Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: How Am I Supposed to Endure This?
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I didn't have particularly fond memories of the kids at the orphanage.
From the start, all the other kids had been handed over from external agencies.
If I had to compare it, I was like a mackerel sold at a supermarket.
They felt more like fresh fish bought in bulk from the seafood market that opened early in the morning.
'Those little shits.'
No wonder they treated me like I was invisible.
Because of them, I had to experience the feeling of being the new high school transfer student at the end of the year.
Not that I had any intention of hanging out with them anyway.
'Hmm.'
Maybe that's why Dort's threats using those kids as leverage didn't really faze me.
The only one I was even slightly worried about was that orange-haired girl.
But she was scheduled to be adopted in a few days, so it didn't matter.
That's why she hadn't shown up in the reception room earlier.
Even if one of those kids dropped dead right now.
It would feel about the same as hearing a rumor that someone I occasionally bumped into around the neighborhood had died.
You might think that's heartless, but there was no helping it.
Back alleys weren't the kind of place where you could worry about every little thing like that.
You'd literally trip over corpses.
I nodded slowly.
And spoke to Dort with confidence.
"...If I really do exactly as I'm told, you won't touch the orphanage kids... right?"
Why bother correcting him when he was misunderstanding it on his own?
Blabbing on with explanations? That's boring and pretentious.
Yeah, you're right. Zero room for argument.
"Pfft...! Now your face is finally worth looking at!"
Dort seemed pleased with my attitude as he patted my head.
Then leaned back against the seatback and sucked hard on his cigarette.
"Whew... Yeah. From our position, stirring up trouble and letting your connection to the orphanage get out would just be a hassle."
He was going around disguised as a butler to find someone, after all.
I could roughly guess how much they wanted to keep this under wraps.
That made Dort seem like quite the high-ranking figure.
In a ducal family, someone they'd use for secretive errands like this would have to be a trusted vassal noble.
Or someone of equivalent status.
'...So what's this guy's real deal?'
The white-haired maid sitting next to me.
Her presence felt out of place.
She didn't seem like a noble... but the subtle grace in her gestures was too refined even for a noble lady.
If she didn't have that sword, I might have mistaken her for a veteran maid.
'Something like a high-ranking knight, maybe.'
The combo of maid outfit and sword was a bit weird, though.
Maid uniforms were supposed to flutter nicely, but the sword's weight kept hers from moving much.
Plus, dispatch missions like this usually paired one admin type with one combat specialist.
-Rustle.
As I stared at her curiously with those thoughts in mind, the white-haired maid seemed to think the conversation was wrapping up.
She pulled a single sheet of paper from her bag and handed it to me.
"From now on, your official identity is the illegitimate son of the Rovelen Ducal Family."
"Hmm, illegitimate son?"
"There's no better identity for suddenly showing up out of nowhere."
The document was a household registry with the duke's name and some woman's name written on it.
Along with details like the village where I'd supposedly lived.
"You need to memorize this before we arrive. It's your registry now."
"Ugh."
That's a lot.
But there were no other options to begin with.
With the same feeling I'd had when first seeing my service oath, I started memorizing the registry.
"...Huh? Why is this blank?"
The unnatural empty space at the top.
Obviously, that's where my name should go.
"...We won't change your name."
"Why not?"
"Names given from birth carry an irresistible power."
Ah, that kind of lore?
Still, with my fantasy experience, I could accept it easily enough.
This was a world where fireballs popped out ignoring physics.
Stuff like that was commonplace; you just had to go with it.
Besides, I was barely getting used to being called Dane, and if they slapped an Elizabeth on me here, it'd be confusing.
If it got out later, it'd be perfect fodder for lines like, 'Three names? Must be nice.'
"So Young Master Dane's name will be Dane Rovelen."
"...Young Master?"
"The moment you hold that document, you're officially part of the Rovelen family. Feel free to call me Eirin."
Dane Rovelen, huh...
So from now on, I'd have to answer to both 'Mr. Dane' and 'Mr. Rovelen'.
