Ambushing the Ambushers (4)
“Th-this much money…!”
The patrol had been attacked, the ambush repelled, and one assailant captured in the process, which naturally brought the patrol itself to a halt.
The patrol mission was marked as completed, and the promised commission fee was paid out to us. The total was ten silver. It wasn’t a huge sum, but the rate was higher than most other requests.
“Here. Six silver, as promised.”
“Thank you…”
Hestia hadn’t done much besides fall into a panic, but she had still been helpful in her own way. Thanks to her, the enemies had been thrown slightly off-balance, and once I got her back to normal, we’d be able to filter out the Kingdom spy who was the root cause of the monster rampage event.
The important thing is that I’ve made a personal connection with the character named Hestia.
With that thought in mind, I decided it was time to wrap things up and leave. But as I turned to go, she stopped me.
“U-um…”
“What?”
“It’s just… I was thinking about it, and something felt off. You gave that man five gold earlier, right?”
“I did.”
“But the money you’re taking with you is only four silver…?”
“And?”
“Aren’t you… losing money?”
She had called out to me because she was worried. And honestly, yes, it was a loss.
But the five gold had come from selling the jewels I’d obtained after killing the draugr in the dungeon. Money wasn’t particularly important to me. If it had been, I wouldn’t have handed over the gold at all—I would’ve just turned that scumbag over to the guards on the spot. My personal conscience might be worth very little, but five gold was worth even less than that.
“It is a loss. Anyway, I’m leaving. Don’t forget to report to me every weekend.”
I waved at Hestia and started walking away.
But she caught me one last time.
“W-wait… Why are you doing all this for someone like me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Honestly, I didn’t help at all. And you even took a loss… Maybe…”
“Hm?”
“Do you… want something from me?”
Unfortunately for her… pure goodwill was something that had never been tolerated in this world.
It wasn’t strange that she was suspicious.
“I already told you what I want. If anyone makes you a business offer, you report it to me without fail.”
“But… that doesn’t explain this much.”
“That depends on how you look at it.”
“Maybe… you want my body or something…”
“What?”
Then she suddenly blurted out something ridiculous. Her face flushed red as she twisted her body in embarrassment.
I let out a hollow laugh, completely dumbfounded.
“It’s not that.”
“My… my father said all men only think about that. Or gambling…”
“I’ll let the dad joke slide. But that perception seriously needs correcting.”
What she said wasn’t entirely true in the absolute sense. Not every man was a sex-crazed, dopamine-addicted lunatic. I had no idea what kind of person Hestia Claudi’s father was since he never appeared in the original story, but at the very least, I was a clear exception.
Still…
Honestly, if you look at this insane romance fantasy world, it might as well be a jungle.
Most of the women were just as obsessed with love as the men, so maybe her view wasn’t entirely wrong. The more I denied it, the less confident I felt.
“Really… you really don’t want anything else from me?”
“Nope. Well, there is one thing.”
I raised a finger, then pointed at the setting sun sinking behind her.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d get lost now. I’m tired too.”
Long-winded explanations were unnecessary. When dealing with a villain, the best method was to act like one. I smirked and ordered Hestia to disappear immediately.
Only then did the tension finally drain from her face. She bowed her head.
“Th-thank you for today!”
After sending Hestia off, I organized my thoughts about the upcoming schedule and original events before heading back myself.
He’s incredibly rude… but also kind.
Hestia Claudi.
For some reason, the road home felt strangely light. She kept stopping to replay everything that had happened, turning the events over in her mind again and again.
Today had been nothing short of miraculous for her. Not only had she earned in a single day what would normally take a full week of hard work, but more than that…
“I heard there were a lot of bad rumors about you in high society…”
She had formed a connection with an incredibly strange person.
At first, she had clung to that scary-looking adventurer out of fear of the others who were teasing her, even though she knew it was rude. It turned out he was a classmate at the Academy, and he had even formed a party with her.
I received help from him multiple times… It really is strange.
Whenever she thought of that gray hair and those long, sharp, fierce eyes, her face would inexplicably grow hot. But she still didn’t understand what that feeling was.
