Chapter 21
Herkel looked at me from the side with proud eyes. When our eyes met, he whispered quietly.
“Yesterday, Rotas asked a lot about you, Sir Lerit. He clearly respects you.”
Back at Rollend, there were quite a few people who admired me as well. I was paid well and did my job properly, so I was fairly well known among mercenaries. It didn’t feel like a big deal, so I held out my hand.
“I’m Lerit. Nice to meet you.”
Rotas smiled brightly and grabbed my hand tightly. At that moment, a sharp voice stabbed into my ears.
“Aren’t you coming? Do you really have time to stand around chatting when everyone’s busy?”
I could feel Calyx’s cold gaze. Herkel hurriedly ran over to him. On the other hand, Rotas kept holding my hand, still smiling brightly.
He looked far too innocent, his eyes clear, so I lowered my head and warned him quietly.
“Mr. Rotas, if you want to survive here, you should let go now and run to the Duke.”
At those words, Rotas immediately let go. But it was already too late. Calyx was standing right beside me.
“Did you say your name was Rotas?”
His voice was low and cold, like a deep cave. Rotas shouted nervously.
“Yes! I’m Rotas!”
“Follow me. It seems yesterday’s training wasn’t enough, so I’ll give you some special instruction.”
I clicked my tongue inwardly. Knowing Calyx’s rotten personality better than anyone, I could only look at Rotas’s back with pity.
‘If he has no sense, it’ll be hard to survive.’
I continued on my way, genuinely worried about him.
By the time I reached the wall, I was hungry. After quickly eating breakfast, I went outside to look for the scammer in Derilf. As I passed the stables, the stable hand was taking out a carriage and checking it.
‘Is Calyx going out again today?’
I hadn’t heard that he was actively helping catch the scammer. Even if finding the scammer was my responsibility, I would’ve been grateful if he helped even a little. But expecting that from Calyx seemed like a luxury.
As I trudged along, someone called out to me from afar.
“Sir Lerit!”
When I turned around, it was the stable hand I had seen earlier. He quickly ran up to me.
“Are you going to Derilf?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Then please take the carriage.”
“A carriage? Isn’t the Duke going out?”
“No. The Duke gave instructions. He said that for now, you’ll be going to Derilf, so we should take you.”
When did he say that? It was unexpected. Feeling slightly better, I headed toward the carriage. The stable hand talked beside me.
“Because of the blizzard, there’s a lot of snow, but the horses here never slip.”
“Why is that?”
“We feed them specially processed Berok blood.”
The stable hand smiled proudly. I stiffened for a moment, then awkwardly relaxed my expression.
Berok blood. I really couldn’t get used to the ecosystem here. Who even thought of feeding that to horses? No—why would anyone think of that in the first place?
Was it Calyx’s idea?
Genuinely curious, I asked,
“When did you start feeding them Berok blood?”
We were right in front of the carriage. The stable hand opened the door and answered.
“When the Duke officially became the lord here, he started using Berok blood. From what I’ve heard, the Duke was influenced by Solfein.”
Solfein. Though he was already dead, he clearly had a deep influence on Calyx.
I had never met him, but the idea of using Berok blood was astonishing. Shaking my head, I got into the carriage.
Then a sudden thought crossed my mind. Could the leather clothes I was wearing right now also be made from Berok hide…?
Maybe it really was because of the Berok blood. The horse didn’t rest, didn’t slip, and reached Derilf quickly. It took only ten minutes. An incredible speed.
The carriage stopped in front of the plaza with the clock tower.
“Sir Lerit, I’ll wait here.”
“I think I’ll stay here until before dinner. If you have things to do, you can go.”
“No! Taking you here and then back to the wall is my job.”
The stable hand smiled brightly. He seemed like a good person. Unlike Calyx. Still, since Calyx had shown this consideration, I decided not to think too negatively about him and turned away.
Before, I had mainly asked around shops in the southern part of Derilf. Now I planned to thoroughly check the north. I couldn’t be sure that Prod Swindel was here, but I would search carefully using what information I had.
Unlike the south, people in northern Derilf were dressed neatly and stylishly. The areas around the shops were clean, and the buildings were intact.
I looked around in fascination.
