How a Social Novice Makes Allies

Ferda hung a black hood at the highest point of the castle.

A place ordinary people would have difficulty seeing with the naked eye, and an element no one would think to pay attention to.

But to someone, it was a clear signal.

As proof, Black Bandana came.

Only three hours had passed since he hung it there.

“I see you, Regent. This is our first meeting since the Dandolo Trading Company affair.”

Garnet Swallow, who had introduced himself as the representative, had come in person again.

“Can the head of an organization really be wandering around like this?”

“I may be called its head, but I’m no different from the other executives. Besides, I’ll be keeping an eye on Waldrova Castle for the time being…… In that regard, my heartfelt congratulations on the first completion of Hestia Town.”

“Thank you.”

Ferda and Garnet moved on to business.

Garnet tilted his head upon hearing about Ferda’s current situation.

“This is nothing more than obvious gossip……. Do you really need to pursue it?”

“I do.”

“Given the circumstances, we may have to poke around the Imperial family, so it’ll cost quite a bit.”

“I don’t care.”

“Hmm…….”

Garnet groaned, then nodded.

It was utterly trivial, but what mattered differed from person to person.

“Understood. We’ll do our utmost to find the source of the rumor.”

“Thank you. How much do you need as an advance?”

Garnet held up his palm.

“No advance is necessary. These petty culprits are actually difficult to catch, so you can pay me once we succeed.”

He wasn’t confident about catching a single petty culprit?

Ferda chose to take it as meaning gossip was that frightening.

Because it meant anyone could become its target.

“I’ll pay the fee once it’s over. There’s one more thing I’m curious about. May I ask?”

“Information requires an advance.”

Thorough.

Ferda handed over the money.

After confirming it was an appropriate amount, Garnet sent a confirmation signal.

“I discussed countermeasures for the scandal with the Imperial Princess. Could you review them?”

Ferda told Garnet exactly what Olivia had said.

He needed it verified by the head of a secret organization.

“It’s a good idea.”

Garnet reacted positively.

“The common people will quickly forget as they return to their livelihoods, while nobles are bound to be swept up in a new trend. Leaving a small question mark in the current narrative and letting it fizzle out is a noble way to conduct oneself.”

“Is that so?”

“Besides, though it won’t be visible, it can also be used as a trap. If someone came out determined to kill both you and the Imperial Princess, they’d add more substance to the story. If that happens, it’ll be much easier for us to catch them. Either way, it’s a good method.”

So there were details like that.

He had thought he saw the big picture, but it was beyond anything he had imagined.

Had Olivia calculated all of this?

“Thank you for checking.”

“It’s nothing. If you have another favor or request, let me know.”

“I have no other requests. Take this.”

Ferda handed him an envelope.

“What is this?”

“An invitation to the Beginning-of-Spring Festival.”

“The banquet all the nobles are talking about these days. Am I allowed to attend?”

“Since you’re going to infiltrate it anyway, wouldn’t it be better to submit a real invitation rather than create unnecessary suspicion with a fake one?”

Garnet looked as though he had taken a hit.

“I’ll move without drawing attention at the banquet.”

Garnet tucked the invitation into his clothes.

“Since I’ve received a ticket to an event every noble is watching, I suppose I should provide a service in return.”

“A service?”

“From what I can see, you seem to be a novice in high society. Am I right?”

Ferda gave a small nod.

Garnet smiled faintly.

“How a social novice makes allies.”

The greatest secret organization on the continent of Cerdes, living by selling information.

It had brought out information that was just as interesting.

* * *

After finishing his usual daily routine, Ferda called for a man.

“You’re good at dancing, aren’t you?”

A handsome man with brown hair tied in a short ponytail: Zed Swallow.

“Of course. If you can’t dance, you can’t make a living as a swindler.”

“Then can you teach dancing as well?”

“That’s a somewhat different field. Being good at something doesn’t mean you can teach it…….”

“Of course, I’ll pay your lesson fee.”

“I’ll make you the emperor of the dance floor, Regent.”

Zed gave a thumbs-up.

Ferda wondered whether he could trust him.

“But is that why you want to dance? To dance at the Beginning-of-Spring Festival?”

Ferda nodded.

Zed tilted his head.

“The host generally won’t have much occasion to dance. He mostly sits for a while and then leaves. Besides, the hostess won’t be attending either…….”

“It’s preparation for dancing with Her Highness the Grand Duchess.”

“Oh~. Is she coming? I’ve never met her, so I was curious…….”

“That’s still unknown.”

Wasn’t he counting his chickens before they hatched?

Zed couldn’t say that.

The anticipation swelling visibly in his eyes made it obvious.

Ferda began learning to dance for Waldrova.

