05 The Past
“I understand that Emma can clean and cook. But hey, we’re bandits, you know? There’s no need for her to stay in a place like this. I’m not saying she should go back to the convent, but wouldn’t it be better for her to go somewhere more respectable?”
Claude spoke with a serious expression.
He was rubbing his belly, which had swollen from eating too much bread, so he looked completely undignified.
“…I think no matter where I go, the Empire’s people will come after me. Otherwise, they normally wouldn’t break into a convent.”
Emma lowered her eyes. The convent was run not by the state but by the church.
Currently, the Empire was remarkably expanding its power, but faith was a separate matter from that, and the church’s influence in religious matters could not be ignored.
For the Imperial army to break into a convent was an act that carried considerable risk.
“Even so, I don’t think they’d come to a place where bandits are.”
Murakumo said with a stern look in his eyes. He seemed to be putting on airs, but he was holding his stomach from drinking too much soup. Nearby, the cat was also making sleepy sounds, its belly full.
“It’s not my place to say this, but this isn’t exactly a decent place, you know? It might actually be better to be captured by the Empire.”
Yuri pointed out coolly. However, he had eaten too much potato pie and was suffering, lying his body down on the long bench.
“I don’t want to go to the Empire. Probably, those people intend to use me as some kind of tool. That’s why they called me a key, I think.”
“What does that ‘key’ thing mean?”
Claude tilted his head.
“I don’t really understand it myself. However, ancient civilization ruins lie sleeping underground in the Kingdom of Tates. I think the Empire’s people are probably targeting that…”
“Ancient civilization ruins, huh. I see, that’s something the Empire folks would want.”
Murakumo said with disgust.
“Hmm, I wonder what kind of ruins those are? For the Empire to want them that badly, it makes me curious. Could it be magic-related?”
Yuri only seemed interested in whether the ancient civilization was related to magic.
“Either way, I don’t want to hand it over to the Empire…”
After putting his hand to his chin and thinking for a moment, Claude suddenly asked Emma.
“But hey, is it okay to tell us this kind of information? We’re bandits, you know?”
“Um, well, Claude-san and the others don’t seem like the type of people who would use ancient civilization ruins to do bad things.”
“I see, Claude is certainly a petty villain. He’s not that kind of guy.”
Murakumo laughed.
“Shut up!”
Even as he said this, Claude didn’t look entirely displeased.
“And also…”
Emma hesitated, seeming reluctant to speak.
“And also?”
Yuri prompted her to continue.
“I thought that if it’s bandits, even if I’m here, it might not be too much of a burden.”
“Why’s that?” asked Murakumo.
“Well, if bandits get caught, they’ll be hanged either way, right?”
“Eh?”
All three bandits raised their voices in unison.
Emma’s face was completely serious, and she didn’t seem to be joking.
“So you’re saying that since we’d be hanged if caught anyway, having a wanted person like yourself around wouldn’t be a burden?”
Claude was stunned.
“That’s right… but… was I being a bother?”
Emma asked fearfully.
“No, that’s right.”
Claude burst out laughing.
“Well, no doubt about it.”
Murakumo smiled wryly.
“We’re certainly fellow targets of the Empire.”
Yuri was also laughing, bending his prone body.
Seeing this, Emma wore a puzzled expression.
After laughing for a while, Claude said.
“Emma’s right, we’re also targeted by the Empire. In that sense, we’re comrades. We may be bandits, but we only target Empire folks.”
“Why do you only target the Empire?”
Emma tilted her head. She had thought bandits would plunder anyone indiscriminately.
However, it was also true that when she had first awakened and seen these three, she had intuitively thought they weren’t such bad people.
“It’s simple. We hate the Empire. Ancient civilization or whatever, I don’t know, but they dig up such things and turn them into tools of war. It’s no decent country. Naturally, we can’t let them have the Tates Kingdom ruins either.”
As Claude said, the Empire was a country that had excavated ruins of ancient civilizations said to have perished long ago, and used the technology obtained from them to rapidly expand its power. Guns and cannons were representative examples of this.
Until then, battlefields had been the domain only of chosen individuals like knights and magic users, but the Empire mobilized large numbers of commoners as soldiers and had them use new technology to overwhelm other countries through sheer numbers.
Because they forcibly expanded their territory with such powerful military might, there were many who hated the Empire. Claude seemed to be one of them.
“Murakumo and Yuri had their countries destroyed. Moreover, since they resisted to the very end, they’re marked as enemies by the Empire. That’s where I scouted them to be bandits. Well, they became my companions because I was so charming.”
Pointing at the two, Claude said proudly.
“Don’t make me laugh. I was talked into it, and it became a matter of ‘whoever wins the fist fight gets their way,’ so I was practically forced to become a companion. It was like being suddenly pushed down before any sweet talk. It was the worst approach.”
Murakumo furrowed his brow and wore an annoyed expression.
“I was told, ‘You have no ability to take care of yourself anyway, right? I’ll take care of you,’ and before I knew it, I’d been made into a bandit. It was like fraud. Well, the bandit trade isn’t so bad though.”
Yuri shrugged his shoulders lightly in resignation.
