Chapter 15
“Deputy Master, di–didn’t you see something like a rainbow outside just now?”
“You must’ve seen wrong.”
“But I swear…! There were petals flying too!”
“Don’t need medicine?”
“No, sir!”
“You don’t get more than this for a single dog.”
There were no ancient protective spells on the warehouse windows.
Meaning: if I broke the window and went in, no alarm would go off.
The warehouse was lined wall-to-wall with explosives engraved with the Ingrid Company’s crest.
The deputy master dismissed Pepper’s father’s muttering about a rainbow as junkie nonsense, opened a desk drawer in the center of the warehouse, and took out a small pouch and a file folder.
Watching the pouch pass from the deputy master’s hand to Pepper’s father’s, I muttered quietly—
“You need a good beating to come to your senses.”
A long rubber mallet landed in my hand.
That file must be the ledger detailing the deals with the Temeren ship.
It wasn’t legal, so of course it would be hidden.
There was no time to hesitate. I swung the mallet at the window.
Thunk.
“…Pretend you didn’t see that.”
No time to hesitate. I smashed the window with my elbow instead.
CRASH!
“Who’s there?!”
“You’ll know if I tell you?”
Avoiding the jagged edges of the broken glass, I vaulted inside.
Seeing me, the deputy master—who had just drawn a gun—snorted.
“A girl?”
“I’m not a kid.”
“How did you get in… No, forget it. Catch her first and interrogate her later.”
Apparently I looked easy enough that he didn’t even bother to shoot—just tried to smack me with the barrel.
I grabbed it mid-air and crushed it.
“?!”
“You done?”
“What kind of girl has that strength—?!”
Justice Power☆
“My turn now.”
I grinned and swung the rubber mallet.
WHACK!
“Killing people! You know taxidermying a human gets you arrested, right?!”
SMACK!
“Then why do you think it’s fine to stuff animals?!”
Are animals a joke to you?!
BANG!
“Oh right, you drug humans too, don’t you?”
Ah, so life is what’s cheap to you!
“To money-obsessed scum who don’t care if others live or die—!”
Life-respecting hammer strikes!
WHAM!
“This is confiscated.”
Pepper’s father collapsed before I even hit him properly. I took the pouch of herbs from him and grabbed the ledger off the desk.
“No!!”
He still reached for the drugs, so I bonked him on the head again.
BOP!
He choked, and suddenly black liquid spilled out of his mouth.
“…?”
I looked at Pepper’s father, then at my mallet.
BOP!
“Gah! Cough, hack!”
BOP!
“Guh!”
BOP!
“Keck!”
The accumulated drugs in his body… were coming out every time I hit him?
This mallet had such a function?
Then he needed more.
WHAM! WHACK! BONK!
“Spare me! Spare me!”
“No, no~ I am sparing you.”
About a hundred bonks later, the liquid from his mouth finally ran clear.
He no longer reached for drugs—slowly realizing what he’d done and how he’d gotten here.
“I think it’s done-daawg!”
“No no, don’t say that.”
The law of the universe: things revive when someone says ‘It’s over.’
“He needs at least a hundred more hits—”
“Woof.”
“What, Collie?”
Want to hit him too? I asked. Collie shook his head.
He whimpered pitifully and nudged Pepper’s father’s cheek with his nose.
“He says don’t hit his master,” Tofu translated beside me.
“Even though your master tried to sell you?”
“He knows he only got that way because of weird snacks. Says he’s fine-daawg.”
“Whine…”
Collie licked Pepper’s father’s hand and wagged his tail at me.
This one, I understood without Tofu’s help:
‘I like my master!’
“Collie…”
The man on the ground sobbed.
Why were my eyes getting watery too?
“Fine. Then I’ll only beat this guy.”
While I happily pummeled Pepper’s father, the deputy master tried crawling away. I stepped on his back.
“Eek!!”
I leaned close, smiling.
“You cultivate drugs, right?”
