"Just what are they doing?"
Irma had been watching the fight with Risty from atop a tree, and was now flabbergasted. All too soon, the battle had changed into a quarrel.
"At this rate..."
The maid resigned herself; from the look of things, the mission she had imposed on herself of finding out the Master Swordswomen's technique would fail.
***
"White tiger? Ah, you a furry? Furry! Hey, heey, furry girl!"
"Come again? You muscles for brains! Doll of meat! Dark brown meatball! Graffiti thighs~"
Hearing the blonde's words made a blue vein pop up in the bandit's temple.
"Gaah! Bloody hell!"
She swung her mace with all her power –*thump*--, drilling a large hole at Elina's feet.
"Up for a quarrel, huh? Let me put an end to this!"
Maybe it was because she had really gotten riled up, but Risty swung down her large mace.
"Bring it on!"
Elina shouted while sidestepping, intending to dodge.
"Kuh!"
But, probably because she had been wounded in the foot with the earlier blow, she couldn't just jump like usual.
"Oops", she thought, but it was already too late; she did manage to avoid a direct hit, but she lost her balance and ended up crashing into one of the wine casks they had set aside.
"Aah!"
The bandits screamed when they saw the liquor spilling out from the fallen barrel.
"Move out!"
"The liquor, save the liquor!"
They forgot about the ongoing fight, and began trying to patch up the barrel as soon as they could manage.
When the bandit saw her underlings organizing themselves, she stepped back and steadied her breath.
"Heh, what can you do with these guys?"
She mentally chastised herself for passing up the chance to get at Elina, but she didn't reproach the men's actions. Liquor and meat were something precious. One just couldn't afford to spill them on the ground.
While the gang gathered around the liquor, Elina groggily stood up, covered in the liquid.
"Fuhahahaha, ain't that a good look for you. Anybody ordered a noble lady macerated in alcohol?"
Risty mocked her, preparing her mace.
[Let's settle this now. If I don't hurry, the meat will burn out.]
Instead of an answer, Elina stuck her spear towards her opponent in silence.
"Let's go!"
The redhead's mace drew near Elina. Before it hit, though, her spear hit the other's arm.
"Guh!"
Were it not for the thick leather bracelet, she could have easily lost her arm there.
"I expected as much from Leina's little sister. Can't get careless, huh."
She grumbled, her breath smelling of alcohol, as she swung her mace again.
Aiming at the moment when the redhead raised the arm with the mace, Elina delivered a sharp kick.
*Thud*, a sharp pain ran through Elina's thighs along with the heavy feeling.
"Kuh!"
The blows with their full resolution behind them struck at the same time, and both hits were very effective.
Taking a hit from the kick she never expected, Risty noisily fell on her rear.
"Huh?"
Her perspective slowly rotating made her puzzled. It seemed the liquor she had been drinking before the fight was taking effect.
"*Giggle*, it's my win!"
Elina stood up while covering her leg, staggering.
"It's a shame we didn't make a preliminary out of this, but now I got conclusive evidence of the fact that I became stronger than Big Sis!"
Elina looked down at the sitting Risty, on her lips a smile brimming with confidence.
"Ah, yea, yea, dammit, guess I drank too much."
"You're fine with losing, aren't you?"
"I didn't lose."
She stood up slowly. The leader could have readily admitted defeat, but couldn't very well do so in front of her underlings.
"Still, I'll split the meat with ya outta consideration for the good fight."
"Oh my, that's my line. Because, the meat was mine in the first place."
As she said so, she tried to reach for more meat. However, she stopped halfway.
"Ugh..."
An acute pain ran through her abdomen, cold sweat began dripping down her temple.
She might have eaten the rather raw lumps of meat out of hunger, but her digestive system couldn't keep up.
"N-No way... not somewhere like this..."
Her stomach grumbled; this time not in hunger, as anyone would assume.
"Hahaan..."
The bandit chief was quick to notice Elina's state, and gave a mischievous smile from behind her.
"W-What. Our match was decided already, wasn't it?"
Elina asked with a stiff voice.
"Nope, still ongoing."
The redhead poked her back with the mace.
"Kuh... ah..."
Barely able to withstand the wriggling abdominal pain, a barely audible voice escaped her lips.
"Kukukuku... I guess it's ok as long as it's only your voice that leaks out."
"D-Damn you, you coward..."
Elina protested with tears in her eyes.
"Call me coward all you like. Our creed is not to forgive nobles, ya know."
"Nnnnh!"
Although she'd be able to find relief by discharging the cause of her stomachache, one couldn't possibly expect her to be so shameless as to do that in front of people.
