Chapter 21 : Signs of Conflict

Two days passed, and on the morning of the day we were heading to the capital.

Ruina, Elia, and I lightly packed our bags and headed toward Hagen Village.

Today, the only things we needed to do in the capital were to look at houses where we could live and briefly visit the mercenary guild to register as mercenaries.

Since we would only be staying in the capital for about a day, it was enough to pack lightly for just one day.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes, Kael.”

And today, instead of calling a carriage, I ran towards Hagen Village while holding Elia in my arms.

Since we would be walking around looking at various places, we couldn’t afford to spend hours traveling in a carriage.

So, we ran at a speed fast enough to skip a carriage, and after about ten minutes, we arrived at Hagen Village, where Zenre was waiting for us.

“Ah, Master. You’ve arrived?”

“Yes, let’s go right away. Did you sleep well?”

Zenre, who had light luggage like ours, had likely already moved her larger bags ahead and joined us, and we headed straight to the teleportation gate in the center of Hagen Village.

While chatting along the way, we arrived at the teleportation gate.

Maybe due to the expensive price of one gold coin per use, there was no line, so we were able to use the teleportation gate right away.

A huge mana gate, likely around 5 meters in height, exuded an overwhelming presence as if it were a pitch-black mouth.

When the mage in charge of the teleportation gate manipulated the mana crystals, the view of the capital’s streets unfolded beyond the black gate.

“It’s set up. Please travel safely.”

As soon as the mage announced that everything was ready, we stepped through the teleportation gate.

Crackle.

When I opened my eyes again, I was greeted by the bustling streets of the capital.

As expected of the capital of the Kingdom of Shardena, the streets were filled with countless people, and the width of the street was easily several dozen meters.

The sounds of merchants, the clanging of a blacksmith’s hammer, the fragrance of flowers from the flower shop, the smell of food from street vendors—everything, not just sights but also sounds and smells, were incredibly diverse, just like the kingdom itself.

“Wow… Dad, is this the capital?”

“Yes, this is the capital. This is your first time here, right, Elia?”

“Yes! It’s so big!”

Although Hagen Village was by no means a small town, it was still far behind compared to the Kingdom of Shardena.

After all, this was the kingdom where the King himself resided, so it was natural that it couldn’t be compared to a village like Hagen.

The buildings were arranged densely, and in the center was the royal palace, visible from even the busy streets, with roads stretching out in all directions.

Among them, the street we had arrived at via the teleportation gate was the southern road of the kingdom.

Unlike other streets, which had buildings focusing on a single purpose, this street was a comprehensive one, with restaurants, flower shops, blacksmiths, shoe repair shops, and general stores all gathered together.

Murmurs.

“Shall we put on the robes first?”

“Let’s do that. It seems like we’re drawing some attention.”

I patted Elia’s head, who was bouncing excitedly, and took out three robes from the bag I was carrying.

Although it might seem a bit overly self-conscious, both Ruina and I were somewhat famous, and there were always a few people who recognized us wherever we went.

As proof of that, I could already feel the eyes on us from the surroundings.

They weren’t approaching us directly since they were still a bit far off, but I didn’t want to deal with unnecessary attention.

“I can’t believe I almost forgot to put on the robes with all this noise. Have I developed some kind of memory loss lately?”

In fact, we should have worn the robes before using the teleportation gate, but I had been chatting with Zenre, and it slipped my mind.

So now, even though it was a bit late, Ruina and I put on our hooded robes, and I also put a robe on Elia.

Afterward, Zenre, too, took a robe from her bag and put it on.

As the commander of the knight order, she was also recognized by many people, so wearing a robe was inevitable.

Once we all wore our robes, the gazes that had been lingering around us quickly disappeared.

“Well then… shall we go see a house?”

“Mm… I think that’s better. We can go to the mercenary guild later.”

The main reason we came to the kingdom was to look for a house to live in.

The mercenary guild could wait, so our priority for today was to visit some houses and find one we liked.

The only problem was that the process of finding a house would be very boring and unexciting.

It was clear that Elia would soon get tired and start to drag her feet.

So, I glanced down at Elia and asked her.

“Elia, would you like to go look at houses with Mom and Dad? Or would you prefer to go somewhere else and play with Zenre?”

“Umm… can I play?”

Elia hesitated for a moment before asking if she could choose the second option.

She looked worried, as if she was afraid she might be bothering us.

“…Huh? Wait, what did you just say, Master?”

Then, without skipping a beat, Zenre interrupted me as I was about to ask if Elia wanted to play.

However, this was the reason Zenre had come with us today, so I ignored her and nodded at Elia’s question.

“Of course you can play. What do you want to do with Zenre, Elia?”

“No, no, what do you mean by this, Master? I’ve never heard of such a thing…”

Despite Zenre’s interruption, I kept ignoring her as I answered Elia’s question.