She simply thought the fear and excitement from that moment had come rushing back.
“T-today is a good day… I should buy myself a present.”
Even while pinching every penny of her living expenses and sending every last coin she could spare back to her family, Hestia had been saving up pocket money for days like this.
Today, she decided to spend it generously.
What she loved most were novels. After all, the reason she had entered the Art Department was because of them. Literature was her greatest passion.
Creak—
“Welcome.”
“Excuse me, where are the novels?”
“All the way in the back.”
The place she had bravely entered was an antique shop. Buying new books at a regular bookstore was far too expensive, so she had planned from the start to buy used ones here.
The thought of purchasing something new had never crossed her mind.
As she browsed through the books, one title caught her eye. She picked it up.
The Indifferent Genius and the Female Student
She flipped open the cover. For some strange reason, the story pulled at her heart.
It was a romance between a cold, sharp-tongued genius knight and a girl from a rural village.
Before she knew it, images of herself and Kael began playing in her head like an animation. The knight looked like Kael. The student looked like her…
She read the first few pages, then shook her head.
“N-no, I can’t do this.”
She couldn’t read it before buying it. She tucked the novel she liked under her arm and walked to the counter.
And that was when it happened.
“Hey, student. You’re from the Academy, right?”
“Yes… why?”
“Could you do me a small favor? My cousin is also an Academy student, and I need to deliver a magic circle he needs to study…”
“What kind of…”
“It’s this magic circle. My cousin doesn’t know about it. Just leave it where I tell you.”
The owner of the antique shop handed Hestia an old piece of parchment. The magic circle drawn on it looked like it belonged to an ancient artifact or relic.
She was about to take it without thinking when she suddenly remembered what had just happened earlier.
“If anyone tries to make you do anything, you must get my confirmation first.”
It was something Kael Lotus had repeated several times.
“Um… could I come back tomorrow instead? I’ll take the magic circle with me then.”
“Hm? Of course.”
“Please ring this up.”
“Oh, you can take that for free. But you have to come back later and deliver this magic circle, okay?”
“Ah… yes.”
The shop owner gave her a friendly smile. But something about it felt off, so Hestia quickly tucked the novel into her arms and left the antique shop as fast as she could.
As expected from the evidence Professor Temiri had left behind, several Kingdom spies were confirmed to be hiding in the back alleys. I still didn’t know exactly where or how they were operating, but the search area had narrowed considerably. If I dug a little deeper, I’d find them soon enough.
I had also managed to meet Hestia Claudi in advance. With this, I would be able to identify at least one Kingdom spy right at the start of the early events.
However, there was one area where progress was noticeably slow.
Heidel Grace… His arc should be wrapping up soon.
It was the second week of the Academy. Tomorrow, according to the original story, would be the final day of Heidel’s part.
Because the moment Avon Ragnarok—the first male lead candidate for Maria Frendis—enrolled in the Academy, Heidel Grace would completely fall for Maria.
It’s fine if Heidel falls for Maria. But once Avon’s arc begins, Crown Prince Lucas will start feeling anxious.
With Avon Ragnarok’s appearance, Maria would rapidly grow close to both Heidel and Avon. At the same time, Kael Lotus would begin forcing his way into Maria’s reverse harem.
That was exactly when Crown Prince Lucas would start to break.
The moment Lucas Deberlu confirmed his own feelings. The moment he purely admitted that he liked Maria and began committing all sorts of outrageous acts to keep her from being taken by other men.
He would buy her ridiculously expensive gifts and brag about building her a luxurious mansion.
That was when Lucas’s arc would truly begin.
“I don’t need any of this.”
“I’m doing it because I want to. Don’t worry about it, Maria.”
“When… when did I ever say I liked things like this?!”
It was one of the few arcs where Maria still seemed relatively normal…
“Why should a country bumpkin like you, a mere viscount’s son, take a gift that was never even given to me? Hand it over. It doesn’t suit someone like you.”
It was also when Alley would begin tormenting Maria in earnest.
At the same time, the period with the most things that needed fixing and the highest number of major events was drawing closer and closer.