"I'll take this and that as well, please."
"That's fine, but are you throwing a party, little lady?""No, I'm thinking of making so boxed lunches.""Just how big of an eater are you feeding?"
Ingrid had parted ways with Claudia and arrived at the market accompanied by two Garden Guards as escorts.A beautiful woman in a maid uniform, with two armored guards—an unusual combination that caught the eyes of shopkeepers and shoppers alike.
So housewives whispered that she might be a noble's daughter.But that speculation was denied by the sight of her picking up vegetables herself and critically examining them with a sharp eye.
So shopkeepers guessed she was a maid serving so mansion.But would a maid be escorted by two fully ard samurai from the eastern continent?
"No, just preparing food for a number of people.""Is that so? Well, I'm happy to close up shop early thanks to you.""Here's the paynt.""...Got it. Co again.""I might, if you procure quality goods again.""Bold one, aren't you? I'll make sure to stock good vegetables that et your standards."
The vegetable vendor, intimidated by her expressionless yet beautiful face, had initially responded timidly. But watching Ingrid carefully select vegetables, he realized she had a human side and resud business normally.
She was more polite than any noble's ssenger, never haggled or made unreasonable complaints.That alone made her a good custor in the citizens' eyes.Plus, she bought in bulk.That alone made the sales more than satisfactory.
Ingrid then lifted the gathered vegetables with ease, drawing stunned gazes wondering where such strength ca from her slender arms.One might think it was so kind of performance, but with her high stats, she could do it naturally.
"Shall I carry that for you?""No, I cannot impede the guards' arms. Please focus on watching our surroundings."
Unable to bear the sight of a woman carrying large amounts of food while the guards remained empty-handed, one Garden Guard offered help. But Ingrid did not wish to hinder their role as "guards."
The luggage itself was only awkward to carry, not heavy.Resigning herself to just endure until she could put it in her magic bag down a side alley, she was about to set off in search of more ingredients when—
A small shadow darted out from under a tree.It was wrapped in a shabby hood, its face hidden, but its movents were quick.A hand reached straight for Ingrid's bag.
A practiced cri, executed at the mont when onlookers' attention was focused on Ingrid.An ordinary person would have had their bag snatched and watched the thief disappear into the crowd.
"Guh!?""My apologies. That is sothing entrusted to by soone important. I must ask you to refrain from touching it."
But the thief had picked the wrong target.Perhaps because they had seen her carrying large sums of money, the snatch-and-grab culprit had seized that one chance. But a lightning-fast leg sweep knocked them off balance, and a rciless foot on their back pinned them down.
With the added weight of the vegetables she was carrying, a pressure unimaginable from Ingrid's slender fra assailed the culprit.Regardless of reason, she showed no rcy to thieves.Moreover, attempting to steal the bag entrusted to her by her beloved Liberta was deserving of a thousand deaths.
She had noticed the movent and restrained the Garden Guards with a look, delivering judgnt herself for that very reason.Another reason was to prevent the guards, who had reached for their swords, from cutting off the culprit's arm.Ingrid judged that shedding blood in broad daylight would be unwise.
"Ghaa!""It's in your best interest not to move. If I miscalculate my force, I could easily crush your shoulder."
But that didn't an she would show rcy. She kept her foot firmly planted on the thief trying to escape.When she applied weight to the thief's shoulder struggling beneath her foot, a sharp pain seed to shoot through them, and the small body writhed in agony.
To so circles, this might be a sight that elicited cries of "This is a reward!", but neither party felt even a trace of such sentint.
"Restrain them.""Yes, ma'am!"
The Garden Guards, whose protective role had been usurped, followed Ingrid's instruction and quickly bound the thief with tourniquets from their tool pouches.
"Damn it!""Could you not see us guards? To target Ingrid-dono... a foolhardy thief indeed."
When the hood was pulled back, revealed was an androgynous face with dull blonde hair cut roughly.The face, glaring with clenched teeth, seed to harbor deep resentnt.
"A dwarf, is it...?"
The distinctive ears, pointed triangular yet not as long as an elf's—it was the mark of the dwarf race Ingrid had pointed out.
"I'll ask you just in case: have we t before?""......"
For Ingrid, this was a first encounter. Raised in the Gryure family with its creed of trust, her mory was above average.Even dredging through her mories, she had no recollection of eting this person, be they boy or girl.
In response to Ingrid's question, the culprit rely glared and remained silent.
Judging this troubleso, Ingrid, who showed emotion to none outside her circle, made a decision with an expressionless face.
"Then we will turn you over to the knights' station just as you are. The penalty for theft is amputation of the hand you used to attempt the theft. Spend the rest of your life regretting it, bearing that scar."
It's easy to forget when with Liberta, but Ingrid, too, is a noble.If a criminal offers no defense, she has no hesitation in judging them flatly and bureaucratically.
At hearing the penalty, the thief's eyes flew open with a jolt.
