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“It’ll be alright,” she said with a smile, patting Leena’s shoulder before wedging herself between the debt collectors and Regina as if to protect her.

“Huuuh?! Who the hell are you?!”

“I’m a part-timer working at this diner.”

“Huuh?! A temp worker like you should stay the hell out of this.”

“I cannot do that. Because, if this diner closes down, I won’t be able to continue my Social Studies.”

“What the hell are you going on about?!”

When the man attempted to come closer, Effy thrust a finger in his face.

 “Your goal isn’t to recollect their debt, but this diner, isn’t it? You want to use this space as a building plot, don’t you?”

Both Regina and Leena were baffled by Effy’s words. However, as if to confirm her proclamation, the debt collector’s face turned pale.

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about. This diner is…that’s right. We were simply told to come and collect the debt before it becomes impossible to do so because this diner’s owner is sick and cannot even get up from bed!”

“If you want to tell lies, you should at least stop turning your eyes to the upper right.”

When a person makes up a story – in other words, when someone is lying, they tend to shift their eyes to the upper-right corner. But it seemed that the debt collectors didn’t know this so they just stared at her in bewilderment. 

“I see. Is this what they mean when they say that ‘If you don’t lower yourself to your partner’s level, communication is meaningless’?” Effy said in response to their reaction and let out a small sigh.

“Hey, are you making fun of me or something?!”

“Naturally, you must be aware that diagonally across this diner, there is a café that will sell desserts -including crêpes – under construction?”

“What about it?”

“That café is connected to the royal family. It is to be expected that the value of the surrounding plots of land will increase greatly. That’s why you have your eye on this indebted diner, right?”

Since this was the first time Leena and her mother had heard about this, they didn’t know if that statement was true. But the expressions on the debt collectors’ faces told them that it was. The thoughtless smiles that had been plastered on their faces had disappeared and they showed signs of caution.

“…I see. Seeing that you know so much about it, you’re after this diner too, aren’t you?!”

“Wha-?!” Leena cried out and Regina jumped in surprise as well. However, Effy herself was unperturbed, even if her expression twisted unpleasantly.

“Could you be so gracious and not lump me in with the likes of you?”

“Actions speak louder than words. But, you have no other choice but to give up either way. We’re backed by a noble.”

Effy frowned, her eyebrows twitching. Perhaps perceiving it as Effy feeling shaken, the debt collector pressed further. 

“Since that’s the case, you should back down if you don’t want to get crushed, yeah?”

“A noble, was it…? Certainly, I cannot make enemies without consulting anyone.”

Effy bit her lip. Leena was standing behind her so it was naturally impossible for her to see this gesture, but she could tell from Effy’s aura that she was overpowered. For a moment, Leena hoped that the situation would change for the better, but as expected, it didn’t. At this rate, the diner would end up being taken away from them ten days later after all.

The moment that thought crossed her mind-

“Then, I guess I shall take over now.”

A lively young girl’s voice rang out in the front of house. When Leena turned around in search of the owner of this voice, she blinked in surprise. Standing behind her was a plain-looking young girl. She was the shop assistant that had given Leena the potatoes.

“Why …are you?”

Without answering the bewildered Leena’s question, the girl stood in front of the debt collectors, just like Effy had earlier. The only difference was that Effy retreated to her side and bowed.

“Who the hell are you?!”

“I am a passer-by shop assistant working at a wholesaler’s.”

“The hell?! Why do random people keep showing up?!”

“Now, now, don’t get so angry. Just for my reference, would you be so gracious and tell me the name of the noble supporting you?”

The debt collector was taken aback by this young girl with an inappropriately cheery tone. But then, he immediately sneered and said: “Sure.”

“Lo and behold! The one supporting us is Lady Sophia, the daughter of Marquis Rosenberg.”

At that moment, Leena’s body leaped in surprise. Since she didn’t know stuff like the names of nobles, it wasn’t hearing the name of the Rosenberg household that startled her. For a moment, for truly just a mere moment, she felt an indescribable chill. She quickly scanned her surroundings but she failed to discover anything particularly strange.

A portion of the customers had fled the diner in fear of getting involved. However, the ones remaining continued to eat their meals even while stealthily glancing their way, perhaps because it was of no concern to them or maybe because they were curious. 

“Oh? Did Lady Sophia of the Marquis Rosenberg family say such a thing?”

“Yeah, she did. She said, ‘Go and fetch me that diner and its land.’”

“Hmm, you’re saying some interesting things. I wonder, are you saying them knowing that the fraudulent use of a noble’s name, even if used arbitrarily, can get one severely punished?”

“…Naturally. What are you trying to say?”

The debt collectors had been shaken up repeatedly but they showed proper confusion in response to her words. Considering the shabby acting abilities they had displayed until that point, it was likely that they were truly baffled.

In other words, they were telling the truth. Which meant that the young Lady of the Rosenberg marquis family wanted to take away Leena’s family’s diner…

“Hmmm. So it’s a case of sullying your adversary’s name while achieving your own goals. And if by some chance the plot would get discovered, the incident would end by making the subordinates their scapegoats, huh?1 …How despicable.”

