Since It's My First Time Being a Lady, I'll Cause Some Trouble - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Lady for the First Time Causes Trouble — Episode 38
I heard Misty calling out to me desperately, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Reckless as it was, I couldn’t abandon innocent people to death just to preserve myself.
By the sound of movement, there were five bandits in this section total.
I had six bullets to spare.
It would be tight, but all I needed to do was strike their vital points with precision.
The moment I stepped into the corridor, my eyes met those of a man emerging from the far room.
It was Ilmbo—the one who’d burst from the corner of the warehouse where we’d been and rushed out to warn of the situation outside.
“Wh—?”
Before he could even react, I pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The bandit’s body flew backward as if shoved by an invisible force.
The moment the other bandits heard the gunshot and saw him fall, they rushed out in a frenzy.
“Who’s there!”
In answer, I drove bullets one after another into their foreheads.
There was no guilt or fear at taking life. Such emotions had been discarded long ago, back when I earned the names Swift Lightning Hand and Bloody Hurricane.
Besides, these men were murderers who killed innocent people to feed their own greed. It would be hard to find a more righteous act than this.
“You bastard!”
In that instant, a sword-wielding man burst from behind me.
By where he’d appeared, he seemed to be one of the men who’d gone toward where the hostages were being held.
Before his blade could swing, I aimed my pistol at him.
Bang!
The man collapsed without a sound, blood pouring from his throat.
What happened wasn’t my doing—at least, not entirely. I’d fired the shot, but I’d aimed for his heart, not his neck.
“I told you to stay still!”
Misty shouted sharply, wiping blood from her dagger.
“Why did you take so long? If you were going to help, you should’ve done it from the start! You wasted a perfectly good bullet!”
When I snapped at her, Misty fell silent. Her expression suggested she was thinking, ‘What kind of person says such things?’
“I’ve prevented the explosion, so the hostages should be safe for now. More importantly, we need to leave.”
“There’s still one more bandit where the hostages are. What’s he going to do when he sees this?”
“He’ll need to be eliminated.”
Misty spoke as casually as if she were saying we ought to buy onions and eggs at the market.
“And haven’t you said the Military Police would be coming? Once we show them the secret passage, they’ll handle it quickly enough.”
“But didn’t you hear what these men said? ‘According to the leader, we’ll receive word today to eliminate the guards.’ Doesn’t that strike you as odd? How could common bandits know the exact content and delivery date of an official document?”
“Well, the leader must have had connections, so surely he’d have heard about the document coming. That’s how he’d know.”
“That’s exactly what I’m asking—how would he know?”
“Perhaps from the court…”
Misty stopped mid-sentence and closed her mouth.
Court orders aren’t delivered by ordinary couriers—they’re delivered directly by court officers.
And they never casually mention to anyone when or what they’re delivering before the task is complete.
If word got out in advance, the recipient of the order might flee or initiate physical conflict.
“The leader of these men isn’t an ordinary thief. And didn’t you hear earlier? I don’t know which one, but there’s definitely someone in the Military Police working with them.”
In the worst case, the squad leader—the lieutenant of the Military Police in this district—could be their accomplice.
“…What are you trying to do?”
“Find out who the leader is. At minimum, who he’s working with.”
“…”
“You’ll help me, won’t you?”
When I asked with a bright smile, Misty’s face twisted into a grimace.
She wanted to curse, but couldn’t bring herself to do so to the person she was meant to protect—a silent struggle written across her features.
“How about we work out the details after we free the villagers?”
* * *
Oschel was a small village, but one that wanted for nothing.
Thanks to a caravan that arrived once a week, supplies were plentiful and news from the outside world reached them regularly.
And four times a year, through the seasonal festivals sponsored by Count Netzer, they exchanged visits with people from other villages.
Adrem was set to marry a woman from another village whom he’d met at last winter’s festival.
As the eldest son of Oschel’s headman, his only worry had been how to arrange the furniture in their new home.
Then one day, hell descended like a tempest.
The bandits seized everything they could, destroyed what they couldn’t, and burned the rest.
