Ch.41Merchants’ Street (3)

Snake that Swallows the Gold Coins, Dieta.

She is a renowned merchant even in Cambria. She has her peculiarities and often acts based on her interests… but all her concerns ultimately lead to gold coins.

A life solely for gold coins.

Her interests, hobbies, concerns—everything ultimately exists to earn gold coins. A girl who seems born only for gold coins.

Some say she has the qualities of a great merchant, while others point fingers calling her a money-blinded trader. Many have their own assessments of Dieta… but there is a common thread in those evaluations.

Dieta Albania is a born merchant.

Her talent as a merchant is genuine.

No one can deny that fact.

Because Dieta has proven it through her life. Five years. That’s how long it took for Dieta to become the leader of a merchant group representing the city.

An abandoned girl from a noble family achieved this feat solely through her own strength, without borrowing her family’s power. This success story is unshakeable by any means.

However.

The path she walked to build this achievement can hardly be called beautiful, even as empty words. She didn’t discriminate between means and methods to earn gold coins. That’s why she’s called by the derogatory name “Snake that Swallows the Gold Coins.”

A girl who lives only for gold coins.

A miser wearing the mask of a girl.

The fact that Dieta Albania is such a being… at least no one in this merchant district is unaware of it.

“……”

“……”

Following behind Dieta, Najin felt a sense of discomfort. Unlike earlier, no one was speaking to him, which wasn’t strange considering his patron was right beside him, but…

‘The gazes are sharp.’

Their gazes were eerily intense.

He occasionally felt gazes filled with contempt, not mere wariness. Those were familiar gazes to Najin. They were the same looks that people from “uptown” gave him when they visited the underground city.

“……”

Najin silently looked at Dieta. Since he was accompanying Dieta as her escort today, unlike usual, Dieta was walking one step ahead of Najin. Her back view was nothing if not lively and cheerful.

Hmm, hmm-hmm.

Humming a tune, Dieta walked through the merchant district with light steps. Occasionally turning back, she would smile at Najin. As if the gazes directed at her didn’t bother her at all.

……Somehow.

Najin found Dieta’s smile familiar.

Where had he seen such a smile before? While pondering this and silently following Dieta’s steps…

“Tsk.”

The sound of someone clicking their tongue was heard.

It wasn’t Dieta who made the sound. Both Dieta and Najin stopped at the sound. Looking toward the source, there was a man walking from the opposite direction.

Dressed in clothing permitted only to nobles.

Accompanied by a knight bearing his family’s crest.

Najin could tell the man was a noble. He had encountered such figures occasionally while moving through this city. Although Cambria is a city where class distinctions are relatively loose and noble authority doesn’t carry much weight… there are still minimal distinctions.

Najin knew that while there was no need to bow his head upon meeting a noble, it was best not to get entangled with them or disturb their mood.

‘It’s best to keep distance from nobles.’

That was the saying among adventurers.

Getting involved with nobles who must maintain formalities was not a welcome thing for adventurers. Of course, ambitious individuals did engage with nobles to perform significant requests, but it often resulted in losing one’s head when things went wrong.

To those of noble birth, adventurers were merely disposable horses to be used once and discarded.

Therefore, when nobles appeared, adventurers typically waited for them to pass by. But Dieta was different. Though abandoned, she was still a noble family’s child. She didn’t wait for the noble to pass but continued walking.

Tap.

Just as the noble and Dieta were about to pass each other, the approaching noble clicked his tongue again.

“Cambria must be quite nice indeed.”

With a gaze like looking at an insect.

The noble muttered while glancing at Dieta.

“A whore abandoned by her family walking with her head held high before a noble. Unimaginable in the capital.”

A clear insult directed at Dieta.

It was abuse unimaginable between nobles, but Dieta’s face remained perfectly peaceful as she tilted her head to meet the noble’s eyes.

“Do you know me? Son of Count Fraunkel?”

Dieta asked in a gentle voice.

She knew exactly which noble had entered the city and which family they belonged to. The young noble before her was Danor Fraunkel, son of Count Fraunkel.

By rank, he belonged to a family that couldn’t even compare to the Albania Duchy.

However, Dieta was merely wearing a noble’s name card but was an “outsider” abandoned by her family, which is why Danor threw his provocation. To that cheap provocation, Dieta only smiled. After all, she had heard such provocations countless times.

“What, am I wrong?”

Danor curled up the corner of his mouth.

