The Immortal's Alchemical Elixir (3)
I returned the greeting, shamelessly borrowing the name of our pathetic little guild. Audumla Guild's Norde, at your service.
Most adventurers were rootless bastards anyway, so flashing your guild affiliation was the perfect way to fake some status without revealing anything real about yourself. For me, it was convenient as hell since I didn't have to hand over my actual background.
The female knight shook her head in refusal, exactly the way I often did myself.
Haha. I chuckled lightly. I didn't make an appointment in advance either. Besides, it wasn't much of a discussion. As you can see, the tea is still steaming — our conversation was that brief.
Selena, standing behind the knight, wore a bitter smile. She must have realized we'd poured fresh tea and played the modesty card while she was gone.
Thanks to that, the atmosphere quickly became open enough for honest conversation. I quietly observed the female knight's increasingly bright expression and tone.
From what I can tell, she's not particularly skilled with words.
She knew proper etiquette, but she didn't seem like the type hardened by arguments or political scheming. She struck me as a rather rigid woman to be dealing with merchants who kept snakes in their bellies. But Primor, who was used to such underhanded maneuvering, wouldn't have come here herself — and it would have been rude for someone of her stature to visit without an appointment. The other escorts lacked both the dignity and the name value.
Only she carried the title of 'Knight of the Armaals Family' with the proper decorum to match. So it made sense that she was the one sent.
Audumla Guild. I've heard of it.
While I was testing the waters, the female knight spoke up.
Oh dear, it's embarrassing to receive such praise from a knight like yourself.
She was quite smooth at steering the conversation. She probably planned to segue straight into talk about the Elixir. But I was tired of pointless chatter, so I cut in bluntly, like the etiquette-illiterate adventurer I was pretending to be.
"Pardon? Ah, um... Yes, that is correct."
She seemed flustered by the sudden fastball that shattered her prepared script, but she answered honestly. I subtly showed a hint of discomfort, as if I couldn't quite control my expression.
I don't mean to criticize you, but from our perspective this is quite troubling. The rumor about an item that hasn't even been appraised by the auction organizer or officially listed has already spread across the streets...
Selena immediately jumped in with support fire. Sharp as always. Good girl.
"Uh, um... I see..."
The female knight stammered, clearly never imagining that we might have secretly joined hands behind her back to gang up on her. I nodded with a grave expression.
The circumstances through which we obtained this Elixir involved no small contribution from the Hermeion Guild. That is why we agreed to let them handle the auction arrangements and pay them a sales commission. Today, I came to fulfill that contract.
In other words: Don't even think about cutting in line and buying it before it goes on auction.
She must have caught the hidden meaning in my words, because she waved her hands in alarm.
I trust you on that point.
We'd only known each other for a day or two, but Primor didn't seem like the type to pull something like that. Of course, if her husband were still alive and could have been healed with the Elixir, she might have tried cutting in line. But considering how that black magic mafia bastard had disguised himself as a holy knight, I wasn't even sure the corpse was intact.
There was no reason for her to covet the Elixir more than necessary. With that thought in mind, I asked another question.
"...To be precise, it is not my lady's will. It is merely the stubborn insistence of myself and my colleagues."
Not Primor's will? I tilted my head.
Then does that mean she herself has no intention of treating her wounds, but her guards are trying to buy it for her?
But was that even possible? I didn't know the exact salaries of knights, but it seemed unlikely that four or five knights could pool enough assets to win the bid for an Elixir. Moreover, if Primor had no plans to remain in Renapolis, attending the auction itself would be impossible.
As I'd said earlier, she had no reason to covet the Elixir right now. Preserving a holy knight's corpse without decay would be difficult too. Wounds could be healed later — there was no reason for her to stay in Renapolis specifically for this auction.
I also hoped she would hurry back home instead of staying here and getting caught by that Diabolo bastard.
If Primor used the family fortune, the bidding itself might be feasible... but even then, it would be tough, wouldn't it?
She didn't seem to have been married into the family for very long. And in the middle of enjoying her newlywed life, her husband had died. If they didn't even have a child, her position within the Armaals family would be precarious. The husband who had connected her to the family was gone.
In that situation, if she spent the family's money lavishly to treat her own wounds, she wouldn't have a leg to stand on if they demanded an annulment or divorce—
...Wait. Holy shit?
I froze as a sudden realization hit me.
Hold on. Then doesn't that mean Primor isn't a direct descendant of one of the founding senatorial families?
According to what I'd guessed, the reason Tirsi had been kidnapped was ninety percent because of her bloodline. The founding senatorial families that had wielded enough power to wrest authority from the Romanian Emperor! They had almost certainly passed down something — some kind of power that had supported their authority in life — to their descendants.
Because this was a fucking bloodline-powered isekai world, after all.
And that something was probably only usable by their blood relatives. That was why I'd assumed the kidnapper called Diabolo would target Primor after Tirsi, just like the black mage Krüntus had done.
But unless Primor's husband had been a complete lunatic who was fine with incest, the chances that Primor, through marriage, had any blood connection to the Armaals family were extremely low.
...Then Primor won't get kidnapped?
There was no way some ancient legacy from a founding senatorial family would check a family register and say, Oh, you're legally family, so you're good and unlock itself.
In other words, even that Diabolo guy probably wouldn't bother kidnapping Primor herself.
Now that I think about it, Krüntus also prioritized infiltrating the family rather than kidnapping Primor directly, didn't he?
It looked like my judgment had been off. Damn it. I'd just assumed that since both Tirsi and Primor had white hair, they were both carrying the blood of the Arma-whatever family. I'd fallen for my own self-narration trick like an idiot.
"...Sir Norde?"
The back of my head was still tingling from the unexpected miscalculation when the female knight called my name, snapping me back to reality.
Ah, my apologies. It's nothing. Since we're talking about the Elixir to be auctioned, I actually brought the real thing with me. Would you like to see it?
Despite her words, she looked troubled. It seemed she already knew how slim her chances were of obtaining the Elixir. I nodded vaguely and exchanged some meaningless small talk with her before we parted ways.
Creak— Slam!
Once the female knight followed the butler out and the door closed, Selena whispered to me in a small voice.
“You worked hard.”
“It wasn’t much. Thank you for helping.”
“Dealing with the unreasonable demands of nobles is always the burden we commoners must bear.”
Having run a massive trading company and experienced similar situations to the point of nausea, Selena actually shuddered.
“Still, she was quite reasonable compared to most. There are always one or two utterly brainless people regardless of social class.”
“...That’s worrying. If someone like that comes throwing their weight around, it’ll be a huge pain.”
I frowned as I spoke. Now that the rumor about the Elixir had leaked, it was impossible to believe there wouldn’t be some shitty noble bastard who would use their status to make a scene. I was already busy enough to die — if I had to deal with those annoying pricks on top of everything, even I might end up with my head exploding.
Selena sighed in agreement and said,
“It’s true. Which is why... Sir Norde, where are you and your companions currently staying?”
“We found a suitable inn. If we stayed somewhere expensive, we’d probably get tangled up with the nobles who came for the auction.”
Normally, when we went on business trips, we deliberately chose expensive places to avoid getting caught up in incidents or disputes. This time, we’d had to do the exact opposite.
Selena clapped her hands as if this was perfect timing.
“I see! In that case, would you and your party consider staying at our residence?”