Chapter 36: Trouble

Please contact me right away. -Taona

“What is this?”

Upon returning to our home base, Convenience Store Belle, I was greeted with a piece of paper on the door.

“What could this be about?”

That’s a mystery too, but first of all...

“Who’s this ‘Taona’?”

I had no way of contacting her, since I didn’t know who she was. Everyone just cocked their heads in confusion, unsure of who this “Taona” might be.

“Forget it, then!”

Yup, not like there was anything else I could do. I decided to cook up a nice meal and go to bed early tonight. Although I did get to relax at the hot springs, I was pretty tired from everything that had happened, especially the walk home. At that time, the realization still hadn’t hit me...

A few days later, when I was talking about our little trip during my visit to Ed and the other horses at the stable, they asked me why I hadn’t taken them with me to ride.

“Oh...” I said without thinking, and Ed absolutely flipped out.

“You forgot about us! You completely forgot about us, didn’t youuu?!” Ed shouted. I couldn’t stand to bear the cold gaze from his wife, along with the look from Roland’s and Francette’s horses, as they were on the verge of tears. I ended up making a bunch of promises and upgrading their meals.

...Damn it.

Though, I really was at fault this time. Guess I had to let it go...

“Why didn’t you come see me once you got back?!” Someone came barging in shouting during the afternoon business hours.

“...Do I know you?”

“It’s me! Taona!!!”

I cocked my head, then Roland spoke up from behind me.

“She’s that old apothecary’s disciple!”

“Ah...”

Roland didn’t remember her name, but it seemed he recognized her face.

It may not be anything to brag about, but I’m not good at remembering faces... That’s really not something to brag about.

In any case, Roland was supposed to be upstairs... When did he sneak up on me like that...?

“So, what does that apothecary’s disciple want with me? This shop doesn’t handle rare drugs anymore.” There was no need to be overly polite with her, considering she wasn’t a customer. I was older than her and this wasn’t a business relationship, so I didn’t have to treat her like a superior.

I had spoken to her with a moody, haughty tone, but then...

“I thought I should let you know that some people who seem to be related to the royal palace and merchants from the royal capital were asking around about you...”

“Thank you so much for coming! Please, go right upstairs! We will prepare some tea and snacks right away...”

Yes, of course I’ll treat honored guests with hospitality. That goes without saying!

Taona shot me a look after seeing my attitude do a complete one-eighty, but I didn’t care. Information was priceless, even more so when it was free. I didn’t mind pandering one bit!

“...So, I decided to warn you, just in case.”

I had apologized with some excuse about not being able to see her right away because I didn’t know where she lived, then listened to what she had to say. Of course, I wasn’t oblivious enough to tell Taona that I didn’t know who she was directly to her face.

“...So, those people came to investigate the miracles and strange phenomenon occurring in this city on behalf of their country?” This was bad. But I had already made sure everyone involved was going to keep their mouths shut. My information shouldn’t have been leaked...

“Actually, the merchants all seem to have come from different shops, and the ones from the royal palace seem to have been sent here on a personal request. It was as if they were all hired separately by a person who’s trying to find you before someone else does. They used phrasing that could be interpreted as if they’re working for their government, but it seemed intentionally vague...”

I was impressed by how quick-witted and observant she was, despite her young age. I guess she wasn’t an apothecary’s disciple for nothing.

“But how did you know they were looking for me?” It shouldn’t have been so easy to link me back to my previous selves. Verbal warnings, disguises, threats... I had taken all the proper precautions. I should have been safe here...

“Master Oredeim told them.”

“That damn geezerrrrrr! Him again?!” But I had warned him not to tell anyone, too! It didn’t seem likely that he would have just spilled the beans...

“Haha, this is a man who blabbed immediately after just a little threat from a baron’s retainer. Do you think he would refuse to talk to someone with connections to the royal palace?” Taona said with a disappointed expression.

“Th-Then those merchants are still...”

“Bribes are his weakness, even more so than authority... Ahaha...” Taona laughed weakly. “He isn’t a bad person, though...”

“He most definitely is!” I couldn’t help but jump in there...

In any case, I was nothing but a little girl who happened to sell some medicine that was kind of rare. And despite that medicine’s rarity, it had been sold to the general public, and only once, at that. I even made it a point to say it wouldn’t be for sale again. So, this wasn’t really that big of a deal, at least when compared to the many miracles I had performed around the same time.

This thought brought me some relief, until...

“After they heard my master’s story, they said, ‘We shall go to the house of Baron Dorivell next, whose firstborn son is said to have undergone a miraculous recovery. Then, we will go to Viscount Raphael’s stables, where that horse known as Carlos is being kept. Viscount Raphael’s servants are unlikely to talk, so we will look for that mysterious little girl who is said to have been buying scrap meat and nuts before the viscount began buying crow food. We will split up and search the meat shop, vegetable shop, and marketplace...’”

“G...”

“G?”

“Gyaaaaaaaaagh!!!”

I took the investigation skills of people in this world too lightly!!!

I didn’t think to tell the old man at the stables not to talk to anyone! He had Carlos’s sales records and my name and contact information from when I asked him to take care of Ed and the other horses! There are records there that prove definitively that Carlos was mine at the time...

“So they all went around asking for a girl with scary-looking eyes...”

Twitch, twitch

“Oh, nooo! Are you okay, Kaoru?!” I heard Layette’s voice in the distance as I fell face-first onto the table and started convulsing...

“...Ah, you’re awake!” I awoke to Layette’s voice and sat straight up.

“...Where’s Taona?”

“She left some time ago.” I saw that Francette and Roland had appeared, looking at me with concerned expressions.

Even Francette goes out sometimes. As such, I always make sure to have Roland, or even Emile or Belle, stay with me as my bodyguard. That’s why only Layette and Roland had been around earlier. Emile and Belle were off handling jobs from the Hunter’s Guild, training and making some money.

“Sir Roland told me everything. It appears this Taona girl understands you quite well.

“After her master told Baron Dorivell about this place, and after he heard about that boy’s miraculous recovery, it isn’t surprising that she put two and two together, considering the incident with the medicine here and the comment from those men searching for you about the little girl with the scary eyes...

“She may be trying to make amends for her master’s actions, but it seems she’s on our side. The problem is those men who seemed to have come from the capital. So...” Francette looked at me with a troubled expression. “What shall we do?”

Yeah, what?

...I guess I’ll play dumb for now.

It seemed that they were looking for the Angel from Balmore, so I decided to break that down first. I had been known as the Angel for about four years, so most people probably knew what I look like by now, but there weren’t too many people who had actually seen me in person, so as long as I could obscure my most notable characteristics, I should be fine.

