The response was so great that I am posting two chapters at a time.
I had originally planned to continue for about 3 chapters with the gambling, so please understand that the development may seem awfully fast.
- Bokutotsu Zen'u
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The young girl revealed her true nature. The air was tense with a shiver, and Nitta slowly spoke up.
"I had a few doubts when I first met you."
Nitta recounted the time he rescued her from bandits before entering Seve. Since that time, he has felt 'a certain discomfort' toward Nina.
'...Get the hell out of here...! I'll remember you!'
"You. At first I thought he was saying that because he was in command of the attack and thought he was the leader, but he was not the one who had his horse killed, and after all, it would be more natural to say 'you people' than 'you' in that scene..."
"..."
First Lieutenant Nomura and Senior Master Sergeant Takao listened to Nitta's explanation, and their expressions turned to realization.
"Then I thought to myself. I thought that the bandit might have said that line not to Lieutenant Nomura but to Nina-san, who was standing behind him. However, that doesn't explain the meaning of the words very well. At the time, I just thought it was a tricky thing to say."
Nitta continues to his explanation. The conversation then turns to the events of last night.
"And I definitely brought my bag back to my room last night... because my phone was in my room when I should have put it in my bag. Well, to be honest, it was during the gambling game that I remembered this, and I wasn't sure about my unconscious act of putting my phone in my bag... but what bothered me more was the wine that was in my room."
"?"
Listening to Nitta's explanation, the delegation members tilted their heads.
"We don't drink so recklessly as to be completely consumed by alcohol, but... last night, a bottle of wine got us both drunk. I thought it might have been fatigue, but... Nina-san, you left the table once during dinner last night, didn't you?"
"!?"
Shimon saw what Nitta was trying to say and looked horrified.
"Are you saying that she put something in that wine!?" She yelled at Nitta.
"It's just a possibility. There is no way to confirm it now..."
"..."
Nitta proceeded with his reasoning. Nina remained silent without changing her expression.
"Well, but that would mean that my bag was stolen from my room. There are two conditions for the thief: they must know that we are Japanese, and they must be able to identify us. And they must know that the contents of the bag are important to me. In particular, the thief must be someone who knows more than enough to know that the value of my diplomatic passport and driver's license cannot be converted into those things, because the thief did not touch the gold and silver coins that Endo has under his possession... If only the former condition were true for everyone at the inn, there are only a limited number of people in this country, or even on the continent, to whom the two conditions apply. And the decisive factor was that they correctly identified Shimon as a diplomat."
Nomura was reminded of a certain remark Rourke had made in the card game earlier when he heard these words.
'Say your piece! Or I'll sell that bureaucrat out of the country right now...'
"The first female diplomat in Japan was born in 1950. In this world where there is no concept of female diplomat, it is too unnatural to refer her as such for the first time. Right, Shimon..."
"..."
Even though Rourke was seeing Nitta and the others for the first time at that time, he correctly recognized that Shimon, who would not be considered a government official in this world, was a diplomat. Listening to these explanations, Shimon recalled a conversation she had had with Nina on the way here.
Before arriving at Seve, Mizusawa, Shimon, and Nina were having a conversation in the back of the truck. At that time, Mizusawa mentioned that Shimon was a diplomat, but Nina, who was from a world where a female diplomat was unthinkable, did not believe her. At that time, she told her about her 'diplomatic passport,' which was proof of her status as a Japanese diplomat.
"In this city, Shimon has never once stated that she is a bureaucrat. How could they have known something that even the innkeeper did not know... In other words, we know that there was someone who was leaking information to Rourke's gang."
The only people in the city of Seve who know that Shimon is a diplomat, apart from Japanese such as Nitta and Nomura, are Crown Prince Sareed, the Imperial Guardsmen Nord and Capilla who are accompanying him as his escort, and Nina.
"...Posing as a street girl, you approached us and divided us in the streets of Seve by stealing my bag... Your plotting and acting skills were brilliant. I never expected you have planned something like that."
Nina, who had been silently listening to the explanation up to this point, spoke again, perhaps taking advantage of the fact that the explanation is over.
"Fufufu, I was suspicious of you from the beginning... Your behavior today did not show me any such suspicion. Your acting ability is also impressive..."
"...The bandit who was chasing you, did he hire you to act like he was chasing you when he saw us approaching?"
"It's as if he was watching..."
"..."
The truth about the 'witch' and Nitta, who confronted her, told shocking truths one after another. Takao, Nomura, and Shimon, who were listening from the other end, blanched.
"So what are you going to do now?"
"...I will return to my Lord for the time being. We will never see each other again."
"I see..."
Nitta has a melancholy look on his face as he bids farewell to Nina. The master she describes is probably the same person who employed Rourke's gang.
"One last advice... You Japanese are a new phenomenon in this world. You will always be targeted... Prepare yourselves."
"...Oh."
The girl, who called herself Nina, gave Nitta and the others advice that was laced with threats. Immediately after that, she disappeared like the wind into the crowd at the market.
"..."
Nitta and his colleagues watched the girl disappear like a whirlwind. Nitta, Shimon, Nomura, Takao, and Capilla met up with the rest of the delegation waiting in the truck. They left the city of Seve for their next destination, Zittold, the capital of the Margraviate of Zittold.
. . .
Capital Seve Suburbs
The group that had left Seve was once again sitting on the back of the Type 73 medium truck. Those who had been separated from Nitta and the others could not believe that the young girl had deceived them, and they were feeling a sense of helplessness.
"But to target us diplomats..."
Endo, a diplomat himself, was horrified by the turn of events. The Japanese government feared that the evil hand of 'slave hunters' was reaching out to them.
"Slave hunters target people of indeterminate status, but they must have lost sight of that. I heard that Margrave Zittold purchased Miss Sawaminami from my brother for 150 gold coins."
They say money can make people lose their normal judgment. Sareed was considering the circumstances that led Rourke and his gang to commit such a heinous act. Looking at Shimon and Mizusawa, their faces were somewhat pale. They must have been shocked to find out that Nina was the one who had been working for them. After spending the night in a village near the border between the Johan Republic and the Crossnellyard Empire, the delegation finally entered the Crossnellyard Empire at noon on December 26.
. . .
December 26, Evening
Seve
On the night of the delegation's departure from Seve, a man was sitting by the window of a room in a mansion, listening to the report of his men in the night breeze.
"Rourke has screwed up..."
"Yes, unfortunately."
The voice reporting to the man was different from last night's, belonging to a girl. It was the voice of "that girl" who had tried to deceive Nitta and the others.
"Oh well. I didn't expect much from him in the first place, but he has made a good profit so far. I guess I'm done with him..."
"..."
The man states one ruthless sentence that spelled the end of Rourke's gang. The girl listened silently to his words.
"The money we collect in this city is essential for the development of our country and the spread of our God's authority throughout the world... do you understand that?"
The man asked the girl kneeling behind him.
"Yes... all for the sake of the Holy Rovance Papal State and the Absolute God Thiam..."
Candlelight flickered in the night breeze. The pale light vaguely reflected the figures of two people.