Novice Alchemist 5-35 part 1

 

Chapter 5-35 : Dealing With The Rest Of The Problem (part 1)

 

The people in black who seemed to be Prince Ferik’s guards disappeared along with Baronet Kirk and his private soldiers who were tied up with ropes, unconscious.

I feel like the black outfits they were wearing were kind of familiar. I think I’ve seen black outfits like that before…

ーーAh, I remember! If I’m not mistaken, someone from the government ordered such outfits from Master when I still worked part-time in her store.

That’s right! Those black outfits are actually artifacts.

They can help you conceal your presence, making it easier for you to hide, especially at night.

Because they are black, they stand out in the daytime, so it’s harder to use in the daytime than at night. However, Prince Ferik’s guards could probably conceal their presence perfectly because they were trained to hide and move fast. In other words, they wear those black outfit artifacts just to boost their ability a little.

By the way, those black outfits generally are not sold to the public. People could use them for thieving after all. Therefore, not many people know about them. Only the government and some important people have them.

Since those black outfits are special artifacts, I doubt that the people just now were normal guards. I think they are a special force that works under the royal family or something like that.

「Phew… I’m happy that everything went smoothly. Miss Sarasa, thank you for your cooperation.」(Prince Ferik)

Prince Ferik turned to me and thanked me. As always, with a suspicious smile on his face.

「Your Highness… You had planned all this even before you came to my store, didn’t you?」(Sarasa)

「Hm? What do you mean~?」(Prince Ferik)

I asked Prince Ferik while looking at him suspiciously, but he replied to me carefreely as if he wasn’t even trying to hide it.

I don’t know how he got the information, but he definitely knew that Baronet Kirk would come to my store today. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have wasted time here.

「The reason why you were relaxing in the drawing room instead of going home after receiving the hair growth agent is because you were waiting for Baronet Kirk. Am I right?」(Sarasa)

「Hm? I stayed because the cookies are delicious, you know?」(Prince Ferik)

「Reeeally…?」(Sarasa)

When I folded my arms and squinted at him with a dubious face, Prince Ferik shrugged his shoulders.

「Fufu. Seems like I can’t hide it from you, Miss Sarasa. However, I’m not lying about the cookies.」(Prince Ferik)

I’m glad that he really likes Lorea-chan’s cookies. I bet Lorea-chan would be happy if I told her about it.

「So you knew that Baronet Kirk would come here and you waited for him so that you could provoke him and punish him for trying to attack you.」(Sarasa)

The government learned that Baronet Kirk was hindering the development of the kingdom by governing the town of South Strugg poorly, so they wanted to get rid of him.

Prince Ferik must have been waiting for the chance to confront Baronet Kirk and baited him into committing a crime so that he could capture him.

I was made to talk about various things, such as information about Baronet Kirk’s wrongdoings, evidence, etc., but that was just for killing time, it seems…

After all, he could arrest Baronet Kirk for trying to attack him, so he didn’t need information about Baronet Kirk’s wrongdoings or evidence of him trying to kill me in the snowy mountain.

That foolish feudal lord has no idea that he has been dancing in the palm of Prince Ferik.

「Provoke him? What are you talking about?」(Prince Ferik)

Prince Ferik grinned as if he was trying to play dumb.

「I didn’t provoke him. I didn’t even mock him a little bit. He was the one mocking me by laughing at me. You saw it yourself, right? In other words, he was trying to kill me, a prince, by his own will without me provoking him. Luckily, he doesn’t recognize my face, so he doubted that I’m a prince.」(Prince Ferik)

While saying that, Prince Ferik averted his gaze.

I knew it. He’s not even trying to hide the fact that he was lying.

I don’t know what’s in his mind. Is he playing with me?

I glared at him and stuck out my lips.

「Your Highness. I know you’re lying.」(Sarasa)

「Ahaha… You got me once again.」(Prince Ferik)

He smiled at me and scratched his head.

Somehow I know why he could be friends with Nord-san…

Nord-san is a troublesome person, but now I think that Prince Ferik is more troublesome than him…

After all, Prince Ferik is a prince. Unlike Nord-san, he has power in this kingdom that an alchemist like me can’t resist.

「I knew it… But, Your Highness, is it necessary to trick him into committing more crimes? I think invading the royal territory should be enough as a reason to punish him.」(Sarasa)

It shouldn’t be too difficult for Prince Ferik to capture Baronet Kirk. He could have just sent his special forces to Baronet Kirk’s mansion in South Strugg.

I don’t think Baronet Kirk’s private soldiers can win against the royal family’s special forces.

「You may be right. However, if I use it as an excuse to punish him, the feudal lords who govern the area near the Great Sea of Trees would hesitate to send their soldiers for rescue purposes. They might be worried that they would be punished for invading the royal territory even though they don’t have bad intentions. After all, rescuing people needs to be done quickly, so they won’t have time to ask the government for permission to send their soldiers to the Great Sea of Trees.」(Prince Ferik)

「I see… You may be right.」(Sarasa)

Baronet Kirk sent his soldiers to the Great Sea of Trees, which is one of the royal territories in this kingdom, without permission.

However, now I can understand why Prince Ferik doesn’t want to charge Baronet Kirk for that.

There are a lot of monsters in the Great Sea of Trees. It’s rare for them to come out of their habitat and damage the surrounding towns and villages, but there were some cases they would do that like when the Hellfire Grizzlies went into a frenzy and attacked this village.

Naturally, the feudal lords who govern the area near the Great Sea of Trees need to be vigilant, and depending on the situation, they will have to dispatch their army to deal with the monsters in the forest.

However, if Prince Ferik punishes Baronet Kirk for sending his army to the Great Sea of Trees, the other feudal lords will be hesitant to bring their troops into the forest for emergency purposes.

As a result, the Collectors and the people in their area might suffer from monster attacks.

「I don’t want the people who live near the Great Sea of Trees to feel unsafe because their feudal lords don’t want to send their army to deal with the surrounding monsters. Besides, confronting Baronet Kirk here in your store is cheaper than capturing him in his mansion. Sending a big number of soldiers from the royal capital costs a lot of money after all.」(Prince Ferik)

「I see… I think you’ve made a wise decision.」(Sarasa)

I do think that’s a good decision, but because of that, I have to deal with Prince Ferik and Baronet Kirk at the same time which was a bit too much for me.

I feel so tired mentally…

「Right~?」(Prince Ferik)

Prince Ferik replied to me with a triumphant face as if he didn’t notice my hardship at all.

At first, I thought that he was a reliable person who was easy to get along with, but after learning his true nature, I don’t think I want to befriend him.

I prefer honest friends like Iris-san and Kate-san…

Ahh… Iris-san… Kate-san… Please, come back~!

 

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