People who traveled to distant countries were very rare in this world. Even merchants didn’t travel that far, for the most part. Unless they were friends with other merchants in those countries, it was far too risky to go somewhere with unknown market conditions. Paying high expenses for transportation, only to find your goods were abundant and cheap there, was a quick way to lose all your money.

So, it was highly unlikely that the people from the capital had seen me in Balmore. Even if they had, I’d be fine if it had just been a glimpse at a distance, all those years ago. And if major characteristics in my appearance were different, they’d probably assume I was someone else entirely.

And so...

“Potion that changes eye and hair color, come out!” I chugged it down right away. Those guys could have appeared at any minute.

I checked myself out in the mirror. Brown hair and hazel eyes.

Good. On top of that...

“Potion container with a black wig on top of it, come out!” I then settled the wig on my head.

Perfect! Since everyone around here already knew I had black hair and brown eyes, I had changed my eyes just enough that I could say they had always been this color, if asked. And for my hair, I could claim I always wore a wig, and my natural hair color was brown.

Many people think Japanese people have black eyes, but they’re actually brown. It’s a pretty common color on Earth in general. I’d heard that people around Kyushu have hazel eyes, though...

I remembered that, in my past life, there had been a section in my international documents stating my hair and eye color, and they said black hair and brown eyes. I didn’t write that myself, mind you. They just handed it to me like that. So, my eyes should still be brown.

I’m told my eyes are black a lot in this world too, but I guess they’re more of a blackish-brown.

Anyway, my appearance was good to go. Now I just had to stick to my story!

“Pardon me.”

Here we go!

A normal customer wouldn’t offer such a greeting upon entering my shop. It was pretty much a declaration stating outright that they weren’t a customer. And if it was someone from the palace, they wouldn’t have used such a polite and respectful phrase.

Which meant...

“My name is Eridel, a merchant from the capital. Is the owner here, by any chance?” It seemed to be one of the merchants. But why was he alone?

“I am the owner, Quaoru.” I fudged up the pronunciation on purpose so it could be plausibly mistaken as “Kaoru.” Just so it wouldn’t be a flat-out lie...

This way, it would sound like “Quaoru” to this merchant, but people who knew my name would hear it as “Kaoru.” Mhm.

The merchant gave me a look of surprise for a moment, but maybe he figured the pronunciation shifted as my name traveled between countries, because he didn’t question it. I mean, even if he had, it wasn’t like he could argue with me about my own name. I didn’t give him some completely different name, because that would only serve to raise suspicion, since he had surely investigated my name already.

That’s why I had opted to just change the pronunciation, just a little, within a range that was still believable. He probably wouldn’t interpret my name as me denying I was the Angel, but...

“Ahh, Lady Angel! I have come from the capital, representing the Griffon Trading Company, to humbly request to do business with you and your potions...”

“Hold on just a minute!!!” Three men who clearly appeared to be merchants came running into the shop.

“How dare you sneak in without us!”

“We agreed to do the negotiations together!”

“What the hell!!!”

Oh, I see...

“Hm? I have no idea what you’re talking about. All business comes down to the merchant’s wit and luck. The early bird gets the worm. This is common sense for merchants, no? We are in the middle of a business negotiation. It is against the rules to interject when you arrive late.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit!” One of the merchants that had just arrived grabbed the Eridel guy by the collar.

“You should know when to quit, Manticore Shop...” Eridel said with an unconcerned smile as his aggressor held him by the collar.

Sheesh, even their shop names sound like they don’t get along...

“Now, now, we are all merchants here. Why don’t we calm down and talk this out...”

“Yes, Horn Rabbit is right...”

Horn Rabbit? After those two tough-sounding shop names? Oh, I get it. Rabbits — the approachable, fluffy, and tasty rabbit that represents prolificacy and abundance — would make a better name for a shop. Better than a tough-sounding and aggressive one, anyway...

Anyway, I had to sort this situation out.

“Um, so, what could have brought all of you to this humble little shop in a provincial city all the way from the capital?” I asked with a puzzled expression, and the merchants each nodded as if they understood.

Damn, they must have investigated everything about me already...

“What’s going on, Quaoru?” Belle asked as she came downstairs. Earlier, I had pressed the button to signal for her to come down and act normal.

...Francette was with her too.

Why, Francette...? I didn’t call for you...

Unlike the lightly-dressed Belle, Francette stood out like a sore thumb, fully clad as she was in heavy armor in a small shop like this...

Yup, the merchants were all nodding, as if they had expected this.

“Belle, watch the counter for me. And you take them upstairs, please,” I asked Belle and Francette, respectively, and everyone but Belle went up to the second floor.

I didn’t call Francette by her name because Fearsome Fran was extremely famous in Balmore and was known to be very close to the Angel. That’s also why I didn’t call Roland by his name either, of course. I was only able to call Emile, Belle, and Layette by their names in front of the merchants or anyone from the royal palace.

The four merchants sat next to each other in a row, and I sat alone on the opposite end. Francette stood behind me and to the side, so she could attack the men at any time, if they tried anything funny.

Roland had a bit too much of a noble aura, right down to his equipment, so I had him wait in the next room over with Emile. Francette alone would be considered overkill for dealing with just four merchants. I could probably even kick one of these fatsos out myself, if it came down to it.

“Umm, I don’t quite get what’s going on, but I’m guessing you all want to purchase products from me?”

“Yes!” As I thought, it seemed they wanted to gain my favor and some healing potions...

“Then please feel free to buy whatever is on the shelves downstairs...”

“No, no, no, no!”

Wow, they’re perfectly synced.

They had been at each other’s throats earlier, but maybe they were actually close friends...

“So you’re saying you want something other than what we sell in the shop?”

Nod, nod, nod, nod.

“Hmm, it’d be a pain to manage the same items through multiple different distributors, so it might be better to have one shop handle it all...” The air turned extremely tense as soon as the words left my mouth. So much so that Francette put a hand to her sword hilt without thinking about it.

I also heard a noise from next door, which I figured was Emile, as untrained as he was, inadvertently making noise as he stood up from his chair in response.

But man, these merchants... A bit too intense, don’t you think?

Now that I had them pitted against each other again...

“First, I can say that anyone who betrays the allies they’ve been working with can’t be trusted to do business with. Who knows when I’d be betrayed, too...”

“What!” Eridel’s eyes widened in shock, and the other three merchants smirked, as if to say he deserved it.

Then...

