Chapter 13 – Were you always that strong?

While chasing after Marie-chan, my gaze fell upon Ursch-kun's waist.

When I first noticed it, it had such a mismatch with my image of Ursch-kun that I was wondering why such a thing was hanging around his waist…

But now that I know Ursch-kun’s real personality, it seems to fit so well that it’s scary.

In the span of one afternoon, my image of Ursch-kun seems to have changed a lot.

By the way, the thing swinging from his waist was none other than…

A “whip”.

Moreover, it wasn’t those short, stick-like things used for horseback riding and the like.

It was a long, flexible whip made of leather.

The ones used by animal trainers or SM Queens–that length.

Ursch-kun... You’re a Merchant’s son, right?

Not the son of an animal tamer?

Do merchants even need whips?

Ursch-kun caught my staring and tilted his head.

"You’ve been staring at this since this morning. Do you want it?"

I don't.

"No thanks, I was simply wondering why you were carrying such a thing."

"Ah, I planned on practising with it when I left my house this morning."

Why?!

Just what on Earth… Were merchants the type of job where the use of whips was absolutely necessary?

The combination of Ursch-kun with a whip was so scary that my imagination ran wild.

"Hey, Isabella? Just so you know, this isn’t my hobby or anything, alright? You’re not imagining anything strange, are you?”

Sorry, I am.

I just can’t think of any reason why a merchant would need a whip…

".....It’s to drive the wagon. A long whip is needed to reach the horses from the driver’s seat, but because of the whip’s length, I could end up hitting myself or others if I were careless, that’s why I was planning to practice with it.”

It was a more proper reason than I expected!!

Sorry, Ursch-kun. I'm sorry for doubting you!!

And above all...

"Ursch-kun, to think you knew that whipping other people is bad!!”

"Hey, did I do something for you to doubt my humanity that much, Isabella?”

Sorry again.

Certainly, he wouldn’t go that far. Even though he’s black-hearted.

He’s definitely not someone who would whip another human being. Even though he’s black-hearted.

... Ah, Ursch-kun’s smile is getting a tad darker.

Time to change the topic☆

"Do you need to start wagon driving practice so early?"

"I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t expect it to work every time~.”

S-so scary!!

Ursch-kun, you're so scary!!

He’s only 6 years old, but I honestly don’t think I can win against him!!

Even though I’ve reached the level cap, I can’t see myself ever winning against him!!

"Since I’m the son of the company’s head, I don’t actually need to learn it as the employees usually drive the carts. But since you wanted to be a peddler with me, I thought I should practice it just in case.”

Oh, so it was for me.

...Fufu, I’m a little embarrassed now.

"Isabella, would you rather I manage a branch of the Schneiver Company, or going independent~?”

"Eh? You’re asking me to make the decision? It’s your job so it’s fine to pick whichever you’d like to do. No matter what you choose, I’ve already decided to stay with you.”

I can use magic, and Ursch-kun is pretty sly, so I feel like we can make it anywhere.

"You still plan on staying with me? You haven’t changed your mind about becoming my wife?”

What are you saying, Ursch-kun?

"Of course not. No matter how black-hearted you are, I love you, Ursch-kun. You were a bit different from what I expected, but my feelings for you haven’t changed one bit. I still don’t trust you, though.”

The only thing that changed was that I no longer worshipped him blindly.

My feelings of love, and my wanting of marriage remain the same.

Moreover, after spending time with Ursch-kun today, I figured out something.

Perhaps. Ursch-kun may be scary at times, but he’ll definitely protect those he’s accepted as “his”.

Furthermore, he should be fully capable of deceiving me had he put his mind to it.

The only reason he didn’t, was because he trusted me.

He trusted that my feelings wouldn’t disappear with just something of this level.

In that case, I’ll have to return that trust in full!!

If Ursch-kun says that he’ll believe in me, then I won’t betray his trust!!

And so, I decided to stay with him no matter what.

"Why are you laughing?!"

"Ahaha~. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn't laughing at you, Isabella. I was just feeling happy to have met you."

"What are you planning this time?"

"....Though I do think it would be great if you believed in me a little more."

After saying so, Ursch-kun sighed, and I heard a small scream from Marie-chan in front of us, followed by an angry yell.

"Hey, you! The hell’ve you done?! ‘Cause of you, my catch is ruined!! Now it’s worth less than before!!”

Taken aback by the sudden shout, I found Marie-chan surrounded by 3 burly, yelling men.

I messed up, I have no idea what happened!!

I was so distracted by Ursch-kun that I wasn’t paying attention to Marie-chan!!

"That absentminded maid of yours was trying to get around those adventurers, but her dress got stuck on their catch, sending it flying to the ground. Because of that, its horn, which is both a proof of subjugation and a valuable ingredient, broke.”

That’s amazing, Ursch-kun!! He’s tailing Marie-chan better than me!!

Also, isn’t this situation completely her fault?!

Marie-chan, you’re not supposed to be the clumsy-type character, you know?!

What happened to you?!

One of the irate adventurers, a short-tempered-looking middle-aged man, raised his fist to Marie-chan.

Wai-!! Old man!!

I know you’re mad, but a guy with such a strong build like yourself shouldn’t go punching a young lady!!

Thinking that I had to stop him, I accidentally activated it.

The Magic Eye,《Wrath》...

The one capable to intimidate, incapacitate and demoralize those within my field of vision.

The one that killed all those birds.

By the way, the ones inside my field of vision were:

The 3 strong adventurers,

The young maid, Marie-chan,

And the rubberneckers who came out of the guild after hearing the commotion.

