I turned up the tip of my chin slightly and spoke arrogantly.
“I have received an important mission from Her Majesty Emperor Scarlet.”
I was a little concerned about Letsy who was beside me, but I can furtively come up with something later.
“Her- Her Majesty?”
A crucial mission. A bit of exaggeration was mixed in, but that was roughly correct.
Don’t I have a very important mission to create a new foodstuff?
Although I was doing this for my own benefit.
“Yes. As part of that, I have come to commission Mr. Ralph to make machines and tools.”
“……”
Ralph looked at me with a slightly surprised expression, with that brutal face turning slightly red he asked:
“D-does Her Majesty know me?”
Then, who knows why, Letsy blinked and scratched the back of her head.
I shook my head firmly.
“No. Mr. Ralph, you have been doing this type of work without letting people know, right? For example, secretly repairing the castle walls even though it is not profitable.”
“O…”
“Her Majesty doesn’t know. But I know. And through this commission, I would like to convey Mr. Ralph’s abilities.”
“!”
Ralph shuddered slightly.
Hehe. Got ‘em.
I grinned inwardly, took out the design I had kept in my coat, and handed it to him.
“Here. I want to make these.”
“Ahem!”
Ralph, with a very different attitude than before, hurriedly took the design and spread it out on the table.
He squinted his eyes and scanned the design for a while, then looked at me with an interested look on his face.
“This… It’s interesting. What do you plan on using it for?”
“To cook rice.”
“Huh?”
“There’s something like that. You know, secrecy is essential in this kind of work.”
“Y-yes of course! Ahem.”
Ralph slapped his forehead as if he had forgotten and hurriedly covered the design with his thick hands.
Then he rolled up the design while looking at his surroundings in a very alert manner,
“All right. I will accept this commission.”
I grinned.
It was the perfect deal for our future plans.
* * *
“It was a very exciting negotiation scene. I recall the war of words that took place two years ago between the Empire’s prime minister and the minister of the Kingdom of Adrin over the Tishen River.”
“…….?”
I blinked as I sat in the café, sipping orange juice.
The noble Ladies here are so knowledgeable about the state of affairs. I hated current affairs politics.
Well, I figured it was a compliment, so I laughed.
“Thanks. Ah, and what we talked about earlier is a secret. I actually lied a bit.”
“Lied?”
Letsy adjusted her wrapping cloth and tilted her head.
“What part of what you said was a lie?”
“Ahem. When I was talking about Her Majesty the Emperor. That was a bit of an exaggeration, so forget it please.”
“Mmm.”
Letsy seemed to be displeased with something.
But, what is this feeling like someone is watching us?
I looked around, feeling as if my skin was being torn into little pieces.
On the street bustling with festivals, there were boys selling newspapers, richly dressed ladies, and middle-aged gentlemen walling elegantly, but nothing was particularly unusual.
“By the way, Letsy. Don’t you feel like someone is constantly looking at us?”
“……”
Then Letsy, who was fascinatedly taking apart the bread she had bought on the street earlier, abruptly stopped moving her hands.
She then stood up with a meaningful remark.
“Mmm. They came earlier than I expected. Staying with you could be harmful, so I think it is better to part ways.”
“What?”
Ah. We haven’t stopped by the ‘Give Me 3 Seconds, and I’ll Poison You’ store yet!
We need to manufacture drugs to eradicate pests!
I was very sad to let go of my friend Letsy, who I had grown to like.
But I couldn’t help but let her who was taking off resolutely, leave.
“Let’s see each other again next time we have the chance.”
“That shall be so.”
Letsy spoke as if foretelling the future and disappeared. She seemed to be heading to a deserted alleyway.
While looking vaguely at her back, I realized one thing.
Who knew when she took them off, but she left her glasses with large lenses behind!
“Ah!”
So I grabbed her glasses and followed after her.
But, how did this situation come to be?
“Letsy! You left this…!”
The alleyway I entered in search of Letsy was full of people in black masks.
They had their swords drawn, with Letsy in the middle.
A savage sword blade flashed in the darkness.
I, who arrived in the alley with the glasses raised, blinked several times and grasped the situation.
Several masked people and one person in the middle of them being threatened.
‘Is this a kidnapping?!’
After understanding the situation, I clenched my fist. Although I was afraid of that savage blade, I felt that there would be a way for us to survive if I grabbed Letsy and ran down the street.
I had to save my female friend who was in danger!
“Celia…..?”
I ignored Letsy’s shocked call and headed in her direction. The masked people surrounded Letsy as if to prevent her from escaping, but they seemed shocked as well.
Looking at the way they didn’t do much to stop me as I walked between them with my face crumpled up like a shriveled balloon.
