Chapter 96
[Yes, I’ve also received the same information . ]
[She should be able to make enough money to buy her freedom after her last fight, right?]
[Probably . ]
[It might become complicated though if we were to negotiate with her using gold . ]
She’s not the type who looks like their eyes would glow after seeing money .
[However, there’s an information I got that kind of worries me . ]
Seras came a bit closer to me .
Lowering her voice, she whispered .
[Apparently, she seems to have had enough money to buy her freedom back two years ago . ]
[Hmm? Then, for the remaining two years, is it that she had been earning money to spend after she had became free?]
Well, it must have been that .
And now, she must have been able to save quite a lot .
[I’ve also thought that was the case, but it seems that it’s different . ]
[What do you mean?]
[It seems that she’s trying to buy back the freedom of another person . ]
[So, she has been trying to earn extra money for these two years for that?]
Fumu…
[Whose freedom she’s trying to buy or the whereabouts of this person— as expected, you wouldn’t know huh?]
[No . ]
Seras held out a piece of paper .
[This is…]
I received the paper and checked the contents .
There was a name written on it, along with some brief information about her .
[A child?]
[This child had been sold here in Monroy by the slave trader at the same time as Eve . ]
[Is she Eve’s daughter?]
[No, she’s not a were-leopard . ]
[Funnn…]
It seems that there are some surprisingly complicated circ.u.mstances .
[Either way, I don’t think there’s any chance that we could solve this with gold . ]
I remember that time when I talked with Eve about the Witch of Taboos .
That impression I had about her .
I had the impression that she’s stubborn and stiff when it comes to her decisions .
It’s possible that she’s feeling grat.i.tude towards the Witch of Taboos .
To make someone like her talk, it may be necessary for her to have more grat.i.tude towards me .
I started pondering about it .
[Now then, I wonder what bargaining chip we could use…]
I want some kind of clue .
She has already earned enough money to buy back the freedom of the young girl Seras had mentioned before .
………………… .
Should we just drop asking the information from Eve and just directly enter the Demon Zone?
Or we could—-
—hire Eve as my guard immediately after she buys back her freedom…
[Also, I have one more thing that I want you to hear . ]
[………… . . ]
How much information does Seras have?
The amount of information I collected can’t even be compared to hers .
[Can I ask you one thing before that? How did you get these information…?]
Hesitating for a moment, Seras replied .
[I went towards an information broker . ]
[Information broker?]
[They weren’t found in Mills, but in large cities like Monroy, you could find information brokers that handles information that usually weren’t opened to the public . ]
So, that’s why she went to another district huh…
They may also know a place where you could sell the Azure Dragon Stone…
I can’t make light of such a place .
Speaking of which, she was the leader of a company of knights .
Did she usually get information that weren’t opened to the public by going to the information broker?
[I learned from the princess about the “dark room” . I heard that there were times where conspiracies were rampant inside the royal court . It seems that the princess managed to protect herself by skillfully using those people who were from the underworld . ]
The underworld who handles the dirty jobs .
In this world, it seems that they were called people from the “dark room” .
I see…
This may also be the reason why Seras is really knowledgeable .
So, it’s the influence of the princess who she served .
[I apologize for going to the information broker alone without telling about it . It’s because they extremely dislike it when they’re talking with someone accompanied by people who don’t know about their existence…]
[It’s up to you to decide . You don’t have to worry about it . However, how would they know when someone knows about them or not?]
I asked just purely because I’m kind of interested .
[I understood how their “etiquette” works . That “etiquette” can only be learned by the “customers” of the information brokers and this “etiquette” is the proof that you are a “customer” . They would be able to easily see through if you’re just imitating their etiquette . ]
Is it something like a cipher that only they could understand?
It seems that group was quite thorough with their confidentiality .
I finally understood why Seras has to go there alone .
I don’t know about these “etiquette” .
If I were to go together with her, I might thoughtlessly make the information broker vigilant towards us .
[However, I should have told you about making use of the information broker… I apologize . Umm, also—]
Seras timidly held out something towards me .
It’s the small bag I gave her earlier, now empty .
[All of the money I received was used to buy these information . Umm… It seems that bargaining for prices with them was a bad move . ]
[That’s alright . It’s thanks to this that we acquired valuable information . Rather, I should be thankful to you instead . ]
[Milord really is kind . ]
Seras looked quite relieved .
[……………… . ]
No, there’s really no reason to scold her now though .
If you just think about it normally .
[And, what’s the other thing you wanted to tell me?]
[Yes, about that—-]
Without any change in her expression, Seras said .
[Have you heard that most of the strongest Blood Champions in the past have died in their last duel?]
[Yeah, I’ve also heard about that before . ]
Most of them have lost their lives in their last duel .
For this reason, the final duel would get everyone excited .
Whether they would be able to survive or not .
Their probability of survival is really low .
It’s as though, it’s just like the Disposal Ruins .
[However, isn’t it because it’s their final duel that it would just simply be a straightforward battle where she defeats her opponents?]
I don’t think that kind of information is necessarily something that can’t be released to the public .
However—
[It doesn’t seem like it’s just that . ]
Seras started looking around the area .
Subsequently, she went even more closer .
Standing on her tiptoes, she brought her mouth closer to my ear .
[It looks like one of the dukes who manages the Blood Colosseum is doing something disadvantageous against the Blood Champions to make them lose on the day of their final duel . ]
That’s not an admirable act at all .
No, you could even say that’s purely foul play .
It’s an act that unfairly tramples on the hopes of the Blood Champions .
However, that’s something that I—
[Funnn…]
I will seize this wonderful opportunity .
I completely realized that I really am a piece of trash .
[I guess this would be our clue…]