Chapter 123.
"Was he that famous?” I asked.
He looked like he wouldn"t even stand on a red light like a fire truck, let alone look like a war hero. Of course, considering his skills, he did seem like he could wipe out an ordinary infantry battalion by himself.
However, war was not something where the tide could be reversed just because there was one strong person. Even if you were a powerful person recognised as an overwhelming force, if you encountered a unit that specialized in dealing with people with monstrous power, a struggle would be unavoidable.
In fact, the empire had established the Black Water Buffalo Knight Division with the special purpose of dealing with the Hunter Tribe, a battle race that was cooperating with an enemy nation.
Oh, of course, if you were as strong as my father, you could be called a war hero single-handedly.
Once again, Rosellis let out a deep sigh. Then, with enthusiasm and sincerity, she began narrating the Guild Director’s biography.
"Listen well. When the Guild Director was in the imperial army....”
To sum up the great work of the Guild Director Glont that she was telling me about...
One, alone, he crossed the Mephisto Canyon, one of the 10 restricted lands, and succeeded in negotiating with the Dragon Tribe that resided there to cooperate with the empire. It was Guild Director Glont who established the current system of the three battle races.
Two, when he was just commissioned, he led a squad of cavalry to destroy the leaders of the enemy"s regiment, leading his overwhelmingly inferior forces to victory.
Three, he established anti-war tactics for battle races and the Black Water Buffalo Knight Division, which learned the tactics. For your information, the first captain of the Black Water Buffalo Knights was Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y.
Four, just before the fall of the final city of Warrant due to demons flooding in from the Demon Territory, Guild Director Glont quickly led just the Black Water Buffalo Knights to support them and endured for 15 days until the main forces arrived.
Five, after retirement, as a legendary doll craftsman...
No, wait! Listening to Rosellis"s story, letting go of the last strange bit, her admiration of Guild Director Glont was not much different from Fiona’s of Rosellis.
Why am I in h.e.l.l again when I just got out!?
To break out of this irrational situation, I cut her off and interjected, "Please wait. I understand how great the Guild Director is."
"No, I haven"t even talked about half of it yet.” Rosellis shook her head firmly. Her eyes seemed much weaker than Fiona’s, but there was madness behind it.
"Come, look at this doll. This softness, this supreme cuteness!" She pushed her doll at me, her eyes were scary.
I calmed down and changed the subject. "No, I"ve heard enough. So what is it that you want to say?”
Rosellis let go of my shoulder that she had been holding and backed off. Then she blushed slightly and coughed drily in embarra.s.sment.
"Uh-hmm! So what I’m trying to say is that what you saw is not weird at all.”
What kind of logic is this? It was like suddenly saying, "Socrates is dead" without the process of "A human is dead" then "Socrates is human’.
"Um, don"t you think you skipped too much in the middle?"
Her face burned up in an instant. The red hair and red face went well together.
"So, so what I’m saying is!" Fl.u.s.tered, she started speaking a bunch of gibberish. "I did well in the martial arts compet.i.tion. I did well in the a.s.signed job, you know, and the Saintess was safe, then I beat some weird shadow dolls—”
I didn’t know what she was talking about. But listening to it, I roughly got an idea of what she wanted to say.
I calmed her down and sorted out her words.
"So to sum up, first of all, the Guild Director is a man that any soldier would admire. And also as a doll craftsman."
Rosellis nodded.
"At the sudden request of the Guild Director, during the martial arts compet.i.tion, you partic.i.p.ated in a low-level martial arts compet.i.tion that was not appropriate for you and secretly guarded the Saintess."
"That"s right."
As I thought, it was strange that Rosellis would come to such a martial arts compet.i.tion when she wasn’t even in need of money or fame. It was all planned in advance by Guild Director Glont after gaining information about the strange Half-Half Mask’s surprise attack.
"He didn"t say anything about it before, but today you were praised by the Guild Director, who you long admired, and while he was out, you were feeling really happy, and I saw the scene. Is that right?"
"Yes! That"s what I wanted to say!"
Rosellis nodded with a refreshed face as if all of her pent-up frustration was let out. She couldn’t even say such an easy thing and spoke gibberish instead. This is why people who use the sword are no good.
I sighed inwardly.
It was understandable for her to be happy after receiving praise from Guild Director Glont who was a respected knight and the object of admiration of soldiers, adventurers and mercenaries. However, no matter what, she was a grown adult who had snuck into her father"s room and talked to a doll. She probably didn’t deserve her nickname, b.l.o.o.d.y.
I thought about pointing that out, but I kept quiet because I thought it would make things more annoying.
Ah ah, is this what work life is like?
"Yes, I understand now. I think I misunderstood before."
"Right? Mmm-mmm. I"m glad you understand.” Rosellis nodded, relieved.
People like knights and adventurers who put their bodies ahead of their brains were so simple that it was nice.
"So what is going to happen with the door handle?”
When I pointed at the door handle in her hand, Rosellis laughed casually as if she didn’t realize she had been holding it this whole time and said, "Hahaha. I"ll fix it myself." She put the handle down and patted me on the shoulder. "So, can you keep what happened here a secret?”
