Editor: Tseirp
“Phew, that took quite a while.”
“Yeah, it did.”
The two of them had just left the store after obtaining the flying bracelet, the flight ring.
Even though Abel responded to Ryo’s comnt, Ryo could tell his mind was elsewhere.
Actually, anyone could’ve noticed just by looking at him.
He was admiring the Flight Ring strapped to his left arm from every possible angle.
Looking absolutely thrilled.
As they walked side by side, Feiwan glanced back and forth between Abel’s face and the bracelet with a curious expression.
As expected from his beloved horse— seems like it’s interested in whatever its master is into.
“It’s nice that it’s detachable. But it took over an hour to adjust. Still, I guess that makes it unusable for others, so it’s less likely to be stolen. That’s a relief.”
“Anyone who tries to steal my flight ring, I’ll tear them limb from limb.”
“Ah…yep…those eyes say you’re 100% serious, Abel. Scary…”
Abel’s expression had turned frightening in that instant.
Ryo quickly averted his gaze.
It honestly felt like he would tear soone apart for real.
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong…
The sound of bells rang from a short distance away.
“Ah, it must be noon. The adjustnt took a while, after all. Also, I was shocked when it turned out to cost 30 gold coins apiece. Good thing we could pay directly with the bank card. Darwei is pretty advanced, huh?”
Ryo nodded, impressed.
“Co to think of it, didn’t you buy two flight rings?”
Abel had finally torn his attention away from his bracelet enough to ask.
“Yeah, of course. One was adjusted for . The other, I bought as-is without any modifications.”
“To compare them?”
“At first, yeah. But eventually, I plan to take it apart.”
The mont Ryo said that, Abel’s expression changed.
If it had a na, it would probably be ‘Despair’.
“Don’t worry. I won’t touch your flight ring.”
“Good. That’s a relief.”
Abel relaxed at Ryo’s reassurance and returned to his usual tone.
“I’d like to practice flying sowhere…”
“We probably can’t around here. Too many people.”
“True enough.”
The two retraced their steps from earlier in the morning.
Not for any particular reason—just that the plaza with the clock tower seed to be setting up a lot of food stalls.
When they passed by earlier, it was just past 10 AM and most were still preparing. But now it was lunchti.
Surely, most of them were open.
“I’m starving now.”
“Well, it’s lunchti. Let’s grab sothing to eat.”
“Let’s do that. Oh, and after we eat, how about heading to an inn early? If it’s a big one, it’ll probably have a courtyard or backyard. You could practice flying there.”
“Ryo, you’re a genius!”
Abel praised him happily.
But then he glanced around, starting to look uneasy.
“There’s a lot of people, what if there’s no vacancy at any of the inns…?”
Yes—they had experienced that once before.
Back when they couldn’t get an inn because of the imperial wedding and ended up sleeping outdoors…
Now, with Princess Shio Fen’s wedding drawing near, people were gathering in the imperial capital from all over the empire.
They rembered being told that when they boarded the cargo ship.
Which ant… there might not be any rooms left.
“We probably won’t find any budget inns available.”
“Seriously…?”
“But in a city this big, the high-class inns should still have vacancies. If it’s just one or two nights, we can manage. Besides, only those kinds of places would have enough open space for you to practice flying.”
“That’s true… high-class inns rarely fill up completely.”
Abel was the king, after all.
And a forr A-rank adventurer to boot.
He was used to staying in luxury inns.
He knew from experience that big-city high-end inns are rarely fully booked.
Because there were almost no walk-in custors like Ryo and Abel.
People who could afford them—wealthy or important folks—stayed there in groups.
And typically made reservations ahead of ti.
“Oh yeah, we got that flying instruction manual from the store, right?”
“Ah, that ten-page booklet? I already read and morized it.”
“…You’ve gotta be kidding.”
Ryo brought up the manual, only for Abel to casually ntion he’d already morized it.
Apparently, he’d done so while they were adjusting the bracelet.
“That docunt-reading stamina trained by mountains of paperwork is terrifying…”
Abel’s reading ability, honed through endless official paperwork, was no joke.
