The next day, I returned to the tavern to meet Roxi.
“Um, children cannot enter without a guardian.”
“Then, I’ll wait here, so please call someone. Roxi.”
Upon hearing my words, the staff tilted their head and checked something under the counter, then contacted someone.
While I waited in front of the shop, Roxi came downstairs from upstairs.
“Oh my. It’s the little girl I saw yesterday.”
“I’m Ririan.”
“Did Aila not come with you?”
“No, I’m alone today.”
Roxi took me upstairs instead of the tavern.
From the 1st to the 4th floors of the building were shops, but the 5th floor was residential.
Roxi opened the door to one of the apartments and told me to come in.
The inside of the house was quite neat and well organized.
“What brings you here?”
“I missed something important yesterday.”
I inquired about recent information on a person named Walker.
“Oh, I forgot.”
Roxi smiled brightly, admitting she forgot the most important information.
“Come this way.”
As Roxi led me into a room, it was quite messy inside.
However, sorting through the contents did not seem easy at all.
The scattered documents, photos, and the suspicious envelope reminded me of a crime drama.
“It’s a bit messy, but just take a seat.”
There wasn’t really anywhere to sit, so I stood.
“I heard that Walker was recently south of Sevilla.”
“South?”
Roxi stuck a large paper on the wall and pointed to a spot with her finger.
The area was surprisingly vast, enough to say it was like a small country.
“The south is a bit different from here. You could say it’s freedom in a good way, and lawlessness in a bad way.”
“Is the Empire not managing it?”
“Why? If we leave them be, they attack here and there, and sometimes Roran comes in as well.”
From Latnia’s perspective, it was a nuisance, but they let it slide because they occasionally do something nice.
“And here.”
Roxi pointed to another place that was close to the city.
“It just looks like an empty lot.”
“There’s now a building there. The inside is empty, though.”
“How do you know?”
“I went inside.”
She didn’t explain how she got in.
“But there are bad rumors about the area.”
A nest of monsters.
Rumors that people sent to investigate there did not return properly.
“Very few have come out alive.”
“So there are people who came out alive.”
“But that person is really strong.”
Roxi seemed to remember her experience directly confronting them.
“I was just focused on getting out alive.”
“Then what’s the relation to Walker?”
“When Walker was in the Knight Order, he had a good relationship with a magic swordsman.”
“What?”
Magic swordsman is a term primarily used in Latnia.
It’s not commonly used in Roran. This means that…
“Most magic swordsmen from Latnia…”
“Are from Tolis.”
Of course, there are magic swordsmen who grew up in the Latnia Empire.
But it is widely known that most magic swordsmen come from Tolis.
“So here’s the thing. Please deal with that monster for me. This is a personal request.”
“You said it would be hard for you to win too, right?”
“Actually, I didn’t become a member of the Knight Order based on my skills, you know.”
Roxi softly lifted up her clothing while speaking.
Her skin was flawless, without a single scar, and her hands were so white that I wondered if she had ever properly held a sword.
“I mainly focus on gathering information within the Knight Order. I usually take one or two people with me.”
When I visited Aila’s headquarters, I didn’t see anyone who looked like they would do that kind of work.
“Oh, and it’s dangerous for you two to go to the southern region alone.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a gathering place for criminal organizations.”
In other words, the south of Sevilla had already been occupied by criminals.
“Walker is likely there. When I investigated, he was alone, but he probably isn’t now.”
Roxi’s investigation on Walker was about six months ago.
It was the result of an investigation right after Walker had fled from Roran, so things may have changed now.
“Have you not researched further since then?”
“No. I lost contact with my informant, so there was no way.”
Roxi wouldn’t have explored such a dangerous place by herself.
She must have had an accomplice, but it had been a long time since she had heard from him.
“Then how do we catch someone named Walker?”
“If he resists, you can kill him on the spot. But please be sure to bring back his two hands. This is a command from Captain Python, not me.”
Essentially, that was not much different from saying to kill the opponent.
After hearing almost all the necessary information, I left Roxi’s house.
Upon returning to my accommodation, I slowly shared what I had learned from Roxi with Aila.
“If it’s been half a year since he joined the criminal group, it’s highly likely he’s affiliated with them.”
“And I received an additional request.”
When I mentioned the monster’s nest in the city center, Aila looked uninterested.
“Is that something we really have to do?”
“They seemed to want us to do it.”
“If it’s a magic swordsman, then…”
Aila emphasized that she was very concerned about the opponent being a magic swordsman.
A magic swordsman is a warrior who maxes out their potential to face off against demons.
And the magic swordsman candidates I met were not particularly pleasant either.
They were all somewhat twisted and had complicated personalities.
