135. Preparation
"This is for you." (Mitsuha)
After returned from j.a.pan, I made 18 rice b.a.l.l.s in the kitchen. That"s enough for the six guards. Right, I"m treating the free guards next to the product store… as a token of grat.i.tude.
They have had onigiri before. It was very popular because it was delicious, quick to eat and fill up the stomach. …well, no one would complain about the freebies brought by the girl next door!
One of the guards told me, after joyfully receiving the rice b.a.l.l.s.
"Miss Mitsuha, late last night, a suspicious man wandered around the store. Man, he got the guts to intrude a store next to the guard post…" (Guard-san)
"Eh?! Then, what happened?" (Mitsuha)
What a surprising report from the guard uncle!
I"m glad I chose this place.
"We caught and tortured him… After we heard his confession, it seems that he was a lackey of a certain Viscount. He tried to sneak in and plotted to do something bad, so we contacted the Viscount to come over, and then…" (Guard-san)
"And then?" (Mitsuha)
"[I don"t know that person], is what the Viscount said" (Guard-san)
Well, naturally. If the culprit that tried to sneak into a house where a young girl lives alone is his minions and acting at his command at that, it would bring trouble given his status.
"When I said, [It"s a serious affair that an unidentified person tried to break into a n.o.ble house from another country, so I"ll contact the Royal Palace immediately and hand over the culprit for a strict investigation. I"m apologies for the trouble…], and then…" (Guard-san)
"And then?" (Mitsuha)
"He came to pick the culprit up immediately. Rather than handing him over to Royal Palace and instigating the Viscount"s grudge on missy, I think that would be more convenient for missy" (Guard-san)
And then, the guard uncles laugh it off.
Well, you"re doing a good job!
I don"t know if the purpose is the jewelry, information, or myself, but it would be pretty bad for me if the Royal Palace noticed about me at this point.
That cultured pearl necklace and artificial jewelry. An unimaginable a.s.set that can be easily given to children. What did the viscount think by doing that? He might be incurring the wrath of the senior n.o.ble from other country…. No, if it goes bad, he might be drawing a royal blood. And if the criminal were to be investigated at the Royal Palace, there"s no way he could get away. … Or rather, why did he decided to take such action towards me?
Since the other party is a viscount too, was it a nuisance for him that I was claiming to be a viscount despite my age? Or did he want to get some information and negotiate with me? Or he just wanted to get the pearls and gems?
Well, I want to believe that he didn"t mean to attack me.
However, the guards helped me quite nicely. this is the fruits of good relationship with your neighbors!
Anyway, it seems that the person who came to pick up the culprit confirmed his ident.i.ty and signed the receipt certificate. And those facts were submitted to the Royal Palace as security records…
Well, this is the center of the aristocratic district, and this guard post is part of Royal Guard directly under the Royal Palace"s authority, so it"s natural. They are trained to intervene in the afflictions between aristocrats, and they are not the ones that can be affected by the n.o.bility"s threats and pressure.
Unlike the guards in common district, the guards in the aristocratic district still have enough authority to deal with practically anyone, even n.o.bles. So, the guards seem to be a little bullish even with n.o.bles. The guards even said [Rest a.s.sured; you can count on us with confidence!].
"So, if in the future, that Viscount decided to meddle with missy again, he won"t be able to say anything if you brought this story. There is a report record in the Royal Palace, and there is a record of duty here as well. And there is no shortage of witnesses either. No one would doubt the testimony of six guards in charge of the aristocracy district" (Guard-san)
Ummm, so what are you saying is, if I talked about this at some party, the viscount would be quite troubled?
Just why did he do such a ridiculous thing?
Ah, [Because he"s stupid], you say? Is that so…?
Well, even if the first generation of a n.o.ble house was a respectable person, the successor is not necessarily the same, the heir could be either stupid or idiot. If there were hundreds of n.o.bles, at least there would be one or two idiots among them.
