Ch.26The City of Opportunity, Cambria (2)

“I’ll buy you a meal.”

Najin looked at the girl who extended her hand to him.

A girl who appeared to be around his age.

Her common light brown hair didn’t catch the eye, but her eyes, gleaming with desire, were enough to draw attention. Those bright golden eyes were quite rare.

Some might see the glint of gold coins in those eyes, while others might be reminded of a snake’s gaze.

Eyes that made no attempt to hide their desire, and thus nakedly revealed their intentions. The emotion in those eyes was interest. After meeting her gaze, Najin lowered his eyes to look at the outstretched hand.

A hand wearing a snow-white glove.

Najin grabbed that hand and stood up. Then he followed behind the girl who walked ahead. One hand rested on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

-This seems suspicious. Are you sure about following her?

She’s offering a free meal.

While muttering this to himself, Najin remained vigilant. However, despite his caution, the girl simply led him to an ordinary restaurant.

A restaurant located in the central plaza of Cambria.

What greeted Najin as he entered the visibly upscale establishment wasn’t a vicious blade… but the fragrant aroma of food that made his hungry stomach growl.

“Sit there.”

Najin maintained his guard until the moment he sat down, but he couldn’t remain vigilant in front of the dishes that were placed on the table one after another.

…Gulp.

Foods he had never seen in the underground city. Faced with warm, aromatic dishes, Najin unconsciously swallowed his saliva. The hand that had been resting on his sword hilt was now reaching for a fork on the table.

“You must be hungry.”

The girl smiled as she watched Najin.

“Shall we eat first and talk later?”

What had seemed like a sinister smile earlier now appeared saintly. Najin removed his hand from the sword hilt and grabbed the fork.

* * *

It was delicious. Truly.

Even considering it was his first proper meal in days, it was a genuinely moving experience. When chewing a perfectly cooked piece of meat, Najin almost shed a tear.

So, the people from the upper city lived eating such food every day?

In the underground city, even a feast consisted of dried-up meat of unknown age or dishes made from leftover animal parts from the upper city’s slaughterhouses. Even such meals were only available when Ivan held special events in the city…

‘This is on another level.’

Najin was genuinely impressed by the upper city’s food—tender, not dry, rich, and filling. He felt a similar emotion to when he was young, scavenging through garbage before catching Ivan’s eye and having his first proper meal.

As Najin was rinsing his mouth with water after finishing his meal, the girl sitting across from him finally spoke.

“Was it good? This is my favorite restaurant.”

Najin nodded vigorously.

His wariness had already subsided. Whatever her intentions were for treating him to such a meal, Najin was willing to consider them quite positively.

Najin adjusted his posture. Seeing that he was ready to listen, the girl began to speak.

“First, let me introduce myself.”

She took out a nameplate from her bosom and handed it to Najin. Having learned to read and write the Empire’s standard script from Ivan, it wasn’t difficult for Najin to read what was written on the nameplate.

A nameplate stating she was the head of the Dieta merchant group, with the names of high-ranking officials who recognized the group’s legitimate authority densely written on it. At the very top was what appeared to be the girl’s name.

Dieta ■■■■■.

The characters that followed were illegible. Rather than being worn away with age, it seemed as if someone had deliberately erased the letters by slashing them with a knife. Tilting his head in confusion, Najin returned the nameplate to the girl.

“My name is Dieta.”

She spoke as she took back the nameplate from Najin.

“As written on the nameplate, I’m the head of the ‘Dieta Merchant Group’ operating in Cambria. I’m quite well-known in this city…”

She glanced at Najin.

“But it seems you’re new to this city?”

“I just arrived today.”

“And you haven’t received your nameplate yet?”

“I heard it costs money, and I don’t have any.”

A nameplate was necessary to officially accept requests and operate in this city. But obtaining one required money.

And Najin had no money.

The travel funds that Offen had provided when he left the underground city had been spent getting to this city.

“So you really came to this city empty-handed?”

“I have quite a story.”

“In this city, it’s harder to find someone without a story.”

Dieta tilted her teacup.

After moistening her throat with tea, she spoke. As if this was the main point.

“You seem to be in a difficult situation… Would you be interested in making a deal with me?”

“A deal?”

“Yes, a deal. I’ve been having a problem that’s been giving me a headache lately.”

Najin sensed it. So this is the main point.

Not a meal offered out of pure goodwill, but one with an intention or something expected in return. This was actually more comfortable for Najin.

