The Hierro Marquisate (1)
The Hierro Marquisate (1)
Simon greeted a middle-aged nobleman who looked older than the Duke.
"My Lord Marquis, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Simon De Gracia."
His greeting to the Marquis was impeccably polite, but unusually stiff for him.
Was he nervous because he was standing before the Marquis?
After the Marquis, he greeted the noble ladies, then exchanged greetings with the Marquis's children.
The first was a young man who looked as though he had only just reached adulthood. Judging by his age, he seemed to be the Marquis's eldest son.
Seeing him reminded me of Martin, the illegitimate son I had seen on the way here.
A large-framed, confident illegitimate son versus a weak-willed legitimate heir.
Even to me, an outsider, the contrast between them was stark.
He then greeted the other, ordinary-looking sons, and finally, the daughters.
First was the eldest daughter, Adria. As she bowed her head, Simon spoke.
"I-I would like to formally introduce myself. I am Simon De G-Gracia."
My goodness. To think that Simon, who seemed to have noble etiquette engraved into his very bones, would stutter.
Only then did I understand why he was so nervous.
I wasn't the only one who noticed.
The Marquis and the noble ladies smiled faintly, while Adria's younger sisters covered their mouths and giggled softly.
Simon's face turned beet red, but he pushed through and finished his greeting.
The way he endured the embarrassment and carried on made him the very picture of a fine noble.
"Who is the boy standing in the back?"
Once the Knight Commander and the Chief Butler had finished their greetings, the Marquis looked at me and asked.
I had hoped to slip under the radar and avoid making things awkward, but now that the Marquis had asked, I couldn't avoid introducing myself.
I stepped forward and bowed my head.
"I am Alex. It is an honor to meet you, Lord Marquis."
"Alex? Ah, that illegitimate son..."
I glanced at him and saw him frowning deeply. The Marquis already knew my name.
Well, they were arranging a marriage, so there was no way he wouldn't know about his prospective partner's family.
"...Well then, let us all head inside."
As expected, he barely acknowledged my greeting before leading the group through the doors.
See? I told you it would make things awkward. Why did he even ask?
The Marquis's family whispered among themselves as they looked at me.
Some regarded me with surprise, while others glared at me even more intensely than the Marquis had.
Either way, most of them wore expressions that clearly said an illegitimate son had no business tagging along to such an occasion.
Except for one person. Brother Simon's prospective fiancée looked at me warmly when she heard I was the illegitimate son.
Surrounded by the Marquis's family, Brother Simon entered the inner manor. Adria, who had been watching me with curiosity, disappeared into the inner manor along with them.
"I will guide you to your quarters."
The knights, the Knight Commander, the Chief Butler, and I were shown to separate guest rooms.
Fortunately, I was given a private room. It seemed they had no choice but to give me one because of my awkward position.
Lunch was brought directly to my room as well.
After I finished eating, someone came to visit me.
It was the soldier I had worked hard to win over during our journey to the Marquisate.
The soldier, named Juan, was more taciturn and diligent than the others.
I had spent money and effort to bring him over to my side, and the Knight Commander had even permitted him to assist me during the trip.
From Juan's perspective, attending to a young master might have been a hassle, but thanks to my persistent efforts to win him over, he carried out my requests faithfully.
"Did you find out?"
"Yes. Fortunately, he didn't go very far."
"Where is he?"
"I confirmed that he is staying at an inn in the mercenaries' district."
"You weren't caught, right? If he realizes he's being watched, it might cause a misunderstanding."
"Yes. I changed into plain clothes and kept watch."
I had certainly chosen the right person. He'd done even better than I expected.
I had asked Juan to secretly tail Martin, whom we had parted ways with in front of the outer castle wall.
I had told Juan that I wanted to sneak up on Martin later and surprise him—that was why I needed him tailed.
Though the nuance was different, that was technically the reason.
"Thank you for your hard work. I'll make sure to reward you later."
"It is fine. I have already received more than enough of a reward. I will also make sure to pay back this money later."
He patted his chest, and the gold coins I'd given him clinked.
Those gold coins were for buying medicine for his sick mother.
When I heard that Juan needed money to buy medicine for his sick mother, I readily handed it over.
That was also the reason I had chosen Juan.
It wasn't a small amount of money for me, either. But when you were trying to win someone over during a journey, it was hard to find a faster, more reliable method than money.
Well, it wasn't as if I had anywhere else to invest it anyway, so as long as I got the principal back before I became an adult, it wasn't much of a loss.
'Surely he won't run off with it. Of course not.'
Suppressing my rising anxiety, I asked for the name of the inn where Martin was staying.
"It is the Silver Hero Inn."
Silver Hero. Was it named after an ancestor of the Marquisate?
At any rate, it was an easy name to remember.
I made a few more requests of Juan as he was leaving the room.
After he left, I sank into thought.
Thanks to running into Martin on the way, things were progressing smoothly.
I had found out where Martin was, and I had also learned that he had a connection to the mercenaries.
I just had to check for myself whether they were the same mercenaries I had encountered before.
At the same time, I had found out when Simon had fallen for Adria, and why Martin had gone to the trouble of starting this whole mess.
"Now all that's left is to find the evidence."
Unless things came to the absolute worst-case scenario, handling it directly myself was out of the question.
I had to get someone else to handle it—specifically, the Marquisate. And if I was going to snitch to the Marquis, I needed proof.
