***
When I threw open the door, a scene unfolded before my eyes as if the one and only large pub in town had been moved here wholesale.
Only the location was different; from the customers to the owner, they were all people I had seen before.
“Kuh! This is a really smart idea! A pub in a place that's practically a ruin, where only people who know can find it!”
“My wife won't be able to come chasing me this far!”
Drunkard Uncles 1 and 2, whom I always saw, helpfully explained the current situation.
Who gave them permission to set up a pub here?!
This old castle might be a useless ruin, but strictly speaking, it was one of our family's properties!!
I passed the drunkards and looked for the owner.
The owner of our town's pub, who looked like he would be more suited to holding a gun than a pub owner with his dark skin and sunglasses, was easy to find thanks to those features.
As soon as I saw the pub owner, I quietly asked,
“Are you doing business with a permit?”
“Hmm.”
At my words, the owner gestured to a spot with his chin.
And I.
“Father?”
My eyes met my father's, who was sipping alcohol in a corner.
Next to my father, an old man I had never seen before was also sipping alcohol.
“Old man?”
El, who had entered the pub late, saw the old man next to my father and her eyes widened.
The old man next to my father seemed to be an acquaintance of El.
“Old man! What are you doing here, leaving me all alone?!”
“Yo-your high… No, I was told to just leave you be and let you be free here, so I was just following orders.”
“That doesn't mean you should leave me all by myself!”
It seemed they had their own circumstances over there, so I’ll let them resolve it on their own.
“Father?”
“What is it?”
“What is this? This place?”
“Isn't it a pub, as you can see?”
“You know that's not what I'm asking, don't you?”
My father fell silent for a moment and avoided my eyes.
I immediately moved my body in sync with my father's movement and met his eyes again.
Then my father avoided my eyes again.
As I tried to meet his eyes again, my father's movements began to accelerate like crazy.
Is this old man using aura for something like this?!
As he frantically avoided my eyes with the movements of a warrior, just making eye contact became a struggle.
“Hah, hah… No, what are you trying to do? At least try to make an excuse!”
“A married man sometimes needs his own time.”
My father gave up on avoiding my eyes and said feebly with a deep sigh.
To an ordinary person, it was the image of a powerless head of the household of this era that would normally evoke sympathy.
“I'm not a married man, so I wouldn't understand.”
Of course, it was none of my business.
“No, I know it's a useless building now, but what are you doing with what is strictly our family's property?”
“Can't you just pretend you didn't see?”
My father's shoulders slumped even further. At this point, I started to feel a little soft.
“I'll think about it.”
If it weren't family, I would have extorted something, but since it’s family, that’s a bit much.
[You're soft on your family, aren't you?]
‘Of course, I didn't say I wouldn't tell, so I'll tell my mother as soon as I get home.’
[…]
‘What? What do you want?’
It's a good thing that the one who was always noisy is now quiet as a bonus.
Besides the amount I had extorted from El during the castle exploration, I had gained a small profit.
“It seems your conversation is over.”
At that moment, El, who seemed to have finished her conversation with the old man, spoke to me.
“It's over. Are you done too?”
“I am.”
I couldn't hear their conversation because I was focused on my father, but El's face was bright, so it seemed to have ended well.
In that case, what was left was.
“How about we end the castle exploration here?”
We had both seen each other's disgraceful sides, and after seeing that a secret pub was being operated in this old castle with my father's permission, I had completely lost interest.
Guide or not, I wanted to just quit everything, go home, stretch out my legs, and sleep.
“Hmm? Why? Shouldn't we at least look around the first floor and the basement?”
“There’s a pub with people coming and going like this, so it doesn't seem likely that anything is hidden.”
“That's true, but we still haven't looked around the entire castle, have we? There might be a secret workshop hidden in an inconspicuous place.”
That's in the back of the warehouse at the main mansion.
“And at the very least, I think I can only be satisfied if I find even a small clue about the black armor!”
[How about just taking me out and introducing me, Master?]
‘Shut up.’
A great man who transcends the century like me must be careful.
In the end, I decided to make the kid run around the old castle until she was exhausted.
She can't have better stamina than me, can she?
“Phew, then it can't be helped. We're continuing the search, right?”
“Of course!”
“Alright, let's go. We have to go. If I received money, I have to guide.”
Although I was reluctant, we left the pub and resumed the exploration.
<><><>
Perhaps because we knew there was a pub on the first floor, we were able to circle it once, feeling let down rather than scared.
In the first place, the first floor itself consisted mostly of a large hall rather than corridors, so there weren't many places to wander around.
So, the first floor was done.
“Today, let's choose one of the second floor or the basement, look around, and then finish.”
Since the building wasn't small, it would take several days to look around the whole thing.
Therefore, I proposed a choice between the two.
