~Chapter 15~
“Isn’t that too much of a losing bargain?”
Having agreed to exchange one of her parents’ inheritances for the clearing of Arne’s debts, Luna brushed back her hair at the client’s words that trailed after her.
The further it fell, the thicker it curled, like cascades of cherry blossom petals. Strands caught in her fingers and fluttered over the black cloak on her shoulders.
“Either he goes bankrupt soon, or I do. So it doesn’t really matter.”
“You don’t think ahead, do you? Such heavy words spoken so lightly.”
Luna’s shoulders hunched slightly at the man’s insistence, which circled endlessly around his commission.
If anything went wrong, it would be disastrous—yet she had just rushed headlong into it like a moth to flame. Unlike him, she had nothing, which was why she could throw in her whole being.
She didn’t want to be branded an irresponsible person by the client, but this was already the best she could do.
“Thank you for your help earlier.”
“Then listen to me now and go home. You’re overdoing it.”
Luna slowly shook her head. Then, she pulled from her bag the contract she had stolen. As her instincts had told her, it bore the genuine seal of the Obis Trading Company—a contract concerning Shade Blossoms.
The trading partner was listed only as “H2,” unclear whether it was a person or a group.
Luna tilted her head slightly and wrinkled her nose. Even so, this was more than enough to topple the trading house. The rest, she trusted, the Empire would take proper action on.
“If you won’t return to the mansion, are you at least going to report it, as you said?”
Above her head, Khalid, who had read over the contract at a glance, asked dryly.
“Yes. But I’ll go to the Keone Trading Company.”
“Do you have connections there?”
“I plan to make some. After all, I’ve got quite the tempting gift to offer, don’t I?”
Only then did Khalid fully understand what she was planning.
Not going to the city guard was something to praise, but trying to take on some of the East’s most well-known trading houses all on her own was reckless to the point of irritation.
Even if Keone had a reputation for relative honesty, merchants by nature were greedy and black-hearted. How could she be so unyielding?
Looking into Luna’s eyes—prepared for the worst, yet burning with determination—Khalid’s face hardened. She kept kicking away those who offered help and burned like a precarious lantern in the wind.
And watching someone struggle so desperately on their own without intervening was an agony in itself.
Khalid fixed his gaze darkly on the short figure walking ahead of him. He wanted to snuff her out before the storm did.
“……”
Startled by his own intrusive thought, he let out a shallow laugh.
Who was really blacker at heart? At this rate, he was worse than a merchant. With a sigh, he strode quickly to follow after Luna.
“It can be done. Protecting the lady’s safety, as well as hiring the harvest inspector you mentioned—we can handle it all.”
Keone’s young guildmaster stroked his chin, glancing back and forth between Luna and Khalid across the table.
He spun the unmistakable Shade Blossom specimen in his hand, shaking his head in disbelief.
“That Obis would dig my grave like this—I still can’t wrap my head around it.”
Even in their greed, merchants had their own code. Obis had crossed a line that could never be taken back.
“But there is a problem.”
The guildmaster flipped open a ledger and turned the pages casually.
“This ledger is fake.”
“What?”
Luna, whose face had brightened as if things were finally going well, widened her eyes.
“For important dealings, they usually make decoy ledgers. Didn’t it seem oddly bloated when you found it? The real ledger would have the same seal as this contract on every page. It’s like a hidden oath among merchants.”
He laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. The offer was enticing, but the risks gave him pause.
“Even if we reported this to the Imperial Special Knights, with just the contract and the specimen, we couldn’t uproot Obis. They could claim they only wrote the contract but never carried it out, and eventually they’d be released. Then Obis’s revenge would begin. The real ledger is essential.”
“……”
The silence in the room was sharp enough to break.
Luna rubbed her throbbing temples. Just when she had broken through the fog and reached the summit, another peak loomed ahead.
“If I bring back the real ledger, then there’s no problem?”
Though she pressed her forehead again, her eyes still glinted with unyielding resolve.
