Chapter 2
After leaving Gazef and wiping himself down with a damp towel, Climb went to a place about as spacious as the large training area he'd come from. Many people sat on benches, chatting freely. An appetizing scent suffused the warm atmosphere. It was the mess hall.
Cutting across the room, weaving through the noise, Climb joined the line behind a few others.
Following the people in front of him, Climb took dishes from the arranged stacks. On his tray, he placed a wooden plate and a wooden stew bowl. Then a wooden cup.
Everyone received their food in order: a large steamed potato, brown bread, a white stew with a decent helping of fixings, pickled cabbage, a sausage. From Climb's perspective, it was a more than luxurious meal. The array of all those things on his tray gave off inviting smells.
Suddenly feeling hungry, Climb looked out across the mess hall. The soldiers ate with no small commotion, making idle chat with their neighbors about what they would do on their next day off, the food, their families, mundane stories about their work and so on.
Climb spotted an empty seat and made his way through the busy room. He straddled the bench and sat down. There were soldiers on either side of him, having nice chats with their friends. As Climb sat down, the ones nearest him spared him just a glance before looking away in apparent disinterest.
It was like there was a lull that surrounded only Climb. From the outside, it seemed odd as lively conversations went on all around Climb, but not a single person called out to him. Certainly, not many people would randomly talk to a stranger. But considering they were soldiers serving at the same place, entrusting their lives to one another when on duty, this treatment was a bit strange.
It was like he didn't exist.
Climb didn't make an effort to talk to anyone, either. He knew where he stood. The guardians of Ro-Lente Castle were not ordinary military. The kingdom's "soldiers" included levies outfitted by landed nobility, soldiers who were like a private army whose wages were paid by city officials, and the guards who mainly patrolled the city. They all shared one thing: their commoner backgrounds.
But there were problems with entrusting peasants of unknown origin with the castle's protection and bringing them so close to the royal family and all the kingdom's sensitive intelligence. Accordingly, the soldiers who guarded Ro-Lente Castle needed a recommendation from a noble. If a soldier caused any issues, the vouching noble would be held responsible, so the candidates were necessarily of clearly established identity with no evidence of problems with their thoughts or behavior.
But something had developed as a result of this system: factions. The nobles who supplied castle guard nominees all belonged to one or another of them. Naturally, the soldiers aligned themselves with the affiliations of their patrons. Those who would defy their noble would never be elected in the first place, so it wasn't an exaggeration to say there were virtually no soldiers who eschewed factionalism.
At first glance, this setup appeared to be wholly detrimental, but if there was an advantage to speak of, it was that because conflict between factions could potentially spark a war, the soldiers were expected to apply themselves diligently. Even if they still couldn't match up to the empire's knights, the soldiers who guarded the castle were fairly skilled.
Of course, Climb was a few notches above them and it was another reason the nobles resented him: he was stronger than the soldiers they backed. It was possible to conceive of a sponsoring noble who didn't belong to a faction. But in the current power struggle between the king's faction and the nobles', there was only a single noble skilled enough to strategically flit back and forth like a bat between them.
And among the soldiers, there was only one who had not joined up with either faction besides the troops endorsed by that exceptional noble.
That was Climb, whose position was a very difficult one. Normally someone of his background wouldn't be able to serve as Renner's personal attendant. The role of protecting a member of the royal family would normally never be an option for a lowborn citizen. It was generally accepted that the only ones fit to protect the royal family were of noble rank.
But there was the exception of Gazef Stronoff, strongest soldier in the kingdom, and his elite men. That, and more importantly, there weren't many who could openly oppose Princess Renner if she strongly desired something. Maybe a relative could speak against her, but if the king approved, no one could dissent.
The reason why Climb had a private room was due to this difficult position. If he was an ordinary soldier, he would have shared a big common room instead. Although Renner's pronouncement was part of the reason he had his own room, the other part was to isolate him. They didn't know where to place him because he didn't belong to a faction. He was a problem. Considering Climb's own circumstances and his position, he would naturally belong to the king's faction, but that was comprised mainly of ancient noble families. Climb was a nobody whose existence those nobles frowned upon. So the group did not know how to treat him if they took him in but he'd naturally cooperate with them even if they left him alone. Whereas for the nobles' faction, it would be quite a prize to win Climb over, but it would also be dangerous.
