CHAPTER 074
Oh, that was a rather harsh comment.
Was this what Lewis was like as a child, as Michael had told me?
“There are plenty of people besides yourself that you can trust!”
I’m not very trustworthy myself! So I trust others more than me.
Lewis chuckled at my words.
“Who do you trust?”
“Bella, Michael, the Duke. And Lady Yaniels-”
As I listed them one by one, a small wrinkle appeared between Lewis’s eyebrows.
“Oh, the person I trust the most these days is the Marquis.”
That’s the correct answer!
Only then did Lewis smile as if he was in a good mood.
“Right. You trust me.”
Of course, of course.
I gave Lewis a thumbs up.
“If you have no one else to trust, trust me.”
“I might not trust others, but I can trust you.”
He declared it so quickly. I couldn’t help but laugh at his swift response.
* * *
The day when the delegation would arrive in the empire was fast approaching.
I went out with Bella. She had asked me to go shopping with her before the banquet.
“People from Marbel will be arriving soon, right?”
“The banquet is a few days away, right?”
“The banquet is on the evening after the delegation arrives... so, four days left!”
We were walking and chatting about this.
“Selina, let’s go in here.”
As I was about to follow Bella into a jewelry store, something caught my eye.
“I’m telling you, it’s not me!”
“Don’t say you’re short on money!”
What’s happening? There was a loud voice nearby.
“Looks like a fight.”
Bella had heard it too.
“What’s going on?”
We moved together towards the source of the noise.
Two men were confronting an old man.
The old man, dressed in neat white clothes, looked much older than the two men.
He seemed to be in his sixties...?
The old man looked quite troubled.
“Excuse me... did something happen to that man?”
I asked a woman who was watching nearby.
The woman easily answered.
“The old man picked up the man’s wallet and returned it, but he claims it’s missing money.”
Ah, that’s what happened...
The old man looked very aggrieved.
“How can you treat someone who showed kindness like this! Is this how the Raven Empire treats benefactors?”
Is he a foreigner?
People from the western continent often spoke with such accents. Judging by his words, he didn’t seem like an imperial.
At the old man’s words, one of the men shouted.
“There was money in here, and now it’s gone!”
“How much is missing for him to react like this?”
The woman answered Bella again.
“They say it’s 70 rubles.”
70 rubles wasn’t that much money. Bella and I could spend that much on a single meal outside.
“Did he really find the wallet?”
“Of course! My character is impeccable!”
The old man had excellent hearing.
I asked the woman, but the old man answered me.
And to say such a thing about himself...
Anyway, since the old man looked my way, I could get a better look at him.
He had clear eyes that didn’t seem to belong to someone who would steal money from a wallet. You can’t judge someone by their eyes alone.
“I was really looking forward to visiting Raven for the first time! And now I’m being accused of stealing!”
He did seem genuinely wronged.
“Young man, you shouldn’t treat an old man like this. I heard the empire respects the elderly, but this is too much!”
Respecting the elderly?
There’s no such thing here... If you want to, you can show respect.
Still, seeing the old man in distress, I felt pity for him.
Perhaps it was because of my past life’s memory of being taught to respect elders.
Seeing an elder in trouble and no one helping him!
That’s why I spoke to the man who lost the wallet.
“I’ll repay the 70 rubles, so let him go, okay?”
“You, miss?”
“You?”
Bella asked from the side.
I nodded with a smile.
“It’s just like skipping one meal.”
“There’s no need for you to do that...”
It seemed to be an unexpected offer for the old man as well.
The old man, looking embarrassed, spoke when the guards patrolling the area approached us.
“What’s going on here?”
The guards first saw Bella and were surprised.
“Isn’t this Lady Croft? What brings you and your friend here?”
“Oh, Baron Tygen’s son?”
Bella greeted the guards smoothly.
“We were watching something interesting.”
Bella, saying it’s an interesting sight so openly!
The guards followed Bella’s gaze in the direction where the men and the old man were facing each other.
“What’s happening here?”
The guards asked for an explanation, so I answered.
“He lost his wallet, and it’s missing money.”
“A wallet theft,”
They reacted casually.