“Sorry… is that not okay, Master…?”

Elia looked up at me with pleading eyes, and Zenre, visibly shaken, bit her lip.

It seemed like she was torn between wanting to stop me from passing Elia off to her and being moved by Elia’s plea.

But I could already predict how this internal struggle would end.

“…No, there’s no way it’s not okay. Let’s go have fun together, young lady.”

Elia’s cuteness eventually breaks down Zenre’s initial resistance.

“Wow!”

“Sigh, come here.”

Zenre lifts both arms and ruffles Elia’s hair roughly with both hands.

“Ehehe…!”

“Really… I’ll allow it this time, but next time, you have to help stop her too.”

“Master!”

“Yes, your response is bold and pleasant to hear.”

Seeing Zenre’s determined expression, swearing that this won’t happen again, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

But is it just my imagination that next time won’t be much different from now?

Anyway, with this, it’s decided that Elia will spend some time playing with Zenre.

Zenre lets go of Elia’s hand, but then sees her grabbing his hand and mutters to herself.

Where should I take her that she’d enjoy…? The royal palace is just fancy with nothing fun to see… Gladiator matches aren’t happening at this hour, so…

There’s nowhere… really?

It seems she has no idea where to take her within the royal palace.

Well, though the kingdom had plenty of entertainment, Elia wasn’t fond of things like puppet shows or playing with toys, which most children her age enjoyed.

Instead, she liked rough and intense things, such as gladiator fights or monster battles in the Monster Colosseum.

Because of her unique taste, Zenre seemed deep in thought, wondering where to take her.

Seeing her concern, I pondered for a moment before suggesting an idea.

“How about taking her to the Mercenary Guild? Martin should be there anyway.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

“And if I remember correctly, today is the mercenary exam day, so you could let her watch that too.”

“Sounds great. Alright, I’ll take her to the Mercenary Guild first, so please find a good house for us, Master.”

If there’s nowhere else to take her at this time, the Mercenary Guild might be the best choice.

Zenre seemed to agree with my thought, nodding in approval.

Now that the destination was decided, all that was left was to go about our separate tasks and meet again later.

“Then, we’ll head there first, Master.”

“Dad, Mom, we’ll be back!”

“Take care of Elia, Zenre.”

“Be careful, Elia, Zenre.”

We waved as we watched Elia walk away, exchanging brief farewells.

As the two of them disappeared toward the street where the Mercenary Guild was located, Ruina and I also started walking.

“Shall we check out some real estate?”

“Yeah, I hope there are some good houses available.”

Hoping we’d find a house we liked, Ruina and I headed toward the kingdom’s real estate district.

Meanwhile, in the kingdom’s underground sewers…

Amid filth, stench, and swarming maggots, a man and a woman were having a conversation.

“Ugh, the smell… Do we really have to use this place as a meeting spot? Every time I come here, I feel like my lungs are rotting.”

“Just endure it. We’ll be moving to another location soon anyway. Right now, the mercenaries are hunting down underground syndicates with everything they’ve got, so it’s not a good time to show ourselves.”

“Sigh… That damned Guild Master… Just when things were going well, he had to issue that request.”

The man replied indifferently to the woman’s complaint.

These two were criminals operating in the underground world.

However, unlike ordinary criminals, they worked under a single leader known as the “Strategist,” actively fueling chaos in the underworld.

More precisely, they were high-ranking officers tasked with eliminating those who refused to follow their leader.

For the past two days, they had been hiding, keeping a low profile due to a request issued by Martin, the Mercenary Guild’s Guild Master.

“But since he gave such a grand warning, we should give one in return.”

“Yeah, that’s what the leader ordered.”

However, they had no intention of simply backing down in response to Martin’s warning.

When asked why, the answer was simple—because their leader commanded it.

With that in mind, the hooded man checked whether the underworld syndicates were ready for the conflict that would break out later in the afternoon.

“Our people are in position, right?”

“They’re waiting near the Mercenary Guild. They won’t directly attack the guild building, but the ‘inevitable’ damage will be significant.”

“Good, that should be enough.”

A particular underworld group had been lured in with promises of high ranks and enormous rewards, only to be used as scapegoats.

They were set to attack rival underworld factions and were now hiding in the alleyways near the Mercenary Guild.

By late afternoon today, a conflict between the two factions would erupt.

Attacking the guild directly would mean immediate defeat at Martin’s hands, so instead, they planned to cause simultaneous clashes in multiple alleyways around it.

If that happens, not even Martin will be able to prevent all casualties.

“The price for interfering with us will be paid in the lives of innocent citizens.”

Grinning, the man imagined the kingdom’s streets filled with screams and pools of blood.

Unfortunately for him, the incident was set to unfold today.

But perhaps… it would not go as planned.