Still, each faction contained countless nobles. It wasn't as if their thoughts and opinions were monolithic. In the end, a faction was no more than a gathering of similarly minded people who desired the advantage of banding together. So of course, there were some in the king's faction who detested Climb, the beautiful Golden Princess's closest aide, due to his uncertain peasant background. And some in the opposing nobles' faction who wanted to befriend him.
In any case, no one thus far had been so imprudent as to cause schisms in their faction over one guy. The result was that although everyone wanted to avoid his going to the other side, they didn't want to go so far as to have him on theirs. That's why no one talked to him, why he dined alone.
He ate his meal without chatting with anyone and looked to neither side.
He finished his breakfast in less than ten minutes. "Okay, guess I should get going." Satisfied, he talked to himself under his breath, a growing habit from being alone so much, as he stood up, and a soldier who happened to be passing by bumped into him.
The man's elbow jabbed a spot he'd hurt training with Gazef that morning and, although his face remained expressionless, he stopped short from the pain. The soldier who bumped into him kept walking without saying a thing. Naturally, none of the surrounding soldiers spoke up, either. Some of those who witnessed it furrowed their brows a bit, but still not one moved to say something.
Climb exhaled slowly and walked off with his empty dishes. This degree of harassment was all too common. He was just glad it hadn't happened when there was still hot stew in his bowl. Someone would stick a leg out and trip him. Someone would bump into him, pretending it was an accident. Such things happened all the time. Still, what about it? Climb walked on unconcerned. They could not do anything more than that, either, especially in a place like the mess hall where there were so many people watching.
Climb kept his chest out, eyes facing forward and head high. If he did anything shameful, it would cause trouble for his master. The reputation of the woman he had swore to devote himself forever was on the line.
Now perfectly outfitted in his white full plate armor with his sword strapped to his hip, Climb stepped into Valencia Palace.
The palace was made up of three main structures and he entered the largest one, where the royal family resided. Unlike the mess hall he had just come from, the palace was designed to allow in so much light that the interior itself brightly shone.
He walked down a long corridor so clean that it seemed unlikely one would find even a speck of dust, never mind garbage. His gear made hardly a sound because it had been forged from a mix of mythril and orichalcum as well as enchanted. Along the broad and spotless hallway stood the elite soldiers who guarded the palace, clad in full armor, standing rigidly. The kingdom's knights.
In the empire, knight meant an ordinary person who was transformed into a professional soldier, but in the kingdom, the word referred to those who had life peerage. Usually third or fourth sons of nobles, men who wouldn't inherit their houses, often aimed to join the knighthood. That said, the royal household paid consummate wages, so only those skilled enough were chosen. Not even a noble could get by on connections alone.
The most straightforward way to describe the kingdom's not so many knights was perhaps "the king's bodyguards." Incidentally, Gazef's title of warrior captain was something the king fabricated because a great many objected to knighting a commoner. Correspondingly, the elite soldiers he hand-selected to serve under him became known as the Royal Select.
Climb bobbed his head toward the knights. They, at least, usually returned his greetings. There were a few who did so unwillingly, but some actually meant it, too. These men were nobles, but at the same time, they were loyal to the king and many had the hearts of warriors. These had plenty of respect for an outstanding soldier who would never lapse in his devotion to the king.
At the same time, there were others Climb passed in the corridors who directed outright hostility at him: the maids. Most made unpleasant expressions whenever they saw him alone. Unlike the average servant, most maids who worked in the palace were the daughters of noble households, hoping to raise their prestige through service. In a way, these maids were higher in status than Climb. Quite a few were from elite noble families, particularly the maids who closely attended the royal family. Their discontent at having to pay obedience to a lowborn man was clear in their angry faces.
Climb's social standing was lower than theirs, so they probably wanted to express displeasure when others, especially Renner, wasn't around. Climb understood that and he didn't protest. But those feelings made for a blank expression in response, which the maids mistook to mean he was ignoring them. This further increased their dislike for him in a vicious cycle to which Climb was completely oblivious. In fact, if he were better able to realize these sorts of things, he would've been better at handling all sorts of situations. The young soldier was a bit too dense sometimes, but walking through the palace like this did place a little mental strain on him.
