The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom, page 27
Carol noticed me and desperately tried to cry for help. “Mhh!”
“Um, are you kidnapping her to hold her for ransom?”
The man only made a noise in response to my question. “Huh?”
If they weren’t willing to talk to me, I’d have to do some explaining first.
“The truth is, I’m one of that unruly girl’s servants. If you’re kidnapping her, then I’m sure her family will pay the ransom, but if you intend to force yourselves on her, your crime won’t go unpunished.”
“We’re after the ransom,” he answered willingly.
The man who spoke was the one who’d slapped Carol a moment ago. He seemed to be the boss.
He was oddly calm considering this was a kidnapping. Perhaps my lie made him think that requesting a ransom was going to be easy. He regarded me with an unnervingly cold stare. I’d seen eyes like that often among the Ho family—he looked like a soldier who’d made it back from the battlefield. I didn’t fear the others, since they looked like weaklings who were in over their heads. But I wasn’t sure whether I could best this particular man.
Hmm... He’d make a tough opponent. I’d better not fight him.
“Nggh! Mmmmh!” Carol was desperately trying to tell me something. Nothing helpful, I was sure. It was fortunate that they’d gagged her.
“Then perhaps you’ll take me with you? I’m worried about her. You’ll gain a higher ransom if you have us both.”
✧✧✧
“Now tell us who you are.”
They’d bound my hands behind my back, blindfolded me, and brought me here. Now the small-time crooks were interrogating me. Their boss kept his distance.
They clearly had no idea that the blonde girl they’d found wandering around downtown was the queen’s eldest daughter. They must’ve taken Carol for a stupid girl who’d wandered off from some high-class family.
Either they were reluctant to question her, or they worried that injuring her might lower the value of the ransom. For now, I was the one being subjected to a harsh interrogation. They might’ve gone easier if I actually cooperated, though.
“Who?” I echoed. “You know, I think I’ve forgotten.”
“Start talking, kid!” the man smacked me across the cheek, knocking me over.
Jeez, that hurts. Good thing I’m used to pain already. This would’ve terrified me back before I met Soim.
“Mmmmmh!” Carol cried and did her best to scream.
The last thing I wanted was for her to tell them she was a princess.
Come on guys. I’m clearly not talking, so stop hitting me. You know what you need to do.
“See what he’s got on him. There might be something to tell us who he is,” the boss commanded.
Finally.
“All right, boss,” the crook replied promptly. “On your feet!”
With that, he yanked me up from my chair. This was just what I wanted. I’d been waiting for it. They’d searched Carol right away, but since they thought I was a mere servant, they hadn’t checked my things yet. There was a hurdle that I couldn’t deal with until they did so.
“Huh? This is fancy... Hey, he’s rich.”
As the crook searched my pockets, he found a purse and dagger, which he placed on a table.
Now how will they react?
“This dagger... The girl must be one of the Hos,” the boss said.
Wow. He actually recognized my family crest...
A metal fitting engraved with the family crest was inlaid into the dagger’s hilt. Now I knew how to deal with the complications it caused. The royal family apparently wasn’t so concerned about weapons. Carol’s dagger was very well-made, but it didn’t have her family crest on it. It turned out my belongings were more revealing than hers.
“Well, the secret’s out. The girl here is Sham Ho, daughter of the Ho family’s previous head.”
Since I was left with no other option, I decided to make use of Sham’s name. I’d been hoping that I could pass Carol off as a daughter of one of the seven witches, such as the Cursefit family, but I couldn’t have done so too early. If I’d told him that before anyone looked at my dagger, my family crest would’ve contradicted me. That’s why I had to sacrifice my cheek while I waited for their reaction. I hadn’t actually expected these small-time crooks to be familiar with the Ho family crest.
“Then...that makes her Gok Ho’s daughter?”
Huh? He’s heard of Gok? How’s he know so much about my family? That’s creepy.
“Yes, that’s right,” I said.
“But she’s got blonde hair. Isn’t that a sign of royal descent?”
“Her paternal grandmother was born to the royal family. Her mother, too, is a distant relative of the royalty. Lady Sham has royal blood.”
Obviously, this was a lie, but I’d be very surprised if they knew what my family tree looked like.
“Ah... Ha ha. Who’d have thought I was abducting his daughter?” There was a note of self-loathing in the boss’s laugh. I got the impression that he’d known Gok personally.
Those who’d fought under our family and survived in battle could expect to enjoy greater wealth in their future because they’d likely be promoted when the family’s army was restructured. It was hard to imagine why a Shiyaltan veteran would have to resort to abducting people. Then again, it was possible that he was a soldier from the Kilhina Kingdom.
“We’ve gotta eat somehow. Nothing personal,” he said.
“Are you going to do something I might take personally?”
I thought he might’ve let us go if he felt indebted to the Hos, but no such luck.
“No. Just collecting that ransom.”
Carol and I were then imprisoned in a storeroom. There was a window that had been haphazardly sealed shut. Columns of light shone in through a large gap in the woodwork and illuminated the floating dust.