Seeing that she was slightly blus.h.i.+ng, it seemed she was embarra.s.sed by the fact that she was hugging Angelica on the bed in Guild Director Glont’s room. Considering that this feminine aspect of hers was not being circulated by the crazy Fiona, she must have hidden it well.
Oh, was it because she thought the atmosphere of the room would keep me quiet and the matter of playing with Angelica in the room could be glossed over?
"Shall we talk as we have a cup of coffee at the café on the first floor?" I said with a playful smile.
My original purpose was to naturally prompt Rosellis into going to the first floor.
Rosellis was a little fl.u.s.tered, but in a way, I had grasped her weakness, so she obediently went down to the first floor with me.
While there, I found that Flam’s complexion had very much deteriorated in the short time I was gone. Fiona, who was propagating the story of Rosellis with all her might, saw the heroine herself come down with me. She immediately stopped talking and could not even meet her idol"s eyes like a shy little girl.
Gosh, to think that people can change 180 degrees just like that. Even I couldn"t alter my expression that fast. But I felt like I had found something that I could learn from my senior.
Freed from Fiona, Flam approached me and looked at me with resentment. "How could you do that!? Even the devil would not do that!"
I had no choice but to promise to make the finest aphrodisiacs for him to soothe his anger towards me.
And like that, the long first day of work went by. I was certain I did very little, but I was extremely tired.
-o-
b.l.o.o.d.y looked around while drinking black tea.
The inside of the café was full of lace, teddy bears, and rabbit dolls. There was a mythical scene depicting the descent of large and cute baby angels embroidered on the wall.
Looking inside the café, which was close to the opposite of his tastes, b.l.o.o.d.y got gooseb.u.mps.
"Do we have to meet at a place like this?"
Glont, who was holding a teacup with his little finger out, shook his hand. "Oh, you. It"s my taste. I may be your old boss, but once a boss, always a boss."
b.l.o.o.d.y was horrified when Glont laughed femininely. "Hohoho!"
“Kkeung! You’ve liked cute things for a long time, but it wasn"t this bad."
"Back then, I was forced to wear dull clothes because of my position."
b.l.o.o.d.y sighed as Glont smiled and talked.
"The Director of Adventurers’ Guild is not a low position."
The Adventurers’ Guild Director also served as a reserve commander in charge of nearly 100,000 reserve forces in case of emergency, so it was not a position that could be ignored. However, compared to Glont’s former position, it was indeed lower.
Glont clapped his hands in congratulations. "Yes, good talk. Please ask His Majesty, the Emperor or His Highness, the Prime Minister to hurry up and relieve me of this annoying position."
b.l.o.o.d.y flashed a fake smile. "Yes, I’m sure those two will be happy to take away Hyung-nim’s position."
Glont was currently sitting in the seat of the Adventurers’ Guild Director because of the emperor"s earnest request. Ten years ago, when Glont decided to retire, he tried to go down to the countryside living his days farming.
Contrary to his will, the reason he was in the position of the Guild Director was that Arcanta clung to his pants and refused to eat or drink for 15 days.
b.l.o.o.d.y clicked his tongue at the rather disinterested Glont. "Tch. It’s because Hyung-nim is acting like this and neglecting your family that Rosellis is still acting like a tomboy."
"Oh my, you! Are you suddenly attacking my weak points?” Glont smiled as he spoke but couldn"t hide his slightly distorted bitterness.
He was well aware of the reason Rosellis was deliberately trying to look strong. It was because her mother died of an illness early in her childhood and Glont was at war. Nevertheless, he was grateful to his daughter for not falling into the dark path and growing up so brightly.
b.l.o.o.d.y put down the finished teacup and got up. "It"s late, but he asked me to thank you for protecting the Saintess during the New Year’s Festival and cleaning up the aftermath.”
He didn"t say who asked to deliver it, but Glont could tell that it was Arcanta. The reason for not being able to deliver the message directly was probably because the prime minister offended this director during the cabinet meeting. He probably originally intended to say it after the cabinet meeting, but it would have been difficult to say thank you after making him angry.
"Stay a little longer, why are you leaving already?"
b.l.o.o.d.y very much didn’t want to when Glont caught him. "If you"re going to hold me up, at least do it at a bar instead of a place like this? Oh, in addition, Orphina wants me to tell you that she wants to have a cup of tea with you sometime."
"It"s already time for Orphina to come. Time flies."
Glont felt himself getting old. He sat there for a long time after b.l.o.o.d.y left the café. Then, after drinking the cold tea, he spoke into the air.
"You"re past the appointment time. Aren’t you going to show yourself?”
A man with plenty of gray hair wearing a blue mask revealed himself.
"Hahaha, this place isn’t to my taste either. Is there anywhere else?"
Glont shrugged his shoulders at Blue Mask and asked, "I"ll move if you want. Where would you like to go? Aquarius-nim."
“I like wherever you"re comfortable.”
Glont smiled playfully at Aquarius’s answer. "I"m comfortable here."
Aquarius took the lead with a smile at Glont’s reply.
"I know a good teahouse. Let"s go."
Glont smiled and stood up when Aquarius beckoned him to follow.