Renee
Ah, it’s been a while, isn’t it? For me to return back to my adventuring self.
Forgive me, Alan. You might have your own, more cooperative plan to save Marina, but I can’t just let that man go without at least punishing him a little. Not even after all the things that he did, not just to Marina but also to that poor hobbit.
You would have to indulge my selfishness, just this once.
—-
First, we had to store the box of gems that we had with us in a secure place. So we went to the Adventurers’ Guild. I stored the box in their safe as a merchant, not wanting to divulge my adventurer past. And it wasn’t like I brought my card with me either. Oh, and I also added a small Barrier spell over the box, just as extra precaution.
It was easy for us to find where the man’s house was. All we had to do was ask a few people where the Benedict estate was and we were immediately given the directions to go there.
The man had a lavish state in the corner of the city—a large mansion complete with a fancy garden and a water fountain. They said that his place was even more lavish than the mansion owned by the current Lord. We even heard rumors talking about how extravagant he was in the spending of his money.
The people sure love to talk about him…
But if he has that spending habit… could it be that he’s in some sort of a financial difficulty that forces him to try and scam that hobbit for her gems?
…No matter. Financial difficulty or not, there’s no excuse for what he did.
When we arrived there, there were a pair of stern-looking guards posted in the front gate. And the moment they saw us approaching, they crossed their spears together, blocking our path.
“Halt! What business do you have with the Benedict estate?” One of them asked with an authoritative voice typical of a guard.
“We come here to meet the master of this mansion,” I answered unflinchingly. “Is he inside?”
“Hmm?” The other one suddenly walked forward. “You… are you one of Lord Benedict’s girls?” As he said that, I could tell that he was leering at my chest. Disgusting. Why must so many men be this attracted to my two mounds? This is why I don’t like to leave home that much. Even Alan is guilty of that.
Well, if it’s him, it’s alright, I suppose. Even though he’s a giant pervert who loves boobs too much, it’s my boobs that he likes, and not some other women. So I let him fondle and play with them every night all he wants.
“Ha, why would a whore bring a bunch of brats with her?”
“Maybe they’re his illegitimate children,” the other one replied with an amused grin.
Wonderful. He thought I was one of his prostitutes. And of course a man like him would habitually use such services, even though he probably had a wife already. Unlike my sweet Alan, who’s completely faithful to me and me alone, of course.
“So, is he in or not?” I asked again.
“You’re a cheeky one, aren’t you?”
“Why don’t you stay with us for a while, eh? We’ll show you a good time. Better than what that fat bastard can give you for sure.”
He then reached his arm around, no doubt planning to wrap it around my waist.
“Ugaah!”
He was blasted away like paper, crashing to the steel gate behind him.
I smiled at Hugo, who had his wand pointed at him. Aww, good boy. You want to protect Mother, don’t you?
You don’t need to worry though. Mother has this all under control.
The other guard, aghast at what just happened to his partner, immediately pointed his spear towards us. And this time around, it was Sherry who sent him flying with a kick. And right on his crotch too. Ouch.
With another kick, she threw open the gates. It stood no chance against her strength.
“Alright, you two. Stay close to me, alright?” I told them with a smile.
Now let’s see if I still get it.
“Barrier!”
A dome-like transparent structure appeared around us, with me at the center. It was an Advanced-level Holy magic—simple enough that I could cast it without my staff and still keep a decent integrity on its protection.
“And another one!”
This time, I created a barrier that enveloped the entire estate. It was not going to be used for our defense, so I made it really thin and barebone. As you might have guessed, I would use it to keep anyone from escaping. And by anyone, I meant our target, Mr. Newt Benedict.
He might have his goons try to break it, but when he did, I could just fortify it immediately. But for now, no need to waste mana for no real reason. That’s one of the very basics of being a good adventurer after all. If you could get by using a weaker spell, then use it instead of the stronger one. Being flashy for no reason would only get you killed.
“Let’s walk inside, shall we?” I told the two, before moving forward.
The commotion we caused didn’t go unnoticed. The other guards there immediately went after us, shouting “Intruders!” and such as if we were an invading force from another kingdom. Arrows were fired at us, but they only bumped impotently to my barrier. The melee fighters all swung their swords and spears at us but my barrier blocked every single one of their blows, sending them flying by the reflected impact.
Then there were the mages—four or five of them. It really didn’t matter how many they were, as their pitiful attempt at spellcasting we’re all blocked by my barrier with ease. They only cast Intermediate-level magic, all with chanting. Ha, my seven-year old son can already do that without it! And speaking of Hugo, he quickly countered them with an earth spell that tripped all of them on their feet, flipping them over. They were all standing on one nice single line after all.
A pair of horse-riding knights then appeared, each ramming their armored horses and lances at my barrier. Nope, still not good enough.
And then, I noticed it. A barrier, similar to mine, had been raised over the main building. So they must have a cleric inside.
Hmph, amateur. The consistency is all wrong. Whoever made it must not be a very skilled cleric.
“Sherry, can you break through this barrier please?” I asked her calmly. We weren’t in any rush. Those noisy guards outside my barrier couldn’t do anything to us after all.