Since it wasn’t a good memory, I quickly pushed it out of my mind.
“Let’s postpone that matter for now.”
We decided to focus solely on capturing Walker.
To get a sense of the atmosphere, we decided to visit the southern region of Sevilla.
Aila checked the state of her sword and put on a mask.
After examining my dagger, I felt the refined mana filling my body.
Before heading south, Aila sent a letter.
A letter sent to Hecar, where the JS Group factory is located.
I heard that it would take time to process since it was our first time handling these materials, but there’s also a chance that our work will be finished before then.
“Do you have the gun properly?”
“Yeah. Here.”
I lifted my cloak to show the gun strapped to my waist.
“Make sure to load the bullets in advance, just in case.”
Since it was fine to use magic in an emergency, I didn’t want to do anything cumbersome that would waste mana.
“Quickly.”
However, since Aila was watching, I had no choice but to infuse mana into the gun.
When I confirmed that mana was being filled, Aila started walking again.
“They say it’s a place where criminals gather, so we have to be careful. You wear a mask too.”
I felt it was incredibly oppressive to wear a mask.
The biggest problem was not being able to properly see to the left or right.
As I slowly put on the mask, my peripheral vision opened up differently than usual.
“Oh, it’s because I’m small.”
“What do you mean?”
“I couldn’t see the surroundings well usually.”
“I guess we need to change to a bigger one later.”
In fact, my mask wasn’t purchased; I had kept it from when I entered the underground arena with Max.
After making all the necessary preparations, we moved to the southern area.
The entrance to the area was wide open, allowing anyone to enter without security.
In the past, there must have been a decent gate here, but now it looked like a ruin.
The southern area seemed to be a bit cooler than the city of Sevilla.
Old buildings were carelessly abandoned here and there, and the expressions of the people on the street were all grim.
Among the people, there were also some wearing masks like us.
“What if Walker also wore a mask?”
“We just need to take it off.”
Aila answered simply.
It would not be an easy task to subdue him and take his mask off.
Since Walker was from the Knight Order, he must have exceptional skills.
Moreover, if he had gained companions in the meantime, the situation would become even harder.
“They’re just a criminal organization, at most.”
An area that the Latnia Empire also neglects.
Of course, they don’t touch it as it’s convenient for them to leave it alone.
If an opportunity arises, they could dispose of it like a trash can at any time.
The place we headed to in the southern area was the assassin guild.
There was a similar guild in the city center as well.
A guild that finds people or retrieves debts that have not been paid.
This place handled much simpler tasks than those.
Assassination requests.
A place that literally kills people for money.
I thought this would be the best place to find a person.
As we entered, the place was brightly and neatly decorated for requests.
“Welcome~”
Moreover, there was an incredibly friendly female staff member.
The staff member showed us something like a menu at the counter.
There were various methods of assassination listed, with prices next to each.
“I want to find someone.”
“Do you have a photo or a name?”
Aila took out Walker’s photo and showed it to her.
When the staff member inserted the photo into a modification orb and took it out, one more exact copy came out.
“The consultation will be assisted upstairs.”
When we went up to the second floor, there were doors arranged along both sides of the hallway.
“Please come this way.”
The woman led us to the third room on the right.
Inside the room was a small space with just a desk and a few chairs.
The woman sat in a chair across the desk.
“Are you going to kill this person?”
“Yes.”
“Directly? Or using others?”
“Directly.”
As simple conversation flowed, the woman took out a file from her desk.
As she spread it open and compared it with the photo, she closed the file and let out a sigh.
“I’m sorry, but this person is on our blacklist.”
“All I need is to know where he is.”
“That’s just it. We are not allowed to disclose information. Of course, investigations are prohibited as well.”
“Why?”
When Aila asked for the reason, the woman stood up, slightly opened the door, and peered outside.
After closing the door and returning, she lowered her voice and leaned over the desk.
“It’s a secret…”
Aila took two gold coins in her hand and placed one on the desk.
“The blacklist in the assassin guild is like a badge of honor in this world.”
“Then you mean they do assassination work?”
“That can be said, yes.”
The woman responded that the person was off-limits in the assassin guild.
Of course, even if you personally seek them out, no one would make an issue of it.
They are not only not doing a commendable job, but they can also harbor enmity anywhere.
Many people would undoubtedly want to kill assassins.
The assassin guild surely wouldn’t want to lose skilled assassins.
Thus, they created the blacklist.
This list is a kind of rule to not take on jobs related to those who are listed.
“I don’t know what kind of enmity there is, but that’s unfortunate.”
The woman spoke in a voice that seemed to show concern for us.
“An assassin, huh?”
“Yes. I’m sorry to say this, but give up. That person is incredibly strong and has a lot of money.”
