Chapter: 04
We arrived at the San Miguel territory castle earlier than expected.
There had been an underground passage not far from where we had eaten lunch.
It seemed the members secretly entered and exited the territory castle through here.
The path was short, but I heard several things.
- The only person inside San Miguel who knew the identity of the Irregulars was the lord, the viscount. His retainers and employees did not know.
- Because of that, the members used fake identities inside San Miguel Castle.
- Among them, the elite squad disguised themselves as knights, while Danju disguised himself as a military strategist.
And the final fourth thing was….
“So these are all weapons made by Tekari. Look, it’s written right here. ‘Tekari.’”
The members held up their weapons one by one and proudly grinned.
I quietly said.
“…Dae-ga-ri.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“Yeah?”
“…It says ‘Daegari.’”
In an instant, the members went silent.
And not long after, while we continued toward the territory castle, they glared fiercely at their weapons that they had been treating like sacred treasures.
“This damn old blacksmith….”
“How dare he trick us?”
“I won’t let him off!”
The members threw down their luggage and ran off like the wind.
That was right.
This was the final fourth thing.
‘The members have a high illiteracy rate.’
So that was why they had no choice but to entrust the ledger to Antonio.
Among them, Antonio was the only one who could somewhat write.
Even Antonio was gritting his teeth and looked ready to run off and find that old blacksmith.
‘Tekari is a difficult word.’
Especially because he used ancient script instead of ordinary language to make it look more sophisticated.
That was when it happened.
As soon as we arrived at the castle, the member who had taken Danju and the San Miguel Viscount somewhere returned.
“The deputy leader is calling for you.”
Antonio stopped.
He clicked his tongue and said to me.
“Wait here for a moment. I’ll meet only the deputy leader, crush that old blacksmith, and then show you the real Tekari-made weapons.”
Then the member said.
“He ordered that the lady over there should come as well.”
“Yustea? Why?”
“I wasn’t told the reason.”
Antonio shrugged.
“Maybe he wants to pay her wages.”
At those words, I remembered my situation again.
‘We agreed I would only accompany them as a worker doing odd jobs.’
But why did the deputy leader want to see me personally?
If it was about wages, he could have simply sent another employee to deliver them.
Thinking that, I followed Antonio and the member.
On the way, we chatted quietly.
“That damn miser. How dare he scam us?”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you learned the letters? Then you wouldn’t get scammed again.”
“Imperial language is difficult. Common script, formal script, ancient script… Why are there so many kinds of letters?”
“You only need to memorize the character ‘Te.’ Ancient script looks difficult because it’s pictographic, but it actually came from drawings.”
“Drawings?”
“Tekari means ‘forged by a typhoon.’ ‘Te’ means typhoon. It looks like this….”
I took out the notebook I had put in my bag and wrote the character for ‘Te.’
“This part is a house. This part is wind. If you look at it this way, it looks like a house being blown away by the wind, right?”
“Indeed.”
While talking like that, we arrived at the captain of the knights’ office.
The deputy leader’s fake identity seemed to be the captain of the knights.
When the member knocked, a low voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
Soon, Antonio and I entered the captain’s office.
And when I faced the deputy leader sitting at the desk, I was shocked.
‘Were the elite squad chosen just by their faces?’
He had such an intense beauty that made me think that.
He was a handsome man with a refined, urban appearance, long horizontal eyes, and a sharp nose.
Black hair and gray eyes.
His clean and ascetic impression made him look like the ideal knight.
‘If someone didn’t know, they would never realize he was an assassin.’
The deputy leader kept his eyes fixed on the documents and asked.
“A daughter who was kicked out of Andres.”
It seemed the members had already told him about me.
His gaze was sharp.
Now I understood why the deputy leader was personally giving me wages.
He suspected a baggage carrier from the Marquis family who had suddenly joined the members.
So he wanted to inspect me himself.
I nervously clasped my hands together.
“My name is Yustea. It’s my first time meeting you. I know it’s rude to ask when we’ve just met, but instead of wages, could I perhaps find a job working in the castle—”
“You’re foolish.”
“…!”
The deputy leader looked at me.
His cold gray eyes pierced into me like arrows.
“A daughter kicked out of the Marquis family. Unless you are someone desperately trying to attract attention, who would hire you?”
I was speechless.
Indeed, a place sensitive about security like the assassin group’s headquarters probably wouldn’t hire me either.
‘I thought I might have gotten a chance because the members liked me.’
When I became quiet, Antonio’s expression hardened.
“Controlling information is your specialty, deputy leader. If you do this—”
“Information control for the sake of a worker? We must have money to burn.”
“She works well. She’s a good kid too.”
However, the deputy leader stood up without any emotion.
Then he walked toward me.
“I know you are good at handling things. You wrapped Antonio around your finger nicely.”
“…”
“That’s why I am even more reluctant to let you leave alive.”