‘This place seems wealthy.’
At that moment, a sharp voice flew toward me.
“Hey! Move!”
As soon as I heard it, rough carriages rushed down the street. I dodged quickly, but if it had been a child, they would have definitely been hit.
Thankfully, my body was trained from mercenary work.
‘What was that?’
Curious about the kind of person who drove a carriage like a Berok, I looked at it. It was a cargo carriage, tightly covered with black cloth, as if it carried something important.
The carriage quickly disappeared, kicking up thick dust. I was staring at its retreating back in disbelief when—
“They’re always like that these days.”
I turned my head. A person wearing a white apron was pointing in the direction where the carriage had gone. She was holding a bundle of roses—probably the flower shop owner in front of me.
“So carriages always pass dangerously like that?”
“It used to be quiet, but lately it’s always like this.”
“It looked like a cargo carriage. Where is it going?”
“To the person with the most extravagant mansion here. Don’t you know?”
“Ah, it’s my first time here.”
The owner poured me a cup of tea.
“It’s daisy tea. Since it’s your first time here, I thought I should offer you something.”
“Thank you.”
I was starting to feel cold, so the warm tea made heat spread through my body.
The flower shop owner looked around, then whispered just loud enough for me to hear.
“That idiot who drives like that is Drop.”
“Drop?”
“Yes. He moved here ten years ago and is famous for being very rich. He also has connections with the Royal Knights, so he has strong backing and lives very arrogantly here.”
The Royal Knights. My eyes narrowed on their own. The flower shop owner refilled my tea and continued.
“People here weren’t friendly toward Drop at first, but since he’s close to the Royal Knights and things get resolved quickly whenever something happens, people gradually came to rely on him. They paid him a lot of money, too. These days, if you don’t pay properly, it’s hard to survive.”
“But isn’t this the territory of the Duke of Demerut?”
“That’s right. But unlike the south, the markets here are all owned by the royal family. Most market buildings here belong to the crown, and we have to pay rent every month.”
The flower shop owner seemed to have a lot built up and spoke freely.
“The rent is so high that even complaining gets you threatened with even higher rent, so we can’t speak up easily.”
“That sounds unfair.”
“Yes. If we were under the Duke of Demerut’s rule like the south, we wouldn’t feel this suffocated.”
“It’s the same Derilf area. Why is it divided like this?”
“Long ago, the Duke of Demerut’s ancestor offered this place to the king. They were on good terms back then, and the king visited often and loved touring the markets. Whenever the king came, Derilf’s economy improved and became lively, so the ancestor gladly gave the northern market to the crown.”
Thinking about it now, it didn’t seem like a good thing.
“Even if we try to move to the south, they threaten our families to stop us from leaving.”
“Does the Duke know about this?”
“He probably doesn’t. If we try to inform him, they track us down immediately and raise that person’s rent.”
I hesitated for a moment, then asked,
“…Is it okay for you to tell me this?”
“Yes. We’re sick of being pushed around.”
The flower shop owner shook her head. Even I thought Drop was trash. Acting wild just because he trusted the power of the Royal Knights.
I looked around. The shops were neat, but the roads were rough and dusty from fast-moving carriages.
“Then outside the market, does the territory’s law apply?”
“Yes. That’s why that bastard uses the roads around the northern market like his own.”
“Because he trusts the influence of the Royal Knights?”
“That’s right.”
He was very sly. From what I heard, he wasn’t a noble, but he lived however he pleased because of his connections with the Royal Knights.
The Royal Knights. A rich man. A sly personality. I narrowed my eyes and focused on the voice in my mind.
The scammer came to mind.
The scammer took my money and Calyx’s money, so he would naturally be rich. And according to Calyx’s investigation, he also had ties to the royal family.
The Royal Knights were the most favored organization of the crown. Their power was second only to the king, and their待遇 was enormous.
My guess could be wrong, but strangely, I kept thinking of the scammer. I had wanted to see the face of someone who acted however he pleased anyway, so I asked without hesitation.
“Where is Drop’s mansion?”
“Calig 35. If you follow this road straight, you’ll see a very splendid mansion. It’s far more extravagant than the others, so you won’t get confused.”
“Calig 35.”
