“Boss. Things are finally getting real shady,” Jacob said from the driver’s seat.
I opened the canopy and took a look for myself. On our right, there was nothing but walls. The only open space was a vacant lot further ahead. There was a path back towards the main street to our left, but there was a carriage stopped there as if to block the light of day.
There wasn’t a single person walking down the street. It was clearly unnatural for the midday rush, even for a back street like this.
“The vacant lot over there is the most ideal site, huh?”
“To them too.”
Just as I exchanged nods with Jacob, five shadows showed up in front of us.
“There’s more of them coming from behind as well.”
I turned around as Claudia pointed that out, and spotted another five shadows. With this, we were surrounded. The only way out was the path back to the main street. Three men then came out of the carriage that was stopped there. They were carrying a large box out of the carriage. It looked like they were just unloading their cargo, but it was clear as day they were just obstructing the path.
“If you will, Princess Alfina.”
Alfina touched her bracelet, and the red crystal shined ever so slightly, though Claudia covered her eyes from it.
“They sent a lot more personnel than we thought, didn’t they? We’ll need to buy as much time as we can.”
Jacob took a look at the hoodlums approaching us from the front and back as he pulled the carriage into the vacant lot.
Two men stayed on the path on each side to keep watch, while the remaining six headed towards the lot. What looked like the leader in the middle of the pack pulled out a short sword. The men at his sides were holding what looked like clubs. They went to encircle us with perfect timing.
This was a terrific representation of the term “a trapped rat.” To them, and those backing them, we were surely nothing more than harmful rodents after their grain.
“They really are former soldiers,” Jacob said as he stepped down from the carriage, and I stepped down and stood next to him as well.
Soldiers who lost their jobs during the disarmament of the military mostly ended up going down one of two paths. The first was to become a guard. And the other path, well...
There were, of course, also people left who served as a connection between those two.
“U-Um, what’s going on...?” I said in a fearful voice.
“We’re here to collect the toll, you get me?”
“This is a shopping district of the capital. The guards will come running over right away.”
“Well, wouldn’t that be nice?”
They were awfully composed. Here they were on a hunt, having cornered their prey while their safety was guaranteed. They truly looked like they were having fun.
Even though our conditions were the same, I couldn’t say I was in an equally festive mood. I guess I really can’t cast aside my senses from my previous life.
I looked to Jacob to confirm whether he could win, and he shook his head.
“... A toll, is it? Umm, will this be enough?”
I took a jar from the cargo area of the carriage and placed it in front of them.
One of the men drew nearer and opened the lid of the jar, and then kicked it over. The broken fragments of the jar went flying into the air.
“Hey, what’re you wasting the spoils for? Honey can bring in quite the fortune, you know...? Huh? It’s empty? The hell are you planning?”
The jar was empty, but the jar itself wasn’t free either. Also, this man had a scar on his left arm, matching the physical description of the man who attacked Plura. Let’s have him pay me back fully for everything he’s spoiled.
“Weinder.”
“Ricardo.”
“You can’t do this, get back in the carriage, quickly.”
The canopy of the carriage opened, and three girls showed their faces.
“Phew, well, ain’t that quite the sight. I didn’t expect this among a copper’s cargo. Let’s take them along as a little side benefit.”
The hooligans began raising the tension. I understood where they were coming from, but it’d be better for them if they didn’t go adding more to their sins. These hoodlums, who thought they’d cornered a rat, weren’t my targets.
“Like moths to the flame, huh?”
“Huh? The hell are you going on about?”
“I’m just telling you, you’ve already been checkmated.”
Just as I said that, a large carriage came in from the main street towards the halted carriage and their unloaded cargo. An employee from somewhere or other hopped out of the stopped carriage to block the way. They looked like they were trying to obstruct the sudden intruder, but upon seeing the four men accompanying the carriage, they shrank back in fear and made way. Shortly after, along with the crack of a whip from a cavalryman, they began clearing their own barricade.
“Wh-What’s going on? Nobody’s supposed to be coming this way.”
The hoodlums’ boss was shaken. He probably never thought his perfect siege, created with the help of the city guards, would be broken. Not that I could really fault him for that.
And as he stood there dumbfounded, the luxurious carriage approached, surrounded by horse-mounted escorts on all sides. The carriage came to a stop, sandwiching the hoodlums between them and us, as a lady holding a fan came out along with an old butler. She then pointed at the broken jar fragments on the ground with her fan.
“What’s going on here? My property has been damaged.”
You’re not wrong, being a stockholder and all, but can you not put it that way? This is, at most, the company’s property. You’re a partial owner of said company. Partial.
“I came to receive your tribute.”
“It’s not a tribute, it’s a stockholder’s reception gift.”
I took out the one jar in the carriage that was actually filled with honey.
“Impossible... The Archduchess of the West’s carriage...? N-No way, is that really...?”
The hoodlums looked at the lady who stood near the top of the pyramid of the entire country and the cavalrymen accompanying her, losing all their fighting spirit. They didn’t even try to pull the clichéd move of using the girls as hostages. I had a backup plan prepared for that possibility via Claudia, though.
The carriage that was blocking the path managed to get away properly. All that was left was for them to escape down the route that we were expecting them to use. This was the most important part of this plan.
✦ ✦ ✦
Back on the capital’s central street.
A young man wearing glasses and an old man sat within a carriage parked on the road. The old man was staring at the movements of the guards patrolling the streets outside. To him, this was his prided policy which managed to protect the public safety of the capital using as small a budget as possible.
But a portion of said guards, and quite a few of them at that, were forming up in front of a certain path without moving at all. A single carriage then came racing out of said path.
“Grandfather.”
The young man in glasses wearing the uniform of the Royal Academy called out to the old man.
“...It seems we’ll have to cast them aside... Both for the stability of the capital, and for Prince Delnicius.”
The old man nodded back to his grandson, then signaled the driver. The carriage, adorned with the crest of a duke, began moving towards the last stop on the central road, the royal palace.