Naturally, there were other members of the royal family around besides Renner and Ramposa III.
Ack! Seeing one draw near, Climb shifted to the side of the hallway, stood at attention and raised a hand to his chest in a salute. There were two people. The one bringing up the rear was tall and lean with blond hair slicked back. His name was Marquis Raeven, one of the six great nobles.
The problem was the plump man walking in front of him. His name was Zanac Valléon Igana Ryle Vaiself. He was second in line for the throne, the younger of the two princes. His feet stopped and his flabby face twisted into a sarcastic grin. "Oh, if it isn't Climb! Going to pop in on the monster?"
There was only one Prince Zanac called a monster. Climb knew it was disrespectful to speak out, but he couldn't stand there and do nothing when one insulted his beloved master.
"Your Highness. With all due respect, Princess Renner is in no way a monster. As kindhearted and beautiful as she is, one could say the princess is the kingdom's treasure."
If a woman who proposed policies like eliminating slavery to help the populace wasn't a treasure, then who was? Due to the nobles' interference, not many of her plans had seen the light of day, but Climb was certain. He knew how much Renner thought about the people. Zanac, who'd never done a thing for the commoners, had no right to utter a single word about the kindhearted woman who shed tears before Climb every time her proposals were mocked and rejected.
He was taken by an urge to shout him down, to pummel the rotund, arrogant man with his fists. Zanac's words were not something a person should say about their blood relatives, half siblings though they may have been. But it would be unforgivable for Climb to reveal his inner rage against a Prince. Also, Renner had warned him: "My younger brother is trying to provoke you into saying something defamatory. He wants an excuse to separate you from me. Climb, don't ever show him any weakness."
Climb remembered the day he had sworn to her sorrowful countenance, to his master denied by her own family, that he would never betray her.
"It's not like I was calling Renner a monster or anything. You must just think she is, in your heart…is what I would say, but I won't spout anything as clichéd as that. But a 'treasure,' huh? Do you think she actually expects her proposals to pass? I have the feeling she brings them up knowing all the while that they're futile…"
That can't be true. Impossible. This is just the envy of a man who can only make groundless accusations. "I do not believe that to be the case."
"Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. So you really can't see that she's a monster, huh? Got any eyes in that head of yours? Or is she just that clever? …It wouldn't hurt to doubt her a little bit, right?"
"Doubt her? Princess Renner is the kingdom's treasure. My conviction on that point will never waver." Everything she does is right. Climb could declare that precisely because he watched her closer than anyone.
"I see, I see. How amusing. Then will you tell the monster something for me? …Our elder brother thinks her a tool in his schemes, but if she cooperates with me, I can revoke her succession rights and set her up with a domain on the frontier."
Climb was assailed by an unpleasant feeling. "…You jest. I can't believe you would speak of such a thing here. I'll pretend I didn't hear it."
"Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. That's too bad. Shall we, then, Marquis Raeven?"
The man who had been silently observing the two bowed his head slightly.
Climb wasn't sure about where the nobleman stood. Marquis Raeven always seemed to keep his distance, but when under his gaze, Climb got a different feeling from him than the other nobles. Renner had never told Climb how to behave around him, either.
"Oh. The marquis agrees that she's ghastly. No, it would be better to say that we've formed an alliance because our opinions align on that matter."
"Prince—"
"Let me tell him, Marquis Raeven. So, Climb. If I thought you were too far gone I wouldn't say this, but…I have to warn you, since you might be getting duped by that beast… She's a monster!"
"I beg your pardon, but allow me to inquire. What is it that makes you think Princess Renner is a monster? Is there anyone who thinks more of the people, of the country, than her?"
"It's because almost everything she attempts ultimately ends in failure. Too many of her plans go nowhere. At first I thought she was just bad at laying the groundwork, but then I spoke to Marquis Raeven one day, and suddenly it dawned on me: What if it's all according to plan? When thinking about it that way, everything started to make sense. If that's true, then that would mean that a woman who doesn't even have a decent contact with the nobles, who is basically shut up in the palace, is still somehow manipulating them all… If that's not a monster, then what is?"
"It's just a misunderstanding. Princess Renner isn't that kind of person!" Climb declared.
