Chapter 8 — The Darkness Will Come with Kindness

I returned to the hotel to gather my thoughts, then quickly caught a public carriage. I headed for the Colosseum before going to the dinner invitation. It seemed like I wouldn’t have time otherwise.

The sunset was beginning, and honestly, the time was close. I became anxious and impatient. Edmond’s skills were outstanding in the original story, so I believed he would have done well on his own, but if a problem arose, I would need time to fix it.

The more rushed I was, the more focused I needed to be. Things tended to go wrong at times like this.

“Whew…”

I bit my lip and ran my fingers through my hair.

Something sweet would be perfect right now. I thought of Noah, who had been so thoughtful and aware, but immediately shook my head. It was probably fortunate that I had met and greeted Noah yesterday. I thought about the conversation I had had with Annie at lunch.

That interaction with him was a farewell.

With that thought, I closed my eyes for a moment to clear my head.

As expected, the slave Colosseum was even more chaotic and rowdy than when I had visited last time. Thanks to that, it was easier to sneak in. However, I needed to use more illusions, so it required much more concentration. Moreover, I was wearing an elegant dress for the dinner invitation.

I debated whether to go straight in and meet Edmond or send someone to relay a message. After not seeing any trustworthy employees, I decided to go inside.

“Hey, Sid. Leaving now?”

As I turned the corner in the hallway, I was startled by a familiar name and quickly turned my body to hide to the side.

Sid?

Was Kairos’ subordinate still in the capital?

I thought he had left with Kairos. Since we often communicated through the communication device, I thought he would have gone to Ferrarium this time as well. Was there something else he needed to do in the capital? Perhaps Sid had been traveling back and forth between the capital and Ferrarium.

“Yeah, I have to go. Do a good job checking the numbers today. Four people are leaving at the end of the month, right?”

“Yes, if the rankings don’t change. The first match is at 11, so go ahead and report. What else?”

“I don’t care about that. Oh, that Edmond or Ed guy, is he making any money these days?”

Edmond!

I leaned in a bit more to focus on the voice.

“Yes, but he’s been in a bad mood these past few days. Should we call Perian back? He had good results when she was in charge.”

I held my breath. Were they bringing Ginger back? That would be even worse!

“Ginger Perian? No way. She’s in the middle of something important right now.”

“What is she doing?”

“That’s confidential. Maybe she and Nigella hold the key to how much easier our future will be.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Anyway, take care of the guys today. I’m going.”

“Got it.”

As their voices faded away, I relaxed. That was a close one. I didn’t expect Sid to be of any help, but fortunately, it ended simply. I almost had Ginger coming back to the capital. I glanced around and saw that neither Sid nor the man he was talking to was in sight.

I calmed my racing heart.

Man, my heart has been working overtime these past few days. It feels like my heart has been jumping out of my chest.

Taking advantage of the empty hallway, I quickly headed for Edmond’s waiting room. I knocked out the employee who was just leaving Edmond’s room and quickly opened the closed door. After confirming that Edmond was the only one inside, I smiled.

“Edmond, it’s been a while. Sorry to bother you, but can you let this guy inside? He passed out, so I think it would be suspicious if I left him here.”

“Who is it?”

Edmond didn’t recognize me right away and was on guard. Oh, right. He still couldn’t recognize me. I had made sure that Edmond wouldn’t be able to recognize my face in case things went wrong, but I had momentarily forgotten in my relief.

I almost felt bad that he wouldn’t recognize me.

“Ah! ‘French bread is delicious, is it true?’ If I say that…”

As soon as I spoke, Edmond approached me, picked up the unconscious staff member like a sack of potatoes, and took him inside.

“Thank you for your help. I ended up coming myself.”

After roughly placing the employee in the corner of the waiting room, Edmond immediately got up and asked me, “How’s Ginger doing?”

“Ginger is doing fine without any problems.”

“…That’s good.”

I quickly stood in front of Edmond.

“I’ll get you out of here on payday. If you slip out to the place I’m telling you, a carriage will be waiting for you. I’ll ask them to tie a red string to the handle, so make sure you check that.”

Edmond briefly calculated the time and frowned.

“…Isn’t that four days from now? Do we have to rush it that much?”

I nodded and told him what Annie and I had planned out this afternoon.

“It suddenly came up today. You get out of here first, and Ginger will follow you once she’s done with her work.”

“Yes.”

“When you two meet at the outer road of the East Gate, don’t take the gate. Instead, go straight to Pyronthe. I’ll put what you need in the carriage. Got it?”

“Where in Pyronthe?”

“Once you cross the Pyronthe border, go to Gulla Village and get a room at an inn or something and hide for a few days. I’ll tell Ginger the rest. To get out of here, you have to take a carriage through the manhole, but that manhole is….”

“I know.”

“You know?”

Edmond looked at me as if he couldn’t believe it. “I’d look foolish if I didn’t know the geography here.”

“Well, then this will be easier. Take this.”

