Chapter 29
“Someone high up in the capital gave it to him, apparently. You think that’s true?”
“I heard the same. Said he suddenly brought it back yesterday.”
“No way. Even if he’s the boss, could he really have backing that big?”
“Eh. Maybe he got some kind of commission. The higher up you are, the more you need hands willing to do dirty work.”
“True enough. Still… I’ve got a bad feeling today. Maybe it’s because I had a nasty dream last night.”
“Huh? Me too. I mean, in my dream I was—”
Rafaella’s eyes narrowed in an instant.
An expensive prison provided by someone powerful in the capital, combined with the information that even spirits found it hard to approach—once those pieces came together, the conclusion was easier than expected.
A string of coarse curses slipped from her twisted lips.
“So this is even more messed up than I thought…?”
As killing intent began to rise from Rafaella, Perry, hovering beside her, shrank his wings and trembled.
When suspicion turned into certainty, anger surged up inside Rafaella.
She had known the Empress intended to pull something during the relief mission. After all, six watchers—assassins doubling as spies—had been planted around her. There was no way she wouldn’t notice.
“No… seven, was it?”
Rafaella let out a bitter laugh as she thought of the seventh person who must have passed on Perry’s information.
The fact that a mere bandit possessed a prison made of magic stone—so rare and expensive, and difficult even for spirits to approach—was proof enough.
She had expected the assassins to make their move after they reached the harbor, the relief zone. A dangerous situation involving magical beasts would have been the perfect opportunity for something to go wrong.
But her expectations had been wrong.
She hadn’t anticipated them acting the moment she arrived at the castle, nor using the young daughter of Count Cester, who had nothing to do with any of this. On top of that, Rafaella had let her guard down, thinking they wouldn’t dare kill her outright because of her status as a princess—because she had reasons she “must not die.”
It seemed the Empress was far more serious than she had thought.
Rafaella ground her teeth.
“If that’s the case… I’m no different from that duke.”
After the regret over her own carelessness came a question.
What exactly did the Empress want? Of course, her ultimate goal was to make her daughter Setrin the Empress, but it was hard to guess what she intended to do with Rafaella, the youngest princess.
“Well. I’ll find out when I collide with her head-on.”
Rafaella quietly bit her lip.
First, she had to rescue Rosalie. Then, once she returned to the imperial palace, there would be much to do.
So she decided to deal with the six she had left alone until now—naturally, of course. That way, the Empress would be even more furious.
From the moment they used young Rosalie, Rafaella lost any sense of amusement. She would teach them what remained when amusement was taken away from the God of Corruption and Revelry.
Gripping the massive bow slung over her shoulder and the spirit-tree club in her hand, Rafaella spoke.
“Perry. Let’s go in.”
At that, Perry carefully scraped together the remaining powder on his wings and sprinkled it over Rafaella. Turning transparent, Rafaella leapt forward as if flying.
Whooosh—
“Huh? What was that just now?”
“Ah, this place is like that sometimes.”
The bandits guarding the cave entrance were momentarily confused by the sudden gust of wind, but since the Rimpim Mountain Range was notorious for harsh weather, they brushed it off as nothing more than a sudden squall.
As Rafaella slid swiftly down the cave steps, her eyes gathered a calm, silent fury.
“Huff… huff….”
William caught his breath and tightened his grip on his sword once more.
Just as he had expected, the bandits were nothing more than drifters and ruffians gathered together; none of them had learned formal swordsmanship, so individually they were easy opponents. But there were simply too many of them.
At least thirty lay fallen at his feet already, yet many more still waited before him, watching for the right moment to swing their weapons.
“T-That bastard’s got an artifact!”
“Yeah! If it deflected an axe earlier, it’s definitely one!”
“Tch. No matter how good it is, it’s gotta have limits. Let’s overwhelm him with numbers!”
Just as they predicted, even the defensive artifact William wore had its limits. There was a fixed amount of impact it could absorb.
But there was one thing they had overlooked.
Slash—!
“Aaaargh!”
It was the duke’s swordsmanship.
William had already steadied his ragged breathing and slashed into the shoulder of a charging bandit. It wasn’t severed, but the wound was bad enough that the man wouldn’t be able to wield a weapon for a while.
Among the clustered bandits, one quick-witted man shouted,
“Looks like he’s not trying to kill anyone! Look!”
“Yeah. The ones down are just incapacitated—none of them are dead. So don’t get scared! Let’s rush him all at once!”
“Yeah! Let’s go!”
The dozens of bandits still standing formed a crude formation and swung their weapons at William all at once.
