Pirina's Hidden Identity
After finishing their sticky, passionate encounter, Seong-il quietly embraced Pirina. Holding her in his arms and gently kneading her breasts, he rambled on about trivial personal matters for a long while before finally getting to the real reason he had approached her.
"Ah, by the way. Pirina, you've been working here for quite a long time, haven't you?"
"Hmm...? Hmmm... Master, it's not good to dig too deeply into a woman's shameful little secrets, you know?"
At her words, Seong-il quickly offered an excuse. "Ah, I didn't mean it like that. I just have something I want to ask you."
"What is it...?"
Seong-il kept his expression as neutral as possible and asked casually, as if the question had simply drifted into the conversation. "Do you happen to know any information brokers connected to the back alleys?"
"Information brokers...?"
"Yeah. Just what I've heard."
Pirina slipped slightly out of his embrace, propped her head up with one hand, and gazed into his eyes. "Hmm... Depending on the situation, I might know something. What exactly are you looking for?"
"Hmm... I can't go into too much detail. Let's just say it's about selling items that are legitimate, yet not entirely legitimate...?"
"Hmmm..."
Pirina let out a mysterious little moan and stared at him for a long moment before asking, "But... why are you asking me?"
Seong-il maintained his calm facade and delivered the answer he had prepared in advance. "After all, despite your relatively young age, you're already the capable owner of an establishment like the Night Dancer."
"Someone with that level of ability would probably know a thing or two about the underworld... And most decisively..."
Trailing off, Seong-il gently stroked her folds, placed a light kiss there, and continued, "Since we've been mixing our bodies so consistently, shouldn't I trust my own woman?"
At his words, Pirina smiled sweetly and leaned in to kiss him. After a long, heated exchange of lips and tongues, she pulled back and said, "Hmm... If that's your reason, I can introduce you to a rather reliable person. Do you have time tomorrow afternoon?"
"If you want me there, I'll make the time even if I don't have it."
Pirina smiled at his response. "Hehe... Then let's meet here tomorrow afternoon and go on a date. You'll be able to meet that person then."
"Sounds good."
Having finished the conversation, Seong-il pounced on her once more to enjoy another round of their sticky passion before returning home.
The following afternoon, Seong-il arrived at the Night Dancer right on time. Pirina greeted him wearing an outfit noticeably different from her usual attire.
"Oh... Leather clothes that perfectly hug your figure? Very sexy..."
Pirina laughed brightly at his comment, kissed him, and expressed her gratitude. "Thank you!"
She linked her arm with his and began leading him toward the tavern behind the brothel.
"Hmm... Where are we headed?"
"Ah~ It's the tavern. Our dancers don't simply sell their bodies. They also dance to heighten the customers' excitement."
"It's both a service for the tavern patrons and a form of promotion where the dancers showcase their own appeal...?"
Seong-il responded with genuine admiration. "I see... So they provide entertainment in the tavern while also highlighting the dancers' charms to increase the brothel's patronage rate. Clever indeed..."
"Of course~ Who do you think the owner of this place is...?"
While chatting with her, Seong-il followed her deep into the tavern and began descending into the underground liquor storage.
There must be a passage to the Thieves Guild here, he thought.
His nonchalant attitude prompted Pirina to ask with a strange look on her face. "Aren't you curious?"
"...About what?"
"Normally, wouldn't someone get suspicious when being led to such a secluded place...?"
Seong-il put on an innocent expression and replied, "Well... It's not just anyone. It's you, Pirina. I believe my woman has no reason to lead me into danger."
Pirina reacted with an exaggerated display of being touched and kissed his cheek. "Oh my~ It seems our Master understands his woman's heart~"
With those words, she quietly pulled the torch hanging on the wall beside a barrel. When she pressed a hidden mechanism on the barrel, the wall in front of them slid open smoothly, revealing a secret room.
"Let's go~"
Pirina led him inside. The secret room opened into a surprisingly large plaza where quite a few people were bustling about.
As Seong-il looked around with interest, Pirina whispered softly in his ear. "My Master, could you wait here for a moment? I need to have a quick meeting with the person I'll be introducing you to."
"Of course."
She approached a man, whispered something to him, and the man glanced at Seong-il before coming over to stand silently at his side. Leaving the two of them, Pirina quietly slipped away somewhere.
Her behavior might have seemed suspicious, but Seong-il already knew her true identity and had roughly guessed what this place was. Therefore, he didn't ask the man beside him even a single question and simply waited for her in silence.
After standing there for quite some time, a large, burly man approached Seong-il and spoke. "Sir, the boss requests an audience."
"The boss...?"
When Seong-il questioned him, the man offered no reply and simply stared intently. Seong-il nodded quietly, and the man led him to the front of a quiet room.
"You may enter. I'll take my leave now, sir."
The man bowed once and silently retraced his steps. Seong-il knocked on the door, but there was no answer. After waiting a long time and giving up, he quietly opened the door and stepped inside.
"Hello?"
Just as he had expected, Pirina was sitting at a desk inside, chin propped on one hand, smiling at him in greeting.
Pretend you don't know! Pretend you don't know!
To hide his thoughts as much as possible, Seong-il put on an exaggerated expression of confusion, as if he couldn't understand the situation. "Huh? What's going on? I thought we were waiting for the person you were going to introduce together?"
Pirina laughed at his desperate performance. "That's right, Master. The only problem is that the person I wanted to introduce is this humble one."