“As for you, you resorted to violence rather than negotiations and words, despite being a merchant. If you decide to use violence to force me into a deal that’s favorable for you, a little girl like me wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, so I will have to pass...”

I directed my words to the owner of Manticore Shop, and his eyes also widened as if he couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“Wha...”

The fact that he was surprised was more surprising to me, to be honest. Did he really think a woman would feel safe working with someone who saw no problem with trying to make his competitor comply through violence in front of a potential new business partner?

“Manticore Shop” glared daggers at Eridel, as if to say it was his fault. There were smiles on the two remaining merchants’ faces.

All right, next...

“Now, who should I do business with...” The eager spirit emanating from the two was palpable.

Then...

“The intensity in here is scaring me... This doesn’t feel like the right time to talk business, so would you mind postponing for now? Whatever is going on between the four of you doesn’t really concern me, and this is all a bit too much... Perhaps once you’ve figured this out among yourselves, one of you can come by again to discuss this further...”

The merchants looked at each other, then seemed to realize there was no point in arguing and agreed to leave for now.

“...We will see you again tomorrow, then...”

With that, they left. They really didn’t need to come back, though.

Anyway, this was enough for today. They might be back tomorrow, but it would probably just be one of them. There was no way the merchants would agree to let just one of them have exclusive rights to the business, so one of them would probably come as a representative to distribute the products among the other three.

I wonder what kind of products they want to stock, though...

What could be worth traveling out to a provincial city like this, paying the fees for transportation and security, and bringing them all the way back to the royal capital?

I mean, I never claimed to be the Angel, and even if I was, I didn’t agree to sell them any potions. Besides, what made them think I’d sell products to other merchants when they’re not even for sale in my own store? I decided to offer some cookies I baked, a wooden animal Emile had carved, and some bamboo wares that Belle had made to whoever came back representing the other merchants. These were the best deals in my shop. The materials were cheap and we just made them for fun, so they were super affordable.

Francette tried dipping her toes into handicrafts, too.

...She’s probably better off sticking to swordsmanship.

“Pardon me!” The next day, one of the merchants from yesterday came by during the morning business hours. It was one of the merchants who hadn’t been involved in that little grappling session, the one who wasn’t the owner of Horn Rabbit. Come to think of it, I never got his shop name.

“I am Latton of the Solcus Trading Company.”

So he’s the one who’s gonna handle the negotiations.

I figured the guy who tried to screw the others over and the violent one were both out of the question, so there were only two options left anyway.

“Please join me upstairs.” I flipped the sign at the entrance to indicate that we were closed, locked the door, and guided him to the second floor.

It was just me and Francette again. There was no way she wouldn’t be present when I was meeting with someone. You never knew what could happen, according to her.

I mean, she’s right, so I let her do her thing.

“So, the product you’re looking to buy from my shop...”

“Your potions, of course! The legendary potions that you sold in the kingdom of Balmore!”

Figures... But.

“Oh, like liquid medicine? We only have the kind that’s used for relieving throat pain and cleaning wounds. They’re both one silver coin for a small bottle each...”

“Huh? A-Are they magical medicine blessed by the Goddess with miraculous effects...?”

“No, just normal medicine. It’s not too different from the kind you can buy at any apothecary, so the bottles are priced about the same. It may be cheaper to buy them from your local apothecary when you consider the transportation fees and such.”

“...” Oh, he seemed rather troubled.

“U-Um, Miss Angel, about the ones you had been selling at Balmore...” Latton looked at me as if I was playing dumb and holding out on the good stuff. Well...

“Excuse me, but who is this ‘Angel’ you’re referring to? And I don’t understand why you’re so fixated on a small shop like this...”

“What? Oh, no, there’s no need to hide it. We already know the details of what had transpired... The fact that you’ve been active as the Angel in Balmore, how you saved Baron Dorivell’s son, how you helped the house of Viscount Raphael, everything. Your black hair and black eyes are undeniable proof...”

There! That’s my cue!

“What? I’m not this Angel you’re talking about. I could even swear it to the Goddess herself.”

“Huh?” He looked at me, dumbfounded.

I guess it wasn’t too surprising, considering his conviction that I was the Angel and I had flatly denied it. But, for the record, I’d been denying that title ever since I had reincarnated in this world. They kept calling me that no matter how many times I denied it, so I gave up on actually trying to stop it, but I never claimed to be one myself. So this wasn’t actually a lie.

And to finish it off...

“Besides, I don’t have black hair and black eyes. My eyes may be dark, but they’re actually brown. See? Look carefully.” I brought my face closer to his, and he carefully stared into my eyes.

“...You’re right... Not only are they not black, they’re not even a black-brown. They’re more like hazel...” The merchant was dumbstruck.

I pressed on.

“And about my hair...” I grasped my wig and pulled it off my head.

“I wear this wig because I like the look. It’s not my real hair. As you can see, my natural hair color is brown...” Ah, he turned to stone.

“Wh-Wh-Wha...” He regained his composure a few seconds later and managed to stammer.

“Y-You tricked me!”

I most definitely did NOT.

“Tricked you? I had no idea what you were talking about from the beginning... I never once claimed to be this Angel you spoke of, and you all went on about who-knows-what without a proper explanation. I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on...”

The merchant finally seemed to realize he was at fault and grew quiet. Then...

“I-I’ll be leaving! Sorry for the trouble.” He gave a half-hearted apology and quickly retreated.

“Amazing, Kaoru! I could never hope to deceive and entrap people as expertly as you!” Francette said.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?!”

And so, things had been resolved for now.

...Next, I had to deal with the folks from the royal palace.

“May I speak to the shop owner, please!” The next person to come in wasn’t someone from the royal palace at all.

“M-Mariel? How did you...” It was Viscountess Mariel von Raphael, the owner of Carlos and current head of the Raphael household.

I had never told her my real name or identity, and I definitely hadn’t told her where I was staying. So, in Mariel’s mind, she should know me as the goddess who’s friends with Celestine, who had descended to the mortal realm just to help them...

There was no way she could know I was here.

Could it be a coincidence? Or maybe she had some other business here? But what could the head of a noble house want with a commoner’s little shop like this?

I stood there frozen and unable to understand the reason for her visit, and then...

“Excuse me, miss, is the shop owner here by any chance?”

Huh? My disguise isn’t that convincing, is it?

I mean, sure, I had changed my hair and eye color back then, but my chestnut hair turning black wasn’t something that would drastically change my appearance like blonde or silver hair did. My eyes had undergone a pretty big change from blue to hazel, but it wasn’t dramatic enough to turn me into a completely different person.

