about lying. I know you went out with my husband last night."
She said, lifting her chin.
"My husband has been kidnapped, and this is the letter we received."
Baroness Hawin set the kidnapper's letter down on the table with a thud.
Brisa lowered her eyes indifferently and read the words, then slowly nodded.
"Ah, so he was kidnapped."
"So he was kidnapped?"
Dalia glared.
"You came back perfectly fine, so why couldn't my father come back? You wrote this, didn't you? You're the one who kidnapped my father, aren't you!"
"Why would I?"
Brisa tilted her head.
"I have plenty of wheat. I don't need five sacks or so. I brought back a whole load."
"That's not what we're talking about right now!"
Dalia snapped in irritation.
"You kidnapped my father, didn't you? Or you ordered someone to kidnap him? Who else would do something like that but you?"
"Right here. The territory's people your father sold off."
Brisa said elegantly, without the slightest excitement.
"I have no reason to commit a crime against your father. If nobles try to harm each other and get caught, they have to face the judgment of the law in court. It's not like with territory folk, where the lord can decide their disposal."
After explaining calmly, she sighed and offered some advice.
"Dalia, study imperial law first. That's something you can do even without going to the academy."
Behind her, the maids let out little snorts of laughter. Even that reaction was part of the calculated flow of the conversation.
"I know that too! Who doesn't know that disputes between nobles have to go to court!"
Dalia shouted, then fumed and muttered, unable to contain her anger.
"But my father......."
When she couldn't finish her sentence, Brisa explained nonchalantly.
"He was trying to trade wheat with black mages when the western knights came charging in. In the middle of that, the territory folk your father was trying to sell off beat down your father and all his knights. I don't know anything beyond that. We only brought back the wheat."
"What? Then why are you unharmed?"
"I only sold one person. And there were plenty of other knights. So I was able to subdue that one."
At the matter-of-fact explanation, Dalia asked in disbelief.
"So you just left my father behind and came back alone?"
"No."
Brisa shook her head as she popped the rest of her bread into her mouth.
"I came back with my knights and the wheat. As you can see."
"That's not what I meant!"
Dalia glared at her and demanded an answer.
"Of course I know you resent us. But last night, Father moved with you as the lord of the territory. At the very least, my father and you were on the same side then, in the same position!"
"We weren't in the same position."
Brisa answered without batting an eye.
"Unlike your father, I'm twelve years old. I had my hands full just looking after myself, so it was hard to look after a full-grown adult in that situation. A child's abilities have their limits."
After that, Brisa gave an order to a maid.
"Spread the wild strawberry jam generously, and this time make two sandwiches with chicken and fresh vegetables on top."
"Yes."
At those words, Dalia and even Baroness Hawin couldn't help feeling excited.
Bread with chicken, and fresh vegetables?
It had been so long since they'd eaten anything like that. It was a primal instinct, entirely separate from their anger.
These days they'd been eating nothing but things like the pickled olives from the grocery on Jejel Street. Even those were running low, so they'd been counting them out one by one.
"And you seem to have forgotten."
Brisa said, looking at Dalia.
"I don't resent you. I just dislike you."
"Because of the territory? But our father took it from your father legally!"
"Which is why I haven't filed a lawsuit. But I have no intention of sitting down all friendly with you to discuss how to save your father. That's all."
Soon the maid brought two sandwiches on a tray.
But the plate that Dalia and Baroness Hawin naturally expected to be placed before them was set down in front of Brisa instead.
"If your curiosity's been satisfied, you can go now."
Brisa said, biting into a new sandwich.
"I don't have anything in particular to say."
That was when it happened.
Baroness Hawin gasped for breath and then asked.
"Then could we borrow five sacks of wheat?"
"Mother!"
"We have no choice. We have to find your father, don't we?"
She snapped at Dalia once, then fixed her gaze on Brisa.
"We don't have any wheat to pay the ransom. But your territory seems to have plenty."
"We have quite a bit."
Brisa shrugged.
"But I won't lend it. Once the Warp is restored, the price will plummet. So I'll only sell it to you."
"Is that so? For how much......"
As Baroness Hawin brightened, Brisa smiled faintly.
"Jejel Street and Beron."
Dalia and the Baroness's expressions hardened.
Brisa picked up the second sandwich and said.
"That's why you came, isn't it, Dalia? Last time, I told you that if you ran short on money, I'd give you a good price for Jejel Street."
"If making a living gets too hard, hand over Jejel Street. I'll give you a good price for it."
Without a trace of a smile, Brisa added nonchalantly.
"I don't say things I don't mean."