Ruri had told him Waldrova was making various preparations for the Beginning-of-Spring Festival.

However, even Ruri was not certain whether she would attend.

It didn’t matter.

Just as Zed was doing the job in exchange for money, it was Ferda’s duty to prepare for the possibility that Waldrova would come.

Zed sat in the chair opposite him and asked Ferda,

“Have you ever seen Her Highness’s face?”

“Only once.”

“What was she like? She must be beautiful, of course, but what expression was she wearing?”

Her expression.

It did not seem like it would make for a very pleasant story, but he answered honestly.

“She was crying.”

“Oh~.”

Ferda raised his head and glared at Zed.

Zed hurriedly explained himself.

“Why are you looking at me like that? This is a good thing.”

“What is?”

“You said it was the first time you saw her crying, right? There’s a superstition that if your future partner is crying when you first see her face, good fortune will come your way. And if the next face you see is smiling, you’ll grow old together for a hundred years.”

“You’re rattling off lies that don’t hold water.”

“But it’s true…….”

He muttered that with an embarrassed expression, then casually unfolded a letter lying on the desk and read its contents.

“I didn’t know there were this many people desperate to get into a new noble’s Beginning-of-Spring Festival. The Imperial Princess’s help must be making quite a difference?”

“It does seem to be an astonishing situation.”

“It’s incredible. You’d be lucky to receive even one letter like this, but they’re practically weeping and begging us to send them an invitation, aren’t they?”

Having watched countless things like that, Zed could only marvel at this unusual situation.

“Let’s see who’s coming…… Gack.”

“Is there someone you know?”

“There is. The young ladies I subtly abandoned at the ball…….”

“Ladies?”

Just how many had he abandoned and left behind?

When Ferda glared at him, Zed widened his eyes and said,

“Don’t worry. I’m already working with a professional, so even if I run into them, I’ll resolve it amicably.”

Speak of the devil, and the professional he was working with burst in.

“Paaartyyyy!!”

The person who entered the study making a frivolous noise was Penelope.

She came bouncing along by herself, apparently excited about something.

“I heard you’re holding a party!”

“Yes.”

“And that Imperial Princess will be coming too?”

“She will.”

“Ehehehehe…….”

Ferda added,

“If you lay a hand on her, I’ll tear your limbs apart. Are you confident you can behave?”

“Aaaah……! No matter how much I like women, I’m not the kind of bitch who can’t tell shit from Shinola to that extent, you know? Right, Jeje?”

Penelope clung to him familiarly.

Zed placed a hand on her shoulder and said with a languid look,

“You are exactly that kind of bitch.”

“Haha, our Jeje is so mischievous, always saying things he doesn’t mean.”

“I’d trust Malcolm before I’d trust you.”

“You gigolo! You’d be better off just cursing me out!”

The moment Malcolm was mentioned, she flew into a rage and began bickering with him.

“Get out of here, you bitch. How dare you crawl into this place?! Ugh, what bad luck. Where’s the salt? Salt!”

“What are you talking about?! I was summoned too, you know?”

“The Regent summoned you? Say something that makes sense. If that’s true, I’ll change my surname.”

“I did summon her.”

He put an end to it so their pointless quarrel would not continue.

“I don’t care what you two do, but you won’t be enjoying the party.”

“What? Then I can’t pick up any women?”

Penelope drooped like a dog with depression.

As though uninterested, Zed asked Ferda,

“What are we supposed to do?”

The method for a social novice to make allies that Garnet Swallow had told him about.

“Find the weaknesses of the young ladies and gentlemen visiting Waldrova Castle.”

“Weaknesses?”

“What kind of weaknesses?”

Ferda tossed out a keyword.

“Affairs.”

The Beginning-of-Spring Festival would bring men and women together.

Flowers brimming with youthful vigor would lure the bees, and the bees would be bewitched by them.

And countless people would end up having a fling for one night.

It was often treated as an unspoken rule, dismissed as simply a fleeting moment of youthful passion.

That was why Garnet had made this suggestion.

-If such a scandal exists, people will perceive that you, too, Regent Ferda, are merely human. They’ll think that someone who is not entirely aboveboard would be willing to turn a blind eye to an unspoken rule like this.

But to Ferda, that unspoken rule was nothing more than a cowardly, ugly excuse.

Garnet knew about Ferda’s devotion, which was why he had suggested such a somewhat dirty method.

-For those who refuse to become our allies, we must create a reason they have no choice but to become our allies.

What nobles valued was their reputation.

To preserve their reputation, they would be inclined to follow Ferda’s wishes.

They had to become entangled like that.

Garnet emphasized that being entangled in the first place was what mattered.

“Assuming the Beginning-of-Spring Festival is being held, scout out places where people might enjoy secret rendezvous. Then record every affair that takes place there using recording orbs.”