My skin was lighter, too, but getting a bit tan wouldn’t make me unrecognizable. Such minor changes couldn’t possibly be enough to make me seem like someone else...

I mean, when I ran into Francette the second time, I had silver hair and different colored eyes. Plus, she recognized me instantly, even though there was no way she was expecting to see a goddess walking around in town.

Wait a minute...

I made fists with both hands and stuck out my pointer fingers. Then I pressed a finger from each hand on the edges of my eyes and drooped them downward.

“Ah, Lady Goddess!”

I knew it! Damn it!

Afterward, I flipped the sign at the door to show that we were closed, then drew the curtains and moved upstairs. I had to hear Mariel out before anything else.

Francette, Belle, and Layette joined our meeting. Mariel was a young lady who had been raised in seclusion, so being around strange men might have made her nervous. The guys were probably in the room next door with their ears to the wall. The walls were paper-thin here, so you could hear everything.

Mariel was a viscountess, but she thought I was a goddess, and I didn’t feel like putting in the effort to speak all proper, so I decided to play it casually.

“I came to warn you! Merchants, from the capital!”

Yup, I knew that.

“Not only that, but some men who seem to be working for the royal palace have arrived!”

Yup, I knew that.

“And they seem to be looking for a girl with scary... eyes...”

Yup, I knew that too. Mariel carefully studied my face.

“...They were talking about you, Goddess...”

Yup.

In any case, there was one thing I wanted to know.

“How did you know I was here?”

Where was the leak? I had to track it down and plug it up. This was of the highest priority. I stared at Mariel, then...

“Oh, I asked my dogs.”

“Hwaa?” I couldn’t help but let out a pathetic noise.

“Um, my dogs, they told me... Goddess—”

“Wait, hold up! Can we stop with that Goddess thing? Who knows who might hear you, and if you get used to calling me that, you might let it slip at inconvenient times.”

“Ah...” It seemed she understood.

“Call me Kaoru...”

“Yes, of course!”

There was no point in going by Quaoru with Mariel. Besides, she’d probably hear Francette and the others call me Kaoru anyway.

According to Mariel, she had asked the dogs at her house if they knew where I was, and they led her to the place where I fed the dogs and crows, then tracked me to my location. The dogs told her they could have tracked my scent from the viscount’s manor, but this way was faster...

Damn, they had some fine noses. Guess that’s to be expected of dogs.

The shop was already closed by the time they had arrived, so she decided to go home and come back another day. And here we were.

“Ahhh! Now that you mention it, I forgot to tell the dogs and crows to keep their mouths shut! I mean, I didn’t expect that you’d end up being able to talk to animals, and who could’ve guessed they would spill the beans on my location?!” My original plan was to give Carlos the ability to speak human language. But Mariel requested to be able to speak to animals herself, so I ended up shifting gears to that instead.

I was convinced by Mariel’s reasoning that it would be much easier for her to support stray dogs and crows, and to help her keep her promise of helping them one time each when they were injured or sick. It was a sudden change in plans, so I hadn’t thought about all the implications...

Well, that was my bad. No point thinking about it now. There was still one important thing I needed to confirm.

“Mariel, could you have been followed on the way here?”

Mariel replied to my question with a serious expression.

“Nothing is absolute, so I can’t say the possibility is zero. However, I believe it’s very unlikely that anyone would have trailed me here...

“I snuck out of the manor through the back entrance in plain, unassuming clothing, stayed in a room at a shop that I had made arrangements with beforehand, then switched outfits with a maid I had staying there, who is of a height and hair color similar to me. I exited through the back door of that shop some time after that maid left.

“Then I repeated similar diversionary tactics two more times. Afterward, I slipped through crowded main streets quite aggressively, moving against the flow of foot traffic, and used other methods to throw off anyone who could have been pursuing me. Even someone who was highly experienced at trailing someone would likely have lost me.”

...Just who the heck are you, Mariel?!

She had taken maneuvers to throw off pursuers who may or may not have been there with expert execution.

“Well, if you went through all that, I think we should be fine this time. It might be risky if you keep doing it, though. Next time you want to contact me, have a maid who looks like a young underservant come buy something at my shop.”

“Y-Yes, of course.”

I couldn’t deny the possibility of someone who wanted connections with a goddess watching Mariel, in case she got in contact with me. And if she pulled the same trick a few times, it would become much easier for them to notice.

As soon as they found out she was trying to lose them, it’d be over. It would be admitting that she knew someone was trying to track her and she was deliberately trying to lose them, which would be a dead giveaway that she was hiding something.

If a professional realized this, we’d be left with few options. A professional who doesn’t mind putting the necessary manpower, effort, and funds into tracking someone down couldn’t be stopped by an amateur, no matter how hard she tried.

So, the important thing was to avoid suspicion in the first place. That was why she should use a young girl, a lesser servant, rather than a close, trusted subordinate. As long as we knew she wouldn’t betray us, all we needed her to do was deliver letters.

And I doubt there was anyone in this world who would betray the Goddess... Not anyone who knows about Celes’s past, anyway.

So, that’s that.

The rest of what Mariel told me was just as I had heard from the apothecary’s disciple, Taona. The house of Viscount Raphael never leaked anything, so there was no new information there.

Now, all I had to do was deal with the people from the palace...

“Shall I dispose of the palace’s men?”

Bffft! H-How did we get there?

“Sniffing around your business is blasphemy, Goddess. If you so desire, I can take care of it tonight...”

Hold up.

Wait, wait, wait.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!

What’s gotten into you, Mariel?!

“There’s no need to worry. Their actions told me they were working with the kingdom, but they were very deliberate in their word choice. They may be working under orders directly from someone around the royal palace, but those orders are from an individual operating independently rather than being official.

“So, if they did go missing and the incident was to be investigated, the fact that they were acting as though under official mandate and as if someone had directed them to do so would become quickly evident. Someone would very much be troubled by this going public, so they would likely make sure no one found out...”

Hm, she came to the same conclusion as Taona. They were both sharp girls, after all. Give them the same information to analyze and they get to the same destination...

Hold on, this solution is way scarier!

“When you say ‘dispose,’ do you mean you’re gonna ask those Black Ops people?”

Black Ops... A dark, illegal organization that had taken the lives of Mariel’s family.

“No, they’ve mostly been dismantled. The remaining few are currently being hunted down. The only ones left are the weak ones, so they’re all but powerless now.”

Huh?