Like Kim Smith Kim or something. Tricky.
As I memorized the first letters of the document and crammed the info into my head.
Suddenly, I realized I'd never been outside the city.
'I wonder what it looks like beyond the walls?'
About an hour since we left, by my estimate, so expecting vast grasslands, I turned to look out the window.
"What the."
Familiar buildings and people came into view.
What? We haven't even left yet?
Didn't we pass something like a gate earlier?
"That was the eastern district earlier—the outskirts of the outskirts, at that."
"And here?"
"We just passed the second gate, so this is the western district."
"...?"
What does that even mean.
I stared at Eirin blankly, and she began explaining slowly.
This was the imperial capital, Arvent.
Seemed like it was divided into east, west, south, and north districts around the central one with the imperial palace.
And each was huge enough to have its own gates.
'Ah, Wall Maria.'
Suddenly a bunch of things clicked.
No wonder there were so many people even in the outskirts where orphans lived—it was like being five minutes from Seoul Station.
Even when we'd get caught stealing bread or fruit, the guards never handed us over.
Everyone seemed to scrape by paying killer rents but making decent money.
If I'd known, I would've stolen a few more apples from that Rebanshel guy's shop.
"Arvent must be huge. We've been going for an hour and still haven't left."
"......"
"......It's huge, right? That's why?"
Eirin's eyebrow twitched slightly downward.
"...Actually, if things had gone according to plan, we should've left Arvent ages ago and been heading to the Rovelen territory by now."
As my bad premonition suggested, there'd been a snag in the original plan.
"And the carriage is slower than usual too."
Huh, and I thought this was fast.
As Eirin and I tilted our heads in confusion, the carriage began slowing down.
-Thud!
And finally came to a complete stop.
"One moment."
Eirin leaned toward the window to check outside.
A line of carriages stretching from the gate all the way up to us.
Plenty of people stepping out to argue with the guards.
"Lord Dort. Please wake up."
"...Ung?"
Eirin had somehow sprawled across the opposite seat and was now poking the sleeping Dort awake.
"...What. Why are we still here?"
"It seems there's a problem, but as someone who can't easily go outside..."
"...Sigh, nothing goes right."
Dort scratched the back of his head roughly, looking annoyed, and stepped out of the carriage.
He grabbed a passing guard and started talking.
"Oh."
Then grabbed the guard's armor collar and started shaking him.
Judging by the exaggerated gestures pointing our way, he was probably saying something like, 'Do you know who I am?'
Yeah, that's the noble and ideal image of power I knew.
"...What are you doing right now?"
"Ah, imitating the gestures. Figured they might come in handy at the ducal house later."
"...You don't need to learn that."
Hmm, gestures are pretty important for persuading people, from what I'd heard.
No real reason to refuse Eirin's hand gently lowering my arm, though.
So I decided to kill time by reading the documents instead.
A bit later, the carriage door slammed open as Dort stormed back in.
"The gates are sealed."
A single short sentence that compressed everything the guard had explained over several minutes.
Today at lunch, a drunken man in Arvent's western district was arrested by the guards.
But strangely, there was no alcohol smell typical of a drunkard.
Suspicious, the guards searched his belongings.
"And they found white powder."
"White powder? You don't mean what I think you mean, right?"
"Probably exactly that."
Drugs had turned up.
The guards went on high alert in an instant.
They sealed the walls leading outside and launched a massive investigation.
"Wait, then how did we get in? You said the walls are sealed."
"To wipe out suspicious elements, they're controlling info and not blocking incoming traffic. Even this was barely obtained using the ducal family's name."
We'd timed our entry perfectly to get caught up in the hassle.
Damn, just a bit further and luxurious noble life was waiting...!
Unfortunately, hours passed and the gates stayed shut.
Before long, the sun set and night fell.
In the dark carriage interior.
Relying on the faint moonlight, I was reading the documents.
Felt like some Joseon-era scholar.
Of course, I didn't particularly want to memorize the registry this painstakingly.
"......"
"......"
But if I didn't do this, how was I supposed to endure the suffocating atmosphere in this carriage?
