Chapter 21 

“Hmph, didn’t you say that Farren framed you and bothered you? You don’t need to care about him.” 

“…. No. There must have been some misunderstanding.” 

When Suzanne defended Farren, Cavan said, 

“I’m so glad you came to my family. If you were taken by that viper-like Lady Rodenherg, what would you have been?” 

“Farren’s not going through a bad thing right now, is he?”

“Well, there are no nobles who bring in people and treat them recklessly. That viper is not ordinary, so it might be different.”

Suzanne looked depressed as if she were worried about Farren. 

“I heard it from the maid, but Countess Rodenherg is very… they said she’s a beautiful and nice person. She’s a good person and will soon debut. After the debutante, she will receive a lot of attention from high society. She’s such an amazing person. I guess that you misunderstood her.” 

She praised Medenna for gaining something from Cavan.

As soon as he heard that, Cavan burst into anger. 

“Suzanne! No matter how nice you are, you can’t trust others so recklessly.” 

“I’m sorry…”

“But I know why you’re saying that. Because everyone doesn’t know the real her.” 

Cavan drank the cold tea at once and put the teacup down on the table. 

“I think I’ll feel better if I do something to her.”

He smiled insidiously while thinking about it. “Come to think of it, if she finally started preparing for the debutante, can we decide not to attend it?”

“Huh?”

“Because debutantes are not held very often. It needed to be on a large scale. Okay… I should use this.” 

Suzanne blinked curiously as he continued. 

“You have nothing to worry about. I’ll have to give instructions right away. I drank tea well, Suzanne. See you later.” 

Cavan got up from his seat and become busy.

Suzanne looked at his back and wrapped the teacup with both hands. 

No one noticed the strange smile on her face.

***

The building used as a temporary base at the Lucas Mercenary Guild was narrow and messy. 

For efficiency, Sein is using the base she used when she was a merchant.

There were two people in the innermost room of the building, in the room used as a temporary executive meeting room. 

A black-haired boy and a white-haired middle-aged woman were there.

It was Farren, the mercenary guild manager, and Sein, the external mercenary guild owner. 

Farren was leaning on an old sofa and reviewing documents. 

“How’s the orichalcum purchase?” 

“We’ve secured all the supplies. There’s no problem with warehouse security.” 

orichalcum was a hard mineral mainly used for weapons and armor. However, the need for orichalcum this time was a completely different use. 

“It was quite a novel idea to use orichalcum on jewelry instead of gold or silver. As expected, the master has an excellent eye. It’s the color that makes it stand out. It was also quite suitable for accessories, but I guess everyone didn’t think about using it because of the stereotype.” 

“I guess no one thought about using it.” 

At Rodenherg Mercenary Guild, they found a mine where high-quality pink beryl was mined this time. 

Medenna was secretly planning a new accessory line using pink beryl in collaboration with the jewelry brand of Artisan Street. 

She was going to use the orichalcum for this accessory.

However, originally, there was a concern that the Rodenherg family would receive attention for purchasing the orichalcum.

So, the Lucas Mercenary Guild was going to buy it on behalf of her.

Farren turned the page so quickly that people wondered if he was even reading it, and then stopped. 

“……The purchase price of orichalcum is strange. This time, it’s possible to mine in large quantities at the bottom of the lake in the Ragia Kingdom. So the supply has increased.” 

“Well, the actual price has not gone down due to the price collusion of orichalcum sellers.” 

“It will be a month or two at the longest. I think it’s the role of the sales department to negotiate that part well.” 

“I think the person in charge failed to negotiate. I’m ashamed of myself.” 

“It’s not something you should apologize for. I know that you’re working hard.”

“Haha.” 

Sein spun around a cigarette that had not been lit in consideration of Farren. 

“As you know, it’s quite difficult to find good talent. We can’t get caught having a connection with the Rodenherg family, so we can’t use our connections.” 

“From what others see, it’s a new mercenary guild that’s barely taken off, so they’ll be reluctant to join.” 

“The master leave it to us. Didn’t she say anything?”

When Sein brought up the topic of Medenna, Farren’s stiff face, which had been stiff all the time, slightly loosened. 

