Chapter 38
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
After getting off the carriage, I told the coachman to come back in two hours.
Bell and I walked down the street with our parasols open. The bustling avenue was lined with shops, and many people besides us were strolling about.
“First, let’s buy your clothes.”
As I turned towards the tailor shop, Bell grabbed my arm.
“My clothes? Not yours, Lady Ar?”
“I already chose my outfit for the whole day.”
“Why suddenly my clothes? I brought enough already!”
Bell had a confused expression, and I playfully poked her cheek with my finger.
“When you encounter such a windfall, just pretend you don’t know and follow along. Got it?”
I entered a tailor shop and had Bell’s clothes fitted. One outfit for going out and another for casual wear.
After saying I would come back later to pick them up, I handed over some gold coins and received change. Then, I took out a small metal badge and showed it to her.
“Have you seen this or know anything about it?”
The metal badge had a design on it. It featured a hexagram formed by overlapping two triangles inside a circle.
The tailor owner looked closely but then shook his head.
Next, we went to a shoe store. After fitting two pairs of shoes that matched the outfits I bought earlier, we left the store. Of course, I paid for them and received change, and I asked about the design again.
“Shall we go buy a hat this time?”
As I hummed while speaking, Bell blocked my way.
“Why are you doing this? What’s with the design you keep asking the shop owners about?”
She had a look that said she wouldn’t move until I answered. I finally let out a sigh.
“I need the coins circulating in Rosen. That’s why I’m shopping on purpose.”
“Why do you need the coins?”
“This is a secret; do you want to know?”
At my subtle voice, Bell perked up her ears.
“Yes!”
“Then you have to keep it to yourself.”
Bell nodded several times, and I quietly whispered.
“Actually, counterfeit currency is circulating within the Grand Duchy.”
“What?!”
Bell was startled and raised her voice, then quickly lowered it again.
“Counterfeit currency? You mean there’s counterfeit money in the Grand Duchy?”
“Yes, and both my father and I are secretly searching for the culprit, which has been quite a struggle.”
I gripped the parasol in my hand tightly, as if it were a counterfeit criminal. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became.
Recently, reports had come in about counterfeit currency being discovered in the Grand Duchy. My father and I naturally began investigating the matter.
As a result, we found out that a significant amount of very well-crafted fake coins was circulating in the market.
“But why is it a secret? Can’t we just publicly announce it?”
“Bell, what do you think will happen if people find out that counterfeit currency is in circulation?”
“Um, I’m not sure?”
“People will want to keep the real coins and try to spend the fake ones as quickly as possible. Nobody likes to lose money. Then, the real money will be hidden, and only the fake coins will be circulating in the market. That would lead to total chaos.”
“Ah, I see.”
Bell nodded as if she had a great realization.
“So, you haven’t caught the culprit yet?”
“Yes, the culprit is continuously printing counterfeit money outside the Grand Duchy, so there was nothing we could do.”
“Ah…”
If someone were doing such a thing within the Grand Duchy, my father and I would have thoroughly searched the area to find him without fail.
The problem was that the culprit was printing fake money outside the Grand Duchy. As long as he was outside, we couldn’t lay a finger on him.
My father had powers almost equivalent to a king, but that was only within the territory of the Grand Duchy.
The Grand Duchy is a self-governing region. Therefore, the residents in the north paid taxes and pledged their loyalty to my father, not the king.
However, without the king’s permission, we couldn’t do anything outside the Grand Duchy. The moment we took administrative action outside, we couldn’t avoid suspicion of harboring treasonous intentions towards the king.
For this reason, we had no choice but to prevent counterfeit currency from entering the Grand Duchy as much as possible.
“Fortunately, we caught a gang that was bringing in counterfeit money last time, and they had this metal badge. It must be related to something. I want to know what it is.”
“Y-You’re not planning something reckless, are you? Like trying to locate their base or directly catch the counterfeiters… That’s dangerous! They’re likely very vicious criminals!”
