Ouroboros Record ~Circus of Oubeniel~ Chapter 16

It’s kind of late. Sychev has just sent me this and I suppose I’ll edit this when I have the time. He said you can blame the tardiness on him and Japanese pranks of ghosts being put into taxis. Or something like that.

Anyway, the guy currently needs to laugh a lot. If you have a humorous thing to share. Movie, stories, comic/manga/anime, anything, send him a message in NU or something with that link.

TL: Sychev

Edits and TLC: Deskie

Chapter XVI – Party Night

Construction of the Marlin lord's new residence, which was started during the arrival of spring, advanced at an astonishing rate, and has now been completed.

Since this territory is a remote land, they couldn't be elaborate with the mansion's decorative side, thus the construction progressed in favour of the mansion's functional aspects only.

As the viscount's golems were put into work, and in addition, as the population was mobilised, the foundation works were finished at a considerably rapid pace.

The mansion was built as the base of the Viscount's sitting administration, hence unlike the deputy's manor which lies in the centre of the town, it was located outside of the fortified town. As the mansion serves to manage the administration of the entire viscouncy and not only the county town of Marlin, it was located near to the intersection of the highway which extends throughout the region. At the same time, the deputy's manor, which was once the viscount's temporary residence, was left as an office for vassals responsible for the town's administration.

The newly built residence was more like a small castle, rather than a mansion.

The mansion is surrounded by a bailey, which itself is enclosed by a deep moat, and watchtowers are affixed to the main building. Since the mansion lies outside the fortification that protects the town, their presence is a given as a countermeasure against bandits or monsters.

However, for a building that claims to have disregarded appearance in pursuit of its utility, its hard, rugged appearance casts an intimidating impression to its surrounding, in a different sense than the deputy's manor—- which lords over the townscape.

If a stray traveler were to see the figure of this residence illuminated by the flashes during a thunderstorm, they'd go, 'Good Lord, is this the Demon Lord's castle, where evil spirits dwell?' as they went to be frightened out of their wits. Really, what a pretentious piece of structure.

"What an eerie-looking dwelling. I'd say that it is just so like that little brother of his, though."

There was a building that couldn't be called as a mansion nor a castle that sits on top of a small hill at a distance from the viscount's residence. From there, a man mutters ironically.

TL note: First sentence was "館とも城ともつかぬ建物から離れた、小高い丘". Not too sure about this part, TL might be erroneous. If I did make a mistake, please feel free to correct it in the comments.

The man was dressed in a starched formal clothes, and there were no sunburns on his skin. His beard was well kept. From the way he dressed, he was probably a noble, but from the quality of his clothes, it might be surmised that he was a humble subordinate of another house.

The man haughtily took a glance backwards.

"Listen well, you people. We will now head for the viscount's residence, but I'll say this over and over again. Yes, over and over again. Make sure you don’t draw any attention to yourself, okay?"

He was talking to the four figures who held themselves at a distance behind him.

Their attire were completely different to the man who dresses like a nobleman, in the way that they seemed to be boorish. While they kept their appearance as tidy as they could so as to keep their appearance proper for a visit to the viscount's residence, they only wore things like chain mail, breastplate, and clearly, weapons. And even when dirt and filth had been brushed away from them, it was still obvious from their appearance that those things had been accumulating quite the damage from battles, as small scratches were engraved here and there.

For a band of escorting knights, their arms had no sense of unity, and the things they wore as decorations seemed to be unrelated with each other as well.

And for a group of people who could still move alongside the nobles while having such characteristics. In this Ithuselah continent, there's only one possibility as to who they might be.

They were adventurers.

"I said we got it. You expect us to be on our best behaviour, like a temporarily hired escort should, right?"

Said the lightly-equipped swordsman that seemed to be the leader among the four men. While he indeed wore a breastplate, and his armour covered his elbow, knee, and shin, but one may see that they weren't designed to protect his body. They were equipments made for classes of vanguard that goes on the offensive to protect these areas from being hit by the sword while they nimbly move around.

"But you won't mind if we were to indulge in the feast's leftover, yes? It's not often for us to partake in a noble's banquet. I wish you'd give us that leeway at least."

"….. Do whatever you want. Though I myself will try to keep whatever they're serving from entering my mouth as much as possible."

Said the noble-styled man as he snorted.

