When work ended, we took the gondola back to the center of the territorial capital.
Merchants had set up stalls there, specifically targeting workers on their way home.
By the way, most of the stalls sold meat or alcohol—because that’s what you want after physical labor.
Other than that, there were maybe a few game or gambling stalls.
“Brother, Brother, can I try that stall?”
“Let’s see… ‘Strength wanted’? Entry fee: one copper coin; beat him in arm wrestling and get five silver coins…? Suzuha, it’s dangerous, so absolutely not.”
Of course, the “danger” wasn’t to Suzuha, but to her opponent.
No matter how delicate she looks, Suzuha’s strength as a student of the Female Knight Academy is significantly higher than an average person’s. If the opponent isn’t a soldier but just a local strongman, it could end in a total splatterfest. Rejection was the only option.
“I’ll buy you a meat skewer instead.”
“Yay!”
Since it would be awkward to buy one only for Suzuha, I bought two skewers each for the three of us.
We ate as we walked. It’s a bit bad-mannered, but it tastes so good.
“Brother! This meat is so juicy and delicious!”
“I’m glad. How about you, Yuzuriha-san?”
“Mmm, this is delicious… And knowing you bought it and handed it to me makes it taste better than any court cuisine… though of course, your home cooking is the absolute best.”
She seems happy. Good.
I bit into my own skewer.
The intense fat gently healed my tired body.
When I’m walking like a commoner, eating meat off a stick, I am free. Unbothered by anyone…
solitary, quiet, and enriched…
“Hm… You, something seems to be getting noisy over there.”
Solitary… quiet…
“Brother, it looks like a fight. The tension is high!”
Quiet… and…
“Right, let’s go stop them!”
“…I think they’ll be fine…?”
Brawls among commoners are a daily occurrence.
Some even boast that friendships are born through trading blows.
However, as a female knight, Yuzuriha-san couldn’t just leave it alone.
With a meat skewer still in my mouth, I was pulled along by my sleeve.
When we arrived, two men were trading bare-knuckle punches.
It was a perfectly typical commoner’s brawl.
Onlookers were cheering around them; it had turned into complete entertainment. Everyone looked like they were having a great time.
Yuzuriha-san looked troubled.
“…Somehow, everyone looks like they’re enjoying themselves…”
“True. Should we stop them?”
“U-Umu… well… wait, but…”
Their swings were just too wide. For Yuzuriha-san, these were the kind of punches you could dodge by a millimeter.
It was actually quite an idyllic fight.
“Well, this is just the commoner’s way of blowing off steam.”
“Then would it be uncouth to interfere?”
“Perhaps.”
But honestly, I thought something was a bit strange—
specifically, the movements of one of the men.
It was clear his moves should have been more refined, but he was obviously pretending to be an amateur.
Since it was an idyllic fight, was he just matching his opponent? How polite.
Swallowing the meat in my mouth while keeping the fight in my peripheral vision—
That was when.
One of the men pulled a knife from his robe.
“Huh!?”
Reflexively, I lunged forward at full speed.
The movement of the man who pulled the knife was different from the previous brawl; it was the movement of someone trained.
Both the opponent and the onlookers froze at the sudden turn of events.
Just before the lethal blade could find its mark,
I used the two empty skewers I had just finished eating to pinch the man’s knife and stop it.
“That’s enough!”
The reason I used the skewers instead of my bare hands was the possibility that the blade was poisoned.
“…Wh-Who the hell are you!?”
“Just a passerby. More importantly, pulling a weapon in a brawl is a taboo, isn’t it?”
“!! I can’t move the knife at all… even though it’s just being held by skewers…!?”
“I can’t overlook this, so I’ll be handing you over to the guards… there.”
Hearing footsteps, I turned to see Yuzuriha-san rushing toward me.
“Are you alright!?”
“Yes. It would be a help if you could call the guards.”
“I left that to Suzuha-kun, so it’s fine… You leaped out with such explosive force, I thought my heart was going to stop! Honestly, you…”
While I was talking to Yuzuriha-san, the crowd finally came to their senses.
“Wh-What just happened…?”
“I don’t know… that guy suddenly pulled a knife, and the next second, that young man caught the blade with two skewers!?”
“The knife guy’s arm is shaking like crazy trying to pull it back… but the knife held by those skewers won’t budge an inch!?”
“I don’t understand the situation… but I do know that young man is absurdly strong…!”
“His strength… could it rival the legendary ‘Killing Goddess’ herself…?”
Now, that’s just a massive exaggeration.
To suggest I rival the legendary female knight of our country, Yuzuriha-san—the Killing Goddess—is beyond presumptuous.
I looked at her fearfully, wondering if she was offended.
Yuzuriha-san was blushing for some reason, fidgeting with her fingers.
“D-Does that mean… that Suzuha-kun’s Brother and I… l-look like a well-matched couple…?”
“That’s not it, so please don’t be bashful.”
Because Yuzuriha-san was dressed as a man, her neutral charm was enhanced, giving her a fresh cuteness that made it hard for me to respond.
Eventually, we handed both men over to the guards Suzuha brought and went home.
As it turns out, the man who pulled the knife was an assassin, and the other man was a highly skilled craftsman from the Royal Capital summoned through the Duke’s connections. The assassin had planned to kill him
under the guise of a brawl because some fallen noble wanted to dodge a payment.
Later, the craftsman and his daughter thanked me so profusely it was embarrassing.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
5
Because the secret was out that I was the Margrave, I was banned from working at the construction site. It was that incident’s fault.
Well, if I found out the person working next to me was a noble, even a titular one, I’d be shocked too. It can’t be helped.
I returned to my daily routine of administrative work and chores in the castle office. Then, one day…
“My Lord. Do you have a moment?”
Ayano-san returned to the office, tilting her head in confusion. I nodded, letting her know it was fine.
“Um… it seems the city guard has someone they want you to meet…”
“What kind of person?”
Usually, they’d just arrest a suspicious person or bring a guest straight through.
This meant they couldn’t make a judgment.
But why did Ayano-san look so hesitant to tell me?
“…Regarding her physical characteristics, first, she is an exquisite beauty, certainly on par with Suzuha-dono or Yuzuriha-dono…”
“A relative of Yuzuriha-san?”
Suzuha shouldn’t have any female relatives, so if it was anyone, it would be Yuzuriha-san.
“Her figure is also comparable… her chest is absurdly large…”
“That’s definitely a relative of Yuzuriha-san.”
“She is dressed strangely, with her chest tightly bound in sarashi…”
“…?”
“She claims, [‘I have come to meet someone stronger than myself.’]”
“She’s a textbook suspicious person, isn’t she!?”
Still, it didn’t sound like she was doing anything wrong.
“Fine. I’ll meet her.”
“Are you sure?”
Based on the story, she’d probably be happy if I introduced her to the strongest female knight in the country—Yuzuriha-san. But I can’t allow a random person to meet Lady Yuzuriha without a letter of introduction.
On the other hand, even though I’m the Margrave, I’m basically a commoner, so it’s fine.
“I can’t let her meet Yuzuriha-san, after all!”
“…I suspect you’re thinking something stupid again, but I won’t point it out…?”
I was scolded without hesitation. Why?
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