Rin Was Annoyed with Lucy
The Zramun Archipelago.
A coastal region where small islands clustered around the central Zramun Island.
Ruled by the local nobility, the Protec family, this place was barely larger than Epaltelga. Historically, whenever foreign invaders came to conquer it, the locals would readily surrender to maintain peace, provided there was no severe persecution.
The invaders also found the sea route to the Zramun Archipelago to be incredibly treacherous. Since there was little to gain from maintaining a permanent presence to exert influence, they granted autonomy as long as the locals submitted and paid their taxes, leaving them to do as they pleased.
Strangely, whenever the world faced a crisis, several great figures emerged from the Zramun Archipelago. The most famous among them was the second Hero.
Once, the land overflowed with pride for having birthed a Hero. But after he was framed and executed, the people swallowed their grief and quietly honored his soul through this small festival.
Now that the kingdom had fallen and the empire had taken its place, they could have openly celebrated him. Yet, the people of the Zramun Archipelago, including the Protec family, remembered how the second Hero had fallen precisely because of his overwhelming popularity. Thus, they kept a low profile and hid themselves.
But of course, that was a story from hundreds of years ago.
Today, it had become a festival where everyone simply drank, played, and enjoyed themselves.
Lucy's eyes widened.
Although it was said to be a festival known only to a select few on the continent, the streets were packed with merchants and visitors.
She didn't know much about them, but seeing the variety of street food made Lucy hungry.
As a fallen noble who had done nothing but swing a sword in a rural village just to avoid starving, the country Hero had seen pretentious noble galas, but she had never experienced a grand festival like this.
Rin, on the other hand, was tense.
There was a simple reason why he was working as a luggage carrier despite paying a hefty fare to get here.
First of all, he had no money.
Before departing, Rin had sent a letter to Nydrian via the World Postal Service.
Naturally, the World Postal Service was expensive.
And the ship fare, while not as exorbitant as the mail service, was still quite steep.
The captain hadn't been friendly for no reason.
As a privilege of being a luggage carrier, Rin could usually take the miscellaneous items acquired during the Hero's party's journey and trade them with merchants to make money. However, he had spent all his savings funding Nydrian's research and preparing the Hero's party for the Demon King subjugation campaign. Since then, he hadn't hunted any monsters outside of Waltercroix.
With only expenses and no income, Rin's precious savings were rapidly dwindling.
In that sense, working as a luggage carrier for the Zramun Archipelago festival wasn't a bad way to earn money.
It was one of the best options among honest, hard labor.
"Alright, part-timers! Line up! Four columns!"
During this time, the Protec family paid the wages directly, so the pay was quite generous.
"Uh, up to the third row, follow that guy."
Furthermore, working as a luggage carrier reduced the chances of running into the Hero's party, who would arrive later.
Strictly speaking, it minimized the risk of them recognizing Rin and Lucy.
The reason for that was...
"We've divided everyone by department!"
"Understood! Let's put on the masks now."
"Masks?"
Lucy tilted her head, but Rin deftly rummaged through his Luggage Carrier's Bag.
When the person distributing the masks approached, Rin politely declined.
"We brought our own."
"Oh, really?"
During the festival, the staff and part-timers worked while wearing masks.
This carried a symbolic meaning: the unjustly executed Hero would enjoy the festival, while the persecutors would serve him.
Since they couldn't just let anyone work under a mask, they only recruited people with identification from the port town before setting off.
This was also the main reason Rin had asked Labin for fake IDs.
"So cute!"
What Lucy received was a rabbit mask.
Wearing the rabbit headband as well, Lucy eagerly anticipated what kind of mask Rin would wear.
But when she saw the mask Rin pulled out of his Luggage Carrier's Bag, Lucy froze.
It was a mask split into black and white.
A bizarre mask where one side was smiling and the other was crying.
"Is that the only one you have?"
"It gives me a sense of stability, in its own way."
