130 - Side Story - Kalisa's Perspective - The Kidnapped Young Lady 1
When I heard from Iridal that Leonardo, the lord of Fort Mandez, had apparently gained a little sister, no particular feelings surfaced in me at all. Whether it was a younger sister or an older sister, it merely meant an increase in the number of masters to serve. Moreover, if she was Leonardo's sister, she could be around my age, or possibly older. Ultimately, she would be Leonardo's sister, and it would mean just one more master to serve.
That was what I thought, at least. But with additional information from Iridal, her arrival suddenly became something to look forward to. Despite being the sister of Leonardo, who was past twenty, that sister was apparently still a child not yet ten years old.
Alisa, Salisa, and I are triplets, so we are all the same age. Since we were foundlings, it is not entirely clear who is the older sister and who is the younger. However, a certain pecking order naturally emerged, and Alisa is treated as the eldest while I am the youngest sister.
...A child smaller than me is coming!
Since I had always been treated as the youngest, I could not help but be excited that a child younger than myself would be coming, even if she was of master lineage. Because of that, I feel I might have ended up taking my frustration out on Leonardo when he came to Mandez city alone, but it was good that the rumored sister came to Mandez Residence by whatever means he used.
Leonardo's sister was, in any case, small and cute. I had heard she was nine years old, but Iridal said she looked a bit smaller. There had been no small children at the residence, so we had no idea of the average size of a nine-year-old girl. I simply, simply found Tina-sama adorable and threw myself into taking care of her. I was not the only one who wanted to look after our cute new master, so duties were decided by the outcome of Saik games. The winner became the young lady's caretaker for the day.
...When was the last time I tried my hardest?
The young lady was so adorable that I went all out to win. I lose to my sisters in self-defense techniques and cooking, but Saik is my specialty. Against my teacher Iridal, I still lost more often than I won, but Iridal had frightened the young lady at their first meeting, so he declined to participate in the battle over caretaker duties for the young lady. If Iridal had participated, the days I could have looked after the young lady would likely have been reduced to less than half.
As a right earned from winning the caretaker duties, I was following the adorable young lady around all day when Iridal and Alisa suggested that I go to Grenore city with her, albeit for a limited period of one year. Iridal had been worried for some time that we sisters were too tied down to the residence. If our eyes were even slightly turned toward the outside, he said, perhaps we should use this opportunity to see the outside world.
Leaving Mandez city and the residence, which I had hardly ever left, was anxiety-inducing, but I decided to take it on as a form of social education. Above all, traveling alongside the young ladies' return journey would be safer and more reassuring than traveling alone from Mandez to Grenore. After me, Salisa was scheduled to come to Grenore city in exchange.
At the hotel where we stayed during the return journey, a pest immediately attached itself to the young lady. I could understand the desire to fuss over such an adorable young lady, but the young lady seemed very troubled by it, so I wanted to separate them somehow. I wanted to separate them, but the young lady herself had made a promise to play with him "up to three times a day," so the painful part was that I had to treat him as a guest at least.
It was a few days after that when the young lady faced a kidnapping attempt.
Since the young lady had clearly refused him, saying he was bothering her, things around her had quieted down, but the pest's great-grandfather, Ethelbert-sama, schemed to reconcile the two of them. The young lady was to go to the sunroom, which had become a children's play area during her stay, but Diet was not there, and scattered across the table were Reversi pieces indicating someone had been playing until moments before. After seeing off Ethelbert-sama, who went to search for his great-grandson, I began to tidy the messy table. Then, a loud noise came from behind me.
Behind me, there should have been only the young lady. She sometimes played small pranks on her brother Leonardo, but generally, the obedient young lady would never make a careless noise. I immediately sensed something wrong and turned around to find an unfamiliar man holding the young lady's small body in his arms.
From that point on, my body moved on its own before my thoughts could catch up.
My mind was occupied with only one thing. I had to get the young lady back first. Looking for something to use as a weapon, I grabbed the Reversi board that had been left on the table and drove its corner into the arm of the man supporting the young lady's weight. His arm reflexively swung away, throwing the young lady to the floor, but I did not loosen my grip. When I pressed the game board in with my full weight, I heard the man's arm bone shatter.
I had managed to get the young lady back for now, but I did not let my guard down as I stood between the man and the young lady, watching for his next move. We stared each other down for a while, but the man chose to turn and flee.
As the man escaped from the sunroom, I called out to the security guard who had come at the sound of the commotion and the Black Knights who were supposed to be the young lady's guards. Someone had broken into the hotel and tried to take the young lady away, I said.
Fortunately, the young lady had no major visible injuries. However, being thrown to the floor had left her with severe bruising. The young lady told me not to worry about it, but those bruises were also caused by me. Seeing her furrow her brow in pain even with small movements was painful to watch and hard to bear.
...Next time, I will protect the young lady without letting her get hurt at all.
With renewed determination, I was caring for the young lady when, the following night, I received a message from the manager Cidur saying the culprit's body had been found. Given the nature of the content, I hesitated over whether to inform the young lady. Even if he was a kidnapper, I did not know how the young lady would take the news that someone had died. If she would be relieved that the threat was gone, I should tell her, but if she would grieve over someone's death, I did not want to tell her anything.