Act like you don't understand! Play innocent!
"What in the world... are you saying...?"
Pirina, wearing a sexy leotard-style leather outfit, approached him and said, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Pirina Elsrid, owner of the brothel Night Dancer and the second-in-command of the Adenheim Thieves Guild, responsible for the eastern and southeastern districts."
Seong-il exaggerated his shocked expression even more. "What... what did you say? Y-you're from the Thieves Guild...? No, even if you're a guild member, the second-in-command? Just what..."
Watching him pretend to be surprised, Pirina smiled brightly and cut off his questions, getting straight to business. "Hmm... That isn't particularly important. There's no benefit to knowing more... Anyway, what exactly would you like to inquire about...?"
Seong-il launched into another round of desperate acting. He paced in circles as if thinking hard, sighed heavily, and finally spoke. "Can you dispose of precious metals, gold tableware, ornaments, things like that?"
Then he shook his head, cut himself off, and asked another question that had genuinely been bothering him. "No... By the way, if you're both the owner of a brothel and the second-in-command of the Thieves Guild, you shouldn't lack for anything. So why did you give your body to me...?"
Pirina smiled sweetly and began to answer. "At first it was curiosity. After spending a few nights with you, I simply liked you...? Your personality is cute, you're excellent at night activities~ You have plenty of money... There are more reasons than I can count. Hehe."
Having answered his last question, she brought the topic back to business. "Now, let's talk about our deal. I understand you want to sell precious metals. But what exactly are these 'legitimate yet not legitimate' items you mentioned yesterday? From the way you phrased it, they don't seem to be stolen goods...?"
Faced with her sharp reasoning, Seong-il honestly revealed the truth about the items he wanted to sell. "You're right. As you said, they're not stolen goods. They were obtained through legitimate transactions. However, depending on the situation, they could cause quite serious problems."
"...What kind?"
Seong-il took a deep breath and answered. "Assets of the Folke Church."
"!"
Pirina's expression turned icy as she glared at him. "....Has my Master been a dangerous man all this time?"
Seeing her wary reaction, Seong-il shook his head. "It's not the identity you're imagining. Do you know about the massive suppression of the Folke Church about a hundred years ago?"
Pirina nodded silently. Seong-il continued his explanation. "When the Folke Church's position became precarious due to the Holy King's massive crackdown, they decided to flee the Nelke Kingdom."
"The problem was that even if they crossed the border into the Empire or Republic, they believed they wouldn't be able to shake off their pursuers. So they chose to flee across the sea entirely."
"The issue was that there were no friendly forces anywhere in the kingdom willing to provide ships for them. Therefore, they approached a faction completely unrelated to the kingdom's interests—our Eastern merchants."
"Our ancestors, who harbored no particular ill will toward the Folke Church, accepted the enormous payment they offered in exchange for the escape. They transported every last remaining member of the Folke Church to the Shadow Archipelago without leaving anyone behind."
"Additionally, the offer to transfer the hidden assets within Adenheim that the church couldn't retrieve was quite attractive."
Pirina cut him off. "...Wait. The Folke Church fled to the Shadow Archipelago?"
Seong-il was genuinely taken aback. "Uh... You didn't know?"
"Of course not. The story of how they vanished without a trace like smoke a hundred years ago is quite famous even in the Nelke Kingdom."
Seong-il nodded. "I see. Yes, they all left for the Shadow Archipelago."
"We recovered nearly all of the hidden assets the Folke Church left behind in Adenheim, but we lost information on one particular cache and couldn't retrieve it. Then, by chance, I obtained that information from my family. The current situation is that I've located those items and claimed them as my own."
Pirina leaned her back against the wall, quietly resting her chin on one arm as she fell into deep thought. Finally, she spoke. "No wonder... Every time you paid the high fees, you used old gold coins instead of Eastern or new ones. I thought something felt off. So that's what it was."
Seong-il nodded and asked her, "That's right. Anyway, separate from the gold coins, I'd like to dispose of the ornaments and trinkets they left as payment."
"...In that case, wouldn't it be better to dispose of them in your home country? No one would point fingers there no matter what you did with the Folke Church's property."
At her sharp observation, Seong-il sighed and began to deliver the excuse he had prepared long ago—the one he intended to use once he grew closer to people from Nelke. "The truth is, I've run away from my family."
"?!"
Pirina frowned at his words and stared at him. Meeting her gaze directly, Seong-il continued his explanation.
"Well... I'm the eldest son of a rather prominent merchant family in the East. Because of that, I've lived under the family's suffocating expectations since I was young."
"But the position of successor that others would desperately envy felt too arduous and maddening to me. It was like I'd become a puppet."
"Around that time, my younger sister Eunwol began to distinguish herself within the family."
"She was the real thing. Unlike me, who had been clumsily forced into it, she was full of talent and possessed excellent judgment. If she had been a boy, she would have been more than qualified to inherit the position of family head."
"Thanks to that, I felt like I was going crazy. The constant comparisons between the incompetent heir and his naturally gifted sister felt like the whole world was pointing fingers at me."
"Unable to endure the agony, I told the family head that Eunwol had sufficient qualities and that he could look after her until she came of age, so we should make her the successor."
"But do you know what the family head and the elders said?"
Completely absorbed in his story, Pirina looked at his face and parted her beautiful lips. "I'm not sure...?"
To her response, Seong-il let out a deep sigh, putting every ounce of his acting ability into his performance as he prepared to answer.