"Kuh! A draw then, I'll let you count this as a draw in deference for the meat!"
Leaving behind a sharp parting remark, the Vance daughter turned her back to Risty and began running towards a gap in the nearest trees.
***
"Good grief."
Irma muttered in resignation, watching the blonde as she ran in the opposite direction to the carriage.
[She's lucky not to have used her crystal ball.]
Attacking bandits out of hunger, withdrawing because of abdominal pain; if such things had been broadcast to the whole country, the utter shame she'd have brought to her family would probably have gotten her disowned.
"If Earl Vance got wind of this, he'd die of heartache."
Irma might have been scoffing at the situation, but she was surprised at her assassination target suddenly popping up in her mind.
Still, depending on how one looked at it, were she to tell the Earl about this, he'd likely forbid Elina from leaving his domain, and achieving her duty might become easier.
That fight should be suitable food for thought for figuring out the best option for herself.
"Hm... this is quite difficult to deal with."
[When will I be able to achieve my duty...?]
***
"Haa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You challenge Queen's Blade, you gotta keep your body in tip top shape!"
With her being defeated because of having gotten drunk, it was a bit like the pot calling the kettle black, yet Risty kept the taunts coming while seeing Elina flee.
"Haa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
The laughter stopped abruptly.
"Elder sister?"
"I dom't feed zo goot. Urp."
As she fought back the nausea, Risty was able to stick her mace into the ground so as to not fall down.
"Water! Water! Someone get me water!"
The men's screams echoed through the woods in the dead of the night.
After that, Risty cut down on her drinking for a while.
***
The horses had already been attached to the carriage parked on the edge of the highway. It seemed Irma had done a good job while she wasn't there.
"Milady, where did you go?"
"Isn't it obvious? I took care of my business. Don't ask me any further."
The blonde replied with a sullen look, and boarded the carriage in silence.
"I just knew it, low-life food just doesn't suit my body."
"Huh?"
"It's nothing. Now, start the carriage. I want to leave this place as soon as we can."
"Yes, Milady."
"Oh, also, you don't need to hurry, go ahead carefully without shaking the carriage."
"Understood, Milady."
Irma drove the carriage slowly as per Elina's instructions.
Irma's Diary, Part 3
The research activities in the Great Wall, as well as near the iron mine, resulted in a bust.
From the beginning, the skirmishes were still raging on between the Earl Army, led by the Lord of Thundercloud, and the Queen Army. I didn't think Leina would be hiding anywhere nearby.
On the other hand, since there was a dwarven workshop in the iron mine, there was a possibility she would have dropped by to procure arms.
As the end result, we weren't able to obtain any information on Leina or anything remotely related to her. Like one would expect, the Earl's influence doesn't extend beyond his territory. If one thinks it calmly, it's quite clear, yet Elina doesn't seem to even want to consider it. I guess she's a noble lady to the core...
Still, in the end, what would give us a solid, reliable piece of information is the crystal ball projecting the Queen's Blade preliminaries. I always have to be looking at the fighting results projected in them, paying attention to whether the Exiled Warrior's name is mentioned.
Keeping watch on fights sounds easy in theory, but it's tiring work. I'm basically forced to look at it as some kind of mental training, or I'd be giving up immediately. In fact, it only took half a day for Elina to do just that.
Thanks to a midnight race at a breakneck speed through the highway, I was able to have a thrilling experience as a break from it.
I'd probably be able to assassinate someone that way by making it seem like an accident. I figure it's possible in practice, but this was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Still, to think that the moment I took my eyes off her, she'd go amuse herself picking a fight with Risty, I was honestly surprised.
Despite being a noble's daughter, she can't resist hunger to that extent? No, I should probably chalk it up to her greed. As part of my confidential duties as a maid, I've had to procure a large amount of preserved food; she loves meat so much she even requested sausages as a tribute back at Sheldan.
I was ordered to bring her back to the Earldom through the shortest route, the reason was probably because her preserved food had run out.
In the middle of that shortest route, there's the garrison of the 10th corps of the Queen's Army. It's commanded by the elite Regio Jokocker, the one they call the Bald Leader.
I'm sure we'll run into trouble if we go straight ahead. Despite how glad I'd be to get to see some battles, since I'm acting as a maid, I have to go with the safest plan: "We can stock up on preserved food at Sheldan." When I suggested that, Elina only answered with two words... "Go straight."
Apparently, she does intend to deal with the Queen's Army on her lonesome. Very well, show me what you got, Captain of the Royal Guard.
No comments:
Post a Comment