Volume 1 Chapter 6 (1/2)
“My feet are quick, you know” It appears that Florin was telling the truth
With a flying pace, she runs further and further ahead of Ludwik, breaking out of the ring of couples in the blink of an eye as she runs through the crowd on the streets
“Noela! Firano! (Move! You’re in the way!)”
Florin shouts as she had begun to exhort the pedestrians in Endrish rather than Dahl partway through, parting the crowd into two and charging forward
She was like a wild, riotous horse or a fearless mountain rabbit Ludas left further and further behind as he tried frantically not to lose sight of the flaxen hair ju all over the place
(You’re fast, too fast! Are you a cha!?)
As the clatter of the increasingly faraway festival fades and the number of people on the street thin out, Ludwik pushes his way into the forest chasing after Florin
“W, wait”
Luckily, it seeh a forest before Thanks to the protruding tree roots and thickets hindering her, Ludas finally able to catch up
He grabs her sht under a spell
Having her hand suddenly grasped, Florin reddens her face as she complains,
“W, what is thelike this in the ation—”
“I won’t do anything that you ht misunderstand, so let et lost in the forest”
Ludwik appeals earnestly Even if it’s ihter who’s like a wild horse, he’s hoping she’ll at least let him bridle her If he adh
“Uuh”
Florin whi her voice
“I, I’, really You’re soirl out of respect for her feelings even if you spend a night with her in the same room after all
“Ehh, I’m not that nice—”
To spend a night with a girl he loves and not have anything happen is ied in his throat,
“But, it’s true that I’ve never gone so deep into a forest before…”
Florin adets bashfully,
“I, I’ve got it If you say so, then I’ll offer you my hand I mean, let you hold my hand…”
She says brusquely
All the while, the golden-haired young h the forest sh the croith Ludwik and Florin track hi behind tree trunks and thickets
“Tracking soht is just like “Paulette the Quick-Eared” Paulette sneaks into the ogre castle deep within the forest all alone, you know?”
Florin whispers next to hi shy and ti Ludwik do all the work; yet now, she’s gripping Ludwik’s hand back tightly, and perhaps because she’s excited, her hand feels awfully hot
From the fact that Florin still wasn’t scared at all despite co this far, Ludwik felt his exasperation evolve into awe and even a sense of admiration
“I’ll pray that there isn’t an ogre waiting for us ahead”
“We’ll be fine even if that happens Didn’t I tell you? I’ve escaped hell many times”
“You’ve encountered an ogre before?”
“Well… only a pet cat that I used to keep back in the castle— I mean, back home But, his name was ‘assassin’, and he was a ferocious cat with black fur and silver eyes, you know?”
This is hopeless
She isn’t a special knight after all; she’s just a naive daughter of some noble!
Eventually, past soht
“Perhaps that’s where the ogres live”
Finding herself in the same situation as “Paulette the Quick-Eared”, Florin’s eyes suddenly begin to sparkle
The golden-haired young ht towards the mansion
Upon which, the shrubbery to the young ht rustle as three other men reveal themselves
Two froht
Including the young man Ludwik and Florin chased after, there are four men in total
They’re all wearing ht
As Ludwik and Florin hide behind a thick tree and listen carefully, the golden-haired reet each other familiarly
“Oi, how did you do?”
“A big catch, as one would expect”
“I gotdid work”
“After all, it was ru Ludould secretly coirls would all lose theolden hair dressed in noble wear”
“Long live His Majesty”
They say to each other as they enter the mansion
(My goodness They stole jewelry fro to be me?)
If Adelheid finds out, she’ll rebuke, “That’s why I told Sire not to sneak away to town any that,
“It’s His Majesty’s fault for fooling around with a flower girl then returning to the castle beyond cloud nine the next day Because he deliberately told everyone that he had a wonderful encounter the night before, the girls ended up getting all excited thinking that thatwith such a cold queen e to cut loose, but His Majesty is too lacking in judgment”
Florin grumbles spitefully
Ludwik is startled because Florin’s voice sounded just like Queen Katerina’s voice when she throws sharp words at him Ludwik reflexively opens his mouth to try to defend himself—
However, he is frightened in a different way as Florin quickly lets go of his hand and speedily approaches the mansion
(Uwahhhh, wait up, if you run so fast, you’ll—! Ah, ah, you’re already all the way over there)
Florin appears to be searching for ato see if she can peek inside As Ludwik’s heart rings like an alarm, he catches up to Florin and pulls her into the shadow of the mansion with his hand
“Let’s go back now We can just report this place to the guards on duty”
“No, we must acquire more decisive evidence”
Florin unties herself froins to clie tree next to the mansion!
The edge of one of the branches is right next to a second-floor
“Cli trees is a special skill of mine”
She professes, and while Ludwik blinks his eyes repeatedly in disbelief, really does e to cliet branch until she was near its edge as it creaks
Then, she daringly extends her head up to theand peeks inside
“We did it They’re talking in the adjacent room Lucky us”
Shethat makes Ludwik’s heart pound pit-a-pat
(Doesn’t that mean it’s extremely risky!?)
