Chapter 19: A Kidnapping

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/20/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

The next morning. I come down the stairs still rubbing sleepy eyes.
Breakfast is a big sausage in bread.
Is this a relative of the sandwich.
Tomato ketchup and grain mustard on it.

This sausage is apparently the mistress’s own, with all sorts of herbs in it.
No meat-smell, strong savor; when you bite it it splits with a pari and the juice wells out.
The sweet-tart of the ketchup and the heat of the mustard are just right; it’s a taste you get hooked on.

Muu… since I came to the capital I’ve been eating nothing but delicious things.
I have to work at reproducing them.

∞∞∞∞

I show my face at the guild and get grabbed by the back of the collar by Glad, who was waiting.
…Again.

“Morniiing. What? I’ll put a hole in you.”
“Don’t ‘what’ me. What happened yesterday.”

Uwah. Don’t put your face that close all of a sudden. It’s scary.

“I got summoned by the Ten Heroes.”
“…And?”
“Nothing in particular. I just got a pin put in me.”
“That so… by the way, there’s a report a black-haired girl went flying through the sky.”

Ah. Crap. I forgot.

“Yes, that was me.”
“…You. Hold back, seriously.”
“Well, I was trying various things, and I kind of ended up able to fly.”
“That’s why you get summoned.”

But I didn’t do anything bad, so it’s fine.
It should be fine. I hope it’s fine. …It’s fine, right?
The knight order isn’t going to come arrest me later, right?

“Hnn… it’s weird. I’m just doing things normally.”
“What’s weird is your idea of normal.”
“I myself am an utterly ordinary town girl.”
“I think you should drop that self-description.”
“Ehh.”

I fold my arms, swinging dangle-dangle.
It’s a little sad that I’ve gotten used to being grabbed.

But no matter what anyone says, I myself am an extremely ordinary town girl.
It’s just the weapons I have that are weird.

I’m stretched out like a grabbed cat when the guild’s swinging doors slam open.
I look in a hurry, wondering what, and it’s a densely muscled dwarf.
Wait. Ellie’s father.
He’s really out of breath; did something happen?

“Glad!”
“Galette? What’s wrong?”
“Ellie got taken by a bunch of thugs, apparently!”

Eh, no way. Ellie?

“What? …Bad. First thing this morning they were scheduled for a monster hunt. The knight order and the guild are both short of people.”
“The knight order said the same thing… you don’t know their hangouts!?”
“Too many of them, I don’t. We’ll have to put people out from here and search, but…”

…Uh, yeah. I just got told to hold back.
This, though. It can’t be helped.

I mean, if he stops me I’ll punch him.

“Glad. Something’s come up, so I’m going.”
“At a time like this, what… no, I see. I’ve got things to do on my end. If something happens, say so.”
“Nn. See you.”

He lets go, and I run straight out of the guild.

“Ring, search.”
“—Searching… found.”
“The capital’s full of people, so I’ll go from the air.”
“—Acknowledged: Sakura-Drive Ready.”

“Ignition!”

I bounce. Kick a wall, higher.
I leap to rooftop height and deploy the boosters.
I fly through the capital’s sky as I am.

“Ring, can I look at the search results directly?”
“—Possible: creating map, deploying.”

A sketch of the capital appears at the edge of my vision.
I’m the center; this green dot is Ellie?
This place… that alley from the other day?

Then it’s those guys again.

I cycle mana. I raise output, climb, and accelerate, threading the gaps between buildings.

In the streaming view, I find them.
Sure enough, in the alley from the other day, a cat demihuman girl is surrounded by several men.

I accelerate downward. I put my feet to a building wall and run.
The ground comes close. I kick the wall, leap. I snatch Ellie as I am and accelerate again at once, putting distance from the men.

Gari gari, my boots scrape the cobbles, scattering sparks.
Sakura-pink mana-light trails, drawing a line.

“Ellie! You all right!?”
“Eh, Ouka!? Yes, I’m fine, but…”

Thank goodness. From the look of it she isn’t hurt.
I made it in time. But.

Mana surges through my whole body.

“You bastards… don’t think you’re going home alive…!!”

Pale crimson billows up in a mass.
My gut burns. My head is clear.
Going after a little girl like this.
I’ll teach them so they can’t do the same thing twice.

I spread my feet, sink my hips. Left hand forward. Right hand reverse-grip beside my head.
People or not, I won’t hold back.
With everything I have, I’ll wipe them out.

“Eh, um, Ouka?”
“Ellie, step back a bit.”
“W-wait, wait, something’s wrong with this conversation!”
“…Nn?”

Somehow. The air is weird.

“O-oi, what, what’s going on?”
“…Don’t tell me, Ellie, you left without saying anything to your father?”
“Ah… now that you mention it, I might not have said anything to Father.”

“… Would you explain.”

 

After I drop Sakura-Drive and hear the story, Ellie had apparently been preparing a present for her father.
They were only helping with that.
And Ellie carelessly left the house without saying anything, met up with them, and someone else saw it—that was the story.

“…I’m sorry for causing a fuss.”
“…No, I’m sorry too.”

That was close. I’m glad she stopped me before I hit anyone.

“Oi, this is the person…”
“Ah, the one Ryuto was talking about…”
“For real, looking like that?”

They’re whispering, but more importantly.

“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding!!”

Anyway I apologize to everyone with everything I have.
I bow my head hard.

“No, it’s fine, but…”
“Wait, maybe I had the wrong idea last time too?”
“Ah, when Ellie carelessly broke a glass bottle?”
“…For real. I’m really sorry.”

So that’s how it was.
These people look bad, but they might actually be really good people…
I’m really glad she stopped me.

After that I take Ellie to the guild.
There is or isn’t a moving reunion story there, but it’s too stupid, so I’ll omit it.
Thanks to Ellie explaining this incident in detail, the surrounding view of them changes for the better, and the surrounding treatment of me changes to “hazardous material.”

…I have complaints, but this time I’m in the wrong.
I’ll take it.