"After all, the other party is that notorious 'Slave Murderer'…"

–

Today, at the new residence of Lord of Marlin, Tullius Shernan Oubeniel, a banquet to celebrate the residence's completion is being held. Various stakeholders have been invited to this feast.

The main participants were the neighbouring lords, the viscounty's upper class, regular and irregular merchants—– and the head of the noble house of Oubeniel which entrusted the land to him.

TL Note: original words for regular and irregular merchants were "付き合いや出入りのある商人たち", which means (Tullius') merchant relations and merchants that have been coming and going in his territory. I translated it as regular and irregular for the sake of simplicity.

However, the viscount's brother– the count and the head of that family—-  is currently being occupied by a business he couldn't let go of in the capital and his delegates have been sent to attend instead. Everyone knows that it was only an excuse, though. The true reason, which is the discord between the two brothers, has been a public secret after all.

The Broussonne-based adventurer party, "Green Squad" has come to this place under the pretext of being the escort to that said count's delegate.

"Still, the place is more bleak than I imagined, or rather, how plain this residence is."

Said Gael, the "Green Squad" leader, as he glanced around the entrance hall.

Red carpet was laid on the floor, and since the place is newly constructed, no single speck of dust has fallen from the ceiling. But there was a scarcity of things like arts or decoration which can usually be found in a wealthy people's house. The only painting there was, was a reproduced portrait of the first head of House Oubeniel on the landing of the staircase leading to the second floor, which was connected by a stairwell. Things like a statue in the centre a hall, or vases or pedestals that's usually placed at the end of a corridor—- it can be said that things that Gael thought should belong in a nobleman's residence was extremely few.

"He's living really modestly, isn't he?"

So he asked to his client, the delegate, with a low voice.

He thought that he'd be ignored, but instead the man replied as he turned his head.

"Well, I suppose he's forced to do it. After all, like what you saw along the way here, this territory lies far in the countryside……"

The colour of apparent scorn and contempt lurks within his tone of voice.

Being an aristocrat means being involved in the business of selling appearance. Putting expensive art objects and furniture at one's home is a great opportunity to show one's status to their visitors. So what happens in this mansion's case where expensive things like that are scarce? The answer is as one may see. The owner would be made light of by the other nobles. At the very least, people would think that the owner couldn't even afford to deck out their own property.

Of course, if one were to continue to spend high on things that don't match their wealth, then people would deem that person as a squanderer, and in case where the furnitures do not follow a certain style, then yet again the person would be made light of as a tasteless one. Considering those areas skillfully is supposedly what respected noble in high societies do. However, in Tullius Oubeniel's case, it was as if giving that thing over is out of the question.

Guessing from the look of things around him, Gael thought to himself, 'man, being a nobleman is tough.'.

"Too bad….. I thought I could see the so-called treasures of the nobility."

The warrior, which is the youngest among the party, grumbled as he wriggled his hands around casually.

TL Note: There are two simplifications in the sentence above. "野伏", nobushi, is more like a guerilla fighter, some kind of a warrior class in medieval Japan. "手をわきわき" is a lot more complex than "moving one's hand casually". It's a contemporary slang of a set of moves which I can't translate well to English. (in Japanese).

His fellow magician poked his head lightly with his cane.

"Ouch!?"

"Please stop it, you're being rude. It's because you say things like that, people are spreading nasty gossip that we're thieves behind our backs."

The guild has been dubbing the job of "unlocking keys, disarming traps, scouting and the sorts" as what "rangers" do. Actually, the outdated custom was to call the person doing these tasks as "thieves". But now the word "thief" means exactly what it is. Although the changed form of the job title was only occasionally used so people do not confuse these people with the target of their subjugation quest, the custom to call them so has taken root, and once a thing has taken root, it will not easily go away. In fact, currently a lot of former thieves have turned over a new leaf to be a ranger.

"Cease the skit. We're currently the guard escort of this noble gentlemen over here."

"Indeed. Let's not do anything unsightly, we should be careful so as not to hurt our client's honour, and ours as well."

Gael chimed in to agree with his fellow vanguard heavy warrior.

Having witnessed that that, the noble client diverted his line of sight from them and sighed. If Gael and his other man didn't advise their fellow people, surely they'd get a handful from himself.

It was at that time.

"Oh, well well well——-"

A young noble was descending the stairs of the hall, he was accompanied by a blonde man that seemed to be his vassal.

'His facial features, they look young. I'd say he's probably not in his twenties yet.'