At my words, El opened her mouth without a moment's hesitation.
“Then let's go to the basement.”
“Of all the choices, why the basement?”
The words 'You're a coward too!' came up to my throat, but I held them back.
“No matter how I think about it, the basement is more suspicious, isn't it?”
That's true. No matter where you go, the basement is always more suspicious than the second floor.
But this is an old castle, and if it's the basement, then surely.
We went down to the basement.
The atmosphere was incomparably gloomy compared to the first floor.
And for good reason, since the first basement floor was a prison.
“Ugh, it's gloomy.”
“Are you going to keep going?”
“Of course!”
The kid was obviously scared, but it seemed she was planning to continue exploring the basement.
I had no choice but to take the lead.
There were no windows here at all, so it felt even darker than above.
Maybe that's why my mouth felt itchy for no reason.
“Isn't it actually meaningless to just wander around like this?”
Maybe that's why I blurted out the words I had been holding back until now.
Since I had received money, I was planning to just shut up and play along moderately.
But I was too scared to go on.
“It is meaningless.”
As expected, this kid also knew it was meaningless.
“But isn't it fun to wander around like this with a similar person?”
At those words, I turned around and looked at El.
Perhaps because of the light, even though she was smiling, there was a sense of bitterness.
But that was none of my business. A similar person?
“What are you talking about? Do you know me?”
“You may not know me, but I know you. Well, today is the first time I've seen you in person, though.”
Perhaps because I had stopped in my tracks for a moment, El passed me and began to walk ahead.
“I am interested in the black armor, but actually, I came here today to meet you.”
“I didn't know I was that famous.”
“It's just that I've heard stories about you personally.”
I looked at the back of the small and very lonely-looking kid and slowly moved my feet.
“The story about the black armor you brought up out of the blue in the square, was that for me to hear?”
“I thought it was a topic that we might both be interested in. I just didn't know that so many people would gather as a result.”
Hmm, so that wasn't some random self-PR, but her trying to talk to me?
It was absurd, but I felt like I could understand it a little.
“Alright, that's that, but why did you give me so much money for no reason?”
“They say there's something called a friend fee in the world.”
Did they have that in this town too?
[My, the more I see of this world, the more similar it is to Earth culture.]
‘It's ridiculously the same. Even that kind of nonsense.’
“That's probably just a joke going around.”
“Is that so? Please understand. I have very few allies, let alone friends, around me, so I'm clumsy at making friends.”
Man, she makes it hard to react. How am I supposed to react to this?
[Master is good at ordering people around, but not so good at making friends either.]
‘At least I know how to maintain human relationships.’
The kid in front of me started to look like a real kid.
Well, judging from the data on her tablet and the way she talked, she seemed to have some knowledge, but could a kid who actually paid a friend fee be called a proper adult?
This won't do. I have to explain proper human relationships to this kid.
“A friend is not something you get by paying a friend fee, but something that happens at some point when you just talk, hang out, study, and eat together.”
[That's a very one-dimensional explanation.]
‘Then how am I supposed to explain it here?’
[The database says that a friend is a person with whom one has a long and close relationship, and with whom one has a deep affection.]
‘What a concise explanation. So impersonal.’
That's the dictionary definition. But when you try to explain it, it doesn't come to mind.
“Is that so?”
Well, it seemed the kid had roughly understood.
“But the people I've talked to, played with, and eaten with until now have sometimes put a knife to my throat at some point.”
“That's because that person was a rotten one.”
“Is that so?”
“That's right. At least I'm not interested in your neck.”
I drove a wedge into the strange atmosphere where she seemed to have understood but not quite.
Since I received what I thought was a guide fee but was actually a friend fee, I had to do at least this much.
“Then are you my friend?”
“Um… well, it's an expression that makes my hands and feet feel like they won't be safe, but I guess you could see it that way.”
“Why would there be a problem with my hands and feet? Are you sick somewhere?”
“It's a metaphor. A metaphor.”
At my words, the kid turned around.
And then she smiled brightly.
I had only thought of her as a timid, cowardly hamster until now, but that image was, well, how should I put it.
Her silver hair, harmonizing with the moonlight, revealed her grace, and her gentle yet radiant smile caught my eye.
Anyway, she looks good when she smiles.
The fact that the place is a prison in a ruin is the only flaw.
“Then you will be my first friend.”
“I feel like you keep saying things that make my hands and feet feel unwell, but think what you want.”
“Alright. I look forward to it. My first friend.”
The place was gloomy, and my hands and feet were cringing, but I still felt a sense of accomplishment and a warm atmosphere.
Just then.
A room caught my eye.
Inside, which had a distinctly different feel from the other rooms, I saw a strange human figure.
“Hwaaaaaaak!!!”
“Uwaaaaaaaak!!!”
As if it were natural, I screamed and had no choice but to run away.
