241

Chapter 241 — Even in a Life Like This (4)

There was no way the Demon Knight had fled for no reason.

Deathbringer found himself pondering a statement anyone who knew even the slightest thing about the Demon Knight would agree with.

Because saying he was not someone who would run away without a reason also meant that, conversely, if he were given sufficient reason, he could run away.

But this was none other than the Demon Knight.

Just how compelling a justification would someone have to give him to make a man like that flee?

What possible reason could make him choose to disappear?

“You, right?”

At the very least, it was unlikely that the Demon Knight had simply come up with the idea while quietly sitting imprisoned. He was not the sort of person who would think for the sake of his own survival, and it was strange to imagine him only now coming up with a reason strong enough to make him abandon the hard line he had held all this time—if such a thing existed, the Demon Knight was the kind of man who would have dealt with it long ago.

“Pardon?”

“You’re the one who did something to Sir Demon Knight.”

So there had probably been outside intervention.

There must have been a third party who had given the Demon Knight a new perspective.

“Let’s not waste time beating around the bush. You know as well as I do that you and I are in the same trade.”

Once Deathbringer started asking around with that suspicion in mind, the answer came surprisingly easily.

An adventurer had caused a commotion in front of the prison where the Demon Knight had been held before his escape.

And while the Demon Knight happened to be speaking with Meister, Meister had gone out of the way to receive an item at that precise moment, claiming it was something already ordered.

As someone who had dealt in information for a long time, Deathbringer could say with confidence that there was more than enough there to warrant suspicion.

“Well, damn. You show up out of nowhere and the first thing out of your mouth is……”

But figuring that much out did not mean everything suddenly went smoothly.

“Listen, kid. At times like this, people in the same line of work are supposed to show each other some respect and pretend they didn’t see anything.”

Unfortunately, the adventurer happened to belong to the same Information Guild as Deathbringer.

The man seized Deathbringer by the collar and brought their faces close together. To anyone watching, it would look as though they were fighting, but in truth, it was simply a trick for speaking as quietly as possible.

With every syllable the other man spat out, Deathbringer felt his breath against his cheek.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you, so piss off.”

Having to obtain information from someone in the Information Guild was a double-edged sword.

If negotiations succeeded, Deathbringer could potentially get far more out of the man than he ever could from an ordinary person. But if they failed, the man could wipe the field so clean that not even a single clue remained.

At least this man had not had enough time to clean everything up and had left Deathbringer a trail to follow… but that was as far as it went.

Given the disturbance he had caused, the Temple must have grown suspicious and investigated him as well. Yet the fact that he was walking around perfectly fine now made things obvious.

He and Meister must have coordinated their stories flawlessly.

Perfectly enough that, however much the Temple disliked it, they had no choice but to let them go.

“Maybe you don’t have anything to say to me, but I have plenty to say to you.”

So Deathbringer grabbed his fellow professional by the collar.

The other man, who had just released Deathbringer’s clothes so he could leave, was left looking ridiculous.

His plain face crumpled around the brow as he glared at Deathbringer.

“Hey, green-ears. I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’ve got business with that adventurer. How about you let go?”

Then someone entirely unexpected butted in.

It was Meister.

“You are……?”

“Huh, the clie—?”

Deathbringer started to ask why Meister was here, then decided to simply be pleased about it.

He had been planning to seek Meister out anyway to ask about the story Meister and this adventurer had coordinated.

Since Meister had come to him first, that saved him time.

“There you are.”

Then again, perhaps premature delight was always dangerous.

Yet another unexpected variable appeared.

One Deathbringer had never wanted, did not need, and did not like in the slightest.

The feeling was probably mutual.

“…What the hell, the Temple? What do you want now?”

Apparently Meister felt the same way.

With a look of utter disgust, Meister glared at the newcomer—Inquisitor Daniel.

There was no way Daniel and Meister actually knew each other, so Meister was probably reacting that way merely from seeing someone affiliated with the Temple.

