The Daughter of Evil - Volume 3 - Chapter 1.12

Chapter 1, Section 1-The Star Fortress; Scene 2
Praeludium of Red, page 14-16

♣ Yukina ~In the Former Lucifenia Territory, “Town of Retasan/Fortress Gate”~

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However, it was there that I ended up receiving an unexpected setback.

“You can’t pass through here,” a young soldier declared coldly. I had gotten quite used to such haughty behavior from the soldiers of the Lucifenian Territory, so I asked the reason why I couldn’t leave without any timidity.

“Military reasons.”

“That doesn’t give me much to go on. Please explain it to me properly.”

When I continued to press the matter, the expression of the soldier–who’d answered like it was an annoyance to do so–changed to one of irritation.

“I don’t need to explain to civilians. In any case, if you can’t pass through then you can’t pass through.”

Taking umbrage at his reply, I said snidely, “What an oppressive response. It’s stuff like that that got you people occupied by Marlon.”

My words seemed to destroy the soldier’s good spirits. He yelled loudly, rambling, “You insolent brat! I can cut you down right here, right now! First off, what’s up with a traveler wearing such gaudy clothes?! What’s an idiot like you doing here, journeying in a red dress like that!? You don’t know anything about the world!”

He vented his rage at me. But as I couldn’t come up with any good rebuttals on the topic of my clothing right then, I just glared at the soldier as hard as I could.

A soldier somewhere else began to come over, as though unable to let the confrontation slide. This one looked to be significantly older.

“We’re very sorry, miss. But we were given orders that no one come through here for a little while.”

“That’s why I’m asking the reason.”

“We can’t just jabber on about military secrets with you. You’re just a civilian, miss. I’m sorry, but please try to understand.”

His manner was tender, but in the end the fact that I couldn’t pass through was the same.

“You can’t, say, let me pass as special circumstances?”

As I spoke, I drew closer to the soldier and gently held his hand. When I moved away again, I’d left a gold coin in his palm. Basically, a bribe. It wasn’t a very polite way of doing things, but you couldn’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. I’d used this tactic at the checking station while going from Levianta to Asmodean too.

But the elderly soldier kindly–yet firmly enough to make his intentions clear–returned the gold.

“Sorry, but I can’t accept this. Retasan Fortress’s Commander Mouchet is very strict about stuff like this. If I’m caught, I’ll get killed for sure.”

“So there’s nothing I can do…?”

“Indeed, nothing. I don’t want to die just yet, you see.”

“Are they really such a frightening person, this Commander Mouchet?”

“They’re an ogre, I’m telling you. If you don’t want to be eaten up by the ogre, you’d better hurry back.”

I could keep persevering on it, but it looked like I couldn’t hope for a better outcome. I gave up and decided to head back to the inn for now.