Chapter 28: Noble Scams

There was a separate person who illegally copied and sold it, so you might wonder why the author was sentenced to death, but it couldn’t be helped.

Those who sold the copies were all nobles…

I think the crime of deceiving the nobles was included as well.

A big part of it was also because this person was so cunning with words and writing that people couldn’t help but be fooled.

“Indeed. It was well written.”

Even I, when I was young, was enchanted by it, and even after growing up and reading it again, I admired how solidly it was written.

You couldn’t blame those who were deceived.

Of course, it was wrong to make copies of the map and sell them to cover losses, even though they knew it was a scam.

“So, uncle said he met the adventurer Miskit. He said he would buy a map and bring it on my birthday to show where the fairy kingdom is…”

“Ugh.”

I was startled.

Wait, the person who was originally the victim, who knew it was a scam but spread a second scam, was someone from our group?

I had never heard about the nobles who were victims before, so this was the first time I learned of this fact in this life.

When I made a surprised sound, the young lady who was boasting opened her eyes wide.

“Why?”

“Well… wouldn’t it be better not to buy the map?”

Because it’s a scam…

But I couldn’t use that as a reason.

There was no evidence, and also, as an adult, I wanted to protect the innocence of the girls.

I tried to recall the content of the book as best as I could.

“In the book, Miskit went to the fairy kingdom because she was invited, right? But if you buy the map and go, it’s not like you were invited, is it?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Think about it, young lady. If someone you’ve never met comes to your mansion just because they know the location and says, ‘Let’s be friends,’ would you happily accept?”

“Well…”

The young ladies hesitated after hearing my words and timidly answered that they probably wouldn’t like that.

Phew, I was relieved that they somewhat understood.

But it seemed like they still found it hard to give up.

“I still want to go at least once.”

“Would it be okay if we just watch secretly from afar without going inside?”

It wasn’t something that would be solved just by asking me for permission, but their eyes, clasping their hands together and asking if it could be done, were pitiful.

I pondered and came up with an answer that everyone could accept.

“Instead of sneaking in or just watching secretly, how about becoming friends and entering properly?”
“Becoming friends?”

“Yes. The book explains well how Miskit became friends with the fairies. If you follow that, you can become friends just like that.”

Though the fairy kingdom’s exact place was never mentioned, the book said the place where Miskit first met the fairy friend was at a certain lake in a certain province.

I recalled that as I spoke.

If they try to become friends by following the book, time and effort might be wasted, but at least money wouldn’t be wasted.

“And the spread of the scam would disappear.”

Even if it didn’t disappear completely, it was meaningful to reduce the number of perpetrators by at least one.

Whether my persuasion worked or not, the young ladies’ eyes sparkled as they started discussing what gifts they would bring to become friends with the fairies.

“Heh. I’m drained…”

Since the situation seemed to settle, I stood up.

The meeting wasn’t over yet, but I just wanted to get away for a bit and rest.

Using the bathroom as an excuse, I slipped out and hid in the garden maze.

If the meeting place was my family mansion, I would have gone back to my room to take a breather, but unfortunately, this was another noble’s estate, so I had nowhere private to relax.

The maze was made so you could also walk around, with stone benches placed here and there.

I sat on one and looked up at the sky.

“Sigh…”

I thought I would be able to make friends this life.

I didn’t expect my peers to be so childish.

“They felt more like younger siblings than friends…”

Rei was easy to talk to.

I smiled.

Although Rei seemed young too, meeting actual children made me realize how mature he really was.

“I wish I had a friend like Rei.”

Just as I was leaning on the bench lost in thought, “Do you believe in fairies?”

Someone spoke to me.

I hadn’t even heard footsteps approaching softly, so I was startled and looked down and ahead.

A girl stood there. Because she was standing in the shadows cast by the maze, I couldn’t see her face clearly, but judging by her clothes, she didn’t seem to be one of the young ladies from earlier.

“Huh? Who is this?”

All the kids at the meeting were sitting at that table, so I was puzzled.

Maybe she was a noble child who arrived late?