I tilted my head at a 45-degree angle and spoke grimly:
“Yo, this is my territory. Trying to extort money in my area, how brave.”
“……..”
The masked people were taken aback by my appearance, but they didn’t get caught up in the nonsense. Mhm. These guys are well-trained.
Usually, when someone talks nonsense like this, people tend to speak up, wondering what type of person you are, but these guys just glanced at me.
I sneakily stood next to Letsy, sweating inwardly. Then I grabbed her wrist.
“I’ll take this guy in exchange for the spot tax.”
It wasn’t as much as expected, but I did earn a brief beak.
Just as I had taken one step, two steps, and was about to get Letsy out of the guys surrounding us.
Pitter-patter, I heard the sound of the masked people turning towards us all at once.
“Run Letsy!”
I gave strength to the hand that held Letsy and kicked off the ground with all my might.
“Gasp, gasp….”
“One moment, halt.”
“Letsy, come to your senses! It’s a dangerous situation!”
I shouted as I ran, but Letsy instead grabbed my wrist.
“That’s not it… The front is already blocked.”
“Huh?”
It was as she said. The exit to the main street was already blocked by masked people.
I stopped with a screech. I thought I had driven them away with ease, but is it this type of situation?!
I looked back at the masked people who were chasing us.
They slowly approached us without any sign of panting. They were relaxed as if looking at a rat in a trap.
“Follow me obediently.”
Among them, a man who appeared to be the captain said in a gloomy voice.
Then, “Well, well, well.”
A familiar voice that shouldn’t be heard here came from above.
“Nunim, why are you here?”
I looked up in surprise and saw men in black armor crouching on the roof of the building, looking down.
They looked like crows sitting on a power line, leisurely looking down at the ground.
These people must be…..
“Gasp! Is that the Black Falcon?!”
As soon as they appeared, the masked people started moving all at once. A rude hand quickly reached out towards Letsy.
“Woah!”
I pushed Letsy away and punched the guy who was attacking us with my fist.
I knew from experience that my arm strength was as strong as that of most adult men.
“Wha?!”
As the man stumbled, the guys crouching above jumped to the ground.
Even though they fell from a high place, it was a very stable landing. Although they were wearing full body armor, I couldn’t even hear the common friction sound.
As soon as they landed on the ground, they began to subdue the masked men.
One of them approached me. He was wearing a black helmet reminiscent of a hawk, so his face was not visible.
“Aigoo, nunim. If you are here we will be scolded by our Lord.”
“…..Leon?”
“Hehe.”
It was Leon, the head of the Black Falcon who always carried a notebook called ‘The Path to Gourmet,’ was good at grilling lamb on skewers, and was very disciplined in eating them.
When he stretched out his foot the masked man flew far away, and he scratched the back of his head. There was the sound of scraping a helmet.
‘Why are these trash here?’
I couldn’t understand the situation, so I blinked a few times.
I glanced at Letsy, but since she didn’t look surprised, it seemed like she knew the situation would turn out like this.
She was just adjusting the yellow wrapping cloth, and let out a small troubled sigh.
When the Black Hawk appeared, the situation was quickly resolved.
The unconscious masked people were handcuffed and piled up in a corner.
As I was looking around blankly, I heard two men’s voices coming from the entrance of the alley.
“My world! If you are planning to do something like this you should let me know in advance!”
“No, I mean, I don’t have any authority. Why are you nitpicking me? Question your owner.”
“What do you mean, your owner?! Her Majesty is the owner of all people, Duke Shiaster!”
What? Duke Shiaster? Startled by the familiar name and voice I turned my head, and Dazar was there.
And next to him, the man named Sir Hael whom I had met earlier in the imperial palace was limping on the foot that had been kicked by me.
“Hmm?”
“….What?”
That dark guy in front of me was clearly the annoying in-law who had been surrounded by the mom troops in the ballroom just a moment ago.
“What are you doing here?”
“What about you?”
We confronted each other with cold eyes.
The person who came between us was Letsy, who had adjusted the disheveled yellow wrapping cloth and gently pulled out the glasses in my hand and put them on neatly.
“Ahem, ahem. I-I’m the shadow knight of Emperor Scarlet. I was deployed at the behest of Her Majesty.”
“What?”
“I-I pretended to be the emperor and took on the role of attracting assassins.”
Letsy was desperate, but her acting skills were worse than that of the earthworm passing by on the floor.
Did it rain yesterday? Why an earthworm…
As I watched the earthworm slowly pass by, my mind spun wildly.
‘Aha. Letsy is Emperor Scarlet?’
Fireworks exploded in my head. It was a sign that it was the right answer.
Aha! How dared I go shopping with Her Majesty, drink juice, and run while holding her wrist!