“H-H-How...” I did understand why Mariel would hate the Black Ops for carrying out the murder of her parents. But this was an underground crime syndicate that even the count, who was the head of her parent house, hadn’t been able to do anything about. How did she pull it off...?

Mariel, your smile is scaring me...

Even Francette was getting weirded out. Could she be going the same route as Emile, Belle, and Francette?

“I used my army.”

“Huh?”

It couldn’t be. This wasn’t Viscount Raphael’s domain. It was their neighboring parent house’s territory, Count Maslias’s domain.

Viscount Maslias’s domain was rather small and contained no major cities, so even though their principal residence was located in the capital territory (however remote of an area it might be), they spent most of the year living in a villa in Count Maslias’s territory. Now was one of those times.

It was much more convenient to live in and do politics this way. According to her, their own domain was small enough to just leave it to her trusted retainers to handle.

Since they were neighboring territories, with their respective capitals located close to each other, she could go check on her own domain at any time while staying in the count’s domain, and a retainer or an emissary could come see her whenever an issue came up.

So, my point is...

There was no way she could mobilize her soldiers freely in a domain other than her own; particularly if it belonged to a parent house that outranked her. Even if she had notified him that she had no intention of raising a rebellion, there was no way that would fly. It was basically saying, “You don’t have the ability to take care of this issue yourself, so I’ll do it for you,” and then moving your army into their territory.

It would be one thing if a parent house did so to a house under them, but the other way around was unheard of. Besides, it didn’t seem possible for a viscount house’s army to take out the Black Ops so quickly when the count hadn’t been able to oppose them all this time.

Something didn’t add up. There was definitely something going on here.

...But I was too scared to ask for any further details.

I listened to Mariel for some time after, then we called it a day. She made a face like it was the end of the world when I told her not to come back in person, so as to stay inconspicuous about our making contact, but it couldn’t be helped. I thought I heard her make some dangerous comments about having to eliminate them all, but I decided not to think about it. It was better for my mental health not to. Besides, thinking about it wouldn’t have solved anything.

“Wh-What should we do, Kaoru...?” Francette asked after Mariel left, but the answer was obvious.

“Well, nothing.”

“Huh...?”

There was no need for me to do anything, really.

“I’m just a cute little girl who owns a shop. I have nothing to worry about, right?”

“...” Roland and Emile came over from the next room to join Francette and Belle.

Why are you all staring at me like that?! Layette’s the only one on my side here! Damn it...

“In any case, all those incidents have absolutely nothing to do with me. The Angel from Balmore has different-colored hair and eyes, and I don’t sell any potions. I’m just your run-of-the-mill general goods store owner with slightly non-standard business hours and products.”

“Y-Yes, but...” Francette didn’t sound convinced. She probably figured someone sent from the royal palace wouldn’t be fooled or back down so easily.

“Well, there’s some distance between here and the capital, so it should take at least several days for them to get back to the capital, make their report, figure out the next move, then come back here again.

“The information that actually gets to them will be incomplete or downright wrong, anyway, since they would only hear whatever the messengers tell them based on limited information and their own conjecture.

“And even if something does go down, we just have to get out of here before the message gets to the capital and they send someone here to make a move.

“If we travel along the coastline from here, we could easily cross the eastern border before any pursuers arrive. We have our horses and the chariot, after all.”

Thanks to the Item Box, it would only take a few minutes to pack everything in the shop. I’d give Ed and the horses a little boost with my potions, too. And by using the chariot and Item Box, I could throw off any pursuers by changing our setup from a group of five riders to a group consisting of a chariot with four riders to escort it. It was perfect!

“I’m glad I chose a city by the sea instead of the capital. Events that would take half a day in the capital take half a month to a whole month here, so I can really spread my wings.”

Having so much physical distance between us and those in power was a significant defensive advantage. Provincial cities like this one weren’t very densely populated, so business wasn’t as good, but I wasn’t concerned about that. The seafood here was nice and fresh with the sea being so close too.

Even with my Item Box’s ability to keep things in stasis, it was pointless if the food was already a day old at the time I bought it.

Now I just have to deal with the royal palace (or someone connected to them in some way)! Different hair and eye color, check! Black wig, check! And I told Francette not to come down until I called for her, no matter what. I made sure that she would stay in her room until I specifically called for her, even when I brought the guest upstairs. Okay, good! Ready to go!

“Is the owner here?!”

Here we go...

A normal customer wouldn’t say something like that upon entering a shop. That meant only one thing...

“Hm? Are you the shop owner?” He said it after staring right at my face.

This jerk thinks I have scary-looking eyes...!

Well, whatever.

But he was acting awfully haughty for someone who thought I was the Angel. Maybe he didn’t know? Or it could be that he’d heard about it but didn’t believe it. He probably thought it was some sort of mistake or even a scam. Either that, or just a little brat who was being put on a pedestal by gullible people.

I mean, if I really was an angel, I probably wouldn’t have left the country to run a dingy little shop in some other place. The higher-ups probably wouldn’t have let that pass. He probably assumed that was something I would do if I had been a fraud who fled the country in a hurry for fear of getting exposed. And the role of people like him was to filter out the facts, so they wouldn’t move into the next step until later. The only information they had at this point was probably just Mariel’s and the count’s reports.

Some merchants and people in positions of power who were quick to pick up on information may have heard about the Longevity Potion incident or the baron’s son, but that was about it. So the main target of this investigation was Mariel, and I was probably just a bonus that appeared on the radar when they arrived here.

Considering he got to me so much later than the merchants, maybe he wasn’t putting in too much effort... No, that couldn’t be right. They’d be in big trouble if they didn’t meet their boss’s expectations. It would be even worse if word got out that the merchants got to me first. The merchants were just more capable and more sensitive to information, was all.

Maybe he demanded information from the merchants and they sent him my way assuming I was a miss... Without mentioning that I wasn’t who they were looking for, of course.

Yeah, they probably left that part out so it technically wasn’t a full-on lie. That was just what merchants did. Even if they didn’t lie, it didn’t mean they were being honest.

This was a group of three consisting of a self-important bureaucrat type and two of his subordinates. The subordinates didn’t seem like fighters. Maybe they were just attendants and there to keep in contact with the capital? Either way, it looked like I would just be dealing with the main guy.

“Yes, I am the owner.” I only answered the specific question that was asked. There was no need for me to offer more information than needed. These weren’t my guests. I had no obligation to provide them with any information for free. Particularly when such information could be used against me.

It takes proper skill and compensation to get good information out of someone, but it didn’t seem like this guy understood that. He probably thought I’d tell him anything he wanted if he just raised his voice and barked orders at me.

