by Funa
“I don’t see any problems with it,” the subordinate answered. “Not only had she been kidnapped, but there is now no feasible way to deliver her to her contractor after they essentially abandoned her. I would say they also abandoned their right to have her work under them. They haven’t even fulfilled the bare minimum for their duty to take care of her, after all. Any abusive treatment or negligence to those duties makes the contract null and void. I’m sure that contractor won’t be able to claim anything now that someone else had to go through the trouble of saving her, even if that were through the powers of the Goddess herself. The only problem left is what the girl wishes to do now that she is free. She can either return to her parents, go to the orphanage, live in the slums, pick a completely new way to live her life...or choose to go with you. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend the slums or returning to her parents...”
The governor nodded, satisfied after hearing the explanation.
“What do you wanna do?” I asked Layette.
Looking up at me, she smiled from ear-to-ear and clung to my arm. “I’ll come with you!”
All right, got myself a little girl! Now I don’t have to feel all bummed out when hanging around these two couples!
“Then that settles that!”
“This settles nothing!”
I ignored Francette’s remarks. I picked up the ability to ignore nagging complaints like that from my time working at my company back on Earth, but I never thought it’d come in handy here.
Just in case, I asked the governor to write up a report on what had happened with Layette as a way to prove her identity, which made her officially free and recognized as a citizen of his territory. I had him sign the papers saying that I’d be her legal guardian, and, well, that really was that. I provided the paper and writing utensils to make it happen, but the subordinate was the one who wrote everything up. All the governor did was offer his signature to make it official.
Normally, the governor would never go out of his way to get these types of documents ready and sign off on them. I didn’t know if he felt sorry for poor Layette after everything she’d been through, or if it was maybe because he didn’t want to risk being unkind to a girl personally saved by the Goddess, but...I was pretty sure it was the latter. I’d be willing to bet a gold coin on it in fact.
Pretty sure I wouldn’t find anyone to take me up on that one, either.
This way, Layette wouldn’t have anything to worry about, even if we did run into the person who bought her contract. If they ever tried coming after her, all we had to do was show them the documents and make a commotion to get the officials to help her out. If we told them we were going to look into the original contract to see if it actually constituted human trafficking or not, I was pretty sure they’d back off for good.
On the other hand, if we ever ended up running into Layette’s parents, they wouldn’t be able to take her away if she didn’t want them to. They’d already sold her off to line their own pockets, so they wouldn’t be able to demand to raise her themselves, or for her to hand over all the money she saved up. In fact, she had the right to demand they give her back the money they received in advance for her eighty years of indentured servitude. That money belonged to Layette, not her parents. It should be easy to chase them away if we brought that up and shoved it in their faces. They could end up forced into slavery themselves if they were convicted of human trafficking, so they’d definitely want to avoid getting any officials involved.
What if Layette wanted to go back to her parents, you ask? She was a free girl, and that would be her choice to make. No one should be able to dictate how someone else lived their life.
“Then I suppose I’ll be on my way now.”
“W-Wait! Wait, please!”
I was ready to leave after finishing my business here, but the governor stopped me. Well, couldn’t say I didn’t expect this to happen. Even I’d try to stop me if I was in his position.
It’d be hard to just up and leave after everything that just happened, and I’d feel bad snubbing the governor when I owed him for signing the papers that guaranteed Layette her freedom (even if it was his subordinate that wrote them).
I guess I can humor him a little longer...
“What is it?” I asked.
The governor straightened himself up, face stiff, before turning to Roland. “I would like to invite you to my estate. May I trouble you to come there with me?”
The governor suddenly seemed much more formal compared to how commanding he’d been up until now. It was true that I’d introduced ourselves as being the family of an earl, but the governor’s status meant he far and away outranked us. I only looked young enough to be a child, too. This was his territory, and it wasn’t like we were some sort of ambassadors on a courtesy call, so of course he’d be more brash with someone so much younger than him. I was sure the guy had plenty to be busy with at the moment, so I’d say we were pretty lucky to have him take the time to handle Layette’s situation when this was the first time we actually met.
The reason he suddenly became so polite with us was because he needed to be polite. To be specific, it was probably because he needed a favor. It was a delicate situation for him, and he was walking a fine line where this could end up either horribly for him, or being the chance he didn’t know he’d been waiting for. I was a cute, aristocrat girl from another country who’d not only been directly saved by the Goddess, but had spoken with her as well.
Yeah, I said cute girl. That thing with the kidnappers proved it to be the de facto truth. It ain’t like they did it as a joke, that’s for sure! I might be able to pull that out as some kinda trump card later if anyone tries to argue otherwise...
Roland turned to look at me, uncertain of how to answer, so I went ahead and did it for him. Again.
“No, we actually need to hurry and keep moving. I only met with the Goddess for a few moments, and I’ve already told you everything she had to say, so I believe we’re done here.”
