novelDon't come to the museum on a spring day(3)
| ← Ch.007 | Ch.009 → |
That grass was commonly known to those working in the glue business, so there were few among the general public who knew of sticky grass.
However, the grass was too sticky and expensive, so even those in the industry did not use it.
Wendy also had a lot of hard time finding the grass in person.
For example, she contracted a skin disease after visiting the hot and humid swamp where the plant grew. She also had to sacrifice her favorite boots while combing the hills and mountains to search for the plant.
It was clear that Wendy had a really hard time to gather all the plants in her mental arsenal.
In any case, the use of sticky grass was proved.
Wendy decided that as soon as she returned home, she would upgrade the usefulness of sticky grass from three to five stars in 'Wendy's Plant List' she had compiled.
"Argh!"
The man struggled hard to remove his hand from the sticky grass.
The woman also fell down by his force, but fortunately fell on her butt outside the range of the sticky grass, thanks to Wendy who quickly grabbed her waist.
It was almost simultaneous that someone pointed a cold silver blade at his neck, as he struggled with a distorted expression on his face.
With a puzzled look, the knight swung his sword towards the man with a swift motion.
Obviously, the knight wasn't wearing his suit just for demonstration.
When the blade of the knight's sword touched his neck, the man with a desperate look closed his eyes as if he gave up everything. It was very unexpected that tears flowed from his eyes at that moment.
"Ugh......."
Wendy felt disgusted while watching him crying bitterly.
'If you're going to cry like this, you shouldn't even have thought of stealing the Bahazman tree! You guys with fat muscles are just useless jerks. '
Wendy nodded as if what she just was the truth and bit her lip.
As she was about to turn away from the scene to move to a place far from it, the guy moaned with a sad voice, "Sophie, forgive your father. I am afraid I can't save you... I really wanted to give you just one of these fruits... Just one..."
At first, Wendy laughed sardonically at him, thinking, 'As he is put into a corner, he is just talking nonsense. '
As the man's crying gradually intensified, she began to speculate that the man's words might be true. Although she couldn't figure out the details of his story, he was obviously in a desperate situation, given his pathetic voice.
Wendy could ascertain poverty in the old man's old coat that got stuck to sticky grass. That damn poverty was as sticky as the grass...
The Benjahan Empire was a rich country, but everyone was not affluent.
Sixty years ago during the previous emperor's period, the Benyahan Empire had a war with the Carloen Empire, which left scars of war large and small.
The biggest blow was the loss of Baltazar, the fertile land in the southwest. Duke Roel Mushtana, who went to the battle as the leader of the pro-emperor faction, was executed for the loss of Baltazar, and his family was also removed from the noble men's list.
It was because the opponents had been waiting for the opportunity to take power rose up and ousted him. Beginning with the death of the duke, the emperor's faction quickly fell.
The downfall of the faction weakened the emperor's power, which made the commoners who formed the absolute majority of the Benjahan Empire poor.
The imperial faction was not strong enough to stop the noblemen's faction from plundering the commoners. When he was young, the current emperor, Batist von Benyahan, restored some of the lands in a fierce battle to reclaim Baltazar, but not all of them.
The nobles' faction continued to exploit the working class while grasping their power, so the commoners began to see poverty as their fate.
As a result of the peace agreement with Carloen, the empire could peace up to now, but it was not true peace.
Wendy heard the loud footsteps at the entrance when the many's desperate voice was buried by his crying. Several knights stormed into the garden. Among them were the dark-haired knight and the blond-haired knight that she had encountered on the stairs.
After visually confirmed the situation inside the garden, they quickly approached the knight pointing the sword at the man. The dark-haired man, who was at the forefront, told the knight coldly.
"Sir Rankin, brief me about the situation."
At his supervisor's order, the knight opened his mouth with a disciplined voice, holding the sword in his hand.
"Yes, captain. I, Jonathan Rankin, want to brief you about the attempted robbery with hostage at the botanical garden of Rajabude Museum. First of all, forgive me for not correcting my posture in the current situation. About ten minutes ago, this man here took the lady who fell over there as hostage and steal the Bahazman. So, I immediately tied him fast, and there was no damage as of now."
While the knight was briefing, the man cried even more.
The dark-haired man gazed at the trembling man's shoulders for a while then ordered other knights behind him to arrest him. They approached the man at his order and held his arms to tie him up, but his hands were stuck to the floor. They had a very embarrassed expression on their faces.
"...Captain, this guy's hands were stuck firmly on the floor."
One knight spoke to the dark-haired man as if he thought it was so weird. Then, the blonde knight, Jean Jacques who was watching the situation, approached the man to check himself. But he didn't know how to get him out of the sticky floor.
After staring at the floor where the man's hands were firmly stuck, Jean took a handkerchief out of his pocket and carefully put it on the dark red carpet. Needless to say, his little handkerchief got also stuck.
Wendy watched the handkerchief curiously, thinking it might be the same handkerchief she had seen earlier on the stairs, but unfortunately it did not seem to be. It was a pity for Wendy who didn't want to support others' love.
"Sir Rankin, what's going on here?"
"Well... I just have no idea what the heck all this is..."
When Jean asked the knight named Renkin, he also fumbled words
Jean touched the tip of his chin and said, "Hummmmm..." Then he approached the captain and whispered something.
As she could not hear the knight's voice even if she pricked her ears, Wendy rolled up the edge of her lips and uttered, "Pooh!"
'What the heck are they talking so secretly when everybody saw it?' She thought to herself.
After Jean was done talking to the captain suspiciously, he glanced again at the sticky carpet.
Only then did he find the woman in a yellow dress sitting nearby and made an embarrassed expression.
"Oh! Lady, are you okay?"
He held the woman's arms, so she could stand up.
But he noticed that even her feet were also firmly glued to the carpet. When he suggested the woman to take off her shoes in awkward tone, the woman, whose face turned white, quickly blushed.
But she realized she had no choice but to take off her shoes to get off the carpet in question, so she left a pair of milky little shoes on the dark red floor. Jean kindly lifted her by her waist and placed her on a safe floor, avoiding the dark carpet that seemed suspicious.
Wendy, who stepped back and silently watched the scene, was trying to figure out when to leave. The longer she stayed here, the more she would invite their suspicion, which she didn't want at all. She wiggled her body a bit to try to get out of the place as soon as possible, but she stopped when she felt the dark-haired knight casting a glance at her.
"Oh, captain! I could control the situation easily because the courageous lady over there threw him down by kicking his knees."
The knight, who quickly looked at the captain watching Wendy at the moment, briefed him about Wendy's swift action in an excited tone.
Obviously, he mentioned to praise her courageous action, but it was the last thing Wendy wanted because she didn't want to get involved in this anymore.
'You stupid jerk! You were standing there stupidly, and now you're putting me into trouble!'
She cursed him in heart.
In no time, she raised her head, sensing someone's incredible gaze on her.
"Did you subdue this guy?"
The dark-haired knight asked, walking toward her with a mysterious expression.
Wendy immediately replied with a loud voice, as if she thought all this was ridiculous.
"Nope. I was so surprised at the sudden situation that I couldn't balance myself and staggered. I fell down when he pushed me... You seem to treat me as a rude guy."
The knight, who briefed the captain about her courageous action, made an angry expression, but he couldn't find any proper words to respond because she denied it so vehemently.
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