His attire was strenuous. Over the gold-embroidered deep crimson justaucorps was a silver-embroidered black vest that accentuated the former. Shiny white cravat adorned the bottom of his neck. He dressed like dandy that would stand out in the capital's evening party, though regrettably his face was too plain to stylishly wear that. He was by no means look ugly, actually he was rather well-proportioned, but somehow there was not enough of air of magnificence about him. That gently smiling face too was, for some reason, vaguely giving the impression that he was feeling troubled because he was suddenly forced into what he was wearing. The young vassal that was accompanying him would look better in that attire.

"—- Greetings, you are my brother's delegate, yes? Welcome to Marlin. The name's Tullius."

The way he gave a slight bow as he spoke indeed gave the impression of a good-natured son of a nobleman who's not used to the ways of the aristocracy. It was almost enough for Gael to forget about various ill-rumour that he heard about him.

But he couldn't afford to forget. The young noble was the cause of House Oubeniel's loss of reputation in Broussonne's society. He was so abhorred people went so far as to call him "Slave Murderer", or "Man-Eating Snake".

Sure enough, the delegate floated him a smile.

"Goodness me, it is a great honour to be received by your excellency, the viscount, himself.

And he greeted him back with a teeth-grating degree of sycophancy. Seeing that change, it would be hard for someone to imagine that he just spoke ill about the young man using the strongest words possible just a while ago.

While being stumped by the so-called facade of the aristocratic society, Gael and his fellow "Green Squad" took the knee to greet the noble.

"Oh, who might these gentlemen be?"

"Hired men to escort me in my journey, these men are adventurers."

"I see. Indeed, the roads have been dangerous recently…. Name yourselves please."

As he issued his permission, Gael raised his face.

"I lead the 'Green Squad' Party, my name is Gael."

"This is the first time I’ve heard of that party, your rank is… ?"

"Yes. We've received the C-rank rating from the guild."

"C-ranked, huh…. I wonder if you're in the upper tier among the middle-rank. For doing something like journey escort, you have quite the reasonable number of men."

'Oubeniel displayed an unexpected familiarity with the adventurers' circumstances. No, considering that he's the master of that "Silver Wolf" who reigned over the capital until a few years ago, of course he'd know at least that much.'

"The Silver Wolf Uni". Gael had crossed paths with her several times. She was an eerily expressionless lady of whom not one soul knows about what was going on inside her head. She did perfectly even in quests that demand a fair amount of skills, and despite being a solo, she was a monster who fulfilled an unusual amount of requests during a short period time. The fact that she might be somewhere in this hall made Gael couldn't help but to worry about the future of this job.

"As squalid as these men might be, I sincerely hope Your Excellency might extend his hospitality to them too."

"….. Victor."

"Yes, I will have someone to show them the way to the barracks at once."た。

The blond youth named Victor gracefully turned around and went his way to call someone.

'We've broken the first barrier, huh'

Inside, Gael was relieved. If the Lord Viscount were to refuse the presence of these band of stranger adventures, and say something like 'why don't you use the town's inn', it would be a troublesome thing for him.

Viscount Oubeniel gently smiled.

"Until the time of the banquet, please feel free to enjoy yourselves. Though I'm afraid this is a new residence, and so there's absolutely nothing interesting to see here."

Gael and his men were guided to a barrack built in the premises. Probably it was there as the lodging spot for the viscount's soldiers in case of emergencies. They were placed in a drab room with only a pair of double bunk beds and a single table inside it.

"We will bring beverages for you gentlemen in a moment. Please excuse me."

The maid who guided them gave them a single bow before she left. She was wearing a silver collar on her neck. Maid uniform and slave collar—- that combination reminded him of a certain face he'd rather not see if possible.

As he shook the feeling off, Gael called out to his companions.

"Hey, so how is it?"

"… There's no sign of presence around. I don't feel we're being watched."

Said the youngest warrior among them as he put down his hands, which he used to cover his ears.

"Still, there's really a lot of slaves here in this mansion, or rather, this castle? Hah."

"I know, right? Usually, maids are supposedly apprentices in lessons of good manners who learn through serving a lord, but…"

"He isn't really popular, is he? I mean, the lord of this place."

"Rather, it's surprising that living slaves are swarming in this place. Isn't it the word of the people that Oubeniel's second son is someone with a bad hobby of buying slaves and later kill them?"

