Chapter 69

“Oh…”

She avoided my gaze, looking flustered. It was the first time I had seen her like that.

“I won’t ask for an answer right this second. It’s an important matter, after all.”

That was as far as I would push the proposal. I shifted my expression as if nothing had happened.

“Well, since we’re already at the market, let’s grab a bite to eat. Though I’m not sure if any restaurants will have a table.”

I stepped out into the middle of the bustling market. Adele seemed to remain there for a moment, standing still like a statue.

By evening, we returned to the gate. It was already closed. The guards had returned to their posts. As we approached, we could hear the sounds of a heated argument.

“Then what do you want us to do?! You want us to sleep on the street right in front of here?”

“How many times did I tell you we close at five? It’s been over thirty minutes since the gate shut, and you’re just now showing up demanding to cross? What am I supposed to do?”

“What do you mean ‘what’?! Just open it! Why are you guys so cold-hearted? Is it because we’re from the lower district? Is that it?!”

“Look, do I look like I’m being difficult for the sake of it? We’re just employees. We get paid to follow the rules. If we opened the gate every time someone felt like passing through, what’s the point of having a gate or guards at all!”

“I don’t care! Just open the door! You had it open all day today; opening it one more time won’t kill you!”

It looked like the captain of the guard and some lower district residents were at loggerheads. No matter how much the captain tried to explain, the residents were stubborn. We approached them.

Recognizing me, the captain of the guard saluted. “Young Master!”

“You’re working hard.”

I greeted the lower district residents as well. “Good evening.”

“Who are you? Are you this guy’s boss? Then tell this stiff to open the damn door. You have to let us go home!”

“Hmm.”

I pretended to contemplate. I had a feeling something like this might happen. Maybe I should have set the curfew for six o’clock…

“What are you doing?! Open the door already!”

“Part of me wants to do exactly that… but I’m afraid I can’t.”

“What?!”

The expressions of the lower district residents turned menacing.

I said, “We finally established a rule. If I change it on a whim, won’t everyone be confused? It wouldn’t be fair to those who followed the rules and left on time, either.”

“Fairness my foot! Just opening the door solves everything! I knew it—you’re discriminating against us because we’re from the lower district! I saw right through you since you suddenly opened the gates so suspiciously. This was your plan all along!”

If one knows an event will happen and merely stands by, to what extent are they responsible? It’s a rather philosophical question. Izack had pointed this out too.

I had no intention of denying responsibility entirely. However, I didn’t believe it was a reason to overturn a rule once it was established.

“Then, let’s do this.”

I reached inside my coat.

—Clink.

What I pulled out was a pouch of money. As I shook the pouch, a few coins fell into my hand.

“One, two…” I began to count their numbers.

“…What are you doing?” the man who had been protesting asked.

I had just finished my calculation. I spoke up.

“The gate will open again tomorrow morning at nine. Head out then. Your families will worry, but there’s nothing I can do.”

I said this while handing the money to the man.

“If you go to the right side of the market square, you’ll see a building with the lights still on. That’s an inn, so stay there for the night. This amount should be more than enough.”

“Wait…”

The man, having received the money unexpectedly, seemed bewildered.

“Let’s head back, Adele. Guards, keep up the good work.”

I left the saluting guards and the flummoxed residents behind. Adele and I walked back to the palace in silence. She had been quiet ever since I made ‘that proposal.’

As we almost reached our destination, Adele’s footsteps suddenly stopped. When I turned back, a mace held in mid-air was facing me right in front of my nose.

“Answer my question.”

“Will you kill me if I don’t?”

I peeked my face out from behind the mace blocking my vision.

“…”

But without fail, the mace followed my face and blocked my view again.

She said, “What happened at the gate just now.”

“Just now? Or at lunch?”

“Just now.”

I crossed my arms and shifted my weight to one leg. “Alright. What about just now?”

“Did you predict what happened just now?”

“That someone would be late for closing time and get into a scuffle at the gate? Of course I did. Anyone would have.”

“Then was it also the planned sequence to give them money for an inn instead of just opening the door? To intervene in the conflict that way just to boost your reputation?”

“I wonder.”

The moment I answered, Adele’s mace moved an inch closer to me. Having that much weight move right in front of your face was incredibly threatening.

However, I wasn’t scared at all. She couldn’t kill me.

“Answer me properly.”

I raised both hands in a gesture of surrender and spoke.

“Who walks around with enough lodging money for dozens of people just to pay for lunch? You’re asking the obvious. I thought you trusted me a little.”

“I’m asking because I do trust you.”

Trust, huh… I muttered to myself.

She asked, “Then… what about me? How are you predicting things for me? What am I ‘scheduled’ to do next?”

“How should I know that?”

“I thought I told you to answer me properly.”

“I am answering properly. Even if you threaten me with that voice that sounds like an echo in a cave, I don’t know what I don’t know. Do you think I’m some kind of fortune teller?”

“…”

She was silent for a moment. “…I’ll change the question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do I… accept your proposal?”

I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Yes.”

