“First, I have a request to make to the Wolverine Mercenary Group. Then I plan to stop by the Grand Cathedral.”

“The mercenary group… and the Grand Cathedral?”

Donovan tilted his head questioningly and asked back.

“Yes. The High Priest who visited the estate last time is staying there. Since he’s known me since I was young, he may be able to tell me some inside information about this matter from within the order.”

As she spoke those words, Adelheit lightly grasped the bracelet on her wrist.

This bracelet given by Valentin had the power to suppress magical energy.

It would be difficult for the High Priest or even the Pope to notice that she possessed magical energy.

Knowing this, the thought of voluntarily going to the Grand Cathedral teeming with high priests still made her palms sweat with tension.

‘It’s because I saw something too shocking last time.’

Just as she tightly clenched her trembling hand, Donovan stopped walking.

He stretched his arm forward, pointing to the opposite side of the road crowded with carriages.

“Do you see that? The Wolverine Mercenary Group’s building is right over there.”

In the direction Donovan pointed was an old, dilapidated building standing crookedly.

It was amazing how it hadn’t collapsed and was still standing.

Perhaps the stalls and tents set up around it were barely supporting it.

In front of it, several burly men were gathered, smoking leaves that emitted bluish smoke.

As Adelheit’s complexion visibly paled, Donovan seized the opportunity of her weakened resolve to suggest:

“I’m not sure of your reasons, but it’s not a place fit for a noble lady to frequent. Rather, if you wait with Margaret in a safe place, I will convey your business to them on your behalf.”

Adelheit almost replied that would be best. That’s how overwhelming the intimidation she felt for the first time was.

But if it was something she could easily entrust to someone from Ansgar, she wouldn’t have insisted on going out in the first place.

‘But this is Grita’s matter.’

Grita’s reputation among the people of Ansgar was at its worst.

Rather, when Adelheit was ostracized, Grita’s reputation was somewhat decent.

She was seen as a shrewd woman who looked out for her own interests, but in the North, the one being plundered was considered the fool.

Because it was a world that operated on the logic of power. However, the moment Grita touched the war reparations, she fell to being a filthy traitor who knew neither loyalty nor pride.

Because that was the price of the lives of warriors who had given their blood and flesh for Ansgar.

‘If I tell them I want to find Grita and give her minimal help.’

Though her position was secure, they would at least express reluctance, if not outright opposition. Adelheit bit her lip firmly.

‘I don’t want to see the people of Ansgar disappointed in me. But I can’t back down here either.’

If it was a feeling she could easily give up, she would have done so long ago. But Grita’s matter was a task Adelheit had to address.

She had an obligation to calmly listen to Grita’s explanation at least once.

Why she ran away, why she had no choice, whether she had considered other options… It was a natural sense of debt for Adelheit, who had grown up drinking the porridge Grita had cooked as if it were milk.

‘It’s probably a relationship difficult for anyone to understand. I’ve known that from the start. I’ve prepared for it too… If I say I’m looking for Grita, none of the Ansgar people will actively help.’

Thinking of Margaret, Donovan, and others who acted as if they would give her their liver and gall recently made one corner of her heart sting as if committing a great sin.

Adelheit pressed her clenched fist firmly to her heart and stubbornly thought.

‘But this is the last time I’m helping Grita or listening to her story. I can’t part ways without knowing anything.’

Adelheit shook her head, steeling her resolve.

“No. This is something I must do myself. Besides, I want to see for myself if the person taking my request is trustworthy and if I can entrust it to them.”

“…If you insist, there’s no helping it. Well, I’ll protect you if anything happens.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Adelheit smiled faintly, her tension easing at Donovan’s quip.

She finally took a deep breath and headed towards the Wolverine Mercenary Group with a determined expression.

As she approached, the gazes of the mercenaries lined up in front of the door began to focus on her one by one.

The color drained from Adelheit’s face, but she was able to reach the door with composure.

“What business do you have?”

A man with gray hair slightly blocked her way and politely asked her business.

It was a much more courteous voice than she had imagined.

Adelheit looked at the man with eyes mixed with surprise and tension and answered clearly.