While I was wondering this, the girl stepped out of the shadow and asked again, “Tell me, do you really think fairies exist?”

Surprisingly, the girl stepping out of the shadow was someone I had never seen before.

She had rare dark gray hair in this empire, so I couldn’t mistake her.

“Gray hair? Which family could she be from?”

No family came to mind from the meeting.

Maybe she was from an external noble family?

The only family I could think of was…

“The Esteban dukedom…”

I recalled the deep gray hair of the Duke Esteban I had seen in a past life and shook my head.

That was the only one that came to mind, but the problem was no one from the Esteban family was in our group.

“There’s no connection to begin with.”

Compared to the great ten families who helped found the country, my family was basically a new noble family.

It was very difficult to get into their circle, and even if you did, you could only act as a low-ranking member because of the influence gap.

Those families, already settled in the capital, had no reason to bow and join us, so there was no connection.

I was wondering who this girl was when her eyes sharpened, seemingly displeased that I didn’t answer.

“I said, tell me. Do you believe?”

Maybe she felt ignored. Her tone became sharp, but her proud appearance suited it well.

That aside, I was wondering how to answer.

“Even if I say I don’t believe, she probably won’t be disappointed like the young ladies.”

The problem was, since she was serious about this, she might be a destroyer of innocence.

For example, saying that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist and that your parents are just buying your lost teeth.

“If I say I don’t believe, she might go to the young ladies who firmly believe in fairies and shout that fairies don’t exist…”

If that happened, it might shatter the meeting beyond just innocence.

Any noble would not stand quietly watching their beloved daughters’ tears.

Pedro believed in fairies too, so such a big problem never happened.

I was turning my head trying to figure out how to stop this destroyer of innocence when the girl suddenly laughed.

“Are you so scared that you can’t even answer?”

“.? What?”

Did you think I was too intimidated to answer just because you glared at me?

I looked at him in disbelief.

With such a cute face, how spoiled must he be to think that everyone would tremble in fear just because he frowned?

I scoffed in disbelief, but instead of getting angry and lunging at me like I expected, the kid was actually surprised and opened his eyes wide.

“What, what is it?”

He had a look like, “No way this could be happening?”

His expression was like someone witnessing the collapse of the world’s truths—like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, or night falling and darkness coming.

I was more surprised by his face.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“No, I’m not scared…”

He was so startled that I felt a bit flustered.

I had a feeling I might have crossed some kind of taboo.

My voice trembled slightly, but I tried to act calm, and the kid stared at me blankly.

It was like he was seeing something that shouldn’t exist in this world.

“You, what—”

Just as I was about to ask, the kid suddenly stepped closer.

He came so close that there was barely space for a person between us and looked straight down at me.

“Are you—are you trying to fight?”

I was startled by how close he got, but then the kid held out his hand.

“Your hand—hand? You want it?”

Seeing him silently hold out his hand like for a handshake, the kid suddenly jumped back like he’d touched fire.

“What’s this?”

I felt like I’d seen something like this before.

I didn’t pull my hand back and stayed still, and after hesitating, the kid reached out his hand.

Our fingertips touched, then our palms brushed lightly.

When he gave a slight grip, I returned the hold, and he opened his mouth wide in surprise.

Then he smiled brightly.

***

The first thing Aries did when he sensed something strange about Raymond was to intercept the letter Raymond was sending to Count Estarote.

“P-please give it back!”

The servant in charge trembled as he shouted, but Aries just smiled.

“I’m not taking it for good. I’ll just look at it for a moment and give it back.”

“But…!”

“If you keep quiet about me seeing it, no one will know. I won’t tell anyone.”

The frightened servant bowed down as if he hadn’t seen anything.

Aries coldly sneered and opened the envelope to check the letter.

As he read each line, anger slowly rose in his eyes.

“Hah! What nonsense…”

The letter’s contents were nothing special.

It just mentioned what he ate one morning, what he did during the day, what he did before going to sleep… normal everyday things.

But Aries was dumbfounded.

From her perspective, this was a ridiculous farce of a monster pretending to be an ordinary person.