“She says she’ll leave it to us. Apart from that, she said she was thinking about recruiting new talent.” 

“Hmm.” 

“However, putting in one or two people does not solve the shortage of manpower. So wouldn’t it be faster to take other guilds?”

“Whoa, let’s see.” 

Sein stroked her chin and nodded. 

“Guilds that already exist are stubborn, so the process will be a challenge.”

“But I think it’s the best way at the moment. Please find candidates for the merger.”

“I’ll do that.” 

After dealing with some other issues, Farren turned the last page.

He sighed. “….And this too, has not been resolved.” 

“That’s right.” 

Farren frowned.

The manpower is not fully recruited yet, so it is working now somehow, but if the number of people increases a little more, the narrow building can withstand it. 

That’s why a month ago, Lucas Mercenary Guild purchased an abandoned building in a commercial district that has reasonable price, not far from Countess Rodenherg’s residence. 

The abandoned building was planned to be renovated and used as a new headquarters building, but there was a strange problem. 

“…The gang is still troubling us.” 

“Yes. They won’t let go of the building.”

“Ugh.” 

The problem was that there was a gang illegally occupying the building using it as its headquarters.

Those people were called savages in the empire.

They were descendants of the Laugel people. 

In the past, the empire had conquered ethnic minorities and small kingdoms by starting a territorial expansion war. 

The territory of the Laugel people was also merged into the empire’s territory. 

However, since they have different appearance than us, they were objects of rejection and contempt. 

The people of the empire treated them as savages, and the government was also neglecting them. 

The reason was that rather than spending the country’s budget on them, it was better to let them live on their own or die. 

For this reason, the Laugels that were originally a minority were really rare now.

The territorial war was a long time ago. 

Nevertheless, they were treated as strangers and were not protected by the country. 

“Well, we can clean them up…”

“But the master won’t allow it. The government won’t say anything about killing them, but the master does.” 

“Yes.” 

Sein bites the tip of a cigarette and said,

“But it’s weird. The timing seemed to be weird.”

 “……… You mean the time the Laugels migrated there?” 

“Yes. Of course, I checked the surrounding environment before buying the building, and at that time, the Laugel people did not live in the building. But just before buying the building and starting construction, they moved in.” 

Farren was thinking about something.

“I’m going to meet the leader of the Laugel people in person.”

“Are you going to meet and negotiate? If it doesn’t work out, there’s a way to give up on the building and take the loss.” 

“I want to avoid that.”

“Why?” 

“I don’t want to report such a minor mistake to the countess.” 

Sein smiled. Since he plays the role of the leader, he only wants to show the perfect side to Medenna. 

It was because he knew well what she wanted to see. 

Farren continued before she could answer anything. 

“And I was thinking about what you said. The timing of the Laugels’ migration is too much of a coincidence.” 

“Yes.” 

“…….Then, there must be a purpose for them to move to the building purchased by us.” 

Even if we give up on the building and buy another building, the Laugel people might be the same. 

There’s a high possibility that they will take action.

“It’s meaningless if we don’t solve the fundamental cause.” 

“That’s right.” 

Farren closed the document and returned it to Sein. 

“Okay. Then let’s set a date to talk to them.” 

“Yes.” 

Farren, who finished his work, did not even greet Sein properly. 

He hurriedly got up from his seat.

He seemed to want to go back to Medenna as soon as possible. 

When he closed the door in a hurry and disappeared, Sein laughed.

It was very funny to see a boy who was perfect in everything, acting like his age.

***

“Lady, what do you think about this?” 

“Well, the silk pattern is pretty, but the fabric is not.” 

“Why don’t you use this one?”

“Let me see. Hmm… It might not be bad. Can you show me the pattern over there?” 

“Yes!” 

Medenna was surrounded by staff and maids on the artisan street as she was choosing a dress for her debutante dress. 

Although she was not interested in it, she was cautious in choosing dresses because it was a matter of dignity for the Rodenherg family. 

“Which of these two colors do you like?” 

When an employee said so, someone knocked urgently. 

It was Farren who came in in a hurry, he came and was gasping for air. 

As soon as he checked the situation in the room and calmed down, he said,

“…I recommend the white one.”

Medenna burst into laughter when she saw Farren.