Chapter 112
“…”
Her mouth remained tightly shut.
It felt like staring at an impenetrable drawbridge that would never open.
She swallowed a low sigh.
It was frustrating, but I couldn’t force or threaten her.
The moment I took an aggressive attitude toward Fiorette, I would be no different from Belietta.
In fact, Belietta might actually want me to kill Fiorette.
There were quite a few knights and guards surrounding Fiorette.
Belietta and Bozbourne were still keeping their silence.
Contrary to any thoughts of causing harm to Fiorette, they were being quiet.
“If you think Fiorette is keeping her mouth shut and that’s why Bozbourne isn’t making any moves, you’re mistaken. Bozbourne… Belietta knows Fiorette won’t say a word.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Once again, Fiorette’s voice uttered an apology, prompting a small sigh from me.
How many times had I tried to persuade her by now?
But I couldn’t shout or get annoyed.
Just looking at Fiorette’s face, which seemed full of worry and thought, I could guess how much inner conflict she was experiencing.
After all, her only family member was the hostage.
Pushing her wouldn’t help.
“……It’s okay. It can’t be helped. But please think about it carefully. I really hope you can trust me so I can help you.”
I smiled a little at Fiorette, who nodded briefly, then turned away.
As soon as I stepped outside and closed the door, Daytum approached me, seemingly ready to report.
“Did you find out anything?”
Daytum lowered his voice and handed me a report.
“I did some digging into the Bairon family. The details are written in the report.”
I immediately opened the report and skimmed through the contents.
As I flipped through the pages, Daytum spoke up again.
“Oh, and there’s something else to report—there was a bit of a peculiar detail.”
“What kind of peculiar detail?”
“The relationship between Baron and his daughter.”
A father-daughter relationship?
I pulled my gaze from the document and looked up.
Daytum nodded in response to my questioning eyes.
“On the surface, it looks like a normal father-daughter relationship, but according to those around them, they don’t ever go out together.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The Bairon family has long served Bozbourne as loyal vassals. To present a more perfect and impeccable image, they were very thorough in their education. Because of this, there are rumors that the relationship between the Baron and Miss Fiorette is not good.”
“What do you mean by ‘not good’?”
“It’s said that their relationship is so bad it doesn’t even resemble a family bond; they’re more like strangers.”
More like strangers…
Thinking that way, Fiorette’s attitude toward her father seemed too strong.
Of course, just because she disliked him didn’t mean she could just ignore him.
I glanced back at the firmly shut door, furrowing my brows.
“Of course, these are just surrounding rumors, and only they know the truth, but this is what’s been confirmed for now.”
“Please check into that a bit more. We need to find out exactly what kind of relationship they have.”
“Understood.”
After Daytum finished reporting and bowed, I turned away from him.
I bit my lip, recalling Fiorette, who was keeping silent in that closed room.
While nothing was certain, it felt like there was some other reason behind Fiorette’s hesitance.
No matter how much she trusted me, there was something she couldn’t easily say.
“Jin.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“There’s something you need to do.”
I didn’t think time would solve anything just by waiting.
“Find Buck, the head of the Thieves’ Guild branch in Brilloxen.”
I needed to take action myself.
“Bring him here.”
* * *
“Goodbye!”
With the jingling sound, the last guest stepped outside.
The staff who had seen off the guest hurriedly moved to close up the shop.
The staff member, reacting to the jingle, straightened up with a smile.
“I’m sorry! We’re closed for today!”
As the cheerful announcement signified the end of the day’s business, the men who came inside looked around curiously.
Among them, the man in the center approached the staff member.
“Where’s Buck?”
“The boss? He’s in the back over there. Should I call him?”
The man nodded calmly.
Without a hint of suspicion, the staff member opened the back door and shouted.
“Boss! You have a visitor!”
“A visitor?”
A small voice replied from within.
“What… at this late hour?”
Muttering, Buck emerged, and upon seeing the suspicious-looking men, his face hardened.
“These guys are looking for you, boss.”
“Are you Buck?”
“Y-yes…”
Buck nodded hesitantly at the deep voice addressing him.
The man speaking to Buck, Jin, stared at Buck’s face for a moment before speaking briefly.
“Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
Buck’s question was met with a nonchalant gesture from Jin.
The men who had been waiting in the back moved to flank Buck and grabbed his shoulders.
In an instant, Buck was seized, his face filled with panic as he shouted.
“What’s going on?!”
As Buck shouted, the door opened, and the members of the Thieves Guild made their entrance, each brandishing small blades and weapons, ready to protect their leader.
