Chapter 232.

It didn’t take much time to convert Lancelot into a spy. Of course, Lancelot hadn’t mastered ‘101 Ways to Hit the Back of an Unlucky Guy’s Head’, which he learned from me. Still, it would not be difficult for him to fool Leisha noona or Uncle Bloody if he already mastered advanced techniques like ‘He who cries first, wins.’ However, Mac hyung was unexpectedly quick-witted, so I was a little worried, but I think it’ll be okay.

Mac hyung left the forest a month ago as Hestia noona’s escort, and he was in hell training after having his skills tested by Elder Weger and failing. It was clear that Elder Weger was using Mac hyung to vent about not catching me.

"Take this." I handed the Big Mama Information Agency VIP identification card and a map showing their external branches that I received from Milpia. I just needed to talk to Milpia to get more. Milpia would probably be enraged, but that was none of my business.

"If you need to contact me, go to the place marked here and show them this identification card and ask to deliver a letter to the director of the headquarters. Then a letter will be sent to me via the headquarter’s director.”

I’ll have to tell Milpia later. It was obvious that Milpia will complain about using her as an errand boy. Technically, she hasn’t paid off the worth of Count Druval’s corruption ledgers, so I’ll just tell her that it’s collecting interest.

“You’re not going to tell me where you live?” Lancelot said disappointedly, but I patted his shoulders lightly.

"I’d let you know if you were alone, but I can’t because of my sister and uncle who want to take me away."

In fact, telling him how to contact me like this was a service that was a loss for me. Hestia noona would probably trace me to where I lived if she knew how to contact me. Of course, getting this information from the Big Mama Intelligence Agency was not going to be easy as it was my aunt’s organization. But the information agency itself was not my aunt. Clearly, there was bound to be a loophole.

“Okay, I understand. Can we keep in touch?"

I agonized briefly over Lancelot’s question. "Around once every three days would be good."

Something tells me that Lancelot would be in touch every day without such restrictions.

"Then, what about hanging out?"

"Hmm, once a week if you don’t get caught meeting up with me."

To be honest, I wanted to say once every 15 days. However, seeing Lancelot’s moist eyes made me feel weak, so I had to settle for a week.

Lancelot had a face of outright disappointment, but he wouldn’t tattle to my big sister. After all, he knew that if I were to run again, I’d really run away to a deserted place and remain dormant for years so that they wouldn’t be able to track me. This wasn’t something I wanted either. It’s not easy to give up civilization, even if it was less advanced than my past life.

"If I need to contact you, I’ll send you a chirp at night." After leaving him with those words, I departed, and Lancelot didn’t follow me.

Shortly after returning to the room where the people at the headquarters were located, I headed straight to the dinner banquet hall. The dinner’s food was created with plants from the cool North Continent’s inland areas. Duke Asteria’s head chef’s skills were excellent and did not fall short compared to the imperial head chef’s.

* * *

It has been two days since I visited the Asteria Duchy after the invitation. For some reason, Guild Director Glont kept making me run errands for him if he wanted to speak to Duke Asteria. Maybe it was because I at least knew Duke Asteria.

Thanks to this, every time I went to the duke’s castle, I had to be careful, hiding my presence to avoid Leisha noona and Uncle Bloody. Well, it was nice that I got to eat something delicious whenever I went on an errand.

"Den, why don’t you come over for a second?” I was in the middle of filing in the office when Fiona called me out of the office.

"I’ll finish up the rest. Go ahead." Dano was sitting across from me, and he took the documents I was organizing to his desk.

After I volunteered to go to the Alps, they didn’t make me do any hard work. In addition, others around me took my tasks and did them for me. Personally, it was convenient and nice.

"Okay, then I will leave it to you." I got up from my seat and left the office after thanking Dano.

Outside the office stood a tall attractive woman wearing a large shield alongside Fiona. If I recall correctly, I remember seeing her when I was in Warrant. She was Asmona, a platinum plate adventurer nicknamed the Iron Wall.

"Are you Den, the one who volunteered to go to the Alps?"

"Yes, that’s right."

"I don’t know if you know me, but I’m Asmona. My colleagues usually call me the Iron Wall."

I nodded at Asmona’s introduction. "Yes, I am aware. From time to time, Rosellis has spoken about Miss Asmona.”

"Hahaha, I’m sure she had nothing good to say. When she was in the Black Water Buffalo Knights, I trained her hard."

Asmona was said to have been a former Black Water Buffalo Knight and Rosellis’s superior. As a founding member of the Black Water Buffalo Knights, she quit her knighthood a few years after Guild Director Glont’s retirement and turned into an adventurer. Asmona was also a follower of Guild Director Glont.

