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Chapter 03
The instincts I had developed from wiring money every month to pay off my debts were screaming at me.
“Two hundred thousand gold?!”
I hurriedly flipped the envelope over, then clapped a hand over my mouth when I saw the enormous sum written inside.
I had expected five thousand gold at most. Ten thousand, if I was lucky!
“What the hell? Why are they paying so much just for an interview?”
Without even realizing it, I found myself bowing in the direction of La Mar.
“Guess the villain isn’t as stingy as I thought. Wow! With this much money, I could cover a whole month’s worth of food expenses. Maybe even two months if I cut back a little!”
Clutching the two hundred thousand gold, I happily set off toward the employment agency.
For once, both my steps and my heart felt light. I even found myself feeling a little grateful toward the infamous Aden.
At least, I did…
Until that moment.
Meanwhile, at La Mar.
Even long after the interview had ended, Aden was still staring at the résumé lying on his desk.
Ilian Gracia.
He silently repeated the name written on the document. Even when he heard a knock at the door, he didn’t bother looking up.
“Come in.”
“Yes, sir. Coming in.”
Luther gave a cheeky little salute before closing the door and taking a seat.
His official title, at least as far as outsiders were concerned, was Aden’s personal secretary.
However, as he casually rolled his heavily muscled shoulders with a series of cracking sounds—hardly the sort of physique one would expect from a secretary—Luther asked,
“So, why did you call me?”
“How was Miss Gracia when you saw her off earlier?”
“Ah, that girl.”
Luther grinned.
“She seemed pretty decent.”
“What makes you say that?”
“She didn’t badmouth you, sir.”
Aden raised his head.
Luther flinched slightly before shrugging.
“Well, let’s be honest. That interview was practically an interrogation, wasn’t it? Anyone would have been intimidated. But even when I subtly gave her an opportunity to complain, she kept smiling and answered everything politely. What was it she said? Something like, ‘I learned a great deal today,’ right?”
“……”
“She answered well, and her manners were impeccable. I don’t know about the rest, but she certainly seemed like a bright, capable young woman who knows how to learn.”
“I had a similar impression.”
“Right? Then—”
“But why was it only when I asked her about the ‘Iren Flower Incident’ that she failed to maintain her composure for a brief moment?”
At those words, something suddenly occurred to Luther.
“Wait, isn’t Iren Flower the product our competitor, Crimson, once made a fortune selling with counterfeit seeds? When the whole thing was exposed, they dumped all the blame on the local merchants in the Duchy and quietly washed their hands of it!”
“That’s right.”
“I heard almost every settlement was affected, except for one small rural port.”
“Sirena. Rather conveniently, that’s Miss Gracia’s hometown. Apparently, Sirena escaped the disaster because she personally discovered the poisonous flower seeds.”
“Just as I thought! She looked sharp from the moment I laid eyes on her!”
Luther smiled proudly, but when he noticed Aden’s expression, he blinked.
“…D-Do you think she’s lying?”
“Who knows? It seems more plausible that there was an internal connection between the Maison Trading Company and Crimson, allowing them to receive advance information and avoid the disaster. Miss Gracia may have known about that as well, which would explain her hesitation.”
“……”
“Of course, we can’t draw a definitive conclusion from that alone. However…”
Aden handed him a photograph taken with a magical device.
Luther accepted it with some hesitation, but the moment he looked at the image, his hand flew to his mouth.
“Isn’t that the girl coming out of Crimson?!”
“An informant sent this to me this morning.”
“…Could she have gone there for an interview?”
“You know as well as I do that Crimson hasn’t posted any job openings recently.”
Had Ilian heard that, she would have been utterly indignant.
She had merely been going around asking whether they had any part-time positions available that hadn’t been advertised through the employment agency.
But the real problem was—
“Don’t tell me Crimson has sent us another spy?!”
La Mar happened to be keeping a particularly close eye on Crimson’s movements.
There were factions that viewed the sudden emergence and rapid expansion of La Mar with suspicion.