Although our arms were still tied up, our legs weren’t. Maybe they didn’t want the trouble of dragging us around whenever we needed the toilet.
“Why’d you get caught? You could’ve escaped without me,” Carol muttered.
She sat in the corner of the room with her knees raised to her chest. I could’ve explained that they might’ve killed her—or worse—if they’d realized she was a princess, but I figured she was too young to understand.
“You would’ve preferred it if I didn’t save you?”
“That’s not what I mean. You wouldn’t have been caught if you’d abandoned me. And you wouldn’t have gotten hit across the face like that...”
You’ve hit me across the face yourself! Carol did at least appear to feel guilty about what we were going through, so I kept that thought to myself. But why would I abandon her? What type of person does she think I am? I saved her back during the entrance ceremony too. Why does she keep classifying me as subhuman trash? What did I ever do to her?
“Because we know each other, kinda. And it’s my fault for not realizing that you were following me,” I explained.
“I-I wasn’t...” Carol buried her face into her knees in embarrassment now that her following me was out in the open.
I figured it was better not to give her a hard time over it. I wanted to say a few things like, at least change out of your uniform, or, use your head next time, but I kept those feelings inside. I’d been bottling up so much lately that I worried I might eventually explode.
“We’ll be all right. You don’t need to get so down.”
“We’ll be all right...? We’ve been kidnapped. Think how much the ransom will be...”
“If all we lose is money, then we’ve gotten off lightly. Anyhow, we might get rescued.”
“Maybe you’re right. My escorts might come looking for us...”
She has escorts? It looked like she was eating breakfast all by herself this morning. Are there secret service members hiding around the dorm? Well, I doubt they’d let the princess go off stalking someone—she must’ve given them the slip.
“Then let’s hope your escorts save us. I’m from a family of warriors, so getting kidnapped and held for ransom won’t be good for my reputation.”
“Oh... This’ll damage your reputation? Sorry...” Carol sounded genuinely apologetic.
“Forget it. Do you know how to fight, Princess?”
“Don’t call me that. Carol is fine.”
“Okay... Carol.”
Getting on first-name terms with her like this feels a little awkward.
“Can you fight?”
“I thought I could... But I froze up when it mattered. It made me wonder what all my training’s been for...”
She’s received training? What kind?
Mine had come from Soim. In my final lesson, he’d made me fight bare-handed against an adult prisoner wielding a staff...although he probably would’ve stepped in if he had to. Soim tended to go to extremes.
“Well, you can’t help that.”
“There’s no excuse... It’s shameful...”
The highborn princess was holding herself to excessively high standards once again. After all, how many ten-year-old girls were capable of fighting with adult men?
“Well...” I couldn’t think of anything to say to console her. There was no denying that Princess Stalker had gotten herself into this situation by following me. Whatever I said would probably do more harm than good.
After we’d waited quietly for a while, we finally heard some noise from the next room. The kidnappers had been talking in hushed voices, but now we heard some movement. First, there was a clattering sound from a chair or some other object hitting the ground as they moved it. Then there was a bang, as if a door had been closed.
“Would you mind getting on your hands and knees under that window there?”
Carol raised her head.
“Huh...? Why?” she asked distrustfully.
“If you’re really sorry for getting me caught up in all this, then get on your hands and knees. And hurry.”
“Guh... H-Hands and knees...?”
“I’m not going to stand on your head and make you apologize. Just do it. We don’t have time.”
“F-Fine...” Carol reluctantly got down on all fours. “This is h-humiliating...”
I stood on Carol’s back, then got on my tiptoes so that I could see through the crack in the shoddily patched window. We appeared to be on the second floor, facing out onto a back alley. When I pushed my face right against the crack, I could just about see what was below us.
I saw the boss walking through the alley. Luckily, I could recognize his clothes.
“Ngh.”
After I got off Carol’s back, I started fiddling with one of my fairly long sleeves. My hands were still tied behind my back, but that didn’t stop me from pulling out something I’d hidden in my cuff.
“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t use princesses as stepping stools.”
The tool—something that resembled a ring attached to a short metal saw—had been sewn into the hem of my sleeve by a single thread. It was designed to help Ho family members escape if they were ever taken captive by the Kulati. I’d heard several stories of people using it to break free after being bound up.
“Give me a moment. Now that he’s gone, I can handle this.”
I broke the string and pulled the small saw out. Once I had it in my hand, I pressed it to the rope that bound my arms and moved it back and forth with small movements. The ring allowed me to apply a good amount of pressure, and I could feel the blade digging deeper and deeper into the narrow rope.
This wasn’t a task that required extreme amounts of time and patience—I managed to break free in about fifteen minutes. The tool had served its purpose.
“How...?” Carol was dumbfounded by the sight of me with my arms free.
“Keep your voice down,” I whispered while working to untie Carol.
“You...this whole time...”
“Every adventure starts with some preparation.”
Getting kidnapped had been just as much of a risk for me as for her, so I’d prepared myself ahead of time. I’d set out feeling confident that I knew how to deal with every scenario within reason, though I hadn’t banked on a member of the royal family stalking me.
