Kwaang-
The table that Lord Aldor had fallen on fell over with a loud noise.
What is this...?
I stood up, startled by the sudden turn of events.
At the same time, I was about to pull out the sword I had on my waist, but someone grabbed my shoulder from behind.
“You don’t have to be careful, Miss.”
I looked back and saw a woman with short hair.
I was one of the few customers in the restaurant.
“It’s not that we’re fighting, we’re just saying hello because it’s nice to see you after such a long time.”
What kind of nonsense is this?
As I stared at her in bewilderment, the woman smiled brightly with her eyes closed.
I just found out that the woman's hands were a bit dirty.
No way?
Bang-
While I was watching the woman, Lord Aldor, who had subdued the man by laying him on the ground, spoke as if he was very annoyed.
“You’re still rude and violent.”
The man smirked and answered, wondering what was so good about being subdued by Lord Aldor.
“They say that if a person suddenly changes, they die.”
“It’s still shameless.”
“Isn’t it good that it’s consistent?”
“It’s the same as talking nonsense.”
Those two are really close.
Otherwise, Aldor would not have said such a thing.
Even though we were close, it seemed excessive for him to suddenly attack us, but it was certain that the man did not come at us with malicious intent.
The woman who grabbed my shoulder too.
“Can you let me say hello to my real client?”
Client. The moment I heard those words, I was convinced.
These people are members of the Ecclesia Information Guild.
Not only the man who had fought with Lord Aldor and the woman who had spoken to me, but all the customers in the restaurant were members of the guild.
“If you are rude to me, I will never forgive you.”
“Don’t worry. I have a knack for things too.”
“...”
“Really? If I go back without receiving the request, won’t it only be you and your young lady who will suffer?”
So when the man said casually, “Please let me go,” Lord Aldor glanced at me and let the man go.
The man stood up, dusting off his clothes, and bowed to me.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Adele Leopold. My name is Leo, the leader of the Ecclesia Information Guild.”
You're not a guild member, you're the guild leader?
This guy?
“I didn’t know the guild leader would come in person.”
“It is a request from a dear friend of mine, so I must come in person.”
Friend, yes.
I glanced at Lord Aldor and he answered firmly.
"No."
Then, the guild leader, Leo, clutched his chest and spoke in a very disappointed tone.
“Wow. We rolled around in the mud together for two months, and you’re pretending not to know. I’m upset.”
"Noisy."
“Should I make it louder?”
Yes, they are friends. Lord Aldor seemed to deny it, but anyone could tell that they were close friends.
Aldor had a friend like this too.
As I was looking at Leo in curiosity, a hand suddenly popped out in front of me.
“My name is Amy.”
It was that woman. I was so startled that I grabbed the hand of the woman who said she was Amy.
Then the woman lightly kissed the back of my hand.
Although kissing the back of the hand is a common greeting, it was the first time a girl had done it to another girl, so I looked at the girl a little bewildered.
“My name is Mac.”
"I am..!"
Soon after, guild members who I thought were guests came up to me one after another and greeted me.
Then he straightened up the table that had been knocked over and pulled out a chair for me to sit down.
Leo, who had been arguing with Lord Aldor, spoke to everyone as they sat down in a panic.
“Everyone, come out.”
The guild members left immediately, but Lord Aldor remained.
“Why don’t you go out?”
“I must protect the young lady.”
“What? Are you worried that I might hurt the young lady?”
Leo chuckled as Lord Aldor answered with silence.
“Don’t worry. I won’t lay a finger on your precious little girl.”
“How can I trust you?”
“Even if you don’t believe me, don’t you believe in your young lady’s skills?”
Leo rested his chin on his hand and looked at me with a grin.
“It seems like your swordsmanship skills are better than mine, young lady.”
How do you know that?
This guy has never seen me swing a sword before?
“So don’t worry and just go out.”
“As an escort...”
“Your lady would want you to go out too.”
Leo said, cutting off Lord Aldor's horse's tail.
At those words, Lord Aldor looked at me and nodded.
“Go out and see, Lord Aldor.”
"...All right."
Lord Aldor reluctantly went out.
The doorbell rang loudly in the quiet restaurant.
“It looks like you rented a restaurant.”
Otherwise, there would have been such a commotion, and there would have been no way that not a single employee would have been seen.
“Yes. I borrowed it because I thought our young lady didn’t want others to hear about her request.”
“It must have cost a lot of money.”
"So."
Leo smiled and held out his hand.
“Please give me the money I paid for renting the restaurant. I rented it for 2 hours and the amount is 3 gold.”
