There are several renowned merchant groups on the continent, and among them, ‘Caran’ based in Torkan was famous enough to be counted among the top five. The Caran merchant group traveled across the continent and islands with strong mercenary guards, dealing in various goods, to the extent that there was a saying, ‘When Caran arrives, the market turns into a festival.’

Nelly, the leader of the Caran merchant group, had upturned eyes and tied her long hair tightly into a single bundle. Her gaze was so fierce that despite her young age, she had never been disrespected anywhere.

Nelly, who was never flustered even when dealing with the king of a country, found it difficult to hide her agitation while checking the cargo wagon that had just returned this time.

‘Was that really true?’

Inside the large cargo wagon, several tanks were filled with seawater, each containing a single marine creature of various species. A member standing nearby said.

“Even after two months, the water hasn’t rotted at all. Just in case, we didn’t sell a single one and brought them all back. Look. They’re all alive. As fresh as if they were just caught, right? Especially this one is so sensitive that it usually dies if there’s even a slight disturbance, but it’s perfectly fine even after all this traveling.”

Being based in a coastal city, they had thought about distributing seafood before. But it wasn’t easy to fill tanks with seawater and marine life and travel to the inland continent. Each marine creature had different survival conditions, so they couldn’t be randomly put in the same tank, and taking only a few would result in a loss.

Even if they requested the magic tower, it was questionable whether they would develop magic to support seafood distribution, and even if they did, they would charge a sales fee every time it was sold, which was worse than not doing it at all.

So, even knowing how expensive fresh fish could be sold in the center of the continent, they had to give up the business with tears of blood.

‘How is this possible?’

They had tried everything to distribute seafood fresh. But all had failed. No matter how well the tanks were prepared, after a few days the water would start to smell, and the marine life would rot or die from disease.

But in these tanks, there were no seaweed or anything else, just seawater filled to the brim, yet it was as fresh as if it had just been scooped from the sea.

‘Guild Inferno…’

It was in May when the new guild approached Nelly. The guild master of Inferno had proposed to Nelly, ‘We’ll enable you to distribute seafood as fresh as if it was just caught.’

At that time, she thought it was nonsense, but the guild master persuaded Nelly, saying, “If you don’t believe it, try it once. If anything goes wrong, we’ll take full responsibility.”

If that guild master had been a stranger, Nelly would have snorted, saying she had no time to waste on such things, and left. But Drehi Nirn, the guild master of Inferno, was famous enough for even children to have heard his name.

‘Drehi Nirn… There’s no way he’s the real guild master.’

Nelly walked briskly through the market street, lost in thought.

Drehi Nirn was an old veteran who had been active as a famous wandering knight long ago, achieving great merits in various countries. But dozens of years ago, after losing all his family except for one granddaughter to monsters, he retired, saying, “A sword that can’t protect family is useless!”

‘Someone who hadn’t shown his face since then suddenly has a guild? Now? No, that can’t be. It seems like someone is moving that old man… Who could it be?’

The first names that came to mind were Adrian and Cain, Drehi’s disciples.

‘It’s not Adrian. That frivolous guy who likes dancing and women wouldn’t do such a troublesome thing. He’d rather meet one more woman than run a guild. Then… Cain? No, no. Cain even less so. What guild could that sword-obsessed fool run? Then Arsen… that’s not likely either.’

Although she met Drehi Nirn, the guild master of Inferno, through Arsen’s introduction, that noble person wouldn’t personally run something like a guild.

‘Right, he’d rather throw a ball to dogs one more time than do that. If it’s someone who can move both Arsen and Drehi Nirn, it must be the Grand Duke.’

Nelly stopped in front of the Guild Inferno building in the market alley, glaring at the tightly closed wooden door.

‘Well, there must be a way to find out.’

+++

Drehi Nirn, once renowned across the continent, stared at Nelly sitting with her legs crossed on the other side of the desk. Nelly, who had just finished explaining her deductions so far, glared at Drehi with sharp eyes and said.

“So, no matter how I think about it, I don’t believe you’re the real master of Inferno, sir.”

“Hmm…”

“Well, others might believe it, but you can’t fool my eyes, Sir Nirn.”

“Hmm…”

“Sir Nirn. Who am I? I’m Nelly, the leader of the Caran merchant group. I don’t want to do business through a proxy, no matter how valuable the deal is. Even if that proxy is the Wind Sword Nirn. So, please be honest. It’s the Grand Duke, isn’t it?”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because Grand Duke Ratean saved your granddaughter long ago. You consider the Grand Duke your benefactor, so you wouldn’t mind doing such troublesome things.”

