Chapter 446 Second Day of the ‘Grand Market’ (Part III)
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
(Hiroya’s POV)
”Reckon I’d ever get to go on a date with Hiroya…♡”
Gunilla walks to my right, slightly leaning and holding my arm.
I’ve grown taller since I turned 11.
I’m about 170 cm (5’57”) now.
It’s probably the height I was in my past life at around 14 or 15 years old.
I reached 180 cm (5’9″) by 16 years old.
Still, I can’t match Gunilla’s nearly 2-meter (6’56”) height.
”Gunilla, you’re quite cheerful.”
Here’s Romy, about 140 cm (4’59) tall.
She holds my hand on the left, happily looking at Gunilla on the other side.
”Gunilla, you’ve been looking forward to ‘Grand Market’ that much?”
”Huh? No way. Mr. Hiroya, you’re so dense for someone with a lot of girlfriends!”
”Eh…?”
I quietly look up at Gunilla next to me…
”♡”
Yeah.
She’s walking in a really good mood.
Come to think of it, she’s always blushing when our eyes meet lately.
”I’m here today to see if Mr. Hiroya is truly suitable for Gunilla, you know?”
Romy whispers to me.
”Huh? What do you mean by──”
”Don’t you get it yet? Gunilla has a crush on Mr. Hiroya…”
”Ah! Looky yonder—there’s a stall sellin’ ‘venture gear!”
Gunilla pulls my arm with enthusiasm.
We 3 start walking towards the stall she pointed at.
* * *
”Is there something you’re missing?”
”I need me a big ol’ pot and… somethin’ to tote it in.”
”Mr. Hiroya and the people from ‘Liz Group’ have the Wolf Maidens as Porters, so we always get to eat delicious food. We all work together to make our meals, you know?”
Romy picked up a pot from the shelf and scowled at me while tapping it softly.
”I guess… that does sound a bit apologetic…”
”Whoa, Romy, you’re putting in the effort to study cooking!”
”Ah, I’m a Porter, but I want to be helpful beyond just carrying stuff.”
”I’ve heard from Gieze that you’ve been active in battle recently?”
”Gunilla and Romy’s support with the Black Bow is incredibly helpful,”
Gieze said as well.
”It’s just ‘support,’ though. Well, Gunilla has that ‘ancient civilization relic (Arbalest),’ and its firepower shouldn’t be underestimated.”
”Oh, that sack over yonder… looks mighty nice!”
A fabric bag placed at the end of the shelf filled with pots.
It seems a bit larger and looks like a shoulder bag.
”This… has a pot inside.”
Romy picked it up and checked the inside.
Hmm.
A larger pot fits perfectly inside.
Inside that pot, there are also several fabric bags.
”A ladle and a cooking spatula…”
”Hmm, this bag separates the ingredients. It seems this size could hold enough ingredients for 3 meals.”
”Well, reckon I’ll take this one!”
Gunilla happily hugged the pot-filled bag.
* * *
(Romy’s POV)
”Romy, don’t you want anything?”
Mr. Hiroya, smiling as he watches Gunilla walk happily with her new pot-filled bag, asks me.
”Hmm… maybe clothes?”
The beautiful green dress Ms. Dorothy showed me yesterday.
I was thinking that I wanted a dress with such a beautiful color too.
”I see. Then let’s go to that tailor’s shop we visited yesterday.”
Saying that, Mr. Hiroya took my and Gunilla’s hands and began to walk.
That was the moment.
(What is that…!?)
I saw a man across the street.
Seeing that figure, I shudder, reminded of a past I want to forget.
”Romy? What’s wrong?”
Mr. Hiroya looked at me with concern as I stopped in my tracks.
Gunilla also tilted her head, looking at me.
(I don’t want these people… the clan members… to know about my past.)
”N-nothing…”
And then, I locked eyes with the man across the street.
This is bad.
”I-I just remembered something I need to do… so, you two have fun.”
”Hey! Romy!”
”What’s up, Romy?”
Leaving behind the two of them, who were trying to grab me in a panic, I dashed into an alley to hide.
* * *
(I wonder if I’m okay?)
After entering the deserted alley, I sprinted from alley to alley with my impressive speed, finally stopping to catch my breath and look back.
It seems like they aren’t chasing me after all.
(I’m definitely tired…)
I sat down on the spot, leaning against the wall.
”As nimble as ever, huh?”
”──!”
When I turned to see where the voice came from…
”B-Bolt…!”
”Hey, hey. It’s ‘Sir Bolt,’ isn’t it?”
The man I had seen across the street was approaching me.
The two men behind him were bodyguards.
And on the other side… 3 more men.
These guys too, I’ve seen them with Bolt back in the Royal Capital.
”I took such good care of you… I never thought you’d run away.”
Surrounded by Bolt and his subordinates, I sat there frozen in fear.
”You say you cherished me… but all you did was lock me up and torment me however you pleased!”
”And yet, I never carved a slave crest or a crotch tattoo on you, did I? I was serious about making you my mistress.”
* * *
Bolt Sontag.
A member of a powerful family in the Royal Capital’s underworld.
A high-ranking figure, mainly overseeing the brothel.
When I lost my parents and came to the Royal Capital, I ended up wandering the streets.
That was when his men found me. “We’ll give you a job,” they said.
I believed them.
But in the end, they forced me to work as a prostitute in his brothel.
I couldn’t escape.
And I knew that if I resisted too much, I’d end up like the other girls—branded with a slave crest or a crotch tattoo.
I hated it.
But I endured it. I took clients.
(Once they mark you with a slave crest or a crotch tattoo… all hope is lost.)
Even as I suffered through that living hell, I thought only of escaping.
Of course, my ‘first time’ was scattered by a man I didn’t know.
”Your first time was worth a gold coin. Ten times the normal earnings.”
Afterward, that’s what the manager of that shop told me.
After doing that ‘job’ for 3 days, this man, Bolt, took notice of me.
”You don’t have to go to the shop anymore.”
Saying that, I was taken to his mansion.
Every night, I was held by him.
It was never pleasurable.
Afterward, I always threw up when I was alone.
A month later, I somehow escaped the mansion.
I had been hiding and preparing all along.
I escaped from the Royal Capital… and I reached Reedull in the northern Count’s territory.
Then, while I was eating with my meager funds, I met Gunilla.
* * *
”You’re coming back with me.”
”No! I refuse!”
I was grabbed by the arm and pulled up.
I tried to resist and escape, but as a weak rabbit person, I was no match at all.
”Hmm? You, this bracelet…”
”Stop it!”
Somehow shaking free, I clutched my precious ‘family token’ to my chest.
”‘Famière’… I see. It seems fortune is blowing my way.”
With a smirk, Bolt gestured with his chin, and his men held me tightly.
Then, I was blindfolded and gagged, forcibly taken somewhere.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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