Zanac flashed a wry smile and walked away with Marquis Raeven right behind. Climb's words followed them. "Princess Renner is the kindest person in the whole kingdom. I may be a nobody, but I guarantee it… If—" Climb swallowed the words that came next.
"… If only that were true!" Mockingly said Prince Zanac as he kept on leaving without even turning back.
Climb continued his monologue in his head. … If Princess Renner ruled the kingdom, it would be a wonderful country that always considered its people.
Of course, considering the succession, it was an impossible wish. Still, Climb couldn't abandon the thought.
Eventually, Climb arrived at the room he visited the most.
He scanned the area a couple of times before turning the knob. Not knocking flew in the face of common sense, but that was the princess's wish. She wouldn't allow him to knock no matter how much he protested.
So Climb gave in. He would be in too much of a spot if the princess started crying. He did manage to get her to allow for special circumstances. For example, certainly when the king was watching, he couldn't enter without knocking.
It was true, though, that pushing the door open without knocking caused him a lot of anxiety. It was no wonder he got stressed when the thought running through his head was There's no way this is okay.
He was about to push it wide open when he heard a heated exchange through the "crack, so he stopped his hand. There were two voices, both women's. Climb was still outside, but the owner of one of the voices didn't notice him because of how absorbed she was in the conversation. He did not want to ruin the moment, so he stood immobile and listened in on the voices inside. He felt a little bit guilty for eavesdropping, but he'd feel worse if he disrupted such passionate discussion.
"—what I'm telling you. People generally focus on the immediate benefits that are right in front of them."
"I dunno…"
"Your plan is to rotate different crops. And I don't really think that'll make them grow better, but…when would we see a result?"
"By my rough calculations, it would take about six years."
"So during those six years, what are the estimated financial losses due to changing crops?"
"It depends on the crop, but… about a 20% loss. But after six years we should end up with a steady gain of 30%. And if we can get the livestock grazing in a cultivated pasture, that should increase even further…"
"If they were only hearing that last bit, anyone would go for it, but will they accept a 20% loss for six years? I wonder."
"…What if the government lent that 20% with no collateral and no interest and only asked them to pay it back once they could? I don't think there would be a problem. If the yield won't go up, then they won't have to pay it back, or something like that. And if the yield does go up, they'd be able to pay it off in four years…"
"Seems like a hard sell."
"Why?"
"I've been telling you! People focus on the immediate benefits they can see! People… well, most of the people, want stability. Even hearing they'll have 30% more in six years, it's only natural to hesitate."
"I…don't really get it. The test fields are doing fine…"
"The tests might be going well, but that doesn't make the results absolute."
"… That's true, results aren't certain because the test can't account for every possible scenario. Considering variations in soil quality and climate, and we'd have to do a pretty large-scale test…"
"So it's not very persuasive. I don't know if that 30% increase is the minimum or the average, but it won't be very convincing in the face of all those qualifiers. You have to to promise enough long-term benefits after promising immediate benefits."
"So… what if we offered them 20% without asking them to pay it back?"
"That'll make the opposing nobles happy, since the king will lose some of his power."
"But if after six years we can really get that boost in agriculture, the kingdom's power should increase…"
"That means the nobles against us would get stronger, too. And the king's power would lessen. The nobles supporting him will never allow that."
"In that case, we could appeal to the merchants…"
"You mean the wealthy ones? They have their own considerations. If they cooperate too much with the king's faction, they could potentially lose business with the other faction."
"Argh! This is hard, Lakyus…"
"Your plans fall through all the time because you're no good at laying the groundwork and making the necessary preparations… I mean, I understand it's harder since there are two large opposing factions… How about implementing your plan only on lands directly within the king's demesne?"
"My brothers would never let me."
"Ah, those idi— Honorable men who left all the wisdom inside your mother for you."
"…Well, it's not as though we share a mom."
"Then it's from the king? Really, it's so sad if the royal family can't even agree."
The room quieted down and Climb realized there was a lull in the conversation.
"Oh, you can come in anytime. It's okay, right, Renner?"
"Huh?"
Climb's heart nearly leaped out of his chest. He was shocked she had noticed him, but it also made sense. He slowly opened the door. "Excuse me."
The familiar decor appeared before his eyes.