Well, given the situation, it didn't even have to be definitive proof. Anything that was enough to make the Marquis or his wives suspicious would do.
"Now then, I suppose it's time to make an excuse to go outside."
I stood up and headed to the Knight Commander's room.
"You want to know when Young Lord Simon is going on his outing?"
"Yes. I think I should scout the location in advance."
A faint, mocking smile brushed across the Knight Commander's lips.
"A preliminary scouting? Where on earth did you hear of such a thing?"
I could understand how he felt, but I kept going anyway.
"I came here to act as my brother's bodyguard. On our way to the Marquisate and on our way back, we have the knights and soldiers, so there's nothing for me to do. It's the same inside the Lord's castle."
I hadn't seen Brother Simon even once in the past half day. While we were inside the castle, let alone guarding him, it seemed like it would be difficult even to see his face.
"Since only a small number of people will be moving during the outing, that's precisely when I'll be needed. I want to carry out the task entrusted to me properly."
I lied through my teeth without batting an eye.
"...Understood."
The Knight Commander gave his permission with a reluctant look.
"But I cannot let you go on a preliminary scout alone. Go with one of the knights."
"In that case, I will go with Sir Hugo."
"Hugo?"
"Yes. I think Sir Hugo would be a good fit."
The Knight Commander stared at me intently. His expression seemed to ask how I could possibly know that.
Well, that's because I saw it in my past life...
I looked back at the Knight Commander with an expression that suggested I had simply made a lucky guess.
The outing was scheduled for three days later.
This was because the introductions and greetings that began on the day of our arrival dragged on into the next day.
Rumors of the betrothal between the Hierro Marquisate and the Gracia Dukedom had already spread far and wide.
Banquet after banquet was held, and people hoping to make the acquaintance of the Gracia Dukedom's next heir kept flocking in.
So many people crowded in that the outing was almost canceled. But thanks to the Marquis's wives pointing out that the couple needed time to talk privately, the outing was barely secured.
Fortunately, the route for the outing included the mercenaries' district.
The day before the outing, I left the Lord's castle for the preliminary scout.
Knight Hugo left the Lord's castle with me, and the Marquisate provided someone to guide us through the city.
Peculiarly, the Marquisate had assigned a maid to us.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Bianca."
I couldn't help chuckling at how our paths had crossed once again.
Come to think of it, it wasn't strange for her to be our guide.
Though I was an illegitimate son, I was still a member of the ducal family.
They probably had no choice but to send a maid because of my young age, but they couldn't just send any ordinary maid outside the Lord's castle.
After leaving the Lord's castle, the three of us walked in silence.
Bianca was no different from when I had seen her before. She hid her true skills, showing only the demeanor of a maid tasked with guiding the way.
Still, she couldn't completely hide the faint aura that occasionally leaked out.
Yet, unlike in my past life, Hugo did not notice her hidden aura.
Even back then, I certainly wouldn't have known about Bianca's skills if I hadn't heard about them beforehand.
Was it only Hugo who couldn't notice? Or was it that knights in general couldn't notice?
Whether my ability to perceive Bianca's skills was part of my own power or a trait of the nobility was something I would have to look into further.
We followed the route of the outing. Fortunately, the path did not lead outside the city.
Once we were farther from the Lord's castle, Bianca began explaining the surrounding sights.
"This is the Central Plaza. It is famous for the anecdote of the Marquis from two generations ago confessing his love to the Marchioness at this plaza's fountain."
Her perfectly indifferent expression was at odds with the story she was telling.
"The temple you see over there has been vacant for a year. The priest in charge got drunk and accidentally cast a holy spell in reverse, turning it into a restricted area. If you go inside, you will become impotent, so please be careful."
Her words were a mix of neighborhood gossip and secrets that people only whispered about.
Knight Hugo listened to her stories with a dumbfounded look on his face.
As expected, her personality hadn't changed. But she hadn't been quite this extreme before... It seemed she was displeased about something.
It was a pity, but I didn't have time to listen to her grievances right now.
Knight Hugo diligently scanned the surroundings as he listened, and I mimicked him.
After passing through several places like that, we finally arrived at the spot I wanted to see.
"This is the mercenaries' district. There is not much to say about this place. It is loud, filthy, and a gathering spot for troublemakers."
It was a highly cynical description, but the mercenaries' district before our eyes made it hard to deny her words.
The street was incredibly lively.
Armed mercenaries moved through the street in groups, while young boys and girls called out to them, trying to draw them toward inns, weapon shops, other stores, and taverns.
In the corners, drunk mercenaries lay sprawled out, while barmaids and mercenaries shouted at each other.
On one side of that filthy, noisy street, the sign I was looking for came into view.
[Silver Hero Inn]
It was the inn where Martin was staying.
"Could we stop by for a moment? I'd like to see what it's like inside."
The two looked puzzled by my words, but neither objected.
I led them both inside the Silver Hero Inn.
Perhaps because it was daytime, the inn's first floor wasn't very noisy.
There were people sprawled out after drinking since the day before, and others eating their meals.
And there were mercenaries quietly conversing in low voices.
Among those mercenaries, I spotted the man I was looking for.
No, the mercenaries were familiar faces, too: the crazy female mercenary and the male mercenary who had killed Adria and me.
The two of them were talking with Martin.