Chapter 27

"Is your waist alright?"

"It feels like my hip bones are breaking. Is this right?"

Having successfully purchased horses, they each chose their mount.

Arndt preferred to wake the sleeping horse rather than get bitten by the one with a bad temper,

And Leandros said it didn't matter to him either way.

In the end, he and Leandros ended up riding the sturdier black horse.

"You're riding well."

"No, I'm telling you it feels like my hips are breaking. It feels like my lower body has disappeared."

"At least you're not climbing onto the horse with both hands and feet like you used to."

Arenheit, what kind of person were you?

They had ridden quite far beyond Absinthe.

It seemed like they had been riding continuously, except for occasional stops to eat.

He had been the one who suggested they do so.

It was certainly a grueling schedule.

"At this rate, how many days will it take to reach the capital?"

"About six days."

"It would be nice if we had a better map."

"This is sufficient for now."

"But we could get there faster."

"There's no need to think hastily. We have plenty of time ahead."

No, there might not be much time left.

It felt like the day Yurik would come to cut off his head was drawing closer.

He swallowed the words he was about to say.

"Looking at you two doesn't ease my mind."

"...Us?"

"Arndt and you, Sir. I want to provide good meals and good beds for you even a second sooner. Is that just my selfishness?"

In his hand was a water canteen Arndt had given him.

They had stopped for a brief rest and were sitting under the shade of a large tree by the roadside.

Arndt was in the distance, feeding grass to their stubborn horse, trying to wake it up.

Pointing at Arndt, who was struggling with the drowsy horse, he continued.

"Normally, couldn't you have been well-treated within the ducal family? Arndt is smart and kind. Plus, he treats me well."

"Perhaps so."

"The same goes for you, Sir. Even if my mother gave you to me, you wouldn't have had to struggle so much just to buy a single horse, like now."

"Is that so."

Leandros watched with him as Arndt tumbled on the grass and then jumped back up.

"As long as Your Grace is safe, I'm fine with any circumstances."

"Just as long as I stay alive?"

"That's not what I meant. Things might feel uncertain now, but in some ways, things have definitely changed."

A moment of silence followed.

"The assassination attempts have decreased too."

"...Assassination? Against me? I've been experiencing that?"

"Yes."

"Even though I'm alive?"

"Of course."

You didn't tell me about this!

Leandros looked at him as if to say, why are you bringing this up now?

Wait, if there were assassination attempts, from whom? Since when? More importantly, who thwarted them?

Don't think stupid thoughts.

...Obviously, it would be Leandros.

Who else here knows how to use a sword!

"I... completely forgot about that until now."

"The late Duchess would have been concerned about such matters as well."

"Do you know who sent them?"

"In the past, I would have dug into it, but now it doesn't seem necessary to know."

"No, that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

He sounded downright annoyed.

He kept wracking his brain, not knowing what was so obvious.

Ah. Really, who is it?

"But as I mentioned earlier, the frequency has decreased significantly."

Leandros tried to reassure him, seeing his face darken rapidly.

But it was already too late.

There were too many things in this world aiming for his life...

Damn it. What should he do?

"Nothing can be done."

"Pardon?"

Given the situation, he would aim to just not die at Yurik's hands.

Dying by an assassin was unavoidable.

He only hoped not to die painfully.

Dying at Yurik's hands was a different issue altogether.

Is it even human to think about dismembering someone and scattering their parts across the country?

"Your Grace?"

"It's nothing. I was just thinking about something else. Shall we go soon? Time is tight if we want to reach the capital."

The thought of Yurik put him in a bad mood.

Leandros seemed puzzled by his sudden rise but didn't show it.

The black horse tied nearby was standing obediently in place, waiting for them.

It did shake its body in dislike when Leandros untied the reins.

But as soon as he reached out his hand to touch its face, it quickly became docile.

"Is this considered stubborn for a horse?"

"I don't think so."

"Then maybe all the customers who tried to buy this horse were just bad riders?"

"If they were, they wouldn't have considered buying a horse in the first place."

The red eyes were unsettling, but he liked the elegant black body that was pleasing to look at.

After patting the horse, he mounted it with Leandros.

In the distance, he could see Arndt barely managing to get on the brown horse after coaxing and cajoling it out of its stubbornness.

There was still a long way to the capital. Would Arndt and his horse be okay?

Leandros quietly muttered to himself.

"Let's just hope he doesn't fall off."

...And even if he does, I hope he doesn't break anything.

He thought this while earnestly praying for Arndt in his heart.

* * *

It took several days to reach the capital.

During that time, Arndt nearly fell off the horse twice, and though Leandros suggested they swap horses, the black horse also rejected Arndt.

In the end, only after Leandros put on a spectacular horse training show did the brown horse seem to somewhat soften its stubbornness.

After going through such incidents, it felt like they had arrived at the capital in the blink of an eye.

"Is this the capital?"

"Yes, you probably don't remember well since you came here at such a young age? If you travel by carriage from the capital for 20 minutes, there's another mansion owned by Hartmann."

"Is that the townhouse?"

"Yes."

At the gate to enter the capital, or more precisely, the city of the capital, people were lined up.

All these people were heading to the city.

When they arrived, the line was manageable.

But as the sun rose higher, more people joined behind them, making the line endlessly longer.

"Next!"

Finally, it was their turn.

At the hoarse shout of the gatekeeper, they stepped forward, and a weary soldier asked.

"Where are you from?"

"Absinthe in the northwest."

"Are you affiliated with a guild?"

"Travelers."

