The Red Dragon and the Dragon Rider — The Scheme
"Absolutely not!"
Belladonna, the madam of the Velvet Rose brothel, shouted with a look of iron resolve on her face.
"What do you two think you'd even do on an expedition?!"
"Well, you see... we'd be comforting the knights who are worn out from the campaign. It'd lift their morale. And we'd make a ton of money doing it. Everybody wins, right?"
Seraphina, disguised as Ruby, pressed her case.
She had fully expected Belladonna to clap her hands and agree to the expedition without a second thought.
This was the woman whose eyes were always blinded by coin, forever scheming to squeeze out one more copper from every situation.
Yet, to her surprise, Belladonna flatly refused, telling Ruby and Kathy in no uncertain terms that it was out of the question.
"Ruby! Kathy! Is it money you need? Then I'll lend it to you myself! Expedition, my ass—expedition!! What, you think you're knights now?! Going to a place that dangerous?!"
When things failed to go as planned, Ruby and Kathy exchanged a glance.
What do we do?
We just have to keep persuading her.
Even Sylvia, seated as she was at the very top of the knightly order, could not bring women of uncertain identity on an expedition if they were registered as prostitutes.
More than anything, the surest way to justify the expedition in the report she had to submit to her superiors was to draw up a contract under the brothel's name.
That was the plan: draft the contract with the Velvet Rose as a party, and join the expedition officially as prostitutes.
Of course, that plan had just sailed straight over the horizon thanks to Belladonna's refusal.
"Belladonna, you don't need to worry so much. The knights will protect us."
"How am I supposed to trust those bastards?! Even I, walking these back alleys every day, know that knights die out on campaigns! Enough! And besides, those men don't spare a single thought for this back alley! You think they'd properly protect a couple of whores like you?! I won't say another word about it! I'll send word that I'm refusing the knights' offer! So don't go getting any strange ideas, either of you!"
With that final remark, Belladonna swept out of the room.
Ruby and Kathy were still staring blankly at each other when Anna, the prostitute who had recently helped Kathy with her makeup (almost certainly an alias), came over to them.
"Don't take it too hard. The madam only says those things because she's thinking of you two."
Belladonna, whom they had assumed cared for nothing but money, turned out to be a madam who genuinely looked after and cared for the women who came under her.
She set aside a portion of the money earned from the girls' work to hand out when they retired, fetched medicine for anyone who fell ill—little kindnesses like that.
Because she mothered them all so faithfully, most of the prostitutes were devoted to her.
"Now what? Is there no way to win her over?"
"There's brainwashing her with magic, or threatening her with force."
When Kathy narrowed her eyes and glared at her with evident disdain, Ruby looked away.
"Just kidding. Kidding."
"She's worried about our safety, so all we really need to do is show her the expedition would be perfectly safe. Wouldn't that work?"
"But how? Why doesn't the madam trust the knights in the first place? Wait—no. More importantly, why am I even agonizing over this?!"
"Because it's fun. And be honest with yourself—you're looking forward to it too. That's the only reason you've come this far."
For a moment it seemed like Kathy might come back to her senses, but instead she found herself nodding along at Ruby's words.
Just as she said, dopamine was already bubbling up in her brain.
Ruby and Kathy put their heads together and deliberated.
Just then, a commotion broke out outside.
The two of them left the brothel and went to see what all the noise was about.
"Hey! Where the hell are your eyes?!"
"I think my shoulder's dislocated! Go bring the doctor's fee right now!"
Two thugs were shouting threats at a lone man.
Even at a glance, it was obvious the thugs hadn't so much as been scratched—it was the man who had bumped into them who lay sprawled on the ground, hurt.
"What's going on?"
"Those two bumped into that man on purpose. Now they're demanding he pay for their treatment."
When they asked Anna, who had followed them out, she explained the situation step by step.
"What? Why isn't the city guard coming? At this point, shouldn't they have already arrived?"
"City guards? In a back alley like this? Wow, Kathy—you really are a fallen noble, aren't you?"
"What? No, no. I'm no noble."
"Hmm. Fine, have it your way. Besides, we have a rule—never ask about each other's pasts."
Kathy frantically denied it, but Anna didn't look remotely convinced.
"Guards almost never come to back alleys like this. And when they do show up, they're mostly here to shake us down for 'sitting fees' or 'protection money.'"
"Th-that can't be true! Our empire puts so much into public order! Maybe not as much as the knightly order, but they pour serious money into the city guard!"
"Back alleys like this aren't on the guard's list of things to protect. You're watching the proof with your own eyes right now."