“But now what?” she asked. “Can we get out the window?”
“It’s the second floor, so that won’t work.”
We could’ve broken the window open, but the ground was quite a ways down, and the opening faced out onto an alley with nothing but houses around it. In other words, there were no large eaves or anything that we could jump down onto.
“You’re going to fight?” Carol asked.
“Well... Maybe...”
There was still one cause for concern. I crouched down and squeezed Carol’s thigh with both hands.
“Wha—”
Next, I patted her butt. Her muscles were firm, and her lower body was in good shape. I felt sure she could outrun a few ill-trained adults.
“What are you doing?! Blackguard!”
Smack! Carol hit me across the head as hard as she could.
Whoa. She’s making too much noise.
“Does a maiden’s honor mean nothing to you?! Pig!” Her face had turned bright red with fury.
I hurried over to the right side of the storeroom doorway.
“Quick! Pretend your arms are still bound!” I urged while gesturing by putting my own wrists together.
Carol still had just enough presence of mind to suppress her anger and put her arms behind her back.
She was so loud. All I did was touch her butt. Oh, wait...that would make her mad, wouldn’t it?
“Keep it in your pants, you filthy brat!”
One of the crooks clearly thought I was up to something unspeakable. He entered through the door beside me, fuming with rage.
“Huh? Where’s that dirty ra—”
As soon as he’d stepped into the room, I kicked him as hard as I could, aiming for the back of his knee.
“Ngh!”
I didn’t give him time to form words. The kick made him buckle, and his shoulder tilted backward. I grabbed it and pulled him down to the ground. As he fell, I claimed the dagger—well, more of a hunting knife really—that he’d been wearing at his waist. To finish, I plunged it into his thigh before withdrawing it.
“Gah... The little shit stabbed me!”
With the boss gone, his gang of crooks had apparently seized the opportunity to sit down and play cards. Now that one of their members was down, another quickly stood up and came dashing at me. He pulled out a similar weapon from his pocket, so I threw the knife in my hands.
Knife throwing was a special sort of skill, but even a clumsy attempt with no chance of sticking the target would be enough to scare them.
“Hah?!”
The crook used his own blade to repel my knife, but by then I’d already gotten close. I kicked him in the groin before he had a chance to use the weapon he was holding.
“Guh-gaaah!” he screamed and curled up into a ball.
“Carol! Let’s go!” I yelled.
“Hold it, brats!”
There was still one last thug to deal with, but the man who was currently on the ground clutching his crotch had been the one blocking our escape route. The remaining crook had drawn his weapon, but he was too cowardly to charge at me.
When I looked around the room, I noticed our belongings—both our daggers and our coin purses—had been gathered in two neat piles on a table in the corner. They’d been left in plain sight, which suggested that the boss had full trust in his men.
Carol came running out of the storeroom as I snatched up our things, but the man I’d stabbed earlier grabbed her by the leg to stop her leaving.
“Get off me! You lowlife!”
As Carol shouted, I threw an earthen pot toward them, and it hit the man on the arm. He released his grip, setting Carol free.
The coward who’d been afraid to come at me must’ve thought Carol was an easier target, but I threw another sturdy, glazed pot at him when he tried to go for her. I heard it shatter as I unlatched the door and kicked it open.
“Carol! This way!”
“R-Right!”
As Carol came out, I took a handful of coins from my wallet and threw them on the floor. Hopefully, the crooks would stop to pick them up.
Although we’d been blindfolded, I’d paid attention to the route when they’d led us through the building, so I knew where the exit was. I ran down the stairs of what I imagined was some kind of apartment building or warehouse. The exit door was unbarred, so we easily got out.
“Whoa,” a voice said.
I turned right and was faced with the boss who had left just a short while ago. I thought he’d gone to confirm our identities and decide on a ransom, but maybe he’d forgotten something, because he was back already.
“Carol! This way!”
“Wait!” he cried.
I grabbed Carol’s arm and ran along the alley in a direction that took us away from the main street. I’d also made sure to throw the exit door wide open, hoping it would block the narrow alleyway.
We ran for about six meters before arriving at a sharp right turn in the alley. There was a gap between the buildings on the left too, but it was barely wide enough to fit my arm into—only a rat could’ve gone that way. We had no choice but to go right.
But before we continued, I looked back and saw that the door was still wide open.
“Carol, stop.”
“Wh-Why?”
He’s not chasing us. But why not?
If a complex series of branching streets lay ahead, he’d have to worry about losing sight of us. But even if this led to a dead end, there was no reason not to follow. That meant that this alley would probably take another right turn and lead out onto the main street. There we’d find the boss waiting to cut us off.
“We’re heading back,” I declared.
“Are you—”
“I’m sure.”
Carol was hesitant to head back toward the enemies we’d just escaped from, but I didn’t have time to explain it. I pulled her by the arm and ran back through the alley.
After violently kicking the door out of our way, I saw the alley straight ahead of us was deserted.
“Let’s go,” I blurted out before running out onto the main street.
