by Funa
Short black hair spilled from the edges of her hooded visage, with only a pair of eyes peeking out from the gaps between the bandages that covered her face. Even for a receptionist accustomed to suspicious customers, this one was exceptionally suspicious. Perhaps even the most suspicious he had encountered this entire month. By a landslide.
However, this man was a seasoned veteran of his profession. While he was a tad surprised, he quickly collected himself, and replied, “We have the rooms. How many nights are you planning to stay?”
“We aren’t sure. We’ll let you know the day before we plan to leave,” Reina informed him, after which they discussed the lodging rate and amenities, and he handed over the key.
The black-haired girl, of course, was Pauline.
Her hair had been colored since before they boarded the carriage, but she had waited until after they disembarked to slip into the shadows and wrap the pre-prepared bandages over her face. If she had worn them from the start, she would have attracted far too much attention from the other passengers while they rode—something that would have been both inconvenient and unbearable, in light of Pauline’s shyness.
She could have used magic to color her hair, but this came with concerns about the spell’s longevity, so instead she decided to use dye, which was convenient and had a proven track record of being secure and combat-proof. Using dye had the potential to damage one’s hair, but Pauline, at least, would be able to repair—that is, heal—it easily. Any change in color could be mitigated by using cleaning magic to break down the components of the dye as well.
The Crimson Vow headed straight to their room to rest until dinnertime. They had done nothing but ride in the carriage, but between the harsh jostling of the road and the stress on their aching backs and bottoms, they were exhausted. Ewan seemed to be heading off to his room to rest also.
Theresa delivered her luggage to her room, and then set out again to make an appearance at the guild.
The next morning, after breakfast, they all set out together.
It would be conspicuous for a group of six to move as one, so they split into three pairs. Today’s mission was mainly one of reconnaissance, so by splitting up, they not only stood out less, but would also be able to gather more information.
The first team consisted of Mavis and Ewan, who likely would not have consented to teaming up with anyone else. Pairs two and three were Reina and Theresa, and Mile and Pauline.
As they still had yet to make a move, the chance of danger befalling anyone but Pauline was low. Therefore it was decided that she should be accompanied by Mile, who, among the other three, was the most self-sufficient. Furthermore, it would be unwise to place Theresa—who had come with the intent of having the smallest possible role as an active party member—with Pauline, as she was perhaps the most belligerent. Even the notion of having any other team arrangement was unthinkable.
As someone who was their senior had been dispatched with them, it would be questionable if that person were not treated as their leader for the duration. Therefore Theresa, though she was similar in appearance to the Crimson Vow, was selected for this role—in such a way that she would neither stand out nor truly take the initiative, remaining on the sidelines. Still, there was no sense in pairing her up with the leading actress in this production.
Theresa seemed as though she wanted to team up with Mile, but it was not her place to make that decision, so she kept her mouth shut.
And so, the three teams set out to their designated destinations to investigate.
Team Reina headed for the guildhall. Team Mavis turned toward the area where the merchants congregated. And Mile, along with Pauline—her eyes to the ground and her face hidden deep within her hood, completely obscured by tightly wrapped bandages—headed toward the residential district.
That evening, after each team had concluded their investigations, returned to the inn, and finished up their dinner, the whole group gathered in the largest bedroom.
“All right, let’s go over what everyone found out.”
As always, it was Reina who kicked off the discussion.
“First, let me give a rundown of what we learned at the guild: Apparently, the five-man band of C-rank hunters, employed now and then by the Beckett Company, hasn’t been seen around town in about ten days. The Company often employs them for tasks outside the guild, when they need someone to do work that seems shady. Judging from their names and appearances, there is no doubt that those are our guys. On an unrelated note, it turns out that the Company often hires people without hunters’ certifications to serve as their bodyguards. These are folks who specialize in guard work and nothing else.”
“What we found out in the commercial district follows what Pauline told us to a “T.” The Beckett Company is known for its forceful business practices and near-criminal tactics—which is to say that even when they do things that are blatantly illegal, they always manage to play the victim when the authorities get involved. There are quite a few other merchants who the Beckett Company has made trouble for, or who otherwise hold grudges against them. My brother here was able to get a lot of information out of the female shop employees.”
At Mavis’s explanation, Ewan looked rather proud of himself. The four other ladies listening noted the fact that Ewan had only interviewed women.
As Mile and Pauline had concentrated their energies on paying a surreptitious visit to Pauline’s mother and brother, they had nothing in particular to contribute to the report.
“So far it seems that the testimonies of the men being held back in the capital haven’t changed. If there were any new contradictions in their stories, the guild master would contact me without delay. It’s been approximately seven days since they were handed over to the city guard. On a particularly fast horse, a messenger could reach here from the capital in about a day and a half. In other words, we know that nothing has changed in five and a half days, at the very least. They don’t seem like the type who could stand up to interrogation from the guardsmen for very long, let alone withstand the techniques of the palace’s own information extractors.”
