The Pink-Haired Crow
The annex was the building right next to the main mansion, where Killian Knox’s office and conference rooms were located.
If the main mansion housed the key departments and the private offices of the executives, the annex served as the workspace for the personnel who supported them.
With its large kitchen, it was primarily used by cooks, butlers, maids, and stable hands, so there was always a constant flow of people coming and going.
It was nine in the morning.
I arrived in front of the annex exactly as the note had instructed.
Ding— Ding—
Right on cue, the bell from the estate’s clock tower rang out, announcing the hour.
“But where is this zelkova tree supposed to be?”
No matter how much I looked around the annex, I couldn’t see any zelkova tree.
I approached a pair of maids who were just coming out of the building and asked politely.
“Excuse me, could you tell me where the zelkova tree is near the annex?”
“A zelkova tree?”
The maids tilted their heads in confusion.
“I don’t think there are any zelkova trees on the estate. Do you know anything about it?”
“No, I’ve never heard of one either…”
“I see.”
Maybe the note was fake?
Come to think of it, the handwriting didn’t look like Killian Knox’s at all.
His penmanship was elegant and aristocratic, but the message had a much bolder, almost forceful feel to it.
Deciding to play along one last time, I asked the maids another question.
“Then what about the empty lot? I was told it was near the annex.”
“Oh, there is an empty lot. We use it to store all sorts of supplies since there’s so much of it.”
“Could you tell me which direction it’s in?”
“Well, there are about three of them, so…”
The maid I’d been speaking with trailed off just as the woman standing to her right lightly tapped her arm.
“The zelkova tree—wait, could they mean the one by the back gate?”
“The back gate? Ohhh, that copper plate!”
“Copper plate?”
When I repeated the words, both women nodded vigorously.
“There’s a huge copper plate hanging on the wall of the storage building near the back gate.”
“You know, the kind they use for printing engravings. The picture carved on it is a zelkova tree.”
So that was it.
I bowed my head in gratitude to the maids who had helped me and asked one final time for confirmation.
“The storage building next to the back gate, correct?”
I hurried as fast as I could, but the annex was a large building, so it still took quite a while to reach the back gate.
“If that’s where they meant, they could’ve just said the storage building.”
Grumbling under my breath, I finally reached the empty lot and immediately understood why it had been chosen as the meeting place.
The annex was usually bustling with people, yet this particular area was strangely deserted.
“Is that her?”
In front of the storage building with the large zelkova tree engraving stood a woman.
She wore the plain maid uniform commonly seen anywhere on the Knox estate, and her face was completely unfamiliar to me.
Even from the major personnel files I’d reviewed back in the Wickers organization, and even after living here as Runelk Eins, she was someone I had never encountered before—a perfect stranger.
And most likely the person who had slipped the note into my money pouch.
She could even be the intruder herself.
With a mixture of wariness and unavoidable curiosity, I walked quickly toward her.
At the same time, I discreetly scanned her from head to toe.
Female, thirties, short light-pink hair, bright brown eyes, small mole near the corner of her mouth. Taller than average but slender build, disproportionately small feet. No visible scars on the surface.
Memorizing every notable physical feature of people I met for the first time was an old habit of mine.
The only artifact in this world capable of perfectly “transforming” one’s appearance was the ruby necklace around my neck.
It was an invention of my father, a genius mana engineer.
But “disguise” was as common in this line of work as an after-dinner stroll.
Committing people’s faces to memory was my way of preparing for that reality.
Because no disguise was ever truly perfect.
And the moment my eyes met the woman standing in front of the copper plate—
Oh? Interesting.
I could tell she was “reading” me in exactly the same way.
She also seemed to find the situation rather amusing.
When I stopped a few steps away, the woman in the maid uniform spoke first.
“The note?”
“Yes.”
I kept my answer short and to the point.
It was intentional.
It was my way of saying I wouldn’t give unnecessary information to someone I didn’t know.
As expected, she seemed to like my guarded attitude. The corner of her mouth lifted as she introduced herself.
“Gisela Rot.”
Her voice was surprisingly low and husky for a woman.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Gisela Rot. I am Runelk Eins.”
