The Interview
Aboard the train bound for home, Karen studied the documents with careful attention.
They held everything she had been given on the stranger.
"He caught quite a few."
The information had been pieced together from the testimony of a merchant who used to buy magical beasts from the man, so it was hardly precise. Still, if even half of it were true, he was no ordinary person.
Judging by the photograph, he had been remarkably young when he supposedly felled these beasts.
Honestly, it strained belief.
Realistically speaking, the likelier story was that he had simply stumbled across carcasses by sheer luck and sold them off.
"Fact-checking, then. Even if I go over it again, if all of this turns out to be true, that princess had every reason to look into him. Though for her, it was probably just a diversion."
She was the sort who stirred up the entire empire wherever she went. Gathering information was second nature to her, so a talent of this caliber was likely nothing more than a way to pass the time.
She had probably handed the file over for no deeper reason than that Karen happened to be nearby.
"Still… what am I supposed to do with him?"
She had been asked a favor, so she would at least meet the man. The problem was what came after.
If the information proved false, the solution was simple enough. A few persuasive words and she could send him packing beyond the territory's borders.
But if it were true?
Letting go of talent like that would be a waste, and she still had a favor to fulfill. That made things considerably more complicated.
The greatest obstacle was how to treat him.
Karen knew full well that the people of her territory regarded outsiders with suspicion.
Magical beasts already lurked around every corner. If they also had to shoulder the risk of strangers, life would only grow harder.
And yet outsiders were still tolerated, for one reason alone: the founding head of House Agnes had been one.
In the beginning, under the ideal of living by mutual aid, people had welcomed outsiders freely. But as the threat of magical beasts mounted over the years, that ideal had faded.
The knight order was no different.
If she tried to bring him into the order, the backlash would be fierce.
She could crush the dissent with authority, but the headache would remain.
Karen let out a long breath.
"Haa… it's too late to take it back now."
Her head had begun to throb. She cut the thoughts short.
Better to confirm the facts first and worry about his treatment afterward.
If it came to it, she could do as the princess had suggested—bind him with a one- or two-year contract under the law, and there would be no lasting trouble.
Karen herself had no desire to keep someone she could not trust close at hand.
"Heily."
At her call, the secretary at her side stepped forward.
The person she trusted most—and cherished most.
"You called for me."
Hair as white as a snowfield. Blue eyes that seemed to hold the roll of ocean waves.
There was no need for her to wear a maid's uniform, yet she did so out of Heily's own fierce resolve to serve her mistress, Karen, in every way.
"What do you make of this?"
"You mean the person Her Highness the Princess spoke of?"
"Yes. I want your thoughts."
Heily considered for a moment before answering.
"Keeping a strong man at your side seems a sound approach to me. But if you do so, should he not be someone you can trust?"
"So you think the same."
"Yes. I believe Lady Karen's safety must come first."
Hearing her opinion, Karen sank into thought.
Something had struck a chord.
In this day and age, finding even one capable person is hard enough.
That much was true.
And if competence and trustworthiness had to coexist in the same person—how much harder still?
"Huu… I've heard you. Even so, I have to meet him first. Once we arrive, look into the merchants who buy magical beasts."
"Yes. I shall see to it."
Upon returning to Agnes Territory, Karen wasted no time tracking down the merchant who had purchased magical beasts from the man in the documents.
The merchant entered her office hunched and trembling.
"I—I was told you summoned me. M-might I ask what this is about…?"
He slowly lifted his head, trying to take in her appearance—only for a single sharp glance from her to drive his gaze straight back to the floor.
Karen held out a photograph.
"Do you remember this man?"
"Pardon?"
The merchant looked at the picture a servant placed in his hands.
"For what reason, if I may…?"
"I asked if you remember him."
"Eek!!"
Karen spoke with perfect calm, yet the merchant felt an overwhelming pressure bearing down on him.
He spun his thoughts desperately, clawing through his memory.
"Ah—yes, yes! I remember him! He was such an odd fellow I never forgot him!"
"Is that so. Then tell me everything you know."
The merchant steadied himself as best he could, determined not to stammer in front of her, and began.
"It's been so long the details are fuzzy, but I believe his trail went cold about seven or eight years ago."
"Hmm. And before that?"
"W-whether you'll believe me or not, our first meeting was when he was still a tiny kid. Around ten years old, I'd say. And that little brat dragged in an orc carcass, of all things."
