Chapter 104
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 104
I sat across from the head of the guild—no, the leader of the information guild—and gave a bright smile.
“Dropping honorifics already?”
“….”
Yep, a battle of nerves.
The setting for Tulia was that she wouldn’t even lose a battle of nerves to the heroine, Corico.
“As you can see, am I not much older than you? I am nearly the same age as your grandfather….”
“Same age?”
I let out a smirk.
“You’re only twenty-four. Same age, my foot.”
My grandfather isn’t that young, you know.
The leader chuckled and said, “Twenty-four? You must be talking about my grandson. He is exactly twenty-four, but how do you know my family tree so well?”
“Cut the crap about a grandson.”
I smiled as I looked at the leader’s silver hair, which was cut into a sharp bob.
“You’re unmarried, yet you’re prattling on about a grandson? Give me a break.”
“Unmarried?”
The leader shrugged as if he had just heard a hilarious joke.
“Regrettably, I was married decades ago.”
“You mean you haven’t had a lover for decades.”
“My, my. How could a woman with a husband take a lover?”
“Right.”
I didn't back down for a second and drove the point home.
“It’s possible because you’re not even a woman.”
But the leader didn’t seem flustered at all.
“I’ve heard the Frezier direct descendant lady has a nasty personality, but do I need to strip off my underwear to make you believe me?”
His words were sly, but if you listened closely, you could tell. Unlike at the start, his tone was gradually becoming more polite, and his gaze was definitely sharpening.
So, how will he react when he hears the next part?
“By the way, you’ve never told anyone your true name, have you? Ramus.”
“Ramus?”
The leader threw his head back and laughed loudly.
“If you’re going to keep playing detective with these nonsensical stories, perhaps the Lady of House Frezier should take her leave?”
“Hmm. Should I?”
Contrary to my words, I finally pulled back the hood of the robe I had been wearing. My vision cleared, and I felt much better than before.
I spoke in a voice as sweet as my improved mood.
“Ramus Jeremiah. Nice to meet you.”
“….”
“The alias you use among people is Raimiji? It’s well-chosen. Since it’s a name built on lies.”
The head of the information guild.
Raimi—no, Ramus Jeremiah—finally shut his mouth.
That’s right.
There isn’t a person in this world who can win a battle of nerves against Tulia. That held true even for Ramus Jeremiah, the head of the greatest information guild in this world’s setting.
“The Jeremiahs come from a slave family, don’t they?”
“….”
“If that gets out, it’ll cause quite a lot of trouble, even for the head of an information guild.”
As I spoke, I glanced at his left hand. His fingers were likely loaded with poisoned needles, weren't they? One wrong move, and they’d be buried in my neck, killing me instantly.
However, I knew for a fact that he would never attack me.
“You’ve surely already gathered the information that I am the apple of Grand Duke Frezier’s eye. You know, don’t you?”
“….”
“That if you kill me, your entire information guild will be utterly obliterated.”
No matter how formidable the people of the underworld are, they pick their battles.
For instance, the Imperial Family.
And the Grand Ducal House of Frezier.
“Now then, why don’t you get rid of that pathetic disguise? We should be looking at each other’s real faces if we’re going to strike a deal.”
“…Ha.”
He definitely swallowed a short curse.
Ramus Jeremiah snatched off his wig. As if by magic, the deep-set wrinkles on his face vanished in an instant, and even his physique seemed to shift.
In the seat where a sharp-looking old woman had been sitting, there now sat a young man of twenty-four.
Yes.
This was the true appearance of Ramus Jeremiah.
One of the key figures Corico had to recruit to bring Tulia down.
In The Milk Bread, Ramus Jeremiah helped Corico with all sorts of tasks. In short, Ramus was a top-tier pawn with infinite uses.
So, this time, he was going to do those things for me!
For Tulia!
I planned to make him work for me!
“Tulia Frezier.”
“Watch your tone.”
“Lady Tulia Frezier.”
“Good.”
“Has a noble lady come all this way just to bring up my lowly bloodline?”
His tone was sarcastic. And his eyes were filled with intense wariness.
Well, if I were him, I’d be wary too, wondering what the hell was up with this girl.
But.
‘We’re two of a kind. You just don’t know it yet.’
I’m a slave to the System, too. It’s enough to make me cry.
I decided to ease his wariness at least a little bit.
“Ramus Jeremiah.”
“….”