“That’s a request that would require ten bodies to fulfill. Understood, for now.”

The people to be used as that hidden weapon were Zed and Penelope.

They were suitable candidates, able to move covertly unlike others and experienced at bewitching people.

“I’ll do it if you tell me to.”

Penelope said that.

Ferda was reflexively irritated, thinking she was talking back, but that was not it.

“If there’s nothing to use as blackmail, can I create something myself?”

Penelope asked, her eyes sparkling.

Ferda realized he had overlooked one thing.

She was Sitri’s daughter, the demon of lust.

Troublesome, stupid, whatever else she might be, demon blood flowed through her veins.

“Do it. I give you permission.”

Ferda had plunged into the vicious world of noble politics.

So he needed to become even more vicious.

* * *

The cold spring breeze melted in the warm sunlight and blew gently.

The flowers that had bloomed in late winter bore fruit, embroidering various parts of the forest.

In this land where the only threat was monsters, there were no hungry predators, making it easy for the women to forage.

‘Spring…….’

The season of new birth that came after death.

To Waldrova, it was a season that made her sentimental.

She did not like sentimentality.

Because it always ended in melancholy.

That was why she kept her body moving without pause.

On days in that season ideal for young ladies to go on outings, she devoted herself to the labor of carrying and stacking stones for the castle walls.

She preferred the fulfillment of labor to sentimentality.

During lunchtime in her usual routine.

She had joined the workers sitting close together as they ate.

“You know that building we started but never finished? I heard it’s going to be used as an Alte cathedral.”

Ferda had asked the Alte faith to send priests to help unite the commoners, and a priest had arrived two weeks ago.

“Is that for the priest who came this time?”

“I suppose so.”

“I didn’t really like that priest…….”

“Who would? We were just going to curse that desert false god a little, and he came all the way here just to preach at us.”

“Didn’t they tell you not to talk like that? Set! You have to call him Set!”

“Set my ass. You’ve become the priest’s dog!”

They were moderates who had been pushed aside by the radicals currently holding the real power.

In other words, they were people who did not look down on the desert false god of the south and wanted to get along.

Waldrova could not understand their opposition.

‘Peace is a good thing, so why do they want to fight so much?’

Was it no fun if people did not clash with one another?

As always, Waldrova silently listened only to their conversation.

“Let’s try to trust him. Didn’t they say this Beginning-of-Spring Festival is being held together with the south, too? The southern side is eager to interact, so don’t provoke them needlessly.”

“It’s obvious what kind of mess this is going to become.”

He spoke sarcastically, clearly displeased.

No one knew how the gathering meant to promote exchange and harmony would turn out.

She found herself curious about the commoners’ lives.

What kind of event would they hold at the Beginning-of-Spring Festival?

Would there be something more than simply drinking, laughing, and making merry?

‘I’m curious, but…….’

She could not see it.

Because that day, she had to attend the nobles’ Beginning-of-Spring Festival, not the commoners’.

She had heard that preparations alone would take place from morning, so there would be no time to watch.

‘A week from now…….’

Time seemed to pass incredibly quickly.

She had started practicing dance while controlling her strength for the Beginning-of-Spring Festival, and now there was only a week left.

‘I’ll dance with Mr. Ferda in a splendid room.’

Her excitement unconsciously made her tense up again.

But perhaps because of her training, it had been reduced enough to approach the realm of ordinary people.

‘Even the pebble is still intact.’

The thing she held in her hand was a fragile pebble.

She was certain that though it might hurt Ferda’s hand a little, she would not accidentally crush it without realizing what she was doing.

“Come to think of it, things are pretty lively over in the Empire! I heard our lord and the Imperial Princess are having an affair?”

At someone’s topic, the workers’ atmosphere turned cold.

Waldrova pricked up her ears and listened in on the conversation.

“What nonsense you’re talking.”

“That’s what the women in the Empire say. Apparently they were hot and heavy even at the Grand Council on her first visit. Add the Imperial Princess of the Arken Empire visiting this time, and that makes three times in total. Has an Imperial Princess ever met someone around her age more than three times? Besides, during this procession, they were practically a married couple—”

Unable to stand it any longer, one worker clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Ahem! You’re always rushing headlong toward your own death! Don’t go carelessly saying things like that anywhere.”

“Why? Everyone in Hestia knows already.”

“You idiot! Who doesn’t know? Do you think people in Hestia are keeping quiet for no reason? What do you think will happen if the Regent’s wife hears that story? Our Regent will be a corpse, that’s what!”

Waldrova’s pupils shook as though an earthquake had struck.

The pebble in her hand had disappeared.

Instead, a mound of sand ground into fine particles had piled up.