Chapter 36
"So you want sponsorship?"
Lizette's voice echoed through the reception room.
A moment ago, I had laid out before her exactly what I had told Sir Barie: my prediction that a dungeon would appear and the preparations I had made accordingly.
The smithy's receipt, the alchemist's potion order, and the pledge I had received from the mage were already spread across the table.
I had even sent someone to verify whether they were genuine.
Lizette picked up one of the pieces of evidence I had presented and skimmed it.
Her slender fingers returned the parchment to the table.
"I refuse."
It was a firm answer.
"May I ask why?"
"Because it's absurd. The House of Reator isn't foolish enough to pour the territory's budget into a single adventurer's intuition."
Lizette straightened her back, raised her chin, and looked down at me.
Her gaze carried an air of severity.
"The evidence you brought is merely a record of you squandering your personal fortune. There is no proof anywhere that a dungeon will appear."
She was right.
To me, it was certainty based on my knowledge of the game, but from the perspective of an outsider who didn't know that, it was nothing more than a madman's gamble.
I wasn't even giving her the basis for my claim.
"A dungeon can become either a calamity or a blessing for a territory. Yet you ask me to simply 'believe you' about a matter of such gravity."
Lizette didn't get angry.
As she studied me, she calculated what scheme might lie behind my words.
"If I believe you, spend money, and mobilize personnel, only for us to come up empty-handed, it won't be you who looks foolish—it will be me, and Reator will have to shoulder the consequences. Why should I bear such a burden on your word?"
I had no answer to that.
But I'd come here knowing that from the start. I had prepared a plan for being rejected, but it wasn't time for me to speak yet.
"However."
Lizette's gaze flicked toward Barie.
"You should thank Barie. I've never seen her defend or praise anyone besides me. She defended you, saying you weren't insane. And I trust Barie. I've decided to trust you once, because Barie trusts you."
At Lizette's light gesture, the maid standing beside her held out a contract to me.
"Eck, I don't know why you are investing all your assets. But if you aren't insane, there must be a reason. Since Barie has staked her honor, I won't dismiss it as mere delusion."
I read the contract.
I had expected it, but seeing it firsthand left me deflated.
"First, keep in mind that I will provide no separate support. There will be no financial aid or dispatch of specialists whatsoever. If this is something you are so certain about, you should be able to accomplish it even without any additional support from me. Correct?"
"Yes. That's right."
But I had obtained what I needed.
"I will lend you only my name."
Lizette stretched her lips into a long, curved smile.
Unspoken pressure emanated from her smile.
"So that nothing interferes with what you intend to do, I, Lizette van Reator, hereby appoint you captain of the Dungeon Investigation Team under my name."
"Thank you."
Lizette let out a sigh and lifted her teacup for a sip.
"Is there anything else you wish to say?"
"The most important matter still remains."
"What is it?"
The dungeon would appear without fail.
If so, the founding and future of the Dungeon Investigation Team were not my concern.
Lizette was so preoccupied with that concern that she couldn't see past it.
"This contract makes no mention whatsoever of the rights to the dungeon."
That was proof she didn't believe my claim at all.
I handed the contract back to the maid.
The maid passed it to Lizette.
As Lizette's eyes skimmed down the clauses of the contract, I spoke.
"I will give up half of the proceeds the Dungeon Investigation Team earns in the future."
It was a reasonable price to pay for a noblewoman's name.
If financial support and specialists had been added, it might have risen as high as eighty percent, but simply borrowing a noble's name cost that much.
If I offered an awkward percentage, the young lady might instead sell the rights to another high-ranking noble,
'She'll be more eager to help if she has something to gain.'
She was the main villain in Chapter 2, but I had to make proper use of her until she turned against me.
Neither Elena nor I had the clout to overrule the nobles yet. If Elena rose to S-rank, the nobles' treatment of us would change, but there was still a long time to wait for that.