Rafaella and Perry reached the deepest part of the cave. The air was thick with dampness and the smell of earth.
Perry burrowed into Rafaella’s arms, covered his nose with her clothes, and buzzed weakly.
“Ma-ster… I think it’s up ahead…”
Rafaella tightened her grip on the spirit-tree club.
The cave corridor was dim, lit only by torches placed at intervals. Rafaella moved slowly, suppressing the sound of her footsteps as much as possible.
Before long, she spotted an old wooden door. She worried it might be locked, but it opened with absurd ease.
Creeeak—
The inside was brightly lit with torches lining the walls, but since it had been carved directly from the earth, the ground and walls were rough and uneven. It was too large to be called a cave—more like a small village square carved underground.
In one corner, boxes of various shapes were stacked high, likely a storage area for stolen goods.
Rafaella’s gaze shifted to the opposite wall.
There stood a small prison made of carved black stone. Inside it lay a pink-haired girl who looked utterly out of place in such a bleak setting.
Just as Rafaella carefully moved toward the prison, Perry let out a small groan in her arms.
“Ugh….”
“What’s wrong, Perry?”
“M-Master…”
“Ah, right. That prison. Damn it….”
“Perry feels dizzy.”
Perry’s face had gone pale as he curled his small body tightly inward.
Even spirits, who were friendly to all natural things, had a weakness: magic stone.
If mana stones were rocks containing pure energy, magic stones held tainted energy—negative power. They were usually extracted from the corpses of magical beasts or found in lands where mass slaughter had occurred due to disasters or war.
In that sense, they were even rarer and more dangerous than mana stones that could be mined.
Rafaella quickly stepped back from the prison and spoke to Perry.
“Go to the duke and fire the signal flare as planned.”
“Huh? Already?”
“If the knights moved quickly, they might already be nearby. Find them and guide them here by the fastest route.”
“B-But then what about you, Master?”
“I’ll try to get Rosalie out here.”
“But you don’t have much strength right now. Perry should stay and protect you…”
“The best way to help is to hurry and bring the duke and the knights. Really.”
“Still…”
Rafaella deliberately ruffled Perry’s head with a playful grin.
“When this is over, let’s go to a cake shop with Rosalie and eat something delicious, okay?”
“Okay! Perry will bring them back right away!”
“That’s it. Good boy.”
Reassured at last, Perry darted out of the cave.
Only after enough time had passed for Perry to be completely gone did Rafaella move again. Approaching the prison where Rosalie lay, she saw that the door was secured incredibly poorly.
So poorly that it looked like it would open if she tapped it with her bare hand.
“Hah.”
Rafaella laughed in disbelief.
“Figures.”
Naturally, Rosalie had never been the bandits’ true target.
She nudged the prison door lightly with her foot, and it opened with ridiculous ease. Rafaella deliberately didn’t step inside, instead leaning against the doorframe. Rather than waking Rosalie directly, she tossed the massive bow she’d been carrying onto the floor beside her.
Thud—
The heavy sound of the bow hitting the ground made Rosalie stir and blink her eyes open.
She shook her head and slowly pushed herself upright. Perhaps due to the lingering effects of the drug, her eyes couldn’t quite focus, and she looked as if she might fall asleep again at any moment.
“Mmm…”
“Little miss. Are you okay?”
“This place… what is…?”
Turning her back to the prison, Rafaella shouted toward the pile of boxes stacked on one side.
“Hey. You can come out now.”
But the room remained silent.
Scratching her head as if annoyed, Rafaella continued,
“If you’re waiting for me to step inside the prison to rescue Rosalie, you’re already too late. So just come out.”
At that, an old man emerged from between the crates, leaning on a cane. He was the same man who had disguised himself as a refugee and played the pitiful victim.
“Oof. Sharp-eyed princess, aren’t you?”
The pathetic, sympathy-inducing expression he’d worn when blocking the relief group was nowhere to be seen. All that remained on his deeply wrinkled face was a greasy smile.
“If you’d gone quietly into the prison, it wouldn’t have hurt as much. Heh heh.”
“Judging by the kind of prison you got your hands on, you’re not just small fry.”
“Ah, that’s right. I’ve grabbed hold of a very solid lifeline this time. All thanks to you, Princess.”
“It couldn’t have been free.”
“Oh no. There’s no way I’d pay that price myself. You’ll be paying it for me, Princess.”
Tap—!
The old man struck the ground once with his cane, and from behind him, around ten bandits wearing black masks poured out in a rush.