While chatting like that, the two passed in front of the clock tower.
“There you are!”
A voice called out from sowhere.
Naturally, they didn’t think it was directed at them and kept walking.
“Hey, wait!”
This ti, soone stood directly in front of Abel.
A man in reddish clothes.
“Huh? Who are you?”
“Uh? Don’t play dumb!”
When Abel tilted his head and asked, the red-clad man flew into a rage.
That’s when Ryo rembered.
He leaned over to whisper to Abel.
“Hey, he’s the guy who picked a fight and told you to et him at Holy Emperor Plaza at noon.”
“Ryo, you got into a fight? That’s rough.”
“Why ?! He picked a fight with you, Abel!”
“Huh? I’d never do that. Getting this bracelet was my top priority.”
Abel bead as he looked at the bracelet on his left wrist.
“Yeah, and to get it as fast as possible, you brushed him off without thinking.”
Ryo shook his head slightly as he said this.
“Found you!”
Another voice rang out from behind them.
Abel didn’t even turn around.
Of course, he thought it had nothing to do with him.
But Ryo knew better.
After red cos…
“You made wait over an hour! We bumped into each other right here, and I should’ve just—!”
It was a man in yellow clothes.
The sa guy who had dropped all those eggs.
Right here in this plaza.
By now, even Ryo understood.
This plaza in front of the clock tower— this was Holy Emperor Plaza.
And if there was red and yellow, then of course…
“There you are! You’re not getting away!”
Shouted the third man, appearing in blue clothes.
Red, yellow, and blue. The three primary colors had assembled.
“Huh?”
The three of them looked at each other in confusion.
“Gaji?”
“Guza?”
“Gobo?”
Apparently, those were their nas.
Ryo couldn’t tell who was who.
“What are you guys doing?”
“I’ve got business with that redhead over there.”
“I’m here to get revenge for the eggs!”
Only the last one made sense to Ryo.
“But seriously, to pick a fight with all of us… that redhead must be a real idiot.”
“You’re not getting out of this alive.”
“We’ll stomp you flat—just like those eggs.”
Finally, Ryo pieced it all together.
“Abel, I get it now. This isn’t a story where soone bumps into a guy and it turns into a fight.”
“Hm?”
“This is the advanced form—the Three Musketeers scenario!”
“Yeah… I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”
‘The Three Musketeers’—a pinnacle of French swashbuckling literature.
Written by Alexandre Dumas, who also penned ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’…
Actually, The Three Musketeers is just the first part of the ‘D’Artagnan Romances’ trilogy.
Part 1: The Three Musketeers
Part 2: Twenty Years After
Part 3: The Vicomte of Bragelonne
As the title The d’Artagnan Romances suggests, the protagonist throughout the entire series is d’Artagnan, a young man who leaves his rural hotown of Gascony and cos to Paris.
At first, when d’Artagnan arrives in Paris, he gets into several altercations and ends up challenging three n to duels… those three turn out to be Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—three elite mbers of the Musketeers.
They are famously known as The Three Musketeers.
Yes—the story begins with a showdown: d’Artagnan versus the Three Musketeers!
And that’s what popped into Ryo’s head.
“Abel, those three must be so of the strongest fighters representing the Imperial Capital!”
“Is that so~?”
Abel responded to Ryo’s hopeful words with a doubtful glance toward the three.
The three n seed to be discussing who would go first.
“Hurry up and co at . I’ll take all three of you on at once.”
Abel said, clearly annoyed.
“Condescending little prick!”
“How dare you ss with us!”
“We’ll take you down!”
The three of them drew their swords.
“Even three-on-two, I won’t hold back.”
“Two?”
One of the n shouted, and Abel tilted his head in confusion.
He turned around—and then he understood.
Apparently, Ryo had been counted in too.
“Oh, Ryo… this robe guy is just here to watch. I’ll handle you all myself.”
“…Huh?”
“If this robe joined in, you’d all be down in less than a second.”
“Don’t ss with us! ”
Ryo had noticed.
One of them had only been shouting “Don’t ss with us!” this whole ti.
But wisely, he chose not to say it out loud.
