407 - Cody's Perspective Aurelia's Friend
I arranged to meet Jean-Jacques in a town just outside Uhlenfurt territory, and I thought I would have to wait several days at the earliest, but Jean-Jacques appeared in town the very next day.
He should have left town a day earlier on the wagon, but traveling alone on horseback is fast after all.
And the fact that even during rushed travel he thoroughly gathered information about Augusta Castle from the surrounding towns and villages... I had to tip my hat to Jean-Jacques's shrewdness.
It felt a little wasteful that someone like this was not a merchant.
"If that guy's back, then it is about time, is it not? Let me go!"
I will let you ride the wagon until we leave Uhlenfurt territory.
The former attacker, who had spilled various information under those conditions, started saying this when he saw Jean-Jacques, who had successfully rejoined us.
From my side as well, I had fulfilled my promise to take him outside the territory, and Jean-Jacques had returned safely, so there was no reason to keep the man bound.
When I reached for the ropes binding the man's hands and feet to release him right away, Jean-Jacques stopped me, telling me to wait a bit longer.
"That is not what we agreed!"
"I said I will let you go, so just wait a little more."
Jean-Jacques calmed the man who was shouting that this was not the deal.
When I turned my gaze to Jean-Jacques wondering what he was planning, he wore a sly grin and placed his hand on the still-bound man's shoulder.
"...Hey, how about I hire you for a while?"
"Huh?"
"You have got decent skills, but you did not become a bandit. It is not great work, but you were hired and worked."
"You do intend to earn money by working, right?" Jean-Jacques said, peering at the man's face.
With a certain amount of strength and guts, you could earn by robbing others as a bandit, even if it is dangerous.
But this man had not done that. He was hired by the lord of Augusta Castle, and regardless of the work content, he chose to earn money by working.
He must have a willingness to work.
"Even if you stay in the Empire, you will not find another job, and even if you leave the country, it will be hard to find work right away. So just stay hired as this guy's escort."
He said "this guy" and pointed at me, of course.
My escort contract was moving forward without any input from me.
"The job is simple! Just guard the merchant and deliver a letter to the destination. As for payment... let me see, three gold coins."
Jean-Jacques said that would be enough for living expenses for the time being, but it was more than enough.
If you were not extravagant, it was enough to live on for three months.
For a single man's lifestyle, it might last a bit longer.
"With that much, you can probably get your next life in order, right?"
"...It sounds too good to be true. Too suspicious."
"It is a letter I absolutely want delivered. I just want to be extra careful."
Saying he would wait for a reply only while he wrote the letter, and to think it over, Jean-Jacques took out paper and a pen from the wagon.
He called it a letter, but what Jean-Jacques was writing was a report addressed to Grenore Fortress.
"Tina kid was in the depths of Augusta Castle."
"Really?!"
If the Christina we were looking for had been found, I wanted to go rescue her right away.
I said as much to Jean-Jacques as he told me what he had seen while writing his report, but Jean-Jacques made a somewhat troubled face.
It seemed that just because he had found Christina, it was not easy to take her out.
"She has not been given proper meals, her limbs are stick-thin... it is not like I could just take her out right away. Plus, she never had much stamina to begin with."
An escape with Christina, who clearly could not move properly on her own, was difficult no matter how you looked at it.
Not only was Christina not used to traveling and had lost muscle strength, but in the season that was only getting colder, there was no way Christina could endure a fugitive life on a wagon.
If we forced that on her, she would definitely fall ill and die.
"Of course, I want to bring her back alive, so even if we take her out, we need to choose the season. We also need a means of transport for Tina kid and a secure escape route. Where is Boss Jin now?"
The report was summarized as "throw all the thinking work to Alf," and I added the information I had gotten from the captured man.
This man apparently usually served as a guard at Augusta Castle while also keeping watch on Christina, and he roughly knew the situation inside the castle and Christina's current life.
The guard shift times and their rotation order, Christina's daily life where she was apparently called "Sistina," the nurse maid who came with Sistina, the pharmacist assigned to Christina... a great deal of information was added.
Among these, Jean-Jacques showed a harsh expression regarding the pharmacist assigned to Christina, who apparently called himself "Gaspar."
"Gaspar, huh? He is not even trying to hide. That is just Jasper, is it not!"
The name of the pharmacist who disappeared from the Sedovara Church together with Christina was Jasper.
Was he taken along to take care of Christina, or was Jasper himself part of the kidnappers?
There had been various speculations, but this confirmed that Jasper was part of the kidnappers.
According to the testimony of the man who was the attacker, it seemed Jasper had ordered the attack.
He apparently felt something was off about the current gardener Teo's behavior, and from that he noticed someone in that town was investigating the previous gardener.
There was almost no gap between starting the investigation and the attack. Either he was frighteningly quick to act, or he was that wary of anyone coming to take back Christina.
Just for seeming a little suspicious, Teo and his mother were killed.
...And the one who killed Teo and the others was the man who was about to be assigned as my escort.
I stole a glance at the man having his ropes untied by Jimmy, wondering if he could really be trusted.
In the end, the attacker seemed to have decided to accept Jean-Jacques's proposal, reasoning that it would be hard to rebuild even if he stayed in the Zugall Empire.
"You really think you can trust someone like me? I might kill the guy and skip town."
"I wrote in the letter that the money will not be paid unless both of you deliver the letter together, so do not worry about that!"
Jean-Jacques laughed, making it clear he did not fully trust him.
With the money that would secure his immediate living and no connections to sell stolen goods, the man would have no choice but to honestly complete his task.
Jean-Jacques generously offered three gold coins, but it seemed Prince Alfred would be the one actually paying.
He was also taking precautions, not giving the advance payment alone to prevent him from disappearing.