"No, she said you were a respectable person." However, Rosellis did also say that Asmona nagged her a lot.

"Hahahaha! I’m sure she said I nag a lot. It’s obvious based on her personality." Asmona laughed her head off, saying it was clear.

And then she got right to the point. "Let’s leave the introductions at that. I’ve been asked to escort you to Asterium starting from tomorrow. Don’t worry. I’m much better at escorting than Rosellis."

"Haha, is that so?"

At my question, Asmona nodded and said, "Yes, I’m sure you were reluctant to go to such a dangerous place, but I commend you for your courage. I like courageous people."

"Hahaha, it is an honor."

Asmona smirked and asked to shake hands. "I look forward to working with you."

I grinned as I shook hands. "Please take care of me."

Today, when the knight school students arrived at Asterium by train, they were scheduled to leave for the Alps immediately after a day’s rest. Such a tight schedule was also planned by that stuck-up old man, the commander of the capital defense. It was clear that he would make a schedule like this and record it as a meritorious war service. I’ll rob him later, and if there’s any corruption, I’ll send it to the prime minister.

"Come to think of it, you added one extra person to the document. Who is it?"

I smiled lightly at Asmona. "Oh, I’ve added someone I know as my assistant and escort. I’m from around here, and I just met someone from my hometown."

The person I added to the document was Percival, who was floating around in my pocket space. I registered him while I was going to the Alps because there was nothing better than a real battle to learn fine control over one’s mana.

"Hmm, it’s not good to have two escorts,” Asmona spoke seriously.

"Anyway, I have no choice but to focus on you because I’m your escort. It’ll be tiring to pay attention to what your other escort does." Asmona had never met Percival before, and she treated him like a burden.

"Then, would you like to meet him? His skills are also excellent. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to check his skills in advance."

It wasn’t detrimental to have Percival fight against people. The more materials to help control his mana, the better.

"I see. I’m only free today, so I’d like to check his skills at the exercise hall behind the guild building."

"Then you should go to the exercise hall first. I’ll call him right away; he isn’t staying far away.” I asked Fiona to be excused and left the guild building into a deserted back alley.

"Summon, Percival." A magic circle was drawn in the air, and Percival walked out of the air.

"What’s going on?" Percival had a novel in his hand that I gave so he could experience modern culture.

"How’s the novel?"

"Well, it’s not bad. It used to be mostly hero stories in my life, but it seems love stories are the mainstream in modern times. That likely means society has stabilized to such an extent that it doesn’t need a hero. Unless you put a love story in here on purpose."

Percival’s insight was remarkable. Literature was certainly a mirror of society. Of course, it was not an exact reflection. However, one could infer society’s current atmosphere based on the genre of the major literature that people enjoyed.

"I just put in everything that was at the bookstore.”

"Hmm, I see. So what’s going on?" When Percival asked, I briefly explained the situation.

"I see. I’m to compete against a modern knight to see what I can do and also learn to control my body. If you want me to, I will follow along.

"For your mission?"

"For my mission." Percival nodded with a serious face. I grinned and took Percival back to the Adventurer’s Guild.

"You’re early." Asmona wore light armor from the armory and held her shield and sword.

I picked up a random iron sword that was on the floor and threw it at Percival. "That should be sufficient, right?”

Percival received the sword, swung it around, then frowned. "The maintenance of this sword is a mess. Well, it doesn’t matter because it’s not even a real match, but I hope you will give me a suitable sword in the future.”

"Of course."

Later, I intended to arm them all with the weapons in my pocket space. But the performance of the weapons in my pocket space was so high that they were inappropriate for observing Percival’s pure skill.

Percival raised his sword and saluted in the style of the Nation of Prosperity. Asmona, of course, couldn’t have known a salute from more than 500 years ago.

"I am called Percival. It’s an honor to face you and your sword. I heard that you once belonged to the most powerful knight division in this country. I thank you for the opportunity to see your skills."

Seeing the subtle flow of Percival’s aura, Asmona became tense. "I am Asmona. I think I should be the one thanking you. Meeting an expert like you, I realized that my perspective was limited."

Adventurers began to gather around the exercise to watch Asmona’s spar.

Percival, I won’t ask you to lose on purpose, but don’t overdo it.

Objectively, Percival’s strength exceeded a typical member of a battle race. It was a spar that Asmona could not win.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Percival nodded softly when he heard my sound transmission magic.

- I understand. I’m rather grateful that you aren’t insisting that I lose on purpose. To lose on purpose would be to disrespect her, a noble knight.

Asmona and Percival let out their martial auras and began to fight for dominance of the surrounding space.