This room was luxurious without being gaudy, and at a table near the window sat blond-haired ladies. They were both beautiful, and their pretty dresses suited them. One was obviously Renner: it was her room.
Across from her sat another woman. Both her green eyes and pink lips had a healthy glow. She wasn't as beautiful as Renner, but she overflowed with a different sort of charm. If Renner had the glitter of a jewel, then that woman had the spark of life. Her name was Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra.
One would never guess from the pale-pink dress she wore at the moment, but she led one of the kingdom's only two adamantite-rank adventurer teams, as well as being Renner's best friend.
Her overwhelming natural ability must have been what allowed her to perform so many feats and achieve adamantite rank at the young age of nineteen. Sometimes, deep inside, Climb felt jealous in spite of himself.
"Good morning, Princess Renner, Lady Aindra."
"Morning, Climb."
"G'morning."
Having greeted them properly, Climb moved to stand in his usual spot behind and to the right of the princess, but she stopped him. "Climb, not there, over here." She was gesturing to the chair on her right."
Climb was confused. There were five chairs around the circular table. That was the usual number. But there were three cups of tea: one in front of Renner, one in front of Lakyus and one more at the place next to Lakyus, not where Renner was indicating he should sit. He scanned the room but didn't see a third person.
Feeling strange, Climb gazed at the chair.
Besides that strange cup with no owner, his master was asking him to commit the disrespectful act of sharing a table with royalty despite being a commoner, had ordered him to come in without knocking (as a favor for her) and more. Most of his master's orders weighed heavily on him.
"But…" Climb looked to the other woman for a lifeline.
His plea to be spared from sitting with them met a simple rejection. "I'm fine with it."
"B-but…Lady Aindra…"
"I told you before, you can call me Lakyus."
Then to Renner, she said, "Climb's special."
"…Grah." At Lakyus's syrupy tone, as if the sentence was punctuated by an affectionate heart, Renner forcibly smiled as she voiced her displeasure. If it was possible to call upturned lips with completely serious eyes a smile.
"Lady Aindra, no more jokes, please." Said Climb.
"Okay, okay, Mr. Straitlaced. Maybe you should learn a thing or two from me about how to relax."
"Huh? You were joking?" Renner asked in surprise.
Lakyus froze in response as if on purpose, then let out an exaggerated sigh. "Of course. Well, Climb is definitely special, but it's because he's yours."
Climb awkwardly averted his gaze from Renner as she blushed and held her face in her hands…
When his eyes suddenly popped open.
Melted into the shadow remaining in a corner of the room was someone sitting against the wall, holding their knees. A woman wearing black, formfitting clothing, who didn't match the friendly atmosphere of the room at all.
"What the—?!" Taken by surprise, Climb reached for the sword at his hip, lowering his center of gravity and moved to protect Renner.
Lakyus sighed. "See, you surprised Climb because you're dressed that way." There was no caution or panic in her composed voice. The tension left Climb's shoulders as he realized what that meant.
"Got it, boss." The woman sitting in the darkness leaped to her feet.
"Ah yeah, you haven't met her, huh, Climb? She's one of my team members—"
"Her name's Tina." Renner finished Lakyus's thought.
Climb's understanding was that the adamantite-rank team the Blue Roses comprised five women: the leader, a faith caster, Lakyus; a warrior, Gagaran; an arcane caster, Evileye; and two who had mastered thief skills, Tia and Tina.
The former three he had met before but not the other two. She's… I see. She's just like the rumors said. With her slim body swathed head to toe in clinging black fabric, she certainly looked the part. "…Please excuse me. How do you do? My name is Climb." He bowed low to Tina.
"Huh? It's no big deal."
After waving off Climb's apology, she approached the table almost soundlessly with sleek movements akin to a wild animal. Then she pulled out the chair next to Lakyus and sat down.
Apparently, the cup was hers.
There were three cups on the table, so the number alone suggested the other thief wasn't here, but Climb intently scanned the area anyway for Tia.
Lakyus realized what he was doing immediately. "Tia didn't come. Gagaran and Evileye also said they hate formalities… It's not even that fancy! I dressed up just in case, but it wasn't like I was going to force them to," she said. In reality, formal dress was the correct attire for meeting the princess. Climb, however, didn't have any intention of pointing that out to a woman who was the best friend of Renner and a noble besides."
