Chapter 11
Rustle.
The leaves Celine had been crushing in her hand fell limply to the ground.
How dare he lie about food ingredients?
She rolled up her sleeve, revealing two colorful gold bracelets around her pale wrist.
Small enamel badges were embedded all around them, each engraved with the emblem of a professional qualification.
They were Professional Qualification Seals—certifications that ordinary people found almost impossible to earn.
When Celine graduated from Shad’s brutal training facility, she had gained only two things:
A strong body hidden beneath her fragile appearance…
And these qualification seals.
They were the price of the life she had survived.
Celine clenched her fist.
This is an insult to ingredients!
She remembered everything she had gone through to earn those qualifications.
“Cough… cough, cough.”
Perhaps she had become too agitated.
Her cough returned.
She wiped her mouth with a handkerchief.
Fortunately, only a faint pink stain appeared.
Shad had locked the children in the forest until they memorized entire textbooks as part of their survival training.
Their only food had been bland potato porridge.
Damn potatoes.
Just thinking about them makes me sick.
She actually preferred sweet potatoes.
While eating tasteless potatoes, she had memorized textbooks, fled from wild animals, nearly poisoned herself trying unfamiliar herbs, and survived for a hundred days by identifying whatever Shad threw at her that could be used as food.
Eventually…
She had memorized every page of those thick books.
Black Truffles
Extremely difficult to cultivate artificially.
Success rate of cultivation: Extremely low.
That was why naturally grown black truffles could never be compared to things like paper or soap.
Unless nobles have all gone mad… they’d simply buy them with money. Why would anyone bother growing them?
And noble children…
Playing ball with truffles?
That was even more ridiculous.
Hidden behind the damaged bush, Celine slowly examined the smiling merchant.
His expensive polished boots.
His enormous round belly that looked as if he were pregnant.
She frowned.
He’s definitely not one of ours.
She knew very well the standard of the agents Heinrich employed.
The Empire’s information hasn’t leaked… and he doesn’t seem to be a foreign spy either…
Elderwick had no alliances or treaties with any country.
It took five days just to reach this tiny mountain village with barely thirty residents.
No major nation would be interested in a place like this.
Honestly…
If not for the search for the imperial descendant, even the Arsenia Empire would have ignored this village.
He’s simply a professional swindler who targets old people in Elderwick!
A cold light flashed in Celine’s eyes.
How dare he pollute someone else’s mission area?
She couldn’t forgive that.
And if I handle this well… it could be the perfect chance to earn the trust of the village’s oldest resident.
No one knew Elderwick better than Grandpa Herman.
Situation assessed.
Response Manual B4—for elderly people.
It definitely wasn’t because she pitied the old man standing there silently with the basket in his hands.
Absolutely not.
Muttering to herself, Celine moved without making a sound.
“Sigh…”
The merchant, Peddler, looked at Herman and let out an exaggerated sigh.
“You’ve stayed hidden in these mountains for so long that you don’t know what’s happening in the outside world. That’s why this village has fallen so far behind.”
The veins bulged on the back of Herman’s hand gripping his cane.
Peddler didn’t notice.
He just kept talking.
“You’ve never ridden a train, have you? Or an airship? These days alchemy can do almost anything! Why hide away in this mountain village? What’s there to be afraid of?”
“I’ll… go get Village Chief Felix.”
“My goodness! Merchants survive on trust! Do you really not trust me? I came to trade with the owner of the Elderwick General Store—you—not with the village chief. Besides, you said you wanted to keep this deal a secret from him.”
“Th-That’s true…”
“Then I’ll just leave. But don’t you need the goods I brought? It’ll be a long time before your regular merchant comes again.”
Herman panicked.
“A-Alright! We’ll trade! Please don’t leave!”
“You should’ve agreed from the beginning.”
The merchant grinned and held up two fingers.
“I’ll even throw in two extra bars of our newest soap.”
The basket containing the five black truffles moved toward him.
Peddler’s eyes gleamed.
Just as the basket was about to reach his hands—
“Wait.”
A calm voice interrupted.
At the same instant, an unseen force knocked the merchant’s arm aside.
“AAAH!”
The merchant cried out and staggered backward, clutching his arm.
