"Wait, just a moment."
The woman with sleepy eyes suddenly stood up and leaned over the table.
"Are you really okay?"
"Look for yourself."
I raised the little finger that the Blind Mouse had bitten. Using internal energy to close the tiny tear, I showed it as if there was no wound at all.
"N-no wound?"
"How many times do I have to say it? I'm fine."
"Impossible. The Blind Mouse's teeth…"
"I told you I can handle it."
"Ugh…"
I grinned and threw her own words right back at her. She bit her lip while staring at my hand.
"Squeak!"
Enjoying her reaction, I checked the information on the cute squeaking mouse once more.
[Blind Mouse]
A mouse about 20 cm long, smaller than a common rat. It has an extremely cute appearance with its small body, bright fur, and plump tail, but its teeth contain a terrible poison that blinds animals' eyes, so caution is required.
To find such a rare creature here!
When I went on the expedition, Blind Mouse poison was one of the poisons I asked Peru to find, but it was so rare he still hadn't obtained any.
Getting this poison for free was no ordinary luck.
"Inspection's over. Let's get to the main point."
I looked away from the cute squeaking Blind Mouse and back at the woman.
"This child has sharp teeth that can pierce even leather gloves or shoes. And those teeth release a terrible poison that blinds the eyes. That was a dangerous thing to do."
"My skin is quite tough."
"Hmm…"
Techniques or abilities that harden the skin are quite common. She seemed to interpret my ability as simple skin reinforcement, just as I intended.
"Understood. Let's move to the main topic as you said. What information do you need?"
"I still don't know your name?"
"Ah! Sorry. I was flustered…"
The woman stood up again and bowed. Of course, I already knew her name.
[Name: Veroa]
[Traits: Analysis lv2, Quick Movement lv2, Focus lv3]
[Affinity: 0 (Neutral)]
[Current Mood: Confused and flustered because she can't understand what kind of person I am.]
Seeing Veroa's information again made me chuckle. She kept a calm face on the surface, but inside she was still panicking.
"Sorry for the late introduction. My name is Beth. I am the branch head here."
As expected, Veroa used a fake name instead of her real one.
"I'm Balon. No need for other information, right?"
I also used a common fake name I had prepared.
"Of course."
Rackard's greatest strength isn't its outstanding information network. Their true advantage is that they never sell or dig into customers' personal information.
If customer information from Rackard ever leaked, it could cause anything from family discord to reigniting war across the continent.
"Then please tell me what information you need."
"Do you know someone named Kabol?"
"Kabol… I don't know that name for now."
She answered immediately without hesitation. This part was convenient and reliable.
"Then first request. Find any swordsmanship or martial arts books written by an author named Kabol."
"Kabol's swordsmanship and martial arts books. Understood. Request accepted."
Veroa calmly wrote down my request on the white paper on the table.
"Second is general information on Count Karens and Baron Fabien."
"Count Karens and Baron Fabien are currently staying in the royal palace."
"I don't care about that. Can you do it?"
"Of course."
Count Karens was someone I had never met. Even with Rackard's tight security and my different face, I added him just in case to hide my real intention.
After that, I added two more barons' names to make my purpose even harder to guess.
"And…"
"You have quite a lot of requests."
"This is the last one."
I closed my eyes, organized my thoughts for a moment, then spoke.
"Name is Rashid, age 20, from Lipa Village near As Castle."
Rashid — the real protagonist of my novel. It was time to find out where he was and what he was doing now.
"Find out where this person is right now and what he's doing."
**
Because I had made quite a few requests, Veroa asked me to come back in a month. I agreed, left Blue Bird, and stepped out onto the street where the festival was in full swing.
Seeing so many people enjoying the festival, I decided to rest a bit and entered a cozy-looking tavern right ahead.
All tables were full, so I sat at the empty counter and ordered the dark beer I couldn't drink at Blue Bird.
"You know that?"
"Are you going to brag about your daughter being cute again? I'm sick of it…"
The two middle-aged men beside me clinked their beer mugs while chatting.
"My daughter being cute is a fact decided by God. What I want to talk about is the royal palace party."
"Suddenly talking about the royal palace party?"
"Normally high nobles attend the royal palace party. That's obvious, but this year they say unusually many people are participating."
"Really?"
The daughter-obsessed middle-aged man nodded enthusiastically.
"This year, strong monsters appeared everywhere, right? All the people who played a big role in subjugating those monsters were invited."
"Then will that person come too?"
"That person?"
"The greatest rising star who took down the Orc Champion, Sea Serpent, and Sharkrai King. Sir Yuren Rox."
"Ah, of course he was invited. He was probably the first one invited, right?"
I almost spat out the beer I was drinking. Hearing my own story from complete strangers beside me was a new experience.
"My nephew serves at the northern wall, you know? He got injured and came back on leave. He said Yuren isn't human."
"Not human?"