She nodded, and unsheathed her sword. Holding it with both hands, she yelled before swinging it downwards.
She didn’t even need to make contact with the barrier directly. The wave emitted from her sword was enough to absolutely shatter the barrier and break open the front door at the same time.
“Kyaaaahh!”
A high-pitched scream could be heard coming from the inside. There, who I could only assume was the cleric who had cast the barrier, was laying down on the ground, unconscious.
Haah, that’s what you get for making such a shoddy barrier. And do you even need to put it around the entire building like that? If you only need to guard the front door, you can just concentrate the spell there, you know. She’s probably the type that just does whatever her holy spellbook says without any capability in creativity whatsoever.
“You! How dare you harm my Liliel!” The teenager in front of her shouted, drawing his rapier.
Oh dear, looking at him, and the mage-looking girl behind him, I believe we’re now up against an adventuring party.
And this party composition…
“Hey, Hugo. Sherry. Why don’t you two each fight them one on one? None of you ever got to fight strangers like them before, right?” I suggested with a small smile.
Both of them nodded, with Hugo having quite the confident grin on his face. Sherry took the lead, running straight towards the swordsman, leaping at him with her sword. Hugo on the other hand only stepped outside my barrier a little bit, before he started casting his spell towards the mage.
Heehee, even though he could cast it just fine inside the barrier. So he wants it to be a fair fight, huh?
The mage decided to chant an Advanced-level spell. Hmm, I see she’s counting on the swordsman to protect her. Their position was pretty good as well, with the swordsman blocking the pathway inside the house, thus any spells that Hugo might fire would have to go through the swordsman first.
That is, if he had used an ordinary, run-of-the-mill spell that is.
Hugo, the clever boy that he was, decided to send a blast of wind that curved right around the swordsman, hitting her before she could finish her chant. She was sent flying and crashing to the pillar behind her, knocking her unconscious as well.
As for the swordsman, well, he was too busy trying to fend off Sherry’s relentless attacks. Judging by the terrified expression on his face, I knew he was completely taken aback by the strength she was displaying. He might be skilled enough to parry her blows, with him using that defensive style that allowed him to offset the difference between their strengths, but he couldn’t do a single counterattack against her.
Yep, sure enough, he made one mistake, and immediately Sherry took the opportunity to cut through his blade, before kicking him right on the gut, sending him flying as well.
Well, that was quick.
We marched inward, though not before I cast a barrier on what remained of the front door. Now this is how you do it. Those guys shouldn’t be able to enter.
Looking at the three unconscious adventurers, who I could only guess were hired to be bodyguards for our illustrious opponent, I couldn’t help but feel bad for them. What rank were they in, I wondered?
A swordsman, a cleric, and a mage. With the swordsman having a relationship with the cleric. Hmph, what a funny coincidence.
—-
The only remaining staff that was inside were the servants, and naturally, they all ran away once they spotted us. I managed to grab one maid though, to ask her where her master might be hiding.
“I-I don’t know!” She squeaked. “I-I haven’t seen him since you guys barged in!”
“Alright, you may go.”
She immediately bolted as fast as she could the moment I released her arm.
“Hey, the front entrance is blocked, dear!” I shouted, seeing how she seemed to be heading in that direction.
No loyalty at all. No one here really likes him, most likely. Well, with that personality, I’m not surprised in the slightest.
Eventually, we managed to find him at last. It turned out he was hiding in the servant’s quarters, inside one of the maids’ rooms. Inside the wardrobe. That he couldn’t even close all the way due to his size.
“O-oh please s-spare me!” He begged immediately when I dragged him out. “I-I’ll give you anything you want! J-just please spare my life!”
A strong, acrid smell suddenly entered my nose. I looked down and saw that he had wet his trousers.
Disgusting. This pathetic, slime of a man was the one that did that to my Marina?
I threw him on the floor. My hands no longer wanted to be anywhere near his proximity.
“Oh, don’t worry. We won’t kill you. This is just a little friendly visit, to remind you of the two girls you had sent to prison yesterday. You see, I happened to be the mother of one of those girls, with him being her little brother and her the little sister.” I motioned to Hugo and Sherry. “And we are all quite mad from what you have done to her.”
“You… you’re the Greenwoods? I knew it! I knew you people would come after me! Ooh, what are those adventurers doing? They’re supposed to be B-ranks yet they can’t protect me at all! I’ve paid a fortune for them too! And right when I’m short of money as well…”
B-ranks, huh? Heehee, to think that my children are already strong enough to take them on…
And now my suspicion was confirmed. He’s having money problems, so he becomes desperate enough to do that to Sophie.
Doesn’t excuse his actions in the slightest, of course.
“Indeed we are.” I smiled, which seemed to make him flinch, oddly enough. “And we would like to ask nicely for you to let my daughter and her Hobbit friend out and forget all of this ever happened. Or else, we would expose the fact that you had scammed a poor Hobbit merchant out of her jewels. I’m sure Lord Eriol would take kindly to that revelation.”