Well, anyway, I"m thankful for guard-san"s consideration!
"Wait here for a moment!" (Mitsuha)
For now, let"s return to the store and transfer to j.a.pan.
"I"m sorry for making you wait!" (Mitsuha)
And I brought a box with six brandies with me.
It costs around 4000 yen each, and it"s very delicious… it seems, yeah!
These ones much higher quality than the one I refilled into a 200ml bottle last time. And this time it"s a 720ml, fresh from the store.
"This is as an apology for the trouble, and as a token of grat.i.tude…" (Mitsuha)
"are you sure?" (Guard-san)
The last ones must be that delicious.
"Yeah, it"s a lot more expensive than before. It"s about two ranks higher. Maybe it"s more delicious… I think. I"ve never tasted it though" (Mitsuha)
" " " " " "Seriously?!" " " " " " (The 6 guards)
When I give a gift to someone, I won"t say it in the modest j.a.panese way like [It"s something trivial, but please, accept this little gift…], instead I"m more like [This is so wonderful! You should try it as well, please take this!].
Because It"s more fun that way! n.o.body wants trivial thing. If I were to think that it is fine to give a cheap and trivial thing as a souvenir, somehow, it"s giving unpleasant impression.
Ah, that"s right.
"Of course, this is a secret. Until it was officially announced as a import product, it was brought in a little amount under the name of [Secret market research at export destination]. If you leak it before the official announcement, I will not be able to bring it again. And when you"re done drinking, collect the empty bottles. Don"t throw it away or show it to others. Do you get it?” (Mitsuha)
" " " " " "Yes, Your Highness!" " " " " " (The 6 Guards)
However, 6 pieces of 4000 yen are 24000 yen. If one gold coin here is converted to dollars then converted to yen, it"s exactly around 1 gold coin.
No, the cost of dealing with the troublesome viscount is cheap if it"s just this much. In the future, let"s raise the quality of the gifts. I"d like to prepare something proper again later.
Anyway, renting this shop next to the guard post is worth every penny!
"Ah, miss Mitsuha, it seems like there are several n.o.ble"s servants had come. Some of them said, [Where is Mitsuhsama?] or [When will she come back?], but I told them that I don"t know anyway. No, I didn"t really know, and even if I did, I wouldn"t tell them. Because If we were to respond them every time they come, the guards in this post will be treated like gatekeepers of your store…" (Guard-san)
I"m sorry, that was my actual intention, I chose this store with that in mind!
"My lord, there"s a suspicious guest at the front gate…" (gatekeeper)
"What? If the other party are suspicious and has not made any appointment, then you just have to turn them down. Why bother reporting such a thing to me?" (Marquis Mitchel)
After receiving a report from one of the gatekeepers, Marquis Mitch.e.l.l scolded the gatekeeper with a slightly unpleasant tone after his family gathering time being interrupted .
However, this gatekeeper is not a novice. He can make the appropriate judgement, and in fact, he has. So, Marquis Mitch.e.l.l knew that there might be some reason.
"…how"s the guest looks like?" (Marquis Mitchel)
Visiting a n.o.ble without an appointment at such time, he can only imagine that the guest has no common sense.
"Right, the guest is a young girl around 12 - 13 years old with exotic figure, her clothes don"t stand out but looks very expensive. Also, she has a message to Miss Micheline…" (gatekeeper)
That was enough for the marquis, and his daughter who is sitting opposite to him, to guess who the guest is.
Just as expected, it was certainly [a person without common sense]
And Micheline was rubbing her temple with her both hands.
"…. W-what is the content of the message?" (Mitchan)
"Right, she said [Mitchan, I came to play!], that is all." (gatekeeper)
" " " " " "……" " " " " " (Mitchel Family)
The marquis and his wife, three sons, and his daughter Micheline. Marquis Mitchel House, family of 6. All of them have their jaws dropped.