With a grateful heart, I lightly gave him a compliment that he might like. Then I took a bold step.
As Pushover had… No, as Hanu had said, I should be thankful that I have a specific area.
I stopped a few people passing by and asked if there were any raccoon demibeasts living nearby.
‘If it’s a raccoon demibeast, which is rare to see in the Weil family’s territory, someone might have heard of it…’
But seeing how no one knew, it seemed that the racoon was living a life of hiding its identity.
Then, something popped into my mind.
‘Say, at the night market yesterday…’
Looking at the brown-haired woman who dropped the notebook, Suradel said that she did not seem to be from the Weil territory.
I wondered if she was the raccoon I was looking for.
Yes, if I think about it, something must happen at the cliché night market, so it’s suspicious that it went relatively smoothly.
The only thing that could be called an incident was the pickpocketing.
‘As soon as I return to the castle, I’ll get the notebook from Suradel and check the contents.’
It was when I was thinking about this and that. Hanu, who was walking with me, stopped abruptly.
I turned around to see what was going on, and he spoke with a somewhat awkward expression.
“Uh, since there doesn’t seem to be anything to see outside the residential area, how about going back to the other side?”
Indeed, as he said, the residential area was already far away.
It seemed that I was not paying attention as I walked while thinking about other things.
However, there was one catch…
“Sir Hanu, why do you look so awkward? Like you’re trying to hide something.”
“What do you mean I’m hiding something?! Too much doubt is not good…!”
I narrowed my eyes at his reaction.
‘There is definitely something.’
“Really? Okay. But there is no guarantee that raccoon demibeasts are always in residential areas, so I won’t go back. I will look over here.”
“La, Lady Lia!”
“What are you trying to hide?”
In the end, Hanu sighed and explained, probably judging that he couldn’t break my stubbornness.
“From here on, even the people of the Weil territory are reluctant to enter.”
“Why?”
“It’s like a lawless zone where unauthorized outsiders commit all sorts of illegal things.”
Outsider?
‘If it’s a foreigner, isn’t there a high probability that there will be a raccoon?’
Hooked by that word, I said with a twinkle in my eyes.
“Let’s go, Sir Hanu.”
“Oh no! If, if you want to enter, you have to get past me!”
Hanu stood in front of me and spread his arms.
He seemed very determined that he would never let me pass.
Slowly, I approached Hanu and whispered softly in his ear.
“Sir Hanu, you know what?”
Perhaps it was itchy, for he flinched.
“I’m a jerk.”
Having said that, I lightly stepped on his feet.
I didn’t forget to twist my feet to both sides so that no other words could come out.
Then, I strode proudly past the dazed Hanu.
‘Wait, raccoon! I’m coming!’
⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
Contrary to expectations, the street after stepping on Hanu was ordinary.
The difference from the residential area earlier was that there were many alleys, so it looked good to hide.
Hanu sighed and followed me as if he had no choice.
It was definitely a place with poor security, so I walked more cautiously than usual.
‘Hmm… he is a very reliable pushover… No, I mean, escort.’
‘My pushover escort, Hanu.’
How long has it been?
Nothing much happened except for passersby glancing at Hanu and I.
But it wasn’t anything strange or different because it was the same everywhere.
I couldn’t be sure if it was because of my unusual appearance, or because I was pulling Hanu, who was obviously my escort.
Nothing happened even though I kept walking around, and I was slowly getting tired.
Although I liked exploring, going about in the hot sun was not to my taste.
Besides, it hadn’t been long since I had humanized, so I wasn’t used to walking for a long time, and my skin was as fragile as a baby’s, so it stung.
“Sir Hanu, I feel hot and my legs hurt.”
“…Would you like me to carry you on my back?”
How unexpected. I tilted my head at his piggyback ride offer.
“You said earlier that your life would be in danger if you get caught by Suradel?”
“…But you said your legs hurt.”
For some reason, Hanu, after saying so, was looking far away, not making eye contact with me.
Regardless, I immediately shook my head.