"I'll check you briefly."

It was a routine inspection.

Since they had so little, they weren't even suspected of being smugglers.

Even the brown horse, which they had been worried about, calmly accepted the soldier's touch.

The problem was the black horse.

It happened when the soldiers were checking under the saddle for hidden items.

Suddenly, someone started screaming.

"Aaagh! Aaaaargh! Aaaaaaagh! My head! My head!"

-Snort!

"Hey! Hey, you! What are you doing!"

The black horse, apparently displeased about something, had bitten off a chunk of a soldier's hair.

An ominous ripping sound reached his ears.

He tried to separate them immediately, but it was already too late.

After spitting out the black hair, the black horse blew out a breath with full force.

"What are you doing! Are you crazy!"

-Snort.

"Who taught you this! Why are you ripping out people's hair!"

While he was scolding the horse, the soldier who had fallen to the ground staggered up and felt his head.

The soldier's hair wasn't very thick to begin with.

Among that, the new hole was exactly the size of a fist.

The soldier touched his head endlessly with trembling hands and then turned to look at them.

His eyes contained resentment, anger, and despair all at once.

The soldier spat out each word.

"I will... sue... you...!!"

They had caused a significant incident before even entering the city.

Shit...

* * *

They met the guard captain and explained what had happened.

The guard captain tried to resolve the matter by holding the horse's owners responsible.

Since it wasn't a serious injury, just hair being pulled out, the compensation wasn't much.

But the problem was that rumors had spread among the guards.

The guard with the hole in his head had been running his mouth quite a bit.

"At this rate, we'll become famous before we can dig up rumors about the former employees."

"Isn't it good to be famous?"

"Arndt, don't forget that we need to hide our identities."

After securing the cheapest inn in the capital, they tied the horses next to the inn and went out.

He wore his hood flipped up the entire time to hide his red hair.

Red hair was quite rare, so it attracted attention wherever he went.

Moreover, the guard had been going around saying things like "a red-headed horse owner with a ferocious horse."

Ah, isn't there any way to do something about this hair?

He'd rather be the one who's bald.

"Don't they sell wigs or something here?"

"Wigs are sold everywhere, but it would be difficult to find a good one."

"Why... Oh, I see."

His shortened hair swayed by his ears.

In this world without materials like nylon, wigs were made by cutting people's hair.

So a convincing wig would inevitably be expensive.

No dye either, so wigs are out too.

This damn medieval setting.

"Can't be helped. Best to just cover up well. By the way, how much further is that tavern?"

"Not much left. But..."

"But, is it really right to go there? There must be a reason why you mentioned that place, Young Master, but it's hard for me to understand."

Arndt, who had agreed to use the term "Young Master" instead of "Your Grace" after entering the capital, suddenly asked.

It was understandable.

The place they were going to wasn't just an ordinary tavern.

It was a tavern operated by the Information Guild.

As the name suggested, the Information Guild dealt with all kinds of information within the kingdom.

From fish prices in the south to the scandalous private life of a lord in the east, it was a treasure trove of information where nothing was unobtainable if one was willing to pay.

But no matter how impressive a guild sounded, it had its drawbacks.

Obtaining information required equivalent compensation.

Sometimes a single piece of information could be worth more than ten million gold, while other times a whole scroll could be cheaper than rotten meat.

The information they were seeking now was the current status of people who had held key roles within the Hartmann family during its prosperous times.

It wasn't an extremely expensive piece of information, but it wasn't something that would be given away easily either.

Above all, they were in a situation where they didn't have the money to pay for that information.

"You're not going to sell information about the Hartmann family in exchange, are you?"

"Of course not."

Not a bad opinion.

It was actually an option he had seriously considered.

After all, the family was already ruined, so even if he talked about the family, it didn't seem like it would have a significant impact.

Of course, he had already erased this option from his mind because he had his own plans.

A bustling sound was heard from across the street.

It was an ordinary pub with a simple sign.

Despite it being daytime, thoroughly drunk people happily clinked their glasses, and servers moving between tables shouted menu names as they looked for customers.

As they entered, the female proprietor wiped her hands and greeted them from behind the counter.

"Welcome! It's a bit hot today, isn't it? We're out of seats right now, so you'll have to drink standing up. Ale? We also have watered-down wine. Food is available too! How about cheese or bread? Today, the baker at the crossroads baked incredible bread."

"Standing is fine. Give me apple juice with herbs. And also add fresh fish dish."

Before he could ask if this was the Information Guild, Leandros had already answered.

The proprietor didn't lose her smile even as he looked at Leandros with wide eyes.

"Ah, apple juice with herbs, and fish. We just received fresh fish. This way, please."

It was a kind of password.

Fresh fish wasn't a dish you could eat here. Maybe in the south, where he had gone in his previous life.

Ordering a dish that wasn't available wasn't a mistake.

It was like a password known only to 'special guests.'

Having said that, the proprietor opened the counter door and went behind a shelf full of cups and dried ingredients.

There appeared to be no space behind the shelf.

But when they actually went there, there was a passage just wide enough for one person to pass.

The proprietor felt along the gap in the wall and then pulled something hard to the side, resulting in a clattering sound at the end of the passage.

"Thank you for your trouble."

"Not at all."

The wooden wall at the end of the passage opened to welcome the guests.

As they crossed over, the proprietor's melodious voice could be heard from behind as the door closed.

"Good morning, good day, good evening! If there's something you desire, please pay and take it away."

They had set foot in the source of rumors the capital boasted about,

The Information Guild.