Chapter 881: Charlotte’s Ability
Charlotte managed to hold her own against the sudden encirclement by the female slaves thanks to a little trick involving a blindfold, but in the end, she took a liking to Apple, whose temperament was most similar to her own. It seemed to help that she was the only member of this expedition’s party hailing from the Northern Forest.
“It’s not like I’m planning to eat you or anything, you know”
“When a dragon says something like that, it doesn’t sound like a joke”
A chop to Corti’s head. Glancing at that, Dianne crossed her arms, smiled, and spoke up.
“It’s a good thing she found someone to rely on, even if it’s just for now. Since Apple isn’t a combatant, she has plenty of free time”
“Now that she’s become a female slave, I’d like her to get along with me too, though☆”
“It’ll probably take a while for her to come to appreciate big sister’s abilities. Well, she’ll end up relying on me eventually”
Meanwhile, Anzeros and Aurora, who had been actively trying to strike up a conversation, looked disappointed.
“I just end up scaring people…people always tell me I lack presence, though”
“In terms of lineage, I’m actually closer to Apple than she is…”
People may say she lacks presence, but for a true small animal type like Charlotte, the confidence radiating from Anzeros and the others must be dazzling. Also, Aurora, I think it’s hard to expect you to feel the bonds of an elven clan here, those ties go back thousands of years. ……And then there’s Naris and Tetes, who had been mostly watching from the sidelines.
“It’s not a good idea to get too familiar with a girl like that all of a sudden”
“It’s our Master anyway, and we’ll be having our exchange matches in bed, so until then, a natural distance is fine, right?”
“No, Tetes-chan, come to think of it, that logic is flawed. Normally, sharing a penis doesn’t make you friends”
“Normal is a meaningless word to us anyway♪”
Tetes brushed it off, but now that she mentioned it, it was true that under normal circumstances, that would be a source of conflict. And as always, Luna was intently observing Charlotte’s movements from a distance, neither too close nor too far. She didn’t seem to have any intention of getting particularly friendly, but then again, Luna is like that with everyone. She doesn’t treat anyone coldly, but she doesn’t make an effort to close the distance either. That cat-like sense of distance is truly what makes her who she is. Once Charlotte stepped out of the circle, she removed her blindfold. Still, she positioned herself diagonally behind Apple to avoid making eye contact with her as she chatted about something. Judging by the scattered words drifting over, they were probably talking about food.
“So, Dianne. How do you plan to make use of her ability? Even if she isn’t cut out for direct combat, actively utilizing her stealth skills is bound to attract suspicion”
Almeida cut in. Dianne murmured, 「You’re right」, gazed at her for a moment, and after a brief pause, continued.
“Shall we play a little game?”
Ace Knight, Gauntlet knights and the former Heroes were all summoned to the captain’s office.
“The premise is pretend prison break”
“A, a prison break?”
“I’ll explain the rules to Charlotte now and have her lead someone to escape from this Celesta Mansion. She can take any route she wants; if she makes it to the gate of the neighboring mansion, she wins. Your job is to stop her. If you touch either her or her companion, it’s game over. We start over from the beginning”
“Her companion…”
“This time, I’ll ask Apple to do it. If she can hide on her own, then Almeida, Naris, and Beatrice, who can’t use magic, won’t be of any use. They’d be dead weight”
“…So, you’re saying she has the stealth skills to slip past our full-force surveillance while escorting someone…that’s what you’re assuming, isn’t it, Dianne-san?”
Dianne-san nodded at Anzeros’s words.
“That’s right. ……If she can do this, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine that she’ll have plenty of opportunities to shine, even if she can’t fight”
“!”
Take the recent Talc conflict, for example. If someone could pull off a feat like that flawlessly, Isabelle wouldn’t have been cornered, and we could have successfully slipped her out of the ogres’ encirclement. And going further back, in the Kalwin incident and the battle on Red Whale Island, the range of what we could do would expand dramatically. Charlotte herself wouldn’t even need to fight. If she could reap those benefits and freely send others in or get them out, the possibilities would be staggering. After all, if you didn’t know about it in advance, even a dragon could be outwitted. It could even become an absolute trump card. ……If she could do that, that is.
“Operations involving other people are a whole different ballgame from doing things alone. Do you really think it’ll go that smoothly?”
Tetes says this with a hint of amusement. Behind her, Naris wears an expression that says, 「Tetes is getting a big head…I have a bad feeling about this…」. Her face speaks volumes.
“It’d be unfair to have the dragons keep watch right off the bat. This time, let’s have this group act as the prison guards. Hey, just relax. If we manage to stop them, how about you get to request whatever you want for lunch?”
When Dianne said that, Neia and Naris suddenly perked up.
“I want to eat sausage!”
“Can we splurge a little and go to a Noikis restaurant?”
“……Yeah, do whatever you want”
Dianne gave a wry smile, confirmed everyone’s positions, and they scattered.
And so, the game began. I also stood guard at the front entrance with Anzeros as a prison guard……but.
“It’s over”
Suddenly, Emma appeared right in front of me, and Anzeros and I exchanged glances.
“Who caught them?”
“We didn’t catch them. ……The escape was successful”
“Eh?”
“We had a setup to seal off all the exits, right……?”
On top of that, with Apple, who’s a complete amateur at stealth, in tow……and they walked out almost straight ahead in that amount of time?
When we went out the gate and to the front of the neighboring mansion, Charlotte and Apple were really just standing there normally. Neia and Naris looked frustrated.
“How did you escape……?”
“Eh, normally……while being careful not to get seen……”
“Normally!?”
“Hiu……y, yes……”
What does normally even mean to this girl?
“Apple, how did you……?”
“Uh, well……we just slipped right out together……it was almost mysterious”
“…………”
Without even using magic?
“……She’s the real deal”
Dianne muttered happily, though with a slight bead of cold sweat on her brow.