“What is your name?”

“My mother always told me not to give my name out to strangers...”

“Huh?” The bureaucrat-looking guy looked dumbfounded. ...I’ll just refer to him as Bureaucrat.

My words finally seemed to register, and his face turned red as he began to shout.

“Y-You! Do you know who I am?!”

“No, I don’t. All I know is you barged in here without so much as introducing yourself, demanded I give up some personal information, then started yelling and trying to intimidate me.” I then rang the handbell on the counter.

thud thud thud thud thud thud thud!

“Is it a robber? It must be a robber. It’s a robber!!!”

“Wh-Wha...”

Emile shouted as he came running down the stairs, Belle following closely behind him.

Bureaucrat and his subordinates had a look of panic as they heard the two rushing down. Emile had shouted at the top of his lungs, so his voice carried outside the shop, attracting a crowd around the building.

Yeah, my response was going to change based on how they acted. That went without saying. That was why I had prepared several patterns for Emile’s response based on how I rang the bell. This one told him to treat them like robbers and make a scene.

It was mainly me and Layette watching the shop, so the locals thought I was a hard-working kid taking care of my little sister and treated us well. Apparently, they thought Emile and Belle were my brother and his lover, who contributed to the family’s finances by doing hunter work and helping around the shop.

As for Francette and Roland, they were seen as parasites who just wandered around doing nothing, leeching off the children’s earnings. Since no one had seen them working, covering at the shop, or going out on errands, they looked like a couple of bums. They didn’t work as hunters despite their fancy-looking equipment, and they didn’t even hold the bags for the children when they went shopping together. They just went along on the walk for the sake of walking.

Supposedly, their good looks made their scumminess stand out all the more... Not too great of a reputation. Though, the duo in question had no idea that others saw them that way. Not to mention, they were pretty popular among those other than the locals here, like store employees and people they met on the street...

I mean, they didn’t help carry things because they had to have both hands free, so they could draw their swords immediately in the event of an ambush. I couldn’t really blame them for that...

But other than that, whenever we all went out to eat, Francette ate several times more than a normal adult woman, and Roland was an ex-prince, so he’d order expensive things without so much as a second glance.

...And I’m the one who pays.

Well, it’d be a pain for the staff to have us pay separately, and I wasn’t confident in Roland’s ability to handle money on his own anyway, considering he had never paid for anything himself before going on this journey. Roland and Francette didn’t want to have me pay for all of their living expenses, of course, so they did reimburse me in gold coins every week.

But since the locals didn’t know about any of this, they only saw that the kids were the only ones working, and that Layette and I didn’t eat much. Besides, Emile, Belle, Layette, and I were used to being poor, so we always picked the affordable options at eateries and stores. Unlike Roland and Francette, who didn’t even look at prices... It was no wonder people had such bad impressions of them.

Although Francette was born a commoner, she was now a noble and tried not to embarrass her country or Roland by not acting the part, so she ordered the same things as Roland, making her seem like a frivolous spender.

Plus, whenever Layette and I went out, it was for stocking products, buying food at the market, and showing up at the Commerce Guild, while Emile and Belle went out to the Hunter’s Guild. Meanwhile, Roland and Francette went out to fancy restaurants and taverns where rich folks hung out.

It wasn’t like the brother of a king could escort his aristocrat fiancée to a cheap restaurant or tavern. Besides, if those two went to such a place, someone would try to start something with them.

...But, oh well. There was nothing I could do about it.

If they were happy and didn’t notice what was going on, I was fine with it. Don’t fret over the small stuff! So, in any case, if Layette, Emile, Belle, or I found ourselves in danger, the neighbors would come flying in to help us. ...Like they were now.

“What the hell are you doing?! Hey, someone call the guards!” A crowd had gathered around the door, some of them marching into the shop to shout at Bureaucrat’s crew.

They hadn’t actually laid a hand on me and looked fairly respectable in appearance, so the locals didn’t come in swinging or hold them down by force, but tensions were running pretty high. The people here seemed to think I was only twelve years old or so, and Layette, who was sitting on my lap, was actually only six. It seemed the locals considered me to be one of them, considering they went at Bureaucrat’s group with so much aggression despite him obviously holding some position of power. It was pretty touching...

“Wait! This isn’t what you think! We are emissaries on a mission from the capital!” They could have spouted some parting remark and fled, but if they had, they wouldn’t have been able to come back. Such an exit would mean guaranteed trouble the next time one of the locals saw them, and it would have been over for them if I screamed the next time they returned.

So, in order for them to have a discussion with me, they had to dispel any misunderstandings here and now. They desperately tried to get a word in, but I wasn’t letting them off so easily.

“Oh? Is an emissary’s job to barge into a shop and suddenly start shouting demands without even naming yourself or explaining what you’re here for?”

“Huh...?”

“And whose orders are you here on, anyway? What exactly did they tell you to do, and were you instructed to bully children without stating your own name or position? I have nothing to say to you unless you give us the name of your employer.”

“Uh...”

“...”

He couldn’t just reveal the person who had given him his orders in front of such a big crowd. They had probably made a move in the hope of getting ahead of other authority figures and people related to the royal palace, and it would be hard to give out a name after I had called him out on his aggressive behavior and lack of common sense.

And he didn’t seem to realize it, but I was deliberately phrasing things in a way that would make people get the wrong idea about his intentions. It wasn’t a lie, though.

This man knew his own objective, of course, so he realized my comments were related. But from the perspective of someone who didn’t know what we were talking about...

“You’ve got some nerve, trying to put your hands on a child... And your boss is a criminal, hiring a bunch of thugs to kidnap someone! Who the hell gave you your orders?! Spit it out, or else...” These men were just an emissary and his attendants, and the two subordinates weren’t necessarily his guards or anything. In other words, they were gonna be useless in a fight.

They were outnumbered by the locals, some of which looked pretty tough. Not to mention they were against Emile, who was armed with a sword, and Belle, who had a dagger.

Good, they looked troubled...

“You’ve been claiming you came from the capital and that you’re emissaries, but it’s possible that you were sent by a crime boss from the capital to kidnap some kids. It’s completely pointless and doesn’t put my mind at ease at all when you just tell us you’re an emissary from the capital without giving us your employer’s name or why you’re here. We don’t even know if what you say is true...”

“Wha...” Bureaucrat stumbled over his words for a moment; then, just as he prepared to yell at me again, he noticed the look from Emile, the younger man gripping the hilt of his weapon, as well as the glares from the locals, and shut his mouth.