Ryo’s role, along with Andalusia and Feiwan, was to stay away from the four.
Of course, the one human and two horses would observe Abel’s performance from the safety of the .
“Go!”
The three n lunged forward.
It truly happened in an instant.
A red flash streaked past.
The three collapsed.
“Knew it—they weren’t that tough after all.”
Abel murmured, shaking his head slightly.
Collapsed on the ground were the three n in red, yellow, and blue.
One was clutching his stomach, one his head, and the last one lay flat on his back. He seed to be unconscious.
The surrounding civilians probably couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
That’s how fast it was.
But Ryo had seen it clearly.
“He took them all down with the hilt of his sword…”
He struck one in the solar plexus with the hilt, bashed another on the back of the head, and uppercut the third’s chin—with the hilt.
“What was that… Abel’s swordsmanship was ridiculously sharp—for no real reason.”
“Don’t say ‘for no reason’.”
Abel replied with a grimace as Ryo approached.
“So, was this that Three Musketeers thing you ntioned earlier?”
“No, that was a fantasy. There’s no way these weaklings could match that.”
“Thought so.”
Abel walked toward one of the three n.
“Hey.”
“Eek! ”
“He’s really scared.”
Abel called out, the man in yellow yelped, and Ryo stated the obvious.
“In the Imperial Capital, what’s the fanciest inn with the largest garden?”
“…Huh?”
“Soplace with enough garden space to practice with flight rings.”
“Th-that would be the Ryusen Residence… It’s expensive, but they have massive training grounds…rchants with private guards, or lords, usually stay there…”
“Oh? Sounds good. Take us there.”
“Wha…”
Abel said it casually, but the man in yellow looked like it was the end of the world.
“Who caused all this trouble?”
“…We did.”
“Yup, that’s right. Normally, in a case like this, what do you do?”
“…Apologize?”
“Yup, that’s right. Show so sincerity and apologize. In this case, sincerity ans showing us the way. Do that, and I’ll forgive you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
The negotiation ended.
The man in yellow led the way, guiding the two people and two horses.
“Abel, you’re really good at intimidation.”
“Don’t say it like that. Back in my adventuring days, I used to interrogate captured bandits and such. Compared to that, I was being nice.”
“Who was the scariest interrogator in the ‘Crimson Sword’…?”
“Rihya.”
Abel answered Ryo’s question imdiately.
Apparently, the current queen is pretty terrifying.
“By the way, we were being watched earlier, right?”
“You noticed too, Abel?”
“Yeah. Those ten soldiers on the ship, right?”
The ten soldiers who had been on the sa ship were watching Abel’s fight with the red, yellow, and blue n from a short distance away.
They hadn’t made any moves, so they were left alone…
“But those ten are way stronger than the three-colored guys.”
“Three-colored… that’s a terrible way to refer to them.”
The three—the man in yellow leading now, and the red and blue ones—had earned that nickna, it seed.
The group of three people and two horses walked for about fifteen minutes.
“We’ve walked quite a bit.”
“Yeah. But there are still a lot of people around.”
As Abel said, there were many shops and many people.
The Imperial Capital itself must be huge and densely populated.
“There it is.”
Finally, the man in yellow spoke.
They could now see a grand gate in the distance.
“Whoa, that really does look impressive.”
“Good for you, Abel.”
Abel looked impressed, and Ryo nodded.
“W-well, I’ll be off then.”
“Hold up.”
As the yellow-clad man tried to sneak away, Abel stopped him.
He took sothing from his pocket and tossed it to him.
“A tip. Thanks. But seriously, stop picking fights.”
“G-Gold coin! Are you sure!?”
“Yeah. See ya.”
Apparently, Abel gave him a gold coin as a thank-you.
“Abel, that’s too generous.”
“Really? We might not’ve made it here on our own. Compared to you buying two flight rings, it’s not a big deal, right?”
“I think those are two completely different things…”
Anyway, the two and their two horses were now able to enter a lodging in the Imperial Capital.
TLN: Please read my translations at tseirptranslations, I did not give permission to any site to host my translations.
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