“I’ve come because I have a request for the mercenary group.”

“You don’t seem to be someone who has used our services before.”

“Yes, that’s right. I heard that for the first request, one must visit the mercenary group in person.”

Surprisingly, the man let out a deep sigh.

“That’s right. It’s our leader’s very peculiar insistence. Well then, please come in.”

He opened wide the door he had been standing in front of. Adelheit carefully passed through the door.

The interior of the mercenary group was far better than the worst she had imagined from the outside. No, it would be more fitting to call it impressive at this level.

The rugs on the floor, the fireplace blazing with fire, the large and clean reception room, and the neat reception desk made of mahogany wood.

Adelheit felt her tensed heart melting away like snow without realizing it.

Looking around, she saw that Margaret and Donovan’s expressions had also relaxed considerably.

“Come, come. This way please.”

“But isn’t the reception desk over there?”

“That’s the general reception desk. The leader’s office is upstairs. We can’t take an honored guest to that side.”

“…So you know who I am?”

At those words, the man turned to her with a grin.

“If we didn’t recognize Your Excellency, who’s been causing such a stir in society lately, it would be time for the Wolverine Mercenary Group to disband.”

The mercenaries who were resting with their burly arms and legs sprawled out carelessly nodded in greeting as they passed by.

They seemed intent on making an impression on a future big client.

Some even tried to show off their chest muscles by taking off their tops, causing Adelheit to hurriedly avert her gaze.

“Here are the stairs. Watch your step. And sir knight, mind your head.”

“Ah. I’ll meet the mercenary group leader alone. Margaret and Donovan, please wait in the reception room.”

“That’s not…”

As Donovan immediately expressed reluctance at Adelheit’s words, the mercenary who had volunteered as her guide shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s no boast, but our Wolverine clients range from commoners to nobles. If we had ever done anything to compromise our credibility even once, do you think we could have established ourselves in Prague to this extent?”

“This is not your place to interfere.”

“I’m just saying to put aside unnecessary worries. It’s also our mercenary group’s job to convey the intentions of potential clients well.”

Donovan frowned at the mercenary’s drawling attitude, but there was nothing good about insisting on overruling the duchess-to-be’s will in front of people who buy and sell information.

In the end, Donovan let out a deep sigh, pulled up a chair, and placed it in front of the stairs.

Then he sat down on the chair with a thud, spreading his legs wide on either side, his face sullen.

The way he even unfastened his greatsword and stuck it into the floor oozed with the determination to not let anyone up these stairs.

“Well… do as you wish, then. I’ll charge for every scratch caused by that uncouth sword. To you, sir knight, of course, not Your Excellency. Now then, shall we go up, Your Excellency?”

The mercenary looked Donovan up and down disapprovingly, then changed his attitude to a smooth one as if nothing had happened and smiled at Adelheit. The way he rubbed his hands together reminded one of a fly.

Adelheit followed the mercenary up the creaking stairs.

When the door opened, a room twice as splendid and three or four times stranger than downstairs appeared.

On one side of the room was a long desk placed horizontally, in the center was an oddly large brazier, and on one wall were papers and parchments stuck all over.

Adelheit examined the wall closely with curious eyes.

‘These letters… I can’t read them. What era are they from?’

“You won’t be able to gain any information from those papers.”

At the words that seemed to pierce her thoughts exactly, Adelheit startled and looked up.

A middle-aged woman was now sitting at the desk. Adelheit stepped back a few paces from the wall, bewildered and surprised.

‘When did she start sitting there?’

The woman seemed to have appeared suddenly.

If she had been there from the beginning, even the most inattentive person would have noticed her when looking around the desk.

There must certainly be a secret passage leading to the next room in the wall or bookcase.

As Adelheit looked at her warily, the woman’s smile deepened a little more.

“That’s not a common script, but a cipher used by our mercenary group. The heads of each department post the information they’ve collected here every dawn. Now, come over here and sit down.”

The woman gently urged, pointing to the chair opposite her.

As Adelheit sat down in the chair with an elegant posture, the woman rang a silver bell.

A side door that she hadn’t known existed opened silently, and a burly-looking man entered the room.