“…”
I silently lowered my head.
Seeing that, Antonio became angry and stepped between me and the deputy leader.
“She worked hard. She didn’t even sleep a moment while coming here. She woke up before dawn every day to prepare our meals, and even while we rested and ate, she mended my clothes and looked after Danju.”
“If I were in her position, that amount of effort would be natural.”
“Deputy leader!”
“The girl learned the location of the Irregulars’ headquarters and saw the faces of the members. Do you not understand how dangerous the information she has is?”
“Are you saying you’ll kill her?”
“The most certain and clean method.”
“This bastard really…!”
Antonio shouted, throwing away even his manners.
I suddenly raised my head.
“Thank you!”
“…What?”
“…?”
The two of them looked at me at the same time.
I awkwardly scratched my head.
“If I were in your position, deputy leader, I wouldn’t have bothered calling her all the way here. I would have dealt with it immediately when I entered the castle.”
But there was only one reason he had me stand in front of him and argued with Antonio.
“It means you’re telling me to watch what I say if I want to live, right?”
Antonio looked dumbfounded.
“You mean the deputy leader threatened you. How is that something to be thankful for?”
“You didn’t mention my mother.”
“…”
“You must know the most effective thing to use in a threat is a hostage.”
After being thrown out of my family, countless people threatened to kill me.
The cruel ones said they would hurt my mother.
Then I stayed awake for days and nights protecting her.
My own death would have been easier to accept, but the thought of my innocent mother dying because of me was unbearably frightening.
“Not touching someone’s weakest point is a kind thing.”
“…”
“…”
The deputy leader and Antonio fell silent.
I bowed deeply once again and said.
“Thank you for everything until now.”
I couldn’t help it.
Since the deputy leader was firm, I had to give up working at the castle.
Instead, I would find work near the castle.
The deputy leader watched Yustea leave the castle through the window.
‘What a strange girl.’
She thanked him for threatening her instead of killing her?
That made no sense.
If he was truly someone worthy of receiving gratitude, then the first thing he should have done was thank Yustea for safely bringing Danju and the members back to the castle.
This mission had not been easy.
Because it was the destruction of one of the Empire’s prestigious families.
The members should have been exhausted.
But instead, they were full of energy.
It was probably because this girl named Yustea had taken such good care of them.
‘She had every right to feel wronged after being threatened so suddenly.’
The deputy leader sighed and turned his gaze away.
His eyes met Antonio, who was sitting crookedly on the sofa.
He had a very displeased expression.
“Do you even have a human heart?”
“Stop talking nonsense and bring me the ledger.”
Antonio clicked his tongue and threw the ledger.
The deputy leader easily caught it with one hand and sat back at the desk.
‘How much of a mess will it be?’
He had assigned the ledger to Antonio because he was slightly better than the other members.
But it would probably be a complete disaster.
Yet something was strange.
Purchase costs, sellers, items, quantities, prices, and reasons for purchase were neatly organized.
Receipts and contact information for the people in charge were attached.
Even the layout was neatly arranged so all the information could be seen at a glance.
‘The touch of a divinely gifted worker?’
The deputy leader looked at Antonio.
“What is this?”
“The ledger.”
“I’m not asking because I don’t know that. I’m asking who wrote it.”
Teaching him letters alone had been difficult. There was no way he suddenly gained this kind of practical sense.
“Ah. Yustea wrote it.”
“That girl just now…?”
At that moment, a desire to catch that girl surged inside him.
How difficult had it been to work while leading Irregulars who could only use their bodies?
They had improved slightly after taking control of San Miguel, but there were no talented people in a small city.
All the capable talents had gone to the great families.
‘Calm down.’
Closing the treasure-like ledger, he held his aching head.
Then he looked at Antonio.
“I’m not telling you to do this much. At least learn enough letters to properly write the items.”
“To that miser? Ugh, I hate it.”
“That miser is a teacher we barely managed to find. Do you think there are many people who can teach letters among those who can get involved with the assassins?”
“Even so, I hate that miser. He acts so arrogant that I had to hold myself back from snapping his neck—”
Bang!
The deputy leader threw a book at Antonio.
“Ow!”
“So that’s why you broke his leg instead of his neck?”
Because Antonio had broken the teacher’s leg, the lesson fee that had been 10 gold increased to 20 gold.
Twenty gold was enough for an entire unit to eat and sleep for a couple of months.
“You are part of the elite squad. When Danju enters noble society, you must also support him from the front.”
That was why he was paying the 20 gold fee despite being furious.
Antonio rubbed his head and grumbled.
“That miser isn’t even good at teaching. Something Yustea did in five minutes, that guy—”
Why did Yustea appear again?
The deputy leader looked at Antonio as if asking what he meant.
“She even taught me ancient script.”
“Ancient script? You can’t even do common script.”
“I really know it, okay?”