"He did it as an alchemy experiment or something, that kind of rumour?"

Then, the magician said,

"That story seems fake, apparently."

"Is that so? I heard that alchemists do various weird research in order to attain their goal of immortality though. ”

"That's just crazy talk. Alchemy is actually a field of magic that concerns itself with permanent transmutations of an element that's already there in the first place. Like concocting potions from medicinal herbs, or enhancing weapons and armour with magic to make them into magic equipments. I suppose the reason as to why alchemy is seen as suspicious is because the job is basically about giving super-mysterious attributes to such objects."

The mage's words were sharp. Because he had learned magic earnestly and he had been surviving life because of it, he wouldn't want to believe the superstitious infamy of that one subject.

Probaby finding the mage's reaction amusing, the young warrior jokingly said,

"So, what are you suggesting? Do you mean that the viscount is actually a good person?"

"I wouldn't say that far, it's too hasty to say that. Alchemy is a fully-fledged subject of learning, but it doesn't necessarily mean that all of its learners is a good person. Whether a scoundrel who'd torture slaves and then kill them really do exist or not, the matter itself not entirely impossible."

"So it's not that all alchemists are degenerates, it's just that the viscount is a special kind of degenerate scum, is that it?"

"Well, I guess you can say so. Back when he was in the capital, even with a little research you'd know that he bought a lot of slaves, so much of them that it wasn't possible to pack them inside the main house of his old residence, It seems that some of them were brought here, too."

"And among them is that 'Silver Wolf'."

"Stop it, just don't make me remember that unpleasant stuff."

Gael involuntarily moved his hand to his temples.

The "Silver Wolf" is C-ranked, which is the same as them. However, in practice, it may be said that she might have the ability of an A-ranked adventurer. To prove the rumour, a party of B-ranked adventurers crossed her once, and she annihilated them all by herself.

"Moreover, there are also talks that he's got another adventurer with him too."

"That B-ranked swordsman, 'Two-Handed Sword', wasn't it? Supposedly, he was from St. Gallen."

"Good grief. If that's true then that adds to our problem."

"Yeah, so basically we'll have to slip through two adventurers who ranked higher than us before we get to investigate, right?"

To investigate.

It was the main objective of the "Green Squad" that have slipped themselves into this residence.

The requester was none other than the head of the viscount's family, Count Linus Streinn Oubeniel.

—— 'Go and investigate whether my brother's usual abnormal behavior has gotten worse. There hasn't been any news about him ever since he entered his territory, but contrarily, that's suspicious to me.  The probability that he might've taken a hold of the officials that he recruited from the capital is high as well, and if that's true, it's possible that he hasn't ceased his usual atrocious deed of slaughtering slaves. If you were to find a proof of that, bring it to me in secret'. And so on, and so on.

In short, they were a piece in this secret feud between the two brothers.

"—– Well, we'll just have to do it."

It's not that he's not feeling disappointed after being forced into accepting the fact that there were there as a nobleman's hound. However, in recent years, he felt that the "Green Squad" hasn't been making much of a breakthrough as adventurers. It might be said that they've reached their limits. Although they've been drawing attention to themselves from within the middle-ranked as they rose to rank C, their growth have stopped right there. For Gael, they lacked in a certain necessary thing to rise even higher as an adventurer. It might be the talent for combat and exploration, or it might be the adventurous spirit to challenge difficulties. He didn't know what exactly that "thing" was. However, it was because of reason that they've been remaining in a standstill before the wall that is rank B for years now.

The moment he figured that out, he realised that at some point of time they had been looking for stability without even realising it. They scraped their lives through the days, they scrambled for the pie against their similarly-ranked adventurers and their seniors, and as the greenhorns rose into prominence, and before long their decline will surely come. Before Gael realised it, he has reached the thirties, his fellow heavy warrior has reached it too. He felt troubled with those things, or perhaps it was fear, or maybe what he felt was aversion. The mage and the warrior are still in their twenties, but they've been in this trade for over a decade now. They were aware that their growth has been slowing down as well. Even if they were to continue doing this for a long time, they wouldn't be able to rise so high up there .

Then what to do? ….. They may have no choice but to quit from being adventures. But if they were to simply drop out like that, for them who only knows how to fight, it might be impossible for them to return to a normal life now, they might be cast out to wander the streets or they may even go lower by making violence as their livelihood as they turn into outlaws.