"I see. But I'm very happy to finally meet the famous Lady Tina. I hope you'll remember me kindly should we meet in the future."
"How about sitting down and then chatting, Climb?" Renner said, serving tea into a fresh cup. Steam rose from the tea pouring out of the magic item, Warm Bottle, as if it were freshly steeped.
The Warm Bottle would maintain any drink's temperature and quality for about an hour and was one of Renner's favorite items. She used it especially when welcoming guests who were important to her. In fact, she rarely used it otherwise.
With no avenues of escape left to him, Climb accepted his fate, sat down, and took a sip of tea. "It's delicious, Princess Renner."
Renner beamed, but in truth, Climb had no idea whether it was delicious or not. He just figured that since she had prepared the tea, it had be.
Suddenly, he heard a level voice whose emotions were difficult to discern. "She should be out collecting intelligence today, on the orders of someone who gave her work even though we were supposed to all come to the palace together. It's all our demon leader's fault." It went without saying the voice belonged to Tina.
Averting his eyes from Lakyus and the terrible smile that appeared on her face in response to the words demon leader, Climb said, "Is that so…? I'd like to meet her sometime."
"Climb, Tina and Tia are twins, and their hair is about the same length. So seeing one of them is enough."
It wasn't about what was enough or not, but Climb indicated his understanding for the time being.
He started feeling flustered under Tina's unreserved gaze. He thought he would just endure it, but then he wondered if she had noticed something he'd carelessly missed, so he made up his mind to ask. "What is it?"
"You've gotten too big."
"…Huh?" That made no sense. Climb had several question marks over his head when Lakyus interrupted to apologize.
"Never mind, it's just her thing. Don't worry about it, Climb. Really, don't worry about it. Really."
"I see—"
"What are you talking about, Lakyus?" Climb had forced himself to accept the explanation, but unable to do so herself, Renner interrupted. Lakyus made a whiny face at her. "Ugh, whenever it comes to Climb…"
"Oh, I just—"
"Shut up, Tina. The reason I didn't bring Tia is because she's always trying to put weird ideas into Renner's head. So can you just understand that and be quiet?"
"Aye-aye, demon boss."
"But… Lakyus. What is it?"
At Renner's follow-up, Lakyus's face twitched violently with an expression of agony.
Right when Climb thought he should maybe chime in, she suddenly turned to him. "Uh… Climb, looks like you love wearing that armor."
"Yes, it's fantastic armor. Thank you."
The word forced was far from enough to describe the change of topic, but hoping to prevent the princess' guest from losing face, he replied and ran his hand over the white armor he'd received from Renner. It had been constructed from quite a bit of mythril and orichalcuml, was enchanted with various spells and was surprisingly light, sturdy and mobile too.
The Blue Roses were the ones who had offered to supply the mythril for his equipment, free of charge. No amount of bowing could possibly be enough to express his gratitude. He was about to lower his head when Lakyus stopped him. "No worries. We just gave Renner the leftovers from when we made our own mythril armor."
Even mere scraps of mythril could fetch an extremely high price. Orichalcum-ranked adventurers might have had the means to forge a full set of mythril plates and mythril rank could have possibly owned a mythril weapon. But the only ones who could hand over the material like it was nothing were probably powerful adamantite-ranked adventurers.
"Besides, it was Renner who asked. We couldn't say no."
"You wouldn't take my money. I even saved up my allowance for it…"
"… Isn't it weird for a princess to have an allowance?"
"The money from my estate is separate. I wanted to make Climb's armor with my allowance…"
"Yeah. You wanted to give him armor you made with your own money."
"If you knew, then why did you give the metal to me for free? You jerk."
"Do I really deserve to be called a jerk for that…?"
Pouting Renner and smirking Lakyus started quarreling without really fighting.
Watching the two, Climb's stoic expression nearly broke, but he held it together.
The fact that he was able to see this peaceful, warm scene, was thanks to his master, who had taken him in. But he could not ever open up and reveal his feelings. Showing his gratitude was proper, but he had stronger feelings deep inside, those he couldn't show. They were…love. Climb shoved them down and suppressed them. Instead, he said the words he'd repeated many times. "Thank you, Princess Renner."