"Now that you have accepted, you will deliver the letter. And if you ever try to skip town..."
Faced with Jean-Jacques's intimidating threat "I will find you and make you regret being alive," I could not help but wonder if this was really one of the elite Black Knights that Ivizia Kingdom prided itself on, and whether it was not some kind of mistake that Jean-Jacques was a Black Knight.
We would take the letter to Grenore Fortress, and Jean-Jacques seemed to plan to return to Uhlenfurt territory to keep watch over Christina while investigating the surroundings.
He had gotten the guard shift times from the former attacker, but the man who should have been watching Christina during those shifts was here.
Since it was unlikely that the new guards who would certainly be hired would change shifts at the same times, there was plenty to investigate anew.
Jean-Jacques's future actions were decided, but he also wanted to contact Leonardo, who was inside the Zugall Empire.
There was a designated meeting place, and as a last resort we could return to that abandoned village, but given that we had been noticed in Uhlenfurt territory, it would be better not to stay too long in the Empire.
In that case, it would be better to pretend we had traveled around following the itinerary we had declared when entering, and cross into the Divine Kingdom Quebia with the same number of people we had when we entered.
It was a rather strange story. Leonardo and Jean-Jacques, who had posed as my hired mercenary guards when entering the country, staying in the Empire, while an active bandit and a ne'er-do-well were brought out of the Zugall Empire as escorts.
After crossing into the Divine Kingdom Quebia, we would head for Ivizia Kingdom at full speed.
I thought that after delivering the letter, I would have to come to the Zugall Empire again, so I would send Jimmy to the abandoned village after that.
...I have not seen it myself, but it seems Jean-Jacques-san found young lady Christina. That puts my mind at ease a little.
Compared to the situation until recently when we had no idea of her whereabouts at all, even if the preparations for rescue were not ready yet, I felt a little more at ease.
But Leonardo, Christina's brother, should still not have grasped Christina's location.
He must be unable to relax even a little.
I wanted to quickly send word of Christina's discovery and let him breathe at least a little.
...Well, I just have to do what I can.
What I can do is deliver the letter to Grenore Fortress as quickly as possible.
The subsequent orders will come from Prince Alfred, not Jean-Jacques.
Rather than me, a mere merchant, worrying my head over nothing, I should just handle the reins.
Crossing into the Divine Kingdom Quebia was surprisingly easy.
Just as Jean-Jacques had bribed the Zugall Empire soldiers earlier, Jimmy casually chatted with the soldiers while pressing money into their hands.
I wondered if this was really okay for soldiers guarding the border, but since we were on a hurried journey, my conscience ached but I pretended not to notice.
Once Christina's matter was settled, I would offer repentance at an Itsurateru Church during the Recollection Festival or something.
We passed smoothly through the Divine Kingdom Quebia and entered the Saenard Kingdom.
Thanks to Leonardo having made arrangements here too, we passed through with terrifying smoothness.
The journey went smoothly, but since it was practically a trip around the continent, it still took time.
We escaped from the Zugall Empire in mid-winter, but we entered Ivizia Kingdom and arrived in the city of Grenore after the Spring Blossom Festival had ended.
When we arrived at the city of Grenore, we headed straight for Grenore Fortress.
On the wagon heading to the fortress, the bandit and the ne'er-do-well seemed scared out of their wits.
With unusually solemn expressions, they sat with their backs straight but hid in the shadows of the cargo.
"...It seems Jean-Jacques found young lady Christina at Augusta Castle in Uhlenfurt territory."
When I submitted a request to meet with Prince Alfred at the Grenore Fortress we had arrived at, we were invited inside without delay.
Prince Alfred seemed to have full authority over the search for Christina, and even though it was the Knight Commander's office, the one sitting at the desk to welcome me was Prince Alfred himself.
After briefly explaining the circumstances, I handed over Jean-Jacques's report with a "details are in this."
Alfred briefly glanced through it and ordered a young attendant to prepare three gold coins.
"The other day, three letters arrived for Christina. One of them... is very conveniently from the territory where the fallen kingdom that bore that crest was located."
The letters addressed to Christina must be about the matter we discussed when consulting about whether to print the bobbin lace guidebook or not.
There should be acquaintances somewhere who received bobbin lace from Aurelia, and they should be willing to help Christina in her plight. That was why the bobbin lace was rapidly spread, to find Aurelia's acquaintances.
As Alfred had schemed, acquaintances were found, and those acquaintances apparently lived in the territory around where the fallen kingdom that bore the west-facing Adorutoru crest once was.
As a base to retrieve Christina, it was an ideal condition that could not be better.
"I have written a letter to inform them of Christina's situation and ask for their assistance. I am sorry you have only just returned, but please deliver this letter."
"Understood."
Either way, I had been planning to return to the Zugall Empire to contact Leonardo anyway.
Delivering a letter was no trouble at all.
"...Huh?"
When I read the address on the prepared letter that I was asked to deliver, I blinked involuntarily.
The name written as the address rang a bell.
Since she was a somewhat unique person, I could recall her face and name immediately.
"The letter is to be delivered to Lord Carlotta of Augun territory?"
"That is right. Do you know her?"
"Yes. The moment I entered the territory with the guidebook, I was summoned and was able to meet her directly."
I recalled the image of the dignified elderly lady standing tall, and I felt a strange sense of wonder that she had been Aurelia's acquaintance.
She was an elderly lady who had a farm in her courtyard and appeared wiping sweat with farm tools in hand, but hearing that she was a friend of that Aurelia, it all made sense.
There was no way a friend of that Aurelia could be an ordinary lady.
And so, this is Lord Carlotta, Aurelia's friend.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.