Chapter 58: I Tried Sharing Information with Emma.
《Serios’s Side》
At dusk, in a room of an inn located in a corner of the Aegrid Territory, I was face-to-face with Emma.
As the Fireplace’s fire burned quietly, Emma, with her usual smile, crossed her legs, looking somewhat languid.
“Yo, Lord Serios. I’ve brought the answer to another unreasonable request today.”
Her tone was casual, but her eyes were sharp.
Emma does excellent work within the Dark Guild. Few can surpass her Information Gathering Prowess.
“Ah, you’ve done well.”
“Damn right I did. I’ll be charging extra for this, you know. Well, whatever. This time, it was about Duke Everett, wasn’t it? Specifically, the answer to your request to find out what moves the Duke has been making recently and the background behind them.”
In response to my words, Emma tossed several documents my way.
“Duke Everett is quite a tricky one. We even had some of our own men die. And Kyl also got seriously injured.”
“That much?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what he’s wary of, but it seems Spies were even dispatched from the Royal Family.”
“From the Royal Family?”
It means that the current Duke Everett is attracting attention from various parties. In terms of scale, his House possesses the lineage, financial power, and even the influence to rival the Royal Family.
“That’s precisely why I need reliable information. I need to know his overt movements and what he’s thinking behind the scenes.”
“That’s right. So, this is the answer.”
Flipping through the documents Emma had brought, she began her explanation matter-of-factly.
“Duke Everett, you see, isn’t just driven by a lust for power. His way of thinking is a bit different from other nobles.”
“What do you mean?”
“To put it simply, it means ‘not relying solely on the Kingdom.’ That Duke, depending on the circumstances, intends to ally with other countries.”
I stared at the information written in the documents.
“Ally with other countries… That’s an act of treason, isn’t it?”
“It is, but not for the Duke. To him, the existence of the Royal Family is nothing more than a Tool. If necessary, he’ll discard it. If necessary, he’ll use it. That’s all there is to it.”
I gasped for a moment at Emma’s words. Duke Everett might betray the country itself to protect his own territory and power?
“What specific form that will take, I don’t know yet. But according to our information network, the Duke’s close aides seem to be secretly contacting merchants and diplomats from other countries. In fact, the Everett House has enough national power to survive even if they became an independent Dukedom.”
“Merchants and diplomats from other countries…”
I never imagined he was operating on such a scale. A Duke moving with the resolve to make an enemy of the Royal Family.
The Royal Family that issued a Disinheritance order to such a Duke’s daughter.
It feels like complex motives are intertwined.
“That’s right. They might be receiving financial aid from them, or they might be creating an escape route over there. Well, either way, it’s troublesome.”
I firmly burned the documents Emma brought into my mind.
♢
By the time I finished reading the documents, Emma closed her notebook and, this time with a slightly solemn expression, spoke.
“By the way, Lord Serios… you remember my younger brother, Kyl, right? Do you recall him?”
The moment I heard that name, my heart skipped a beat.
Originally, he’s the Assassin Liese captures in the otome game. He belongs to the Dark Guild and specializes in assassination rather than espionage.
“Ah, I know him. What’s wrong?”
“That guy, he’s gone missing.”
“Missing?”
Emma nodded. I didn’t understand why she was reporting this to me.
“Why? Why tell me?”
“About that, the most capable Spy in our guild suddenly vanished. Where he went, there’s absolutely no clue. However, we’ve identified the person who last met Kyl.”
A sharp pain shot through my head.
It felt like my memory was trying to recall something.
“Who is it?”
“It’s the Maid in your service, Lord Serios, a young lady named Liese.”
A bad feeling ran through my chest at Emma’s words. Is Liese involved in Kyl’s sudden disappearance?
“The two of them met?”
Behind my back?
“Rather than just meeting, it seems that when Kyl went to investigate the Everett Dukedom and got seriously injured, that Maid named Liese helped him.”
They had already made contact without my knowledge…?
I should be thinking about Claris, but because of Kyl, I now have to consider my own Judgment.
In the otome game, if Liese ends up with Kyl, Serios is killed by Kyl.
“And the last place Kyl’s whereabouts were known was this Everett Dukedom.”
“In this Dukedom?”
“That’s right.”
(If Kyl is connected to the Everett Dukedom… this can’t be dismissed as a mere coincidence.)
I stood up and looked out the window. From behind, Emma called out with a worried voice.
“Lord Serios, you’re thinking about something, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. To stop Duke Everett, I need more information. And I can’t ignore Kyl’s disappearance either.”
“You’re really busy, huh. But you’ll manage somehow, won’t you, Lord Serios? My intuition tells me so.”
“…Of course.”
I clenched my fist. To break through this situation, I need to make a decisive move.
I have no choice but to steel my resolve for it.
(Duke Everett’s ambition, and Kyl’s disappearance… both are problems I cannot ignore. I will solve them all.)
Emma murmured softly with a faint smile.
“Well, I’ll do the work I was asked for properly. You should do your job properly too, Lord Serios, okay?”
“…Yeah. I’m counting on you, Emma.”
Having Emma on my side meant an increase in the amount of information I could obtain.
That’s why I understood that a decisive move was required sooner rather than later.