6. The Second Princess

「Seize that man!」

Almosso snapped at the soldiers still standing there stupid. The three who came back to themselves came at me at once.

I grabbed a spearhead and snapped it off.

Then I hit them. Just punches.

They went into the wall and stayed there.

「Hey! Someone! Is anyone there!」

Almosso yelled. Voice cracking.

Footsteps. Three more.

「Intruder—no. Assassin. Kill him!」

「Yes!」

They came in on his order.

Following orders. I kept it light. Punches. Out.

Reinforcements twice more. Same result.

「That is it. Just you.」

「E—eat this!」

He pulled something like a wand and pointed it at me.

Flame wrapped me.

Hot.

Hot, not unbearable.

It went out. Clothes were a mess. Skin and hair were fine.

「What— magic does not work on you?」

「Heat tolerance ×777, I guess. Not the point.」

I looked at him.

One step. Punch to the side of the head.

He went through the air, bounced, and stayed down.

Breathing. Out.

「Now what.」

I looked around.

One soldier trying to get up. On the floor. Backing away.

「Oi.」

「Hih! Don’t kill me!」

「…Do what I say and you live.」

Not worth correcting the idea.

I found a pen in the mess and threw it at him.

「Write what I tell you.」

「On what… where…」

「Wait.」

The rope they had used on me — cuffs were scrap — I tied Almosso with that.

Then I tore his clothes off the top half.

「Write it here. I caused the copper shortage. I was melting the coin and selling the metal.」

「Eh? Th-that is—」

「Write it or I kill you.」

After a little of that, he wrote it on Almosso’s chest.

I slung Almosso over my back and went to the hideout.

Five men. They started shouting. Then they saw who I was carrying. They understood and came with weapons.

I put them down.

Tied them with him.

I dragged Almosso and the five into the square in the middle of town.

Pinned them up.

For a finish I tried to draw Helene’s crest with the pen.

「Aah! Too complicated!」

Could not make it look real. Scrubbed it. Wrote 「777」 instead.

A crowd formed.

「I am the one responsible for the copper shortage…? Copper?」

「It cannot be. Almosso-sama?」

「No. He would. Since Almosso took over, remint fees went insane. Money-grubber.」

「Melting coin is a death felony.」

「Men like that do not think that far. They think about the take.」

They argued.

More people. Louder.

I picked the voices on purpose. They had been angry already. The loud line was he would, I knew he would someday.

「I know that one. He used to swap copper for silver.」

「I swapped with this one. On the way to remint. Cheaper than the fee… but」

That too.

Together it locked him in.

The next day I was called to the town office.

A woman in armor that cost more than a knight’s.

Knights with her. One of them started.

「In the presence of Her Highness Iris Teresia Mercouri, lower your—」

「Enough.」

Iris put a hand out and stopped him.

「No point in that here. I want to hear him.」

「Well… I have a question too. You are Princess Helene’s…?」

「Younger sister. Iris.」

「Thought so.」

Almost the same name. The face even more so.

Helene is ladylike. This one is sharp and formal.

Opposites. Still sisters at a glance. Brow to mouth.

「And you.」

「Uh. Yuuki. Kakeru Yuuki.」

「Kakeru. A few questions. First.」

She pointed at my waist. Helene’s fan.

「Yeah. Princess Helene gave it to me.」

I took it out and showed her.

She took it and looked hard.

「My sister’s. And she gave it to you.」

「Eh? How do you know that.」

「The crest needs our magic to hold once it leaves our hand. Stolen, it is gone in half a day.」

「That is how it works.」

「I had to ask first. You could have been a fake.」

「…Not entirely wrong.」

「What.」

She frowned. I told her all of it.

Saving Helene. The fan.

Walking into the copper mess and saying I worked for Helene so someone would listen.

All of it.

「I see. That answers another thing. I could not see why my sister, who lives on military work, would touch coin.」

「Sorry.」

Half an apology.

「Small before large. Besides. Fufu.」

She laughed.

Stern since I walked in. First smile.

Clean. I looked too long.

「You used it without leave. Not for yourself. The result still shows my sister can pick people.」

「Oh. Yeah.」

「But. Haaah…」

「What.」

「The same thing keeps happening. People melt coin and sell the metal. I jail them when I find them. It does not stop.」

「Nothing else you can do?」

「There is. Cut the copper in the alloy, for one. That looks like the country is weakening. Prestige takes the hit.」

「I see. Ugly problem.」

Not one ×777 punches through.

（If I find it again, I crush it.）

I put the fan back.

Then it hit.

「Princess Iris.」

「What.」

「There might be a way.」

「Speak.」

She looked at me like she did not expect much.

If it worked, that face might change.

I said what had come to me.