Reborn as the Hero's Daughter

Chapter 41: Cleanup

For the time being, we need to clean things up in this place. I can’t just leave this elven child here forever, and there are probably three more of them hidden inside other logs.

「That’s right, can you go call out to some guards? With my legs right now, I won’t be able to do it」 「Ahh, that’s right. What about those children? 」 「These children were kidnapped by those people. I will watch over them while I’m waiting here」 「Eh, so those people were all kidnappers……」 「What, what did you think they were」 「Well, I don’t really know what happened, I thought they tried to bully Nicole-chan and were bad guys」

『You don’t really know, you say』 You, don’t point such menacing weapons at people when you don’t really understand the situation!? I was quite surprised by Michelle-chan’s ruthless behavior and secretly shiver upon discovering it.

「F- for the time being, because of the current situation, I would be glad if you could contact someone to ask for help 」 「Un, I’ll go tell the guards, and then Finia Nee-chan……and Cortina-sama too!」 「Eh, wa- wait……!?」

Wait, if you inform Finia that I have been injured again, she will definitely cry and blame herself again. I wanted to stop Michelle-chan and tried to stand up, but my legs won’t listen to what I wanted it to do. She ran away so fast that it only took a blink of an eye before she disappeared from my field of view. I’m jealous of that energetic spirit……

A bit later, the city guards came along with Maxwell, and he covered for us. I fell asleep from exhaustion after explaining everything that happened, and by the time I woke up, I was already in Cortina’s house. Apparently, after knowing that I am in the care of Maxwell and also Lyell’s daughter, I was exempted from the investigations.

I’ve also heard indirectly from Maxwell that there were kidnapping incidents happening in this town before, and it seems like the two of them were tasked to investigate. Because of Finia, I was given the opportunity to detect a strange incident, but I didn’t know what I would be driven into. Fortunately, I was safe, but that situation was indeed quite dangerous.

Well, there’s currently a much more annoying problem than that.

「Seriously! As soon as I look away, Nicole-sama would always find herself in dangerous situations!」 「Well, um, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect that situation to actually end up becoming that dangerous」 「Why did you fight them head-on in the first place? You could have just escaped」 「No, you see, there were hostages taken, so I couldn’t just leave them behind」 「Compared to all those people, Nicole-sama is more important!」 「Nonono, Finia-chan? Didn’t you hear about the daughter of a very powerful aristocrat included in those kidnapped people? 」

While I was being angrily preached by Finia, Cortina takes over. I am thankful for the help, but when she stared at me, it felt like cold sweat came rolling down my spine.

「Even so, facing those kidnappers on your own is also no good Nicole-chan, but don’t you think it’s quite a splendid result despite the mess she ended up with?」 「But that’s just. If I take my eyes away from her again, she might end up disappearing somewhere again」 「That’s because I am free spirited」

I stood upright, then puffs my chest forward as I declared that, but well, it’s not really a dignified image. It’s definitely a bad habit that remained from my previous life where I try to solve things in the fastest way possible. If I continue this streak of resolving things with the fastest method, I’ll just probably end up becoming an assassin once again.

「There might have been other ways to do it, you know. So for now, reflect on your actions」 「Please do consider how dangerous the situation is……Please don’t do something so reckless again, okay?」 「Un, I will do my best in having a more positive result as possible」 「What did you say, why are you now imitating the words of a government official……」 「Ahaha, this child has a few screws loose in her head. Is she trying to imitate Maria? 」

Cortina smacks my back while laughing out loud. She still possessed the inherent ability of cat people to ease up the situation, so I didn’t think much about what she did.

「Alright, let’s all take a bath together, then let’s hear about Nicole-chan’s epic saga」 「Cortina-sama, I don’t think it’s the right time for that though……」 「Then, should we talk about her past misadventures?」 「About that, there was a time when Nicole-sama broke Maria’s favorite cup, she then secretly sneaked out and buried it in the garden――」 「Why, why do you know about that!?」

At that time, I was really afraid of Maria’s punishment, and should really have acted more cautiously than I should. How did an amateur like Finia be able to follow my traces though?

「If you were thinking about how I found it, it was because I found some traces of unnaturally dug up soil in the garden when I was tending to it」 「Uguh」 「Ahaha, seriously, Nicole-chan, that was the best. This will really be a lot of fun! 」

Cat people are also very cheerful individuals, and the place becoming livelier is also a big welcome. For me though, I have always wanted to concentrate on training quietly since my early childhood.

I was caught by Cortina and was dragged into the bathroom. This is the beginning of my life here in Raum, it was quite a turbulent start.