"...Don't know you, not one bit."
Perhaps disliking the prospect of losing an arm, they answered properly in a hoarse voice.Though reluctant, Ingrid judged there was no lie there.
"Is that so? Then why did you target ? As you can see, I have guards. If money was your goal, targeting seems a poor choice."
They weren't lying, but she judged they were still hiding sothing.A deanor she would never show Liberta—the behavior of a cold-blooded noble.A public interrogation, surrounded by onlookers gathered to see what was happening.
"......""It's a bit regrettable, but ti is precious, so it cannot be helped.""Huh?"
Questioned normally, they naturally wouldn't answer imdiately.Targeting Ingrid—soone had ordered it.There was a client; accepting that commission was obvious.
Unable to leave a seed of anxiety unattended, Ingrid set down the bag of vegetables at her feet and took out one apple.
"Ha! Trying to bribe with one apple!? Don't mock !""No, this apple is—"
She crouched down and gently held it out before the thief.A scene that practically said "eat."
The thief, thinking themselves mocked, lashed out in anger, but Ingrid, unfazed by the anger, calmly pinched the apple between her index and middle finger.
"Like this."
"Huh?"
The next instant, she demonstrated the astonishing feat of "cutting" the apple with her fingers.Not crushing it. High-level adventurers could probably destroy it with brute force.
But the abnormal sight of an apple being split clean in two, as if by a sharp blade, left onlookers stunned.
"I-It's so kind of skill!! Threats like that won't—""No, it's raw strength."
When confronted with the extraordinary, humans try to steer their thoughts in convenient directions.They replace it with comprehensible phenona and try to accept it.The unknown directly connects to fear, and they instinctively avoid the inexplicable.
What did the thief see Ingrid as now?
"A-An apple, even I could—""Then I can also do this."
Before the thief, desperately trying to shake off fear with bravado, Ingrid quietly raised her index finger.The crowd, the thief—all were drawn to follow that finger.
A well-manicured, glossy finger dripping with apple juice.A finger so graceful one couldn't imagine it had just split an apple.What would that finger do next? Gazes filled with a mix of expectation and anxiety converged on that single point.
Then, the fingertip was brought down in a flowing motion.
"I-It pierced...""That's stone pavent, damn it."
Ingrid's index finger had pierced a hole in the stone pavent.With absurd ease. As if piercing wet paper.Her finger was embedded in the hard stone as if the hole had always been there.
"I-It just happened to be a hole there—""Shall I try it on your body next?"
The thief didn't want to accept reality. Sothing like this couldn't be possible.In their common sense, no woman capable of such a feat existed.
That's what they must have thought, yet—
"Eeek!?"
The maid looking down expressionlessly—the pressure radiating from Ingrid made the thief sweat from every pore.Whether it was pride as a thief, or their body simply froze from sheer terror, they managed not to lose control of their bladder.
"I will ask you questions exactly three tis now. You may choose silence twice. If you choose silence a third ti... you understand what will happen, don't you?""......"
For Ingrid, this cold noble persona was sothing she never wanted to show Liberta and the others.Her kind companions, the people who valued her.She was profoundly relieved they were not present here.
Toward those who direct hostility at them, Ingrid had no option for rcy.She wouldn't kill, but she fixed the thief with a gaze so icy it made them feel they would be killed.
"Ghk!?""That was your first silence. I'll ask the sa question. Do you understand?"
Before the pinned thief's eyes. She thrust her finger again, piercing another new hole in the pavent.This ti, she truly slamd reality ho.There had been no hole there.Ingrid slowly withdrew her finger, as if to drive the point ho.
"Gh...!"
At that act, the thief finally understood the aning of the "question" and nodded frantically, throwing caution to the wind.
What would happen if an attack that could punch holes in stone pavent was driven into their forehead?Imagining it, the thief's face turned ashen.A quick death would be rciful. But to be marked with despair that wouldn't let them die...
Such imaginings filled their mind.
Of course, Ingrid had no intention of doing sothing so cruel in public.But her expressionlessness and abnormal ability led those around to envision the worst outco.
"Now, I will ask my questions. What is your na?""...Gin.""Yes. Now, Gin-sama, why did you target ?"
The common sense that she "couldn't possibly" was overwritten by the premonition that she "just might."
"Please answer.""...A-an order. I was ordered to steal your bag!"
Bad premonitions stir anxiety, shatter reason, and tip the scales.Even information about the employer, which should never be spoken, was willingly spilled by a tongue grown slick, ard with the excuse of a life-threatening crisis.
"Is that so? Then—"
However, no matter how smoothly it was spoken, if it was a lie, it had no aning.
"That would be the sa as a second silence. Next ti... I'll aim here."
Ingrid was a girl raised in a noble society coated in pretense and lies.Seeing through an improvisational thief's lies was, for her, easier than twisting a baby's arm.
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