A human figure in a prison in a ruin?!
No matter how I think about it, that's impossible!!
What is it, what on earth is it?!
“Y-you there! Where are you going, leaving me alone again?!”
As soon as I ran away, I felt the presence of a whimpering El following me, but that was none of my business.
More importantly, the human figure in the cell earlier, what was that?!
[Master.]
What on earth is it?! Don't tell me it's a real gh-gho…
[Masteeeeer!!!]
This bastard, it's just text, so why is it unnecessarily dragging out the letters?!
‘What is it?!’
[That thing just now wasn't the spiritual being you're afraid of, it was just an ordinary human showing a biological reaction.]
‘Huh? Really?’
[There's no way my sensors would pick up a spiritual being.]
I see. It was just a person.
But why is a person here?
Are they crazy?
I stopped in my tracks and looked at the cell.
The person who was there must have run away as soon as they saw me, as the inside was already empty.
“Heek, hek, hek… Y-you there! Leaving me alone again!!”
I found El, with her cheeks puffed out and tears welling up in her eyes, glaring at me. I took my eyes off the cell and stared into the empty air for a moment, lost in thought.
What should I say this time?
After a moment of deliberation, I decided to explain the advanced course on friendship to El.
“That's just what friends are.”
“What are you talking about?”
El tilted her head at my words.
This alone is not enough of an explanation.
“Friends are originally supposed to backstab you from time to time.”
“W-was that it? As far as I know, that's not what it is…”
El questioned me unconfidently at my words, but she didn't know.
“Friends are originally supposed to backstab you. There's even an advanced term for it called a ‘friend shield.’”
“There's such a term? It's the first time I've heard of it.”
“How could someone who pays a friend fee directly know such an advanced term?”
I chuckled and shrugged.
It was a natural explanation.
“Do you think I'm a fool?”
But it didn't work on El.
El narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
If it had been Linia, she would have already fallen for it, but this one seemed to be smart, so it didn't seem to work.
“First, we need to check on the suspicious human figure we saw earlier.”
Therefore, I immediately changed the subject.
As expected, checking on an unknown danger was more important than something ambiguous like friendship.
<><><>
Meanwhile, even after Raniel and El left, the lights of the secret pub remained on.
Perhaps because it was clear that the moment they went home, they would get an earful from their wives, even though they had avoided being caught by the scruff of the neck at the pub.
The men's footsteps were reluctant to leave.
But as the night deepened, they eventually began to get up from their seats one by one. In the end, even the pub owner handed over the shop keys to the building owner and went home.
And so, the only two people left until the very end were.
“By the way, is it alright for her highness to wander around so defenselessly?”
At Raiel's question, the old man nodded heavily.
“It's safer for her to be out and about like this than to be in the palace.”
“Is the situation that bad?”
“It is not good. After the third empress passed away, there are no factions, only an overflow of spies from other sides.”
“Spies? If they are clearly spies, shouldn't they be eliminated?”
“If we eliminated all of them, there would be no one left to serve the princess.”
That was how harsh the checks and persecution from other factions were.
Raiel's eyes, looking at the old man, became pitiful.
“Are you alright?”
“Sometimes I think that way. That it might be a blessing in disguise that I ended up like this.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Because no one would go out of their way to insult an old man with no power or authority.”
A person who would have to be eliminated someday, but who would not be a threat now or in the future.
But the moment one tried to eliminate him, one would have to bear countless criticisms and political risks.
That was the old man's position, and that was why he could still be by the princess's side, serving her.
“Anyway, that's the situation in the palace. That's also one of the reasons why her highness is entering the academy this time.”
Although she was just happy that she could learn magical engineering.
The old man bitterly cut off his words and immediately added the next.
“Raiel, have you no thoughts of returning to the palace?”
“I'm sorry, but I refuse. What I need now is to protect my family and spend the rest of my life quietly.”
The old man was not unaware of that feeling.
The rural fiefdom of Leventia, which no one paid any attention to.
And the title of baron.
Nothing suited him, but Raiel was satisfied with that and left the palace.
“Well, I wasn't seriously asking.”
“Then is the conversation over?”
“Actually, I came to ask a favor…”
“Ah, I refuse. I refuse.”
“This person, without even listening to me.”
“I'm sorry, but I'm done with the headache-inducing politics of the palace.”
“To be precise, it was a favor to ask of your son.”
“My son? Don't tell me…”
“I heard that your son is also entering the Imperial Academy this time.”
Raiel's eyes narrowed.
“The look in this person's eyes. Don't tell me I would ask your son to risk his life to protect her highness. It's nothing big, I was just going to ask him to take good care of her.”
The old man turned his head and looked at the corner of the corridor where El and Raniel had disappeared a long time ago.
“Well… it seems I won't have to ask separately, though.”