I Reincarnated as the Daughter of a Runaway Sub Heroine - Chapter 61

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

Three days after my first visit to the information guild, I returned there again.

This time, I only brought Derek with me. And Rose was also riding in the carriage.

“Wang!”

Rose was leaning against the window, completely absorbed in looking outside. I found her cute, but Derek in front of me was not at all.

“…Why on earth are you bringing this furball?”

I spread my palm wide and pointed at Rose.

“Say hello. She’s the assistant who will help you today. Her name is Rose LeBlanc.”

“What scheme are you up to this time?”

I quietly stared at Derek, who looked visibly anxious.

“Later, I’ll meet the master alone.”

“Alone? Why?”

“You have something else to do outside. I’m going to find a way to get the master out. Then, for a while, no one will be able to enter the room.”

“Uh, how?”

“That’s something you need to think about. If you really can’t, get Rose’s help. That’s why I’m bringing her.”

Derek stared blankly for a moment at Rose’s tail and butt, which were wagging excitedly in front of him.

“You think this dog knows what to do?”

“You don’t know how smart Rose is, do you?”

I called out to Rose.

“Rose, come here.”

Rose immediately came and sat next to me.

“Hand!”

A thick front paw was placed directly on my hand.

“Left hand!”

This time, she switched to the other paw.

“Lie down, sit, bark!”

“Woof woof!”

Rose, who perfectly followed my commands, had a proud expression. I petted her fur wildly.

“See! Rose can do anything!”

“Are you telling me to perform tricks with this dog?”

I glared at Derek, who looked deeply skeptical, with my arms crossed.

“To stop the Master, you might even have to pretend to dance with flowers in your hair. Will you do that? If you fail to stop the Master and ruin everything, you’ll face the consequences!”

Derek immediately corrected his posture and sat up straight.

“No, I will do my best as you instructed!”

As I snorted, Derek cautiously asked a question.

“But while I’m keeping the master occupied, what will you be doing inside?”

“I’m going to search the room.”

“Y-You mean you’re going to steal?”

“Steal? I’m just going to see what’s there!”

“A thief would definitely make that excuse at first. I swear I was just trying to see what was there. I didn’t really intend to steal.”

I glared at him sharply, and only then did Derek close his mouth.

“I’ll just check the desk, so it won’t take long. Just buy me 5 minutes.”

I was suspicious of the master’s identity. So, I was planning to search the desk first.

Of course, important documents wouldn’t be left unguarded, but if I searched unexpectedly, I might discover something. Finding a weakness would be even better.

If you do nothing, you’ll get nothing in return, but if you do something, there’s always a small chance of success.

“What if we get caught? They don’t look like ordinary people. I’ll search the desk instead.”

“Would the master talk to you alone in the office if I’m not there? That would be more suspicious. As long as you do well, you won’t get caught. Don’t worry.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Take this.”

I handed a pouch to Derek.

“What’s this?”

“It has jerky inside. Later, when the opportunity arises, sprinkle that around. Then Rose will cause a ruckus on her own. Seeing valuable items getting smashed will make him think twice.”

“Ah, okay.”

Seeing Derek fidgeting to open the pouch, I urgently warned him.

“Don’t open it! If you open that here, Rose will attack you…”

But before I could finish my sentence, Derek opened the pouch. Rose immediately turned her head and barked loudly.

“Ahhh!”

What happened next was exactly what I had warned him about.

Rose jumped on Derek and started slapping him with her large front paw. In reality, she was trying to snatch the jerky with her paw, but to my eyes, it looked like Derek was being assaulted by Rose.

“Ahhh!”

The knight, who had looked tidy just a moment ago, was ruined in an instant.

“Ah, Lady Ar! Please do something about this damn dog!”

I sighed as I watched the scene unfold.

I wondered, could those two really handle things well today?

After getting off the carriage, I entered the guild first. Derek was in a disheveled state due to Rose, so he needed some time to collect himself both physically and mentally.

This time, perhaps because of the appointment, an employee came out to greet me and guide me.

“This way, Your Grace.”

As I entered the room that seemed to be the office, Jakar, who was sitting in front of a desk, stood up.

“Welcome.”

He had a broad smile on his face. Strangely, he looked genuinely happy to see me.

He ordered the staff to bring tea and personally pulled out a chair for me.

It felt like I had been invited to the reception room of a high-ranking noble rather than an information guild.

“I’ve been waiting since this morning. It’s truly a pleasure to see you again.”

I didn’t understand why my visit was so welcomed, but I responded to his hospitality nonetheless.

“I can see why you only accept visitors by appointment. The treatment is completely different from last time.”

“I would appreciate it if you thought of it as our desire to treat our guests with greater respect.”

Before long, the staff brought in tea and some light snacks and then left. Jakar offered me a teacup.

“It’s common tea leaves, so I’m not sure if it will suit your taste. You’ve probably only had the best until now.”

His tone suggested that he thought I had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse, which made me chuckle.

“I haven’t only eaten the best. I’ve tried the food that ordinary residents eat while traveling around the Grand Duchy with my father, but I guess that hasn’t been investigated yet?”

“Have you had such experiences?”

“My father wanted me to know everything about the Grand Duchy.”

Before I began my formal training as a successor, my father took me around various places in the Grand Duchy. He showed me the lives of the residents up close and taught me how to camp in the forest and hunt.

His decision to split his busy schedule to travel with me was not only to give me many experiences but also to spend more time with me. After not being together for six years, he wanted to create as many good memories as possible.

“You have a good father, just as the rumors say.”

“Yeah, I have a good father and a good mother. I consider myself lucky.”

Jakar gave a slightly distant smile.

“I don’t know what my parents looked like.”

At his sudden statement, I stared at him.

“I’ve been living on the streets for as long as I can remember, with kids in similar situations.”

I was aware of how children like him lived on the streets. Such children also existed in the Grand Duchy.

They wandered the streets without parents and often ended up joining criminal organizations, doing whatever the adults told them to do. From simple errands to pickpocketing and robbery. The children I met last time were likely of that kind as well.

In the Grand Duchy, efforts were made to build as many orphanages as possible to protect children until they became adults. I paid special attention to this matter, even reallocating budgets from other areas to support it.

The reason for this was not only to prevent children from joining criminal organizations at an early age but also because of a dream I had when I was young.

In my dream, Arcadia was wandering the streets, starving. Perhaps Arcadia also lived as a street child after losing her parents.

That’s why I wanted to save as many of those children as possible. I felt a sense of responsibility since I was living her life in a way.

I smiled at Jakar.

“Children who grow up on the streets often end up taking bad paths, but it seems you have turned out well. Becoming the master of such a prestigious information guild is impressive.”

“I might have gone down that wrong path. I could have harbored hatred towards the world and ended up lost if I hadn’t met that person when I was young.”

“That person?”

“My life changed completely after I met that person. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”