The smiling side was stark white and prominent, while the crying side was pitch black, making it hard to discern.
Looking at the mask, Lucy felt a pang of distress, wondering if Rin's current state of mind was just like it.
Lucy realized she didn't have a good history with masks.
Indeed.
The mask forcibly reminded her of their first meeting.
"The young lady is arriving!"
"Attention, everyone! The sponsor is here, so don't make a bad impression!"
At the mention of the benefactor, everyone stood at attention to show their respect.
A carriage slowly approached and stopped beside them.
The door opened, and a maid stepped down first, assisting the coachman to help the noble lady inside alight.
"Thank you, Bran."
Her voice was bright and clear.
The young lady in the white dress possessed a strange charm that naturally energized those around her.
Rather than pale, her skin had a rosy, pinkish hue, which, combined with her half-tied blonde hair, highlighted her overall vitality.
"What a peculiar mask."
As she walked toward the platform, the young lady passed right in front of Rin.
Not missing that brief moment, she smiled warmly, spoke to him, and then walked away.
Who does this bitch think she is?
Thanks to her mask, Lucy was able to glare at the young lady to her heart's content.
"Hello, everyone! I am the eldest daughter of the Protec family, Ibis Protec."
The platform was nothing more than a wooden crate dragged from somewhere.
It was a glimpse into the young lady's down-to-earth nature.
"The Zramun Archipelago festival actually has a very long history. But it's so old that we've completely forgotten why the staff have to wear masks."
Everyone chuckled lightly at her unexpected wit.
Seeing the atmosphere soften, the young lady continued her speech.
"I know everyone gathered here is working to make a living. Even so, it must feel a bit disheartening to work while others are playing, right? That is why our Protec family is paying double the usual wages to everyone working during the festival!"
"Whoa—!"
"Make it triple!"
"If I pay triple, I'll have to work as a luggage carrier myself next time."
Hahaha. Another round of cheerful laughter.
But Lucy disliked Ibis.
A woman's intuition was warning her.
Watch out for that bitch.
Come to think of it, she hadn't been able to hold Rin's hand since they got off the ship.
Suffering from separation anxiety, Lucy had never been apart from Rin unless it was for his sake, and her heart rate was beginning to accelerate.
"And one more thing! The festival brings in far more people than usual. Because of that, there is a special request I'd like to make."
Damn it, just wrap it up already.
"Though it's a bit of a boast, our family has produced many great figures. While they might not be widely known to the public, they are very important to our family."
I need Rin's energy.
I want to cling to his arm and lick the sweat off his neck right now.
"Among them is a man named Gerero Protec. Since none of us are particularly interested in what he did, I'll cut to the chase and tell you this."
Gerero Protec.
Only Rin, who possessed the memories of the reincarnated Investor Lee, would know exactly who he was.
"To anyone who finds the grave of Gerero Protec, our family will offer a massive reward. It's a bit embarrassing to ask others to find our ancestor's grave, but he is truly a crucial figure in our family's history."
"How much are we talking about?!"
"You remember the sailing ship you took to get to the archipelago? Enough to buy one of those."
"Whoaaa—!!!"
The crowd cheered.
Rin clenched his fists.
Good, the sub-quest is starting.
"Clues! Are there any clues?"
Gerero Protec.
"Well, since it's a grave, wouldn't there be a tombstone or something?"
"That's not enough!"
The greatest figure produced by the Zramun Archipelago and the Protec family.
"I'm just joking. They say that if you get close to the grave, you'll feel an incredibly eerie and sorrowful sensation. And occasionally, a pitch-black sword is seen stabbed into it."
"Occasionally?"
"Hehe, if it were easy to find, we wouldn't be offering so much money, would we?"
He was the protagonist of the tragedy still spoken of today—the second Hero.
The Protec family had used every means at their disposal to bring his executed corpse back to the archipelago.