Confronted with a dark side of the empire she had never imagined, Kathy bit her lip.
This is no time to be thinking about prostitutes or expeditions! I can't even do my own job properly—what right do I have to worry about anything else?!
"Sera—no! Kathy! Let's head home for today!"
"...Fine. Alright."
Seraphina, who had originally intended to keep sweet-talking Belladonna for the sake of expedition dopamine, had no intention of simply walking past the injustice unfolding before her eyes either.
The next day.
Once they had returned to being Sylvia and Seraphina, the two wasted no time leading the knightly order to the back alleys—or more precisely, to the barracks of the guards who were supposed to be protecting them.
The moment the knights appeared, the guard captain came scrambling over and snapped to attention.
"Captain James of the Imperial Western District Guard, reporting—!!!!"
He had apparently seized on it as his big chance at promotion, and launched into his introduction with gusto—but before he could even finish, Vargan's boot slammed into his stomach.
"Hk—kuhagh!"
Struck by Vargan, whose brute strength matched his hulking frame, the guard captain was sent flying backward, tumbling across the ground.
It was only because Vargan had tempered his strength that the man survived; had the blow been delivered with full force, his intestines would have ruptured on the spot.
"Wh-what... what have I done to deserve this?"
Struggling to his feet, the guard captain asked in a flustered voice.
It was not Vargan but Sylvia who answered him.
"Do you mean to tell me you don't know what you've done wrong?"
"...That is, I..."
The captain's eyes darted every which way, guilty conscience written all over them.
What does he know? That I've been taking protection money? Or that I've been covering for criminals?
He weighed his options for a moment, then decided to focus on getting through this crisis first.
It's obviously just a passing whim. They've never shown the slightest interest until now. If I can just ride this out, everything will go quiet again. The ledger and the evidence of the bribes are hidden well enough. Just play dumb!
"I-I'm afraid I don't know what Your Excellency is referring to."
"...So you intend to play shameless with me."
"With all due respect, do you have any proof? Even the Commander of the Bahamut Knights cannot barge in here with nothing but accusations."
Sylvia ground her teeth at the captain's sheer audacity.
She pushed straight past him and entered the guard barracks.
Gulp! Th-there's no way she knows.
That place housed a hidden storeroom where the guard captain had stashed the bribes he'd been collecting in secret.
No one but the captain himself knew of its location, and he kept repeating to himself that everything would be fine.
"Seraphina."
"On it. This kind of thing is easy."
Seraphina snapped her fingers, and something astonishing happened.
A crimson radiance bloomed from her fingertip, scattering in all directions before beginning to lick across the entire room like tongues of fire.
Then the energy began to gather beneath the desk the guard captain used.
"There it is. There's a hollow space under there."
What Seraphina had cast was a divination spell—the kind normally used to seek out treasure in dungeons.
When he saw where the red glow converged, the color drained from the guard captain's face.
"W-wait just a moment, Commander!"
He rushed to block Sylvia's path.
"That is... h-how much were you hoping for?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"Ah, come now. Isn't that why you came—to have this? My apologies. I should have offered it up to you first."
"...Are you trying to hand me a bribe right now?"
"...If not gold, then... well... jewelry? Gems? Just say the word, whatever you want, and I'll—"
Before the guard captain could finish, Sylvia's rapier flashed through the air.
A crimson sword aura erupted from her blade.
The aura whipped past the captain's face by a hair's breadth and struck precisely where Seraphina's spell had pointed.
KRA-BOOM! CRACK!
Dust geysered upward as a hole tore open in the floor, and inside it sat a hoard of every bribe the captain had ever taken.
"Arrest him at once! This is a man whose duty was to protect the citizens—yet he extorted and intimidated those very citizens to line his own belly!"
"M-mercy! S-spare me! I'll give you anything—anything you want!"
The guard captain begged on his knees for leniency, but Sylvia had never once let a parasite that sucked the lifeblood of the nation go unpunished.
"Our greater sin is that we have neglected this district's safety for so long. From this day forward, the Bahamut Knights will patrol this area ourselves! Move out, all of you!"
At Sylvia's command, the Bahamut Knights sprang into flawless motion.
In the blink of an eye, they swept through the back alleys.
Criminal gangs that had gathered in groups of dozens were more than a match for just three knights apiece, and the terrified thugs vanished into hiding.
A week passed like that, and peace finally settled over the back alleys.
And along with the purge came a reward none of them had expected.
"...Ruby. Kathy. If you two want it that badly, then go on the expedition. I'll write up the contract myself."
It seemed that a fine new image of the knightly order had taken root in Belladonna's heart.