For the first time ever, Deathbringer found that damned attitude rather appealing.

“What is it this time, Inquisitor? Have you finally decided I’m a heretic or something?”

“…Pardon? No. I actually came because I have business with this gentleman.”

Good. Keep going. Get even angrier!

Still holding the other man by the collar, Deathbringer watched the pair askance.

Unfortunately, their misunderstanding did not last very long.

He would have preferred for it to grow so large that neither of them had any attention left to spare for him.

“What the hell? Why are you here too?”

But their attention had already shifted onto Deathbringer.

Keeping a firm grip on the disguised Information Guild member so the man could not escape, Deathbringer answered brusquely.

Daniel’s brow naturally furrowed.

“I came because I have something to ask you… but more importantly, why are you holding someone by the collar? I don’t know the circumstances, so I won’t pass judgment carelessly, but wouldn’t it still be better to let go and resolve this through conversation?”

You say you won’t interfere, but you’ve already interfered, haven’t you?

Deathbringer mocked Daniel inwardly and pursed his lips.

He did so even though he knew Daniel’s I won’t pass judgment meant that Daniel would not blindly condemn him without knowing what had happened.

“That’s just how it looks to you. Stay out of my personal affairs and get lost.”

But he could not help it.

He disliked Daniel that much.

Because if Daniel learned that the Demon Knight had fled, he would insult the man again—and because Deathbringer knew he would no longer be able to refute those insults.

It was the absolute worst.

“I just told you, I came because I have something to ask you. And as for simply accepting that this is a personal matter and staying out of it, the situation is……”

“Hey, you two can talk all you like, but how about you let the adventurer go while you do it? Just like you’ve got business with each other, I’ve got business with that man.”

“Exactly, exactly. Please leave me out of your conversation. I haven’t really done anything wrong, so there’s no reason for me to be held like this, is there? Right, Priest?”

At least Daniel did not seem to have heard about the Demon Knight yet… but meanwhile, Meister was desperate to take the adventurer away.

Deathbringer did not know whether Meister wanted to coordinate their stories again or had some other reason, but he could not simply allow it.

If those two truly decided to keep silent, Deathbringer himself would have a headache on his hands.

“You haven’t done anything wrong……?”

“I was just walking along minding my own business when this man picked a fight with me first.”

“Is that true?”

“No, I—ha. There are circumstances here…….”

Deathbringer could claim that the other man was the one at fault, but if he did, this damned stubborn bastard might insist on sorting out who was right and wrong and drag them somewhere packed with priests.

That, at least, had to be avoided.

Pressed from both sides by this godforsaken situation, Deathbringer ground his teeth.

“Please explain yourself clearly. Regardless of your position, intimidating an innocent man is……”

“Damn it! I told you there are circumstances!”

“Then if you would explain them……”

“Ah, shit. I was trying to handle this nicely, and all you’re doing is wasting everyone’s damn time. Aren’t clerics supposed to serve the people? Is this okay? You can just grab someone, waste their time, and inconvenience them?”

Unexpectedly, the person who saved him was Meister.

“Ah, my apolo—”

“Just words? Wouldn’t your apology seem more sincere if you showed it through your actions?”

“…Then, what would you have me do?”

“Doesn’t look like you arranged to meet him beforehand, so please piss off—go away. The adventurer and this idiot can settle whatever’s between them with me. You can meet him separately afterward and handle your business then.”

“My business can certainly wait, but the dispute……”

“I’m telling you the people actually involved will settle it among themselves. So please leave. Even the compromise we could be reaching is being dragged out because of you.”

Strictly speaking, Meister seemed to have stepped in less to save Deathbringer and more because Meister hated having time wasted.

Still, a good result was a good result.

Unable to get so much as a proper sentence in as Meister bulldozed the conversation one-sidedly, Daniel awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“Understood. Then I’ll visit your lodging this evening.”

Guess I won’t be going back to the lodging today.

Deathbringer made a mental note for later.