Now then, time for a pop quiz.

Within the people I’ve just listed,

Who’s the most faint-hearted, thus likeliest person to receive the largest damage?

That’s right. It was Marie-chan.

Isabella, you idiot!! You were supposed to save Marie-chan, not knock her out!!

Now she can’t even run away!!

Retreat!! Retreat!!

As soon as we grab her, retreat!!

I quickly close the distance between myself and Marie-chan.

"Wha-?! Instantaneous movement?!"

Surprised voices came from the rubbernecking adventurers who were just far enough out of my field of vision.

It's not instantaneous movement!!

I’m not that inhuman!!

It was just a 50-meters dash!!

I could just carry away Marie-chan like this and make our escape, but it was her fault that the adventurer’s catch was ruined, so I guess I should compensate them as her employer?

Not to mention, if they found out that she was a maid of house Rottenstein, it could bring about more trouble later on.

But I… don't have any money.

As a daughter of a duke, I’ve never needed to carry them around myself.

And my 【Closet】 only contained items.

Hm? Items?

Maybe I could compensate him with something of similar value?

OH, I’ll trick them by giving some useless “Drop Items” that I have so many multiples of!! (after I sort out my items…)

And as for why a drop item,

The items I purchased from Ursch-kun were either accessorized with a bunch of stuff, loaded with some special effect, or looked like it had been modified with magic, so it would definitely cause a huge uproar if I were to hand those over.

But if it's a drop item, it’d be common enough for other people to own it too, right? Probably.

I shoved my hand beneath the hem of my skirt to make it seem like I had stored it there all along, and took out a weapon from the 【Closet】.

The item I brought out was a “Mithril Jamadhar”.

It wouldn’t be weird in the slightest for this to be inside my skirt!!

And since it’s made of Mithril, it should be worth quite a bit.

I stabbed it gently into the ground between Marie-chan and the adventurers, and apologized.

"Well! Well! Well! It seems like our maid has caused some inconvenience~. Please excuse what she did, okay~. Ah!! Here’s the compensation for whatever she broke!! This is all I have on-hand right now!! Please forgive her with this. Well then, I’ll be taking this girl back with me now!!”

Take this!! The “One-sidedly Talking Auntie” attack!!

There’s absolutely no room to get a word in!!

While the adventurers were left stunned by the sudden series of events, I quickly picked up Marie-chan into a princess carry after finishing my piece.

As I turned on my heel, about to make my escape, I heard the adventurer behind me raise his voice after coming back to his senses.

"Wai-!! Little miss! Wait a minute!!"

Grr!! It didn’t work, huh.

Now that it’s come to this, it’s my win if I get away!! Time to run!!

I don’t know the value of that catch of his, but I did leave some compensation, so he shouldn’t chase after us too har– He’s totally chasing after us!!

This is bad! This is bad! This is bad!

Marie-chan was too big for my 6-year-old body to properly carry, which left her legs being awkwardly dragged, making running all out impossible!!

I mean, strictly speaking, I could, but then her legs would be scraped away due to the friction and turn to dust. That’d be terrifying!!

In my handicapped state, I could only run at half-speed, so I couldn’t increase the gap!

A young noble girl charging through the streets while carrying an adult maid, and the three burly adventurers chasing them…

What’s with this situation?!

Just give up already!! Stop chasing me!!

Right when I felt a few tears pricking my eyes, a large sound resounded from behind me.

As though something was “cutting through the wind with tremendous force”.

Following it, a strong blast of wind blew my hair to the front of my face.

In my surprise, I stopped running and turned around, only to see Ursch-kun holding a whip in one hand, a long, deep fissure running along the stone pavement, and the adventurers fallen on their rears.

"Okay, let’s take this chance and escape~.”

As Ursch-kun urged me on with a hand on my back, I started running again.

"......Ursch-kun."

"What is it?"

“Didn’t we have a conversation just before, something about whipping other people being bad?”

"No worries! Because I didn't whip any ‘people’."

"Ah, so you didn’t actually hit anyone with it! Thank goodness~. Were you just scaring them off? It’d be terrible if you whipped them and they bore a grudge~.”

"Yup~."

But… it had too much force behind it to be just a “scare”.

What will they do with that stone pavement…?

Hm?

"Ursch-kun, wasn’t that too much power coming from just a whip? Were you always that strong?”

"No, I’m not that strong at all. This whip is a “Magic Item” I made during alchemy practice, so it has some special effects.”

Ursch-kun...

So you had already begun crafting “Magic Imbued Items”…

※Jamadhar: Alternatively known as “Bundi Dagger”, the jamadhar is a weapon used in India up until the 19th century. Its shape is similar to a knuckle duster with a short sword attached, and is designed for stabbing.

※Mithril: A fictional ore often appearing in stories with a fantasy setting. It has a silver shine, and is stronger than steel. Rare.

A/N:
Thank you for all the reviews.
Isabella was unmistakenly the switch for Ursch-kun turning black-hearted.
Members of the Schneiver family become true “Fafnir’s kin” the moment they lock-on to a treasure as theirs.
They’ll do anything to get their hands on it, and bare their fangs to protect it.
Incidentally, the switch isn’t limited to just people, but may also be materialistic goods.
In fact, if things had proceeded as in the game, Ursch-kun’s treasure would’ve been “gold coins”.
Ursch-kun likening Isabella’s hair to “gold” is a reference to that.

winter: still playing around with the spacing cuz I have no idea which seems right ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
I think this is better?? but idk??? someone tell me pls