Herman also widened his eyes and looked toward the newcomer.
A young woman stood there.
She wore a neat dress.
Her long black hair was as dark as midnight.
Celine smiled.
Only her lips smiled.
Her eyes didn’t.
“Oh dear. I’m sorry. I only meant to reach out, but I accidentally brushed against you.”
Brushed against me?
You practically broke my arm!
The merchant stared at her in disbelief.
Everything had happened too quickly.
Fortunately, nothing was broken…
But his arm hurt terribly and had already gone numb.
“Wh-Who are you?”
After finally regaining his senses, he shouted.
One corner of Celine’s eyes lifted slightly.
“Me?”
“The teacher of Elderwick.”
Her tone suddenly became much shorter.
“What?”
“I also happen to come from a distinguished family.”
As she spoke, she casually revealed the noble identity Shad had fabricated for her.
Just enough for others to misunderstand on their own.
A distinguished family…?
A… noble?
The word family made the merchant unconsciously purse his lips.
Celine then turned toward Herman and bowed politely.
The angle of her bow was filled with respect.
“Good morning, sir.”
The moment Herman recognized her, his face brightened.
“Oh! Teacher! Did you sleep well? What brings you here so early?”
“I was taking a morning walk and happened to come this way. I was standing right beside you, but you were so busy negotiating that you didn’t even notice.”
“Was I? Hahaha.”
The wrinkles around Herman’s eyes deepened as he laughed.
Then Celine lowered her voice.
“Sir… I happened to overhear your conversation.”
“Would you mind if I handled the negotiation?”
“That man’s way of talking sounds exactly like a scammer.”
“Hm? A scammer?”
Herman looked at the merchant with a puzzled expression.
The fat merchant, who had been silently observing, immediately exploded.
“Wh-Who are you calling a scammer?! Me?!”
Damn it.
She says she’s a noble, so I can’t even speak rudely!
He bit his lip.
He had no idea which noble family she belonged to.
If she had come all the way to a remote village like this, perhaps she wasn’t from a truly powerful house…
But the pressure she gave off made it impossible to argue with her.
Why was she so polite to the old man, but only acting like this toward me?!
Celine crossed her arms.
“You’re called Peddler, right?”
“Y-Yes.”
Look at those eyes…
Without realizing it, he lowered his gaze.
It was almost instinct.
An instinct to survive.
“I’m a noble too, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard that black truffles grow in noble backyards.”
“Th-There’s… that kind of rumor in the capital.”
“Hm.”
“So you’ve never actually seen it with your own eyes?”
“W-Well… that’s…”
“B-But why have you been speaking informally to me since we met?!”
“My educational philosophy is simple.”
“I don’t show respect to scammers.”
“And besides…”
“Why would a noble like me need to speak politely to you?”
“That’s true.”
“Absolutely.”
Herman nodded enthusiastically from the side.
The merchant shot the old man an angry look…
Then glanced back at Celine.
His mouth immediately shut.
“Now then.”
“Shall we continue our little conversation?”
Celine took one step forward.
Why…
Why do I suddenly feel like my body is about to be torn apart?
The moment their eyes met…
Goosebumps covered his body.
Just how many people has she beaten in her life?
Is she some infamous young lady from a powerful noble family?
That must be it.
She had nothing better to do, so she wandered into a mountain village!
I’ve really picked the wrong person to mess with!
Overwhelmed by the growing pressure, Peddler instinctively stood with his feet together.
Even his hands folded neatly in front of his stomach on their own.
Tap.
Celine’s slender hand rested on his shoulder.
More precisely…
On his collarbone.
She doesn’t even look strong enough to hurt a flower…
…Ah.
It hurts like hell.
It hurt so much that he couldn’t even groan.
“You were trying to cheat an elderly man who doesn’t know much about the outside world.”
“And somehow you’ve managed to do it without that kind village chief noticing.”
“…Who exactly are you calling kind?”
“The village chief?”
“Yes.”
“Who else could I possibly mean besides Village Chief Felix?”
Peddler wore an expression that said he had never heard anything so absurd in his entire life.
But…
He didn’t dare say it aloud.
The woman standing before him was simply too terrifying.
Especially…
Those violet eyes.
