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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 9 Chapter 5.2

Confronted by him, Kunon-neechan’s decision was made in a split second. The big man’s hand reached out to grab her. Kunon-neechan jumped lightly and managed to catch the hand with her left foot, jumped around the big man’s neck, and at the same time kicked the big man’s jaw with her right foot. It was a lightning-fast blow. Then, using the big man’s shoulder as his knees collapsed, she flew high into the air.

It was a truly air-warping attack, easily flying over the head of Jurus, who was in the front row. Kunon Yama then lands on the stage in front of the bride, Ulysses Korunald.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, from the moment she started running down the red carpet to this point.

While everyone was stunned, Kunon Yama smiled and held out her hand to the bride.

「Let’s go, Ulysses.」

It was as if she was holding out her right hand with a natural smile, inviting a friend who had been holed up at home to go out and play.

Ulysses gazes from behind the veil at the hand that is held out towards her. The bride’s hand naturally reaches forward… but halfway to it…

「Ah..」

Kunon-neechan embraces Ulysses, who is staggering. Kunon-neechan laughs at the confused Ulysses in her arms.

「It will be a while before I give you back, not until Ulysses is obedient.」

Then, still holding the bride in her arms, the thief turns around and shouts loudly to the guests present.

「I am Kunon Yama and I have taken Ulysses Korunald!」

As Kunon Yama made her bold declaration with shining eyes, Jurus’ face turned red and he shouted, 「Don’t mess with me! I’ve had enough of these childish games! Hey, Sougo! Do something about that girl now!」

「Ahah hah hah!」

Then laughter echoed throughout the chapel. The one who was laughing was a mean-looking old man.

Sougo Yama.

「That’s interesting, Kunon.」

「S..Sougo?」

「Okay, I’m on board too.」

「W..what do you mean, Sougo?」

「Let’s just stop this. I’ve been shown something so thrilling that there’s no way I’m going to play this boring wedding game now. This marriage is broken, broken.」

The hall erupts in an uproar at my father’s sudden announcement.

The Master next to him calls out in a panic, 「Hey, Sougo. But the original plan…」

「Plans are just plans. They’ve just changed. So those plans are gone.」

「You’re always so stupid.」

The Master places his hand on his forehead and my father looks the same as ever.

Jurus Korunald trembles with rage and shouts.

「Sougo, are you going to break your promise? A promise between men!?」

Yes, in a sense, those were the most powerful words he could say to Sougo Yama. That unspoken rule is what makes Sougo Yama who he is. But father laughed.

「It’s true that I’m a man who won’t break my promises even in death. But after seeing my daughter put up such an electrifying fight, it’s no big deal to break this rule.」

「Sougo, you…」

「But Kunon is way cooler than him. Don’t you think that would be a much better option than offering your daughter for money, Jurus?」

Jurus’s face changes color.

So, my father had noticed it too. The Korunald family is on the brink of bankruptcy, and their goal is to get their hands on the funds from <<Matsuri>>.

「This is about vanity…」

「Ah, that’s boring. That’s boring, Jurus. That’s not what we’re doing.」

「W..what is that?」

「I don’t care about if things are right or wrong by the world’s standards. I just do them because I think it’s cool and I admire it. I do them because I think it’s respectable. I do them because I can say for sure that it’s what I want. And Kunon showed me her resolve. So I went along with that resolve. I went along with it because I thought it was cool. …Hey, what about you guys?」

The old man turned around to face his comrades standing behind him. And then, shouts of joy rose up from <<Matsuri>>.

「S..something like this…」

His blonde haired, blue eyed best friend was red in anger, and Sougo Yama spread his arms wide and laughed fearlessly.

「Have you forgotten, Jurus? This is me. This is us.」

This is the Phantom Thieves’ <<Matsuri>>.

Jurus, trembling with rage, shouts at the rest of the Korunald family behind him, 「Get Ulysses back!」

「Yeeeeaaaah!」

In response, my father shouts, 「Alright, guys! Let’s make a path for Kunon to take the stage!」

「Yeees!」

And so it began.

