Soaring Firebird (1)
Soaring Firebird (1)
After I returned from the Marquisate, the way people looked at me began to change.
Word of what had happened at the Marquisate spread among the people.
The story of my exploits spread through the public, growing more exaggerated and distorted along the way.
Some saw me as a man with absurd, unprecedented luck, while others believed I was a gloomy, calculating strategist with dozens of sly serpents in my head.
Most, of course, heard the deliberately watered-down version: that I was merely an illegitimate son who'd gotten lucky and accomplished more than anyone could expect at my age.
At any rate, my standing in the mansion had improved significantly since before I went to the Marquisate.
But that wasn't entirely a good thing.
Just like the knights and officials who had begun to take notice of me, the Duchess had also started keeping an eye on me.
She likely had her own sources of information, so she must have heard what happened at the Marquisate. It was only natural for her to be wary of me.
'It shouldn't be natural! What if I get on her bad side and end up like I did with the second Duchess?!'
Just thinking about how many times I'd died because of that woman was enough to drive me to the brink of a nervous breakdown.
New events I knew nothing about kept cropping up, and since I still hadn't decided what to do with my future, I had to be extremely careful not to die.
As I spent my days on guard beneath those changing gazes, Juan came to visit.
"Juan is here. Shall I let him in?"
When Juan arrived, Flora had him wait outside the door while she came in to ask me.
'She could have just let him straight in...'
Flora didn't particularly like Juan.
Like my mother and most of the servants, she believed I'd simply gotten lucky and earned merit at the Marquisate.
My mother had given me a thorough scolding after hearing what had happened, and Flora had sulked for a long time, too.
I knew they were only worried about me, so I had to put up with their disapproval for quite a while.
Though that had all been settled by now, she still disliked Juan for that reason.
Moreover, since Juan's mother had recovered her health thanks to the money I gave him, he now claimed to be my subordinate. Every time he visited, Flora's grumpiness only worsened.
Only after I gave the word was Juan able to step inside.
Perhaps he was off duty, since he came in wearing plain clothes.
As Flora passed Juan, she gave a quiet, disgruntled snort, thinking I wouldn't hear.
And thanks to my ears, which had grown much more sensitive after the real combat I'd experienced at the Marquisate, I heard it perfectly clearly.
"I apologize on Flora's behalf."
"It is fine. It is all because she is worried about you, Young Lord."
He shook his head with a bitter smile.
"More importantly, what brings you here?"
Juan wasn't the type to visit without a reason when I hadn't summoned him.
"The mercenary who goes by the name Firebird Hunter has arrived."
I sprang up from my seat. The person I'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
Juan and I left the mansion together.
Once again, I realized how much my standing had changed since I returned from the Marquisate.
Until now, going outside the mansion hadn't been easy.
Though I was an illegitimate son, I was still the Duke's child, and because of my young age, I needed protection to go outside.
Yet because I was an illegitimate son, it was difficult to ask anyone other than my own people or my mother's maids for such assistance.
But after returning from the Marquisate, there was no need to make such requests.
Even though I was only with Juan, no soldiers stopped me from going out, and no one expressed concern.
We passed through the spacious front yard and stepped out of the main gate. Beyond it, I saw city streets lined with high-end residences.
The Duke's mansion stood in the north of the city, with the high-end residential district stretching out below it.
This was where the nobles under the Duke's command, high-ranking officials, knights, and influential merchants lived—the home of the city's highest social class.
The streets were clean, and though the buildings couldn't compare to the Duke's mansion, they were large and grand.
After walking for quite some time, we reached the central plaza.
The central plaza stood at the heart of the city. To the east lay the temples and ordinary residential areas; to the west, the markets, workshops, and merchant guilds; and to the south, the mercenaries' district and the residential quarters of the lower class.
I set off toward the south.
This was my first time visiting the area, but I'd seen plenty in the Marquis's territory, so I wasn't particularly worried.
"This is quite different from what I expected..."
"Haha, they may all be mercenaries, but the atmosphere is bound to differ from territory to territory."
I eyed the street dubiously, and Juan explained with a chuckle.
The mercenaries' district in our territory was just as noisy and dirty as the one in the Marquisate's territory.
Unlike the Marquisate's territory, though, the atmosphere here felt somewhat rigid.
Perhaps because the sun hadn't set yet, hardly anyone was drinking and carousing, and no one was brawling.
Everyone was simply going about their business, alone or in groups.
"It's a bit more desolate than the Marquisate's territory, isn't it? That's because our territory keeps a much tighter rein on mercenaries than other domains do. Our Duke prioritizes safety within the territory, so he doesn't tolerate any crimes or misconduct by mercenaries."
As I listened to his explanation of the atmosphere, I suddenly heard unexpected praise for the Duke.
As expected, the Duke was indeed highly capable when it came to his work.
Whether inside the mansion or outside, praise for the Duke echoed from every corner.
If I were an ordinary resident of the territory rather than the Duke's illegitimate son, I might have been singing his praises just like everyone else.
But my position could never be the same as theirs.
Though it was somewhat different from the Marquisate's territory, we passed through the lively mercenaries' street and arrived in front of an inn.
<Red Rose Mercenary Inn>
The name seemed wholly unsuited to a mercenaries' inn, but given the clean atmosphere of the place, it wasn't entirely out of place.
"This is the most expensive inn on this street. In fact, excluding the inns in the northern district, it's probably the most expensive one in the city."
Once again, the mercenary who asked to be called the Firebird Hunter had taken up lodging in the best inn in the mercenaries' district.
