Chapter 24
My steps naturally carried me into the building. As the doors opened, the bustling noise from inside seeped out, filling me with a strange sense of tension.
Idea was crowded with all kinds of people.
There were permanent staff members, clients who had come to commission requests, and even mercenaries waiting to take the guild’s membership exam.
Idea housed personnel from a wide range of fields. Only those who passed a strict entrance examination that proved their worth could become guild members of Idea.
I had come here as a client to commission a request through the guild, but even submitting a request to Idea was no easy task.
As soon as I entered, I headed to the right, where the waiting area was located, and received a number ticket from a staff member.
After that, all I could do was wait blindly for my turn. With no empty chairs available, I leaned against one wall and absentmindedly killed time until my number was called.
I could never do this twice.
Today had been nothing but tedious from start to finish. Still, it was better to take care of everything at once.
I pulled my hood down low and carefully scanned my surroundings, wary that I might run into a familiar face.
Taking a number and waiting in the seating area was something practically reserved for commoners, so it didn’t mean much.
Nobles or the wealthy had ways to use Idea without going through this kind of hassle—faster and far more convenient methods.
Power and money had always been able to buy time.
Back when I used to visit Idea occasionally, I had been treated lavishly, with the guild master himself coming out to greet me. I had never once had to take a number and wait like this. I had only ever seen such people from a distance.
Well, now… this is the best I can do.
As I’d felt before, being the powerless daughter of a count was an awkward position. If I were a commoner, at least I could act freely—but now there were far too many restrictions.
The sounds of people moving and murmuring buzzed around my ears like bees. After about an hour of waiting, I finally heard my number being called from afar.
“Number 465! Are you here?”
I headed toward the consultation area. Among the three staff members seated side by side behind partitions, I approached the one on the far left.
“Hello. How may I help you?”
Instead of answering, I handed over 1 gold and 3 silver coins along with a note on which I had written the password in advance.
I watched the employee’s reaction.
If the password hadn’t changed, I would get the response I wanted.
Fortunately, after checking the note and the amount of money, the employee glanced at me and took out a token engraved with Idea’s logo from the drawer. I’d cleared the first hurdle.
This token could only be obtained by submitting the designated down payment and password within three hours after sunset. It was a slightly troublesome procedure.
For security reasons, the password was changed periodically. However, the guild master hated bothersome things, so there were only a few preset options that were reused in sequence.
Since I remembered all the passwords and their order, all I had to do was calculate the timing and choose the right one.
If my request were something ordinary that didn’t require worrying about other people’s eyes, I wouldn’t have had to go through all this.
But I had no choice. I’d come to Idea to investigate something illegal in the empire.
Then I heard the guiding employee’s voice.
“Go out that door and head to ‘The Cup of Sunset’ behind the building.”
The employee pointed to a door marked Authorized Personnel Only. Without replying, I quietly stood up and exited through the door.
Walking down a dim alley, I found a tavern with a sign reading The Cup of Sunset. The entrance was far more run-down than I had imagined—but it was all just a disguise anyway.
I let out a small sigh before stepping inside. A faint orange glow from a small lamp hanging on the wall illuminated the interior.
Inside the empty tavern, the owner was wiping a cup and spoke gruffly.
“We’re not serving drinks yet.”
Pulling my hat down even lower, I approached him and presented the Idea token.
“Up that way,” he said, jerking his chin toward the stairs on the right.
I passed him and slowly climbed the stairs.
Unlike the shabby tavern below, the upper floor revealed a clean, office-like space—similar to Idea’s main building I had just left.
Though the first floor looked like an ordinary, worn-down tavern, from the second floor up it was secretly connected to Idea’s facilities.
Two employees sitting at desks and examining documents greeted me with lifeless expressions. I approached one of them and took a seat in the chair across the desk.
“How may I assist you?”
“I’d like to designate the guild member who will take my request.”
I went straight to the point.
“Yes. The guild member’s name?”
“Is there… someone named Nocturne?”
“One moment, please.”
The employee flipped through a thick stack of documents. For a long while, only the sound of pages turning filled the room. Then his hand paused. As if something had occurred to him, his expression stiffened, and he asked again as though he’d misheard.
“Could you repeat that?”
“Nocturne. Is there no one by that name?”
If there wasn’t, that would be a problem. Without him, coming to Idea would have been meaningless.
“No—yes, there is. But…”
Trailing off, the employee suddenly stood up.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll contact the relevant party.”
He disappeared through the inner door across from me. The other employee, who had overheard the conversation, glanced at me with a curious look.
…What is it?
I had a bad feeling about this.
The door opened again sooner than expected. The returning employee politely guided me.
“Your designation for Nocturne has been delivered. He’s on his way.”
“I haven’t even explained the request yet. Already?”
“Yes. You may explain it directly when you meet him. Please go inside and wait comfortably.”
The employee treated me with an oddly flustered, overly respectful attitude. Was this really going smoothly? Why did I have such a bad feeling?
I didn’t expect to meet him this quickly.
I followed the employee further inside.
After climbing one more floor, a long corridor stretched out, lined with doors. Each door had a number on it, but nothing stood out in particular.
Thanks to the carpet covering the hallway, my footsteps were nearly silent. It felt as though all sound and movement were being swallowed whole.
I opened the door to the last room, which the employee had indicated.
Inside the room—apparently a waiting lounge—there was only a table and a sofa, making it very plain. Even so, unlike the shabby exterior of the building, the space was well maintained and carried an air of luxury.
The leather sofa was spotless, showing no signs of use, and the walnut table was clearly far more expensive than anything in the Diaz count’s household.
Is this… a VIP room?
The staff’s increasingly careful, polite behavior and the room’s location both suggested this wasn’t a place meant for an ordinary client.
It wasn’t as grand as the high-ranking noble waiting rooms in Idea’s main building that I’d visited before, but it was clearly well thought out.
Thick curtains covered the windows, blocking any view outside. The soundproofing seemed excellent—the surroundings were utterly quiet.
When the employee closed the door and left, it felt as though I’d been completely cut off from the outside world.
I slowly sat down on the sofa.
The candlelight flickered.
I watched in silence as melted wax dripped down the candle on the table.
I don’t exactly look like someone wealthy… so what is this about?
They hadn’t even heard the details of my request, nor had I paid a large advance, yet they were treating me like an important client. I couldn’t understand why.
This wasn’t how Idea usually operated. I’d thought that simply designating an informant and passing along the request to arrange a later meeting would already be a gain today.
The informant might not have been nearby, or they might have been swamped with other work.
Could it be that Nocturne doesn’t get many requests?
For him to come immediately, he’d have to be idle. Was he slacking off or something?
I hadn’t heard any news for three years—there was no way for me to know how he’d been living.
If I get back too late, Mrs. Mason might interrogate me.
There was a high chance she’d misunderstand and think I’d been with Count Hissen late into the night.
I resolved to handle things as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Depending on how much he’d changed and what condition he was in, things might not proceed smoothly—but that couldn’t be helped.
Just as I wondered whether the wait would drag on, I sensed something very faint and strange somewhere nearby.
