Volume 5 - CH 25.1

Chapter 5-25 : Collecting Information Ⅱ (part 1)

After thinking while looking down for a while, Madison-san slowly raised his face and stared at me with a serious, determined expression.

「Miss Alchemist, my men were just following my orders. They didn’t have a choice. Do you think the government will forgive them if I offer my head?」(Madison)

「Hmm… I don’t know. It’s up to them to decide.」(Sarasa)

I can understand the feelings of Madison-san who wants to protect his subordinates with his own life.

However, it’s the judicial authorities in the royal capital who will decide their punishment, not me.

Judging from similar cases in the past, I don’t think they will take extenuating circumstances into account, so they will likely ignore Madison-san’s request.

Because it will be too much of a hassle to investigate this case in detail, I have a feeling that Madison-san and his men would be executed right away without further investigation.

For the bureaucrats in the royal capital who are mostly nobles, commoners from local territories are not so important that they would spend their precious time for their sake.

They are only interested in nobles and important people’s circumstances, so I don’t think they will take commoners’ individual circumstances seriously.

「Then… How about you? If I give you my head, would you forgive my men and not report them to the government?」(Madison)

「Even if we don’t report you to the government, your lord will execute your family if he knew that you had failed, right? Besides, receiving your head won’t make me happy at all. It’s not even worth a penny for me. However, if you give me your lord’s head, I’ll be more than happy!」(Sarasa)

「Uhh… How could you say something scary with such a cheerful smile…?」(Madison)

I smiled at Madison-san who looked at me with an awkward face.

「Because he’s a scum who deserves to die.」(Sarasa)

I think Baronet Kirk was trying to dispose of us and Madison-san’s army altogether from the beginning. That’s why he was planning on using a Giant Snow Centipede.

Instead of dealing with us head-on, he was trying to dispose of us in an unlawful way.

Moreover, he is taking hostages so that Madison-san and his men can’t resist.

I think he is worse than bandits, and I think a man like him deserves to die.

「Store Owner-san, calm down. No matter how evil Baronet Kirk is, he is still a noble.」(Kate)

Seeing me grinning like a villain, Kate-san put her hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down.

「Sarasa-san, Kate-san’s right. He is a noble, soー」(Lorea)

「ーSo we need to prepare and make sure we won’t get into any trouble. Killing him with your own hands is not the only way after all.」(Kate)

「That’s riー Wait, that’s not what I was trying to say!」(Lorea)

「My parents owed a lot of debt because of that man. Store Owner-dono, I’ll do anything I can to help. I’m sure people will be happy if an evil leader like him dies.」(Iris)

「Iris-san, not you too! …Are you guys serious about it…? I still think that messing with a noble will lead you into a serious problem…」(Lorea)

Lorea-chan seemed to worry about us.

「Lorea, did you forget that I’m from a noble family? Well, my parents won’t be involved in this matter but it won’t be commoner vs noble, but noble vs noble.」(Iris)

「You may be right… But, still…」(Lorea)

「Alright, we can talk about what to do to Baronet Kirk later. For now, let’s help Madison-san’s men, shall we?」(Sarasa)

「Y, You want to help us?」(Madison)

「I’ve never said no, have I? But there’s a limit to how much we can help.」(Sarasa)

「I understand. Thank you!」(Madison)

After thanking me, Madison-san turned around and looked at his men.

It seemed that while we were talking, the people who still could walk were setting up tents and carrying those who couldn’t move and gathering them in one place.

One of them ran over here, approaching us. Perhaps he noticed that our conversation had ended.

He stopped in front of Madison-san and saluted him.

「Sir, we have finished gathering the injured men!」(soldier A)

「Good work. So… How many have died?」(Madison)

Madison-san asked worriedly, but his man answered him with a smile.

「Fortunately, no one died. Some of them are not moving because they lost consciousness.」(soldier A)

「I see. Thank god…」(Madison)

「Well, no one died except for the man from the private army.」(soldier A)

「Hmph. I don’t care about that as*hole.」(Madison)

「I knew you would say that. We took all his belongings and left the body on the hill.」(soldier A)

「Good.」(Madison)

The soldier raised his thumb up with a big smile on his face. Madison-san smiled too in response.

「Are these guys really okay with that…?」(Iris)

It seemed that Iris-san couldn’t help but murmur to herself after seeing the two men smiling over someone’s death.

It’s not that I don’t understand her feelings, but the man from the private army worked for Baronet Kirk, planning to kill us all. There’s no way we would take the trouble to carry his body to the town.

「So… How’s the negotiation going, Sir?」(soldier A)

The soldier lowered his hand and glanced at us as he asked Madison-san.

Madison-san then turned his gaze to me. I nodded at him and he nodded back at me.

「These ladies agreed to help us. I still don’t know what will happen to us if we make it to the town though.」(Madison)

「So, we don’t have to fight these ladies? …Thank god. I really didn’t want to fight girls in a cold place like this. I can only ‘wrestle with girls’ on a warm bed after all! Gaahahaha!」(soldier A)

The man laughed after making a dirty joke, but then Madison-san immediately hit his head.

「Ouch! Captain, what was that for!?」(soldier A)

「Carter, be careful with your words!! There’s a noble lady here!」(Madison)

When Madison-san said that while looking at Iris-san, the young soldier who is called Carter immediately raised his face and turned his gaze to Iris-san.

「Se, Seriously!? P-Please excuse me, Ma’am!」(Carter)

He then bowed to Iris-san.

「For God’s sake… Ojou-san, I’m sorry I didn’t educate my subordinate well.」(Madison)

Madison-san also bowed to Iris-san.

They both seemed to be afraid of nobles. That’s why they couldn’t defy Baronet Kirk.

「No, no. I’m indeed a noble but at the same time, I’m also a Collector. I’ve heard male Collectors make dirty jokes at a bar many times, so I don’t mind it. But… are you okay? Does it hurt?」(Iris)

「Ahaha… It hurts, but I’m fine. Thank you.」(Carter)

Carter-san bowed once again to Iris-san to thank her and looked at me.

「Are you the alchemist lady?」(Carter)

「Yup. I’m Sarasa.」(Sarasa)

「It’s nice to meet you. And… I’m sorry about what happened. There are some guys with serious injuries that needed to be treated quickly, so I’d be grateful if you follow me now.」(Carter)

「Alright, but please refrain from making vulgar jokes, okay?」(Sarasa)

「Haha! I got it.」(Carter)

I didn’t want Lorea-chan to hear too many vulgar jokes, but when I looked at her, she seemed to be fine with those kinds of jokes. Her face didn’t change at all.

Come to think of it, people normally get married at a very young age in the countryside, so that’s probably why Lorea-chan is used to it.

Now that we decided to help these people, Iris-san, Kate-san, Lorea-chan, and I followed Madison-san and Carter-san from behind, heading toward the place where they placed the injured people.