Absolutely Do Not Touch ELdmia Egga – Chapter 115

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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“I’ll try making inquiries somewhere else.”

Noble society was more isolated from commoners than I’d thought.

Unless you were a professional informant, amateurs like us scouring the streets would yield no results in a single day.

There were no other real options.

So, as Cheryl had suggested, making inquiries elsewhere meant leveraging our noble connections.

A fleeting doubt crossed my mind.

Was this even meaningful, given Lord Ekaf’s efforts?

But looking into Cheryl’s determined eyes, I understood that questioning the meaning was pointless in itself.

“Alright. I’ll head back to the mansion, change into Lagnis’s attire again, and visit the detention center Renisa told us about. I doubt I’d be well-received in this outfit.”

“Then I’ll look around a bit. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the capital. I might have some acquaintances here.”

Like Ginh whom I’d met before, Asirye seemed to have connections in the capital as well.

I watched them go their separate ways, sighed, and turned towards the mansion.

The path of upholding one’s convictions was long and arduous.

I still had much to learn and many mountains to climb.

Being hindered by political matters like this, on top of physical barriers, was incredibly frustrating.

Damn it, I need justification before I could even bite back.

From now on, I should devise countermeasures against these pests who try to gnaw at me from the outside.

With this newfound realization, I changed back into my clothes at the mansion and headed towards a relatively clean building on the outskirts.

“Bleak.”

The two-story building was simply clean, nothing more.

It was little more than a rectangular brick structure.

The second floor likely existed solely to separate the guards from the prisoners.

The surrounding area was a public street where ordinary citizens freely passed by, making it easy for faces to become known.

For commoners, being held in a building above ground might be considered decent treatment, compared to a dungeon.

But for a noble… it was outrageous.

Suppressing my discomfort, I approached the guards at the sole entrance.

They crossed their spears, blocking the door, and questioned me with practiced precision.

“This is a place where criminals are held. State your business.”

That first question alone made both the bad Eldmia and the worse Eldmia within me glare.

Criminals?

“Criminals? Did you just call a noblewoman who voluntarily submitted to temporary confinement to prove her innocence a criminal?”

I bit back a curse, forcing myself to maintain the demeanor of a family retainer as I questioned him.

I was already itching for an excuse, and this fool had just handed it to me on a silver platter.

The guard, at least 20 centimeters shorter than me, faltered slightly under my glare, seeing my uniform-like attire and half-cape.

“S-state your identity. Otherwise, I will consider you a threat and detain you.”

“I am Eldmia Egga, temporary attendant to Margrave Lagnis Lien da Levien. Now, will you answer my question? Did you just refer to the Margrave, who voluntarily presented herself for temporary confinement, as a criminal?”

I placed my hand on the pommel of my sword as I emphasized my question.

This guy might misinterpret my actions, but this wasn’t a threat.

It was preparation for combat.

Noble society had its interesting quirks.

A single poorly chosen word could tarnish one’s honor, while a well-placed one could gild it.

The problem was that the responses to such tarnishing and gilding were often extreme.

And if a commoner tarnished a noble’s honor, acting outside the law could become, ironically, legal.

A noble wrongly accused of being a criminal could legally kill the accuser in a duel.

That was why it was in a commoner’s best interest to avoid interacting with nobles.

Silence wasn’t golden; it was life-preserving.

“That is correct. This is a place where, under the Noble Council’s directive, criminals…”

“One chance. I’ll give you one chance.”

“W-what?”

However annoying the Noble Council might be, this guy was still someone’s son, someone’s family.

If he was ignorant of the law, it was an understandable mistake.

In my magnanimity, I decided to explain.

“I’ll repeat myself. Margrave Levien is here voluntarily to prove her innocence, despite being subjected to this forced temporary confinement initiated by the Noble Council. Therefore, she is not a criminal. If a commoner wrongly accuses a noble of being a criminal, they will not escape death. I’ll assume this was a mistake due to ignorance, so retract your statement.”

I’d hoped that the military wouldn’t recruit someone too stupid to understand this explanation.

But reality, as always, surpassed my expectations.

The guard, who had just been hesitant, scoffed and shook his head with newfound confidence.

“Hah… I tried to be polite, but this is ridiculous. We are the Noble Council’s private soldiers, this is where the criminal Lagnis is being held, and this is by the Noble Council’s directive. Don’t spout nonsense.”

I’d listened to his ridiculous statement for one simple reason.

“That’s quite a long will and last testament, but I’ll be sure to pass it on to the Noble Council.”

Shink!

It’s rude to interrupt a last will and testament.

I drew my sword and beheaded him before he could turn the spear he was using to block the door towards me.

I was fully healed, thanks to the treatment I’d received in the Empire.

Enhanced by magic, there was no way a mere soldier could react.

His head flew through the air, striking the wall behind the building before landing on the ground.

The other guard, who had been watching in stunned silence, recoiled in terror.

“Aaah! Emergency! Emergen—!”

He didn’t even try to swing his spear.

He just scrambled to open the door.

To help him, I kicked the door with all my might.

Crash!

Made of thin wooden planks, not even solid wood, the door exploded outwards, scattering splinters.

Hmm.

More satisfying than I’d expected.

The guard, who had seen the door shatter from the kick that had barely grazed his outstretched hand as he reached for the handle, turned pale and collapsed.

The four guards inside, just reacting to the commotion, stared at me wide-eyed, still disoriented.

“Bring out your superior officer.”

“W-what is the meaning of this?! This place is…”

“Are you the superior officer?”

The man lounging in a rocking chair by the fireplace scrambled to his feet as he spoke.

I pointed my sword at him and asked again.

No one contradicted him.

Well, it certainly looked like the superior officer’s designated seat.

Since they remained silent, I kindly explained the situation.

“I came here to visit Margrave Levien, who is being temporarily detained. Your subordinate referred to her as a criminal, despite her being here under temporary confinement. I gave him the opportunity to retract his statement, but he refused. So, I killed him, according to noble law. Any objections?”

“What preposterous accusations! We are…”

“I know you’re the Noble Council’s private soldiers, and this is a designated temporary detention center under the Noble Council’s directive. Answer my question. Are you also ignorant of the law?”

When I was in the army, the only thing I memorized was the soldier’s creed.

If that was the case in modern society, how much would these guys know about the law?

“You know the law? Are you threatening the Noble Council?”

Why was it that whenever I asked a question, I encountered more people who gave irrelevant answers than those who engaged in proper conversation?

But since there were four of them, I still had three reserves of patience.

I explained in a calm tone.

“I am a law-abiding citizen of the kingdom. Any of you who wish to claim that Margrave Levien is a criminal, draw your weapons and die. The rest of you, contact the Noble Council and request someone who understands the law and can hold a proper conversation. Your superior officer is an ignorant fool, making communication impossible.”

Actually, since the guard outside had already fled, it didn’t really matter, but since he was unlikely to give a proper explanation wherever he went, I figured I should at least explain to these guys.

Judging by their hesitant demeanor, at least one of them might listen.

But the atmosphere shifted when their superior officer began shouting

“Treason! This is an act of treason, attempting to free the criminal Lagnis! Attack!”

Even a noble had to wager everything in a duel to accuse another of treason.

This mere guard had some nerve.

Contrary to my expectations, the remaining guards, including the superior officer, drew their swords and moved to engage me.

It was pathetic, but in case one of them survived and falsely accused me of a cowardly ambush, I graciously decided to yield the first strike.

Thank you, ignorant fools, for giving me a legitimate opportunity to go wild.

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[Eldmia being suprisingly civil, and causing havoc at the same time lmao]