"It's a mysterious illness. I'm not a saint in charge of healing, but rather in charge of the destructive department, so there's nothing I can do about it. ...You're calling the wrong person." (Mitsuha)
I could have said that it was a disease that was already known in my country, where navigation technology was advanced, but as that story spread, there was a good chance that it would change to something like "Angel's miracle."
So, I shouldn't do anything extra.
It wasn't yet the time when the lives of many sailors were at stake...
Ah! Damn it!!
So, then we were told to call a saint, and if Beatrice-chan was called, it would be a disaster!
This was bad, I needed to find a way to cover it up...
"How rude! How rude of you to say something to His Majesty!!"
Hey, catch them!"
...Eh? It's not the king who's yelling, it's one of the nobles in attendance.
What... ah, I see!
Okay, let's get on board and wreak havoc!
Make a complete mess and forget about the "Saint" thing from earlier!!
If it gets dangerous, I can just teleport away, so there's no problem!
...But I didn't really want to run away if I could help.
If I ran away, I might get looked down upon.
I had a feeling that if I ran away, my king might receive another arrogant letter...
So, when I left here, instead of running away, I wanted to twist my mouth into a grin and "leave" like that. With a feeling of victory...
Okay, let's do it!
"Oh my, my apologies. I had thought for sure that the person sitting on the throne was the most powerful person in this country, but it turns out that he was just a figurehead, a puppet, and the real ruler was you!" (Mitsuha)
"……eh?"
The old nobleman who had shouted for me to be arrested was frozen with his mouth half open, dumbfounded.
"No, I mean, the King was talking to the Lightning Archpriestess, a nobleman he had invited from another country, and you interrupted, interrupting their conversation, and even give order to capture her. Right in front of the King, without his permission…
You can't do this unless you think of yourself as greater than the king, right?" (Mitsuha)
Of course, none of the soldiers moved a single step.
There was no way they could have restrained a guest from another country in front of the King, when there was no danger and it was not an order from their direct superior or anyone above him, but rather from a nobleman who had no authority to command.
If someone was stationed in a place like this, they must have received a decent education and be relatively elite among the soldiers.
"Ah…… uh..."
Okay, before he can think of an excuse or argue back...
"Moreover, you forcibly arrested an invited noble from another country, a young woman at that, even though she had not committed any illegal acts. Isn't this going to become an international issue? It would seriously damage the country's credibility and worsen relations with me, my country, and the other members of the Grand Alliance. If you are not the true ruler of this country, then why would you do such a thing? Perhaps you are in contact with a hostile country and are deliberately working to cause harm to this country?" (Mitsuha)
"Huh..."
Zawa... (Crowd noise)
The people closest to the old man pulled away a little to put some distance between them.
...Only a few dozen centimetres, though.
He seemed to be of a fairly high social rank and position, but to think that he'd become like that from the instigation of a little outsider like this...
I guess the old man don't trust me...
Well, I've stirred things up quite a bit, but I wonder what will happen...
"... Capture her!"
Huh? What are you thinking, old man?
Even if such orders were repeated, there's no way any soldier would follow instructions in this situation... Wait, what?!
About four people came out from among the soldiers...
Moreover, their hand was on the hilt of their sword.
That's impossible!
Even if you were to concede and try to stop us, wouldn't your bare hands be enough?
We're just three weak girls. There's no need to use swords... Ah.
Are you trying to silence me by accusing me of lèse majesté and saying you're following the King's wishes?
Does this mean that I'm a really bad person to this old man?
These four were probably people under the old man's control.
And maybe it was a signal to kill instead of capture?
The King... appears surprised, but he doesn't seem to be giving any particular instructions.
This doesn't seem to be a setup, but is he not responding?
Well, you have to protect yourself without expecting others to do so.
Then the soldiers approached, their hands gripped the hilts of their swords, and the moment the blades appeared...
"Fire!" (Mitsuha)
Following my instructions, Sabine-chan and Colette-chan moved their wrists widely together with me...
Bang, bang! Bang, bang! Bang, bang!
Bang, bang! Bang, bang! Bang, bang!
There were three people carrying two double-barreled guns, for a total of 12 shots.
Each of the four soldiers was hit by two or three bullets.
I missed two shots, but Sabine-chan and Colette-chan hit three or four shots.
Well, the distance was so close that even a Derringer gun with low accuracy would hit.
Remington Double Derringer.
An ultra-compact, two-shot pistol that uses .41 caliber rimfire bullets.
Sleeve guns were the perfect gun to conceal in your sleeve.
Since the bullets were loaded directly into the twin vertical barrels, it's no wonder they could make it small...
For concealed carry, I used a Walther PPS, which I attached to my armpit or thigh, but when I wore a dress I couldn't wear it under my arm, and if it's on my thigh it took a long time to draw.
That way, it wouldn't be enough in case of a surprise attack or against close-range enemies.
So, when I went to a place where there was a possibility of being attacked at close range, I prepared this beforehand.
I had planned to do some sightseeing in the royal capital today, but this was enemy territory. I didn't know who might suddenly attack me—thugs, soldiers, or nobles—so I made sure to wear this.
The gimmick was designed so that if I moved my hand in a special way, the Derringer attached to the inside of my arm would be pushed out by a light alloy arm and fit snugly into the palm of my hand.
To hide this, all three of us wore loose-fitting clothes with wide sleeves.
Even a Double Derringer wouldn't be enough against an enemy at extremely close range, but there's no way anyone would suddenly attack a noble girl and archpriestess from another country.
Typically, you would either verbally encourage them to surrender or gently restrain them to avoid injuring them.
I hadn't expected him to suddenly make the move to draw his sword, but since he was raised his sword towards the King, who was an extension of me, I didn't run at full speed.
…Well, in any case, if I had just a few milliseconds, I could teleport away.
It was because I had that last resort that I could do something reckless.
Otherwise, I wouldn't do something like this.
It took more than a second to draw a Walther PPS from my thigh, yet it's dangerous to fire all the bullets from Derringer.
Well, these guys probably didn't know that there were no bullets left in Derringer...