“Y-you.. You know?!” His eyes widened.
“Of course.” I continued to smile. “Even my seven year old son could figure out your dirty trick.” I patted his head.
He turned speechless for a few moments, before he retorted, “Y-you don’t have any proof!”
“Oh, it’s not like I don’t have the box with me or anything.” I smirked, twirling the loose hair on the side of my face. “You really should put more security in your shop.”
“You… you broke into my shop? H-ha! I can get you arrested for—”
“Oh, you’re not going to get anybody else arrested,” I replied calmly. “It’s over, Newt Benedict. You know you’ve lost. So why don’t you just give up and do as I say?”
And then, I took out two parchments from my pocket. I had prepared it early on, before we went here.
“Sign this. It’s a paper that states you’re withdrawing your charges over the two of them. And another paper, saying that today’s breaking and enterings are all done by thieves not related to the Greenwood family—both here and at your shop.”
“Oh, and one more thing. The gems… I’ll be handing them back to Miss Hobbit, naturally.”
—-
Hugo
And with that, our excursion in the Benedict Mansion was over.
I was glad that it went as well as it did, even though Mother did all the work. And to think that I just won my first fight against another human! What a pleasant feeling!
I felt somewhat bad though, just sending her off blasting with my wind spell like that.
Sherry won her fight as well, though she took a little longer than me to do it. Her opponent could parry her attacks decently enough, until he just crumbled under her pure strength. To think that a nine year old girl could overwhelm what looked like a seventeen year old young man like that—I’m so proud of you, Sherry!
But Mother—she was easily the most amazing fighter that we had today. That barrier of hers—to think that it could block all those attacks without flinching in the slightest—she really was an ex S-rank cleric like she told me she was. And she could do it without her staff too, which was even more amazing! A staff or wand boosted your magic considerably that it would be foolish to cast magic without them after all.
And the way she intimidated that Newt Benedict guy… she gave him no chance at all to retaliate. I felt bad for Sherry though. The only chance she got to hit him was the slap she gave at the very end. I knew from her expression that she wanted to beat him up even more.
Me too, Sherry, me too. But I’m already satisfied enough, seeing him cower in front of Mother like that to the point of wetting himself.
If I ever got to that point, well, I would probably consider myself a complete failure and kill myself. Again. I mean, he’s not even rich anymore, with the money problem he might have, judging by what he said.
Hmph, if I had that kind of wealth, I would never squander them like he did.
I wonder why Father wouldn’t just do this from the very beginning though. In fact, what’s he doing now? I would have to ask when he got back.
Mother took the box back before returning to our inn. She told them that it would be safer with her instead of at the Guild. I’ll take her word on that, o ex S-rank adventurer.
When we got back, Father was already there. It seemed the innkeeper had informed him of our arrival when he got back.
After receiving some tongue lashing from Mother for letting this whole incident to happen in the first place, she then told him what we just did.
“And there you have it. One letter that you can give to the judge to secure Marina’s release.” She handed the parchment over with a satisfied smile.
He took it and gave a quick read of its contents. To my surprise however, instead of being happy about it, he instead had a frown drawn onto his face.
“That was reckless of you, Renee.”
“What? Reckless? Are you telling me that—”
“What if he had hired stronger adventurers? You didn’t even bring your staff with you. And you might think Hugo and Sherry are strong, but there are many far stronger people out there.”
“Oh, are you saying that we should just let go of that dirtbag? I wouldn’t be satisfied if I don’t get him to beg and whimper for what he did to Marina.”
“I know,” Father replied. “I’m really angry as well. But doing that… at the very least, you should wait for me to return first.”
“I can’t do that! Marina’s trial is tomorrow, remember?”
The two argued like this for a while, with me and Sherry exchanging uncomfortable looks at each other. It’s never fun to see your parents argue after all. At the very least, they’re doing it in our room and not in public.
I got two things out of it though.First, Mother was far more vengeful than Father if anyone dared to harm her kids. Or, another way to look at it was that Father was a calmer man than he looked. I always thought that he would be the hothead with Mother having to hold his reins, so to speak. But it turned out that it was the opposite. She really was the definition of a Mama Bear.
Another thing that I got was that Father had been investigating Newt Benedict’s connection to the underground market while he was gone. He wanted to find a solid proof to link him to it, so that Lord Eriol could arrest him for good. And he got what he wanted, as he had obtained proof that he funded an abduction ring that kidnapped vulnerable people to be sold as slaves. Slavery might be legal but abducting people like that certainly wasn’t.
Even so, after their argument, we ended up switching our rooms around. I would sleep with Father while Sherry would sleep with Mother.
Haah, sleeping in separate beds, huh? Just like arguing couples in my world…
Well, I just hope that they will make up immediately the next day. I really can’t see them not getting along like this…
And so much for sleeping with Sherry… Aah, I kinda want to play with her hair while she’s asleep too… Now I have to sleep with a big, muscled guy instead… This is the worst!
Even so, I fell asleep quite nicely that night. Knowing that terrible man was definitely going to jail for what he did, it felt me with a sense of relief. There is justice in the world after all.