I didn't want to talk much and accidentally give away info to the ducal side.
And Eirin wasn't the type to start conversations anyway.
So a stifling silence settled in the carriage.
For hours now, ongoing.
Dort had gone off to a nearby tavern ages ago, figuring since we couldn't go anywhere, he might as well drink.
Maybe Dort, who kept stacking up unlikeability with his sleazy attitude, was actually the spice that kept human relations going.
I only realized it after he was gone.
"......Is this kind of thing common?"
Unable to take it, I asked, and Eirin shook her head as she replied.
"It's not common, but given the timing, they're taking it sensitively."
"Timing?"
"The Arvent Academy entrance ceremony is coming up soon."
Academy?
The one I was thinking of?
"Arvent Academy isn't just for imperial nobles—lots of foreign nobles study there too."
"Ah, so with that situation, drugs suddenly circulating in Arvent..."
"If left alone, it'd be a perfect weakness to exploit. In the worst case, it could justify letting foreign troops into Arvent, so the empire has no choice but to respond strongly."
"What about the chance those drugs came from abroad to begin with?"
"Can't rule it out, but the odds of them passing the empire's strict border checks just to circulate in Arvent are low."
In the end, high chance it's the empire's own problem.
Really bad timing.
Unusual situation, gates controlled for a few days, and we unluckily got caught.
"I see."
"Yes."
"......"
"......"
Once the explanation ended, Eirin sat up straight again and closed her eyes.
Silence returned to the carriage.
...Fuck, someone save me.
If I were at least twenty, I'd throw a fit and go drinking with Dort.
But I couldn't, so I was going insane.
'Sigh, might as well do something.'
I turned back to the documents obediently.
I'd mostly memorized them anyway, so no real need to look.
But aside from sleeping, there was nothing else, and I wasn't sleepy yet.
-Hey, he's running!
-There!
-Grab him!
Faint voices came from outside the carriage.
Looking out the window, I saw a man fleeing with unsteady steps.
Staggering in a way that was clearly not normal.
Soon, the guards caught up to him.
-Urk!
The guards pulled something from the subdued man's bosom.
A bag of white-glowing powder.
"Looks like we won't be leaving for a few days."
"...Gasp!"
I slowly turned my head, and Eirin had silently approached behind me, peering out the window.
"I'll ask Lord Dort tomorrow to get us daily necessities for a few days."
"...Can't you go outside, Eirin?"
"I've been told not to show my face except in emergencies."
"Why?"
"Because problems would arise."
Eirin's looks were pretty enough to attract guys and cause issues.
But that didn't seem to be what she meant.
There was some other reason.
'Who knows.'
I didn't know nobles that well anyway.
No point thinking about it since no answers would come, so I just nodded vaguely.
As I blankly watched the man being dragged away.
'...Huh?'
I spotted someone in a nearby alley staring intently at the man.
Black hood pulled low over their face.
Trembling hand gripping the wall.
Constantly glancing around.
And a thick pouch at their waist.
'This smells fishy.'
After two years in the back alleys, you get a sense just from looking at someone.
Didn't know if they were a user or a buyer.
But my gut said they were directly tied to the core issue.
What to do.
Get involved in this mess vs. stay put.
Normally, overwhelming latter.
'Fuck, if I stay here any longer, I'll die of awkwardness.'
Spend days in this carriage playing stare-downs with Eirin?
Me, Dane.
Fine alone, but can't handle awkward to save my life.
"You can go out in emergencies, right?"
"...? Yes, but..."
"The precious illegitimate son of the Rovelen Duke wandering out of the carriage alone counts as an emergency, doesn't it?"
"Pardon?"
I heard Eirin's incredulous voice.
I got it. My words sounded like I was about to cause trouble.
"Got any clothes from the ducal family? In my size."
"We brought some, but... the clothes from Rebecca Orphanage were fine, so I didn't bother taking them out."
"Then get them out, please."
I kept my eyes on the alley man as I spoke.
"I think I've found a way to meet my long-lost father sooner."