What a shameless man, just as Lord Aldor said.
He was a man with a strange charm that made people not dislike his shamelessness.
"Yes."
I gladly gave him the money, since he rented the restaurant and we could talk comfortably.
2 gold instead of 3 gold.
Leo blinked his eyes wide as he looked at the two gold coins placed on his palm.
“Are my eyes deceiving me, Miss? I see two gold coins.”
“Two is correct. Two gold.”
“I thought I said 3 gold.”
“I know that renting this restaurant for an hour only costs 1 gold.”
When I asked where he got the scam from, Leo just laughed in vain.
“This is it... I didn’t think the Duke’s daughter would know something like that. I feel like I’ve been scammed.”
“It wasn’t you who was scammed, it was me.”
Even if your mouth is crooked, you should speak straight.
“How did you meet Lord Aldor?”
I saw you two earlier and you seemed pretty close, so I was curious about the story between them.
Then Leo, who had put the gold coins in his pocket, extended his hand to me again.
"What?"
“If you want to hear information, you have to pay an information fee.”
...Is he really a scammer?
“Okay. I can ask Aldor later.”
“Even if you ask, he won’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Well, it might be a bit of an embarrassing memory for him.”
It's a happy memory for him.
Leo's expression as he added that looked quite pleased.
It also looked a little bit evil.
When he said it like that, I really wanted to hear it, but I didn't want to be played around with by him any longer, so I tried to swallow my curiosity and made the request.
“Prove it.”
Leo tilted his head.
“What kind of proof are you talking about?”
“Well, that’s to prove that the Ecclesia Information Guild is truly capable. Only then will I trust you and entrust you with my requests.”
“Hmm. How can I prove it so that our lady will believe in our guild’s abilities?”
When on earth did I see you and why did you keep calling me 'our' girl?
No matter how witty he is, this is a little bit too much.
It was also embarrassing.
I'm trying to tell you not to use the word 'we'.
"Basement."
Leo smiled meaningfully and said something even more meaningful.
“If I tell you what’s in the basement of Duke Leopold’s residence... will you believe me?”
“...”
A cold air passed through my body as if I had been abandoned on a snow-covered mountain with nothing on.
My breath caught in my throat, and my vision briefly went white.
"How..."
How do you know that?
I don't know, I'm a descendant of the Duke Leopold family.
Something my father never told me.
Because he has no intention of appointing me as your successor.
My father didn't tell me because he didn't want me to become a Duke, so how does this man know that?
“Oh, you don’t know what’s there, Miss.”
Leo, seeing my reaction, rested his chin on one hand.
“Then even if I tell you the answer, you won’t know if it’s the right answer, so it’s meaningless. Hmm, something else...”
Knock knock, bang-
I jumped up from my seat and grabbed his arm, which was resting its chin on my hand.
"Miss!"
At the same time, Lord Aldor, who had been waiting outside, came in.
“Go out.”
"Miss..."
"Get out now!"
As I became more sensitive, my voice went up a lot.
After forcibly sending Lord Aldor out, I muttered to Leo, as if chewing him.
"Say it."
“...”
“Tell me what’s there, right now.”
Leo looked at me, as if surprised by my actions, and then quickly smiled his signature natural smile.
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s an order! Speak!”
“You seem to be mistaken. I have no reason to follow your orders, young lady. I am neither your subordinate nor a noble of the empire.”
“...”
I was extremely annoyed, but I had nothing to say because it wasn't wrong.
And thinking about it differently, it wasn't clear whether the information Leo knew was true.
Yeah, that would be a lie.
There's no way this man would know about the secrets of the Leopold family.
That's a secret even the Emperor doesn't know.
When I thought about it that way, the heat that had been rising to the tips of my hair suddenly cooled down.
I let go of Leo's arm as if throwing it and sat back down.
Leo groaned, fidgeting with the arm I was holding.
“Oh my, that hurts. You must have defeated the fearsome Pushik with one blow.”
“...You know that too?”
Chernosser silenced the knights' mouths so that part of the rumor didn't spread properly?
“Did Lord Aldor tell you?”
“Do you think Aldor would be the kind of person who would leak information about the young lady?”
That wasn't it.
“I figured it all out with my own abilities. I can find out this much in no time with just a little bit of research.”
"Also?"
“Do you want me to say more here?”
“So that’s all you wanted to prove your skills to? You said with your own mouth that you’d find out right away if you just investigated a little?”
“Okay.”
When I snorted in disbelief, Leo scratched his head, thought for a moment, and then said,
“Then how about this?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I also know that you have a heart-shaped mole on your lower back.”
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