“In any case, I’ve never been to the capital, I have no family there, and I don’t know anyone from there who might have any business with me. The only possibility I can think of is that some scoundrel noticed me and decided to kidnap me, or enslave me, or try to threaten me and take my shop by force.”

“Wh-What are you...” His eyes widened at my words. But I wasn’t saying anything outrageous or anything. The looks in the locals’ eyes were getting pretty scary now...

Then, as this went on...

“Hey, I brought an officer!” One of the local guys brought over a local law enforcement type who seemed to be in his mid-twenties.

Though, this wasn’t the capital, so this wasn’t some powerful elite soldier. He was just an average low-ranking guy who might have trained a bit. At the same time, he was a resident of the city and he knew everyone.

...In other words, he would prioritize protecting someone who lived here over the desires of strangers. Especially when we’re talking about a trio of strangers who were displaying inexcusable behavior and threatening some (seemingly) underage girls.

“So you’re the maggots who banded together and barged into the shop to threaten some children?!”

Whoa, he really hit the ground running there!

I noticed the officer glancing to one side, then saw that he was looking at a girl in the crowd who seemed to be seventeen or eighteen years old. Aha... So he was plotting to show off for that young girl.

Well, it was more convenient for me the more dramatic he got with it.

“Wh-What are you saying? I am here from the capital...”

“That’s all he’s been saying this whole time, refusing to give us his name, his employer’s name, or why he’s here. He doesn’t even know my name, either. That leaves only one explanation...”

They really hadn’t given any names yet. He should have just said his and his employer’s name, along with why he was here, but he underestimated me because I was a little girl and decided to start shouting and demanding answers.

He would have a hard time giving those names out in front of this crowd and officer now. If he did, rumors would spread like wildfire. So the more authority his employer had, the harder it would be to name him now. He’d have to be taken into custody by the officer, then prove his innocence by giving out the names where no one else was around. ...If he could prove it, that is.

“Y-You...” Bureaucrat gave me a death glare, then turned to the officer and spoke. “I am here on orders from the royal palace. Do you realize what will happen if you defy me?!”

The officer looked unfazed.

“...Do you have any way to prove your claim?”

“These two will testify!” With that, he pointed at his two companions.

But the officer just shrugged in response.

“...And do you have proof that they’re associated with the royal palace?”

“Huh...?”

I mean, he should have expected that...

“Argh, do you understand the consequences you will face later?!”

“Well, if I let some criminal go just because he claimed to have a position of authority without any proof, I’d get fired. And even if you really are someone of high standing, I would only get praised for arresting you at the scene of the crime, not reprimanded. This city isn’t so rotten that we let criminals go just because they hold positions of power.”

“What...?”

Whoa, the people here actually had morals! Though, the crimes he spoke of were just threatening me and attempting to make me do as he demanded. It may have just been an argument between a customer and worker if I had been male, but since I was a woman...or rather, since I looked like an underage girl...the phrasing from that earlier conversation made it sound like he had tried to commit a much more serious crime.

I mean, he did try to make me tell him things by force and take me to the capital, so it wasn’t entirely wrong.

In any case, enjoy your visit to the station! Since it was only a failed attempt and he seemed to hold some position of authority, he’d probably just end up getting scolded by the officer and his superiors.

I doubted he would get thrown in jail when he hadn’t actually laid hands on me. Maybe he’d get a warning to stay away from me from now on.

Oh, I know!

“Excuse me, can you have him come closer to me?”

“Hm? Oh, sure...” With that, the officer cautiously told Bureaucrat’s group to walk closer to me.

“Can you look into my eyes?”

“Huh? O-Okay then...” With that, Bureaucrat moved his face closer to mine.

“Th-They’re hazel...” He looked dumbfounded. So he did think I had black hair and black eyes. Naturally, that also meant he knew about the Angel.

“And...” I lifted the wig off of my head.

“B-Brown hair?!”

There, that should have nailed the idea that I wasn’t the so-called Angel of Balmore into his head. ...Though, I never actually claimed such a title at all.

He must have heard from that loose-lipped apothecary. Or maybe he heard about the Viscount Raphael incident and followed the trail from their stable. It was even possible that he heard it from those other merchants from the capital.

Whatever the case, I was just a clerk at this small-time shop who had no connection to the Angel of Balmore, the Raphael household, or the miracle at Baron Dorivell’s house. He should have believed that at this point.

And for the final blow...

“Oh, wait, did you get duped by someone like those merchants? They kept going on about black hair and black eyes, so I showed them my real eye and hair color, and they left immediately. That’s why I just showed you the same thing.”

“Wha...”

There! Mission accomplished! There was now no doubting that I was completely unrelated to those incidents, and I just happened to sell some herbs to that geezer. I had nothing to do with Viscount Raphael’s household, and I didn’t know any Baron Dorivell.

What’s that? The stable? There weren’t many pastures in the suburbs with stables that also took care of horses. I just so happened to leave my horses at House Raphael’s stables by coincidence.

...I mean, that was true.

If anyone looked into the time when I arrived at the city and left Ed and the others at the stables, it would be clear that we had no prior relation. Besides, there was no reason for me to leave my horses at the same stables and risk getting unwanted attention.

Bureaucrat and his entourage should refrain from showing their faces here now. If they did, they’d get thrown in jail for sure.

And since there was no way he could tell his employer that he had failed to get in contact with me, give me his employer’s name, or explain what he wanted with me because of his arrogant attitude, all of this wouldn’t be included in his report.

He probably knew about the Angel of Balmore already but found out about me after he had arrived in this city. Since I was just something that came up along the way of his investigation, or maybe he had heard about me from the merchants, there was no need to report on me at all.

Plus, I was sure he thought of me as an annoying brat who only brought trouble.

...And so, Bureaucrat and his crew were taken away by the officer.

There, it was all taken care of.

My peaceful, leisurely life would come back again, starting tomorrow. Good, good...

The day after I had successfully fended off the group from the capital... After finishing my morning work, I had left to go to the market. On the way there, since I was already out and about, I took a slight detour to Mariel’s place, House Raphael’s estate in Viscountess Mariel’s domain.

I just felt like it, no particular reason. The chances of her being outside and us seeing each other were pretty much none. It wasn’t like a viscountess would be tending to her garden or sweeping the front of the gate by herself.

Huh? Is that...

When I turned the corner and the manor came into play, I noticed something next to the gate...

A dog? Two dogs sat there, one on each side, like guardians of the gate. And similarly, two hawks perched atop the pillars on either side, as well as two pigeons beside them.

