“Well then… Grandfather.”

Seriana didn’t seem to mind that the old man had gone silent with a bitter expression. She continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

In terms of territory rank, Riana, the duchy, was higher, but the Lyseria family had only existed for a few years. Meanwhile, the Müller family had long served as the head of their faction, uniting the nobles of the eastern region, and the same held true even in the royal capital.

Apparently, even now, people found the old man far more trustworthy than Miles—especially among the eastern faction—but not only domestically; even nobles from other countries seemed to feel the same. A variety of information seemed to be reaching him.

Not all of that information was necessarily useful, of course. But if one had the ability to process it properly, then the more information, the better—it was obvious.

And the royal capital team, with the old man at its head, had that capability.

In short, it seemed that the old man had far more information than Liesel.

Seriana appeared to know this, asking him one detailed question after another and getting solid answers.

I sat beside them, listening in. The conversation ranged from gossip about nobles in foreign lands to incredibly minute details—it was clear just how thoroughly the old man grasped the situation.

He seemed to be passing the information he received on to Miles as well, but not all of it.

Seriana also seemed to be hearing many things for the first time and showed visible surprise from time to time.

Well… Liesel is currently staying at this mansion.

I guess there’s also the issue of whether some of this information should even be shared with him, being royalty and all.

Maybe it’s a matter of filtering things through the old man first before making any decisions about what to pass on.

Listening to the conversation, I started feeling more and more like that theory was probably correct.

They’d been discussing the state of trade in materials transported from Riana—and that, I could understand.

After all, most of our monster materials come from the Demon Realm.

These materials are considered luxury goods even in the western continent, where monsters are few and far between—not to mention among the various nations of the Alliance, where monsters roam freely, and even here in the Mesaria Kingdom.

It’s also one of our current major export items, so knowing where we’re selling them is important.

But still… what’s with the information about the buyer’s infidelity?

The buyer doesn’t seem to be from our country, but what are we even supposed to do with this kind of info?

Maybe if we were nobles involved in diplomacy, we could make use of it somehow… but our family? Not likely.

At best, it might be a topic for the ladies’ tea parties once we return to our territory.

Yeah.

It’s definitely not something worth deliberately passing on to Liesel.

I had just reached that conclusion when…

The two of them had been chatting pleasantly for a while, but then the old man suddenly got serious, and Seriana also fell silent.

“What’s wrong?”

I turned to Seriana and asked, and she let out a small “heh” of a laugh before opening her mouth.

“I’m about to get to the main topic. You should listen too.”

Apparently, everything up until now had just been a preamble.

If she was telling me to pay attention, then this was clearly going to be serious—but in a way, that actually reassured me.

If they’d cleared the room of Liesel and the others just to gossip, I really wouldn’t have known what to think.

“Got it!”

Alright then, I’ll be listening closely too!

◇

“Seriana. A letter from Riana arrived ahead of your group’s arrival. The contents concerned an investigation into suspicious individuals near the royal capital. Is that correct?”

“Yes. I sent it through merchants, so the message came across a bit roundabout, but that’s right.”

“Hmm.”

The old man nodded.

“To cut to the chase—there were no movements of the sort you were worried about. Lord Liesel had already initiated an investigation while he was here, and we were also assisting, so the information is trustworthy.”

Apparently, the merchants who’d transported our luggage had also carried a letter addressed to the old man.

That letter must’ve contained a request to conduct a local investigation.

It sounded like the content was somewhat cryptic, but it had been accurately received, and the old man had acted accordingly.

But it seemed no suspicious individuals had been found.

I wasn’t sure how wide the search area had been, but with Liesel taking the lead, I doubted there were any major oversights.

I didn’t know exactly what “suspicious individuals” referred to, but… probably people connected to the church or the western continent.

Still, when Liesel first returned here, it’s unclear how much information from Riana had reached him—so maybe this was a good opportunity to initiate a new round of investigations.

However…

“What is it?”

“Is something wrong?”

As I stared intently at Seriana, both she and the old man furrowed their brows in concern.

“…It’s nothing.”

Still… I couldn’t help but feel like something was being hidden.

But for now, I decided to keep listening before jumping to conclusions.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera ・ Blessing ・ 【Hideout】 +1 【Prayer】 【Mira’s Blessing】 【Wind’s Garment】

Blessed Item ・ 【Floating Orb】 +1 【Shadow Sword】 +1 【Scarlet Bee Needle】 【Fairy’s Eye】 【Dragon’s Lung】 【Amber Sword】 【Danrem’s Thread】 【Serpent’s Tail】 【Ankle Bracelet】 【Amber Shield】 【Purple Wings】 【Red Sword】 【Monkey’s Arm】 ・ 3 cards

Seriana ・ 【Area Detection】 ・ 【】 ・ 0 cards

Elena ・ 【】 ・ 【Green Fang】 【Amber Sword】 ・ 4 cards

Alec ・ 【Strong Strike】 ・ 【Red Shield】 【Fierce Horned Trumpet】 ・ 10 cards