However, the Demon Sword, harboring deep resentment after being sealed in the archipelago, kept moving his grave around. Thus began an absurd game of hide-and-seek between the Protec family and the Demon Sword.
The sub-quest of Chapter 3 in the Zramun Archipelago was to find this grave, which appeared with an abysmal probability, and then locate the Demon Sword that appeared at the grave with an even lower probability.
It was still the same old RNG-reliant garbage game.
"And everyone, remember you came here to work as luggage carriers!"
"Ah, right!"
"Hahaha!"
Once the cheerful speech ended and Ibis stepped down from the platform, the crowd quickly grew noisy again.
"Alright, let's get to work!"
Good, now I can move around.
As a luggage carrier, it was inevitable that he would roam all over Zramun Island to transport various goods.
"Wait a moment."
However, Ibis approached the foreman and pointed at Rin.
"I'd like to take that person as staff for the beauty pageant."
"A guy?"
"Precisely because he's a guy. Do you have any idea how much luggage is piled up there? My family's maids complained endlessly last year about how exhausting it was."
"Yes, yes, I understand. Since the Protec family is paying anyway."
"You're very understanding~."
With a cheerfulness unbefitting a noble lady, Ibis snatched Rin away.
I'm screwed.
Since the beauty pageant was held in a single location, he wouldn't be able to roam the island.
He decided to try and decline politely.
"Ah, rather than that..."
"Quadruple wages, paid today."
"Ever since I was a child, I've dreamed of being a show director for the people."
The money was too good to refuse.
It couldn't be helped.
Although he had said his savings were dwindling, the truth was that Rin would be completely broke without the money from this job.
In short, he had spent his last penny.
Since things had turned out this way, he had no choice but to work here and tip off Lucy to search for the grave in his stead.
However...
"Hmph!"
Lucy strode over and hugged Rin tightly.
"Oh my?"
"Hey! Get moving to work!"
Ibis looked surprised, while the foreman was flustered.
Lucy spoke to them with utter nonchalance.
"I work much better when I'm with him!"
"Hmm, and who are you?"
"I'm Soon-yi Lee!"
"I'm Choon-shik Lee."
"Ah!"
The young lady clapped her hands.
"You're siblings!"
"No, we're not—"
"Yes, that's right."
Surprised, Lucy looked back at Rin.
The black-and-white mask hid his expression, leaving her unable to read him.
"If you're siblings, I should be accommodating. I'll hire her as pageant staff as well."
"Thank you!"
"No, thank you. Ganal, please guide these two and bring them along."
Having made her decision swiftly, Ibis boarded the carriage.
"Let's go."
The maid led the way with a strictly businesslike attitude.
Once they were a short distance away from her, Lucy tried to confront Rin.
"Rin, why did you say we were siblings...!"
"Let's go, Lucy. We don't have time to waste."
"R-Rin?"
Lucy was taken aback.
Rin walked away without even properly listening to her.
"Rin, what's wrong..."
Feeling dizzy, she followed him, but she couldn't bring herself to approach his cold, distant back.
Only then did Lucy realize that Rin was angry.
"Rin..."
"Lucy, let's talk after work. Focus on today."
The probability of Gerero's grave and the Demon Sword appearing at the same time was comparable to winning the lottery.
The festival lasted only three days, and since both of them had to work stationary at the beauty pageant today, one whole day was already wasted.
That fact annoyed him immensely.
He stopped in his tracks.
*Annoyed...? Me?*
"Sigh..."
Letting out a sigh, Rin extended his hand to Lucy.
Lucy quickly grabbed his hand, too busy reading his mood to say anything else.
She felt...
Lonely.
Hurt.
Separated by the mere thickness of a thin mask, he could not see Lucy's expression, nor could he know what was in her heart.
Yet, the reason Lucy could only walk on eggshells was...
Because she couldn't even begin to fathom how much pain he had hidden beneath his mask throughout their entire journey to subjugate the Demon King.