Volume 3 Chapter 7 ACT.43 Conspiracy's Shadow (Ⅱ)
Rai and Noah, dressed in the black armor of the Purge Knights, arrived at Lord Eltor's mansion while the morning sun was still high in the sky.
The mansion of Lord Eltor had a quaint, modest appearance, leaving Rai and Noah with an unexpected impression.
As Rai placed his hand on the door knocker and knocked, the entrance door swung open almost immediately.
"Yes! Uh, who might you be?"
The one who appeared was a girl with a youthful appearance.
She was an adorable maid with light-colored hair neatly trimmed at her shoulders and big, sparkling eyes.
Noticing the intimidating look of Rai and Noah, she showed a hint of caution, but Rai tried his best to speak in a stern tone.
"I apologize, but is Lord Eltor home? If he is, could you let him know that 'an inspection from the Holy Church has arrived'?"
Upon hearing this, she seemed to realize who Rai and Noah were──Purge Knights──and her voice trembled as she responded.
"Y-yes!"
As she hurried off, Noah muttered to himself quietly.
"That was surprising."
"Surprising?"
"I thought if there was some sort of corruption, they would be throwing money around like crazy."
Noah said this while scanning the surroundings.
The interior of the mansion visible from the entrance, as well as the flower beds and lawns surrounding the house, were well-kept but didn't exude an air of extravagance.
It didn't smell like money at all──strangely so.
Just as they were pondering this oddity, a middle-aged man hurriedly appeared, flustered, accompanied by the maid, his footsteps making a pitter-patter sound.
"K-Knights! W-welcome!"
He appeared noticeably tense, his white hair slicked back, and he had a gentlemanly air about him.
"Are you Lord Eltor?"
"Y-yes! I'm so sorry to keep you waiting! This way, please!"
Following his lead, Rai and Noah were invited into the mansion and shown to the guest room.
──Noah noted again how there was no scent of money here either, whispering to himself.
The maid placed cups filled with tea before Rai and Noah.
By the aroma, it seemed to be quite high quality.
Well, since they couldn't take off their helmets in public due to their duties, they wouldn't be able to enjoy it anyway.
"So, I have a quick question for you──"
Just as Rai was about to start talking, a small creaking sound caught his attention.
When he turned around, he spotted a pair of curious little eyes peering through the gap in the guest room door.
"──Lord Eltor, who is this young lady?"
"L-Lisa!"
As he shouted, Lord Eltor hurriedly stood up and opened the door.
Standing in front of the door was a small girl in her pajamas.
She looked younger than the maid, probably around ten years old.
The girl with soft gray hair looked up at Lord Eltor with a worried expression.
"Daddy, what's wrong?"
"I-It's nothing, just some guests of your father's, so don't worry!"
"Is it really fine? ──cough!"
As Lord Eltor said this with a sweaty brow, the girl started coughing.
Her cough sounded wet and was quite bothersome.
"L-Lisa! Hurry back to your room, take your medicine, and rest!"
Lord Eltor said this and took the girl somewhere, returning after a bit.
"Sorry for making you wait!"
"No, don't worry about it. By the way, how's your daughter doing?"
"──Yes."
An awkward silence settled as Lord Eltor nodded with a serious look.
To break the tension, Noah cleared his throat exaggeratedly and brought up the main topic.
"Actually, the reason we came here is──"
* * *
Around the time the sun hit its peak in the sky, the two knights exited the mansion.
Just as they passed through the gates, Noah could no longer hold back and spoke up.
"Hey, that was totally shady!"
Rai responded with silence.
Seeing Rai's reaction as agreement, Noah continued speaking.
"He's acting super suspicious, saying he's handing over the pigs he bought to some guy he knows!"
According to Lord Eltor, here's his side of the story:
A friend of his started a meat processing business, so he's sending livestock from his territory.
He's treating the funds as an investment and lending them out.
"There's no way you would trust someone enough to spend a huge amount of money just because of goodwill!"
Being a lord means managing the territory is part of the job.
They must have an exceptional sense when it comes to financial matters.
Yet, to genuinely engage in such a risky act like being a cosigner is definitely suspicious.
First of all, the Eltor territory doesn't have any industries that would lead to high earnings like mines.
──In other words, it's just unnatural.
"So──"
Just as Rai was about to finish, he raised his hand to stop Noah's words.
At Rai's feet, there was a makeshift paper airplane that looked like it was made from a torn notebook page.
He picked it up and glanced in the direction where it seemed to have flown from──the manor.
Then he quietly unfolded the paper airplane.
"Is this situation gray? No, it's not."
Rai said this and showed the opened paper airplane to Noah.
Scrawled across it in messy handwriting were the words.
'Help me'
"──It's black."
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