The moment I opened the door, what came into view was a suspicious man pointing a dagger at Aileen.
“What—”
Before I could finish speaking, the man looked my way and clicked his tongue. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he swung the dagger.
“Eek!”
Aileen reflexively dodged. The tip of the dagger sliced through empty air.
She was quickly driven into the corner of the room, and the man rushed in again without pause.
In that instant, I reached out on reflex. Mana condensed at my fingertips.
[Water Bullet]
With a brief compression, a lump of water shot out and struck the man squarely in the shoulder.
“Urgh!”
The man groaned and slammed into the wall.
Seizing that chance, Aileen staggered and ran toward me.
I hurriedly wrapped my arms around her as if pulling her into an embrace and stepped back.
The man glared at us through clenched teeth, then spat out a low curse.
“Damn it… No one said anything about a mage…”
Then, clutching his shoulder, he quickly ran to the window and threw himself out.
Thud. From below the window came a heavy sound, followed by the startled screams of passersby.
Instinctively, I thought about chasing after him, but once I saw the height outside the window, I gave up.
If I jumped down with this body, I’d probably just break a bone.
“Haa…”
Beside me, Aileen clutched my sleeve with trembling hands.
I slowly steadied my breath and looked down at her.
“Lord Liv… thank you…”
At her trembling voice, I gave a short nod.
“Are you all right? You’re not hurt anywhere?”
Aileen shook her head, moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes.
For a while, neither of us spoke. We simply stood there in the room, breathing in silence.
…Who was he? Why was he after Aileen?
He had been too persistent for a simple robber, and in his last words, he had said, “No one said anything about a mage.”
Someone had clearly put him up to this.
Uneasy thoughts stirred in my mind.
I think I’ve gotten myself tangled up in something troublesome.
For no particular reason, I glanced around the room once, then spoke gently to Aileen.
“Lock your door securely when you sleep tonight.”
Aileen nodded silently.
And so, still unable to relax our tension, we faced the late night.
This… wasn’t something that could simply be brushed aside.
An assassin targeting Aileen, someone who had commissioned him, and the circumstances surrounding her.
“When I wake up tomorrow, I’ll have to talk more with Aileen.”
I made that resolve as I lay down on the bed.
From here on, this might no longer be a simple search request.
***
“Do you really not know?”
The next morning, as I sat beside Aileen and ate with her in the inn’s dining hall, I asked cautiously.
This was something I clearly had to confirm before moving on.
We hadn’t even drawn up a contract, and if this matter was too dangerous… if necessary, I had to consider backing out.
After hearing my words, Aileen’s hand trembled slightly as she raised her spoon. She hesitated for a while before finally letting out a small sigh and opening her mouth.
“Well, the truth is…”
As I listened to her story, I stopped tearing apart the bread in front of me and quietly lent her my ear.
…To be honest, it was an extremely troublesome story.
Aileen had apparently grown up under her mother, who worked as a maid in a baron’s household.
Her mother had cherished and raised her while she learned household work inside the castle, but one day, an incident occurred.
The baron’s two sons suddenly died in accidents, and strange rumors began to spread.
The rumor was none other than that Aileen was an illegitimate child born between the baron and a maid.
Not long after that rumor spread, Aileen’s mother lost her life in a mysterious accident.
And from that point on, all sorts of misfortunes began to befall Aileen as well.
In the end, with the help of a knight who worked for the baron’s family, “Sir Chad,” she had barely managed to escape the castle.
To put it in one sentence, she had been dragged into a succession struggle within a noble family.
…Ah, no wonder she said she’d pay generously when she first made the request.
I took a moment to catch my breath and asked,
“Do… illegitimate children receive succession rights?”
Aileen carefully glanced around before speaking in a low voice.
“From what I heard… after the second young master passed away, the baron’s health became critical.”
Aha. In other words, he’d become physically incapable of producing another heir.
Then it might be entirely possible for the succession rights to fall to Aileen.
Since I wasn’t from here, I didn’t know the details either.
I tapped my fingers as I sorted things out.
“Then the one currently targeting you, Miss Aileen, is…”
“…Lady Catalina.”
Lady Catalina… From the circumstances, she must be the lawful wife.
When Aileen said those words, a faint trace of killing intent flickered through her eyes for an instant.
She had said her mother died in a “mysterious accident,” but it seemed the target of her revenge had already been clearly decided.