And so, there was this matter. They were being forced to do their noble master's bidding and to engage in intelligence work for a political feud. That itself was a painful road to take, but at least their opponent was a regular person. They didn't have to fight a literally inhuman monster, they didn't have to run around secluded and unexplored regions, and they didn't have to ruthlessly compete with those groups who'd do the previous stuff while humming a tune. For Gael and his men, it was an attractive alternative.

To mention the fortunate thing about it, the still-young Linus has yet to have adventures for him to rear as his personal adventurer. If they were to occupy that, surely they would never miss a meal from then on. If they were to take the count's hand now, surely they'd be the most veteran among his ranks, and so they'd be useful for a long time, which would prevent them from being easily discarded. Such was his forecast.

"This is going to be a tough work, but this'll be the last one. If we can make through this, we'll openly be under the Count's house."

"We can finally say goodbye to the days where we put ourselves on the line against monsters, huh."

"If everything goes well, we might even be employed as his vassal."

"And for that, we absolutely can't fail this time."

"Yeah."

Gael hit his palm with his fist as he said so. Its dry sound reverberates in the barrack room.

"Our future depends on this. All the other people, whether it's the "Silver Wolf" or the "Two-Handed Sword". We won't let them get in our way………..!"

Later that evening.

Numerous round tables were arranged in the mansion's reception hall, and on top of every single table was an overwhelming amount of plates of dishes. They might've been presented by the viscount's people, various meat such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken—- all sorts of food were aligned perfectly, and each of them were steaming fragrantly. Although Marlin is a mountainous area, dishes of seafood, which apparently was brought from Canales through the border with great pains, were provided as well. The star of the show was a baked shrimp that was as large as an adult's arm.

It was a banquet to celebrate the completion of the new residence of the lord of Marlin, Tullius Shernan Oubeniel. Today, in this place where the utmost luxury are being gathered and commemorated, the lighly-groomed Gael and his men have already mixed into the crowd. In normal circumstances, commoners could never make their way into a place like this, but apparently even the farmers were also invited to the banquet. If one were to use that as a basis of their reasoning, then the delegate's escort, "Green Squad", can also be included among the worthy guests.

For the adventurers, the fact they were being in a place where the gussied up noblemen and merchants gather made them feel terribly ill at ease. 'Just start already', Gael thought to himself as he saw Tullius at the end of his line of sight, finally, he was there standing on the podium.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I offer you my sincerest gratitude for attending this celebration to commemorate the completion of this residence."

Then, the newly appointed viscount cut his greetings short and got the ball rolling with these words,

"—- Well, I'm afraid a greenhorn like myself is bad with tedious, dragged speech like these. Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy yourselves. That is all.”

…. And thus down came the curtain quickly.

Even from Gael's perspective, that conduct had to be some sort of a joke. Shouldn't a word of greetings in a place like this usually include something about gratitude to the king and the church and the like? The guests of honour in the periphery were seen to be dropping their jaw or leaking a laughter. Vassals, such as the young man called Victor looked up to the heavens and covered their eyes in shame.

"…. This kind of behaviour is unexpected from a count's pedigree."

"Is, isn't that because he didn't want to keep us waiting?"

"Fool. Even if you wanted to be courteous, you'll still have to give a word first."

"I've heard that although he was granted a viscountcy, it was actually to banish him from the capital, now I understand why…"

The noblemen and the elderlies blatantly expressed their annoyance in that manner. While sipping the wine that had been served to them, they utter several words of disgust and disappointment.

Of course, they didn't rudely raise their voice so much as for Tullius to hear them. Perhaps because of that, Tullius, who had already gotten off from the platform and were then greeting the guests, was tilting his head in order to see the guests of honour who were exchanging whispers.

"Leader. Even if we didn't investigate anything, wouldn't that young master be demoted from his post due to his ineptitude anyway?"

"Shhh!"

While rebuking the young warrior who carelessly slipped out that remark, deep down he felt that the youth might be correct.

Even from the viewpoint of Gael who didn't know formal etiquettes, Tullius Shernan Oubeniel's behaviour was out of the question. Truthfully, he couldn't believe that the completely naive young man may safely fare in the aristocratic society. After all, to his noble associates that were currently gathered in the room, the impression of Tullius was already absentminded at best and idiotic at worst. And that information will get into the network of social circles, and spread in a blink of an eye. Even that he was nothing more but an adventurer, Gael could at least understand that much. Because keeping an eye close and straining an ear for information about one's peers works pretty much the same in any kind of society.