It made sense for me to tell them everything I knew about the kidnappers and the Goddess since I’d been there when it happened. However, it seemed like the governor thought Roland was the one who decided what we’d do next, so his eyes had flown open wide when I answered instead.
All right, time to make sure he knows that he won’t be able to try getting Roland to convince me otherwise.
“By the way, I’m the one who has the last say in what we do for our little group. Father assigned me as the one to watch over them, after all. My brother’s never been able to go against what I say. Ohoho...”
That was the story we’d all decided on beforehand, but Roland still didn’t look too happy about it.
Though he seemed taken aback by the sudden turn of events, the governor seemed to have caught on to what that meant. I’d heard plenty of stories of aristocratic brothers who couldn’t help but dote on their little sisters, so this shouldn’t be all that strange for him to hear about now.
“Now, now, don’t say that... There’s still so much I want to ask about the kidnappers. I’d also like to confirm what the Goddess told you at least one more time. You said you’re traveling around our country, did you not? I believe there’s plenty I can teach you about Drisard as well.”
I thought he might try something like that, so I decided to let him have the finishing blow I’d prepared beforehand:
“Well, I had so much free time waiting for you to arrive that I went ahead and wrote everything down that the Goddess said in regard to the kidnapping ring. Here you are.” I pulled out a few sheets of paper as I said so. “Learning everything there is to know about this country would take the fun out of the journey itself. I’d rather we took our time to experience it all for ourselves. You wouldn’t be able to call it “studying” otherwise, no?”
I kept plenty of paper and writing utensils in reserve at all times inside my Item Box just for situations like these. I also made sure to write down that the Goddess said to not push things too far tryi
ng to catch everyone in the kidnapping syndicate. No torturing people or forcing confessions out of them, no sentencing innocent people; things like that. Things could get real ugly real fast if I didn’t.
“What...?” The governor’s mouth hung open as he stood there in a daze, reflexively taking the papers I pushed onto him.
“Then we’ll be heading out now! For real this time!”
Before the governor could think up another excuse to keep us here, I’d already taken Layette and headed over to where Ed was waiting. Ed was kind enough to catch on to what was going on, and crouched down so I could get Layette and myself on his back. With that, we’d finally made it through another sticky situation.
“Hi ho, Silver!”
“Them again?! Just who is this “Silver” horse, dang it!”
Ed made his displeasure well-known, as per usual, when I did this. Guess I couldn’t just tell him to get off his high horse... Heh. Heheh.
Ed slowly began trotting along in complete contrast to my spirited shout just now, but I could understand why. Usually, I’d be on the verge of getting bucked off if Ed ran too fast, but Layette didn’t even have the proper riding gear on. In fact, I’d bet this was her first time even riding a horse.
Since I was already on the move, Francette and the others weren’t going to just hang around here, either. Everyone saddled up and quickly followed after me.
“Ah! W-Wait...”
The governor tried his best to stop us, but it was already too late.
“Good luck trying to catch those kidnappers! Do your best to not make the Goddess angry with you, either!” I turned around and shouted behind me. When I did, I caught a glimpse of the governor shouting orders to the other people who worked under him.
They wouldn’t try and force us to do anything now; the risks for doing so would be enormous. We were supposed to be part of a noble’s family from another country, with Roland as the apparent heir to the family name, and me as the daughter everyone doted on. Two of the girls a Goddess who supposedly didn’t care all that much about human lives but had gone out of her way to save anyway were traveling with them as well. The consequences if anything happened would be...terrifying, to say the least.
“Why would you do something like that, Kaoru? If you’re going to bring up the Goddess, wouldn’t things go over more smoothly if you just told them you’re her messenger?” Francette asked once we’d put some distance between us and the town gates.
It seemed she finally settled on being casual with me again after everything that had happened, though she still couldn’t bring herself to use the same level of casualness Emile and the others would use with me. I mean, I was supposed to be her “little sister-in-law” if she was marrying Roland, so of course she should at least be a little informal with me. As for me, I’d call her “Francette” or “Fran” depending on how I was feeling at the time.
I didn’t really mind what she called me. What I did mind was that question she just asked.
“If I said that, they’d just try even harder to stop us! They’d send people to shadow us, and if word spread to other people about it, then things would spiral out of control!”
“Ah...”
It seemed Francette wanted other people to pay their respects to me as well, since I was supposed to be a goddess. I couldn’t just come out and tell people that, of course, which was why she was urging me to announce that I was an angel or messenger or whatever. But it looked like she finally realized why that would’ve been a bad thing.
...I wonder if it’s about time to move on and give this a shot?
“Ed, there’s something I wanna ask you...”
“Whatcha being all formal for all of a sudden? I owe you my life, missy, so I’m ready to do whatever you say!”