The way he held his body clearly demarcated a line between their respective positions, clarifying their relationship as master and servant. Renner reacted to this with a smile that contained the faintest hint of sadness, which Climb only noticed precisely because he watched her more than anyone every single day. But never creepily. She was like a goddess to him.
"You're welcome. Now, we seem to have gotten a bit off track. Let's return to our earlier discussion."
"About the Eight Fingers, right? You got that we snuck into three villages growing the drugs and burned the fields, right?"
At that, Climb mentally frowned behind his blank visage. Eight Fingers was a criminal organization operating in the kingdom's underworld. His beloved and respected master was figuring out what to do about it. If they torched the drugs supplying the livelihoods of those villagers, the question of what would become of them didn't have any good answers, but they were necessary sacrifices in eradicating the narcotics eating away at the kingdom.
Someone with absolute power would have had a number of ways to solve the problem, but despite being the princess, Renner had virtually no support. Consequently, she had to make realistic choices as to who she could save and who she needed to ignore. If she petitioned her father, the king, she might have been able to attack with military and authoritative might wherever she wished. But since the Eight Fingers had clear ties to various nobles, intelligence would most certainly leak, allowing the criminals to anticipate her moves and destroy all the evidence of their crimes. That's why Renner had chosen to rely on her friend Lakyus and her team directly.
Climb knew that such a request was a risky move. Normally, adventurers fielded jobs via the guild; accepting jobs directly was not permitted. What they were doing was against the rules. Granted, the guild couldn't very well penalize or banish a team at the highest rank. Still, breaking the rules could hurt their reputation internally and put them at a disadvantage in the future. The reason they undertook the mission regardless was because Lakyus loved his country and she saw Renner as a friend.
She was putting herself and her team on the line, making Climb even more grateful to her. Lakyus felt it was about time to bring up a certain topic, so she opened the bag Tina had brought and withdrew a piece of parchment. It was something the Blue Roses hadn't been able to decipher. Lakyus thought Renner, having the best brains of anyone she knew, might be able to figure it out.
"We found these when we were lighting the narcotic fields. They seem like some kind of instructions, so we brought them back with us, but…can you make anything of them?"
On the unfurled parchment were symbols from no writing system for any country they had ever seen. Renner answered nonchalantly after just a glance, "It's a substitution cipher."
A substitution cipher was a type of code where symbols or other characters were substituted for single or multiple character units of normal writing. If A is and B is , then is AABBA.
"That's what I thought, too. So I looked everywhere for the key, but unfortunately I couldn't find it. It's possible they have it memorized, so it made sense to charm the man we captured into being our ally and get it out of him. He seemed like someone in charge. But as you know, charm magic is less effective when the same person casts it on the same target multiple times. And I wanted to make sure the first round was a good one, so I thought we should check with you first."
"I see… Why was this at the scene anyway? Is it a trap…? Or was there some other reason? Then they wouldn't use something very hard to crack. Right. I think this is pretty easy to decipher."
Lakyus's eyes widened and she exchanged a glance with Tina beside her in spite of herself. They couldn't believe it. On the other hand, well, it was Renner.
"Uh, so, in the language of the kingdom, the first letters will represent either the masculine article, the feminine article, or the neuter article, so… One second…" As the princess mumbled, she got up still holding the parchment and grabbed a pen and paper. Then the letters started to flow onto the paper.
"This is a pretty simple cipher, since each symbol stands for a single character. And we're lucky they were using the kingdom's language. If the key were a book from the empire or something, it'd be pretty much impossible. With this… well, if you can figure out one letter, then it's just about filling in the rest from there. Anyone can decipher this with a little effort."
"Noo, it's easy to say that, but it's impossible unless you know tens of thousands of words, right?" said Lakyus.
"These are instructions written in code! You wouldn't expect any overly complex phrasing and the possibility of there being some difficult vocabulary is extremely slim. It should be written in a plain language even a child could understand, so that narrows it down quite a bit."
A figurative sweat drop dangled in Lakyus's mind. Her friend talked like it was simple, but it wasn't such an easy thing. She can do it, but…she really is incredibly smart. Every time that they met and talked, she was surprised anew. Lakyus didn't know anyone who fit the word "genius" as well as Renner.