Frustrated, Antonio looked around and pointed at the deputy leader’s shield hanging on the wall.
“That’s ‘Te,’ isn’t it?”
“…!”
The deputy leader flinched and looked at the shield.
Then he stiffly turned his neck back toward Antonio.
“…You don’t mean you know it’s Tekari because you actually understand it?”
Antonio jumped up.
He searched through the documents on the desk and found a character.
“This is ‘Basa.’ It means tiger.”
“…”
“It’s used when talking about a man like me.”
Antonio proudly raised his chin.
The deputy leader checked the character with trembling eyes.
It really was the character for ‘Basa.’
“Did she… really teach you this?”
“I told you.”
If someone taught him properly, he could learn very well.
The reason he had changed eleven teachers until now was because they couldn’t teach him.
Antonio smiled arrogantly.
The deputy leader stood frozen in place and recalled the process until the teachers resigned.
The progression of language from common script, to formal script, to ancient script.
The teachers who had come searching desperately after being hired by the Irregulars’ informants got stuck at common script.
Then they treated Antonio, who did not follow their expectations, like a bug and got beaten up.
And when the deputy leader came to clean up the mess….
“Eek!”
“Please spare me. Please.”
They were so frightened that they begged him to accept their resignation letters.
‘But not common script, not formal script, but ancient script?’
And in that short amount of time?
The moment he realized this—
Bang!
The deputy leader immediately rushed outside.
And shouted desperately.
“Where is the teacher?”
Information control is difficult?
He would do it.
Because the only person who could teach that fool was Teacher Yustea.
…Was this a dream?
I stared blankly at the employees of San Miguel territory who were smiling brightly.
Only an hour ago, I had clearly been kicked out and was leaving.
Of course, I had not given up.
‘If I couldn’t work in the castle, I was going to find a job in a nearby village.’
But then….
I was called back to the castle.
And this time, employees who looked quite high-ranking were even holding out a dress to me.
“The captain of the knights sent this.”
The deputy leader?
I was bewildered, but when the employee offered it again, I accepted the clothes first.
‘Wow, it’s a nice dress.’
A light and soft material.
A lovely design that girls my age would cheer for.
‘Why are they giving such nice clothes to me?’
Was it instead of wages?
But it was too much for wages.
‘Could it be that he’s giving me this and asking me to leave the city entirely?’
I became anxious and asked the employee.
“Did the captain say anything else?”
“He received an urgent summons and had to leave for a while. He instructed us to treat the guest well until he returns.”
Those words made me even more uneasy.
Then it happened.
“I heard the captain prepared a dress?”
A bright and clear voice came from behind.
A girl with flowing blonde hair entered, looking very excited.
The girl who had come in happily suddenly stopped.
After seeing the dress in my hands.
“Why are you holding that dress?”
“Ah, that’s…”
Before I could answer, the girl walked over, grabbed the dress, and pulled it away.
Then she shouted at the employees.
“Why did you let such dirty hands touch such precious clothes?”
My hands were covered in scratches, and they were stained from preparing ingredients.
So they probably looked very dirty.
‘It only looks that way. I washed them properly.’
The girl glared at the employees with an annoyed expression.
“Be grateful that I’m in a good mood. Otherwise, I would have told my uncle and made sure you were punished.”
Then she held the clothes against herself, checking them from different angles.
“The captain is so cute. Did he prepare such clothes and think I wouldn’t know they were a gift for me?”
Then she laughed happily and hugged the dress.
“He pretends not to care, but actually he was worried about the lord’s niece.”
At those words, I realized who the girl was.
‘She is San Miguel Viscount’s niece.’
The girl the viscount recommended as Danju’s adopted daughter.
But…
‘Hmm.’
That dress was given to me by the deputy leader.
The employees had clearly handed it to me and said, “The captain of the knights sent this.”
But judging from the situation, this girl seemed to think it belonged to her.
And judging by her reaction, she seemed to know about the Irregulars.
Well, that made sense. She was trying to become Danju’s adopted daughter under the identity of the lord’s niece.
‘If I leave it alone, she’ll be embarrassed.’
The viscount’s niece smiled brightly and said.
“I should try it on.”
Thinking that things would get worse if I let it continue, I carefully approached her and whispered.
“That is the dress the captain gave me.”
The viscount’s niece looked at me.
I added quickly so she wouldn’t become more embarrassed.
“It seems the captain prepared a similar dress for you as well. You may have misunderstood—”
That was when.
Thud!
The viscount’s niece shoved my shoulder hard.
Because of that, I fell down.
My tailbone hit the floor, making my eyes sting with pain.
“Ugh…”
“How dare a sewer rat like you try to deceive someone. Do you really think clothes like this suit someone like you?”
The employees flinched at the viscount’s niece shouting.
Then—
“What is going on?”
The deputy leader’s voice was heard.