Pure goodwill was difficult to understand.

But the latter was intuitive and easier to comprehend.

Yet something still bothered him. What would someone of a merchant group head’s stature want from him? As Najin listened to Dieta’s words, his eyes narrowed.

“So,”

Najin spoke after listening carefully to Dieta.

“You want me to catch and punish the group that tampered with your merchant group’s ledger. Is that right?”

“Exactly. They messed with the ledger and hid in the alleyways. I’ve reported it, but the city guards aren’t very reliable.”

“But why me?”

Najin’s question was reasonable.

If the merchant group was that large, they could hire private soldiers or other mercenaries instead of entrusting the task to someone like him whose abilities were unproven.

“Does the reason matter that much?”

Dieta answered briefly to that question.

“What’s important is that I’m offering you a good opportunity… and that accepting this request won’t disadvantage you in any way, don’t you think?”

She was asking if her intentions really mattered.

“It’s fine if you don’t accept. I won’t do something petty like demanding payment for the meal if you refuse, so don’t worry.”

Dieta was just smiling as before.

Although that smile was quite suspicious, Najin decided not to dig deeper. As she said, there was nothing to lose for him in this deal.

It was certainly an attractive offer.

The amount of money Dieta offered to pay if he caught them seemed substantial even to Najin, who didn’t have a good sense of money yet.

-It’s definitely not a losing proposition. But there’s one thing you need to check, right?

Merlin’s voice echoed in his ear.

Najin answered inwardly. It seemed Merlin was thinking the same thing as him.

‘I just need to confirm whether the people she wants me to catch are real criminals or not.’

If not, this could be a trap.

If he went around apprehending people without discretion like in the underground city where Ivan was the law, he could become a criminal in an instant. Najin was aware of this.

-You’re not completely clueless, I see.

Leaving Merlin’s satisfied response behind, Najin nodded.

“Do you have any descriptions of them?”

“You can choose from these. You don’t need to take all of them, just as many as you want.”

Dieta laid out wanted posters in front of Najin.

There were about six posters. As Najin examined them, he suddenly smiled.

Three out of the six wanted posters.

They were for people who had reportedly hidden in a setting very familiar to Najin. He pointed to those three posters.

“I’ll take these.”

“…Three at once?”

Leaving behind a slightly surprised Dieta, Najin stood up with the wanted posters containing detailed information and descriptions of the targets.

“One last thing,”

Najin asked Dieta before leaving.

“What’s the combat level of the targets? For instance, can they handle mana… or draw sword energy?”

“…Excuse me?”

For the first time, there was a significant change in Dieta’s expression, which had remained unchanged while wearing a seemingly harmless smile. She made an odd face at Najin’s question.

An expression that seemed to ask if this really needed explanation.

But soon Dieta corrected her expression and answered.

“If they could draw sword energy, they’d be Sword Experts… In that case, I would hire knights or professional mercenary groups. And the request fee would have a couple more zeros attached.”

She explained step by step.

“I heard they hired some guards, but they probably just handle blades at a basic level. People who can draw sword energy don’t come cheap.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Have you been training deep in the mountains or something? This is common knowledge.”

Deep in the mountains, huh.

Najin chuckled and nodded.

“Something like that.”

“…Pardon?”

“I’ll be back soon. And thank you for the meal. It was filling.”

Just as he was about to leave the restaurant.

Najin lowered his gaze. His eyes fell on a man sitting in a corner of the restaurant. A man who had been observing him and Dieta since they entered.

The man’s and Najin’s eyes met.

It was a gaze that seemed to pierce through him, but Najin didn’t avoid it and instead looked straight back at the man. As if asking what he was staring at. After their gazes clashed in mid-air for a moment, the man let out a hollow laugh and turned away first.

Leaving the man behind, Najin left the restaurant.

Before leaving, he made sure to note the restaurant’s sign and location. Thinking that he must come back once he earned some money, Najin walked away.

2.

Shortly after Najin left the restaurant.

A man approached Dieta, who was sitting alone sipping tea. It was Passion, a knight who had been hovering around Dieta, guarding her.

The only knight who had followed her when she ran away from the Albania family. Glancing at Passion, a knight who had been indebted to her now-deceased mother, Dieta spoke.

“How was he, Sir Passion?”

“Not bad. He noticed me.”

“…He noticed you?”

“Yes. I was concealing my presence, but he seemed to notice. He stared at me for quite a while before leaving.”