Meanwhile, at the hesitating noblemen's sidelong glance, a group of people was approaching to greet the viscount. They were merchants.

"My, my. Your Excellency truly is an unique person!"

"Indeed, just like the adage in our trade, 'time is money'"

"Greetings, thank you for the deal on the distribution of your potion . We're looking forward to continuing this mutual relationship in the future."

"So I've heard that you're planning to open a mine nearby, yes? In that case, we, too, would like a share—-"

If was a storm of such adulation.

The delegate from his house snorted.

"Humph…. What words for someone they've just met."

"Perhaps they are saying these things in order easily lobby him in the future, 'let's get ourselves some rights and concessions', is probably what they're having in mind."

Gael surmised as such. Even as they were sucking up to him, there were no respect in the merchants' eyes. Rather, their glare was as if they were trying to propose a loan for their household that's currently supporting a high-class beautiful lady. Butter the viscount up with skillful words, stretch their roots in the domain's economy, and then seize its flow of gold. Even if the lord of the territory were to change or even if the country were to seize the lord, as long as their invested businesses or projects continue to function well, the arrangement would mean that they still wouldn't be severed from their long-term source of revenue so quickly.

Sure enough, against that scheme, the viscount,

"Weeell, since we're currently in a celebration——"

Warded it off by stating so.

"—– Now, now, more importantly, please enjoy the dishes before they get cold. As you can see we have a lot of items ordered from Canales, though some of you might come from there, and you might have grown tired of these items already, at any rate, please feel free to relish in the flavours of this house's cooking."

"I, indeed."

"If that's what Your Excellency recommends then…."

So, he was able to splendidly use his mind to evade that. Though, why didn't he use that mind of his during the greeting? Even Gael was having a hard time understanding that.

"By the way, sir. Aren't you supposed to do your delegation stuff?"

"I know it already…. I'm leaving now."

To that suggestion, the delegation quickly retracted his sullen face and went away to express his greetings.

As he saw that, Gael once again thought that being a noble is rough. Unlike adventurers who simply need to be skillful to do their job, there's too much restraints in the aristocracy's line of work. But, there's indeed some sort of steadiness that can't be found in the meritocracy of the adventurers' rough society.

And while he was thinking about that.

"Dear guests."。

Someone called out to Gael and his men,

He turned around as his heart involuntarily skipped a beat. There was the statuesque stiff beauty, the composed-looking maid whose feelings could never be guessed by anyone. And on the back of her neck was the silver collar that was the origin of her title.

'S, Silver Wolf…….!?'

In the entirety of Marlin, she was someone he had wanted to meet the least.

There was no mistake, it was indeed the "Silver Wolf". While she was indeed still in her teens, that figure which he hadn't seen during the years have grown somewhat taller, and while she had become more feminine, there was no mistake regarding her identity.

"Wh, what, do you want?"

While he promptly tried to keep a calm facade, he poked his companion who were petrified due to his shock to bring him back with his elbow.

'Why are you calling out to us? Could it be that she's suspecting that we're here to investigate?'

To Gael who were succumbing to his uneasiness behind his fake ordinary visage, Uni said

"…. May I interest you in some beverages?"

She was carrying a tray with a bottle of alcohol and a number of glasses equal to the number of Gael's party.

His shoulders fell down reflexively.

"Ah, no…… we're good. We're in charge of guarding someone. Surely nothing will happen here in His Excellency's residence, but just in case, it'd be better for us to refrain from alcohol."

"Is that so. Well then, please excuse me."

Uni bowed after she spoke, and then she walked away.

While seeing her off, Gael and his fellow “Green Squad” gleefully breathe a sigh of relief.

"That surprised me. She was just offering a drink……"

"Anyway…. So she really was a maid."

"As an adventurer she always wore apron dress, I thought she was just being eccentric though…"

"Normally people wouldn't think that she was really a maid, doing adventuring job in the sidelines."

'Seriously. The fact that she was only an adventurer in the sidelines and still ranked higher than them, and then the fact she was completely leading in terms of ability. When I think about it, it makes me feel that all I did in the past was in vain.'

"Still—–"

The mage of the party opened his mouth.

"It has nearly been three years since she received her last quest. Assuming that she devoted herself exclusively as a maid during those years, I believe this will help us a lot."