I crossed my arms and sank into thought for a moment.
“Are we going to be harassed by the risk of assassination throughout the entire request?”
At those words, Aileen quickly lowered her head and spoke quietly.
“…I’m sorry.”
Her small, hunched shoulders looked pitiful.
She must know full well that because of her circumstances, my companions and I could be put in danger.
To be honest, taking on this sort of risk for one silver coin felt like a loss…
I was overcome with hesitation over whether I should continue taking responsibility for this.
I tilted my head slightly and asked,
“Do you perhaps have a plan for what comes next? For example, whether you intend to take revenge, or simply run away and live quietly.”
At my words, Aileen blinked as if slightly surprised. Then she looked around and whispered in an extremely small voice.
“…I want revenge.”
I raised my eyebrows slightly.
It was an unexpected answer.
“Then… the person you’re looking for in the city is perhaps…?”
Aileen smiled very faintly and nodded.
“Yes. Someone Sir Chad told me about… someone trustworthy.”
Aileen nodded as she spoke, but a corner of my mind still felt uneasy.
Had he introduced someone she could entrust with her protection?
That must mean the situation was that dangerous.
I took a moment to organize my thoughts and bit off a large piece of bread.
…A noble feud, huh. What a headache.
“Then how do you intend to take revenge?”
This was the most important part.
Surely she wasn’t planning to storm the castle and start swinging a sword right away.
“…”
Instead of answering, Aileen stared at me silently for a while.
In that instant, a strange unease rose within me. Don’t tell me she really intends to push through with force?
Or… is it simply difficult for her to say?
I could understand if she couldn’t easily reveal her plan for revenge to an outsider like me.
After staring straight at me, Aileen asked in a very quiet voice,
“Could you… help me?”
What should I do?
Since this was a request Old Man Brigan had entrusted to me, I had fulfilled my responsibility to some extent, but was there any need to get involved beyond that?
Perhaps I looked as if I might refuse at any moment, because Aileen hurriedly added,
“To be honest, I have nothing I can give you right now. But… if I inherit the title, I will absolutely make sure you are properly rewarded.”
Her face was filled with conviction.
So she wasn’t aiming only for revenge, but ultimately for succession as well.
I had felt this the last time I saw her too, but though she was reckless, she was certainly a woman with resolve.
And so, my answer was…
“I’ll help you.”
I chose to help Aileen.
!!
As if she hadn’t expected me to accept, Aileen’s sharp eyes widened round with surprise.
“R-Really? You mean it, right?”
Seeing Aileen repeatedly confirm it showed just how shocked she was.
Suddenly, I remembered the child who had lived with me in the orphanage in my past life.
A child smaller than me, quieter than me, who cried secretly at night.
The face that smiled in the morning as if nothing had happened overlapped with Aileen’s now.
…Was that why?
I couldn’t just leave her behind.
But that didn’t mean I intended to get dragged into a noble power struggle myself.
“Let’s go together. It’ll be better than being alone.”
Her eyes widened.
“Really? Thank you… truly…”
“But,”
I turned my head and looked at her.
“I’m only saying I’ll stay with you while the situation is dangerous like this. If it becomes too dangerous, or on the other hand, if you become safe enough… then we’ll each go our own way.”
In other words, it was more or less a fixed-term escort request.
And the conditions were even far more favorable to me.
A contract I could break at any time, whenever I judged it too dangerous.
Even so, Aileen silently nodded.
Her gaze wavered slightly, but in the end, she said nothing… She only smiled faintly, as if grateful.
A corner of my heart felt oddly uncomfortable, but…
Right. This much should be fine.
No matter how noble they were, they wouldn’t be able to act directly in something like this.
“First, I think I need to hear the concrete plan.”
When I said that, Aileen’s expression stiffened somewhat.
Don’t tell me…?
“Actually… I haven’t settled everything yet either.”
Needlessly honest, aren’t you? Should I say we should go our separate ways even now?
I pressed my temple firmly with one hand.
Well, since I’d already opened my mouth, I probably couldn’t back out now.
Perhaps she was embarrassed too, because she chose her words for a moment before continuing quietly.
“First of all, we need to find out what weaknesses the other side has. There may be documents or evidence left behind that can prove they targeted me.”
“Evidence?”
“Yes. We have to secure that before we can counterattack. In noble society, drawing swords is only the last resort anyway.”
