“Guide Yerena did visit the guild.”

“Ha! My intuition was right, as expected. I am amazing,g indeed.”

“Hahaha……”

“I’d prefer if you’d stop that annoying laugh.”

“Hahahaha…… I can’t seem to control it.”

Baron’s face crumpled mercilessly as he pushed up his glasses.

The Guildmaster spoke before Baron could get more irritated.

“Would you like to make a second request? About the request Guide Yerena made, which you asked about earlier.”

“You can tell me that much?”

“Information about other clients is confidential, but nothing can’t be solved with money.”

“How much?”

Let’s see, since he gave Olivia two checks, he should receive at least four checks from Baron to make it worth it.

“Four sheets.”

“It’s more expensive than I thought, but fine. I’ll pay it.”

“Thank you, generous customer. Hahahaha……”

“So what did she request?”

The Guildmaster gathered his meaningless laughter that he had been letting out repeatedly.

Seeing the Guildmaster’s sudden seriousness, Baron couldn’t help but focus on him.

“She requested advice on how to get revenge on Lady Rosie who was tormenting her.”

Of course, it was a lie.

Baron would never be able to verify the truth from Yerena, so he wouldn’t even know if his words were lies.

Making money through lies, planting negative feelings about Rosie in Baron, and possibly having Baron take revenge on Rosie – it was killing three birds with one stone.

“Huh? Revenge?”

“Yes. As you know, Guide Yerena was being harassed by Lady Rosie.”

“That’s true. That damn Benjamin was the problem. So did you tell her how?”

“Yes. We informed her about the corruption in Lady Rosie’s family. Though she passed away before she could use that information……”

“Passed away? So you also think Yerena is dead?”

“Is she alive?”

“Hah! An information broker asking me questions? I guess this guild is more pathetic than I thought.”

“Pathetic? Are you calling our guild shabby and crude?”

“Yeah.”

The Guildmaster’s eyebrows twisted.

He could tolerate disrespect towards the Chelsea Center, but he couldn’t stand anyone disrespecting the guild.

The Honey Butter Guild was his first masterpiece created by his own hands.

Unlike the Chelsea Center, which he was forced to take charge of like an exile.

“Baron Mekenzie. Heir to the Marquis Mekenzie family. A telekinesis ability user who claims he can go anywhere with white cloth and wind. Has a slightly perverted tendency of enjoying watching people hurt by his words. Often drew maps on his blanket due to frequent nightmares as a child. Acts tough but is quite timid and easily startled. Recently got slapped three times by Lady Olivia.”

Baron’s face turned bright red as he heard these unfiltered facts.

He trembled all over, seemingly overwhelmed by uncontrollable shame.

“H-How dare you, you!”

“Would you like me to share more embarrassing information about you, Baron?”

“Stop!”

Baron shouted, his face burning hot. At the same time, a whitish smoke began rising from his fingertips.

It seemed he was planning to use his telekinesis to throw whatever he could see.

The Guildmaster decided to drive him out before he could cause trouble.

“You asked four questions in total. I’ll send the bill to the Marquis residence.”

After making sure to calculate everything properly, of course.

“Then, have a safe journey back.”

As Baron’s eyes reddened with anger and he tried to raise his hand, the Guildmaster summoned potatoes from subspace faster than him.

Eventually, he used the same technique he had used on Lambert to drive Baron out.

Besides the elevator, the Guildmaster’s study had a back door that connected directly to the outside.

“Now I should add Baron to the blacklist and ban his entry.”

After receiving all the money from him, of course.

While dealing with the two men who had been extremely annoying, he was satisfied with the decent amount of money he had earned.

***

It was late at night when he returned to the Chelsea Center after finishing his guild duties.

Duncan lay down on the sofa as soon as he entered his study. Then, he turned on the clock and checked Yerena’s location out of habit.

“She’s still at the inn. Such a good girl.”

Evans, who had been watching this scene intently, made a comment.

“You shouldn’t misuse the tracking device.”

“Mother, aren’t you being too nagging these days?”

“I’m neither your mother nor am I a frail person, but rather a sturdy man.”