Meanwhile, Daniel left.

“All right, then. Shall we have ourselves a talk?”

Now the only people left were those who each held pieces of information.

“Enough time has been wasted already, so let’s be frank with one another. You first. Why did you come looking for him?”

They changed locations to reduce the chance of their conversation leaking.

Even though Meister had produced a device that supposedly swallowed sound, relieving them of the worry of eavesdroppers, three people standing blankly in the middle of the street together would still attract attention.

So they deliberately found work to do in order to draw fewer eyes.

Fortunately, there was a house nearby being repaired by several people working together.

With Meister among them, nobody found it strange for the three of them to join in.

“You two were involved in the Demon Knight’s escape, weren’t you?”

“Why? You feel like crying heresy too?”

“No. I want to know why Sir Knight left.”

For such an enormous subject to be thrown out so abruptly from the very beginning, Meister fell silent for a moment.

An image flashed through Meister’s mind of the person who had kept watch in front of the Demon Knight until he woke.

Surely that had not been an act.

“We didn’t directly help him.”

“Then what set it off?”

A decision was quickly made.

There was also the calculating thought that this green-eared fellow, who had spent a long time with the Demon Knight, might provide another clue.

“That’s what we need to figure out now.”

“……?”

“Hey, adventurer. Do you know what was in the item you delivered back then?”

“How would I know? There wasn’t anything in the request saying I was allowed to look.”

But as expected, they had failed to fasten even the first button properly.

The man had merely been the courier.

Then what were they supposed to base their guesses on now?

Meister sank into thought.

“…Wait. You don’t know what was inside either? Didn’t you take it from that man and give it to Sir Knight?”

“I did hand it over for him. But all I know is that it was a stack of papers. I never looked at what was written on them. At the time, I didn’t think it would turn out to be anything that important.”

When Meister had asked whether it was important in the first place, the Demon Knight had not even properly affirmed it.

Nor had he pretended ignorance in a suspicious way. His reluctance had seemed completely genuine.

Under those circumstances, how was Meister supposed to guess its value?

If Meister had known that receiving it would prompt the knight to escape, there certainly would have been questions about what it was.

“A stack of papers?”

“Yeah. A pretty thick one.”

But Meister had known none of that at the time and had assumed the Demon Knight had bought some academic paper to read.

Though judging by the fact that it had not been bound as a book, it probably was not a formally published paper.

“What information did you sell him?”

At that moment, the green-eared man turned his head and looked directly at the adventurer.

The question accompanying the stare sounded rather out of nowhere to Meister, who had never doubted that the man was truly an adventurer.

“Like I just said, there was nothing like that in the request, so I don’t know any—”

“You and I both know that excuse isn’t going to work on me.”

“…Wait. How are you so sure?”

“Sure of what?”

“That adventurer knows what was inside. And that what he delivered was information.”

“…Because that bastard isn’t an adventurer. He’s an information broker.”

“What?”

Meister stopped tightening the rope being used to secure a pole and stared at the adventurer.

Meister had genuinely believed the man was an adventurer.

Read only on MUGEX

“If even he calls it thick, then you must’ve sold him one hell of a bundle. So what the hell did you sell him?”

While Meister was still processing the surprise, Deathbringer pressed the adventurer—the information broker.

The broker’s face crumpled again.

“Listen… now that you’ve figured it out, I’m not going to bother denying that I’m an information broker, but confidentiality clauses aren’t exclusive to adventurers, you know……?”

“You’re saying it’s classified so highly even my authority isn’t enough to hear it?”

“Your authority… fuck, you’re Deathbringer?”

“Now that you know, talk.”

“…Still can’t. I can’t tell you.”

Considering his rank within the Information Guild, Deathbringer had the authority to obtain most information.

When the special circumstance of traveling with the Hero was included, that authority went even further.

Yet the other man was still invoking his right to refuse.

Deathbringer drummed his fingers.

Was this truly information of a rank even someone at his level could not obtain?

