Vivi is the only princess of the Alabasta Kingdom.
The guy with the long, golden curly hair is Igaram, the captain of the Alabasta Kingdom's guard.
One of Igaram's main jobs is to protect the princess.
Whenever Vivi leaves the palace, Igaram is almost always right behind her. Even if Vivi doesn't want him around, he still follows, often in some pretty bad disguises.
When Igaram showed up, Vivi smiled a little and pointed at Takumi, saying, "Thanks to his camel, I caught the thief."
Igaram glanced at Takumi, sizing him up, and asked, "Judging by your outfit, you're not from Alubarna, are you? Where did you come from?"
Takumi just kept eating his skewer, not even bothering to answer Igaram. He turned around and started walking away.
The street was crowded, and when Igaram asked his question, almost everyone started staring at them.
Takumi wasn't a fan of being the center of attention.
Plus, he wasn't much of a talker to begin with, so walking away without saying a word was just how he rolled.
Even though his mission might have something to do with this Princess Vivi, he was more interested in finding a comfortable inn, getting some good rest for a few days, and then hitting every tavern in Alubarna for a proper drink.
"Hey, that kid is pretty rude! He didn't even say a word before walking off!" Igaram grumbled, clearly annoyed with Takumi's attitude.
But Vivi just waved it off with a smile, "It's fine. Maybe he's just shy. After all, we're strangers to him."
Igaram huffed, "Even if we're strangers, he should still show some respect! You're the princess! How can he be so rude to you?"
"Igaram, that's enough," Vivi said, her expression darkening a bit. "I'm just like everyone else, except I happen to be a princess. I don't want people treating me differently just because of that…"
"Vivi…" Igaram said softly, feeling bad. "You know that's not what I meant."
Vivi grinned and said, "It's okay. That grilled meat he was eating smelled so good. I want some too."
Igaram was a bit surprised but then smiled, "Alright, Princess Vivi. If you want to eat, we'll eat until we're stuffed."
Takumi found a nice mid-sized inn and checked in.
He asked the innkeeper to take care of his camel.
After a comfortable afternoon nap, Takumi left the inn around dusk. He had a meal at a nearby restaurant and then found a tavern close by. Ignoring the usual taunts from the regulars, he ordered a few bottles of wine at the bar, drank until he was satisfied, filled up his wine gourd, and finally left the tavern.
The sky was already dark by then.
Since he'd slept most of the afternoon, Takumi was wide awake and not the least bit sleepy.
After thinking it over, he decided to explore the city and get familiar with the layout of Alubarna.
An hour later…
As Takumi stepped out of a small alley, he noticed a man dressed in black running towards him, carrying a girl with her hands and feet bound and her mouth taped shut.
As the man in black ran past Takumi, their eyes met—the girl's teary eyes locked onto his.
It was Vivi.
Vivi saw Takumi and immediately started mumbling through the gag.
The man in black gave her a rough slap and growled, "Shut up!"
Tears welled up in Vivi's eyes as she kept staring at Takumi, silently begging him to get help.
But then she remembered how Takumi had ignored her earlier in the day, and her hopeful expression slowly faded away.
Takumi quietly watched the man in black run off.
Without a word, he decided to chase after them.
Sure, he could've ignored Vivi, but there was a chance that rescuing her might complete his mission. Even if there was only a fifty percent chance, he figured it was worth trying.
The man in black kept running with Vivi on his shoulder.
Vivi thought she was done for, but then she saw someone approaching from a distance. In the blink of an eye, that person was right in front of her, and she was stunned.
"Huh?" The man in black noticed something behind him, turned around, and saw Takumi catching up. He immediately sped up, trying to lose Takumi.
Takumi casually kicked the guy's left shin, and with a sickening crack, the man's leg bone snapped.
"Ahhh!" the man screamed as he fell forward, flinging Vivi off his shoulder.
Takumi quickly caught Vivi with ease.
He set her down gently and untied the ropes around her wrists.
Vivi quickly untied her ankles, ripped off the tape from her mouth, and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. She forced a smile and said, "Thank you so much."
Takumi waved his hand, like it was no big deal.
But the system notification he was expecting never came.
It looked like he'd guessed wrong…
Just then, a large falcon swooped down from the night sky and landed nearby, transforming into a man in a white robe.
It was Pell, the vice-captain of the Kingdom Guard, who Takumi had briefly met at a tavern after dealing with a group of bandits.
"Princess Vivi, are you alright?" Pell asked anxiously.
Vivi shook her head slightly, "I'm fine."
Pell glanced at the man in black, who was rolling on the ground in pain, clutching his broken leg. Then he looked at Takumi, who was about to leave, with a surprised expression, "Are you… Takumi?"
Takumi wasn't in the mood to chat and started walking back toward the inn.
But just then, Igaram came running up in a hurry.
When he saw Takumi, he acted like he'd figured everything out and blocked his path, saying, "I knew it! You were so rude earlier because you and that guy were in on it together to kidnap Princess Vivi!"
He was pointing at the man in black, who was still writhing on the ground in pain.
"No, Igaram, you've got it wrong," Vivi quickly explained. "Takumi is the one who saved me."
"Huh? Really?" Igaram was shocked. "Wasn't it Pell who took down that guy?"
Pell shook his head, "It wasn't me…"
"Huh?" Igaram was even more surprised. "But this kid looks like he's only a few years older than you, Princess Vivi. How could he possibly take down an adult?"
"He can," Pell said with a slight smile, "Even though I didn't see it myself, a lot of people witnessed him single-handedly driving off a group of desert bandits who could easily take down our guards."
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