Naturally, this included rival trading companies. There were even rumors that the Imperial Family itself was watching the changing balance of power with keen interest.
Of course, there wouldn’t be much to worry about if La Mar had nothing to hide.
But our trading company is practically the opposite of innocent!
La Mar was an information guild masquerading as a trading company.
An organization known as the Black Hand, one that would stop at absolutely nothing to achieve its objectives.
Every business was vulnerable to spies, but for an organization like La Mar, which harbored such dangerous secrets, the existence of an infiltrator was especially threatening.
“B-But, sir…”
Luther finally managed to collect himself.
In his opinion, Aden was an excessively suspicious man.
His almost pathological distrust and cautious nature had certainly helped things work out in their favor on more than one occasion. Luther understood why he was so sensitive about these matters.
Especially since the spy Crimson sent us has been bothering him lately.
Aden had discovered that spy quite some time ago.
He simply hadn’t dealt with the matter yet because he was still investigating the flow of money.
The spy, meanwhile, remained blissfully unaware that he had been exposed, continuing to stumble around inside the trap Aden had carefully constructed for him.
“Do you really think they’d send another spy when they already have one here? I mean, the current one isn’t exactly doing a spectacular job, but still…”
Luther glanced toward the door, preparing to continue.
But Aden interrupted him, slowly flipping through the documents.
“This recommendation letter claims that she has never once been late or absent since she began working at the age of fourteen.”
“Pardon? Is that even possible?”
“Whether it’s possible or not, the recommender listed here is the Maison Trading Company. And apparently, it went out of business a few days ago. What a coincidence.”
“Uh… That is a little strange.”
“The company owner has also disappeared without a trace.”
There was no way to contact Maison’s owner, who had set off on a voyage around the world by ship.
Had Ilian heard that, she would have been clutching the back of her neck in frustration.
“Up to this point, these are merely circumstantial pieces of evidence. But there’s one decisive detail about Miss Gracia.”
Tap. Tap.
Aden lightly drummed his fingers against the desk.
“She immediately recognized that this desk is made of genuine Blackwood.”
“…Really? Even experts have trouble distinguishing that kind of wood.”
“She didn’t just identify the desk in my office. She confidently declared that every desk in the entire building was made of Blackwood. What do you think that means?”
Luther’s previously uncertain expression hardened at once.
“Does that mean she obtained information beforehand that we deal in Blackwood…?”
“Or, contrary to what this résumé claims, she’s very familiar with an environment where Blackwood is commonly used. Somewhere like a noble household, for instance. Those are the two possibilities.”
Aden’s eyes sharpened like blades as he uttered the word noble.
“Whether she’s affiliated with Crimson or a noble who is cleverly disguising her identity by exploiting the tensions between rival trading companies, either possibility is a problem.”
“W-What are you going to do?”
From Luther’s perspective, Aden seemed considerably more suspicious of the latter possibility.
Sweeping his black hair back, Aden spoke in a chillingly calm voice.
“First, send someone to Sirena. Make contact with the Maison Trading Company.”
“Yes, sir. Understood. Then what about Miss Gracia? I mean, our new ‘spy’?”
“Why, naturally…”
Aden’s eyes gleamed.
“We’ll hire her.”
“…Pardon?”
“You should always keep your enemies close, Luther. We’ll watch her every move and make absolutely certain we know what she’s up to…”
The corners of Aden’s lips lifted ever so slightly.
“And uncover whoever is pulling her strings.”
“……”
Luther quietly turned his gaze away.
Somehow, the trading company president was far more frightening when he smiled than when he wore his usual expressionless face.
The following dawn.
“Director of the employment agency? Hello! What brings you here?”
Ilian Gracia opened the door after hearing someone knock.
“Ah, well, you see…”
“…So they want you to start working there immediately, beginning today?”
“Excuse me?!”
Still dressed in her pajamas, Ilian received the news that she had passed the interview for a secretary position at La Mar.
