CH 273

Day 66 – Evening, Royal Palace

He is waiting by himself, and he too has noticed me. .

The Merchant Confederation’s trump card, the magic swords user called their hidden blade. The magic swordsman that masterfully utilizes several magic swords… McKenzie, was it? The only thing I remember is that his hobby is licking beauties.

That’s right, licking beauties is enough of a reason for people to fight, after all, there are no good guys among beauties-licking middle-aged men! Because there is no such a thing as a good middle-aged man? I mean, it’s a middle-aged man?

「Our thief has finally showed up, huh? Having our goods stolen is a problem, you know~. I might be willing to let you off if you return what you’ve stolen so far? I will at least ask for a reduction in your punishment. How about it?」

There is a composure to his demeanor, he seems neither tense, nor too relaxed. He is strong?

「Ah, McKenzie-san? Long time no see~? Or rather, not sure if it’s nice to meet you or we’ve already met before, but I’m not a thief? I’m a diligently working procurement manager, who is a manufacturer in charge of transportation, and reprocessing? I’m working super hard! But my rich-man life is nowhere in sight? Anyway, what I’m trying to say is treating me like a thief even though I’m working so hard, is not something that perverted old man who is reroreroing beautiful women should be doing?」

Just what on earth is he saying, suddenly making such scandalous claims? N-no way, is a beautiful female thief about to show up? And he is waiting here to capture and rerorero her all over?! What an outrageous middle-aged man, trying to rerorero my Beautiful Female Thief! I want to rerorero her so she is mine!

「…I’m not McKenzie-san.. You are a procurement manager? Sorry about that, I was convinced you are a thief, and was waiting for you to come, my bad.」

「It’s fine, as long as you understand. So I’d like to procure that Beautiful Female Thief-san too and take her home with me to rerorero her? And I don’t want some middle-aged men reroreroing her before me, so could you kindly not rerorero Beautiful Female Thieves? Good grief, McKenzies these days, the moment they see Beautiful Female Thief they can’t help but go rerorero and rerorian? Although, I already have prepared leotards for presents in case a party of three Beautiful Female Thieves shows up? Kind of?」 [1]

I need to quickly finish restocking and make preparations to welcome Beautiful Female Thief. The question is should I procure that Beautiful Female Thief and take her with me, or should I allow myself to be stolen by that Beautiful Female Thief and be carried away? Should I perhaps discuss this question with the Thief-san?

「Wh-wait, that won’t do. I’m protecting this place precisely to prevent those goods from being stolen, why are you trying to procure them? And who is that McKenzie? I told you that’s not me.」

「This again, old man? They are just lying on the floor so they are mine? I already picked them up? Finders keepers? I’m coming all this way to restock because I know there will be stuff lying around, if you get in the way you are going to inconvenience the Beautiful Female Thief? Or rather, even while I’m restocking, my heart is continuously shouting for Beautiful Female Thieves, but no one is showing up? I have to hurry up and make space or there won’t be any shipments of Beautiful Female Thieves? Although narrow spaces sound lovely too!」

Such an utter lack of common sense. Every possible thing that falls to the ground pulled by universal gravitation belongs to me, is what that person that snatched the apple after it fell on his head must’ve said too. There are only three seconds after dropping before the transfer of the ownership?

「I see~, that’s just theft! Why are you so openly taking items and trying to go back? They aren’t just lying around, they weren’t dropped here, why would items be dropped in a storage room in such an orderly manner? They are being put here on purpose!」

「If they were put then they are lying! Are you going to tell me they are floating? Flying? No, they are definitely lying on the ground! And since they are lying on the ground, I came to pick them up, treating me like a thief in spite of that is unbelievably deeply rude, like a bottomless chasm deep rude, into which you should be dropped with a meteor on your head as a follow up? No matter who looks at it, the goods are physically lying on the ground? How is it even possible to consider it as not lying? Stop reroreroing for a moment and use common sense for a change!」

A dark-brown mantle is hiding his movements and weapons, but he keeps flaunting that there is nothing in his hands as he is gradually closing the distance. He appears to be tall and skinny, but this old man is clearly in good shape, showing no openings in his movements. And since describing a middle-aged man’s appearance is no fun at all I’d like to go home asap. How tiresome.

「Ah, so they are lying around? Wait-wait-wait, it is not, it was put here, carried in here for storage. Haaaah, so you are the thief?」

「How do I have to explain this so you will understand? Since I can enter here it means that I have the key, in other words, it means that this place belongs to me, and if something was stored here it is also mine? I’m not giving it away? I mean, it was just lying around? In my storage? If it was put here then it is mine? Or rather, I already picked it up? Sort of?」

In his hands, that should’ve been empty, he is now gripping two swords. Those are magic swords.

「Sorry about this, I’m going to capture you, but if you don’t resist I won’t injure you, and if you return what you’ve stolen you won’t be treated harshly, is what I’d like to say, but sadly can’t promise, but I give you my word that I will do what I can.」

Lifting the magic sword in his left hand in a smooth motion he points it at me.

