The Tekari Letter
Yustea explained the story she had heard today to the captain and the elites in detail.
“So, Viscount Sintes gave us a hint. Viscount Sol wants to get his hands on Tekari’s relic, so if we find that, we’re good.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Antonio and Yuis stared at Yustea.
Yustea flinched.
“Is there something you’re curious about…?”
Only then did the captain nod and say, “Ah.”
“No. You’ve done a great job. We’ll look into the Tekari relic issue.”
“Yes.”
“The night is late, you should rest now.”
“I was just about to.”
Yustea bowed her head and looked at the captain.
“Um, thank you for the flowers…”
“…Yeah.”
When the captain said that, Yustea hugged the bouquet tightly and left the room.
Kung.
As soon as the door closed, the elites gathered around and peeked out.
“What’s this? Why are you crying? Were you hungry?”
“You idiot, do I have to include you in the conversation too, captain?”
“Do you have some painful past tied to these flowers?”
The elites frowned and thought hard.
Antonio, who was groaning and thinking, said.
“I once got a stomachache from eating flowers. Why is it so common for the kids? Because they smell good, I thought they were edible and ate them, and got sick.”
“You idiot, do I have to leave you out of the conversation?”
“What kind of painful past? If it’s flowers, then a lover? The first prince? Didn’t you say you were engaged to the first prince?”
When the captain’s words were heard, Yuis shook his head.
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have wanted to receive it like that.”
“Then?”
“The information from the people attached to Viscount Sintes says that what was strange about Yustea was after Viscount Sintes bought Astor flowers…”
“Astor? The flower with the same name as the girl’s, so you bought it?”
“Yes. And after Viscount Sintes asked Yustea if she hadn’t received flowers from her father, he was greatly surprised…”
“Ah.”
Yuis narrowed his eyes and held his forehead.
His face showed that something was clicking.
The captain asked.
“What happened?”
“Apparently, she said she had never received a flower from her father. So Viscount Sintes was surprised. After that, Yustea seemed to brush it off without a care…”
“Ugh.”
The captain sighed, and Antonio turned his head back and forth and asked.
“What is it? What is it?”
“You’re really an idiot.”
“So, what is it?”
“Actually, she wanted to receive it from her father. When her new father, the captain, gave it to her, she was happy.”
Upon thinking, there was a story that Marquis Andres didn’t have much affection for Yustea.
The cold-hearted Marquis was said to be very kind to his step-sister Stella, whom he saw from the maid.
Yuis shared the information he knew.
“It seems there was severe discrimination in front of others. There was a famous incident too.”
“A famous incident?”
The captain asked, and Yuis frowned.
“It was the day of Yustea’s academic academy graduation ceremony. In the evening, there was a graduation celebration party at the Andres residence, and it was said that the Marquis unexpectedly brought a bouquet of flowers.”
“To celebrate the graduation? But the young lady had never received flowers, right?”
Antonio asked with a puzzled expression.
“No. That was for Stella Andres.”
“What?”
“That party was the first party Stella Andres attended.”
“Then….”
“Yustea thought it was her flower and went to receive it. Since it’s the first party, giving flowers is not common. The Marquis didn’t even look at Yustea and gave the flowers to Stella Andres.”
“What? That….”
“How much they laughed at us is enough to be in the gossip.”
“…”
The room became quiet.
The captain frowned.
The father was truly cruel.
Antonio gritted his teeth and said.
“It’s the same daughter. Why did he discriminate like that.”
“The daughter raised on the streets is pitiful, and the daughter who stayed up all night every day to receive even a glance from the father isn’t it?”
“That’s impossible. Where does such a thing exist.”
“Anyway, thinking about that, the flowers must have had a lot of meaning for Yustea.”
“It must have been extremely meaningful.”
The captain sighed.
In the room, no other stories were coming out, but everyone was probably recalling the same thing.
Yustea hugging the daisy anxiously, not knowing what to do.
* * *
The next day.
I suddenly saw Antonio holding out a bouquet of flowers in front of me and tilted my head.
