Chapter 36

Chapter 36

I expected Kurt’s tightly clenched fist to be drenched in sweat, but I simply smiled and nodded as though I knew nothing about such circumstances.

After all, trust and encouragement are far more powerful than sympathy when it comes to turning a boy into a man.

But waiting for Kurt, who had politely bowed to me before leaving, felt as though each second lasted a full minute. Maya, sitting beside me, was so tense that she kept clasping and unclasping her hands alternately, letting out anxious breaths.

“It’ll be all right, Maya. Kurt’s quite a smart boy.”

“B-but in the eyes of someone of such high standing, he must seem terribly lacking……”

“Even so, Kurt won’t be scolded, so don’t worry.”

“Not Kurt, but the Baroness will probably hear something unpleasant. That’s what scares me more.”

At times like this, I thought Maya was truly an excellent maid, and a girl who could become a person of power if she put her mind to it. How did she know about the hierarchy among nobles when no one could have taught her? And how had she learned to speak in a way that earned points without seeming overly flattering toward those above her?

Well, at times like this, I should act a little more impressive too.

“So what if I hear something unpleasant? It’s not as though my standing as a Baroness will suffer because of it.”

As I shrugged my shoulders once, Maya still couldn’t completely hide her worried expression, but she let out her usual adorable “Phehehe” and laughed.

After chatting about such trivial things for about fifteen minutes, Kurt finally returned.

“Kurt!”

Maya almost stepped forward without realizing it, but she quickly noticed her mistake, pressed her lips tightly together, and retreated behind me.

I merely smiled faintly and looked at Kurt.

“I have returned. The Countess asked for my name and age, but she did not say anything else of note.”

“Was the Countess smiling?”

“I thought I shouldn’t look directly at the Countess’s face, so I only looked at the hem of her skirt. But her voice was very gentle.”

A perfect score, 100 points!

I clapped my hands for him again.

“Well done, Kurt! You did exactly as you were taught. At this rate, you could start working as early as tomorrow!”

At the praise for doing well, Kurt’s cheeks flushed red, and a smile he couldn’t quite conceal twitched at the corners of his tightly pressed lips.

I praised Kurt generously once more before sending him away.

“Haaaaa……”

Only then did Maya seem to relax, letting out a deep breath.

Even when I patted her on the back and told her to sit down and rest for a while, I had no intention of putting Kurt to work right away.

But that evening, a letter arrived for me.

「Ash McCallen」

The name of the sender written on the envelope belonged to a man who had become so familiar to me that I almost felt as though he were a friend.

The contents of the letter were neither a confession of love nor anything that questioned me or tried to fish for information.

「……If you know anything regarding the human trafficking rings in the provinces, please tell me everything. I will make use of it as valuable information.」

‘Was this man serious when he said he wanted to hear my advice?’

I fiddled with the letter for a long while, pondering.

What did I know about human trafficking rings? A lot. That was the problem—I knew far too much.

But if I told him everything? Wouldn’t this man, who was far too perceptive and quick-witted, become curious about where I had gotten such information?

Of course, if I told him everything, the guilt I felt over the children who had been held captive inside that tent in the past might lessen a little more. But was that really worth putting my future on the line?

If I were to think about it wisely, I should simply feign ignorance and say, ‘How would I know anything like that?’

That was what I should do, but……

‘Haa……. I thought I had sold off every last bit of my conscience ages ago, but I guess I must have saved a little of it because I couldn’t bear to waste it.’

When would this beggar’s mentality of saving everything finally disappear?

Even if it was pitifully small, conscience was truly frightening. If I ignored it, I would have to writhe in immense pain from time to time.

I wouldn’t be able to sleep, and even if I did, I would have nightmares, be tormented by guilt, and become unable to even assert my rightful claims.

In the end, I slowly walked to the desk and sat down like a calf being led to the slaughterhouse.

I had no idea what would become of my future, but the pain that would follow if I ignored this tiny remnant of conscience was so certain that I had no choice but to write him a reply.

I wrote for a long time.

I crumpled up the paper and threw it away, then wrote again before tearing it into pieces, repeating the process several times.