Drehi smiled gently. At his smile, as kind as if directed at a granddaughter, Nelly blushed.

“I was wrong.”

“Even if Miss Nelly hadn’t dug so sharply, the real guild master had already said he would meet you.”

“Is that true? Where should I go?”

“Come here.”

As soon as Drehi finished speaking, the door behind him opened.

The first to enter was a huge beast.

‘A wolf?’

As soon as she saw the wolf with fierce eyes, Nelly reached for the dagger in her bosom. Fortunately, the wolf didn’t come any closer and sat obediently beside the door.

Only then did Nelly notice the woman who had entered following the wolf. A woman with long, pale blonde hair and notably white skin. A woman with a tall, straight posture that stood out.

The moment she saw her, Nelly’s lips parted involuntarily.

“The… guest of the Lily Palace?”

She smiled gently.

“You knew about me?”

Her voice was kind, but Nelly couldn’t answer for a moment. It was such an unexpected figure.

While Nelly was choosing her words to reply, Drehi quietly stood up, yielded his seat, and went outside. To her, now seated in the guild master’s place, Nelly calmly replied.

“Is there anyone in this city of Selshar who doesn’t know about the guest? You’re quite the talk among the noble houses. Besides, you’ve appeared at festivals with the Grand Duke before. There are rumors that you’re the Grand Duke’s lover.”

Even as she said this, Nelly quickly glanced at the woman’s collarbone area.

‘There’s no slave’s brand. Was the information wrong?’

There was a story that the guest of the Lily Palace had a slave’s brand on her collarbone.

‘Not a single story seems to be correct. The people of the Grand Duke’s palace are too tight-lipped.’

It was understandable, as unlike other countries, most people in Torkan had gathered trusting Floyd’s strength and character. Therefore, their loyalty was extraordinary.

If there was information Floyd wanted to keep secret, there was no way to naturally find it out unless one deliberately tried to dig it up, which might put them at odds with Floyd.

Nelly was also curious about the guest of the Lily Palace, but she had been waiting for definite information to come out naturally, not wanting to risk antagonizing Floyd by prying carelessly.

And now, to meet the guest of the Lily Palace in a place like this.

“Then you must know my name too.”

“I’m ashamed to say, I only know about the large wolf you keep and your appearance, but your name is still… Ah, I’ve heard that knights sometimes call you Princess, are you really a princess?”

“Not a princess anymore. Call me Roxiana.”

‘Roxiana? I’ve heard that name somewhere…’

As she was pondering where she had heard it, the woman looked straight at Nelly and added.

“I am Roxiana Franche.”

Nelly felt as if a huge boulder had fallen on her head, staring blankly at the woman sitting in front of her.

Roxiana Franche. The princess of the Canta Kingdom that fell a year ago.

‘She was alive?’

She had clearly heard that no one from the Franche royal family had survived. People even pointed fingers at the cruelty of the Pelur royal family, who had killed even young children.

Yet she was alive, had become a ‘guest of the Lily Palace’, and now was sitting in front of her as the master of a new guild.

“Ha!”

Nelly let out a hollow laugh, uncrossing her legs.

“Life really is unpredictable. To think I’d meet the princess of Canta, whom I thought I’d never know in my lifetime, in a place like this. Nice to meet you, I’m Nelly, the leader of the Caran merchant group.”

“Yes, nice to meet you.”

Roxiana looked surprisingly calm for someone who had lost her country and family.

Of course, people can’t live their whole lives in sorrow after losing something, but it had only been about a year since she lost her entire family and everything she had. Yet, seeing Roxiana smile as if nothing had happened sent chills down Nelly’s spine.

‘She manages her emotions well. She won’t be an easy opponent.’

Nelly quickly finished her assessment of Roxiana and opened her mouth.

“Princess, no… Should I call you Master?”

Roxiana nodded lightly.

“Alright, Master. I’ll be honest. The tank provided by Inferno was truly perfect. I’m so tempted that I want to monopolize it no matter the cost.”

Nelly usually didn’t negotiate like this. No matter how good something was, she would find faults to try and lower the price somehow.

But that method didn’t seem like it would work with Roxiana.

“I looked into it, and it seems Inferno only offered that tank to us. That means if we do what you want, it wouldn’t be difficult to monopolize the tank… What is it? What do you want from our Caran merchant group.”