“Why do you think that?”

In response to Xenon’s question, Rudis shot him a sharp look.

“Because you’re smiling. Right now.”

Xenon’s face appeared troubled, but his red eyes curved playfully. Rudis was certain. Xenon was hiding something.

“Maybe I’m just happy that you were the one who helped me.”

With the corner of his mouth curling upward, Xenon continued speaking. Without showing any sign of being flustered, his curved eyes no longer seemed to hide his true expression.

“You know what this is, don’t you?”

Without hesitation, Rudis pulled out the “Anonymous Gift.” She held out the golden box to Xenon, not fully understanding why she acted so impulsively. It was an instinctive decision.

“Everyone out.”

At that moment, Xenon’s face hardened as he muttered in a low voice. Like magic, the murmuring noise stopped, and silence fell. Everyone in the tavern turned their eyes toward Xenon, seemingly waiting for his command.

“Now.”

At Xenon’s single word, people vanished like well-trained soldiers. The tavern that had been bustling just moments ago instantly sank into silence.

‘What’s going on?’

Rudis couldn’t understand the situation. Most of those who left were outsiders. She had thought they spoke different languages since they answered in unintelligible words when spoken to, but they all moved without question at Xenon’s command. There was clearly some hidden secret.

“Rudis.”

In the quiet space, Xenon called her name in a low voice. Leaning against the counter and drawing close, his red eyes still curved pleasantly. The way he licked his lips while calling her name reminded her of that day.

Rudis felt her heart tighten. The Xenon standing before her didn’t seem like the Xenon she knew. But the predatory ease in his slow voice made it feel like he had finally removed the mask he’d been wearing.

“Shall we talk? Very privately.”

Xenon smiled languidly, lifting the corner of his mouth. His unusually red eyes gleamed brightly.

He seems a bit crazy.

* * *

Rudis followed Xenon down the intricately winding staircase, tense with anticipation. With each echo of footsteps on the stairs, she unconsciously paused to survey her surroundings.

She had thought it strange before—stairs that should be ordinary were twisted like a maze. Even the entrance was cleverly hidden in a place Rudis couldn’t have imagined.

Why hide it so thoroughly? No wonder she hadn’t known about the basement despite her frequent visits.

Whether aware of Rudis’s thoughts or not, the red-haired man twirled a ring of keys around his finger while humming a tune. Rudis kept glancing at her watch.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t scared.

The only thing helping her overcome the tension from this unfamiliar version of Xenon and the strange space was the 2 AM spell. Being forced to sleep would mean paying Noah a fortune again, but at times like this, it seemed worth the money. It was the most reliable backup in such dangerous situations.

They arrived at a room after passing through a maze-like corridor. It had a completely different atmosphere from Xenon’s bedroom that she had seen before.

A reception room?

On one side of the moderately sized room stood a long, heavy desk. Behind it, storage cabinets tightly packed the wall, all secured with locks, as if guarding tremendous secrets.

“Sit.”

At Xenon’s gesture, Rudis sat in the chair opposite the desk. As she caught her breath in her tense state, Xenon pulled something from his pocket and lit a cigarette.

A cigarette?!

Rudis forgot her tension, her eyes widening in surprise. Cigarettes weren’t even in the guidebook!

‘How do I get tobacco seeds?’

Her stray thought disappeared into the thick smoke Xenon exhaled. As the smoke dispersed like fog, those too-red eyes gazed at Rudis intently.

“Cough, cough.”

“Drink.”

When she broke into a coughing fit from the strong smoke, Xenon stubbed out his cigarette and handed her a glass. Taking a sip, Rudis’s eyes widened.

‘This isn’t water.’

With the strong taste of alcohol filling her mouth, Rudis quickly wiped her lips. When she glared at Xenon, he gave her his usual playful smile.

“That’s better. That expression suits you much more.”

Whether it was kindness or mischief, she had to admit it helped ease her tension.

“How did you figure it out? Was I that obvious?”

Xenon took the glass Rudis had pushed away, filled his mouth with the drink, and savored it by running his tongue over his lips.

“I just knew. Something felt off.”

“I didn’t think you were that perceptive.”

“I am!”

At her firm rebuttal, Xenon’s lips stretched into a smile.

“Then did you also notice that I was the one who spread the rumor about the strange glowing object being stolen?”

“What? The ‘Sparkler’ was your setup too? Why would you do something like that…”

Responding to her face crumpled with bewilderment beyond surprise, Xenon met her gaze intensely.

“Because…”

Xenon’s red eyes gleamed deeper and sharper. Yet his voice remained low and relaxed.

“I knew you would come.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You can never ignore a request for help.”

Rudis couldn’t close her half-open mouth. This situation was absurd.

“Why would you—”

“Ask that later. When you come to the Information Guild, you should ask the right questions. Here, each question mark costs money.”

Xenon cut off Rudis’s words, smiling languidly as he leaned back in his chair.

“Information Guild?”

Rudis repeated in a daze. Information Guild in a farming game? It was a term she never imagined.

Good heavens. The reward was “Hidden Truth,” wasn’t it? She had learned too many new facts today. Looking at Rudis’s spinning eyes, Xenon licked his lips.

“Go with the question you asked first. I’ll make it free just for today. Though you weren’t in danger, you did suck my c*ck, so that’s a fact. This much compensation should be enough, right?”

Xenon leaned back in his chair, winked, and stuck out his tongue. Rudis’s face turned bright red at his reminder of what she had done.

‘This guy is way crazier than I thought.’

Now for the right question… Rudis carefully chose her words.

She wanted to ask what all this was about, but that was something she’d learn eventually. Once a quest started, it didn’t matter if this “Anonymous Gift” turned out to be just trash. That wasn’t important.

“How do I complete this?”

“…Hmm. I thought you’d first ask what this is, but you’re smarter than I expected. How adorable.”

Xenon smiled leisurely, interlacing his fingers and resting his chin on them.

“…”

“When did our little miss grow up so much? It feels like just yesterday you were whimpering, not knowing where to buy a simple tool.”

At Xenon’s playful words, Rudis recalled the past. The first day she woke up in a shack without even a basic tutorial. Stumbling outside to face a vast wasteland. Strangers who wouldn’t return her greetings. The Lord’s representative demanding taxes while calling her by an unfamiliar name. And the threatening creatures that appeared randomly.

On that night when she was battered, lost, and ready to give up everything. The only place with lights on. The tavern—Xenon’s place—where she knocked as a last resort.

‘Welcome. You’re Rudis, newly moved to this village? I’m Xenon, the tavern owner.’

‘Oh, hello.’

Why did such an ordinary greeting sound so warm back then? Rudis swallowed her rising tears and spoke. It was a clumsy first meeting that now seemed unimaginable.

‘Want to try growing this in front of your house? Some kind of vegetable seed, though I’m not sure what.’

‘A shovel? You can go to Colin, but he’s rarely at the forge. Hmm… it’s not a shovel, but how about this? It’s quite old, but you can use it for now. It’ll break soon though. Ah, you’ll need a watering can too. I think I had something here I was going to throw away…’

If Xenon hadn’t handed her that packet of seeds, if he hadn’t given her those “old” farming tools that looked brand new to anyone else…

Rudis wouldn’t be here now. No matter how unfamiliar Xenon’s expression was, that fact remained unchanged.

Because of that, Rudis was no longer afraid of the strange Xenon before her.

Whenever a difficult quest arose, Rudis had run to Xenon and always found answers. Whether he was a playful tavern owner or the crazy head of an Information Guild didn’t matter—for the past eight years, he had been the person the clueless Rudis relied on most to reach where she was today.