Just as things were beginning to settle down, the door creaked open again—and this time, the man dressed in those same suspicious clothes strolled in.
“Heh heh. So, boss, what happened to those idiots who tried to resis—?”
“““Ah.”””
The shady man glanced around the room with a smug grin, rubbing his hands together, only to lock eyes with the real soldiers—and us.
His expression instantly froze. Too late. Far, far too late.
“Seize him!”
“Yes, sir!”
“W-Wait! Hold on! W-wait a sec—!”
Whatever excuse he was about to make got cut short as the soldiers quickly rushed in and pinned him to the ground.
No doubt he’d come to check on his partner-in-crime—the soldier he had bribed.
“We’ve gathered most of the situation from the slime’s written messages,” one of the soldiers said calmly. “But would you mind explaining a bit more in detail?”
“Understood. But if possible, could we talk in the hallway? The children are trying to sleep.”
“Of course, of course. Let’s step outside.”
Thank goodness these soldiers are easy to talk to.
While the detained men were dragged out into the hallway, I walked alongside the soldier to go over the situation more clearly.
Sue and Shiro looked utterly exhausted, so I let them stay behind and rest.
“Good grief… I never imagined this string of robberies would be tied to someone like him. No wonder nothing ever reached our guard post—he was the one covering it all up. Come to think of it, the incidents always happened when he was on night duty.”
“He sounded way too comfortable with it all. My guess is that this wasn’t his first time helping criminals.”
“Disgraceful… utterly shameful. I offer my deepest apologies.”
The soldier, the same one who’d spoken with the carriage driver earlier, seemed like a genuinely good man. He not only apologized on behalf of his comrade but had already begun a full investigation of the inn without missing a beat.
“We found sleeping pills in the kitchen.”
A soldier reported.
“And a stash of valuables hidden in the manager’s office.”
“Good work. Now we just need to trace the flow of the funds.”
“Yes, we’ll need to find out exactly where that money is going.”
From the sound of things, it looked like this case was all but wrapped up. As the last of the reports came in, the tension finally left my shoulders—and a wave of exhaustion hit me.
“Yaaawn… Oh, excuse me.”
“No need to apologize. You’ve done more than enough. We can handle things from here—please, get some rest.”
“In that case… I’ll leave it to you guys. Thank you.”
Leaving things in capable hands, I headed back to the room, feeling the weight of fatigue in my limbs. Once my concentration slipped, sleep hit me hard.
When I returned to the room, I found that Sue and Shiro had already claimed my bed, curled up and fast asleep. I didn’t have the heart to move them, so instead, I slid into the other bed—where Fran and Horn were already snuggled up.
Ao promised to wake me if anything happened. I nodded as I could trust her.
I’ll leave it all you, Ao.
And with that thought, a heavy drowsiness hit me. Within moments, I too, was sound asleep.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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