The Knight's Proposition
Nirgi spoke. Rather than explaining the situation to his sister first, he was busy fawning and offering similar words to the man beside him. Naturally, Ranlam's gaze followed.
In truth, he was yet another figure who had shocked Ranlam.
"Hello, pretty blond. And…"
The man greeted Serra with his characteristically bright smile. The handsome smile was then shared with Ranlam as well.
"We meet again, Lanlan. We're already acquainted, aren't we?"
The man addressed her with that strange, mispronounced name, acting familiar.
Kanne. His name, which Ranlam had not forgotten, was Kanne.
"Haha, surprised? I was really surprised too."
The man grinned, flashing his white teeth.
One of the men who had been floating in her mind for different reasons until just moments ago had suddenly appeared in the flesh, leaving the woman dazed. Above all, the fact that he was with Nirgi was the most puzzling.
"…You were looking for me?"
She met Nirgi's eyes, demanding a detailed explanation. Yet her gaze kept drifting sideways, tracing Kanne's handsome face.
Surely the duke didn't change his mind and send someone to reclaim the silver coins…
Ranlam mobilized her meager imagination to foresee what lay ahead.
Behind the familiar face stood several other unfamiliar men with their hands clasped behind their backs. The color and pattern of the ash-gray surcoats they wore were familiar. A dynamic horse reared on its forelegs. She had just seen that emblem to the point of exhaustion today.
"These gentlemen say they need your help."
Nirgi said brightly, even pointing at Kanne with an obsequious palm. She still frowned in confusion.
Kanne took over the tedious explanation.
"That's right. We need help. We've been looking for days. A Tilamin pharmacist. It took some effort to find you with such scant information. Well, what a coincidence. Who would've thought it would be a woman I've already met?"
The man acted overly familiar, as if they had exchanged more than a few words. He even sat beside her and draped an arm around her shoulder. Ranlam's shoulders stiffened with tension.
"Big brother Lanlan, little sister Lanlan."
The man laughed heartily, pointing back and forth between Nirgi and Ranlam as if amused. He probably found the siblings' unusual names funny, but the woman could not smile at all. No visitor who had come looking for her using Nirgi's name had ever been welcome.
From experience, she could roughly guess the situation. Her foolish older brother had most likely come with gambling debts again. She knew all too well how Nirgi peddled her name around.
"My little sister is a skilled physician. She's the kind who makes high-ranking folks come begging with armfuls of gifts, pleading for her to treat them."
Ranlam's income was irregular, and even that barely left her with a speck of dust after paying rent and debts. Yet Nirgi constantly boasted and racked up more debts.
Ranlam twisted her shoulders in disgust, trying to shake off Kanne's arm.
"…How much is it?"
"Huh?"
"How much?"
She asked sharply, her body slightly hunched. Her posture was defensive, her tone edged with hostility.
It was a question and attitude that clearly assumed he was a debt collector. Serra, sensing the strange atmosphere, returned to Ranlam's side. Understanding the situation, she grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Hey, why are you trying to pay that again…"
Even the outsider had grasped the intent and context of the question over her shoulder, but Kanne, the person involved, still did not understand. One of the men who had been silently watching from behind spoke up.
"Two thousand karso."
"Ah. Right, two thousand karso."
Only then did Kanne seem to understand, repeating the same words.
Two thousand karso. Ranlam closed her eyes tightly as a headache struck. One henny was worth about a thousand karso. So while she had been delighted at finding a single henny, enough to live on for a month, Nirgi had been gambling away twice that amount.
Two months' living expenses for the two of them. It was a large sum, yet not so large.
"You seem to misunderstand. I didn't make him owe the debt. I'm the one who paid it off instead. Isn't that right?"
Kanne said with an exaggeratedly innocent expression, sounding wronged. He even sought agreement from the men behind him. Nirgi nodded eagerly, but Ranlam felt the urge to rip his jaw off.
'You paid off the debt instead? That just means the debt moved from there to here, you idiot.'
She looked at Kanne with disbelief. The sight of her bristling like a cornered animal seemed to pique the man's interest.
'Does this half-grown squirrel really know her medicine?'
Kanne studied her with curious eyes. Still sensing the misunderstanding, he added an explanation.
"I'm not here to get the money back. Big brother Lalang said he'd introduce me to little sister Lalang, so I gladly paid two thousand karso. If you can make our commander's skin as smooth as a peeled egg, what are a few coins?"
The knight chuckled crudely, lacking any refinement.
Ranlam was confused and needed more details. So Kanne leaned in and whispered a cryptic message into her ear.
"I heard about Lady Mentos."
Ranlam's expression hardened at the name.
"…Who might that be?"
Unaccustomed to lying, the woman's face and tone both turned stiff. Kanne snorted, finding it amusing. The doubt over whether this was truly the right woman was now confirmed.
"No need to hide it. I got the story about treating a Tilamin directly from Lady Mentos after coaxing her."
"No, really…"
Ranlam had already been avoiding Kanne's gaze, but now she turned her head away for an entirely different reason.
"I think you've come to the wrong person. I don't understand what you're talking about. I…"
"It looks like you've been well paid, including a generous silencing fee. Let's leave it at that."
Being tight-lipped was a commendable trait for someone whose profession involved dealing with nobles, but her pointless stubbornness was starting to annoy him.
"Anyway, my job is to take you with me, not to make you confess anything. Stop talking and let's go. The young masters are waiting."
Kanne dropped his smile as he spoke. He wanted to wrap up this tedious undercover mission.
***
This was already the second time today. She hadn't expected to return here again. Crossing the outer courtyard of Salt Castle under the falling darkness, Ranlam was overcome by a strange feeling. She had lived beside Salt Castle for over five years, but this was her first time entering such an intimate area. She refrained from looking around like a crude country bumpkin. Instead, her eyes darted busily.
Lamps illuminating the bluish-purple evening flickered within recessed wall niches. The repeating columns and arches, the dizzyingly intertwined ribbed vaults of the ceiling overwhelmed her with a splendor she had never seen before. The single henny still rested in her pocket. She had touched it so much it might have worn slightly.
Only one armed man was permitted entry for the castle's security as night fell. The knight assigned to guide her to the end was Kanne. The rest of the knights had returned to their lodgings outside the castle. Only a few high-ranking nobles and their families were allowed to stay inside. Everyone else had to reside outside, except for the minimum staff.
Ranlam walked through the corridor with Kanne and a single guard watching them. With each heavy step of leather shoes on stone—clack, clack—her heart beat in the same rhythm.