Jin seemed completely unfazed as if he had expected this all along.
“W-what are these people?!”
Except for the staff member, who hadn’t realized this was the Thieves’ Guild.
As soon as the guild members entered and saw their captured leader, their eyes lit up.
“Who are you guys?”
The most seasoned-looking guild member stepped forward, eyes gleaming.
They believed they could easily take down these three opponents, including Jin, due to the overwhelming numerical advantage.
After all, the odds were ten to one.
However, Jin remained steady, advancing toward the leader.
Buck bared his teeth and twisted his lips in a snarl.
“You might not know who we are, but you’ve picked the wrong fight. If you think you can threaten us with your life, you should wake up from that dream. The Thieves’ Guild doesn’t fear losing their lives; they always get their revenge.”
“Is that so?”
Jin spoke calmly as he rummaged through his pocket.
Buck chuckled, wondering what Jin was pulling out.
Even if he pulled a bomb from his pocket, it wouldn’t stop the guild members.
The Thieves’ Guild was relentless, just as they were by nature.
They’d chase you down wherever you went.
They would definitely hunt you down and kill you…
“The lady wanted to show you this.”
Jin pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and held it up in front of Buck’s face.
“Is this too close for you?”
Muttering to himself, he moved the paper back slightly.
Once the writing came into view, Buck could clearly read the text on it.
[Tax Payment Notice.]
This was a notice taxing all the income the Thieves’ Guild had made, whether through theft, kidnapping, drug dealing, or whatever else.
It wasn’t just for one year; it listed everything from the year the Thieves’ Guild had established itself in Brilloxen up until now.
“W-what is this…?”
“They say the Thieves’ Guild doesn’t fear swords and fists, but they really do fear taxes.”
The only thing that could bring down the notorious Thieves’ Guild was money.
“Will you follow along? Or will the Thieves’ Guild be uprooted?”
Jin shook the notice with cold eyes.
Buck’s eyes widened as he read the amount written on the notice.
“Are you kidding me?! Are you really trying to mess with the Thieves’ Guild? You think you can tie us down with just money?!”
Buck raised his voice.
The guild members took on a sharp stance, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
Taking advantage of the loosened grip of the knights, Buck violently pulled free and snatched the notice from Jin’s hand.
He then tore it to shreds.
“The Thieves’ Guild is not a place that can be controlled, even by the Emperor!”
“…”
“To think you could buy such a guild with money…!”
Buck’s eyes were wide with anger.
“Not in a hundred years!!”
* * *
“It’s been a while, Lady of Brilloxen! Time has only made you more beautiful!”
For a moment, I stared blankly, unsure if this was really the man I knew.
He seemed a bit heavier the last time I saw him, but now there was hardly a trace of that.
Buck noticed my gaze and smiled sheepishly.
“I’ve adapted to the changing trends, like a chameleon… or something like that.”
Buck, suddenly changing his attitude, cleared his throat.
I had heard from Jin that he had torn up the notice, insisting that you couldn’t buy the guild with money.
I glanced back at Jin as if to confirm if that was true.
Seeing Jin’s calm response to my gaze made me smirk slightly.
“I heard you shout that it wouldn’t be possible in a hundred years.”
“True, but today is a slow day, isn’t it? Hahaha!”
Buck laughed heartily with a charming smile.
I watched him fiddling with his teacup and then opened my mouth again.
“You can’t buy it with money.”
“There’s a saying in the Thieves’ Guild. When something can’t be bought with money, it’s often because you don’t have enough of it. Thankfully, the amount you brought is sufficient to purchase our guild, so here I am.”
He certainly had a way with words.
I stared at Buck as he smoothly deflected my statement, then lowered the cup I was holding.
With a loud clap, Buck’s cheerful expression turned tense.
I brought my hands together, pulling my chin back as I met Buck’s eyes.
With a look that seemed to say “Say anything,” I quietly smiled and spoke up.
“I need some information.”
“What kind of information?”
“Bozbourne.”
“If it’s information related to Bozbourne, I already provided some last time…”
Buck glanced around, trailing off in his sentence before laughing awkwardly.
“Oh, of course, I thought it might not be enough. Right, it wasn’t enough. So, what kind of information do you want? As you know, the Thieves’ Guild doesn’t usually handle information, so we don’t have everything.”
“This time it’s related to Bozbourne, but it’s not exactly about Bozbourne.”
“Well, that’s a relief. As you know, Bozbourne is quite closed off, making it tough to get information. So, what kind of information do you…”
Buck trailed off again, and I pushed the documents I had forward.