Lakyus secretly had the creeps, but Renner was relatively nonchalant when she said, "I got it! It wasn't instructions, though," and handed over the paper. It was a list of various places in the kingdom. There were seven in all.
"I wonder if it means there are drugs stored here or that they're important strategic locations," Lakyus suggested.
"I doubt they'd write down such important information and leave it lying around a mere production facility… They must be decoys."
"Decoys? You mean it's a trap?"
"Hrm, I don't think so. Uh, the Eight Fingers is one organization, but people say it's split into eight divisions that kind of work together, right?"
Lakyus nodded.
"So they're intentionally giving away information about the other seven divisions, I guess, to divert attention from themselves."
"They prepared intelligence on the other seven divisions…? I expected the organization was far from a monolith, but I didn't expect them to be this…" To adventurers, betraying one's comrades was disgusting. "I knew we'd have to move fast, but yeah, I guess if we don't, we'll have issues."
Renner nodded and Lakyus asked another question.
"So then, what about that brothel? Apparently, it's a pretty nasty one where you can do anything." Just saying that made her insides boil with rage. Those filthy pieces of trash! Garbage who can't think of anything except their own desires should drop dead! She snarled in her mind, recalling the information she had on the brothel, not as a noble's daughter but as an experienced adventurer. She didn't even need to guess what "anything" meant.
She knew that multiple people, men and women, had been killed for pleasure. Back in the days when there was slave trafficking, a few of those types of brothels existed in the underworld. But right before her eyes, by the work of her friend, slavery became illegal, and those facilities began disappearing. This place could be the last brothel in the royal capital or even the kingdom. That was precisely why it couldn't be expunged so easily. They would surely meet strong opposition. It was the last filthy paradise for people with unspeakably sleazy tastes.
"Hey, Renner. Since there's no way to use your authority to carry out a search, why not have us force our way in and blow the lid off the place? There won't be any trouble as long as we find evidence, right? If the slave-trafficking division is really running the brothel, it'll be a huge blow to the Eight Fingers if we take it down, and depending on what evidence we find, it could also be a heavy strike against the nobles who do business with them."
"Maybe, Lakyus. But won't that cause troubles for your family, the house of Alvein? So it's tricky if we mobilize the Blue Roses… but it'd be impossible for my Climb to go in and take them out on his own…"
"I'm sorry I'm not strong enough."
When Climb bowed his head, Renner cupped his hand in hers and smiled kindly. "Sorry, Climb. I didn't mean it like that. It's the only underworld brothel in the capital. Nobody in Re-Estize could take it out alone… I trust you the most, Climb. I know how hard you work for me. But don't do anything reckless, okay? And I'm not asking as a favor, that's an order! If anything ever happened to you…"
Even Lakyus, watching from beside Renner, felt the peerless beauty's teary eyes pierce her heart. How was Climb's heart doing? He frantically tried to keep a straight face but couldn't manage it. On the contrary, his blushing cheeks said it all. If a bard were to title this scene, it would be The Princess and the Knight.
It was moving, but a touch of fear unsettled Lakyus. She didn't think it was possible, but if Renner was doing all this on purpose, then she knew every trick in the book. Just what am I thinking? It's not the kind of thing you should think about a close friend! Everything she's done speaks to the fact that she's not a bad person. If I can't believe in the Golden Princess who's done so much to help people, then who can I believe in?
Lakyus shook her head and spoke, in part to clear away those horrible thoughts.
"By the way, Tina and Tia's research turned up the names of a few nobles with connections to the slave-trafficking division leader, Coccodor. The only thing is… it's too soon to move on this info, since we haven't confirmed whether it's true or not yet."
When she listed the several nobles, there was one name that prompted a simultaneous reaction from both Renner and Climb. The princess spoke it: "His daughter is one of my maids."
"I can't imagine he had her placed here to spy on you…but there's no guarantee she's only here to cultivate prestige."
"Yes. I should be careful how I'm handling information. You remember that, too, Climb."
"Yes, Princess."
"Okay, let's decide what to do about those places we learned from the coded message. And… Renner, can I borrow Climb? I want him to go tell Gagaran and the others it seems like we'll be making a move really soon.
