NB Chapter 5

"That... I've heard something about this dagger. It's uncommon to engrave the blade with intaglio work. I've only heard about it before, but this is the first time I've seen it directly, so I was curious... I seem to have been rude. But... I'm not certain. I'd like to show it to my father. Since my father owns our shop, he would have seen this dagger directly before. If it's all right with you, may I take the sword with me for a moment?"

"Give back the sword and call the shop owner."

Gale snatched the dagger back from the man almost aggressively. The man bowed once at the waist and ran toward the back. The man, who nearly stumbled mid-way as if his legs had given out, approached a middle-aged man in the back. The man organizing swords appeared to be the shop owner.

When the man whispered to the shop owner, the shop owner looked at Gale and Magnolia with furrowed brows.

Seeing that gaze, Gale became irritated. His nerves were on edge because he couldn't accurately grasp the flow of the situation.

"Calm down, Gale. At least we should be able to find out which noble family's crest is engraved on the sword."

"They keep whispering like damn rats."

At Gale's harsh tone, Magnolia poked his side. Since he had said it openly for them to hear, Gale ignored it.

However, the man and shop owner were still continuing their conversation. It wasn't that they were pretending not to hear on purpose. They seemed too preoccupied with other matters to pay attention right now.

Magnolia, who had been quietly watching the two talk, strained her ears. But no matter how sharp her hearing, it was impossible to hear a conversation deliberately kept quiet at this distance.

Magnolia bit her lip lightly and waited anxiously.

Finally, when their talk seemed to end, the young man disappeared through the inner door and the shop owner approached.

"Sorry to keep you waiting so long."

"It's fine."

"You want to find the owner of the sword. I saw that dagger decades ago, so it's hazy. My son went to look for the contact information of the craftsman who made the sword. Could I check the dagger for a moment first?"

The shop owner, receiving the dagger from Gale, carefully examined the blade before returning it to Magnolia.

"That's the dagger I know. You're looking for the owner?"

"Yes. Do you know who it is?"

The shop owner looked quietly at Magnolia's face with sunken eyes, as if examining her. After lowering his gaze as if thinking for a moment, the shop owner clasped his hands together and spoke.

"This dagger is specially ordered by a noble family from a certain craftsman, with only one produced every few years. The middleman who first introduced the craftsman to this noble family was our Schmidt's Forge. When orders came from the nobles, we'd pass them to the craftsman, and when the items were completed, we'd contact the nobles, receive payment, and deliver the amount minus our commission to the craftsman."

"...Are you saying you know?"

"My late father might have known. It's been quite a while since that craftsman started dealing directly with those nobles personally. Since that noble family only orders from that craftsman, it's more profitable for the craftsman to work directly rather than going through us for a commission. We know about it because it's such an unusual dagger that we kept separate records, but we don't know which noble family it is. This transaction left Schmidt's shop's hands quite some time ago. But we do have the contact information for the craftsman who made this sword."

"Then could you give us that contact information?"

"I'm sorry, but that's not possible. It's not something I can share at my own discretion. What we can do is separately inquire about who the owner of this dagger is."

"Would it be impossible to tell us the craftsman's residence so we could meet them directly?"

"We'd have to ask the craftsman's side. Whether they'd be okay with meeting for this kind of matter."

All the options required time. Magnolia looked at Gale.

Magnolia was in a hurry. Time was the priority.

She wanted to choose the option of asking the shop owner to inquire about which noble was the owner, since that would be fastest without having to go through anything else.

But for Gale, safety was the priority.

He didn't want to leave traces like this. Moreover, this current situation felt somehow suspicious.

But to vaguely oppose saying it wasn't allowed, this matter was extremely important to Magnolia. Since he couldn't understand the reason for this uncomfortable feeling of unease, he had no confidence in persuading Magnolia.

When Gale quietly nodded, Magnolia put the dagger back in her pocket and spoke.

"Then I'd like to ask a favor of you, shop owner. I received great help from this dagger's owner and want to repay the kindness, but I haven't been able to find them. It would be troublesome, but could you inquire with the craftsman about the name of the noble family who is the owner?"

"Of course. It's just sending a telegram, so what trouble could there be? Please use our shop for weapon-related matters in the future. If you would do that in return, it would be a great honor."

"Then when should we come back?"

"It's difficult to predict and tell you a date. That craftsman is quite famous and busy. We'll contact you when a reply comes. Could you leave your contact information?"

This wouldn't do. Gale shook his head. But Magnolia always won.

'If things seem strange, we can just change inns.' Magnolia poked Gale's side with her elbow.

"We don't live in the capital but are temporarily staying at an inn. ...Please send the telegram addressed to Magia. I'll leave word with the innkeeper."

Magnolia, who had given the inn's location and name, put the dagger back in her bosom.