Hanu must be sweating because of the scorching weather. Also, my forehead was covered with sweat.
It would be a mutually awkward situation to be on his back.
In addition, his face was strangely flushed, perhaps because of the heat
I kicked the rubbish rolling on the floor and muttered pointless and absurd words.
“Why doesn’t Sir Hanu have a cooling function?”
“…Is it still a human being if it does?”
“There’s Suradel.”
“…Please don’t compare the ordinary me to him.”
It was then.
Somewhere along with a dull sound came a harsh voice.
“This bastard, seriously… stealing wallets in our district?”
“How many times has this been?”
“It’s definitely at least the third time, this bastard.”
“Well, then you must have come prepared to give up at least one part of your body.”
“Yes. You have to pay for your sins.”
I glanced at Hanu. Worry had appeared on his face.
—Do I focus on the escort work, or do I intervene?
As a knight, it was difficult to pass by the scene where theft and violence were openly taking place.
And it was happening in the Weil territory, which was no different from his workplace.
Being a kind penguin, I decided to quickly put an end to his troubles.
When I tapped Hanu, he looked at me. I asked for permission with my eyes.
—Can I go take a look, Sir Hanu?
—No way. Please stay still.’
—Thank you for allowing me!
To express my gratitude to Hanu, who readily agreed to it, I patted his back.
Then, in order not to be caught, I swiftly ran into the alleyway where the voice came from.
“Lady Lia…!”
I faintly heard Hanu’s voice calling my name from behind, but I didn’t care.
I might come off as very nosy because I was curious about everything.
But when there’s this kind of incident, it would be more beneficial to be nosy.
‘Who knows? Maybe I will meet the raccoon demibeast there.’
If I stayed still, there wouldn’t be any risk or nuisance, but now I could protect myself.
Of course, if I use magic, there wouldn’t even be ashes left, but…
Anyway!
‘If you don’t want to be killed, you just have to not touch me.’
There was Hanu, and if things really took a turn for the worse, there was also the ring connected to Suradel.
‘At this level, it’s legal to be nosy.’
Upon reaching the alleyway, I spotted a man with blue hair surrounded and threatened by several people.
I was about to jump out like a hero of justice, but paused.
Hmm?
Wait a minute, according to the conversation earlier, it seemed that the blue-haired guy robbed them several times first…
‘Am I right to side with the blue hair here?’
Didn’t I also try to beat the thief seagull I met at the night market?
After quietly entering spectator mode, I lowered the magic wand I was gripping tightly.
I was going to stop it if the level of violence intensified.
But maybe he found me peeping, the blue-haired guy stared directly at me and asked for help.
“Hey, don’t just look, help me!”
Then, the eyes of three or four people surrounding the blue-haired guy focused on me.
“Who are you?”
“If you don’t want to join him, get out!”
Oh. I didn’t think I would get caught so quickly.
At that time, while everyone’s eyes were on me, the blue-haired guy climbed over the fence, trying to escape.
“He is running away!”
“Catch him!”
But before he could fully cross, his legs were caught and he fell to the floor.
Thud.
“Ugh!”
“This bastard, like a rat, again…!”
A man in the group grabbed the blue-haired man by the collar. Then, when he raised his hand as if to punch him.
“Hey. Isn’t that girl with him?”
“Yes, it’s suspicious that she didn’t run away, right?”
Again, the group’s gaze focused on me.
I raised my magic wand with an arrogant grin.
“Do you guys know what this is?”
Then, in an instant, their pupils shook and their eyes widened in dismay.
“It’s a wizard!”
“Did a wizard belonging to the Weil family come out to crack down…!”
“Calm down. She could be bluffing with a fancy magic wand!”
“Look at that hair! It’s the new killer whale!”
“Damn it, run away!”
They shuddered as they pushed each other in a panic and climbed over the fence.
In a flash, the alleyway was empty.
I looked at the space where only the blue-haired man remained. I had wanted to save him in a cool way…
“… I didn’t mean to do this.”
Credits goes to ZZZZ for raw providing and Ame for translating.