"Yeah. He said one dagger throw and the monster dies instantly. Ghouls, trolls, ogres, double-head ogres—he melted every monster with a single dagger!"
"I heard that too, but it's obviously exaggerated, right?"
"I thought so too before my nephew said it, but his face wasn't lying. He genuinely thinks of Yuren as a god. His eyes light up whenever Yuren's name comes up."
The two middle-aged men kept talking about my feats, making me embarrassed sitting right next to them.
"But why did you bring up the party?"
"Ah, that's the main point. There's a rumor that His Majesty will open the royal treasury for heroes like Yuren and others."
"What?"
"It hasn't been opened for several years, but His Majesty likes giving things away, right? The rumor is that he invited so many heroes this time to open the treasury and distribute weapons…"
"Hmm, that's possible. But that's just your guess, not an actual rumor."
"Ugh."
The daughter-obsessed middle-aged man shrank his shoulders as if hit where it hurt.
"Hahaha! You really love spreading rumors. You go around saying your daughter is the cutest in the village. Now it's the royal treasury?"
"Kyahahaha!"
The two middle-aged men looked at each other, laughed heartily once, then changed the topic and continued talking.
"The royal treasury that hasn't been opened for several years…"
Suddenly I felt like I had found a clue about Veil Fabien. Grateful, I even paid for their drinks and left the tavern.
"If there's something I don't know in the royal treasury?"
There was no guarantee there wouldn't be rare items I didn't know about, so I wondered if Veil's goal was something inside the royal vault.
"Just in case, I should prepare."
I left the tavern and headed straight back to the palace. When I arrived at the palace garden, I saw a familiar face looking around anxiously.
"Young master!"
Peru, who had been nervously glancing among the nobles, spotted me and quickly ran over.
"Where have you been?!"
"I said I was going out for some air. Didn't you hear?"
"I did. But you weren't anywhere in the palace…"
"I went out to the capital."
"Huh?"
Peru stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"It's dangerous to go out alone at a time like this. The more festivals there are, the more people targeting nobles…"
"You worry about everything. Do I look like someone who'd get caught by those guys?"
"No, but still…"
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for worrying."
Knowing what Peru meant, I smiled and listened to his complaints.
"Then let's go in."
"Young master."
"Hm?"
Peru didn't follow but stared at the setting sun.
"Aren't you coming?"
"Can you follow me for a moment?"
Peru had a serious face. Thinking there must be a reason, I nodded and followed him.
"Here it is."
Peru stopped at the western part of the garden. It was a secluded corner with no nobles, gardeners, or servants in sight.
"Where is this?"
"While looking for you, I happened to find it while circling the entire garden. Do you know what this flower is?"
"Flower?"
I looked where Peru was staring. A few bright orange flowers like sunlight were blooming elegantly.
I was about to say I didn't know, but I activated Creator's Eye.
[Cameron]
A beautiful flower that changes color: bright orange like sunlight during the day, blood-red at night. When orange, it is a fragrant flower with no effect, but when it turns red at night, it possesses strong toxicity.
"It's Cameron."
"As expected! It's you, young master."
I had just found out, but I put on an arrogant expression as if I had known all along.
"I hadn't seen it myself and only read about it in books, so I was unsure, but now that you confirmed it, it's certain."
Finding a poisonous flower while looking for me—Peru was no ordinary guy.
"Did it grow naturally?"
"I wonder."
It definitely wasn't planted by the gardener. Other flowers were planted in neat rows of hundreds, but only twelve Cameron flowers were blooming here.
"Gardeners probably don't work at night, so they wouldn't have noticed Cameron's toxicity. Since it's in a corner and pretty, they probably just arranged it for looks during the day."
It could have been planted intentionally or grown naturally, but that wasn't important right now.
"Peru, pick two flowers for now."
I said to Peru as the sun was about to hide behind the mountains.
"Huh? It's still orange, so if we pick it now, there's no toxicity."
"I know. That's why I'm telling you to pick it."
When picked while orange, Cameron is just a harmless flower, but I had a different reason.
"Understood."
Peru tilted his head but picked two Cameron flowers as I said.
"Wow! The color is changing."
A moment later, as the sun completely set, Cameron's color began turning red. The sunlight-like flower was dyeing itself blood-red.
"Should I pick the rest now?"
"Yes."
Peru took out gloves and a mask from his pocket and carefully began picking the red Cameron flowers.
"Should I give them to you now?"
"No, you keep them."
"Yes."
Peru wrapped the picked flowers separately and put them in his poisonous herb pouch.
"Don't be surprised. There are people watching us right now."
I spoke lightly while looking at the flowerbed as if it was nothing.
"Huk!"
Peru hurriedly tried to look around, but I grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"W-won't I get executed if they find out I picked flowers in the royal garden?"
I smiled and patted the back of the trembling, terrified Peru.
"It's fine. I think we can use this."