She hadn't joined any particular mercenary corps and was clearly operating solo, yet I couldn't understand how she could afford to stay in such high-end inns every single time, just like before.
Perhaps she was the daughter of a wealthy family, or maybe she'd struck it rich while working as a mercenary.
Could her wealth be related to the sword engraved with the crest?
With those thoughts in mind, I stepped inside the inn.
The first-floor dining area was quiet.
She sat at a table right in the middle of the mostly empty room.
"Over here! Over here. You're early."
She waved her hand toward me.
Juan and I approached the table where she was sitting.
She glanced at Juan, who was following behind me, and asked, "Who is the person next to you?"
If he'd been wearing his usual military uniform, she wouldn't have asked. But in plain clothes, Juan looked like an ordinary commoner with a sturdy build.
"His name is Juan. He is the soldier escorting me today."
"An escort?"
When I said that, she looked puzzled, and Juan shook his head with a bitter smile.
"I serve the Young Lord. I did not escort him today; I merely guided him to this place."
At his words, she finally nodded.
"So, an escort in name only, right?"
It was slightly different, but not entirely incorrect.
I clambered onto the chair opposite her.
Tsk, when will I ever grow taller? Even sitting in a chair, my feet barely touched the floor.
"It took you longer than I expected. I thought you weren't coming."
I'd expected her to arrive just a few days after me, but her arrival had been delayed by several months.
"I wrapped things up quickly, but a few complications came up, and resolving them delayed me."
That something had gotten tangled up left me feeling uneasy.
Still, since she said she'd resolved it, I had to focus on the matter at hand for now.
"So, now that I've come all this way, can we finally talk about it?"
She hadn't even finished greeting me properly before plunging straight into the main topic. It was obvious she was in a great hurry.
I looked around. Though it was quiet, the place wasn't entirely empty.
"Is it alright to talk about it here?"
At my question, she looked troubled, too.
"That would be difficult... And it's not really something I want too many people overhearing..."
She said this while glancing at Juan, who was standing behind me.
He still hadn't taken a seat. As expected, I liked him. He'd made his position perfectly clear.
Before I could reply, Juan spoke first.
"Please have your conversation in the room. I will wait down here."
He was indeed quick-witted.
If only other people, especially the knights, were this quick on the uptake.
Leaving Juan on the first floor, she and I headed upstairs.
The room she occupied, tucked away at the back of the second floor, was quite spacious and comfortable.
It was grand enough to pass for the inn's suite.
"Tell me quickly! How did you find out?"
The moment we entered the room, her eyes blazed with intensity as she pressed close to me.
Seen from another perspective, it was a situation in which a man and a woman were alone in a room, with the woman pressed close to the man.
Yet no one could look at us and entertain any improper thoughts.
On the contrary, having a much larger woman suddenly lunge toward me made me feel slightly terrified.
"E-excuse me, could we sit down and talk?"
I didn't even have to pretend; my voice trembled on its own.
At my words, she looked awkward and stepped back.
After catching our breath, we sat across from each other at the table in the middle of the room.
She seemed a bit restless, but she didn't press me again.
Hmm. What should I do?
Looking at her, I fell into deep thought for a moment.
I considered whether I should take her to the tomb, or whether I should deceive her or take the sword by force and investigate it myself.
But no matter how much I thought about it, the latter option couldn't be the answer.
Taking the sword by force—or killing her—was utterly impossible for me on my own, and asking others for help would only increase the number of people who knew about it.
And there was no guarantee things would go as I expected if I brought the sword alone.
Secretly extracting information was also difficult, so in the end, taking her along was the best way to investigate the tomb.
Yet taking her to the tomb wasn't entirely without its drawbacks.
The question was whether I could trust her.
She'd shown a trustworthy and good side so far, but there was absolutely no guarantee she'd maintain that same attitude inside the tomb or once treasure was discovered.
Even if treasure was found, that would pose a problem. I had to think in advance about how to divide whatever treasure we found, and what to do if we came across an item that couldn't be divided.
With that in mind, I pulled a stack of papers from my breast pocket.
"What is this?"
Instead of answering her question, I brought up what I had to say first.
"The crest engraved on that sword—I've seen that soaring bird crest inside a tomb."
"Really? Are you sure it was a tomb?"
At my words, she forgot her earlier question and immediately fired back.
"Yes. It was a tomb with an empty coffin."
"That's it! That's the place I've been looking for! Where is it?"
She leaned forward as if she were about to devour me.
Her behavior was completely different from how she'd acted before. It seemed this matter was far more important than I'd anticipated.
If that was the case, what I was about to do became even more crucial.
"Before I reveal the location."
I placed the blank sheets of paper on the table. Then I took out the ink and quill pen I'd brought from the mansion and laid them beside the paper.
She stared at the items I'd taken out with a bewildered expression.
"Let's write a contract."
I picked up the pen and wrote the title on the paper.
<Contract for Tomb Exploration>
Afterward, I turned the paper around and placed it in front of her.
"Let's include a pledge to keep each other safe, the distribution of items retrieved from the tomb, and the sharing of information. We can discuss everything and write it all down in detail so no issues arise. We still have plenty of time before nightfall, and if that's not enough, we have tomorrow and the day after."
I smiled as I looked at the Firebird Hunter, who was staring at the contract with an utterly dumbfounded expression.
She probably hadn't expected me to produce a contract like this, so it was understandable that she looked as if she'd been struck by a heavy blow.
But I fully intended to draft this contract properly.
Since I wasn't the one in a hurry, it was obvious that the more thoroughly we drew it up, the more I stood to gain.