Chapter 25 – Suspicion Breeds Doubt, Verdi

Chapter 25: Suspicion Breeds Doubt, Verdi

‘When the hell is this kid gonna show up?’

I figured he’d be back around the time he finished closing one Gate, so I returned to the office, but no matter how long I waited, he didn’t come.

‘Did he really run off to pocket the bounty all for himself?’

If so, I misjudged him.

Stealing at his age — and I’m the one who took down those Bandits!

But I don’t want to have to argue that.

So I trusted Deneb and sent her… and now the kid’s suddenly vanished without a trace.

‘Hmm, will this work?’

[ Navigator Lv.1 ]

I stretched my hand downward, and a fluorescent Magic Circle spread across the spot where I stood.

I pictured Deneb’s face. Then I muttered toward the Magic Circle.

“Where is Deneb right now?”

As if answering my question, an arrow-shaped line jutted out from the Magic Circle and shot off somewhere fast.

That line would lead all the way to where Deneb was.

Navigator is a location-tracking spell that only activates when you’ve been close to the target for over ten hours.

So it’s not a spell I normally use, but before my body changed, I’d known Deneb for a long time.

My body changed, but the magic stayed the same, so I tried it on a whim — looks like it’s working fine.

‘Alright then, shall we go find that money…’

Anyway, when I see you, you’re dead.

* * *

“Deneb!”

Spotting Deneb, I shouted in the most fiery voice I could to make it clear I was pissed.

“Ms. Verdi?!”

At my appearance, Deneb flinched like a thief caught red-handed — it was utterly ridiculous.

But…

‘Who’s that guy next to him?’

My gaze landed on the gray-haired man standing beside Deneb.

A fairly tall, handsome young man — judging by the sword at his waist, he seemed to be a Hunter.

‘A guild member of the Royal Knights.’

Looking closer, the guild mark on his clothes matched the one Deneb wore.

‘…! This bastard — did he hire a bodyguard because he was afraid I’d come to take the money?’

Once that thought hit me, I glared sharply at Deneb.

You thieving little cat! Have you lost your mind, trying to hog that money all for yourself?!

“What brings you here…?”

This oblivious brat still doesn’t seem to know why I came looking for him.

‘Hoo.’

I let out a small sigh inwardly, then calmed my mind and spoke.

“The bounty.”

“Ah!”

At my words, Deneb finally seemed to remember, clapping her hands with an “Ah!”

“Sorry, I forgot. I’ve been so distracted…”

With a look of embarrassment, Deneb pulled an envelope from her pocket and held it out to me.

Whether he was telling the truth or just acting… first, I needed to check the money.

Peeking inside, I saw it was packed with cash — more than I expected.

I shot Deneb a questioning look, asking if she’d taken any out.

“Uh… I haven’t touched it. I just…”

Trailing off, Deneb glanced at the man beside her, then moved closer to me.

“Being saved by you, Ms. Verdi, is more than enough. If anything, I should be the one giving you compensation…”

‘!’

The moment Deneb’s quiet whisper ended in my ear, I realized I’d made a mistake.

Of course — there was no way this kid would betray me.

“The compensation’s fine.”

Feeling guilty for suspecting her for no reason, I averted my gaze from Deneb.

The one person who’d ever taken my side, and I’d treated him like some cheapskate trying to pocket the bounty alone.

“I’ll repay this debt someday, for sure!”

“Uh, yeah…”

A hollow laugh escaped me without meaning to.

I’d thought Deneb was a thief trying to hog the bounty, but she still saw me as her savior.

‘I remember getting called a money-grubber by Mr. Luca not long ago…’

Looking at it now, I was the worse one.

‘What am I even doing…’

Mr. Luca trusted me and kept waiting, but I couldn’t even wait a single day.

Thinking that made me feel even more sorry toward Deneb.

Luckily, Deneb had no idea I was thinking all this.

“So who’s that guy over there?”