“Since you’re the head of an information guild, you should already know the information, shouldn’t you?”
“…What information?”
“The information that until recently, I was also treated with contempt in the Grand Duke’s main castle.”
Seeing that he didn’t react much, he clearly knew.
‘He really is impressive.’
On the other hand, I felt like I should do a complete overhaul of the servants at the Grand Duchy once I returned.
A sigh escaped me internally.
Why was there so much to do?
What on earth had Lilius and Aubrey been doing with their lives? They acted so high and mighty all the time, yet they were letting internal information leak to a mere information guild leader.
‘Pathetic people.’
“Then what did you come all the way here for?”
“Why else? I came to buy information.”
“What kind of information are you looking to buy?”
He got straight to the point.
Though he was surprised and flustered, he showed the quick pivot expected of an information guild leader. For me, who couldn't stay here long, it was a much-appreciated attitude.
I rested both elbows on the desk and lightly tilted my chin.
That’s right. The "CEO play" had begun again.
“The survival of Benjamin Fluers, the youngest prince of the Sorsen Kingdom.”
“…That prince is currently alive.”
Well, I know that. He did attend the Empress’s tea party, after all. Hiding his face as best he could, sitting in the lowliest seat.
So, the information I actually came to buy was something else.
“To be specific, Benjamin Fluers’s survival by the hour.”
“…By the hour?”
“Yes. If he dies, you must inform me within three hours at the latest. That is the information I want to buy.”
I still had a benefit I hadn't used yet.
[System] ‘Master of Life’ Benefit: Can revive a dead male lead once (One-time use).
To be honest, I still didn't know who this benefit was intended to save.
‘I originally thought it might be Ferdinand.’
But no matter how much I thought about it, he wasn't the type to die anytime soon. His internal divine power was immense, and he was a brilliant genius in his own right. Plus, the setting of him returning from the battlefield with distinguished honors was part of The Milk Bread.
The one I was worried about was Benjamin, whose bones I had broken.
I couldn't immediately deal with or get rid of those brothers of his who seemed to have such nasty personalities. If they bullied Benjamin even more because of what happened today and he ended up dying…
What would happen to my A-Rank?
What would happen to my life?
And besides….
Before being a male lead, it was just plain pitiful to see a scrawny boy smiling even while being beaten.
At least Ferdinand had the title of ‘Crown Prince’ to protect him; I kept getting the feeling that Benjamin might actually die.
“Hoooom.”
It seemed Ramus Jeremiah had finished his mental sorting and calculations, as he finally spoke.
“Then the information the Lady wants to buy isn't a one-time thing but constant monitoring. What is the duration?”
“Three years.”
“That’s quite long. And the estimated payment?”
“You should be the one to name it, not me.”
Since when does the customer do the math?
When I bared my teeth and growled, Ramus Jeremiah leaned back slightly.
After a quick fake cough, he flicked an imaginary abacus and answered.
“The fee will be 10 billion gold.”
“Are you insane?”
10 billion? You want 10 billion?
“Give me a discount.”
“I cannot. I have to dispatch talented individuals to both the Sorsen Kingdom and the Grand Duchy, and the cost is not cheap.”
“Give me a discount on the condition that I never reveal your top secret.”
“It seems you want to gain the upper hand in this deal using my secret as leverage, Lady of House Frezier?”
Ramus Jeremiah gave a cold, thin smile.
“An information guild like this—even if it collapses once, I can just start over. I can just build it up again.”
I listened quietly and raised an eyebrow.
“Is that so?”
Then I stood up from my seat.
“Then I guess this won't work. 10 billion is clearly excessive.”
“Is the deal off?”
“No?”
I looked back at Ramus Jeremiah and gave a radiant smile.
“From this moment on, I’m going to use the entire manpower of the Grand Duchy to plaster your real name on public bulletins everywhere.”
“…!”
“I’ll make sure your face and your name are known across the entire continent within three days. How about that?”
Ramus Jeremiah, who had been maintaining a relaxed expression, bolted upright. Finally, that annoying mask was stripped away.
“Are you joking?!”
“Joking? I’m Tulia Frezier. Does it sound like a joke? No, do you think I can’t do it?”
“Lady Frezier!”
“Don’t raise your voice at me.”
“…Just as the information I gathered suggested, your personality is truly something else.”
“Yep. I’m a total piece of work.”
When I countered smoothly without a hint of anger, Ramus Jeremiah finally began to grit his teeth.