「Restrain『Bind』, Confine『Stop』.」

Oh! This is wheat. There are also more vegetables, but meat is scarce. No eggs though, just what is the Confederation doing? Such a thoughtless Confederation, if you send spring onions, then send eggs too? Why are there common onions in the box after the spring onions? Oh, soybeans and adzuki beans. This is definitely ONE MORE SET. I could resume manju production, but they haven’t sent any sugar. So useless. Since manju crapes also made a sensational isekai debut, sugar supply can’t keep up with that at all, so I wish they would send in more and more? Should I write a letter to the Confederation? Send Sugar? Sugar, plz?

「Why do you keep stealing~, I feel like an idiot standing here with swords all on my own, shouting『BIND』and『STOP』. How come you can even move~?」

It comes. He doesn’t seem like he wants to fight, but he also doesn’t seem willing to let me go. He pointed the sword in his right hand at me.

「The legs, Pierce『Spear』, you aren’t getting away.」

How troublesome, I can’t resist it with my level, so I have to either nullify the magic sword’s effect with left hand『Gauntlets of Contradiction』, or absorb it with 『Staff of the World Tree』in my right hand. But not only is he strong as a swordsman, his way of using magic swords is also superb. And he is skillful. Moreover, he is a middle-aged man so I don’t want to get near him!

「…Attacking in silence also doesn’t work, huh~. But you are only level 21, why does nothing work? I’m losing my confidence here.」

He was reciting skill names and pointing a sword at me on purpose. He was intentionally putting up a show. It was all a setup to launch an attack without saying a word or pointing a sword my way. In addition, he secretly switched the sword in his left hand. It’s a magic sword with a different effect.

He is closing the distance bit-by-bit but he shows neither impatience nor hesitation. He is maintaining a relaxed, natural posture.

「Alright, restocking complete? Well, I’m busy, so have fun here on your own, yeah magic swords (heh) are so cool, right? Like『Pierce!』(heh)? I’ve actually done that a lot in my young eighth-grader days, but when I tried it recently one that actually was hiding got baited, and coming out pierced for real, causing a huge uproar and quite a shock, so that dungeon is still sort of being neglected since then? Anyhow, it seems that it might work no matter at what age you attempt it, so keep chasing your dreams and work hard by yourself? Bye bye?」

「Wa~it, wait, wait, wait, letting you just walk out of here would be a bit of a problem, honestly. Are you sure you won’t let me capture you no matter what? I’m telling you, we can’t have you carry this away.」

This old man is quite dense, can’t he just open a championship for the biggest idiot with him, the Idiots, the Royal Middle-Aged Man, gobs, and sort things out among themselves? That group also doesn’t get it no matter how much things are explained to them, possibly having to do something with inability to comprehend human speech, so they should be a good match? Kobolds seem to be unexpectedly sensible? It might even be possible to reach a deep understanding of certain issues with them? Like the bitches problem?

「Heey, are you listening? I’ll even ask nicely, could you get caught? Pretty please?」

「I’ll answer with a question of my own, why do you get in my way when I just came to restock? I’ll come back anyway? No matter how many times I come to pick up the goods, they keep returning here, I’m beginning to feel it would be easier to start selling from here? Should I just open a branch store here? Royal Palace Storage Branch, purchases will be instantly delivered to the Royal Palace Storages, free of charge! And the moment they are delivered they are in stock again!」

「Are you selling those? They will come back? Are you saying you are palming these off? Maaaan, so we have our culprit here~.」

His eyes changed. Expression vanished from his face. The presence disappeared too and his breathing can’t be grasped anymore either. If only he could also stop being a middle-aged man along with all of those?

The golden magic sword, that must be 『Sword-Killing Sword』that Royal Girl mentioned.

Temporarily silencing effects and skills of the opponent’s sword or spear, it renders them powerless, in addition, it can also temporarily copy abilities of the enemy’s weapon, the legendary golden sword! ……But this here is an iron ball? (SMASH!)

「Armored Pres-san, welcome back, found anything nice? Food and gold will pave my way to riches! What’s this, a cloth? ……Linen, huh～, I could make a hat out of it, but it will be rough and stiff? Do you want that? Well, I don’t mind, it has nice breathability, so it’s quite refreshing to wear, and I also think it was difficult to dye? Are you fine with natural style?」

(Nod, Nod)

Looks like we finally have a morning star assassination case on our hands. While the old man was so focused on blabbering, behind him, there was a giant ball spinning with a terrifying momentum all this time, making neither a sound, nor the slightest vibration in the air, giving absolutely no hint of what is happening? I was getting chills just by looking at it. It seems that morning star-killing magic morning star is more necessary than the Sword-Killing Sword, but she also has sickle and chain so be careful? Well, I’m also trying to be careful, but it’s impossible to dodge, so even if one is careful it’s going to hit anyway, but you have to be careful or it’s going to hurt? Well, he is already X_X so that’s a bit too late?

A linen hat can be made in no time so it’s not a big deal, but what do we do with this old man? He was pretty strong so leaving him sounds like a bad idea, but he showed no intentions of killing until the very end, aiming for arms and legs only, what should we do? I mean, it’s another middle-aged man? There is no fun in carrying home a middle-aged man? If there was, it would be a huge problem!

Even so, I don’t need it, or rather, we already have more than enough? If I needed a middle-aged man, there is plenty under the slums? At this rate even the depths of the earth will be filled with middle-aged men soon. The Capital’s underground dwellers must be greatly troubled with the middle-aged men infestation too. I can see the complaints coming already!