I had to stay up all night to complete a ‘letter that gave the impression I was desperately trying to recall something I had heard somewhere.’

Then, after staring blankly out the window as dawn broke, I rang the bell and called for Kurt, even though I knew it was still early.

“You must have been sleeping. I’m sorry for calling you.”

“N-no, my lady.”

“Not ‘my lady.’ Just call me Baroness.”

With a weary sigh, I handed him the envelope sealed with wax.

“I called you because if I go to sleep now, I probably won’t wake up until the afternoon. Around 11 a.m., deliver this letter to Inspector Ash McCallen of the Second Division of the Herona Police Department.”

“Inspector Ash McCallen of the Second Division of the Herona Police Department……”

“You can do it, right?”

“……Yes!”

Reassured by that short answer, which sounded neither hasty nor uncertain but rather as though he had firmly resolved himself to the task, I entrusted him with the letter.

Then I headed straight for my bed and collapsed into sleep.

Although I had been forced to recall those terrible memories from the past several times while writing the letter, I probably wouldn’t have nightmares.

***

“Ash! Ash!”

As usual, the police department was chaotic and noisy. When someone called Ash’s name loudly, he merely turned his head.

His eyes met those of a blond boy who was looking around in every direction beside the man who had called his name, rather than with the person who had actually called out to him. Perhaps his attention had been drawn there unconsciously because of the boy’s extraordinary appearance.

The boy bowed politely to the man who had called Ash’s name, then twisted his body as he approached Ash, doing his best not to touch the people around him. In his hand was a slightly thick-looking letter envelope.

“Greetings. My name is Kurt Libel, and I am Baroness Rosalyn Tessis’s messenger.”

“Miss Rosalyn had a messenger?”

“I have not been working for her long.”

Kurt answered briefly before holding out the letter.

“The Baroness told me to deliver this.”

Ash looked down at it for a moment before reaching out to take it.

He had sent a letter just the day before asking about the human trafficking organizations in the provinces, but he hadn’t expected a reply to arrive so quickly. Then, could this be a letter saying, ‘I don’t know much’?

‘It’s quite thick for that, though……?’

Ash broke the classic wax seal and pulled out the letter inside.

「Dear Inspector McCallen.

I was deeply moved by your concern for the heinous crime of human trafficking. At the same time, I wanted to help in any way I could, so I tried to recall the rumors I had heard in the past…….」

Unexpectedly, the letter was more like a highly detailed information report.

‘Apparently, there are also people who disguise themselves as traveling troupes, abduct or purchase children in one region, then move to another region and sell them…….’

A theater troupe being a criminal organization? He had never even imagined such a thing. The only troupes he knew were places like <Glacier>, where Dolores belonged.

If crimes occurred in such places, at most they would involve love affairs or money-related disputes. If things became serious, perhaps prostitution or sexual favors.

「……Since traveling troupes do not establish themselves in any one place, they are difficult to track, and even when they are pursued, they often destroy the evidence before they can be caught, making it difficult to hold them accountable for their crimes.

However, I have heard that nobles who make continuous ‘purchases’ have separate intermediaries. And these nobles are probably backing the traveling troupe human trafficking rings.」

It was astonishing that evil capable of building its world through such an antiquated method still existed in this modern world, which seemed to advance brilliantly every time one woke up, but unfortunately, it was entirely possible.

「……For most things, money can be used to hire people. How easy must it be for them to buy women as well? And yet they engage in illegal human trafficking, which means their purpose must be a crime worthy of the devil himself.

I have heard that none of the children who are sold ever come back alive.」

Anger seeped into the fingertips gripping the letter.

But Ash steeled his gaze and seriously continued reading the ‘record’ Rosalyn had written.

「……There was once a flood of reports that children had disappeared after a traveling troupe passed through Tessis. The name of the troupe was <Mulberry>, and the troupe leader was ‘Gale Showman.’ Since it was unusual for a troupe to enter Tessis, I still remember it clearly.」

Ash stopped there.

What he had hoped to get from Rosalyn were merely rumors circulating in the provinces. Even such baseless rumors were bound to contain some information.

He had never expected the name of an organization strongly suspected of being a human trafficking ring, along with the name of its leader, to appear.