Yeah, it might not be a good look if they were crows... Wait, that’s not the issue here!

“Oh, is this your first time here? That’s the manor of the noble lady Viscountess Raphael, who has received the blessing of the Goddess. That’s why those dogs and birds, which are servants of the Goddess, are protecting it.”

An old man passing by explained this all to me as I stood there, mouth agape.

“Whaaat...”

I thought the deal was that she would help them once in case they got injured or sick...

And why were there birds other than crows, ones that had nothing to do with that incident...?

I understood the first half of what the old man was saying. After that whole show we put on in front of such a crowd, it only made sense.

But what was with the latter half?! How did this happen...?

“That’s why we all call her... the Bitch Viscountess.”

“Whaaaaaat?!” That sounds incredibly offensive...

At least I thought so for a second. But come to think of it, the terms for genders used in people and animals were the same. They both used “female.”

So the title was meant to mean “the viscount protected by dog servants,” which was shortened to “Dog Viscount,” and since she was a woman, or in other words, a viscountess, they just added “lady” to make it “Lady Dog Viscountess.”

The auto-translation function in my brain just recognized “female dog” as “bitch” since the words were arranged that way.

...Why wouldn’t it be “the Viscountess of Dogs” or something?! Well, I guess that made it sound like she was a dog herself, so it wasn’t much different...”

“Oh, there’ve been orders to stop using that nickname,” a young man who happened to be walking by said after overhearing our conversation.

Yeah, that made sense. That name was a bit much...

“We all call her the Bird Aristocrat now.” They couldn’t think of anything better...?

I approached the gate after the two men left.

“Hey, why are you here?” I asked in a whisper...to the dog.

“Ah, Lady Goddess! Thank you so much for introducing me to such a fine job. Since that incident, I’ve been employed by Lady Mariel for other matters. Many of my friends are now serving her. Watching the gates in shifts, lying about the building and keeping an eye out for intruders.

“And it hasn’t occurred as of late, but there are times when we are summoned to handle some...rougher matters.”

“The attack on the Black Ops!!!” The mystery was solved. So that’s what happened...

“What about the crows?”

“The crows were, um, rather intimidating, so they’re working behind the scenes. The new hires are more visually appealing, so they’re usually given the more public roles.”

“I...I see. I’m happy that you got a nice job. Well, see you around...”

“Yes, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask. We will come to your aid at any time!”

...Mariel was more capable than I thought. And she was pretty crafty...

Though, since the Black Ops were the ones who killed her parents and brother for money, she had a vendetta against them alongside the one with her uncle Aragorn. And they were a crime ring that had been giving Count Maslias, who she owed a lot to, quite a bit of trouble. Now that Mariel had power, there was no reason for her to hold back.

Even if it was the power of gods or demons...

“...So you’re saying you came back with no results?”

“...Yes, Your Majesty.”

The king was clearly in a bad mood. The emissary he had sent to that viscountess had finally returned, but with absolutely nothing to show for it. It was no wonder the king was displeased.

“I did go to the household of the viscountess... I had assumed she would easily be pressured into spilling secrets and signing a contract favorable to us if I gave her your name, Your Majesty, but Count Maslias, of her parent house, was in attendance, as well...”

“And you failed to get her to speak about the Goddess, her messenger, or anything else, and she refused to come to the capital out of respect for me or come under my patronage?”

“Indeed. Each time I brought up the matter, the count interjected that it would be cruel to have an underage child go to the capital now, after she had lost her family so recently and was still in distress from the incident with her uncle. He insisted this was an important time for her, as the new viscountess, and that she must focus on tending to her domain...

“And when I brought up bringing her under your patronage, he claimed that was his role as the head of her parent house. With Your Majesty being in the capital so far away, you would not be able to provide support in a timely manner if something were to happen to her...

“I thought that forcing her to attend the royal court against her will and that of her parent house, while she is already in another noble house’s faction, could have caused a major issue...”

“And she had been told by the Goddess not to talk to anyone about her, so she refused to speak on the matter... But you must have learned something by threatening or bribing her servants. What did they tell you?”

“W-Well, Your Majesty, none of them agreed to speak a single word... I did hint at their own lives and their family’s lives being in danger, but...”

“What happened?”

“They said to do as I pleased. Then they smiled an uncanny smile...

Their expressions told me that, if I did anything, I would incur the wrath of the Goddess and die for sure. There was such certainty in their faces...”

“...”

Come to think of it, there was no way they would betray anyone who was loved by the Goddess. And the goddess in question was the infamous Celestine. Although benevolent, she wasn’t exactly meticulous and didn’t care too much about the lives of individual humans. What disaster would result from betraying the human that this Goddess had taken a liking to...?

Not to mention, this was the wise, delicate, fourteen-year-old noble girl who was kind to commoners. It was hard to believe anyone would double-cross her.

...It appeared the plan had ended in failure. The king understood this well.

A young, unmarried, aristocrat girl who was blessed by the Goddess. No one was so foolish that they couldn’t see her value. Naturally, her parent house and those of her faction would refuse to let her go.

He had to get her to come to the capital for a courtesy call so he could make an agreement with her directly, before the leader of her faction made a move. And he had to handle this all quite properly.

Although his authority was limited compared to other kingdoms, he was still a king. It wasn’t impossible for him to use his influence as king to get a lower-class noble, and an underage girl at that, to make an agreement that was favorable to him. And once an official contract was made, it would be too late for her parent house or faction leader to do anything about it. After all, this would be an official agreement between the head of a noble house and the king.

However, his attempt to have his emissary contact her in private was blocked by the count, who was the head of her parent house. His efforts had ended in vain.

That sneaky approach wouldn’t work anymore.

In fact, Count Maslias had already taught her all about this tactic, so it was unlikely that she would agree to such invitations or contracts.

He had no choice but to approach her as a good, kind king. And if he could foist one of his sons on her...

But using a good-looking young man as bait was an obvious tactic, used by aristocrats who had sons who were of age. If the viscountess came to the capital, he could...

The king’s head hurt just thinking about it.

“Well, her faction leader may get a bit carried away, but the other factions should band together to keep him in check. At least, I hope so...”

It appeared there would be many ordeals to come for Mariel. Ordeals that Kaoru would be jealous of, if she were to hear about them...

Though, Kaoru had claimed that she would refuse any man who wanted her just for her position as the Angel or for her potions. So, perhaps Mariel wouldn’t be shrieking with joy, but instead raising her voice for a legitimate cry for help.

And the day Mariel would have no choice but to go to the capital wasn’t too far in the future...