To quickly change the subject, I pointed at the man with Deneb and asked.

“…Doesn’t seem like a bodyguard.”

‘As expected of someone from the Five Great Guilds, he must be at least a High-Rank Hunter.’

I could tell just from meeting his eyes.

He’s no pushover.

‘Maybe around A-Rank?’

But why’s a guy like that with Deneb?

If he’s not a bodyguard hired to protect the bounty, why would a High-Rank Hunter be hanging around a place like this?

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Marcel Greyhound, of the Royal Knights.”

I’d asked Deneb, but the man who called himself Marcel stepped closer and bowed his head.

‘A guy who knows his manners.’

Ever since I became a girl, there’d been plenty of people like Mariano who looked down on me, but unlike them, Marcel greeted me with proper courtesy, and it put me in a good mood.

Unlike those pathetic losers, people with basic decency have composure. And when you have composure, you don’t look down on others. As they say, the position makes the man.

“I’m… Yoschua Verdi.”

I also bowed my head slightly and gave my name in formal speech.

Before my body changed, I wouldn’t have done that, but having been through that experience, I could bow my head now.

Now that I’d figured out he was an A-Rank Hunter, there was no benefit in leaving a bad impression.

If I wasn’t careful, I could end up making enemies of the entire Royal Knights.

Taking on all of them at once wouldn’t be hard in itself.

But if the cause of the fight ended up being me, my public reputation would plummet.

At least in this body, I didn’t want that.

“Mr. Marcel has agreed to be my escort starting today.”

“Escort?”

“Yes… It seems my hyung-nim got wind of what happened yesterday.”

Got wind of it, huh… So that’s how it was.

I recalled the last image I had of Wilhelm.

To be honest, I didn’t like the guy.

—Wilhelm hyung-nim is a really good person. Even if he treated you that way, Verdiol, he’s always been a good hyung-nim to me. I’m sure he had his reasons.

Deneb said that, but the end between me and Wilhelm hadn’t been pretty.

Even though I was his brother’s savior.

Anyway, Deneb often talked about Wilhelm.

From what Deneb said, I could tell what kind of guy Wilhelm was.

Not an endlessly caring older brother who doted on his sibling — but an older brother, period.

‘…Hmm.’

So Wilhelm would know full well that his little sister, who’d just become a D-Rank Hunter, couldn’t possibly beat a Bandit party made up of C-Ranks all by himself.

Which meant he must have noticed there was a companion.

Once I thought that far, I turned my gaze to Marcel.

‘A watchdog?’

The “escort” was probably just an excuse.

Wilhelm’s real goal was likely the Hunter who’d been with Deneb — the one who’d taken down the real Bandits and defeated the boss.

Wasn’t he attaching Marcel to recruit that Hunter into his guild?

That would also naturally explain why he’d assigned an A-Rank Hunter, a core guild member.

A kind of flex.

*Our guild has so many excellent Hunters. We can even assign an A-Rank to escort a mere D-Rank. How about it? Doesn’t it make your heart swell?* — that sort of feeling.

‘Too bad, that doesn’t work on me.’

Parading an A-Rank Hunter in front of a former S-Rank just makes me laugh.

To me, an A-Rank Hunter is nothing more than “not a pushover”!

Anyway.

‘Marcel, was it…’

A guy who should be a core guild member, wasting his time idly in a place like this.

Either Wilhelm had other plans, or this guy wanted it himself.

If it was the latter, well, I could understand.

The A-Rank and above Gates that A-Rank Hunters from a large guild like the Five Great Guilds usually headed to were demonic realms where even S-Ranks, the pinnacle of Hunters, could lose their lives if they slipped up.

Naturally, there were Hunters who didn’t want to go to places like that.

Just like me when I was holed up under the covers.

* * *

After finishing the greeting, Marcel discreetly observed the silver-haired girl before him.

Indeed.

She was a beautiful girl with a mysterious aura. At first, he’d thought a doll was walking.

