The Wrong House

No matter how you look at it, Aria is the most cowardly person of the four of them. That's why every time they face any problem, Aria is always put in the back row. Like, everyone is always spontaneously protecting her while she can only tremble in fear with a cold sweat.

But in some special situations, it turns out that Aria also has a weird adrenaline that can't be explained ordinarily. For example, when she didn't hesitate to jump into the lake when a neighbor's child drowned or when she wasn't bothered at all when treating someone who was covered in blood all over his body.

So even though Aria couldn't possibly have the courage to break into someone's house to steal something, Aria was somehow able to manage something in order to save her friends.

And actually, Aria is pretty smart to look for information. After all, her friendly demeanor always made others feel easy to talk to her. So her first plan is to find out the whereabouts of her friends.

That's why after pretending to deliver herbal tea to the delivery office, Aria quickly glanced to see if there was anything that needed to be delivered to the Malven residence today. And fortunately there are, many in fact. "Uncle, will you deliver all of this by yourself?" She asked.

"Sure I will." The old man replied with a sigh. "I've actually been feeling exhausted since Pavi moved out of town. But since you said that today Mika went hunting in the forest too, it seems like today I have to deliver everything by myself." Mr. Isak vented while busy putting all the wooden boxes into the train.

"…Then how about I help?"

Mr. Isak was silent for a moment, but he finally laughed. "Eyy, how can I allow a young girl like you to carry such heavy boxes? That's okay! Despite my age, this old man can still carry everything!"

"But I can use magic." Aria exclaimed as she hurriedly ran closer to the carriage. Then after that she used her magic to draw something on one of the big boxes there, and voila, the box immediately floated up on its own so Aria only had to push it gently so that the box got into the carriage.

"Wow! You can do that with your magic too?" Asked Mr. Isak, amazed. "I thought you could only make fireworks and waterbirds!"

"Yes. That's why rather than risk uncle's waist getting hurt again like before, how about I just help you?"

And there you go, Aria made it through the easy stage.

But before she got to the Malven residence, it would be nice if she could just get more information from Mr. Isak.

"But uncle, I noticed there are a lot of shipments for the noble families, aren't there?" Aria said while looking at today's shipping list. Of the 23 addresses they had to go to, there were more than 8 noble residences written on them while the rest were shipments for merchant shops.

"Well, people like them sometimes like to buy strange things from neighboring countries." Said Mr. Isak. "But today it looks like most of it will go to the Malven residence, right?"

"Hm…" After having a look, not only was the number of shipments large, the place from which the shipments were sent also came from many other countries. "But if I'm not mistaken, I heard the Malvens are away from the city?" Aria said carefully.

"Ah, you know that? Yes, but their second child is still at home." Replied Mr. Isak who then put his head forward and lowered his voice. "The rumor said he did something that upset his father, so he punished him for not attending the family event."

"Well, the gossip did say the young master was indeed a bit problematic, but I don't know much either." He added.

"Is that so?" Aria answered, again remembering Arran who called him crazy. "Mm, but uncle… Do you think there are thieves around the nobles' residences?"

"Hmm? Thief?"

Thump, thump! "I-It's just that, you know how it's so crowded around the city square, so there are pickpockets and such. But because it seems quieter around here, I just thought…" Aria said, trying desperately to arrange her sentences.

Mr. Isak seemed silent for a moment, but then he answered. "Well, I'm not sure about pickpockets. But as for thieves, mm, maybe other than the one who was immediately executed several years ago, I don't think there are any thieves who dare to act around here anymore. Haha!" He said cheerfully.

And thanks to that terrible story, Aria went through her work today feeling depressed and starting to regret this and that. Maybe she should've just taken care of Arran at home and prayed Mika and Leyna would find their own way home by themselves later in the evening.

But too late, she had already arrived at Malven's residence this second! Although it didn't match her or Mr. Isak's guesses, the residence seemed deserted to the point that there wasn't even a single guard visible in the front gate.

