51 Part 2
It was up to me and Aine to analyze the information and make decisions.
Nagi said that he wanted us to listen to rumors about the town, discuss them together, and decide if the information was necessary or not. That’s our Master. He trusts us. I love him.
That’s why I start walking diagonally behind Aine, perking up my animal ears.
The streets are full of people. But I can’t see the Order of Divine.
It’s a morning market full of shoppers. If you wear a mask, you will stand out.
But that also means that if you don’t wear a mask, you won’t know who the members are. If you were to wander around with a bare face, you would not know if he or she was a member of the Order of Divine.
The clue was my sense of smell. I remember the scent I had smelt when I had slid into them. If I made contact with them again, I would know.
“…But there are too many people. I feel dizzy.”
“Don’t get separated, Rita.”
I wondered if it was because the festival was coming up but even though it was early in the morning, there were many food stalls lining in the main street.
Seafood, fruits, crafts, clothes, and more.
Here in Irgafa, the land and sea roads intersect in a trading area. A lot of goods come in from the sea, and wagons leave one after another for the inland areas.
Even now, on the outskirts of the main street, caravans of merchants are preparing their wagons. They’re probably transporting goods to King’s Landing or Metekal.
“Oh, by the way, Leticia is going back to Metekal soon.”
I suddenly remembered.
While we were messing around with Elder Slime, Leticia had made arrangements with a merchant who was related to the Viscount family to accompany the caravan. She should have woken up early this morning and had a meeting at the merchant’s place.
When I talked to her this morning, she said, “We have more slaves now. I don’t like to be left out, so if things continue like this, I’ll accidentally go with the flow… no, no, it’s nothing.”
I’ll have to repay Lady Letica someday.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”
Aine nodded vigorously as she walked down the main street.
Then, in a familiar manner, she talked to the people at the stall. While bargaining for the fruit, she cleverly changed the subject to the Order of Divine. I was impressed by her skill in this area.
“Is that so? Did the Masked Knights only come out recently?”
“Well, you know. I heard that he joined the Adventurer’s guild under unbeatable conditions because he was recommended by a nobleman. It’s not someone a commoner like us could ask to work with, though.”
The lady at the store said as she offered me the red fruit.
Aine casually holds up two fingers and asks for a little more discount. As she took the additional fruit from the smiling woman, she asked more questions.
“If you joined a guild with unbeatable conditions, does that mean you’re good? If so, then I can understand why the rewards are so high.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Anyway, they say he works fast. But they say he’s rough.”
“It’s not good to be rough. I get complaints about that kind of thing.”
“It’s a nobleman’s reccomendation. No one can complain. I’m sure they’ll get the job done. But there’s a rumor that he’s so powerful that he can cause unnecessary damage. He hides his face behind a mask, so we don’t know who he is or where he is. Ladies, you’d better not say anything rash.”
“Thank you, Auntie.”
After listening to the story and, incidentally, cutting the price of the juicy fruit by 30%, Aine left the stall.
“As expected of Aine…Huuh”
This kind of bargaining power is as expected of a party girl. I honestly respect her.
But Aine made a face like it was nothing, and said, “Thanks for waiting.” She bowed and started walking next to me.
“The Order of Divine is like a party of adventurers with a visious side.”
Aine whispered in a low voice so that no one else could hear her.
“He wears mask, so no one knows who he is. They don’t even know how many of them there are.”
“Maybe we can identify him by listening to his voice.”
I nodded back at Aine.
“I heard them yelling a lot. I’ll never forget that voice.”
“You met them, didn’t you, Rita? Were they nasty?”
“They were really weird. They were picking on Rafilia.”
“That’s not good.”
“Nagi said ‘Pressure Interview’, but just thinking about it makes me sick.”
“But Na-kun easily broke it down.”
“Of course. Nagi is invincible.”
“He is so strong and cool.”
“He even came to me when I was being attacked by the Leviathan.”
“Aine is jealous. Aine hardly ever gets to see him fight.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“No. It’s okay. We’re going to be together for a long time. We’ll get our chance.”
“That’s right. Also, Aine will be in charge of waking up Nagi tomorrow!”
“Are you sure? Aine is an older sister.
“Don’t be shy. You have an important role to play. Oh, by the way, yesterday…”
“What? What happened?”
“…………”
“…………”
“…………”
“…………”
” Before I knew it, I was talking about Nagi!?”
Huh? Huh?
I held my forehead.
Our job is to shop and gather information. And analyzing that information.
And yet the topic of conversation has shifted to Nagi. Rita and Aine’s work flowed so smoothly that it was strange. Or perhaps it’s the brilliant coordination.
We couldn’t help but keep looking at each other and nodding for a while.
I can’t do this. I can’t do my job like this. I have to be strong.
We started walking again.
The street is filled with the voices of vendors and customers haggling for goods.
There are many stalls, but every stall always has a picture or doll of the sea dragon Kerukatoru on display. The prosperity of Irgafa is due to the blessings of the sea dragon. I could hear them talking about it, and there was a lot of talk about the festival.
No one would think that Nagi has an appointment with that festival priestess for the afternoon. My Master is amazing, ahem… I couldn’t help but puff out my chest.
After walking around the morning market for a while, the shopping was over and we began to ask around for the second time.