…Of course.
This wasn’t a simple fight where people just killed and were killed.
This was an intelligence war, a battle fought with justification.
“Doesn’t the fact that I was targeted by that guy yesterday count as evidence?”
“It does, but we’d have to capture him and make him confess. On the surface, he’s nothing more than a mere robber.”
“Then what we need right now is to find that man from yesterday.”
“That’s right. It’s something I can’t do alone… so may I ask you to help?”
I closed my eyes for a moment.
I ran the calculations in my head.
Danger, reward, possibility.
…In the end, there was only one conclusion I could reach.
I’ve already come this far. It’s too late to turn back now.
I opened my eyes and smiled faintly.
“Understood. But don’t forget that dangerous work requires compensation to match.”
Relief spread across Aileen’s face.
“Of course.”
…A noble feud, sinister politics, tracking down an assassin.
I had taken on a request of a completely different kind from anything before.
Would I be able to finish this one safely too?
***
After finishing our meal, we left the inn.
I briefly considered leaving Aileen at the inn, but in the end, I chose to bring her with me.
Until we found the person she had been introduced to, I had to protect her.
If she was in danger no matter where she was, it would be better to keep her in front of me and guard her.
Our destination was the commercial district.
For now, I decided to get the equipment that had been my original goal.
Time was on our side anyway.
Their objective was Aileen’s life, and in effect, all we had to do was keep her alive.
To put it coldly, if time passed and the baron said to be in critical condition died, victory would naturally fall to us.
Of course, whether she, an illegitimate child, could be recognized as the head of the baron’s family was a separate matter.
That was something she had to resolve on her own; I couldn’t solve everything for her.
Mondark’s marketplace, which I hadn’t visited in a while, was still overflowing with vitality.
The voices of merchants filled every corner of the streets, and people bustled about, looking at all sorts of goods.
I casually asked Aileen, who had pulled her robe low over her head.
“Have you ever been to a place like this?”
Aileen shook her head slightly and answered in a small voice.
“No. I mostly stayed inside the castle, so… this is my first time.”
That was unexpected. Even if she had lived in the castle, I thought she would have come here at least once.
Was noble culture in this world originally like this, or had Aileen’s mother tried hard to protect her daughter?
I glanced sideways at Aileen as she looked around curiously at this and that.
At the sight of her with no sense of caution whatsoever, a small sigh escaped me without my realizing it.
“At this rate, I’m the one who looks like the target.”
Following her as she wandered here and there made me feel as if I had become some kind of bodyguard.
“What did you come out to buy?”
After looking around on her own for a long while, Aileen finally asked me.
“We’re out of preserved food, so I need to restock, and I need to get some additional equipment too.”
“Ah, equipment…”
As soon as she heard that, Aileen immediately turned her gaze toward the equipment shops.
It was nice that she was watching so intently, but I wasn’t sure what she could judge by looking at them.
Honestly, that sort of thing required experience.
While I was thinking that, I noticed Aileen, who had been walking ahead, had stopped at some point, so I halted as well.
She was staring at a street stall.
It was a stall selling thin bread generously spread with mashed fruit.
Aileen stared at it for a long while, her eyes shining slightly.
“It’s delicious. Buy one!”
At the lively recommendation of the stall owner, Aileen rummaged through her pocket as if possessed, only to soon look dejected.
There was almost no jingling sound of coins from inside her pocket.
Was she out of money?
I naturally stepped up to the stall and held out a copper coin.
“Here. Two, please.”
“Oh my, thank you! I’ll prepare them right away!”
Aileen looked at my face in surprise.
“Ah, no, I was going to buy it…!”
“It’s fine. You can buy it next time.”
I smiled and nodded.
A little while later, I received two warm breads along with the change.
The fresh scent of fruit tickled the tip of my nose.
Crunch.
Aileen held it in her hands and took a bite, then her face brightened as she smiled.
“It’s delicious…!”
Looking at her smiling face, I took a bite as well.
Right, everything we do is so we can eat and live, isn’t it?
To be honest, the bread I ate that day wasn’t very good.
Only the coarse smell of grain filled my mouth, and the fruit spread on top was far too sour.
“I want a waffle piled high with whipped cream…”
Letting out a sigh inwardly, I took another bite.
After all, in this place, this was probably one of the more edible snacks.