The villagers tried to help the soldiers resist them, but stopping a band of bandits who wielded their weapons with the skill of elite soldiers proved impossible.
In the end, the soldiers were all killed, and the villagers now sat imprisoned here.
Adrem gazed around with hollow eyes.
Most of the people trapped here were young.
The bandits had killed anyone old or infirm—worthless to them—and carted off the children elsewhere.
The captives were forced to dig through the cavern all day long.
They couldn’t even ask where they were digging or why. Any pause in swinging the pickaxe brought ruthless violence down upon them.
Those who showed defiance were dragged away. And never returned.
The people clung to the hope that a caravan passing through weekly, or perhaps the Military Police, had reported the village’s plight to the count.
Yet ten days had passed since the attack, and still they toiled behind bars.
Adrem ground his teeth.
‘The count betrayed us.’
An entire village vanished, and nothing had happened in ten days.
To judge by the bandits’ casual conversation, there was no sign of a rescue effort from anywhere.
‘So a commoner’s life means nothing to the nobility.’
Despair crept through him, and he cursed under his breath. All he wanted was one more glimpse of his fiancée’s face.
Then an odd sound echoed from around the corner.
“What’s that?”
“I’ll check it out.”
One of the bandits, sharpening his weapon, rounded the corner and disappeared inside.
A moment of silence followed—then two women emerged.
“Huh?”
Adrem wondered if he was dreaming.
A well-dressed lady and her maid in a bandit hideout.
Though smudged with dust here and there, these were not people who belonged in such a place.
‘Am I seeing things?’
But the two women weren’t visible only to him.
Even the others, hollow-eyed and staring vacantly into the distance, let out confused murmurs and looked toward the same spot.
As the cavern suddenly stirred, the mustachioed bandit sharpening his weapon fixed them with a menacing glare.
“Quiet! What are you all gawking at?”
The reply came from behind the mustachioed bandit.
“Yeah. We saw something.”
“What?”
Before the lady could finish speaking, the maid at her side rushed at the bandit in a single bound.
He didn’t even have time to grip his weapon properly before he crumpled.
As Adrem stared in stunned silence, there came a sharp click—the lock opening.
“Come out.”
The lady tilted her head toward the open bars as she spoke.
Somehow, the cell gate stood wide open.
While Adrem and the others hesitated in confusion, she moved without pause to the next cell and picked that lock too.
A lady opening locks with a hairpin and a maid dispatching bandits with practiced ease—he’d never heard of such a thing, let alone seen it.
“Hurry out. I need to put this back.”
Spurred by the urgent voice, Adrem and the others snapped awake.
The maid’s hand held the limp head of the bandit by his hair.
“You’re all out? Take one of these each.”
With the manner of a promoter handing out flyers, the lady distributed pickaxes one by one to the villagers emerging from the cells.
The townspeople were bewildered.
These women rescued us? But why are they giving us pickaxes? Just because they saved us—are they making us work for them now?
……Were we actually rescued?
“You have been liberated!”
As if reading their thoughts, the lady called out to them.
“Follow the tunnel over there! The Military Police and Count Netzer’s servants will be waiting for you!”
She added that because the tunneling had weakened the surrounding earth, walls might collapse along the way or passages might already be blocked, so they absolutely must bring the pickaxes.
Adrem couldn’t believe it. The count had learned of their predicament and sent people to rescue them.
“Is that truly the case, madam?”
The lady’s eyes flashed at his question.
“No time for questions—get moving! You want to be recaptured?”
“My apologies! We’re leaving at once!”
The townspeople rushed toward the newly carved tunnel with excitement flooding their faces. Yet some lingered, their feet as though rooted to the stone.
“Did you happen to see any children?”
“Children? No.”
At the lady’s answer, the sorrow etched into their faces drained away, leaving them ashen. These were parents who had clung to the belief that their children were imprisoned somewhere nearby.
“The children—they’re being held captive!”
“We can’t just leave them behind and go. We can’t.”
“Please, you have to save the children too.”
The maidservant opened her mouth to address their desperate pleas.
“That’s impossible.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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