"You mean that she has been on a hiatus?"

Indeed, that was the case. Adventurers are human too. No matter how much one were to increase their ability, if they were to lose the chance to use those abilities, then one's proficiency will surely drop drop. Just like how horses that are kept in their stables all day will no longer be able to gallop, adventurers who don't go on adventures will also decline as well.

"Hey, you. I told you my glass is empty so bring me a larger bottle, why took you so long?"

"Yes, my apologies."

"Quickly pour it…. Sigh, paying attention to nobles before commoners is supposedly a common sense."

"It is as you say. My apologies for my ineptitude."

Gael's and his fellow's eyes went round.

That girl, whose prestigious title, the "Silver Wolf", resounded loudly in the capital, was lowering her head repeatedly to a vulgar nobleman who obviously was picking a fight with her. Once a bumpkin of an adventurer did a similar thing, and off with his head he went. And even though there was a story like that, what exactly was they were seeing? It was as if she was just that, a maid.

But the surprise just grew even further.

"Hmm? Do you want me to think that you're reaaaaaly sorry?"

"HAA!?"

As Gael saw that, he inadvertently did the reckless action of raising his voice in disbelief.

At Uni, who didn't show any intention to resist him, that quarrel-picking nobleman is currently using that hornworm-sized fingers to grope her buttocks, that buttocks of hers which people would know how well-shaped they are even when it was covered by her skirt.

TL Note: Strange paragraph, strange comment about buttocks, I know.

He was groping it in a way that people could hear the sound of it being squeezed. Gael could only think of it as some sort of a sadistic, perverted hobby of the nobleman. He acknowledged that her bravery of not reacting so far to the tiny details was as expected of her, but in this case, for her to not rejecting him clearly was a bad move in itself. The middle-aged noble had a vulgar smile as he applied his mouth to bite her ears.

"If you really wish to apologise, then let me hear it slowly later? Alright? In the room your master prepared for me…. Alright? Alright?"

Gael didn't actually hear that, but what he said must've been something along those lines. He could tell just from the movements of his lips. And then, he moved to pinch the soft flesh and moved his hands as he spun it around like a slug.

"….."

Uni didn't react. She must've hated it. However, her status made it impossible for her to honestly resist the noble. To wear a silver collar actually means this kind of thing. Rather, as a slave it was her behavior during her adventuring days that was abnormal. Gael had only realised this truth now.

'Should I interfere and put a stop to this?', Gael thought for a moment.

Even the surrounding guests who noticed this didn't try to stop them. Was it because they didn't want to get involved? Or perhaps it was because the sight of a good-looking maid being groped by a guest is a common one? In any case, there's no incentive for this bunch of people who held the viscount in scorn to move in. There was no one but Gael and his men to stop this.

Even though he felt that she was the least wanted existence in this request, he didn't want to see the "Silver Wolf" to fall even further than this. Even though he had to admit that they were no match for her even as a joke, she was still a remarkable fellow who was once in the same trade as his. Even if he didn't know about her achievements, as a fellow adventurer it was still unacceptable to see her being dishonoured by a man who was acting like a horny dog. He could feel that he was reaching his limit, he could feel the last remnants of stubbornness inside the old man who didn't want to get into trouble was aching. The heavy warrior who was standing next to him had his throbbing eyebrows raised as well.

But just before that last thread of patience was about to snap,

"What are you doing?"

Her master, Tullius Shernan Oubeniel, broke into the scene.

The noble immediately retracted his hand which had been fiddling around with her buttocks a moment back.

"A, aaah, nothing… Hello, this girl just made a little careless mistake."

It was an ingratiating smile, as if he made it to hold his tongue from clicking.

'What careless mistake', thought Gael as he couldn't help but to click his tongue slightly. Wasn't It just a lecher doing the thing he had in mind by picking a quarrel with her?

"Ah, is that so? Sorry for that."

Oubeniel, who heard his answer, immediately lowered his head. The surrounding guests went into a roar.

"O, Lord Oubeniel! It wasn't…."

"No, it's a master's duty to train his servants. If she did indeed make a careless mistake towards a guest, then it was a common sense for me to apologise. Will you please accept my apology and give her your forgiveness?"

"Yo, you….!"

Viscount Oubeniel's apology warped the noble's face to a great degree . The host of the banquet have made a direct apology. Pushing this matter another time would be equal to announcing to the surrounding people that he was a man without magnanimity.