The guildmaster was about to answer quickly, but paused when the man beside her gave the woman a chilling look.
“Are you insane? What if they’ve already realized it’s missing? You’ve done enough. From here on, everything will overwhelm you. So just say the word—ask for help. Leave it to me.”
Luna blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected words.
She had never imagined she would hear him say she had “done enough.”
Though his tone was oddly gruff, something warm settled in her chest.
But why should she hand over something she was capable of doing herself? That wasn’t in her nature.
Luna shook her head again, this time with a gentle smile.
Khalid met her serene, pale face. His sharply drawn features twisted as though he’d seen something repulsive.
Bang!
He slammed his fist on the table. The chair screeched as it scraped back, the booming noise reverberating through the hall and beyond the door.
The tilted Keone nameplate on the door trembled as though it might fall off.
Luna and the guildmaster stared, dumbfounded, at the traces of the man who had stormed out.
“The mercenary you hired seems… rather violent.”
“Y-yes, I think so too.”
Luna forced an awkward twitch of her lips in agreement with the guildmaster’s half-accurate comment.
Keone was favorable toward Luna. With a chance to put a longtime rival behind bars, and with her offering such a valuable piece and even volunteering to bring the ledger herself, there was little reason to refuse.
After hearing the full account of her actions up to now, the guildmaster clutched his head.
“There’s no time to wait for the ledger. Everything must be wrapped up tonight, even if it means pushing hard. We’ll create diversions to scatter their attention. Reporting them will be most effective amidst the chaos. As for you, my lady…”
“In that time, I’ll bring the ledger. That’s it, isn’t it?”
Wiping her forehead, Luna nodded. She felt a faint heat in her body.
“Are you all right?”
“Thanks to you. Since dusk has already fallen, I’ll be on my way now.”
“The real ledger will be guarded much more securely. You truly are brave, my lady!”
With the guildmaster’s spirited encouragement behind her, Luna closed the door.
She hadn’t slept properly the night before last, nor at all yesterday. Tonight too she would stay awake until dawn—but somehow her heart felt lighter.
On her way to the Glass House, Luna reminded herself she had chosen well in turning to Keone. The proof was all around her: chaos bursting forth on every street.
“Did you hear? Obis’s mansion caught a huge fire! The flames were so fierce they spread up the back mountain!”
“They say it’s reached the lower shops too. The damage must be enormous! Look, you can even see it burning from here! Unbelievable!”
“Even the higher-ups are all out there trying to put it out. Obis is finished now, completely finished.”
Luna turned toward the forest, away from the Glass House. In the darkening sky, gray smoke painted heavy strokes, while scarlet flares spread across the mountain slopes like splashes of sunset.
For this to erupt the moment she left the guild—Keone’s skill was impressive indeed.
“Head for the mansion! Hurry!”
“Damn it! What the hell is going on?!”
Rough voices echoed from the front of the Glass House.
Luna pulled her hooded cloak tighter and hid in the brush. After the men passed, she hurried around to the back, slipping into a disguised side door and secret path.
The guards were lax, and the narrow way was concealed. Retrieving the ledger again should not be difficult. Then her nose twitched, and she tilted her head.
The Shade Blossoms, which usually bloomed only in the middle of the night, were already spreading their fragrance all the way here from the warehouse. Strange.
Luna drew the pendant from her bag, slipped it around her neck, and dashed toward the warehouse.
“Ugh!”
The closer she came, the more acrid smoke filled her lungs, reddening her eyes. She covered her nose and mouth and kicked open the stiff door at the end of the passage.
From the gaps of the rusted iron door, thick clouds of smoke billowed upward like a menacing mass.
Blinking away the haze, Luna widened her eyes. Crackling flames clashed and popped everywhere, the searing heat scorching her skin as though to melt everything around.
“Why… why is this place burning already?”
For a moment she stood dazed, unable to comprehend the sight.
The once-beautiful flower fields were blazing, engulfed in flame. In several places, they had already turned to black and gray ash.
All around her, the world was filled with raging fire, threatening to consume her whole.
