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Chapter 21
A large ceramic bowl held chicken stew, sending up clouds of hot steam.
Fragrant herbs and plenty of vegetables were piled atop the glossy broth.
Pendi, who had come up close to me before I realized it, muttered in admiration.
“Wow, there’s a tonic food like this? Just looking at it makes me feel like I could turn into a tiger.”
Aldehyd must have been somewhat shocked when he saw me coughing up blood on the ship.
Still, for Aldehyd—who had conquered the entire continent—an injury like that shouldn’t have been a big deal. He must have seen countless comrades wounded and lost over the course of many wars.
If he even takes care of a low-ranking subordinate like me… maybe he’s not as bad a person as I thought?
Pendi spoke to me as I fell into confusion.
“To be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever seen Lord Aldehyd look after someone beneath him like this.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
“Seems like Lord Aldehyd took a liking to you.”
“Do you think so?”
That felt a bit burdensome.
Since the day of my departure wasn’t far off, I didn’t want to become someone special to anyone. I just stared blankly at the stew when Pendi continued.
“And, you know, there’s something I want to say seriously.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“I heard you saved a puppy yesterday. Saving a life is important, but nothing is more important than your own life. Don’t do that again.”
As I breathed in the warm aroma of the chicken stew, a thought suddenly crossed my mind. It had been a very long time since someone other than Bell had worried about me so casually.
Still staring at the stew, I finally spoke to Pendi.
“…Then, would you like to have some stew together?”
“Oh?”
“I think it’d be good if we both got healthier. I can’t finish all of this by myself anyway.”
“Shall we? Sounds good.”
The stew was warm, and the distance between us was just right.
But that small happiness didn’t last long.
“You need to take better care of yourself. Go to the greenhouse.”
“Y-Yes?!”
“For the time being, Paul and I will handle things.”
Because I’d been too reckless on the ship, I ended up being driven out to a greenhouse filled with murderous flowers.
And so, three days passed.
Without knowing whether the puppy was alive or dead, without knowing what had become of the illegal stabilizer case, I spent my days tending the greenhouse—and revised my evaluation of Aldehyd once again.
Cancel that thought about him maybe being a good person.
How could anyone confine a person in a greenhouse full of murderous flowers?
On top of that, Bell had commissioned the Information Guild to look into Aldehyd’s recent movements, and the results were quite peculiar.
“His behavior is indeed very strange. He’s set up a suspicious room in a library overlooking the entire capital and spends his time there.”
“What does he do there…?”
“He doesn’t seem to be reading books. And apparently, he strolls through Shadow Street every day. Some days he goes to the shopping district, and other days he even visits ladies’ coffee houses.”
“Ladies’ coffee houses? Was he always that interested in women?”
That’s kind of a turn-off…
Anyway, amid this flood of information with no clear context, I found myself utterly unable to grasp what kind of person Aldehyd really was.
Over those three days, the only entertaining thing was the red-haired Namia coming by and needling me with comments like, “Lord Aldehyd isn’t the type to be tied down by exclusive contracts, you know? You’ll get kicked out soon too,” spoken in that irritatingly smug tone.
After those meaningless three days passed, the day to return to duty arrived.
It was the briefing day for the very “illegal stabilizer” case we had uncovered.
When I entered the Imperial Knights’ meeting room, Paul was already preparing the briefing.
He gathered Aldehyd, the people who had participated in the illegal stabilizer incident, and several other knights.
Just before the briefing began, Pendi whispered quietly to me.
“Rookie, want to go grab a meal after the briefing?”
Ah, he keeps making me feel like I belong. Among the harmlessly smiling faces, I smiled awkwardly and replied,
“Um, I’m fine.”
Pendi looked puzzled, but the briefing started soon after, so he couldn’t ask me more.
The briefing on the illegal stabilizer turned out to be simpler than expected.
The smuggling of the illegal stabilizer had been classified and reported in detail to the Emperor. They were searching for the smugglers, and the rescued puppy had not yet regained consciousness—that was the gist of it.
