[h2][center]Byron Silverwood[/center][/h2]

The princess' agreement to not pestering other shopkeepers was more than enough reason to let out a small sigh of relief, barely audible over the lingering activity on the streets. Even among royals, his mistress' hotheadedness and vivacity was hard to compete with—or would it be more apt to say [i]especially[/i] among royals? Thankfully, his patience hadn't waned in whatever time he had spent working with the royal family, though he would have much preferred working in the service of her elder sister. As things were now, the merchant seemed to be acting as a merchant might: fast-talking, acting in a way that would overpower someone psychologically if they weren't aware...

[i]"Or, at the very least, he's trying. Without sufficient proof, claims are simply claims, after all,"[/i] the butler thought to himself as he quietly followed the princess who was already poking her head into the carriage to get a better look at the goods within. [i]"But if he can back these claims up, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to invest..."[/i]

The relative peace of the scene was suddenly interrupted by the sound of what seemed to be a dying creature before smoke began billowing out from something in the middle of the road. The worst of it was yet to come, though, as the one who emerged from the smoke was the thief from earlier. Though the baubles in her hand were replaced with a single object, the fact that she was screaming about a military automata chasing her (likely the one that had given chase earlier) and running right towards him... Was an issue.

Far less of one than the fact that it meant that the princess was also in the crossfire, of course; if there was any time to act, now would be it. Calmly sweeping his right arm out to his side, the butler calmly walked straight into the path of the dashing half-alv girl and, in a single motion, drew three knives out of his uniform and launched them all at the girl; in the next, he drew another and placed it in the middle of the air, freezing it in place before jumping on top of it. Right before the knives might have met their target, the butler forced them to pause in space, denoting a sort of boundary and he launched another four from the air towards the girl. In a similar fashion, these blades froze too, blocking off any ability for her to attempt to simply leap over them.

"While I overlooked your petty thievery earlier, I cannot allow you to place my mistress in any harm," he declared, a solemn look on his place as he turned towards the direction of the smoke cloud. If the girl's words had any truth to them, then...

"Assuming that your cries about being chased by a robot are correct and it is hostile, I will not stand idly by; however, if you still wish to bring harm upon the princess, I will not hesitate to cut you down where you stand," he continued, letting the knife he had frozen as a platform fall to the ground. With a cursory glance at the object in the girl's hands, Byron sighed and shook his head. While locking that in place and preventing it from moving was an option, there were only so many more objects he could freeze in place; if there really was a more hostile enemy en route to their position, then, all of the knives he had thrown would have to be recalibrated to deal with that instead. If the girl was bluffing, of course, they would function as a small pseudo-barrier impeding her progress and force her to shift her route of escape.

It was a given, of course, that if she continued to try and run to the princess and the merchant, he would let the knives resume flight. There was no exception to be made when it came to protecting someone important, especially in a situation like this.

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