Theresa’s report clinched it: there was no possibility that the captured men had falsely accused the company president.
At first, the girls considered getting themselves into the employ of the president, who would no doubt be irritated that the men he hired had yet to return. However, as they discussed the specifics of passing themselves off as down-on-their-luck hunters willing to take on illegal work, one look at each other’s faces assured them that this would never work. So, they rethought their plan. Clearly, they wouldn’t be fooling anyone.
Well, Mile thought, the justice system here was different enough from that of modern-day Earth that even circumstantial evidence should be enough to convict them.
She had proposed frightening the man and beating him within an inch of his life. However, everyone else had declined this offer. In order to preserve the business and let Pauline and her family take back possession of the shop, they couldn’t simply fell the bad men with some pseudo-assassination.
It was a sound argument. If they went about this poorly, then they would be deemed criminals as well.
Their goal was not merely to take down the president and his crew, but to see Pauline’s family’s honor restored.
The members of the Crimson Vow racked their collective brains.
***
The next morning at 9:00 AM, just after the Beckett Company had opened shop for the day at the ringing of the second morning bell, four figures appeared outside their door.
They were four girls. From among them, the smallest, a girl of around eleven or twelve, produced a simple-looking item.
Bwooong!
Suddenly, a loud and unusual sound rang out, and the people around stopped in their tracks, turning to look at the girls.
Bwong-bw-bwooong!
After the sound had rung out, the girl cried out, “Vengeance is nigh! Vengeance is nigh! A young girl’s father
was murdered, her mother and brother and the shop her father built were all stolen away! Now, her vengeance is nigh! All ye gathered, please take care not to stand in the way, nor take injury from the fearsome spells that will soon fly!”
The forty-seven ronin (minus forty-three) were making their stand at the lord’s mansion. There was no snow on the ground, but it was at least the early morning.
The spectators’ eyes were sparkling.
This was a world of few amusements. The citizens of this town scarcely ever came across interesting events, let alone ones that they would be able to tell others about for decades to come. Furthermore, the stars of the show were a group of lovely young women, and their foe was an unscrupulous merchant, steeped in infamy. It took very little effort to guess which party was in the right, and which was in the wrong.
People began to gather around, and by the time the merchants stepped out to see what was going on, a sizable crowd had surrounded the Beckett Company headquarters.
Reina, meanwhile, muttered to herself, “What does ‘nigh’ even mean, anyway?”
“What is going on out here?!”
Perhaps having been informed by his employees about the commotion outside, the president of the Beckett Company—in other words, the very man who was Pauline’s sworn enemy—stepped out of the door with some fellows who looked like bodyguards by his side. What he saw was a crowd surrounding his shop and four young girls standing before them.
“P-Pauline!”
Indeed, there stood Pauline, the dye cleansed and the brown of her hair restored with magic. Her bandages had been removed, and her face was plain to see.
“You’ve come back on your own! What is the meaning of all this?!” the president demanded, looking out over the crowd.
“This is your audience. They’ve all come to bear witness as you are captured and brought to justice…”
“Wh-what are you saying?!”
The president was stunned at these unexpected words from the usually meek and mild Pauline.
“Two and a half years ago, you hired bandits to kill my father and took over our shop using forged documents. I won’t let you dare say that you’ve forgotten that! Furthermore, you have committed another crime, and this time, there’s no hiding it: you attempted to harm citizens of the royal capital, which is under the direct control of His Majesty, the king himself. This is an attack on the king’s own ground—an act of treason!”
At these wild accusations, shouts of anger began to rise from the growing mob.
“I-I’ve no idea what you’re talking about! What proof do you have…?!”
The president panicked to hear such things said before so many people.
However, Pauline coolly continued, “Proof? Didn’t you think it peculiar that you hadn’t seen any signs of the men you hired to attack my friends, and that those same friends are here with me? That’s right, your hunters have been captured and are being questioned by the palace guard. Or, perhaps I should say, they were being questioned. They’ve already confessed everything, and right about now, the guards from the capital are probably headed this way…”
“Wh…”
Upon seeing his reaction, the crowd knew at once: Everything the girl said is true.
Pauline had purposely linked the crimes of the far past to that of the present, in the closely held hope that as long as there were witnesses to the present events, those of the past might be proved just as easily.
The president, meanwhile, finally realized that by remaining speechless, he had sealed his own fate. However, it was already too late. The recognition of his guilt had begun to spread throughout the crowd. There was no choice but for him to quash this by force. As long as he could root out the main offender in all this ruckus, he could deal with all the residual effects later, somehow or other. He had connections just for circumstances like these. He’d paid bribes just for circumstances like these.
“Seize the ones spreading these hideous rumors!” he shouted as he signaled to his guards, falling back.
The sign he had given was one that he had used many times before: Kill them.
The five bodyguards gave small nods and stepped forward. Four of them drew their swords, while one stood just a little behind them, brandishing a staff.