“I know. The little hero rookie from the action squad.”
“…I am indeed part of the action squad.”
That damn “little hero” nonsense again.
It was a nickname that had already faded within the action squad—nobody used it anymore—yet here she was, deliberately bringing it up.
Gisela Rot looked pleased by my obvious displeasure.
She didn’t seem to have a particularly nice personality.
“Let’s see here.”
Gisela Rot, who was roughly the same height as me, began circling me slowly.
Hands clasped behind her back, tracing a smooth arc, completely at ease.
Unlike before, she was now openly appraising me.
A gaze was supposed to be an intangible thing—something you couldn’t see or touch—yet I could feel exactly where her persistent stare was traveling.
Still, there’s no way she’ll see through me.
Runelk Eins was nothing more than a young man who had only just become an adult.
His basic qualities were decent enough, but he wasn’t so exceptionally talented that he could stand out without proper training.
From the moment I changed my appearance into Runelk Eins at that shabby inn on the border, I had acted exactly that way.
And not a single person had ever seen through to the real me—Helena Morton—inside.
Not even Killian Knox.
Yet the woman standing before me opened her mouth again.
“The captain brought you here himself. You really are quite peculiar, aren’t you?”
“Is… that so?”
“Yeah. It’s been a while since something’s actually been interesting.”
Peculiar and interesting?
…It doesn’t seem like she’s caught on to anything.
After making me extremely tense, Gisela Rot tossed out one last remark and abruptly turned around.
“Follow me quietly.”
The place Gisela Rot led me to was a small, shabby building right beside the large storage shed with the copper plate.
Broken flowerpots, rusted gardening tools, and wooden crates whose contents were anyone’s guess.
The space was packed with all sorts of old, broken junk. Judging by the bed and dresser buried underneath it all, it had probably once been someone’s living quarters.
“Close the door.”
Following her order, I shut the rickety shed door that looked like it might fall off its hinges at any moment. Strangely, it didn’t make the usual creaking sound.
I even took a quick look to make sure no one could see inside from outside before returning. Gisela Rot spoke again.
“At least you’re thorough. Securing the door is the absolute basics. Got it?”
Finally, someone who understood the importance of locking doors!
I was so relieved I almost wanted to shake her hand—but at the same time, I felt a surge of irritation.
Isn’t that rich coming from the intruder?!
Today, I had left my room much earlier than the appointed time.
I’d walked around the action squad’s lodging under the pretense of taking a stroll, carefully checking the ground.
Only after circling the area three times did I finally spot a single footprint half-hidden beneath fallen leaves.
The print was facing away from the building, exactly where someone would land if they jumped down from my bedroom window.
It had been dark last night, and with so many leaves scattered about, the intruder hadn’t been able to erase all their traces.
And the footprints Gisela Rot had left while walking ahead of me on the way to this shed matched them perfectly.
“I won’t explain it twice, so watch carefully.”
After issuing her warning, Gisela Rot walked over to the fireplace, which was covered in thick black soot and dust.
She then began stepping firmly on several wide, flat stones that had been laid down to prevent any stray embers from catching on the wooden floor.
When the fifth and final stone sank ever so slightly—
The massive fireplace swung around with a heavy groan, revealing a narrow passage behind it.
Who was it that got me the map of the Knox mansion again?
This was already the second secret passage not shown on the map—the first being the one hidden behind the portrait of the first duke.
One of my former subordinates in the Wickers intelligence unit must have done a sloppy job.
I didn’t think I’d been that lenient with them.
Before joining my unit, those guys had lived however they pleased, with no discipline and zero respect for authority.
I had whipped those wild beasts into something resembling proper human beings.
Which one of them was it?
As I recalled the faces of my old subordinates and tried to figure out who needed re-education, Gisela Rot glanced back at me.
“It’s dark, so be careful.”
Huh?
She was actually capable of saying something sensible?
“If you trip and push me, I’ll roll you down there myself.”
…Yeah, that sounds more like her.
“Yes, I’ll be careful.”
No matter what had happened in the past, right now I was just a powerless fly who had to endure threats like this.
No—a mere rookie Crow.