“You tried to gain recognition from Duke Albania using your looks… but the fact that you, who was eventually abandoned, are no different from a whore is known to everyone, isn’t it?”

Danor sneered, and the knight standing beside him also laughed. Even in the face of such insults, Dieta merely smiled. Seeing this, Danor clicked his tongue and turned his head.

Since it wasn’t the reaction he wanted.

“A woman with neither honor nor self-respect, what did I expect.”

Just as Danor was about to pass by…

“Ah, I remember now.”

The escort standing beside Dieta.

Najin let out a short exclamation. Dieta’s expression changed at the unexpected voice. She turned her head to look at Najin.

Najin, who had been looking at Dieta’s face all along, now wore a refreshed expression as if he had just remembered something.

“I was wondering where I’d seen it before.”

Najin was still looking at Dieta.

As if he wasn’t even aware of Danor and his knight’s existence.

Touching the corner of his mouth, Najin smiled.

As if imitating something, or remembering.

Dieta’s eyes widened as she looked at that smile. Though they looked completely different, the smile Najin was making now resembled Dieta’s. This was the smile Najin always wore in the underground city.

‘No wonder it felt familiar.’

It was a face he always saw in mirrors, in flowing blood, in glass cups. The uniquely servile smile of someone worn down to resignation. It was a smile that didn’t suit Dieta, the thriving leader of a merchant group in this city… which is why he hadn’t recognized it immediately.

“You…?”

Just as Dieta, with wide eyes, was about to say something…

“What an impudent fellow. Birds of a feather flock together. Not everyone who carries a sword is a knight…”

Danor, who had momentarily stopped at Najin’s voice, sneered while glancing at Najin. The knight also laughed in agreement with his master. However, Najin didn’t pay attention to their voices.

“Let me ask one thing.”

Najin asked while looking at Dieta.

“Can you handle it if I cause trouble?”

“…What are you planning to do?”

“I just don’t like it.”

Najin smiled while looking only at Dieta. Dieta, who had no way of knowing Najin’s intentions, could only feel bewildered.

“Well… as long as you don’t touch the noble, it should be fine?”

The moment Dieta muttered that…

If it’s fine as long as he doesn’t touch the noble. Najin interpreted this as: it doesn’t matter what happens to the knight standing next to the noble.

“For a knight, his mouth seems quite loose…”

Najin muttered loudly.

Danor and his knight, who had been walking away, stopped. They turned to look at Najin.

“What did you just say?”

Danor asked.

Najin didn’t answer that question. Looking at the knight, not Danor, Najin muttered:

“Respect your opponent. Stay away from mockery. Stay away from insults and keep humility close.”

The virtues of knighthood.

“Aren’t these the virtues a knight should uphold?”

Najin said expressionlessly.

“You’ve already violated more than four just now, are you really a knight?”

To Najin’s question, the knight opened his mouth as if in disbelief.

“You dare speak of knightly virtues before me?”

“Well, does it take something special to recite virtues?”

“This is an insult. For someone who is not a knight to discuss knighthood before a knight…”

“You don’t seem to have become a knight because you’re good with a sword either. How did you become a knight?”

“……What?”

With half-lidded eyes, Najin pointed to the knight’s waist. The sword hanging there showed no signs of wear. A sword with no sense of use.

Provocation, and insult.

The knight’s brow furrowed, and his master’s expression crumpled. Najin, realizing the situation had escalated, pushed the knight further.

“Why is your tongue so long?”

Najin said expressionlessly while tapping his sword hilt.

“If you’re so confident, come at me.”

And so.

The situation has come to this.

2.

A knight drawing his sword in the middle of the main road.

And Najin pointing his blade at such a knight.

The expressions of Dieta watching this and Danor, the knight’s master, were completely opposite. Danor’s face was crumpled with displeasure, while Dieta, though surprised by Najin’s sudden action, had a trembling smile at the corner of her mouth from laughter she couldn’t suppress.

Because the situation was strange.

It was an insult that could have been ignored as usual. Words she had always heard, and could have just let pass as always. Najin’s direct confrontation to such an insult was refreshing to Dieta.

There wasn’t much to gain from acting this way.

Why was Najin performing such an eccentric act?

Dieta couldn’t understand. It didn’t seem like he was stepping up because his master was insulted…

“Come at me, boy.”

“I’ll give you a handicap.”

“What…?”

Amidst Dieta’s confusion.

“Because I think I handle a sword better than you.”

