Chapter 11

Chapter 11

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“I’ll be going out today. Call for a horseman.” I tucked a few things into my bag and then rose to my feet.

“Yes, my lady.”

I had ordered the attendant charged with my wardrobe to fetch me a hooded robe, which I now pulled on, making sure my face was out of sight. Stepping out of the mansion for the first time in a while, my cheeks were immediately met with cold, crisp air.

The temperature was still quite cold since spring had only just begun, but the inside of the carriage was spelled to be warm. Because mana stones and mages were both hard to come by, such conveniences were only enjoyed by high-ranking nobles. Money truly casts a rosy sheen over the world, I thought, staring out the window, once again appreciative of just how powerful money was.

The carriage quickly left the mansion behind, sweeping down the built-up city streets and then onto an unpaved road that was frozen over with ice and snow. This was because the Atra District, where the jewelry shop was located, was on the outskirts of the capital.

It’s farther away than I expected. I didn’t mind the inconvenience, however. The carriage, with wheels imbued with shock-dampening spells, moved like a dream. In the third or fourth hour of travel, the passing scenery outside the window showed parts of the city Deborah had never seen before. I noticed a lot of buildings that were still only mere skeletons, which had to mean that the district was still being developed and built up.

This area is very well structured so far. It’ll look great once construction is complete. It looked like a good area to invest in real estate. If Iones could be described as a bustling, affluent urban district, Atra felt like the next Iones, only just in its early stages.

I’ll have to remember. The Atra District. I analyzed the interesting new scenery with the eyes of an architecture major. When the carriage slid to a stop, I grabbed the leather bag I’d sat next to my knee and held onto it tightly.

“We’ve arrived, my lady.”

The horseman dropped me off in front of a jewelry shop with a sign that read, “Diana.” Deborah knew all the major jewelry shops by heart, but she had no memory of this one. Apparently, it had yet to gain much attention. Despite this, it was the business that had produced the pink diamond which had so recently taken high society by storm. It wouldn’t be long before it was the most prominent jewelry shop in the entire capital. This area seems quiet now, but I have no doubt that real estate prices will skyrocket soon.

Peering around carefully, I asked the guard who had accompanied me to wait in front of the shop and stepped inside.

“Hello. Thank you for visiting Diana.” The staff greeted me cordially, immediately leading me to the display cases. “A necklace featuring a stunning sapphire drop came in only two days ago. Would you like to take a look?”

Inside the clean glass cases were jewels of seemingly endless different designs. However, I wasn’t here to browse their wares, so I instead took the case that contained the pink diamond from my bag. The staff’s body language went stiff, seemingly knowing who I was the moment they recognized the luxurious case. A tense silence settled over the shop’s occupants.

“You seem to already know who I am,” I said slowly, tugging my hood back to reveal my face. “Send for the shop owner.”

It took all of eleven seconds for the man to appear. This told me exactly how infamous Deborah was. “Lady Deborah. Thank you, for coming all this way,” the man panted, trying to catch his breath.

“Are you the owner of this establishment?”

“That’s right.”

“I have something I’d like to ask you about the pink diamond. Please send the staff away,” I demanded as coldly as the real Deborah would, crossing my arms over my chest. I’d learned the hard way in my previous life that I couldn’t let people look down on me.

The employees all quickly vanished, and once I was alone with the owner, the stage had been set.

“M-my lady. Why don’t you take a seat rather than stand? I’ll have some tea and refreshments brought.”

“I…” I began, wetting my suddenly dry lips. There was a password but saying it out loud was going to be the most embarrassing thing I’d had to do in recent memory. “T-the golden...”

“I’m sorry?”

“I have come to deal with the Seventh Fang of the Golden Dragon,” I finally managed to force the words from my lips, bracing myself to throw my hood up and flee if the password turned out to be wrong.

The man stared at me like I was bananas, but he eventually quietly mumbled the word “golden dragon,” nonetheless. The pleasant, businesslike smile, which he’d maintained up until now with some difficulty, was nowhere to be seen. “Come with me, my lady.”

Yes! I did it! I clenched my fists, cheering inwardly.

The shop owner opened the back door of the shop with a key, then began fumbling around for something on the wall. A section of it slid away, revealing a stone staircase that led down to a basement room. “We’ll use a teleportation circle to transport ourselves instantly to the Golden Dragon’s location.”

There was an intricate magic circle marked on the floor in the center of the basement, which was as humid and stuffy as a prison cell. Taking my place beside the shop owner—an agent of this Seventh Fang organization—the circle and the mana stones installed around its perimeter began to glow brightly. My body suddenly felt weightless and the two of us floated into the air, hovering with colorful clusters of light whizzing around.

When our feet touched down on solid ground once more, our surroundings had changed entirely. All five of my senses on high alert, I looked around.

“Master, a client has come to see you.” The agent tugged lightly on a bell pull installed at the entrance.

I pulled my hood up again, concealing my face and staring up at the high arch of the doorway. My heart was beating so fast that my ears were ringing.

“A client?” a harsh voice repeated. The response echoed off the walls, then all was silent for about ten seconds. To me, those ten seconds felt like ten hours. “Tell them to come in.”

As soon as I was given permission to enter, a vast door swung open on raspy hinges. A powerful gust of wind blew past me as soon as I set foot in the gloomy office, and the door slammed shut behind me. The blast of air blew my hood off. Fixing my disheveled hair, I slowly perused the foggy interior.

“I never imagined you would come here, Lady Deborah,” a dark silhouette hidden in the dim fog called out.

With every step I took, the man grew more illuminated while the rest of the room stayed dark. When the spooky gloom lifted enough that I could finally see his face, it felt as if I was looking at a mannequin made of wax. His eyes glistened as if they were made of stone, and I felt terror and anxiety grip my heart.

Then I heard the low growl of a beast. I was forced to bite the soft flesh inside my mouth just to prevent myself from screaming when I saw a gigantic cat-like creature amble out of the darkness. It approached me slowly, golden eyes gleaming. Sniffing and huffing twin gusts of hot air from its nostrils, it suddenly mewled, its eyes growing damp. Flopping onto its back, it rolled over as if trying to be cute.

I relaxed a little. The beast seemed to be in a good mood. I even ventured close enough to hold out my hand, and it licked my palm with its rough tongue. It rubbed its huge head against my palm, then mewled again, rolling over once more.

“Ha!” The man’s formerly emotionless face showed disbelief now. I wasn’t sure why he was laughing. He tapped at the table in front of him with leather-covered fingers. “Please sit, Lady Deborah.” He flicked his finger, and a chair flew out of the mist, coming to a stop right behind my legs. “Cookie, down boy.”

I bit my lip. Hearing that name uttered out loud seemed too cute for the gravity of the situation. The animal whined.

“Come!” The master said sternly as the beast circled me. The animal looked put out but returned to his master reluctantly. Stroking the sad animal’s chin, he asked, “My lady, why is it that Cookie reacts to you so?”

I had recovered my cool by now. Perhaps Deborah had nerves of steel. I kept my tone as cold as I possibly could. “If you’d like to know, it will cost you ninety-nine gold. The information is worth a hundred gold, but I have a request I’d like to make of you so I’ll give you a discount,” I bluffed, mimicking the way the master of Blanchard had often spoken in the novel.

Indeed, the man in front of me, whom the agent had called Master, was the crown prince’s troubleshooter—that is to say, his most valuable helper and schemer. He was the most capable—and also the most secretive—character in the unfinished novel I found myself inside.

As for why I, a mere side character, had sought out a powerful person like him…