A huge brawl broke out between the members of <<Matsuri>> and the Korunald family, with both fighting head-on.

Watching the whole thing from the stage, Kunon-neechan smiles at her best friend in her arms.

「Let’s go, Ulysses.」

「But…」

「I won’t accept a veto. After all, I’m kidnapping you, Ulysses.」

Ulysses-chan, being led by Kunon-neechan, looks at me. So I waved. It’s what they call a farewell.

The bride thief and her kidnapped bride ran through the chapel where a huge brawl is taking place. They slip between the old men fighting, push down the red carpet, and leave the chapel. All that’s left is the fighting guests and one miserable groom. What a neat way to steal the bride.

「Serves you right.」

Slowly approaching the lonely groom and rubbing salt into his wounds is the kidnapped bride’s brother, Ishbal Korunald.

「What?」

「Juugo, how much do you know?」

「Almost everything. So what? Is your family’s financial situation really that bad?」

「Yes, if we don’t repay the debt, all of our land and assets will be seized, almost everything. Our family will disappear along with its name.」

Grave robbing is not free either. It starts with gathering information, securing personnel, preparing equipment, and so on. And the only reward is the treasure hidden deep within. If there is one, it is a big reward. If there isn’t one, it’s a major loss.

The Korunald family had not seen any real results in the past decade, and it seemed they had squandered away most of the wealth their ancestors had accumulated. The most recent tomb raid was the final blow.

By the way, one of the reasons for the Korunald family’s downfall is undoubtedly being ripped off by a certain eyepatch-wearing lady from Nanaejima, but I won’t go into that now.

「And so it’s an invasive marriage?」

「Not a political strategy, but an invasive one… I was wary of Yukihime, who was sniffing around, but I never expected Juugo to notice. That’s a rare mistake for Ulysses.」

「Don’t get angry.」

「I’m not angry. I just thought you had found out because it’s you, Juugo.」

I found out about the plan because Ulysses told me it all just before.

The plan was that after she married me, Ulysses would funnel the funds of the Yama family, or rather of <<Matsuri>>, to the Korunald family.

With the family on the brink of destruction, the only thing she could do after having been loved and raised by Jurus and Ishbal up until then was to sacrifice herself. It was a decision that Ulysses had made of her own accord.

Hearing this, I decided to go along with the plan. If the engagement was called off, it was obvious that Ulysses would do the same thing to someone else. So I decided to help her. It would be a marriage in name only, and I would be the one to funnel the money out of <<Matsuri>>, not Ulysses.

To put it in a cool way, it was a betrayal of the family. I didn’t feel any guilt about it. It was originally money stolen from bad people anyway. Besides, I thought that Matsuri’s money should be used for things like that. It was to be used to help someone… no, to give someone a chance.

Thoughtfully, I didn’t think it would go so well. After all, the other party was <<Matsuri>> and Sougo Yama.

I figured it wouldn’t be surprising if they found out. This made me anxious that the marriage talk might fall through at any moment. But contrary to my expectations, we had gotten this far without any incident.

Once the marriage date was established, we had it all. Everything would work out from there. I was confident of that until just now. But then, something even more unexpected happened. Kunon-neechan barged in and kidnapped the bride. I never imagined that it would be Kunon-neechan, and not my dad, who would ruin our wedding. And it happened with just cool timing too.

「Well, dad would go along with it too.」

「So, Juugo, why did you push Ulysses’ back then?」

「Were you watching?」

When Kunon-neechan held out her hand, Ulysses hesitated to take it. So I gently pushed her back. I pushed her into a hug from Kunon-neechan. Ishbal was staring at me as I recalled it. So I answered.

「Well, my sister looked really cool.」

There was no other reason. I thought it was cool, so I helped her. That’s all.

「By the way Ishbal, can you drive a car?」