Passion laughed incredulously.

“A bold youngster, it seems.”

“Any notable points?”

“He seems to have good eyes, but nothing else stood out. By the way…”

Passion sighed.

“As I always say, I wish you would refrain from dealing with those hidden in back alleys. They’re unpredictable.”

“That’s what makes it interesting, Sir Passion, you don’t understand.”

Dieta chuckled.

“If you once felt the joy of finding things that shine in places without light, you’d understand too, Sir Passion. Sometimes, something brilliant emerges from the alleys. Being able to make a good impression on talented individuals with just a meal? This is a complete win for me.”

“Considering you’ve bought meals for nearly 40 people so far, and only two of them have been worth it, it seems like a very worthwhile investment.”

“Now it’s three.”

“…Pardon?”

“Including the boy who just left, that makes three. Three out of forty isn’t bad, right?”

She spoke with certainty.

“……”

Passion silently glanced at his master.

Although she belonged to the Albania family, she didn’t have the shining blonde hair characteristic of the Albania family members. It was because she had strongly inherited her mother’s genes rather than her father’s.

But those eyes.

Those snake-like, bright yellow eyes that assessed and penetrated people’s worth were just like those of the head of the Albania family. Looking at his master’s sometimes chilling eyes, Passion inwardly sighed.

When his master was this confident, there was often something special about the person.

“You seem to have taken quite a liking to that boy.”

“Well, he’s handsome for one.”

“…Was that the reason?”

“There are other reasons too.”

Dieta trailed off.

“It’s not something you’d understand even if I explained. It’s just intuitive.”

Recalling the boy’s appearance, Dieta rested her chin on her hand.

A sharp, alert presence. The boy carried the unique atmosphere of someone who had crawled up from the bottom. However, his eyes were different.

Eyes with a clear light, untainted by anything.

Eyes that were incongruous with the atmosphere surrounding the boy. Dieta found interest in those eyes. The boy was still dirty, stained, and seemed like a rookie with many stories who had just set foot in the city, but…

“There’s something there. I’m not sure what it is.”

“A feeling?”

“Something like that.”

Dieta chuckled with her chin resting on her hand.

“Sir Passion, want to make a bet with me?”

“About what?”

“How many days it will take for that boy to complete the request and return. How many days would you bet on?”

After a moment’s consideration, Passion spoke.

Passion bet on a week, while Dieta bet on four days. These were periods that reflected positive assessments of the boy. Even Passion’s one-week timeframe was quite tight by the standards of “ordinary bounty hunters.”

Dieta had not lied to the boy.

Indeed, the combat abilities of the targets the boy had chosen were unremarkable. The problem was their escape skills. Coming from the back alleys, they navigated the city’s maze-like alleyways as if they were their own home.

While finding them might not be difficult…

Catching them was by no means an easy task.

3.

-It’s not a trap.

“I know. It’s suspicious, but…”

The request put forth by the girl named Dieta.

After confirming that the targets of the request were wanted criminals, Najin was heading straight for the alleyways. There was a street that Dieta had marked as the area where they appeared.

As he stepped into that street, Najin took a deep breath. The stale air of the back alley was familiar to Najin. Although the alley was dark due to the lack of sunlight, this wasn’t a problem for Najin either.

For Najin, who had lived in places untouched by light, such vision in darkness was familiar.

“I can’t deny it’s a good opportunity.”

Indeed, it was a good opportunity.

To live in this city and establish a foundation for growth, what Najin needed was initial capital.

Money was needed to find a place to stay, and money was needed to avoid hunger. He didn’t need a lot, but he wanted to secure enough to not be strapped for cash.

“Let’s earn hard and then start.”

-Right. At the very least, a person shouldn’t have to scavenge through trash to survive.

“I told you that was a joke.”

Leaving the grumbling Merlin behind, Najin slowly regulated his breathing. As Najin was lightly warming up, Merlin whispered in his ear.

-But do you have a plan? It seems difficult to find them in such a dark place. Why those three posters specifically?

To that question, Najin just smiled.

The three wanted posters Najin had chosen.

The place where those three fugitives had been spotted was none other than the city’s secluded alleyways. In other words, an environment very similar to the underground city.

“Well.”

A familiar stage.

And a familiar task.

“This is my specialty.”

The executioner of an organization that had long operated as Ivan’s hunting dog smiled. Catching and punishing those who ran off with money had always been Najin’s specialty.