“Be quiet. I’m not misusing it.”

He just wanted to check her location because she was somewhere out of his sight.

If she wasn’t at the inn but somewhere else, he would probably try to find out who she met there and what she did.

Anyway, now that he had confirmed Yerena was fine, Duncan’s mind was at peace, and he thought about the two men he had met earlier today.

“By the way, Evans. Those three men. Do you think they really like Yerena?”

At first, he thought they were looking for Yerena because they couldn’t believe her death, or as Benjamin would put it, because they lost their familiar plaything.

But as time passed, he began to doubt their feelings.

They were still searching for Yerena even after the appearance of Olivia, who was like Diana’s incarnate.

With that level of dedication, wouldn’t it be fair to call it love?

“I bet they do like her. Perhaps they grew fond of her while tormenting her… something like that?”

It seems Evans shared his thoughts.

Duncan wiggled his toes in agreement.

“But what does our adorable Duncan, who has never been in love, think ‘liking someone’ means?”

Though it seemed like an unnecessary addition, Duncan candidly shared his thoughts without any objection, like someone who had never experienced love and showed little interest in it.

“Well… wanting to see her, wondering what she is doing and where she is, wanting physical contact and such.”

Come to think of it, after being with Yerena all day, he found himself missing her quite a bit since they had separated. He was curious about what she was doing every hour.

That’s why he kept checking her location multiple times throughout the day.

Despite not particularly enjoying physical contact with others, he had held hands with Yerena several times.

They had even been close enough to feel each other’s body heat.

‘Could it be that I… like her?’

But shouldn’t feelings of love be more turbulent and blind?

Can one fall this gradually, as if being slowly immersed?

Duncan tried hard to deny his feelings. Love was just troublesome and difficult.

“If that’s what it means, then Duncan, you must also feel for Guide Yerena…”

“No. Absolutely not.”

Duncan denied it before Evans could finish his sentence.

“They say strong denial is actually affirmation…”

“Enough. If you have nothing to say, leave.”

“Actually, I do have something to say.”

“Huh?”

Evans strode over and handed something to Duncan.

“What is it?”

“It’s a message from Empress Patricia.”

“……”

The moment that name was mentioned, Duncan’s face visibly hardened.

Evans, recognizing this wasn’t the time for jokes, quietly left his study.

Left alone, Duncan carefully opened the seal of the message. Inside was a letter written in neat handwriting.

As he read the familiar yet unwelcome handwriting, his head began to throb.

At that moment, he had only one wish.

‘I want to see my lady.’

He felt like his headache would disappear completely if he could spend some pleasant time exchanging playful banter with her.

It’s fine to consider it an avoidance of complicated matters. He was sick of taking responsibility anyway.

Duncan quietly tucked the finished message into his chest.

***

A week had passed since I moved to the Philia Islands. During that time, I had gotten quite used to the place while exploring various parts of the islands.

Indeed, the best thing about this place was how easily accessible seafood was.

I ate various fish every day in the dining room on the first floor of the inn. Among them, I particularly liked the red fish with thick flesh.

“Bless, the slightly salty fish is really delicious, right?”

Bless was continuously pecking at the fish meat as if he had forgotten about the potato bread he used to enjoy in the capital.

He seemed to have forgotten to answer as he was so focused on eating.

No, how does he not gain weight when he eats so well?

“Tell me if you want more. I’ll order as much as you want.”

Bless responded with a strange sound instead of his usual ‘kyukyu’.

―Chap chap!

He nodded too, and despite not having a neck, his eager nodding looked quite adorable.

My most adorable companion in the world.

After finishing the meal, I left the inn with a fish skewer for dessert. The weather was too nice to stay inside.

The well-cooked fish skewer smelled of the sea and salt. I walked to the beach while humming a natural tune.

Sitting on a sunbed that was open to everyone, basking in the sunlight that shone down on the ground, it felt like paradise.

The construction of the first branch that I glimpsed was almost complete. It will probably be finished by tomorrow.

“Everything is excellent.”

It was at that moment when I was smirking to myself, not minding other people.