"All right. That seems appropriate. I will also entrust you with the entire management and supervision of the Dungeon Investigation Team. Run the team however you like."
Lizette signed the newly drafted contract, finalizing the agreement.
***
I left the reception room and exited the lord's castle through the main gate.
The afternoon sunlight blazing down overhead heated my hair.
I had checked off one of the high-priority items on the checklist in my head.
'The Dungeon Investigation Team.'
A party officially sanctioned in the young lady's name had become one of the city's few truly formidable parties.
It might be outclassed in terms of actual resources because it received no tangible support, but it wouldn't lose a battle of prestige.
Losing half to her was painful on paper, but parties of this kind normally paid individual adventurers at most three percent.
Yet I was getting fifty percent.
That meant Lizette didn't believe my claim in the slightest.
Perhaps she thought that if this failed, she would be able to separate Barie from me.
Whatever the reason, this contract was highly satisfactory for Eck as well.
'In the first place, nothing I obtained in the dungeon would be acknowledged without noble approval.'
The dungeon's profits did not lie only in monster materials or mineral gathering.
The occupation of the dungeon.
That was the real prize.
As the first official party to explore the dungeon, we had effectively secured the rights to its entrance.
A dungeon entrance was a goose that laid golden eggs, with gold coins rolling in even if you simply sat there.
I didn't regret throwing away half at all.
'Even if I grew greedy, Barie's request and our personal relationship would hold me back.'
Lizette cared too much for Barie for me to overturn a request Barie had made by staking her honor, merely out of personal greed.
They say that to catch the general, you must first catch his horse.
'It was a good thing I sought Barie's friendship.'
I quickened my pace toward the guild headquarters.
I passed through the first floor, normally bustling with adventurers, and went straight up to the top floor.
The guards moved to stop me, but recognized me and let me pass.
I pushed open the heavy wooden door concealing one of the rooms on the top floor.
The guildmaster's office.
The hole in the wall had been temporarily blocked off, and construction had been completed.
Rebecca looked up from the papers she was shuffling through on a luxurious leather sofa.
Her eyes filled with puzzlement when she saw me.
"Eck? You came to see me first. How nice."
"Sit down. I'll say what I came to say and leave."
I sat across from Rebecca.
I handed her the appointment document bearing Lizette's signature.
Rebecca's fingertips unrolled the tightly rolled parchment.
Her eyes rapidly skimmed the words.
Appointment Letter for Captain of the Dungeon Investigation Team.
Approved by: Lizette van Reator.
Her impassive expression gradually hardened.
"Eck, what is this supposed to be?"
"A dungeon will appear soon. The young lady is keeping an eye on this matter, so help me."
I leaned back against the sofa.
"The young lady is watching for signs of a dungeon appearing throughout the northern mountain range. I've been instructed to form an investigation team and respond proactively."
It wasn't a complete lie.
I had merely rearranged what came before and after.
There was no way Rebecca could know that.
"So gather the heads of every clan and keep the main parties on standby so they can't go anywhere, ready to respond the moment a dungeon appears."
"Is the lord's castle really that certain this will happen?"
"It's confidential. Don't mention the young lady or me to the clan leaders at all."
"Then there will be resistance."
"Let only those willing to stay remain. If only those who trust your word and follow you despite the uncertain source of the information remain, that's enough."
Rebecca's gaze darted ceaselessly between the appointment letter and my face.
Whether my words were true became almost irrelevant in the face of the young lady's name. Her endorsement supported every part of my claim.
"Rebecca, you'll help me share information about the dungeon. Your role is to sell the information I obtain and use it to put the clan bastards to work."
"Anything else?"
There wasn't anything in particular.
I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.
Whenever I was with Rebecca, Eck's memories kept flooding back.
The reasons and emotions behind Eck's loathing of Rebecca filled my chest.
Rebecca rose from her seat.
"I have one."
"What are you planning to ask for? Since keeping this secret is crucial, I can accommodate most things."
"I'm not asking for anything. What could I possibly ask of you?"
