175. Breakdown
"Good afternoon~!" (Mitsuha)
"Aah, missy, I see that you"re safe!" (Guard-san)
Says the friendly uncles at the guard post next door.
This is such a world, so if someone go on a long journey or don"t show up for a long time, it"s only natural to worry about them. Thieves, injuries, illness. This is a world where people die easily.
"By the way, a lot of people came to visit as usual. n.o.ble"s gofer, merchants, butlers and maids candidate that are seeking for employment, and others… Those who are seeking for employment, they are no novice, those guys have worked somewhere. Some are veterans at that. …you"re familiar with that kind of thing, aren"t you missy?" (Guard-san)
Yeah, they were sent as a spy.
"If it"s spy, I"ve had enough of them" (Mitsuha)
"Hahaha…" (Guard-san)
And take out, the souvenirs.
"This time, they"re a bit extravagant because I included the travel souvenirs" (Mitsuha)
Yeah, it was a cheap security fee because they were watching my store for a month.
Whiskey, brandy, buns, almond chocolates, and cookies.
By the way, the cookies are my homemade. If I don"t make it occasionally, my arm will be dulled, and my female power will be reduced. I have to cover the pitiful figure of my… tte, urusai wa!
" "Oooohh!!" " (The guards)
"Please properly share them with the other four" (Mitsuha)
Yeah, the other four seem to be on patrol, and only two of them are here.
Well, I know that they"re not the people who would monopolize for themselves even without me telling them, well, it"s what you call a light friendly talk.
"…and, that kid is?" (Guard-san)
Yeah, she"s Colette-chan.
…I succ.u.mbed to her threats!!
That was underhanded of you, Colette-chan…
"She"s my sister. Her name is Colette. She insisted to follow me here…" (Mitsuha)
"Colette, nice, to, meet you…" (Colette-chan)
"O-oh, nice to meet you too, little missy!" (Guard-san)
The guard uncle looks like he"s impressed.
Of course. From the way she speaks, it"s clear that her native language is not the language here. One would think, how much effort was needed for a 10-years-old high-cla.s.s girl, who usually would"ve grown up luxuriously and selfishly, to learn a foreign language in a short time just to follow her sister…
It"s truly amazing since there"s no decent learning material or DVDs for practicing in this world. It"s natural for the guard uncles to be impressed.
In fact, she used anime and language learning DVDs to learn j.a.panese and English, but there"s no such a thing in this world. She just used a simple dictionary that the naturalized sailors made and a little bit of verbal teaching from them, the rest was completely self-taught.
On top of that, she"s learning j.a.panese and English at the same time…
That level of dedication is rather frightening…
But that dedication is simply because she wants to be with me, help me and a.s.sist me. Colette-chan, to think you"d go this far for me…
"Mitsuha! Hey, Mitsuha!" (Colette-chan)
Oh, no good, I was so impressed…
Anyways, right now, Colette-chan behaves elegantly and also wearing a little high-end clothes, so that she doesn"t have the appearance of a rural village girl, but as a daughter of a great merchant, at least.
She can even pa.s.s as a daughter of a lower n.o.ble, or of a senior n.o.ble who likes to act deliberately and behaves a little crude.
So here I decided to say that we"re sisters. Things like half brother or sister is common in n.o.ble families. Particularly, since I looked like a child of a third princess from afar who married in a political marriage, so Colette-chan is most likely appeared to be a child of a mistress.
In the first place, I want to stay in [close friend mode] with Colette-chan here. The [lord and va.s.sals mode] is enough only when it is absolutely necessary.
"Well, please continue to take care of me!" (Mitsuha)
"Oh, same here, best regards!" (Guard-san)
Alright, keeping connection with the guard post is now OK!
I"ll tell about Colette-chan to the other four too later.
Well then, next is…
"Excuse me!" (Mitsuha)
"…please wait a moment…" (gatekeeper-san)
Umu, we came to the familiar Mitchan"s house… the one in the new continent, that is.
The gatekeeper-oniisan seemed to remember my face, since he didn"t ask anything.
Yup, normally gatekeepers will check if the guest have an appointment, but I guess he reported directly to Marquis-sama, maybe.
Alright, it looks like they"re used to me…
"Mitsuha, don"t let ordinary people get used to Mitsuha"s way!" (Colette-chan)
…you think so?
"Please follow me, the Marquis will meet you" (gatekeeper-san)
Then, the gatekeeper-oniisan who came back immediately guided us to the reception room.
“Where and what have you done!!” (Marquis-sama)
"Hieee!" (Mitsuha)
I was suddenly shouted at.
"Why"re you so angry…" (Mitsuha)
"There no way I"m not angry!!!" (Marquis-sama)
Marquis-sama is extremely enraged!!
No, but why…
"Why, for a month, you went missing without any contact!! Well, I understand that you"re not going to parties for a while after all of that. However, for what reason that you went missing for a month without any contact!? How worried do you think we were, I went to your store, Rephilia Trade, the Bank, aimlessly searching the whole capital without any clue for the past month… " (Marquis-sama)
Ah…
Well, certainly, it was bad to make him worry. But…
"The reason is that [I was tricked and about to be presented to strange guys at a party where Marquis Mitchel was invited and attended], do you have any idea about that, Marquis-sama?" (Mitsuha)
"Ugh…" (Marquis-sama)
"You know the treatment I received from those guys, and that I"ve been avoiding them ever since, right? But at that time, you didn"t do anything to cover me, right?" (Mitsuha)
"Uguh…" (Marquis-sama)
Alright, he"s troubled.
If he thinks that would gain advantage just by shouting, thinking that I"m just a little girl, he"s in for a deep mistake.
Besides, his rank has nothing to do with me, because we"re from different country, so it"s not necessary for me to do everything as he told. There"s no ridiculous story that one can command a n.o.ble from another country as they like if they have a higher rank.
Count Bozes was angry at me several times, but he genuinely worried about me and [Scolded me]. Unlike Marquis Mitch.e.l.l who shouted his anger over his interests. Earlier, he said [How worried do you think we were], but it wasn"t come from his concern for me, but he worries whether he wouldn"t be able to make profit if I"m gone. Even though I was subjected to such incident at the party that was introduced by him, nevertheless, I came to greet him the first thing since I returned here, but his first word was not an apology but an angry shout.
That"s a no-no.
So I glared at marquis-sama without a fraction of guilt in my eyes.
"……" (Mitsuha)
It seems unexpected to him for me to act this way, with a surprised face, marquis-sama seems a little fl.u.s.tered.
Well, I guess he yelled at the beginning to try to take the initiative in the subsequent conversation. Something like an attempt to impose any favorable condition for his own…
But I"ve had enough of such a thing.
I feel sorry for Mitchan, who has a blue face and stiffened beside Marquis-sama, but I want to have a win-win relationship with their family as a mutually beneficial side.
If he has no intention to apologize for what he have done, but one-sidedly yell at me, trying to take control of the reins, I don"t need him anymore.
"…I"m going home" (Mitsuha)
I turned my back without even taking a seat.