When I Infiltrated the Enemy Nation as a Slave, the Yandere Beauties There Started a Civil War Over Me - Chapter 20: The Thieves

Chapter 20: The Thieves

“How’d it go?”

“Heh, nobles are easy targets. I grabbed 50,000 gold in just a second.”

“No way! Walking around with 50,000 gold and no protection? That’s reckless… Well, lucky for us, right? Haha!”

“He was just a kid, probably doesn’t even understand the value of money… Maybe we should start targeting young nobles from now on—”

“There won’t be a ‘next time’ for you.”

In a quiet, deserted alley, I confronted the three large men who were having a ridiculous conversation. They looked at me in shock.

“What the—!?”

“It’s that noble kid from before! H-How did you find our secret hideout!?”

“That doesn’t matter. Just return my money.”

Hearing my words, the men suddenly burst into laughter.

“Oh, I see! The noble came all this way to give us the gold he’s got in his other pocket, huh?”

“That’s what it is! Haha, what a generous noble!”

“Guess we should accept his gift properly, then.”

They cracked their necks and knuckles, clearly enjoying themselves.

“…Sigh.”

I sighed at the scene unfolding before me.

Is this country’s royal family even thinking about their people, letting these uncivilized brutes roam free?

…No, of course not. They’re too focused on invading other countries, ignoring the chaos happening within their own borders. 

If I ever saw one of the Elenorde royals, I’d probably punch them without a second thought. But now’s not the time to dwell on that, so I suppressed the urge.

One of the men, irritated, spoke up.

“Huh? Why the hell are you sighing? Don’t you understand the situation you’re in?”

“It’s you who doesn’t understand the situation.”

“What was that!? You better be ready!”

“You’re about to learn what happens when you pick a fight with us!”

With that, all three of them rushed at me at once.

I dodged the first man’s attack, grabbed his arm, and threw him into the other two, knocking them off balance.

“Y-You bas—gah!!”

“You little—ugh!!”

I followed up with a powerful strike to the two staggering men. 

Then, I turned my gaze to the last man—the one who had stolen my money—and said calmly:

“Give me back my money.”

“Tch, d-damn it!”

The large man, hearing my words, let out a grunt and started running away. 

Of course, I wasn’t going to let him escape, so I immediately chased after him.

Even though I don’t know the area well, there’s no way I’d lose to this guy in terms of speed. I was about to catch up when—

“What… is this place?”

I muttered as I continued running. 

The atmosphere of the street had changed… There were fewer people around, yet there were still lots of buildings and signs.

While I was trying to figure out my surroundings—

“Kyaaa!!”

The man I was chasing grabbed a nearby woman, and she let out a terrified scream. He stopped and turned to face me.

“Hey! You know what’ll happen to this woman if you move, right?”

“L-Let me go!!”

“Shut up! Keep quiet!”

I stopped a short distance away and spoke calmly.

“…You think taking a hostage will work?”

“Huh? You can see it, can’t you? A noble like you wouldn’t risk the safety of a commoner, would you?”

…Even if she’s a citizen of an enemy nation, I can’t endanger the life of an innocent.

But that’s not what I meant when I questioned his choice of taking a hostage.

“If you’re going to take a hostage—you should keep more distance for it to work.”

“Huh…? What are you talk—”

To the man, it must have seemed like he had the advantage, thinking he could react if I moved. But as the prince of Sandrotheim, I’m not limited by a mere thief’s expectations.

I had already closed the distance enough, positioning myself so that with one quick step, I could get behind him. In an instant, I kicked off the ground, got behind the man, and slammed him forcefully into the ground.

“Guhah!!”

With the man knocked unconscious, the woman he had grabbed turned to me and said:

“T-Thank you so much for saving me!”

“No, it’s my fault for getting you caught up in this, so don’t worry about it.”

I wasn’t really in a position to receive thanks, so I tried to brush it off, but the woman shook her head.

“That’s not true! Um… you’re really cool, so I don’t know if you’ll need this, but if you’d like…”

She handed me a piece of paper with “Discount” written in large letters.

“…What’s this?”

I could guess based on the writing, but I still asked. The woman smiled and explained.

“It’s a discount voucher for our shop. Technically, I’m only supposed to give it to customers, but consider it a thank-you for saving me! Well, I’ll be going now!”

With that, she hurried off.

“A discount voucher, huh…”

Even though I have a million gold, I still want to manage my money wisely… so getting a discount voucher is definitely appreciated. I forgot to ask which store it’s for, but I can figure that out later.

I searched the unconscious man’s pockets and retrieved the 50,000 gold he had stolen.

“At least now I’ve resolved the issue of having my money stolen—something that would have been an embarrassing blow to my dignity.”

Satisfied with that, I made my way back to the city.

“The air in the city feels refreshing… That area earlier had a strange atmosphere, though. What was that about?”

Despite my curiosity, there was no reason to stay in the city any longer, so I got into the Cecifelia estate’s carriage that had brought me here.

A lot happened today, but I successfully rejected the marriage proposal, got the payment from Celestine, retrieved my stolen money, and even received a discount voucher, though I’m not sure which store it’s for.

“Today was a big step forward,” I thought, glancing at the clock inside the carriage.

“It’s almost 7 PM…”

Time usually feels slow when I’m at the Cecifelia estate, but being out in the city makes it feel like time flies. 

The ride back to the estate should only take around 20 minutes at most, so even if I’m late, I’ll be back by 7:20 PM at the latest—

“…Almost 7 PM?”

I muttered the time to myself, feeling a sudden chill run down my spine.

“W-Wait… What time did Cecifelia say was the deadline? It was 7 PM… And now it’s almost 7?”

To be precise, it was only two minutes until 7.

“This is bad… Really bad! How did time fly by so fast!? When I arrived in the city, it was only around 6 PM—”

Just as I was about to finish, I remembered chasing the thief, fighting him, chasing him again, and then returning to the city.

—It’s all because of that!

“…”

I recalled Cecifelia’s words from before I left the mansion.

“I don’t really want to force you to do anything, Luke, so I trust you won’t betray me… It’s lunchtime now, so please try to be back by 7 PM. By then, I’ll be done with work, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing your face… And if you’re later than that, I might start to worry that you’re out in the city doing something strange with another woman.”

Remembering her words made me break into a cold sweat.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that this carriage wasn’t heading back to the estate, but toward a judgment awaiting me… although—

“Given the situation, the only thing I can do is clear up Cecifelia’s inevitable misunderstanding and apologize with everything I’ve got!”

Fortunately, thanks to running after the thief, the scent on me has mostly faded, so I don’t have to worry about that.

The main issue I need to focus on is how to convince Cecifelia that I wasn’t at a brothel, as she’ll likely suspect.

“…”

I spent the rest of the carriage ride racking my brain, trying to figure out how to explain everything.

—But what I didn’t realize at the time was that the discount voucher I was holding was for a brothel, and the true meaning behind the woman’s words about only giving it to “customers” was completely lost on me.