I gave a hollow laugh.
"The man who drugged me has quite a nerve talking."
"It was unavoidable. If I'd told you verbally, you wouldn't have listened at all. I'm the person in the world who knows your rebellious streak best, you know."
She took a potion from the cabinet.
She held it out politely in both hands.
"It's a new virility potion I acquired. I heard you've been looking for one lately. If you need someone, I'll call a woman for you. Should I bring a girl who resembles Elena? If you want someone to use roughly, I can call Jeina, too. Or would you prefer me?"
"...I'll just take the item."
I accepted the virility potion and, with a bitter expression, tossed the thick liquid down my throat.
The virility potion worked well.
Immediately after drinking it, an urge to bite the nape of Rebecca's neck began creeping over me.
But I suppressed it with all my strength.
"I'll come inform you once the details are decided."
"Sure. I'll look forward to it."
Rebecca walked me all the way to the main gate and waved goodbye with a small motion of her hand.
***
Before I knew it, night had fallen.
One task still remained.
It hadn't been on my original schedule, but it might be just as important as the dungeon.
At night, Alchemist Street was shrouded in darkness so complete I couldn't see a step ahead.
In that darkness, eyes that had not revealed themselves in the morning watched me as if studying me.
After passing those watchful gazes,
I pushed open the door to Dorea's shop.
The distinctive smell of low-grade potions and the damp air from the ongoing work seeped through the crack in the door.
The shop was softly lit by magic lamps, and the clinking of empty bottles rang busily.
Smithy-like heat billowed from the bubbling cauldron, and steam gathered beneath the shop's ceiling like clouds.
Finished potions were stoppered with corks and left haphazardly on one side.
"Old man."
Someone groaned and lifted his head from beside the pot on the workbench.
Dorea, who had been nodding off, turned toward me with a bleary face.
"It's burning."
"Aaargh!"
Dorea jolted in surprise, and his expression crumpled as he saw the potion boiling furiously in the pot.
It was too late to save it.
When he put out the fire, the smell of burning rose, and charred ingredients clung to the pot.
Dorea glared at me with dark circles under his eyes.
"What brings you here again? Can't you see how busy I am because of you?"
"Can you finish it by the deadline at this rate?"
"You dumped it on me and now... Ow, my back."
Dorea got to his feet and stretched his back until it cracked.
"How did you expect this old man to churn out thirty thousand of them in just one month?"
"If you accepted the advance, you have to do it."
"Tsk... What kind of fortune was I hoping to make by taking on work like this?"
Thud.
I pulled a small vial from inside my clothes and set it down in front of the grumbling Dorea.
It was something Elena had given me that morning and asked me to have analyzed.
I already knew what the vial was, but the analysis would reveal something else.
'Normally, Fila would handle this role...'
I couldn't let Elena meet Fila.
I didn't want to see Fila fall for Elena at first sight and rape her.
I absolutely couldn't let them meet.
The reason I had deliberately met the fake woman named Fila first, using Lizette's letter of introduction, was to eliminate any point of contact between her and Elena.
If I acted as the intermediary between Fila and Elena, Elena could bypass Fila.
Fila was a character who was unconditionally favorable toward Elena.
She was a good character.
'Her sex drive was just far too strong.'
It had been an advantage in the game, but now it was deadly.
Despite her gloomy demeanor, she had a vivid imagination and was a lust-crazed monster who concocted all sorts of drugs and devised countless sex acts to rape Elena in creative ways.
I steeled myself once more to keep them from meeting.
I would absolutely prevent Fila from raping Elena until she was nothing but a rag.
Dorea picked up the vial.
"I know you're busy, but I'd like you to examine this."
"What is this now?"
"I don't know. It looks like a recovery potion, but I'd like to have its ingredients tested."
"Wait."
Even as he grumbled, Dorea opened the vial's stopper, held it to his nose, and sniffed it.
He transferred the contents into a flask and began heating it.