Her supposedly cheery voice echoed coldly. Before Leena and Regina could even understand her words, she began talking anew.

“Roy, Emma, capture them.”

“Understood.” 

Dashing forward simultaneously with a perfectly synchronized reply was Effy and Ciel, who had from some point been standing by on alert. They advanced towards the debt collectors as if they were gliding across the floor. At that moment, Leena didn’t understand what was happening. But then, two of the debt collectors collapsed at the same time and the one guy left standing fell to the ground a second later. 

“You…what the hell…are you trying to do?!”

“We’re going to bring you to the guard station. After all, there are many rules when it comes to collecting debt and acting in ways that violate these rules is unacceptable. As debt collectors, you surely know that?”

Th-that’s…“

The man’s expression wasn’t contorted just due to the pain. At the very least, to suddenly pressure debtors who were properly paying their interest, to repay all of their loan, was an unforgivable deed. 

Perhaps if one was a regular person, they wouldn’t know, but there was no way debt collectors didn’t.

Thus, the situation changed completely.

“I overheard some commotion so I came to take a look! What’s going on here?!”

Immediately following that yell, a single patrolling soldier rushed into the diner. He ran up to the collapsed debt collectors and asked them what happened.

“They suddenly attacked us!”

“…I see. So this is a violent crime in progress?”

The soldier turned his gaze to Effy and Ciel. Leena panicked. At this rate, the two of them would end up getting arrested as the people involved in a violent incident. However, before the soldier could get close to them, the shop assistant girl stepped in between them.

“Who are you?”

“I am something of a… guardian of theirs.”

She might have been older than Effy and Ciel, but that didn’t change the fact that she was a child just like them. So even if he was told that she was their guardian…he seemed to have understood it as her being their employer at most.

“Then, that means that you’re the one who told them to do this.”

“Yes, exactly. However, I did it because these debt collectors were making fraudulent use of the name of the Rosenberg Marquis family.”

“They made fraudulent use of a noble’s name?”

As if to ask them: “Is that true?” the soldier gave the anguished debt collectors a look.

“…No! We are truly here on the orders of Lady Sophia of the Rosenberg Marquis family! This is…the proof of that.” 

The man took out a ring with a rose insignia engraved onto it from his pocket.

“Hm… I see, it certainly seems like you received orders from the Rosenberg Marquis family. If that’s the case, then doesn’t that make you three the criminals after all?”

“…What are you saying? It’s completely different from the Rosenberg Marquis insignia.”

“Since this is something only some people know of, it’s only natural that a mere commoner like you wouldn’t know. However, this is the symbol that Lady Sophia of the Rosenberg Marquis family uses when she issues orders.”

Even the soldier verified that they were backed by the Rosenberg Marquis family. Now, even the people who walked over here and were watching the course of events unfold from the side, began whispering. 

The shop assistant girl’s sigh strangely rang out amidst the murmurs.

“I see, so you’re also one of their people. Cyril, would it be alright? At this rate, I will be made into a villain.”

Not only the quality of her voice but also the tone of her voice changed during the second and third sentence. It was completely different from the cheerful —some might say thoughtless—voice that she had used up till that point. It was cold and dignified.

And then-

“Do as you wish, my Lady.”

Her companion, the young boy whom she called Cyril, bowed his head politely. Upon receiving his response, the girl grabbed hold of her long, black hair – and slowly pulled it off. It seemed that her black locks were a wig, platinum blonde hair cascading from underneath.

“Platinum blonde hair…? You’re, no, you are2…it can’t be!”

“Pleased to meet you. My name is Sophia. I’m the daughter of Marquis Rosenberg.”

In response to her words, the diner completely fell silent. Before long, the soldier went as pale as a sheet of paper and fell to his knees, other people following suit and kneeling on the floor as well. Leena wasn’t really keeping up with what was happening but she mimicked the others despite that and kneeled, too.

“Wh-why is the daughter of a Marquis at such a place?”

“Just for a little social study. More importantly, you were saying some truly interesting things earlier. Telling me things such as that the ring the man has with him belongs to me.”

“Ah, no, that is…”

They wilfully used a noble’s name and attempted to sully it. Now, they were being questioned by none other than the young Lady of that very name. They could wish for nothing better but to be granted a painless death.

Perhaps sensing this more keenly than anyone else, the soldier began shaking in fear. The saintess that had been interested in theatre recently, smiled widely and told him:

“If you tell me who’s behind all of this, I shall spare your lives.” 

1. トカゲの尻尾切り – ‘tokage no shippo kiri’, literally ‘cutting of the lizard’s tail.’ It basically means avoiding getting blame put on you by putting it all on your subordinates.
2. I think there was an instance of this before, the first you is おまえ – familial or can be derogatory ‘you’ and the second you is 貴方 – you but more polite. I tried expressing it via the short and proper forms of you’re/you are.