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Chapter 21
Rozalyn greeted Hugh Dillon with a beaming smile.
“Here to inspect the environment, are you?”
“As ‘acting commander’… it is only right I check whether my subordinate’s environment is in proper order, don’t you think?”
He put particular weight on the words acting commander.
Naturally, Cassis—who never flaunted his rank—sprang to Rozalyn’s mind.
“A blockhead like this is the vice-commander of the Empire’s knight order? The world must be ending.”
Rozalyn clicked her tongue inwardly but outwardly played along.
“Of course, you’re absolutely right. As expected of the ‘acting commander,’ you leave no room for error!”
“Hrmm. Nonsense.”
Despite his words, the corner of Hugh’s mouth twitched upward.
Rozalyn recalled her subordinate who had barged into her office earlier, gasping for breath.
“Vice-commander! No, commander, I mean—!”
“Unless they’ve come to arrest us, you can take a breath and explain slowly.”
“Huff… thank you. Acting Commander Hugh Dillon of the Black Iron Knights… says he wants to inspect your environment, Guildmaster!”
“I know. I already got the report that he’d set out.”
“What should we do?”
“Buy some time. Get ready to welcome him.”
“Are you sure? He looked terrifyingly fierce…”
“He came as ‘acting commander.’ He can’t cause trouble openly. Besides, until Cassis returns, his glory is just a three-day kingdom. Nothing to fear.”
A rabbit trying to play tiger is still just a rabbit.
Rozalyn smirked as Hugh puffed up with her flattery, already forgetting the real reason he had stormed in.
After being kept waiting for thirty minutes, his temper must have been burning inside. Yet the moment she praised him, he melted.
She decided to lay it on even thicker. After all, she had her reasons to stall.
“Thanks to your visit today, ‘acting commander,’ our guild members will surely learn much from your fine bearing.”
“Hrmm.”
“As befits your rank, allow me—the guildmaster—to personally guide you.”
“Hrmph. Very well, lead the way.”
The guild members nearby all averted their faces. Every time Rozalyn deliberately tacked on acting commander, it was clearly mockery. Yet Hugh, utterly oblivious, strutted in pride.
Rozalyn led him outside first.
“Let me begin with the very face of our guild.”
She pointed to the sign above the entrance.
[HYDE]
“Of course, every citizen of the Empire knows the mighty Black Iron Knights you command. You need no signboard. But for small guilds like ours, a sign is essential.”
“Hmph. Small guilds cannot be known otherwise.”
The “small guild” she referred to was in truth the Empire’s greatest information guild, but Rozalyn only smiled in agreement.
“Indeed. Unless we put up big letters spelling ‘H-Y-D-E,’ no one would know who we are.”
“Lacks refinement, but effective.”
“How could people like us possibly possess the refinement of noble lords such as yourself?”
Line after line, Rozalyn laid on her exaggerated praise.
“Look at the signboard itself—it’s made of cheap wood. High-grade lumber should be reserved for noble chairs, noble beds, noble floors, noble doors. We commoners must use scraps, as befits our station.”
“Hmph. The Hyde Guildmaster knows her place.”
“Our livelihood depends entirely on the benevolence of nobles such as yourself, does it not?”
At that, Hugh scoffed.
“Nobles? Bah. They’re all pigs fattened on exploitation. They pretend to ‘provide us with work,’ but in truth, they stack mountains of gold on our labor and toss us a few coins to keep us quiet.”
The guild members listening could barely hold in their laughter. They knew Rozalyn well enough to recognize she was gutting him with disguised insults.
At the counter, Tom whispered to Shion.
“Guildmaster is really…”
Shion chuckled. “Sharp?”
“Maybe… a little?”
“I’d say brilliant. I’ve never seen anyone mock someone so completely while smiling sweetly the whole time. She just called him an ‘ignorant, lazy noble parasite who doesn’t even know the value of what he uses’—and he thought it was a compliment. That’s our guildmaster.”
Tom fell silent at Shion’s near-worshipful tone.
Rozalyn, meanwhile, was still rambling. She had already spent thirty minutes explaining just the front sign.
“And this doorknob here—ah, it has quite a story as well…”
Everyone knew by now:
“She’s stalling for time.”
When Cassis had visited, Rozalyn could trust he wouldn’t nitpick. But Hugh? He had come precisely to find fault.
“No way I’m letting this thug roam around my guild unchecked.”
After a full hour—thirty minutes of waiting, thirty of pointless explanations—Hugh’s patience finally cracked.
“Now, let’s see the inside—”
“Oh! But first, this awning! Surely your estate imports only the finest fabrics, while ours must settle for—”
“Enough!”
His roar silenced the courtyard. Hugh squared his shoulders, imagining he had regained control.
“Rozalyn Hayes. What is the meaning of this?”
“I—I don’t understand what you mean…”
She widened her eyes innocently. His face flushed red with anger.
“You think I don’t see you wasting time with useless chatter?”
“Took him an hour to figure that out…”
The guild members clicked their tongues inwardly.
But Rozalyn feigned bewilderment once again.
“I’m simply overwhelmed by the honor of your visit. I wanted to show my gratitude properly…”
“Bah! All lies! You think calling me ‘acting commander’ over and over will please me? They say you have the tongue of a devil—clearly the rumors weren’t exaggerated!”
“He loved it though.”
“Wasn’t he grinning ear to ear the whole time?”
The guild members muttered to themselves but grew uneasy as Hugh’s fury escalated.
Rozalyn, however, remained perfectly calm. She even let tears glisten at the corner of her eyes.
“It’s all a misunderstanding. I was only moved by your noble bearing, Vice-Commander Hugh… I only wanted to introduce our guild to you with all sincerity…”
“You dare—!”
Hugh raised his hand. Gasps erupted.
“Kyah!”
A shrill scream pierced the air. Rozalyn collapsed dramatically to the ground. Yet Hugh, who had felt no impact from his hand, blinked in confusion.
At that moment—
“What is this commotion?”
A smooth, languid voice cut through the noise, instantly silencing the crowd.
All eyes turned, and gasps followed.
“Ah. A familiar face.”
A man with platinum hair shining brighter than his snow-white uniform stepped forward. The crowd parted instinctively as he approached.
Erich.
He halted before Rozalyn, extending his hand.
“My lady, the ground is far too hard for you. Take my hand and rise.”