“You guys are so noisy! That’s not manly!”
At his companions’ protests, Claude raised his voice to cover his embarrassment.
“Anyway, we’re Empire-specialized bandits. Welcome, Emma. I don’t know if you’re a key or what, but if you’re being targeted by the Empire, we’ll protect you. If it’ll annoy those guys, you’re more than welcome.”
Claude spread his arms wide in a theatrical manner.
Murakumo and Yuri were also laughing as if they had no objections.
Thus Emma came to reside in the bandits’ fortress.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
Emma worked harder than one would expect from a former princess.
She would wake up early in the morning to wash and hang the laundry, begin preparing breakfast, and after the bandits finished eating, she would clean up and then start cleaning.
When the cleaning was done, she would prepare lunch while simultaneously preparing dinner. She was remarkably practiced at it all.
Since Emma took care of all the housework, the bandits spent their days as they pleased. Claude often went out somewhere and wasn’t around much, but Murakumo was usually absorbed in sword training, and Yuri in magical research.
One evening, watching Emma taking in the laundry, Murakumo casually called out to her.
“You don’t need to work so hard. We’re just bandits after all. Nobody would complain if you slacked off a bit.”
Emma paused momentarily and smiled at Murakumo.
“That’s not true. I’m someone who’s being sheltered here. This is like a way of showing my gratitude.”
“Claude just kidnapped you because he mistook you for treasure. You don’t need to feel so indebted.”
“I wonder about that? For all that, Claude-san has been very kind to me.”
Hearing this, Murakumo thought about it. Claude liked women but was basically misanthropic. Indeed, for that man, he might be treating Emma gently.
“Well, for him, he might be being kind…”
“See? And my mother used to tell me often: ‘If someone is kind to you once, return the kindness once.’ She’d say, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the world worked that way?’ I think so too. So I try to be kind to people as much as possible.”
“I’ve heard that somewhere before.”
Murakumo thought it might be a saying from the Kingdom of Tates.
“Even so, is Emma really a princess? I’m the one who got it out of you, but you seem strangely practiced at housework.”
Even for a small country, for someone of royal birth, Emma seemed too accustomed to labor.
Emma’s hands stopped completely.
After showing a somewhat troubled expression for a moment, she slowly began to speak.
“Actually, I was originally just a commoner. I lived in the forest with my mother. Since my mother worked for a living, I took care of the house. I’ve actually been doing everything since I was small.”
Emma resumed moving her hands and began taking in the laundry again.
“So how did you become a princess?”
“After my mother died of illness, I was taken in by the castle. My mother had apparently worked at the castle originally, and there she became close to the king… My real father was the king. The king had also lost his queen early, so it wasn’t adultery or anything, but the royal family cared greatly about bloodlines, and marrying a commoner was unthinkable, so my mother apparently withdrew.”
“You were already conceived at that time?”
“Yes… But my mother was a very cheerful person, so life wasn’t that difficult. She also said my father was ‘a very good person’ and never spoke ill of him. I never imagined he was the king though.”
Emma wore a troubled expression.
“However, didn’t you feel uncomfortable at the castle then?”
Murakumo thought that in a royal family that valued bloodlines, Emma, whose mother was a commoner, would have been treated terribly.
“Well, you see…”
Emma’s lips curved into a smile.
“There were people who were mean to me, but it wasn’t really a big deal. I mean, they’d say things like ‘Clean!’ But I’m good at that. I did it gladly. They’d also serve me the same food as the servants, but even that was much grander than what I ate at home. I was totally fine with it.”
“I see.”
Murakumo couldn’t help but laugh. Anyone could see that Emma was a girl with a solid core who wouldn’t be discouraged by such petty harassment. She gave off a sense of good upbringing far more than most noble daughters. Her mother must have been a well-accomplished person to have caught the king’s eye.
“And also… my father the king and my brother the prince were both good to me. So the harassment that wasn’t really harassment ended quickly. Rather, the education as a princess that started afterward was much more painful for me.”
Saying this, Emma laughed mischievously.
“…What happened to that king and prince? Were they killed by the Empire?”
After hesitating a little, Murakumo asked.
“The king… my father is dead, they say. Since it was after he helped me escape, I heard it as a rumor, but apparently he resisted the Empire to the very end. As for my brother, I don’t know. But he was a very justice-minded person, so I think he probably fought the Empire and died.”
Sadness dwelt in Emma’s eyes. Seeing this, Murakumo tried to say something comforting, but Emma spoke bravely before he could.
“My brother was very skilled with the sword and had never lost to anyone. I think he was probably as strong as Murakumo-san.”
The former princess wore a slightly sad smile.
TLNOTE
While waiting for the next chapter, I encourage you, dear readers, to explore other masterpieces written by Daken-sensei :
- Monster Meat Led Me to the Throne
- Who killed the Hero?
- The Wicked Princess and 12 Eyes – The Strongest Squires and the Legendary Evil Woman, the Second Time in Her Life
- The Suspects of Necromancy
- The Exiled Merchant Saves the World with the Power of Gold (translated by my friend meerkat)
- The Last Magic (translated by my friend narwhal)
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
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