“I am a Hunter of the Emperor.”

“That’s right.”

“And I’m here to keep an eye on you.”

“I know.”

“And yet, you’re saying I’ll make that kind of choice?”

“That is what will happen.”

“How do you know?”

How did I know?

“Because you’re hiding your face with your mace.”

The mace, which hadn’t budged an inch, trembled. Immediately after she withdrew her weapon, her hand flew toward me. She grabbed me by the collar and dragged me down to her eye level.

I didn’t resist. Instead, I brushed her hair back and stared into the empty air behind her.

Avenger bowed deeply toward me.

“I am truly sorry, Young Master.”

I set my spoon back down on the plate. With a smirk, I asked him, “What exactly are you sorry for?”

I sounded like a sulky girlfriend, but Avenger’s attitude remained dead serious.

“I doubted you. I thought you were making a reckless move just to crush the illegal ruling system of the lower district. But…”

“But you’re disappointed because I didn’t?”

“I am disappointed in myself for failing to trust you. I never even imagined that the ‘invasion’ you were plotting was an economic attack on the lower district’s market. I am truly sorry.”

Anyone watching would think he’d committed some capital crime. Why was he being so dramatic? It was making me blush.

“Raise your head.”

“No. Please do not forgive your incompetent Chief Steward.”

“I won’t forgive you, so raise your head.”

Only then did Avenger look up at me. Ha! I was waiting for exactly this moment!

“Now I forgive you.”

“Young Master…”

“It’s my fault for not explaining things properly to you and Mr. Izack in the first place. You did nothing wrong, Chief Steward.”

“That is not true. I opposed you before anything else because I didn’t trust you. I have no excuse.”

“Cough, cough…!”

I broke into a coughing fit. Avenger looked up at me in a panic.

“Are you unwell?!”

“Ugh. I ate too many ‘apologies’¹ and now I have indigestion. Let’s leave it at that. I have plenty of work for you to do anyway.”

“Apologies… ah.”

He’d been had. Caught by my dad-joke.

“…Just say the word. I will carry it out immediately.”

Despite the joke, Avenger’s tone remained solemn. Stubborn man.

I replied, “As you said, I don’t intend to rule the lower district through violence. However, the moment where violence is inevitable will surely come.”

“…”

Avenger didn’t ask questions or talk back. I continued.

“With the gates fully open, Malik must be suffering constant financial losses. Even if I don’t act violently, the lower district will move first.”

“Malik might try to instigate a conflict in the upper district to force us to close the gates.”

Snap.

I snapped my fingers.

“Exactly. That’s why we must strengthen the security of the upper district. It’ll be a problem if a major incident occurs and public opinion turns against opening the gates.”

“Understood. However, to increase patrols, we’ll need to bolster the guard forces. Shall I hire more guards?”

Oh… Avenger felt a lot sharper than before. Still, he didn’t need to be quite so formal. Swallowing a slight bit of regret, I asked him back.

“Is the budget sufficient? We must be reaching the limit soon.”

“I will redirect funds from relatively low-priority areas to the guards.”

“Good. Do that.”

“Understood. Then…”

Avenger bowed and prepared to leave the dining hall. I shouted at his retreating back.

“Make sure you eat, too!”

“…”

There was no verbal reply. Avenger simply turned back, bowed once more, and vanished.

Just then, Adele made a peculiar sound.

“Mmm.”

“?” I turned to her. “What is it?”

“I was thinking about what to call you.”

Here I was talking about violence and strategy, and she was being so carefree.

“Can’t you just call me what you’ve always called me?”

“Should I call you ‘Young Master’ too?”

“I’m not particularly fond of that.”

“Then… ‘Darling’?”

“Right. Let’s go with ‘Young Master.’ It sounds great.”

She chuckled. “No. I like just ‘You’ after all.”

Then why even ask? I glared at her.

“Anyway… you need to cooperate in strengthening the upper district’s security.”

“I know. You said the flames would rise soon, right?”

“Correct. An incident will happen. Definitely.”

However, ten days passed after the opening of the gates, and nothing unusual happened in the upper district.

“This is strange.”

I cupped my chin. “There’s no way nothing is happening.”

“It’s not that nothing has happened,” Adele said. She began counting off trivial matters on her fingers. “Latecomers still protested at the gate after curfew, a lower district person got into a fight over haggling at the market yesterday, and market sales dipped slightly.”

Those couldn’t even be called “incidents.” Something was wrong. There was no way Malik was staying still. I felt like a programmer who had encountered a program with zero bugs.

‘Should I be grateful for the peace, or…?’

But that evening, the news finally arrived. Izack spoke.

“An employee hasn’t returned to the dormitory.”

“Is it one of Malik’s men?”

“No.”

“Hmm… then did Malik persuade a regular lower district resident? Telling them not to contribute labor to the upper district?”

“No.”

He shook his head with an ominous expression. I looked up at him, urging him to continue.

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“The one who didn’t return isn’t a lower district person.”

“Pardon…?”

“The one missing is an upper district employee.”

It was a completely unexpected tragedy.