However, Florin doesn’t seeer at all as she cautiously shuffles herself forward a littleher eyes through her mask
“There are seven guys in total Ah, they took off their masks”
“Florin, coo back”
Any more than this is truly a bad idea
If they’re assaulted by seven thieves at once, a sheltered girl like Florin and a guy like Ludho used to specialize in custo
“I can’t see their faces very well froreat opportunity with the”
Beco ie of the branch, upon which
Above Ludwik’s head, a snap sounds
“Eh?”
Florin opens her eyes wide
The nextFlorin to fall with it
“Kyahhhhh!”
“Uwahhhhh!”
Florin’s shriek and Ludwik’s cry overlap each other
Ludwik extends his ar He successfully does so, but, unable to withstand the i her in his arrass
“Are you okay!? Ludy!”
The fall hurt Ludwik’s waist Ludwik groans “urgh” in pain beforeto say,
“More iet out of here, or—”
Before he could finish speaking, the band of thieves had co their screams
Just as Florin said, there are seven men in total As they have removed their masks, their fiendish faces are on full display They look laughably ill-suited for the frilly and gaudy noble wear they have on
However, the two of theh
“Who are you two?!”
The fiendish men cautiously approach the two of theround
It’s a life-or-death situation!
Ludwik’s heart is pounding so hard he feels like it’ll pierce his rib cage and break out of his body More than hily feels that he needs to protect Florin, who’s biting her lips tightly with a pale face next to him
Because Florin’s a girl, and he’s a man
If he can’t protect a girl he has feelings for when it counts, how can he call himself a man?
Adelheid had said that women’s hearts skip a beat when they learn of talents men have that they didn’t expect
Unfortunately, Ludwik is neither secretly a master swordsman nor a skilled brawler
My special skill is—
Ludwik displays a business s master of a dressmaker
“Good evening”
Refreshi+ngly— yet also respectfully, Ludwik smiles at the thieves and addresses them with a cheerful voice
Receiving an affectionate greeting unbefitting of the situation, the thieves stare blankly at Ludwik Florin is also staring up at Ludith her eyes open wide
Ludwik helps Florin up with a natural-looking gesture and nonchalantly positions hiroup of thieves with a s well-tailored, fine clothes
The other audy, but upon a closer look the cloth is of poor quality and the sea was done crudely However, the tawny-haired young n are first-class
Ludwik leans his head forward towards that young man with a full smile on his face
“Uwahh, that shi+rt is seith silk made in Miltoria isn’t it! Miltorian silk is exclusively screen two tiet Miltoria only exports a tiny aet to see it, but as expected, its polish is simply on another level!
“Oh, right… I’m surprised you can tell This shi+rt was made from Miltorian silk that I had specially ordered”
The tawny-haired young man is drawn into the conversation
“Your coat has Golg needlework, and I see that your pants are fro that caters to nobles, shi+luria”
You’re exactly right, and al, made inhouse in their famous workshop
“Régal, the shoe store dubbed the Shoe their shoes perfectly with such grace too! I’ht to behold!
“We—ll, I figured that if I’ to assemble a set of top-notch clothes, my shoes would have to match as well”
Just as Ludwik discerned, the tawny-haired young man is fastidious and confident about his fashi+on The young ood mood, as he even lifts his feet up to shoik his shoes
However, there’s no way that the other thieves would just stay quiet
“Oi, so what are you doing here in the end?”
“You’re not going to tell us you came this deep into the forest to discuss fashi+on are you?”
They say with precipitous voices
“Of course not! She and I came to this mansion for a very important business”
Ludwik replied in an earnest voice without a moment’s delay
“You see—!”
Ludwik makes a serious, focused face, upon which the thieves all lean forward in anticipation
“Our father left us an inheritance hidden somewhere in this mansion!”
“Hahh?”
“The hell are you talking about?”
Towards the thieves looking at him with eyes full of suspicion, Ludwik nods in a broad ”
“Both my sister Katie and I couldn’t believe it as well However, our father’s will clearly states that there are ten thousand Dahl gold coins hidden in this mansion Katie, show everyone the coins”
Ludwik turned toward Florin, who had herout his hand, she took out a gold coin fro and placed it on Ludwik’s hand
“There are ten thousand of these somewhere here—”
Ludwik holds the gold coin between his thuer and shoves it in the thieves’ faces
Of the coinage used universally throughout the continent, the one of the finest quality and worth the litters in the ht
The thieves’ faces
“Oi, this is the real thing!”
“There are more of these in this mansion?”
Ludwik nods even deeper
“Correct, ten thousand in total”
It’s a suh to let everyone present live the rest of his life in luxury
“Where in the mansion is it?”
“That’s ere investigating”
“And? Did you find it?”
“Yes”
“Where?”
The thieves stick their heads forward
Ludwik grins sweetly,
“It’s where this—”
He says, lifting his arold coin
“—gold coin lands”
He finishes, throwing the coin forward as far as he could
“!”
The glittering gold coin traces a parabola as it cuts through the air before landing between a dense group of trees by the back of the mansion