"Roughly how many days will it take?"

"...If fast, about a week...? I'm not certain."

"I understand. However, we also have circumstances, so it might be difficult to visit immediately after receiving contact."

"Please visit when convenient. I'll inform my subordinates of the young lady's name."

The shop owner erased his tense expression for the first time and smiled warmly.

Gale still wore a displeased expression. Taking a bite of stew, Magnolia started a conversation.

"This chicken stew here is really delicious, Gale."

"I don't know, don't talk to me."

"Are you still angry?"

Gale silently crushed carrots in the stew with his spoon. Seeing his unappetizing expression, Magnolia felt unnecessarily guilty. She felt even more so because he was being more sensitive about safety due to the situation she had created.

Magnolia sighed and picked up a soft piece of bread, tore it in half, and placed it on top of Gale's stew.

"Let's move inns tomorrow right away. The shop owner said we'd get word within a week at the fastest... so let's change inns tomorrow and come back after a week. We'll ask the innkeeper to hold onto any telegrams that arrive, and then come by a few days after that. Okay?"

Honestly, Magnolia thought Gale was being overly sensitive. But Gale's instincts were usually right. Seeing him so displeased and unable to let it go, it would be right to prepare.

At Magnolia's suggestion, Gale sighed lightly and picked up the bread soaked with stew to take a bite.

"...Fine, let's move tomorrow. Hurry up and eat."

"Gale should eat quickly too. Isn't it delicious?"

"It's delicious, I'll eat."

The chicken stew served by the inn had a strong peppery spiciness but wasn't burdensome with plenty of potatoes. It went well with bread and had deep flavor from long simmering.

While slowly eating the stew, Magnolia suddenly recalled the stew Zycklint used to make.

When Zycklint had to be away from home for several days, she would cook a pot of stew and leave it. Magnolia stopped her every time. Zycklint's cooking skills were truly disastrously bad.

Despite putting all her heart and effort into making it, her stew was always bland and watery, and so unpalatably terrible that Gale couldn't recover from it. Yet sometimes she missed the taste of that bland stew.

Gale, who had been eating halfheartedly, said he would eat and then quickly finished another bowl of stew and chunk of bread.

'He eats that fast but I've never seen him suffer from indigestion.'

Magnolia chewed the chicken thoroughly while looking at Gale's empty bowl with an aggrieved expression.

Gale leaned back in his chair and unfolded the newspaper Magnolia had bought. While casually flipping through the newspaper, Gale stopped at a certain section and began reading.

"Is there an interesting article?"

"It's not interesting content, but it's interesting."

"What is it?"

"The 'Northwest Expedition Incident.'"

At those words, Magnolia recalled the founding mythology of the Titania Empire she had read at the book café that morning.

Long, long ago, giant beasts that came from the cursed forest devastated the continent and numerous kingdoms.

When humans were about to be slaughtered by beasts against whom neither sword nor magic worked, the guardians Aster and Titania siblings appeared. The great mage Ilias who defeated the beasts together with them. When everything was finished, Ilias proclaimed himself emperor and founded an empire on the devastated continent.

Like any founding mythology, it would be mixed with fiction and exaggeration, but it wasn't purely fiction.

The giant beast herds that emerged from the northwest forest, against whom swords and magic didn't work, were proof of that. Particularly in recent decades, beast invasions had been frequent and their ferocity strong. And the only one who could defeat those beasts was Duke Aster of the northwest, descendant of the guardians.

However, that Duke Aster had suddenly declared seclusion last spring. When he entered seclusion, the northwest expeditions to hunt beasts in the cursed forest also stopped.

When Duke Aster declared seclusion and didn't depart on expedition that spring, there wasn't much uproar at the time. Though there was no clear reason why the duke entered seclusion, rumors spread widely that he was having a power struggle with the imperial family.

Beyond that, the empire's people didn't pay much attention. That was because the continent's devastation by beasts was something from hundreds of years ago, and thanks to Duke Aster, the empire's people had completely forgotten their fear of beasts.

Moreover, most empire citizens had no direct occasion to see beasts. Beast hide had been displayed publicly only once, which only allowed people to guess at the beasts' enormous size.

Some considered the guardian's power mentioned in the founding mythology absurd. In such circumstances, there were none who lost their daily lives from fear of beasts.

But when the duke didn't emerge from seclusion for over a year, quiet anxiety arose. When fear began stirring in the empire, the imperial family ordered Viscount Flieve, Duke Aster's younger brother, to lead an expedition.

This spring, Viscount Flieve departed on his first expedition promising a victory ceremony more splendid than ever, shouldering great expectations. And he returned bearing grave injuries.

This was the 'Northwest Expedition Incident' that instantly overshadowed the academy incident.