“Such insolence…!”

The duel began.

The knight with bulging eyes rushed toward Najin.

“I don’t know where his confidence comes from, but he’ll be disgraced soon enough. When the master is like that, the subordinates can’t be managed properly.”

Danor sneered, certain of victory. Hearing that self-assured voice in one ear and letting it out the other, Dieta looked at Najin.

‘Was he always like this?’

Wasn’t he more taciturn and quiet?

Dieta had thought of Najin as a rigid, emotionally restrained individual. But the Najin before her eyes was different from usual. A lighter, provocative young man with a more vivid smile.

It was as if some trigger had released his original personality. It wasn’t hard to recall what that trigger might have been. The smile he had shown just before.

“……”

Dieta silently recalled that smile.

A smile surprisingly similar to her own. A smile that even evoked a sense of kinship. It was difficult to believe it was mere imitation.

‘Just who…’

Dieta looked at Najin.

A young man whose age and name seemed false. But that smile he showed earlier seemed genuine.

Clang!

Najin and the knight’s swords clashed.

Naturally, the knight clashing swords with Najin had reached the level of Sword Expert, but he didn’t draw out his sword energy. His minimal pride wouldn’t allow it.

He would make Najin kneel with swordsmanship alone.

He would show this insolent youngster the difference between them.

With such thoughts, the knight swung his sword.

However, Najin received the knight’s sword swings all too easily. As he parried the sword, Najin’s expression grew colder.

‘The knights I know.’

Are not like this at all.

Their swords are not this light, nor this frivolous.

The knights Najin knew and had seen were not such beings. This was not the knight Najin dreamed of. Weren’t knights supposed to be noble beings with honor and pride? The knight before him showed no honor.

The same went for pride.

All that could be felt was stubbornness.

Najin, who had been merely parrying, took a step forward. The knight was pushed back one step. Najin continued to step forward, and the knight, sweating coldly, began to be pushed back.

Watching this, the knight’s master Danor’s expression lost its composure. The knight’s face also contorted.

Clang, Clang!

Najin’s swordsmanship was already on track.

Najin’s eyes read the trajectory of the knight’s sword all too easily. Bringing Najin to his knees with pure swordsmanship is only possible for priests of the Order of the Sword who are dedicated to the art.

The knight, who had neglected his training, was not enough to break Najin’s sword, which was neither light nor sloppy.

“Kuk!”

The cornered knight’s sword gleamed. A gathering radiance. Seeing the knight finally breaking his stubbornness and trying to draw out his sword energy, Najin clicked his tongue. Just before the radiance took the form of sword energy, Najin reached out.

Grab.

And seized the knight’s wrist. Then, with a single breath. The sword energy about to rise over the sword scattered in an instant. Neither the spectators watching nor the knight himself understood what had happened in that moment.

-Wow.

Only Merlin realized.

What Najin had just done.

-This guy is completely insane?

Merlin let out a hollow laugh.

Najin’s cultivation method that absorbs external mana. Using this, Najin had intercepted the mana trying to extend from the knight’s body to his sword.

Najin twisted the wrist of the knight who was confused by the lack of sword energy. Then he struck the knight’s hand with the pommel of his sword.

“Kugh!”

The knight dropped his sword.

A knight who lost his sword and Najin who held his. Without anyone needing to judge, the result was overwhelming. The murmurs of the spectators watching the duel grew louder.

“What is this…!”

Danor’s face turned red.

The knight’s eyes bulged.

With winner and loser decided, Najin walked toward Dieta who had been watching him. Then he silently looked at Dieta.

An expression mixing embarrassment, exhilaration, and disbelief. Looking at Dieta who was making a natural expression with her mask removed, Najin spoke briefly.

“That’s better.”

“…Pardon?”

“I said it’s better than your face earlier.”

Dieta blinked blankly.

Najin, who had remained expressionless even after winning the duel with the knight, smiled as soon as he saw Dieta’s changed face.

The reason Najin caused this trouble was simple.

He just didn’t like it.

He didn’t like seeing Dieta with the same smile he had in the underground city. Only after seeing her changed expression did Najin, as if feeling relieved, extend his hand to the seated Dieta.

It was an abbreviated form of escort he had learned from Passion.

It had always been Dieta who extended her hand to Najin first, but now Najin was the one extending his hand first. Dieta, who had been blinking in disbelief, burst into laughter.

“You really are an interesting person.”