Losing a wallet in the capital wasn’t an uncommon event.
But then one of the guards examining the wallet spoke to his colleague.
“This looks familiar.”
“What do you mean?”
“The report we received.”
A report? Only the guards would understand that.
“Ah, that report!”
After a brief discussion, the guards asked the man.
“What’s your name?”
“John.”
“The name matches too.”
What could this mean?
“You’ve reported losing your wallet three times in different regions?”
It seems this wasn’t the first time these men had lost a wallet.
How do you lose a wallet so often?
The men began to panic.
“Well, it just happened...”
“You lost a wallet once in each of three regions, and each time the wallet was empty, and you reported it to the guards.”
“It wasn’t intentional...”
“We need to investigate why you keep losing your wallet and why it’s always empty. Follow us to the guard post.”
“No, wait! I didn’t do it on purpose!”
“Let’s talk at the guard post. Follow us.”
The guards took the reluctant men away.
They probably thought they’d be fine meeting guards in different jurisdictions. But the guards share information.
After the guards left, only the spectators, us, and the old man remained.
The old man didn’t call the guards separately.
He must have been sure those men were acting deliberately.
Watching the men leave nervously, the old man turned to me and smiled awkwardly.
“Thank you for helping me out. It’s my first time in the empire, and I was really flustered.”
“I didn’t really help much.”
But this elder speaks very familiarly?
I accepted it without much thought.
He was alone without any escorts, but he had a certain dignity about him.
At that moment, there was a loud voice from somewhere.
“Raven! Where have you been on your own?”
It was a young man dressed in plain clothes with a sword at his waist.
“Ah, sorry. It’s my first time here, so I wandered off.”
“Were you just sightseeing? You wanted to see the streets of the empire!”
What kind of relationship is this? Judging by the sword, he seemed like a guard.
Was he moving around without his guard?
“Others are waiting for you. Let’s go quickly!”
“Wait. I need to thank this young lady for helping me.”
“Helping? Did you get into trouble again-”
“Haha, what do you take me for!”
In a short time, the old man’s impression changed. Whatever the reason, he seemed to get into trouble often.
The young man approached us and spoke more politely.
“I am Sig, a disciple serving Lord Raven. I’m sorry, but we need to hurry.”
He handed me a small, thick piece of paper.
He wrote something on it and handed it to me.
“This is where we are staying. Please visit us, and we will properly thank you then.”
With that, the young man left, taking the old man who had been at the center of the commotion.
Visit them?
I stared at the paper, and Bella spoke to me.
“What was all that fuss about?”
“Who knows.”
I shook my head.
This was my first time experiencing something like this too. It was a strange incident during my outing with Bella.
I received the note from the old man’s party, but I never visited.
I didn’t directly help them, so why bother? I decided just to take it as a gesture of goodwill.
A few days later, the delegation arrived.
Michael, who worked at the palace, saw the delegation first and told us about it.
“He was a very nice person. He always greeted people with a smile.”
The head of all the temples across the continent was indeed different!
Michael shared such stories.
The banquet was held the next day.
It was natural for the delegation to attend a banquet hosted by the palace, along with the nobles.
This time, it was Lewis who escorted me.
“Lady Yaniels was very excited about this. I’m a bit curious too.”
“I’m not really looking forward to it.”
Oh, right. Lewis never had expectations in the first place?
The banquet hall for today’s event had multiple round tables arranged.
The invited nobles would sit together and enjoy the banquet.
Many nobles had already entered.
Shortly after we entered, Philip and the other members of the royal family entered.
The emperor, empress, and Philip walked on the carpet laid in the center of the banquet hall.
Before sitting at the table reserved for the royal family, the emperor spoke in front of the table.
“Yesterday, we had the honor of receiving esteemed guests from the Kingdom of Marbel for the Raven Empire.”
He was talking about the delegation.
“It’s the first time since my coronation that the high priest of Marbel has visited the empire.”
It meant it was a very significant day.
“I hope you all warmly welcome our guests from Marbel.”
The emperor said this while looking around
at the nobles, then faced forward.
At the same time, the banquet hall doors opened again.
The delegation was entering.
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