episode_0021

After all the volunteer work was done, Allen arrived at the inn room with Lily.

“Lily. Would you like to sleep first? I think I need to go out for a bit.”

“… Can’t I come with you?”

Although Lily pleaded with sparkling eyes, what was about to happen next was not good for a child’s mental health.

Allen decided to kindly but firmly refuse Lily’s request.

“… Sorry. But I’ll be here as usual when you wake up.”

“… Okay.”

“You’re kind.”

Swoosh-

Allen patted Lily’s head and then stepped out of the room.

***

“…”

Alone after a long time, Lily lay on the bed with a mix of excitement and fear.

“Mmm…”

Surely, Allen would be there when she woke up, but the fact that he wasn’t there right now was enough to keep Lily from falling asleep.

“Sir.”

In a short time, the fact that Allen, who had already taken a big place in Lily’s heart, was not there made Lily feel incredibly lonely and desolate.

“…”

Then suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

There were two beds in this room.

Allen’s bed and Lily’s bed.

So, if she slept in Allen’s bed, wouldn’t it still have his scent?

“Just for a while…”

Making a brief promise to herself, Lily lay on Allen’s bed and felt an incredibly warm sensation.

“…”

Even though Allen wasn’t there, it felt like he was right beside her.

Before she knew it, the Lily who had promised herself to stay just for a while disappeared, leaving only Lily preparing to fall asleep under Allen’s blanket pulled up to her neck.

“… It’s the gentleman’s fault.”

Since there were two beds anyway, even if she slept in Allen’s bed, he could sleep in his own bed.

With such a simple calculation, Lily closed her eyes.

***

“Now that we’ve successfully dealt with the remnants, it’s time to return to the capital.”

“…”

Irene looked at the knight commander with a cold gaze.

Though one might think there was no fault in following orders as a knight commander, resentment is resentment.

“Our party will act separately from here.”

“Yes? But… His Majesty the Emperor…”

The knight commander tried to persuade Irene with a puzzled expression at her words, but Irene cut him off sharply.

“No. We will split up here.”

“Understood.”

Considering Irene’s reputation alone surpasses that of the empire’s emperor, there was no way to show an oppressive attitude towards her.

The knight commander decided to cleanly discard any lingering regrets.

To pretend to give orders to Irene, one would have to be an emperor, but the knight commander was not an emperor.

“Well then, we will return to the capital now.”

“Take care.”

Nodding slightly, the knight commander returned to where the knights were, and Irene, who had been glaring coldly at him, let out a relieved sigh.

“Now I can go find Allen.”

“You’ll find him soon.”

“Jenny. Jumping to conclusions is forbidden. But… we’ll find him somehow.”

“Yeah.”

Irene vaguely realized that if she couldn’t find Allen soon, she might fall apart.

Therefore, to find Allen as soon as possible, she decided not to hesitate anymore in means and methods.

“Let’s use the Information Guild.”

“Are you serious?”

“I can’t think of any other way. It’s unavoidable.”

“Okay.”

Those who wanted to use the Information Guild had to provide information corresponding to the information they wanted, so most people hesitated to use the Information Guild, but felt there was no other way.

“Let’s go.”

Irene decided to first find the location of the Information Guild in the ‘Last Village.’

Although she knew that the Information Guild existed, she also needed to find out how to find the Information Guild.

Knock-knock-

Creak-

“Are you a guest?”

“I am.”

Having escaped from the inn, Allen could easily find the Information Guild.

As a customer who had used it before joining the Hero Party, he knew enough about the Information Guild.

Entering through the open door revealed a small room with a musty smell.

It was a very shabby and unhygienic small space, but appearance was not important.

“Well, what information are you curious about?”

“…Information about the guy who extorted the poor in the slums of this town recently.”

“Ah, if it’s that information, I definitely know. So… what information will you pay as compensation?”

…”

Allen pondered for a moment.

What information should he pay for?

Demanding information in exchange, if the information fell short of their standards, people wanting to use the Information Guild ultimately had to offer slightly more valuable information than what they wanted.

And that information continued to accumulate into a massive chunk of information, which was then fed back to customers.

From the perspective of the Information Guild, it was an infinite cycle.

“I’ve decided on the information.”

“What information is it?”

“That ‘Allen,’ who was a member of the Hero Party, is living as a mercenary under the alias ‘Irene.’”

“…That’s quite interesting.”

Upon hearing Allen’s words, the man realized Allen’s identity.

Originally, such information was mostly something one couldn’t disclose unless it was about oneself, but since ‘Irene’ was already a somewhat famous figure in this town, he was aware of the disguise.

‘So this person is saying that Allen from the Hero Party.’

No matter how much he thought about it, the information provided was far more valuable than the information Allen sought.

The guild member of the Information Guild felt a rare sense of excitement.

“Alright. Pay for the information. They are… members of an organization established in this town.”

“What organization?”

“…The Red Fist.”

Normally, he would have extracted additional information, but given the magnitude of the information received, the man decided to provide a bit of extra service.

“Thank you. So, where is their hideout?”

…”

Although annoyed by Allen’s persistent questioning about the hideout, the man still answered obediently.

After finally getting the answer, Allen nonchalantly followed the guild’s rules and left.

“…This is amazing.”

And after Allen left, the man picked up the notebook in front of him.

As an artifact provided to the guild members of the Information Guild, this notebook was used to input the information they had gathered.

“Huahh…”

Early in the morning, Lily woke up from her sleep, got up, and blinked her eyes.

Instinctively, she looked around to see if Allen had returned.

“Why are you on the floor.”

…”

Seeing Allen, who had fallen asleep on the floor and just woken up, Lily made a puzzled expression.

Even though she had taken over Allen’s bed, it was still incomprehensible why Allen had chosen to sleep on the floor instead of his own bed.

“Hmm. Good morning.”

“Why did you sleep on the floor?”

“Just because.”

Alan, who was considerate of the girl in her prime of growth, got up from the floor after mumbling something.

“Alright, Lily. Let’s work hard today too.”

Lily continued to gaze at Alan with a mysterious look, but Alan didn’t care and left the room first.

Watching the door that Alan had left through, Lily sighed, put on her hat, and followed after Alan.

“You silly man.”

“Irene. I found a way to contact the Information Guild.”

“Really?”

“Yes. This time, I’m sure.”

The party of heroes, who had stayed in the last village for several days, had put in a lot of effort to find a way to contact the Information Guild, but most of it was in vain.

In the midst of this, when Rebecca said she had found a way to make contact with the Information Guild, Irene hoped desperately that this was true.

“Well… since it’s something we can only do at night… we might have to wait a bit.”

“I hope this time it’s for real…”

In truth, there wasn’t anything special about finding out about the Information Guild.

It was just a simple method that could be learned by quietly asking the bartender while drinking at a tavern, but the hero party did not know this common knowledge.

They tried to find out how to contact the Information Guild through people as best they could, spending a considerable amount of gold coins in the process, but Irene considered it a necessary expense.

“… Well, it’s probably best to take a break until nightfall.”

“Yes. That sounds like a good idea.”

Although it was still uncertain whether this method was true, if it was indeed true, Irene would be able to find out Alan’s whereabouts.