...As expected from Sabine-chan. Sasu-Sabi!!
It was a great encouragement to Theresa-chan and Lastena-chan.
"The only way to repay Arsha-chan's devotion is for you all to become fine nobles," or "From now on, you should give her something even more wonderful than her left arm. Something that she will consider more valuable than the left arm she lost. ...Yes, your sincerity towards the people of your domain!" or something like that...
As expected of royalty, they handled things well without any financial burden on them, just by using pleasant-sounding words.
...Hmmm, the genius little devil Sabine-chan certainly doesn't disappoint...
Hopefully, Theresa-chan and Lastena-chan would be able to recover somehow.
Maybe I'll ask Beatrice-chan to contact me later. As the great saint...
...No, that's not good! I forgot I left the attacker in Wolffang's care!!
"Sorry to keep you waiting~..." (Mitsuha)
"You're too late!!" (Captain)
Ah, Captain, you're angry after all...
"How many days do you think have passed?!" (Captain)
I was thoroughly scolded—Well, it would be scary to keep an eye on the attackers who you didn't speak the same language as and didn't understand the circumstances, and if the attackers were professionals in that field, they might even harm themself to keep the secret... Well, I wanted to take them away soon.
"Sorry……" (Mitsuha)
So I sincerely apologized.
"It's getting so late... you must have forgotten that you left these guys in our care..." (Captain)
Ugh, I can't lie here...
"Sorry……" (Mitsuha)
Yeah, I guess I'll just have to apologize.
"……Well, whatever. If you forgot about them, it probably means there were more important things going on, and there was no need to rush to interrogate them. Judging by the situation, I don't think these guys are first-rate agents. They're probably just disposable or something..." (Captain)
Yeah, I think there's probably nothing ulterior motive behind it and it was just a spontaneous crime perpetrated by a stupid, violent criminal. But I should probably get the back of it just in case.
"Well then, I'm going to interrogate them, so please assist me."
When I went to the room where they were being held captive—it had a toilet and iron bars, and looked as if it had been made for that purpose, or rather, in fact, that was probably the case—I found the five perpetrators sitting on simple beds, dazed. As expected, it seemed they hadn't anticipated accommodating five people, so extra cots had been brought in. And the reason everyone seems to be in a daze is because so many days have passed since then, they can't communicate, the situation hasn't changed at all, and they've run out of energy.
"How do you do!" (Mitsuha)
They didn't really respond to my greetings though...
"...Huh...? What? You can understand what I'm saying!"
One of them suddenly reacted. Was he the leader of these guys?
"Please, translate for us! We're not their enemy!"
Hmm? I wonder about that...
"The people here have good relationships with some of the members of Sorority, a social organization for the daughters of nobles. But you're attacking the members of Sorority and then claiming you're not our enemy, so I don't think that's going to work..." (Mitsuha)
Saying that, I pushed them away...
"No! We didn't know anything about that! We just heard that a noble's daughter had come to the slums without an escort, so we thought we could make some easy money..."
Hmm...
"Don't you know what will happen if you make a move on a noble? Not only you, but your family and all your relatives will suffer..." (Mitsuha)
"I don't even have a family, let alone a clan! I thought I could just make some money, run off to another country, and start over under a different name! If I could get some money, I could rent a house and then start working seriously..."
The other four nodded in agreement to what the man said.
Yes, it's true, there were no pictures, no TV, no newspapers. If you ran away to another country, changed your hairstyle and your name, you're much less likely to get caught. Whether or not those who had had the successful experience of easily making a lot of money would continue to work hard was another matter...
"...And so, the young ladies who were sacrificed because of this and had their lives ruined will have to suffer for the rest of their lives as illegal slaves wherever they are sold?" (Mitsuha)
Ah, he's quiet.
After all, that's the kind of people they were.
As long as it's good for us, that's fine. If we can make money easily, we don't mind sacrificing others. That's it.
"No, I intend to let them return safely once I receive the ransom..."
"Is that true? You could make a lot of money selling them, so why would they bother returning them? To someone who saw your faces? Besides, do you think a noblewoman who spent a few days with her kidnapper has a happy future? …Do you really think so?" (Mitsuha)
"…………" (Criminals, x5)
Well, that's the case, right...?
"N-no, we..."
"...Archpriestess, sama...?"
"Eh?" (x4)
Oh, does anyone know my face?
My name was well known, but only a small proportion of the Royal Capital's citizens had ever seen me at close range or spoken to me directly. In a world without photographs, television or newspapers, not many people would recognize me if they happened to meet me on the street—Especially if I was wearing clothes that are different from usual...
Besides, these thugs and thugs rarely had the chance to come face to face with me. They probably wouldn't even take part in game board tournaments or anything like that—Even when it came to portraits, ordinary caricaturists tended to emphasize the subject's features, so they're not very realistic...
Ah, after the game board convention I sold some of the leftover illustrations—prints of the photos—but I immediately stopped selling them, and the people who bought them were likely keeping them safe, so they're not on the market anymore. So, I was a little surprised when some thugs saw me in my everyday clothes and recognized me as the Lightning Archpriestess.
"...Yes. You attacked two members of Sorority, a group of noble girls under my care, and their servants, and made me, the Lightning Archpriestess, your enemy. And of course, you understand the implications of committing the serious crime of assaulting a noble, right?" (Mitsuha)
"…………" (Criminals, x5)
It seemed they thought I was a naive brat based on my appearance and was trying to gain sympathy from me... In the Old Continent, it was believed that as the Lightning Archpriestess, I would kill enemies and villains without hesitation.
...Let's give up. No, I'm not going to do anything about it. That would be like a lynching.
I would simply hand these people over to the Kingdom of Zegreius officials. Just fulfilling my duty as a citizen. And then, they would simply be judged by the laws of the country. My personal opinion had no bearing on that—Kingdom of Zegreius was a country governed by laws, after all...