"What's this? Did the young master go too? Even so, the guards should still be around…" Mr. Isak muttered in confusion after. "What should we do? If we can't put the deliveries inside, maybe we should just go back?"

If there really wasn't anyone in the residence, Aria would actually be able to infiltrate inside in that situation. But unfortunately, she knew it wasn't true. Because even though it was faint, Aria could hear voices coming from the east side. Mr. Isak must have just not heard it.

"But uncle, looks like the guards are training or something. I heard a sound from over there." She said.

"Really?" Said Mr. Isak, who then immediately went to inspect the eastern fence. And sure enough, deep on the east side, he can see a group of soldiers training. At the center of it all, there was also a man wearing training clothes that seemed even more luxurious than the other soldiers. Maybe he was the young master.

Contrary to the rumors, the young master seemed to be diligently training along with his soldiers.

"Excuse me! We are from delivery! Excuse me!" Mr. Isak kept trying to call out to anyone who could hear him from outside the high bars. "Hey! Excuse me!"

It was only when Mr. Isak almost lost his voice, someone finally turned around and noticed their presence. The soldier seemed to report it to the young master first before he finally ran toward the fence. "Who are you? What are you doing there?"

Mr. Isak was still coughing hard to control his throat, so Aria had to answer first. "We are here to deliver goods to Mr. Malven. But there was no one at the gate, so…"

"Ah, is that so? Wait a moment." Said the soldier. They parted ways for a while until they finally met again at the front gate. "Sorry, all the soldiers are having impromptu training. So we forgot to set up the guard duties again." He explained. "Um, but since the others are busy, I guess you guys can just bring all of it inside."

And luckily, it turned out that Aria was able to enter inside the Malven residence and not just in front of the gate! Even though the closer they got to the main residence, Aria could feel her heart racing crazily as well.

Even so Aria then glanced at the soldier carefully. "Bu-But why are you guys training like that all of a sudden? To the point where you had no time to arrange the guarding schedule."

"Ahh…" But before answering, the soldier instead looked left and right cautiously as if he was afraid someone would hear him. "That's because last night a thief broke in. So all the guards are now being scolded by the young master. That's why we had to train like this!"

But Mr. Isak, who didn't hear that, was just busy looking at the front door of the large mansion. "Where should we place these?"

The soldier looked confused for a moment, but then he said, "Maybe just here--"

But suddenly the mansion door opened from inside and a man with tall stature was seen from there. "Is it the deliveries again? How many this time?" He asked.

Judging from his luxurious clothes, he must be a real young master. Which meant the guy who was training with the soldiers was probably just the leader of the soldiers or something.

"Quite. There are around 12 large boxes." Answered Mr. Isak.

Frowning his brows, the man didn't look too happy and immediately walked over to the carriage to check it out for himself. "Kgh, so many! Why are there so many?!" He suddenly looked annoyed. But even though he glared at everyone like that, of course no one can answer that.

But then he caught Aria's figure, and his angry gaze turned into an astonished look. "…Who are you?"

Panicked, Aria couldn't answer him. Though fortunately Mr. Isak then helped answer it. "Ah, she's the employee who helped me deliver all the goods today." He said.

"Is that so?" Said the man shortly. "Well, whatever then. Just bring it all inside." He said again.

Complying, the three people who were there were about to start moving their hands to carry the big boxes. But again, when Aria was about to help out, the man interrupted again.

"But can a little girl like you be able to lift a heavy box like that?" He said condescendingly. "Rather than that, how about you help me with my work inside?" He continued. "Hurry over here."

Normally, of course, a woman should not blindly follow the invitation of a strange man she doesn't know. But since Aria does have a need, she also couldn't refuse it.

"Quickly run here if he does anything!" Whispered Mr. Isak softly when Aria walked past him and Aria just nodded slowly. And she really ended up following the man.