Bang! Bang! The sound of gunfire-like clattering was loud. Flinch, for some reason, my body trembled whenever I heard the sharp metallic sound.

No, you shouldn’t shoot.

The voice spoke with a joyful tone. Anette is indeed a special person!

Above? I looked up. Something like the silhouette of a person with unclear contours was looking at me.

That’s where the dream ended. It was one of those nonsensical dreams where I couldn’t remember anything when I woke up in the morning.

* * *

The harvest festival was fast approaching. Once the festival period began, all administrative departments started working like the tax department led by Nicola Graus. This meant there wasn’t a single day of leaving work on time.

‘I need to buy new candles again…’

Every night, large candle pillars were disappearing in chunks.

The old priest of the temple usually lived a bit away from Inkhart Castle, but knowing that the North was preparing for a big event, he gladly visited Inkhart Castle again.

I could finally ask why there was no news about the female protagonist he was supposed to look into last time.

“Priest.”

Unaware of my urgent feelings, the priest uttered nonsense like, ‘You saw me off separately last time, and now you’re seeking me out as soon as I arrive. Lady Anette’s obedient faith is truly beautiful…’

No, I don’t have any. Faith. It might appear if you pay me.

“Last time, I asked you to look into my friend.”

“Friend?”

The old priest blinked.

“What friend? From you, my lady?”

“The blonde cleric! Who grew up in the temple orphanage since childhood and is very kind, planning to enter the temple soon! I mentioned the name Evangeline then, and you said you might have heard of her!”

“Did I? My memory is failing with age.”

“Oh why, she has long hair like this, and I praised her to no end, saying the child is pretty and smart, catching everyone’s eye!”

“Ah! Evangeline from the capital!”

“Yes, her!”

“The kind girl who grew up in the temple from a young age and took care of her younger siblings in the temple!”

“Yes, yes! You’ve found her!”

“Now that I remember, I’ll look into it. Memory gets like this when you’re old, haha.”

This old geezer!

“Prieeest.”

“Haha, I’m sorry. I forgot to ask about it when I visited the capital this time. Now that I remember, I absolutely won’t forget.”

“You said you might have heard of her somewhere back then too. She’s a really precious friend to me.”

The old priest smiled, oblivious to my feelings.

“Even if they grew up in a temple orphanage, it’s rare for people to become clerics just like that. Even though I’m a priest, this path is not an easy one.”

“I don’t know about others, but that friend will be a nun as she vowed in her childhood.”

An Evangeline not in the temple? That would be denying the original work.

“Yes, I won’t forget this time for sure. By the way, you’ve been working hard this year too. I look forward to a wonderful harvest festival.”

Workers were moving the symbols of the harvest festival to various places inside the castle. The harvest festival was soon.

* * *

This year’s harvest festival in Inkhart seemed to be successful. The faces of the people who flocked to see the lord were blooming with smiles, and the street vendors were working hard to sell even one more item during this peak season.

“Come, we’re selling clouds plucked from the sky! Experience the taste of fluffy clouds that melt sweetly in your mouth!”

“Shall we buy one later?”

“I was just looking because it’s interesting.”

While waiting near the stage for the opening speech, I was curiously looking at a nearby cotton candy stall when Darius spoke to me.

In this medieval era, you’d need a magician to make cotton candy. I was just wondering how well cotton candy must sell at festivals for them to hire a magician.

“You’re not nervous at all. Rose was fretting that I should go and comfort you in case you have trouble breathing.”

“Thank you all for coming to the festival. Spend lots of money and enjoy yourselves thoroughly. The end. Isn’t it just about saying these two sentences well? More importantly, over there.”

I poked Darius in the waist. The chicken skewer vendor who had scolded Darius for speaking informally when we went out before, saying ‘How dare a young brat speak so casually to me when we’ve just met,’ was busy selling again today.

“I wonder if that person will watch our speech later? I wonder if he’ll faint when he realizes Darius is the Grand Duke.”

“With that guts? It’d be fortunate if he doesn’t change his sign.”

“Sign?”

“The Dragon Chicken Skewer Shop that yelled at the Northern Grand Duke who can stop even a crying child. Eat it and your liver will swell.”

As I was about to push him away with a chuckle, it happened.

“Grand Duke!”

A voice I had heard once before urgently caught Darius and me.

“Have you thought about it in the meantime? Wow, I’m glad to see you at the festival. Even for this harvest festival, I donated a lot of money as a sponsor.”

Ah, so he’s a big shot who donated a lot, which is why no one is stopping Rigolus from suddenly appearing and talking to us.

“If you have time, how about visiting me and our business in person? I’d like to clear up the misunderstanding, as it seems the Grand Duke has prejudice just from the name ‘slave trade’.”

“Mr. Rigolus, it’s time for the opening speech.”

I gently cut off Rigolus’s words, implying that he should step aside now.

Ignoring his desperate words of ‘Then after the event, some time…’, I climbed onto the stage and began the speech. It was the start of the harvest festival.

* * *

“My lady, good work! It was a wonderful speech.”

After coming down from giving the usual speech about working hard this year too and being sincerely happy to hold the event safely thanks to everyone, Rose, her eyes twinkling, handed me a flower necklace she had prepared at some point.

It felt just like becoming a member of the National Assembly, receiving formal protocol for doing nothing special.

“Thank you. Is one of the flowers for you, Rose?”

A large rose was also tucked behind Rose’s ear.

Rose’s face flushed slightly as she fiddled with the rose in her ear.

“Hehehe, someone gave it to me.”

“Who?”

“It was a very handsome knight. He saw me and said it wasn’t right for a pretty young lady not to have a flower, and gave me this before leaving. Doesn’t he sound like a playboy? Well, I do like the flower though.”

Rose, who had Sir Lucian, the captain of the knights, as family, was familiar with all the knights of Inkhart Castle. If she didn’t know this knight, it meant he was probably a visitor from another region for the festival.

“Was he a red-haired man by any chance?”

“Do you know him too, my lady?”

Rose’s eyes sparkled.

“You bet I do.”

I told him I’d cut it off if he touched it, but this guy.

“Listen, Rose. You should go tell Sir Lucian about this too.”

“My brother? Why?”

“Your brother would really want to hear this story.”

“Hmm, well. Lucian always treats me like a child, so I should go tell him. I’m a woman who receives flowers from gentlemen now!”

“Yes, make sure you tell him that story without missing a single detail. Don’t forget to mention that the person who gave you the flower had red hair with a mole under his eye.”

“Huh? How did you know he had a mole on his face?”

It was Barbarossa’s nature to automatically become kind when he saw a woman. It was probably just flirting without any real intention, but I’m not sure if it would sound that way to Sir Lucian’s ears.

I could almost hear Barbarossa’s voice in the distance, complaining, ‘You only told me not to touch the maids in the castle. How am I supposed to distinguish every woman outside the castle!’

Then why not just cut off the troublemaker? I think there would be no need to distinguish between women inside and outside the castle anymore.

Ah, Mr. Rigolus was approaching again from behind the stage with twinkling eyes. Time to run.

* * *

This was Barbarossa’s answer when I asked him to spill everything he knew about the slave market not long ago.

It was fortunate that we had eaten everything and seen all there was to see during our last outing. This festival, we were planning to go around cracking down on the slave market without any fun.

Rigolus didn’t need to eagerly recommend a slave market tour to us, urging us to come and see. We were already planning to go to the slave market directly today.

Both the above-board slave market that Rigolus praised endlessly for its clean management, and the underground money-making operation that he tried to keep quiet about.