While I was fretting over such a small matter, Leonardo, who had gone to Lugmilama Fort near the border, returned. Perhaps it made a difference whether her brother was nearby or not, but the young lady's smiles softened. Seeing the young lady's relaxed smile for the first time in days made me let my own guard down a little. As I apologized to my master for having let the young lady, whose care I had been entrusted with, get injured, frustration brought me to tears. Alisa or Salisa would have been able to save the young lady more skillfully, I thought.
And yet, the young lady comforted me, pathetic as I was. Stroking my head with her small hand, she praised me over and over, saying I had protected her.
I swore in my heart that I would protect these small hands, no matter what.
Saying he needed to greet the lord of Lagarette, Leonardo visited the art gallery the next day. The young lady, who naturally accompanied him, was taken out by Basilia-sama, who was somehow in the reception room with the lord, and was given a tour of the gallery. She had visited the gallery a few days earlier, but the young lady seemed to be enjoying viewing the paintings and sculptures. Just like the other day, the young lady stopped before the embroidery painting and stared at a single point as if spellbound.
...Should I inform Leonardo-sama that the young lady seems to have taken a liking to it?
As I was beginning to think such things about the young lady, who had not moved an inch, Basilia-sama said she would give the young lady her favorite painting as a gift. Apparently it was a gesture from the noble lord himself, as a get-well gift for the young lady who had almost been kidnapped in the city under his rule.
It was when the young lady had agreed to model for the boy painter that I was called by the steward to confirm the shipping preparations. The young lady sitting politely on the chair was so adorable that I wanted to watch her forever, but being called for a task left me no choice. Still, I hesitated, unable to leave the young lady alone, when Basilia-sama's nursemaid offered to look after the young lady. There were other people's eyes in this corner of the gallery, and there was the nursemaid too. There was no way she would come to such danger, I thought. Still anxious, I said a word of caution to the young lady. I would be away for a short while, but she must absolutely not be left alone. Please be sure to stay with Basilia-sama or her nursemaid, I said.
It was soon after that I felt something off about the simple packing work and shipping confirmation. Did we really need to do such a simple confirmation task right now? Growing uneasy, I hurriedly finished the work and returned to where I had left the young lady, but the peaceful scene from just moments ago was nowhere to be found. On the red carpet, dark red blood had pooled from the boy painter's hands, and Basilia-sama, whose hands and feet had been bound, was unconscious. When I looked for the nursemaid who had promised to watch over the young lady, I found her collapsed at a hallway corner a short distance away, her face discolored dark red. She had likely been beaten or kicked until she lost consciousness.
...The young lady, where is the young lady...?
I looked around, but Tina-sama was nowhere to be seen. However, as I surveyed the surroundings, I noticed something was slightly off.
...There are no people?
Until moments ago, there had been servants guiding patrons and guards standing at the corners, but strangely, their figures were nowhere to be seen. As I proceeded down the hallway seeking someone, a commotion arose from behind me. Basilia-sama, who had lost consciousness, had probably been discovered by someone. As I hesitated over whether to return to the scene of the commotion or search for the young lady first, I found a white envelope and a familiar black fur attached to the gallery's entrance door. I reflexively ran to the fur, the same color as the young lady's hair, and picked up the envelope and the fur. The fur was the cat-ear hair ornament that had always adorned the young lady's head. The letter was addressed to Leonardo. With all the evidence laid out like this, there was no longer any room for doubt. The young lady had been kidnapped.
Rather than searching for the young lady without any leads, I ran to report to Leonardo, who should have been in the reception room. It seemed that word had also come in that Basilia-sama had been found tied up, and the atmosphere in the reception room was frozen.
...Why is Ethelbert-sama here?
I spotted the old man who had not been there when we left the hotel, and I was confused. I realized something was wrong, but first I had to report to Leonardo.
"It appears Tina-sama has been taken. She is nowhere to be found."
I handed Leonardo the envelope and hair ornament I had found, and told the entire sequence of events for the report. Basilia had offered to give the young lady the painting she liked, and I was called away to confirm the shipping arrangements. When I finished the work and returned, the young lady was gone, and Basilia-sama had been tied up and left on the floor, I said.
...Something is strange, is it not?
As my report progressed, Leonardo's face twisted into an expression as fearsome as a demon's, but he did not run out of the room. I had somehow thought he would be the first to dash out if anything happened to the young lady, but he was surprisingly calm, which was actually more frightening. His face looked like the young lady might burst into tears, but he was too quiet, which made him all the more intimidating.
"...Ethelbert-sama, Jemian-dono. It seems that my sister was the one who was targeted."
His voice was quiet, but the intensity of the rage concealed within it came through loud and clear. There must have already been something in the reception room conversation that angered Leonardo.
"I intend to set out to search for her immediately. I ask that you both prepare yourselves accordingly."
Although I was not the target of his anger, his clenched-teeth tone made my feet freeze, unable to move. But this was no time to be paralyzed with fear. If Leonardo was going out to search for the young lady, I would follow him.
"Wait. What do you intend to do by charging out without any leads?"
The old man continued, saying that since they had watchers placed on each of the children, if we waited a little, word would surely come about where she had been taken. I think it could not be helped that I inadvertently felt a surge of murderous intent. From the old man's words, I understood with sickening clarity. The previous kidnapping attempt had targeted an unknown party. That was why they had used the children as bait. That was why I had been separated from Tina-sama, and why the gallery had been so sparsely populated.
I could not finish, so I will cut here for now.
I will fix any typos or errors another day. I have corrected the typos and errors I found.