“Oh, so they intend to kill us to silence us! The man has as good as acknowledged his sin! Since they have drawn their blades to slay us, we haven’t a choice! To battle we must rise! We act now in self-defense!”
As Mile shouted this long-winded explanation of her actions, she drew her sword. The other three drew their weapons in turn. Reina and Pauline had already begun preparing their spells.
The bodyguards forwent any sort of needless shouts, such as, “Die, you wretches!” or, “Prepare yourselves, knaves!” Instead, wordlessly and immediately, they launched their attack. Unnecessary chatter was reserved for third-rate killers or worse, and these men appeared to be second-rate fighters at the very least. Reina and Theresa had heard that these men did not possess guild certification, but this certainly was not for lack of ability. There must be some other reason at hand.
As the battle began, Reina and Pauline concentrated all their energy on the enemy mage. As they were unaware of their enemy’s capabilities, this was a standard precautionary measure. Moreover, this was the first time they were able to take full advantage of their absolute faith in Mile and Mavis’s ability to completely shield them from the four swordsmen at the front. After all, if you were set upon by your enemy’s forward guard while keeping all your concentration on the backline, you would be killed for certain.
The two had finished their spells now, their proverbial fingers on the trigger, waiting to speak the final, simple words that would release the attacks. And then the swordsmen moved their way.
Each of the four men aimed for one of the four girls. They intended to render the girls defenseless in one blow, with their mage as a backup precaution. Clearly, they were vastly underestimating the rage, swordsmanship, magical attack power, and casting speed of these young ladies.
Nonetheless, Mavis and Mile handily took on two of them apiece, stopping the ones who had aimed for the backline fighters as well as their own opponents. They swung upward to block the attacks coming their way, then back down to disarm the ones headed for the backline, stopping the men in their tracks. In the over half a year that they had spent together, they had practiced together a fair bit. This level of synchronized movement was no sweat for the party.
Seeing this, the enemy mage panicked, and released the trigger on the spell he had prepared, letting it fly toward Mavis. It was an icicle javelin.
As they were fighting in close quarters, it was crucial that he select a spell that would not affect anyone but his intended target. Thus, a spell like this was ideal. Furthermore, because it carried its own innate kinetic energy, the icicle could easily pierce through any magical protection that might be enacted.
However, in this case, it was the wrong move.
Even if the enemy mages were kept in check, aiming at the frontline fighters, rather than the mages, left them completely free to attack.
If these were your average, garden-variety novice hunters that the men were facing, this likely wouldn’t have been a problem. For a magic-user who was confident in his skills, who had plenty of experience in combat and specialized bodyguard work, it would not be difficult to defend himself against the spells of novice magic-users even after they had already been let off. However, while Reina and Pauline were certainly “novices,” one might only call them that while mentally appending “somewhat out of the ordinary.”
“Earth Shield!”
“Icicle Javelin!”
Both of their spells were set into action, the icy spear that had been flying Mavis’s way crashing into the wall of earth that had suddenly risen from the ground, and the blunt end of another ice javelin flying toward the enemy mage.
By the time the icicle spear—or rather, the blunt icicle rod—struck the enemy mage
in the gut and knocked him to the ground, the four enemy swordsmen were all rolling on the ground. The crowd cheered in a frenzy, while the president went very pale.
Just as Pauline moved to try to question the man again, a voice came from behind her.
“Well, well, what’s all this commotion about?”
The girls turned to see a hunter, who looked to be in his thirties, standing by. Judging by the sword sheathed at his waist, he was a frontline fighter. He had wily good looks that gave the impression that he would have been quite popular with the ladies back in his day, but he had a quiet demeanor and seemed to have aged gracefully. The few blades of stubble that remained unshaven from his cheeks lent him a rugged, pleasant look.
He was a veteran hunter, one who had worked his way up from the bottom. This was something you rarely saw.
Seeing this man, the hope of salvation appeared in the president’s eyes. This look told Mile everything.
I bet he’s going to say something like, “Master, please help me!”…
“Master, please help me!”
Yep, there it is.
“You girls look like hunters, but what’s going on here?” the man called Master asked. He did not seem as intent on obeying his employer’s orders as on ascertaining the circumstances of the situation.
And interestingly, he had not asked the question of his employer. Did he not trust the man? Or did he merely think it would be faster to inquire of his opponents themselves?
“We’re apprehending a criminal.”
“A criminal, you say?”
“That’s right. This man hired robbers to kill this girl’s father, then stole his business using forged documents. Later, he illegally hired a group of hunters to murder us—citizens of the royal capital—which is an act of treason,” Reina explained.
Hearing this, the man turned to the president, who was shaking his head wildly, and asked, “Is this true?”
“Sh-she’s lying! This is all slander!”
“Well, sometime in the next few days a guard wagon should be arriving from the capital, so you’ll see soon enough. What would you like to do until then?” Reina asked the hunter, casually ignoring the president’s desperate denial.