Bear-san, Talk with a Knight
“Yuna-san, I am sensing an enchanted Knight is approaching us.” (Noa)
Noa said as she looked at the staircase. Steady footsteps could be heard coming from there. Then, the owner of the footsteps appeared in the room. It was undoubtedly a knight, just as Noa said.
“I thought a rat entered the room, but it was a bear, huh?” (Knight)
This man…the voice sounded vaguely familiar.
“Cyrus. Why are you here? Didn’t you go outside of town to kill monsters?” (Ronne)
“Ronne-sama is here too, huh? And what are you doing here?” (Cyrus)
“Rather than asking me why I’m here, I’d like to ask you why you’re here. I thought that man told you not to come in here.” (Ronne)
“I was looking for you because there was an intruder in the house.” (Cyrus)
He was looking for intruders? That would mean us, I guess?
“I just came to check the door, which was supposed to be closed, but the lock was broken.” (Cyrus)
“Well, then, since you checked, why don’t you go away now?” (Ronne)
“Not so fast. As a knight in the service of this mansion, I can’t just leave you with two strangers and a bear in this room. Above all, if I see another fairy.” (Cyrus)
The man Ronne called Cyrus looked at Primme.
Primme hid behind me, but it was too late.
Making Primme visible backfired.
“Yuna…” (Primme)
Primme said my name anxiously.
“It’s okay.” (Yuna)
I called out to Primme to reassure her and turned my attention to the knight.
“I’m more interested in the bear girl than anything else.” (Cyrus)
“Me?” (Yuna)
“You fought outside the mansion against ten knights, right?” (Cyrus)
“Were you watching that battle?” (Yuna)
Did he witness my fight?
But that place was quite a distance from the mansion.
“I was expecting somebody to come to the mansion, so I waited.” (Cyrus)
“I’m sure there was no one nearby.” (Yuna)
“There are many ways to see at that distance.” (Cyrus)
Telescopes, magic, sure, there were ways to observe.
But someone would only use them if they knew we were coming.
From what the man said earlier.
“So, was the Lord expecting us to come here?” (Yuna)
“Information is not something that can be concealed. You have to make sure that everyone who knows the information keeps their mouths shut. But I can also make a person talk.” (Cyrus)
When the number of associates with important secrets increases, there will be many targets from which information can be obtained. And from the perspective of the person who wants to gather confidential information, they simply have to get one of those people to talk about it.
So, does that mean someone leaked information about what we had planned?
Was it through threats, coercion, or force?
“The Lord and some of the other knights know about this, too.” (Cyrus)
That would be bad.
“I told you earlier. The more people who know, the greater the chance of information leaking out. The same goes for our side. Well, if we let someone leak our plans, there was also a big chance that your operation would have been canceled.” (Cyrus)
That was true.
If we had known that the Lord had discovered our plans, the operation would have been called off.
But from this man’s point of view, that seemed like a disadvantage.
“So you are the only one who knows that we are here?” (Yuna)
“Quick witted are you, I’m not that stupid. I have instructed one of my men who went to defeat the monster to return immediately with everyone else, so they may be back by now. If they return to town, they will probably notice the smoke.” (Cyrus)
If that happened, the Guild Master and the others would have to fight the returning knights.
However, there was nothing I could do about it now. I was glad that I captured the knights who were about to leave the mansion. If they had joined those who returned, the trouble would have increased.
The Guild Master and the others have already accepted that the knights from the Lord’s mansion will come to stop them. But since I have already caged them here, the early return of knights who went outside would only make our advantage zero.
“But we didn’t know just who was going to break into this mansion, so we were looking forward to it, but what showed up were two children and two bears. Oh, and a fairy.” (Cyrus)
The man looked at us.