He’d seen the video the Master showed him, but seeing her in person, he understood even more why the Master was so fixated on this girl.

Even with just her outstanding beauty, she could gather enough buzz, but more than that—

This girl showed no sign of wavering even with a High-Rank Hunter right in front of her.

Just being part of the Royal Knights, one of the Five Great Guilds, was enough for a person to receive envy and admiration from everyone around them.

But unlike them, this girl seemed completely uninterested from the start.

Rather, she had a look that asked, “So what?” That alone left a strong impression.

‘This isn’t going to be as easy as I thought.’

Just as Verdi had expected, Marcel had come here to recruit her.

As much as the Master cared for his younger sister, Deneb’s escort was important, but she still prioritized recruiting Verdi above all else.

But not all of Verdi’s guesses were correct.

Marcel recalled the time he had faced Wilhelm.

* * *

It had happened just yesterday.

About a month had passed since Marcel joined the guild.

Out of the blue, the Master contacted him.

It was a request to have a meeting with him when he had time.

A request from the guild master, an S-Rank Hunter. How could he refuse that?

Marcel immediately headed to the guild house and was able to face Wilhelm.

“It’s been a month since you joined the guild.”

“…Yes.”

Marcel vaguely guessed why Wilhelm had suddenly called him.

‘…My participation rate in Gates is extremely low.’

Actually, it wasn’t just low. It was zero percent.

High-Rank Hunters usually take their place as key members in a guild’s Gate raids.

But Marcel was different from other High-Rank Hunters.

Even when he participated in the guild’s large-scale subjugation parties, he went into the standby squad instead of the main force, or into the porter squad that mined Magic Stones.

It was a complete waste of talent, but this was what Marcel himself had wanted, no one else.

He had planned to leave the guild if he was refused, but surprisingly, Wilhelm generously accepted.

“Are you adjusting well?”

“More or less.”

He said that, but Marcel’s expression wasn’t very bright.

Marcel’s reputation within the guild wasn’t actually very good.

And Marcel was well aware of that fact.

After all, while others risked their lives to close Gates and save the world, Marcel had chosen the easy path.

Some people called him this.

Marcel the Deserter.

It was a derogatory nickname mocking Marcel, who ran from High-Rank Gates and only chose easy work.

‘I guess this guild is a dead end too…’

Recalling that insult, Marcel thought of his previous guild.

That guild was also one of the Five Great Guilds, just like the Royal Knights.

But unlike Marcel’s wishes, they didn’t want him to stay as a porter.

They wanted him to participate as a main member of the High-Rank Gate subjugation party.

‘I don’t want to risk my life on something that dangerous just to be included…’

But Marcel didn’t want to do that.

He didn’t want to go into dangerous Gates. He didn’t want to fight risking his life.

The reason he left his previous guild was also because of that.

He was satisfied with where he was now, and he had no desire to climb higher.

Go to Low-Rank Gates with low danger and easily take down Demon Beasts.

That alone was enough to make a living.

Rather than being noticed by others, enjoying a stable life.

That was exactly what Marcel wanted.

Risking his life was scary.

Because the memory of almost dying for real in a dungeon once before was still vivid.

People often asked him why, as an A-Rank Hunter, he didn’t participate in High-Rank Gate raids.

But he couldn’t tell them the reason. If he said it was because he was afraid of dying, he felt they would mock him.

He knew himself that it wasn’t honorable.

But… it was scary. Overcoming a fear that had been etched into you once wasn’t easy.

Marcel let out a sigh inwardly, then stared at the guild master before him.

“Marcel. I have a favor to ask of you.”

“I’m sorry. That would be difficult—”

Just as Marcel, having anticipated Wilhelm’s words, was about to say he was sorry and that he couldn’t do it—

“Escort my younger sister, and observe this girl closely.”

“—to do. Huh?”

Marcel’s eyes widened at the request, which was completely different from what he had expected.