As if to deliver the final blow, Uni knelt and kowtowed to the man. Rubbing one's face against the floor is the highest degree of apology. As the master stood there and lowered his head, the slave must go lower than that.

"I would like to apologise for my rudeness one more time. Please accept the master's apology."

"I, if you're willing to go that far…."

The noble ignored Uni and turned to Oubeniel.

"Ple, please raise your head, Lord Viscount.  I will accept your apology. I, I'd like to apologise for disturbing this auspicious occasion by picking a needless quarrel, I'm very sorry."

"So you do accept! My, thank you very much!"

Viscount Oubeniel was full of smiles when he raised his face.

And then the matter was settled. Although the noble was still dissatisfied with it, he left for the other seat, the other guests of honour also turned away as they started to chat about things that wasn't related to it. Only the viscount and Uni, who was still kowtowing, remain.

"It's fine for you to stand now, Uni."

"No, I have greatly wounded Master's honour in this auspicious occasion—-"

"And I mean that, too. I told you it's fine. I'm not angry at all."

"… Yes. My utmost gratitude for Master's profound compassion."

"More importantly, please stay as you are. Alright?"

After Uni rose up, Oubeniel personally brushed off the dirt from her skirt. In a new residence that have been meticulously cleaned, Gael thought there wouldn't be a lot of dust stuck there. However, at the end of it, he was able to finally understand the intention of the gesture.

"Well then, let's finish up with this. Turn your back towards me."

"My back, is it?"

And then he struck—– the place that was touched by the vulgar noble, lightly, as if he was cleaning it. His hand movements seemed to be truly gentle.

"Ahn……"

"Has the dirt fell down, Uni?"

To those words, Uni gave her master a respectful bow with a colour of understanding in her face.

"……. Yes. Thank you, Master."

There were an indescribable flood of emotions packed in her words of gratitude.

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

Gael and his men were stunned by the sight.

What was that voice?

That faint, shivering voice, that was there as if to conceal the sound of a certain fervent heart?

Was it really the "Silver Wolf" who raised that voice?

"Hey, leader."

"What is it."

"Did we get the wrong person?"

"Would be great if we did….."

"But that face is definitely her……."

"And she certainly had the same name…"

The impact that he bore was different than at the time when she enduring the noble's abuses silently.

If it was that, then it may still be interpreted that he held back because of his current duties.

But, now, that was impossible.

No matter how you look at it, she was gladdened by the thoughts of his Master. So ardently, too.

"What to say, it's as if she's genuinely happy, like a normal maid does…"

"Rather, isn't this an illicit affair with that master of hers—–"

"Please wait! If you say it that way, my image of the "Silver Wolf" is—!"

"If someone were to tell me that she was a different people with the same name who is really alike to the original, I'd have an easier time believing that."

'Good grief', Gael nodded.

As they gazed at her again, the person in question had already returned to her duties without realising their investigation duty. Her face was as indifferent as ever, but somehow she was making her steps lighter. It may be hard to be seen by an untrained eye, but if you were to be acquainted with what a kind of person she was after stumbling into her a few times, it was clear that the way she was walking then was full of openings.

"The 'Silver Wolf' has waned….. Can we see it that way?"

Gael couldn't find something to instantly refute the mage's remarks.

And after he thought about it for a while, he still couldn't find anything.

Gael opened his mouth with mixed feelings.

"Even so, pay in mind that she might somehow regain her old self with some impetus. More than anything, it doesn't mean anything if we were to slacken our guard even more than a waned person do.”

"That's correct. And he still got another adventurer with him, right?"

"The swordsman from St. Gallen, the "Two-Handed Sword"

"Is it possible that he was hired because the 'Silver Wolf' has already become like that?"

"…….. Probably."

Before they realised it, the hours have gone far into the night. The banquet was about to come to a close, and the time for Gael and his men to do their job was drawing near.

"Anyway, don't be careless. We'll see through this job until the end."

As he said so, he and the others braced themselves.

'Estimate the sleeping hours of the people inside, then take the advantage of the dead hours of the night to investigate the nook and cranny of the residence. Since the invited guests are hosted here, chances are the security will be tight. And even though the biggest menace that is the 'Silver Wolf' has been weakened to a degree, I expect that this job won't be a breeze…..'

Chapter end