As Bell said, counterfeiters were indeed likely to be dangerous individuals.
Creating fake money was a life-threatening endeavor. If caught, they would face immediate execution without trial.
Because of this, counterfeiters were usually among the worst of the worst. Those who weren’t afraid of death could do anything.
Thus, there was usually a large, dark organization behind such activities. And that organization would surely have its base in the capital.
I wanted to investigate the background while I was in the capital, but my father firmly told me to stay out of it, fearing I might get hurt.
“Right now, you’re the only one I can rely on, so what can I do? I just want to check if counterfeit money is circulating in the capital and if anyone knows about the metal badge.”
“That’s right, isn’t it? Phew, what a relief.”
Bell placed her hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief.
This was exactly what I had told Bell. I had no intention of drawing attention outside the Grand Duchy. It could create a troublesome situation.
I am no longer that reckless child who would jump into the water alone.
After that, we stopped by a few more shops. Once we had bought all of Bell’s items, we wandered around the stores solely for the purpose of exchanging coins of various kinds.
Once we had gathered enough coins, we headed to where the carriage was.
“Do you think there’s counterfeit money here too?”
Bell held her money pouch in her hand and shook it. The jingling sound was cheerful.
“Now we need to go to the Duke’s residence and check one by one, but I don’t think there will be any.”
“Why not?”
“If counterfeit money were circulating in the capital, prices here would have skyrocketed by now. But it’s quiet.”
“Oh, now that you mention it, that makes sense.”
Belle tilted her head in thought.
“So you’re saying someone intentionally released counterfeit money only in the Grand Duchy?”
“That’s a possibility.”
That was exactly what I was curious about. If someone had deliberately circulated counterfeit money only in the Grand Duchy, it meant that their goal was not to make money.
Why target the Grand Duchy specifically? Who? What was their purpose?
“But how do you check for counterfeit money?”
“There’s something called a touchstone.”
“A touchstone?”
“Yes, it’s a type of stone, and when you rub a coin on it, the color changes…”
“Ah!”
At that moment, a child snatched the money pouch from Bell’s hands and ran away.
I quickly grabbed the back of the child’s neck, but the child immediately threw the money pouch far away. Other children, who seemed to be part of a gang, caught the pouch and disappeared into the alley in an instant.
“Those little rascals!”
I immediately chased after the children. To pickpocket right in front of me? They really had some nerve!
As I passed through the narrow alley, a wide space opened up. When I suddenly stopped, Bell, who arrived right after me, was panting behind.
“Lady Ar, if you run in those shoes, you’ll get hurt… Huh!”
Bell covered her mouth with both hands. In front of us stood two men with very menacing looks instead of the children. They were holding daggers.
“Noble lady, it seems you have quite a bit of money.”
One of the men smirked with a greasy smile.
“If you have anything, hand it over. We’re really poor, you see.”
It seemed they took me for a wealthy young lady who had just arrived in Rosen for the social season.
Well, for pickpockets, such young ladies would indeed be a catch. They likely had a lot of money since they had many things to buy, and taking it would be easier than twisting a child’s wrist.
The other man menacingly twirled his dagger and sneered.
“I doubt you want to get a scratch on that pretty face of yours, do you?”
I let out a small sigh. What’s this? They said Rosen had good security, but it doesn’t seem that way at all.
“Ah, Lady Ar, I’ll hold them off, so please run away quickly!”
Bell stepped forward to protect me, even though she was trembling.
Seeing her like that was truly admirable.
I chuckled softly and wrapped the strap of my parasol around my hand. Then I aimed the sharp tip at them.
“That money is what I earned through hard work, you know? So hand it over quickly and disappear. Then I’ll forgive your theft.”
The men burst into laughter as if they found it ridiculous. I couldn’t tell if they thought the idea of my money being the fruit of labor was funny or if the parasol itself was amusing.
“This is really money I earned through hard work. Until ten days ago, I was suffering from overwork under a cruel boss every day. And trust me, this parasol can hurt quite a bit if it hits!”