Antonio’s eyes widened.
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“No. I like it. It’s good, but…”
I received the bouquet of flowers for the third time today.
In the morning, the captain came to my room.
And held out a marigold bouquet and said.
“The meaning of the flowers is good.”
At lunch, Yuis came and held out a bellflower bouquet...
“Odajurota.”
He said that.
Around 3 o’clock, this time Antonio came holding a large bouquet decorated with various flowers.
“This is freesia, this is sunflower, and this is rose.”
“The rose is yellow too.”
“They say they gave a lot of flowers at the graduation ceremony.”
“Graduation?”
“Why suddenly?”
“You don’t like it much…?”
Antonio looked dejected, so I quickly took the bouquet.
“I like it. Because it’s a good meaning, I’m even more grateful.”
“Right? I asked for the prettiest things.”
Antonio’s face brightened.
I chuckled.
It really feels good.
The bouquets given by the three people also need to be carefully stored like daisies.
“Um, but how did the information on Tekari’s relic turn out?”
“The captain seems to be getting reports from other elites in various places.”
“Then I should go hear it too.”
I quickly put Antonio’s bouquet in the room and headed to the captain.
Antonio chased after me.
Yuis was also in the captain’s office.
“What’s the news?”
Asked, Yuis, with his chin on the sofa, answered.
“Seven out of eleven are in the hands of the Seven Families. Three in the imperial family. So, ten are hard to get.”
Even Irregular has a hard time dealing with the imperial family and the Seven Families.
It was not something that all the members could definitely pull off.
“Then in the end, we have to get the last one. Have you located the location?”
“We’re searching everywhere, but it won’t be easy.”
“Yes.”
The relics kept by families of the level of the imperial family and the Seven Families must have boasted a lot about their owners.
Even so, if it’s quiet without news, it might be hidden or not even in this empire.
At that moment, Antonio suddenly said.
“Then, we have to investigate the blacksmith Tekari first, right? Just ask where he sold it.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Yustea, the captain, and Yuis looked at Antonio.
Antonio blinked.
“Why?”
Yuis answered.
“Because you’re thinking is surprising.”
“Do you think I’m really an idiot?”
When Antonio got upset, Yuis smiled.
“It’s not a bad thought. If we can revive a person who died 500 years ago.”
“Dead?”
“Tekari isn’t a person. It’s a name inherited from a master craftsman.”
“Yes.”
The Tekari company was started from the blacksmith founded by the first master craftsman before the empire was founded.
It is said that famous blacksmiths from the continent flocked to learn the skills.
The first master gave his name to the most outstanding disciple among them.
That was passed down through generations.
The captain nodded.
“The relic is the most perfect work made by the first Tekari.”
“Got it? So, going to the first one to ask is impossible.”
Yuis added, and Antonio frowned.
“Then go to the current Tekari.”
“So, does the current one know where the first one sold the relic?”
“No, if the current one uses the same name, he could make something as great as the first one. Just ask him to make the relic.”
“That’s ridiculous. The first Tekari was called the hand of God. No matter how current…”
“Wait.”
I quickly raised my hand.
And quickly turned to Antonio.
“That might not be a bad thought.”
“What?”
“What?”
The captain and Yuis asked what he meant.
“Why could only the Tekari company brand weapons?”
“Because they have the best technology.”
“There were many disciples. Was there anyone who left and made something as great as what comes out of the Tekari company?”
“That is…”
Yuis also seemed to feel something was odd and paused for a moment.
“Ah. No way…!”
“Yes. If there was a technique passed down only to Tekari?”
“That can’t be. If it’s that technique, maybe we can make something similar to the relic?”
The captain also quickly nodded.
I groaned.
“But the current Tekari is a secretive person.”
During the Andres era, my father traded with the Tekari company for military weapon supplies.
Even though my father called him, the current Tekari never came out.
Moreover, I don’t know how arrogant the management is.
Even when I was the Andres daughter, I knew I couldn’t receive my father’s attention and was blatantly ignored.
“I don’t know if I can convince them…”
When I said it in a difficult voice.