I handed Edmond a small, elongated red jewel. It was a special magic stone with magic cast on it that Annie had gotten for me in advance. It was only half the size of a pinky. While it just looked like a ruby, if you looked closely, there was a yellow core in the middle.

“What’s this?”

“You usually wear shackles on your hands, right? This will help you get rid of them. I got you a small one so you can keep it in your mouth. If you bite this and forcefully rub it against the shackles, it’ll break them. And this is…”

This time, it was a dark green special magic stone.

I had originally planned to get a reusable magical tool, but it would be difficult to hide, and a small magic stone that could only be used once would be better.

“This is?”

“Just in case. It can hide your body for about 10 minutes. It would be great if you could get to the manhole during that time.”

“I understand what you mean. I’ll be fine once the shackles are off.”

I felt much better when Edmond spoke confidently.

“Good. The time is between 2:00 and 2:30. The carriage has to leave here by 3:00.”

“Got it.”

After quickly giving Edmond the information, I immediately prepared to leave.

“I’ll do as you said. Will you be okay?”

“Oh, me?”

“If we’re in danger, aren’t you in even more danger?”

He was worried about me as soon as we got on the same boat, after only asking about Ginger’s well-being. Well, since it was about dodging Kairos, I guess he would be worried.

“I’ll be fine. I’m pretty good at taking care of my own body. Make sure to keep the time.”

“…I wish you luck.”

“I wish you luck, too.”

I said goodbye to Edmond, wishing each other success. I left the slave fighting arena and headed straight to the address Fay had given me. Fortunately, I still had some time left, even though I had rushed over.

“Ugh, I can’t keep doing this for long.”

It felt like I was splitting a 24-hour day into 48 hours.

I got into the carriage and let out a pent-up breath.

“Now, what else do I have to do?”

Now, all that was left was to tell Ginger. I hadn’t contacted Ginger separately since coming to the capital. However, if she was doing as I told her, she would have taken out the remaining gold bars and cash from the safe and kept them separately.

She would have secretly burned all the personal documents related to me and organized the documents so that the guild could continue operating even if I wasn’t there. I had originally planned to go to Ferrarium one last time and organize everything, but since the plan had changed, I had no choice but to leave it all to Ginger.

Still, I was lucky to have Ginger.

If it weren’t for her, I would have had to run away without leaving anything behind. Since the money and Edmond were involved, Ginger would never do anything else, so that was fortunate as well.

“It’s pretty far.”

Catching my breath, I looked out the window at the dark scenery. Martin’s carriage was on its way out of the outskirts of the capital. Although the palace was quite a distance from Fay’s mansion, she said that she commuted every day without using the dormitory.

‘It takes almost an hour by carriage from here to the palace.’

She was quite diligent. Hmm, I’ve packed everything I needed.

I leaned back for a moment to rest and closed my eyes.

* * *

“Welcome, Senior!”

As soon as I got out of the carriage, I was greeted excessively by Fay, who had been waiting for me. Behind Fay, the servants bowed to me at the same time.

“Thanks for inviting me. Am I too late?”

“No, not at all! Let’s go inside.”

Fay was so happy to have invited me that she skipped around.

Following Fay into the mansion, I noticed that the surroundings were quieter than I expected. Moreover, I had arrived neither too late nor too early, but I was the only one there.

“Has anyone else arrived yet?”

“No…! No one has arrived yet. I think they’ll be here soon.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I’m so glad I could invite you, Senior.”

Even in the Great Hall, the lord and madam of Martin’s family were all there to greet me.

“This is Hazel Love, the senior who has been teaching me. Father, Mother, this is senior. The one behind you is my e…lder brother.”

“Hello, I’m Hazel Love.”

“Welcome. I heard that my daughter owes you a great deal. I am Digus Martin.”

“Thank you very much. I am Ello Martin.”

The couple of Martin’s family, who wore warm and gentle smiles, greeted me politely.

“No, I am also learning a lot.”

Since I wasn’t good at these situations, I just smiled and bowed. Fay’s older brother and heir to the Martin family reached out to me.

“I’m Kane Martin. Thank you for taking such good care of my sister.”

Everyone except Fay had brown hair. Unlike what I had heard about her being an illegitimate child, they all seemed to be on good terms, which surprised me, though I thought it was fortunate. I thought it would be like walking on thin ice because she had been mistreated, but I guess I was wrong.

“Let’s have some tea while we wait, senior.”

After greeting the family, Fay guided me to the drawing room, saying that she would serve tea until the other guests arrived. I felt much more relaxed once I was away from the family’s watchful eyes.

“How do you like the tea?”

Fay asked with wide eyes.

“It’s very good?”

“I’m glad!”

As I waited, savoring the aroma of the tea, a servant entered the drawing room and told Fay something. Fay’s face immediately showed her distress.

“Senior.”

“Yes?”

“What should we do? The director and my colleagues all have work and can’t come.”

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