Really?

“Then how did the Demon Knight buy it?”

How had the Demon Knight bought information even Deathbringer could not access?

No matter how much he had contributed to the Guild, that could not have been easy.

So how?

“…I’ll report this to the Guild.”

“What?”

“If Sir Knight managed to buy information even I’m not allowed to access, something serious must be tangled up in it. And to me, that sounds a hell of a lot like corruption.”

If Deathbringer’s rank was insufficient, then this was probably information exchanged secretly only among the Guild’s very highest executives.

There were only two ways such information could end up in the hands of an outsider who had no right to it—regardless of what kind of person the Demon Knight was, he was still not a Guild member.

Either that outsider had sufficient connections—whether personal ties or favors owed—to pull the necessary strings, or a Guild member blinded by money had sold it.

And the latter was something the Guild would never tolerate.

Especially if the information was not some minor scrap, but something reserved for its highest executives.

“It’ll take some time to make a report, since this branch has basically been wiped out… but somehow, I get the feeling I’m the one who’ll be smiling at the end of it.”

The Guild might express displeasure toward the Demon Knight for purchasing the information too, but Deathbringer could somehow smooth that over when the time came.

With that thought, he stared the information broker directly in the eyes.

“It’ll take a while? Then let’s hand him over to the Temple.”

That was when Meister, having finished organizing the thoughts in mind, added a word.

“What?”

“If that guy were just a courier, torture wouldn’t make anything come out because there’d be nothing for him to say… but if he’s an information broker, that changes things. If they question him, he’ll have something to cough up, won’t he?”

“That’s……”

“So let’s send him to the Temple. You think a runt like him could stand before a Judgment and still keep his mouth shut?”

Even so, selling a member of the Information Guild to those religious fanatics was a little……

Just as Deathbringer was about to say so, Meister looked him straight in the eye.

Those violet eyes gleamed, vivid yet translucent.

“…Wouldn’t that put you in trouble?”

“So I confess, big deal. Considering the skills I have, the Temple probably won’t punish me too severely. At worst, maybe I spend a decade or so serving the Temple. More importantly, didn’t you say going through the Guild would take a long time? I can’t stand that kind of thing.”

Now that sounds like the kind of punishment Meister would hate for the rest of a lifetime.

Knowing that perfectly well, Deathbringer pretended to agree.

That left only one person with nowhere left to retreat—the information broker.

“Then that works out nicely. That Inquisitor from earlier is famous for being pretty damn capable. And there’s a personal grudge against Sir Knight… against the Demon Knight, so I’m sure the interrogation will be thorough.”

“…Wait, wait. You’re joking, right? You’re not actually going to hand me over, are you?”

“If you talk, then no, we probably won’t.”

“Are you insane? This is betrayal of the Guild……!”

“If nobody finds out, then it never happened. You know that as well as anyone, don’t you?”

Deathbringer lowered his voice.

“The Information Guild in Bemurchen has practically been annihilated. Put another way, even if I hand you over, there’s nobody around who’ll notice.”

Clouding ordinary people’s awareness was no trouble at all.

As for the Temple, given the connection through the Hero, keeping things under control there would not be difficult either.

Deathbringer laid it all out point by point as he pressured the broker.

It was only possible because the city was in such a state.

“On the other hand, if the Temple takes you and you spill information so highly classified even I can’t access it… especially when you’ve already got a history of selling it to outsiders. What do you think the Guild will do?”

Deathbringer did not know which branch the man belonged to, but it certainly would not end well for him.

“Goddammit!”

The man, having fully understood just how trapped he was on every side, finally swore.

It was also his declaration of surrender.

“Fine. I’ll tell you. But you two have to promise something too.”

“What?”

“You won’t report to the Information Guild that I told you. And only the two of you will know about this!”

At the broker’s words, Deathbringer and Meister looked at each other.

“Fine. We have a deal.”

“Then start talking.”

It was time to hear the truth.