“Thanks! I knew I could count on you. Actually, I wanted to ask you to pull the wagon...”
“LIKE HELL I WILL!!!” Ed exploded.
That’s not what you were saying just a second ago!
“I-I’m a purebred horse meant for riding! I’m a proud, prestigious, military horse bred for war! And those other horses? They’re the elite of the elite, bred and raised to be used by royalty, and you’re telling us to pull a wagon?! I know it’s you who’s asking, missy, but I’m not going to let that happen!”
He was actually mad... His wife and daughter seemed pretty put off by the whole thing as well. I never knew this sort of thing was so important to horses... Maybe it was kinda like the difference between a fighter pilot and an airline pilot? I mean, I like to think they both have pretty important jobs, but...
Oh, but it’s not like Roland or Francette’s horses have anything to do with this, huh.
“Their horses don’t matter, right?”
“Huh?”
“You’re the only one who’d be pulling the wagon.”
“WHAT?!” Ed’s jaw practically hit the floor.
“J-Just me? I’m the only one who’s going to be pulling this whole cart?”
Roland and Francette’s horses watched him with pity in their eyes.
“B-But this isn’t just about me. I was thinking how this is going to be hard on poor Layette if she has to keep going on like this, is all...”
“Mgh...”
Having a six-year-old stay on horseback for this extended road trip had to be hard on the girl. We didn’t have the luxury of saddles in this world like back on modern-day Earth, so all we’d do was drape a cloth over the horse’s back and throw a cushion on there instead. Aside from that, we’d only have a belt and some cords keeping us strapped in so we wouldn’t fall off. I only had a belt and cords for myself, though, and Layette was just hanging on to me. There was a fairly high chance she could fall off Ed if something shook us hard enough.
Horse riding also gets to you...mostly in the butt, hips, and groin. It really messes with your stomach until you get used to it, too. Even now, after I had some time to get used to riding, it was still doing a number on me when I wasn’t potion doping. Ed had already heard how much I complained and cried when I was trying to get used to it without using potions, which was probably why he realized it must be much worse for a little girl like Layette.
“B-But...”
Looks like the only way I’m going to convince him is to bring out the wagon and twist his arm—er, hoof—until he agrees...
“Hold up for a second, everyone!”
Now, how should I convince Ed to do this...
“Come forth, war chariot of the Goddess!”
As I chanted the magic words, a small carriage appeared at my command—or, more accurately, a potion container in the shape of a wagon.
There was a small tank filled with a potion inside. It was a four-wheeler, but shrunk down to be more compact. This was no ordinary wagon, but one that was used for battle and in times of war: a chariot. I didn’t make it as small as the ones from that one movie, but a slightly larger type that I stuck four wheels on. It was way smaller than your average cart and was specially built from a custom mix of titanium and FRP (fiber-reinforced plastic).
FRP was a lightweight material which boasted the greatest strength of all plastic. It was a reliable material used in everything from ships to airplanes, and even race cars.
It’d be no easy task trying to fix the chariot in this world if it was ever damaged—if you weren’t me. All I had to do was shove the broken one into my Item Box and make a new one. I could just break the old down and use it for something else.
“Wh-What in the world...”
Ed and the others had eyes as wide as dinner plates. Everyone here was used to me putting stuff into my Item Box or taking things out of it. They all knew me as a goddess from another world, so it wasn’t anything to be surprised about now. What did surprise them was how incredible the cart I’d conjured from thin air was. Though it was small, it still managed to fit four wheels onto it. Two wheels would make it rough to handle due to how uneven the front and back would be, which was why I went with four instead.
“And that’s not all...”
I gestured for Francette to back away a little before I pulled a lever on the chariot.
KA-THUNK!
Two sets of double-edged blades sprung out from either side.
“““Huh?””” Everyone and the horses were stunned.
“I said it was a war chariot, didn’t I? Layette and I can’t exactly fight, so it has to have some combat potential of its own. This isn’t a chariot meant for warriors to ride, but something to fight with. That’s why it’s not the people riding it who fight, but the chariot and the horse pulling it instead.”
I pulled on it to show off how light it was. It sported an open-top design and cut an impressive figure, no matter what angle you looked at it from, and was compact and lightweight to boot. The horse who pulled it wouldn’t be any normal military grunt, but a proud warrior made for battle.
“The horse who pulls this chariot will be known as a warrior of the Goddess. They shall carry the title of ‘Sacred Horse,’ and their name will be carried on for generations...”
“I will gladly accept that duty!”
“Huh?”
Roland’s horse had cut me off before I could finish my speech.
“If Ed doesn’t wish to do it, then I will gladly take the role. I only ask that he carry my master in my stead.”
“No, allow me to handle it,” Francette’s horse spoke up. “I believe it would be better for Sir Ed to carry Master Francette instead. It should be much easier on him since she’s so much lighter.”