"Oh? A ten-year-old with an orc?"
Interest kindled in Karen's eyes.
Taking that look for disbelief, the merchant cried out in panic.
"I-it's true! Please believe me!"
"It's fine. Continue."
"Y-yes, ma'am. Well… it started after that. Every four or five days, he'd haul in another magical beast carcass. Not loaded on an ordinary cart, either—roped together and slung over his shoulder."
"Is that a fact?"
"Yes, yes! It's all recorded in my ledgers. I can prove it!"
The merchant fumbled a ledger from his waistband—brought along just in case—flipped through the pages, found the old entries, and handed them over.
Confirming that his words were true, Karen pressed him onward.
"And then?"
"Pardon?"
"I asked what happened after that."
"Ah—ah. W-well, after that there really wasn't much to it. The kid kept dragging in carcasses every four or five days, and I bought them. That went on until seven or eight years ago."
"Hmm. You must have known the boy was an outsider of unclear origin. Why continue trading with him without the slightest suspicion?"
Sensing an accusation, the merchant poured out his grievance.
"H-honestly, how could a little kid like that have actually killed magical beasts?! Obviously he just happened to find the carcasses! And as someone who buys magical beasts for a living, purchasing whatever's offered for sale is only natural, isn't it?!"
"Calm yourself. I never said you had done anything wrong."
"Ah… my apologies."
The merchant immediately crumpled, hanging his head.
Then, eager to earn her trust, he spilled every scrap of memory he had left.
"I—I don't know why Your Lordship is so curious about him, but after that first meeting he only ever came to trade during the hours when no one else was around. I serve as a middleman, shipping the beasts I buy on to the capital, and one day some people from the capital asked me who'd been selling these particular beasts, so I told them. After that, his trail went cold. Why, I couldn't say."
That would be the story of Princess Alice awarding him a bounty.
Judging by the way the man spoke, he truly seemed to have no connection beyond buying and selling magical beasts.
Just as Karen's brow began to crease at the thought of a dead end—
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Enter."
The door opened, and Heily stepped inside.
"What is it?"
"We have located a man believed to be the one from the documents."
"Truly? Where?"
"He is thought to have been at the guild until a short while ago. What would you have me do?"
"What else? Prepare for an outing."
"Yes, Lady Karen."
As if her business here were finished, Karen rose from her chair.
Without so much as a glance at the merchant, she left the office.
"Huh?"
Left alone, the merchant let out a silent scream.
So who in the world was that man?
Orion trudged down the street.
"Where the hell did that guy go?"
He had stopped by to ask about current magical beast prices, only to find the merchant who always bought from him nowhere in sight today.
As a fallback, Orion decided to head to the guild and take a subjugation request.
The guild's system worked like this:
You slew a magical beast, reported the location to the guild, and received a matching reward.
The guild then went to the site, recovered the carcass, sold it, and pocketed the proceeds.
A kind of commission fee, in other words.
The pay was thinner than hauling the beasts in yourself and selling them outright, but the convenience made up for it.
The downside was having to wait until the beast actually sold—thanks to the occasional liar who filed false reports.
Jingle~ jingle~
Hood drawn low over his face, Orion pushed open the guild door.
Inside, men who looked like they could take on five hundred apiece were laughing and chatting at full volume.
Ignoring them, Orion went straight to the counter.
"Got any subjugation requests?"
At his question, a pretty young clerk—no, a battle-hardened woman who looked ready to take on a thousand alone—stepped forward and looked him up and down.
Then she held out her hand.
Not understanding, Orion tilted his head.
"Hm? No guild card?"
"Guild card?"
What was that supposed to be?
"If you don't have one, make one. Write down your identity, residence, and date of birth over here and submit it. We'll need a facial scan too, so take off that robe."
Orion froze.
They hadn't done any of this in the old days.
Back then you scrawled a rough name, and as long as you looked more or less the same at a glance, they paid you. Or so he remembered.
"Well? Hurry up and write."
Of course he couldn't.
The first part he could fake if he tried, but a facial scan would expose him as an outsider on the spot.
Orion felt the weight of the years that had passed.
And then—
Bang!
The guild doors flew open with force.
The noisy chatter died in an instant.
A guild employee standing by the entrance spoke with careful caution.
"L-Lord…? What brings you here…?"
It was Karen.