The surroundings became quiet.
I tilted my head and looked at them.
The captain smiled broadly.
“Have you forgotten our essence?”
“Um… Assassination team?”
“Yes. It’s a criminal organization.”
Antonio and Yuis stood up laughing.
“Just give us one day, young lady.”
“With one day, we can find out how many moles you have.”
They cracked their knuckles.
I wasn’t particularly curious about how many moles there were.
But it was very reassuring.
* * *
We found the management team’s movement route through information.
Since they were moving in the west near the north, Antonio and Yuis immediately headed there.
And in just two hours, they brought back the information about the current Tekari, not even a day.
As soon as Yuis and Antonio arrived, the captain and I rushed.
Yuis said.
“Yustea’s thinking was correct. There is a secret technique manual passed down only to the Tekari.”
The captain’s eyes widened at Yuis’s words.
“So, did you find the location of the current Tekari?”
“That is…”
“Even so, you didn’t tell us that much?”
“…”
“They say they don’t know either.”
“What?”
“Twenty years ago, along with the secret technique manual, he went missing. He left a note.”
Yuis showed the note he took from the current Tekari and the operator.
It was jingling, I couldn’t eat it!
I won’t give my child-like work to unqualified people anymore!
“…”
“…”
Seeing the letter scribbled messily, I lost my words, and the captain held his head.
“Mountains upon mountains…”
Yuis sighed.
“Rather, it would be easier to dig up somewhere in the Seven Families. Should we just catch Viscount Sol and threaten him?”
“That’s what Antonio says!”
“Rather, curse your parents!”
While the two were shouting, Antonio and I were staring at the letter.
“Uhm?”
“Ugh…?”
While groaning and tearing the letter, we looked at each other.
“You too, young lady? I’m not familiar with why this is familiar?”
“You too, Antonio-nim?”
“Yeah. It seems I’ve seen it somewhere.”
“I have a sense of déjà vu too…”
We crossed our arms and thought.
Then I shouted “Ah!”
Antonio’s eyes widened too.
“Old man!”
“Blacksmith old man!”
Then, the captain and Yuis, who were glaring at each other, looked at us at the same time.
“What?”
“What are you saying.”
The two didn’t know because they hadn’t been scammed, but Antonio had been scammed often and wrote a contract with the blacksmith old man.
And I received a vow while saving him from being taken to the holy maiden.
So, I knew the handwriting of the blacksmith old man.
“It looks exactly like the letter left by the current Tekari!”
Antonio and I looked at each other with wide eyes.
And at the same time, we ran out the door.
* * *
We arrived at the only blacksmith in San Miguel in a hurry.
So, for Antonio, it’s the scam old man, and for me, the old man who was the 68-year-old male holy maiden.
Antonio kicked the door open.
I followed quickly.
“Old man!”
“Elder!”
Then, the old man who was sucking in noodles from a low chair in front of the stove stopped.
Then, he threw away the lunchbox and hugged the shield nearby.
“I only got 12 silver from your subordinates this time! That’s a bargain!”
“You cheated again… No, no!”
I quickly checked the shield the old man was holding.
Polish, finish.
I checked the hardness by hammering with the knuckles.
And I lifted it up and down.
“It’s light…!”
“If the shield is light, then. How do you carry a heavy one?”
“You say it’s light at this hardness?”
I didn’t know because I hadn’t had the chance to touch the weapons of the subordinates until now.
This was very similar to the weapons imported from Andres from the Tekari company.
Antonio rushed over and grabbed the old man’s face with both hands and examined it.
“What are you doing…!”
“This is the face of a person who is treated respectfully in a big weapons store. It’s all dirty.”
“How great is it to be sitting dead in front of the fire every day… Wait, what did you just say?”
“No. No. I misunderstood? How could the old man who sold his head or arms be like that!”
“So, what, you brat!”
At the moment when the old man was about to push Antonio away.
Antonio and I asked at the same time.
“Old man, do you really know how to make Tekari?!”
“Are you the current Tekari?”
At that moment, the old man’s face hardened.