“Ugh…”
“Illegal drug crops in the Empire earn you life imprisonment. You wouldn’t risk moving them elsewhere. So it must be somewhere within the estate… Where’s the herb field?”
WHACK!
“What was that? Couldn’t hear you.”
WHACK!
“Little louder?”
“I’ll—”
WHACK!
“What?”
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Stop hitting!”
WHACK!
“Behind the main house! Behind it! In the garden!”
WHACK WHACK WHACK!
“Ugh!”
“See? Should’ve said so earlier.”
Perfect. Evidence secured. Ledger obtained. Herb field located.
Now I just had to tie these people up and hand them over to the authorities—
“…Should I just drag them all?”
“Sena!”
Tofu yelped.
“You didn’t forget, right? You have to act like a Holy Mage Saintess! ”
“Of course, of course.”
I’ll handle this divinely.
I tucked Tofu, now grimy, under my arm.
I gestured to Collie—he barked and followed.
Three minutes later.
I set the garden on fire.
* * *
“Hiiing!”
The frantic sound of galloping hooves shattered the night.
‘Not just one horse…?’
Arden, deep in thought, narrowed his eyes. Dozens of horses were stampeding—in the direction of the Ingrid estate he was heading toward.
‘What happened?’
He stopped a rider turning a corner. Seeing the rider’s uniform and canteen, Arden froze.
‘Fire brigade?’
“What’s going on?”
“The Ingrid estate is on fire!”
“…The Ingrid estate?”
The fireman galloped off before he could ask more. Arden hurried after them.
After parting with Seraphina earlier, Arden had investigated the Temeren crew himself.
Naturally, as the Crown Prince, he knew far more than a mere commoner—he strongly suspected something shady between the Ingrid Company and the Temeren sailors.
He planned to investigate further tomorrow—but a fire tonight?
‘Coincidence?’
“This way!”
“Over here!”
The estate gate was wide open. Thankfully, the house itself wasn’t burning—everyone seemed safe.
Arden showed his Imperial Knight badge.
“What exactly happened?”
“The fire started in the back garden.”
“The garden?”
“Yes, and someone shattered every window on the first floor. Thanks to that, the ancient protective spell activated and everyone escaped safely.”
“…Are you implying arson?”
“It seems so. Because…”
He held out an explosive.
“The noise was loud thanks to the spell, but the flames weren’t severe. No casualties either.”
“What about the master of the estate?”
“The family was attending a social gathering. They’re on their way back. Since the fire is mostly under control, Your Highness needn’t—”
“Over here! You need to see this!”
The shout came from the garden. The tone wasn’t fear—more… disbelief.
Arden began toward it, then—
“…?”
He looked down. He’d kicked something.
Two men lay unconscious. One was unfamiliar, with black liquid around his mouth. The other—crying snot-nosed—was the Ingrid deputy master.
And in his arms…
“…A ledger?”
He escaped the flames carrying the ledger?
But the house wasn’t burning…
Arden picked up the ledger.
A fireman shouted from the garden:
“The plants here—these flowers—are illegal crops!”
“Illegal?!”
“Overdosing causes addiction—”
POP!
POP POP POP!
Everyone looked up at the night sky.
Fireworks.
POP! POP!
“What is that?”
“It’s forming… letters?”
“Letters?”
Arden scowled with a terrible feeling.
The fireworks slowly shaped words.
“How the Ingrid Company Covers Its Losses:
They feed drug-laced cookies to their sailor clients☆
I hereby report the crime of cultivating illegal narcotics in the capital!
May today be a sober day for all!
–The Holy Mage Saintess, Sena💫–”
“P.S. Check the ledger the deputy master is holding!”
A carriage screeched to a stop.
“What fire?! What happened?!”
The master of the Ingrid Company leapt out—famous for his love of taxidermy.
“A fire?! Where—”
Shing.
Arden pressed his sword against the man’s throat, sweat still on his brow.
“You’re coming with me.”
Behind him, fireworks spelled the final line—