They said a more thorough investigation would begin once the puppy wakes up. Then they’ll be able to secure evidence, and taking down the underworld villains won’t take long.
I was smiling to myself at that thought when Paul, finishing the briefing, muttered with a dissatisfied expression,
“Ahh, so that means starting tomorrow, we’re all going to be run ragged.”
What? Why did it suddenly end like that?
But Aldehyd nodded crookedly, as if it were obvious.
“Yeah. We received intel that the illegal stabilizers previously smuggled in have flowed into Shadow Street. We’ll focus the search there. Next.”
I looked at Aldehyd. Meeting him again after three days, he looked righteous and perfectly normal.
…Maybe he’s actually a decent person, just free-spirited?
Maybe I was being fooled by his normal-looking face. Whenever I was near him, I found myself revising my opinion of Aldehyd in a positive direction.
I shook my head hard.
Just then, Aldehyd—standing with one leg casually crossed—looked at me and whispered,
“Come to think of it, there’s a Shadow Street sweep operation tomorrow. It’s dangerous, so don’t come out.”
“Why is the Shadow Street sweep operation dangerous?”
“They say there are a lot of thugs on Shadow Street these days. They harass people, and reports to the guard are frequent. So since we’re going anyway, we might as well wipe them all out.”
Seriously, what a lunatic…
Whether his intentions were good or bad, his way of solving things was definitely unusual.
And then, suddenly, something came to mind.
“There are a lot of thugs on Shadow Street?”
“Yeah. Apparently they don’t target the elderly or the weak—only young men. Something about showing off their power. Anyway, as the guardian of peace, shouldn’t I take care of it in advance?”
Ah, this nonsense—no, wait.
I glanced at the newspaper Aldehyd was holding. The headline read:
[Breaking News] Another assault on Shadow Street… Man in his 20s in critical condition
Aldehyd glanced at me and said,
“Why did you suddenly turn pale?”
Paul, who had been silently listening to our conversation, murmured quietly from beside us,
“You’re not worried about Lord Aldehyd, are you? Well, obviously not. Still, I’ve got a pretty sharp sense for these things—why do I get that feeling?”
I answered flatly,
“That’s impossible.”
For the record, I wasn’t worried about Aldehyd even one percent.
The one I was worried about was Bbu-bbu—fragile and delicate like a baby puppy.
Not Aldehyd, who was big-boned and looked like he could beat anyone.
“…So that many bad things have been happening on Shadow Street?”
After returning to the Vuetri estate, I called Bell to check the situation.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Bell handed me some documents. Far more acts of evil were occurring on Shadow Street than I had expected, and recently, they had been happening more and more frequently.
As I read through the papers, I thought of Bbu-bbu.
“Alright, you may go.”
After Bell withdrew, I fell into deep thought.
We only exchanged letters once per season, so I didn’t really know how that child was living in detail.
We had tacitly avoided discussing each other’s personal circumstances. Back when my life was dark, I had drawn a line, telling Bbu-bbu we would never meet again.
Still, since I often reread Bbu-bbu’s letters, I could infer the rough outline of that child’s situation.
It seems Bbu-bbu is still living on Shadow Street.
The materials I had seen on briefing day came back to me—young men in their twenties dying, falling into critical condition, suffering trauma after being beaten by thugs.
Then that child could get hurt too.
After thinking deeply, I whistled to call my companion bird.
At the sound of the whistle, a palm-sized white bird—a long-tailed tit—appeared before my eyes.
This little creature had faithfully connected me and Bbu-bbu for the past nine years. It was also the only being that knew about the relationship between the two of us.
“Bird, go to Bbu-bbu.”
“…Chirrup?”
“Yes, today isn’t the day to go to Bbu-bbu. But go anyway.”
I wouldn’t write a letter. I had no intention of using this worry as a turning point in our relationship.
But I was a little worried about Bbu-bbu, who was living on Shadow Street.
So…
“Bird, fly over every day and just check on Bbu-bbu’s condition. Whether they’re healthy. Whether they’ve gotten involved in anything dangerous, whether they’re hurt.”
“Chirp?”
“Just check and come back. Just check.”
