***
The first half of this chapter was lost. Since the files from Galaxy Translations disappeared, the copy I have didn't have this part. Anyway, if I remember correctly, the first part was just the knights bringing Varia and Scarlett to the castle and the MC showing favor to Scarlett while being cold to Varia. Oh, and that Bark guy got beaten up.
***
Varia had noticed by now. Why did the Seventh Lord call him and Scarlett?
Unlike his side, the knights treated Scarlett politely, and then there was the reaction of the Lord now, as if they were already familiar with each other...
Varia desperately shook his head, feeling a sense of crisis and fear for the first time in his life. What kind of answer should he give?
Soon, Varia dropped to his knees and said.
“I have committed a mortal sin, my lord.”
In an instant, the hall became quiet.
Varia hung his head on the floor and waited for an answer.
After a while, the Seventh Lord opened his mouth again.
“What sin did you commit?”
“I coveted the talent and labor of Alkimas Workshop and did various dirty tricks on them. I blocked the distribution of materials, conciliated the workshop’s customers one by one, and threatened the workshop owner and elders like I did today.”
Varia confessed his sins like flowing water.
He started out empty-handed with nothing but a sense for money and built up the current merchant group.
No matter how much he thought about the most likely way to survive here, this was the best way. After all, the Lord would know everything.
Scarlett, who was standing next to Varia, looked down at him as if he was a little bewildered.
The Seventh Lord asked her this time.
“That’s right, workshop owner.”
“Ah, yes...”
“What do you want to do with the Varia Merchant Corps?”
Scarlett and Varia’s eyes met.
Varia looked up at her with the most earnest gaze.
“Please forgive me, workshop owner. I will formally apologize for everything I’ve done until now, and I will thoroughly compensate you for everything. And I promise that I will no longer be blinded by greed and commit dirty tricks against the workshop.”
Scarlett looked at him with a complicated expression on his face as he spoke up and pleaded.
Then she let out a small sigh and nodded her head.
“I get it.”
Varia was contemptuous enough to make her teeth tremble, but she didn’t want to ask his head for it.
The story ended blandly like that, and the Seventh Lord gazed down at Varia and said.
“Hopefully, I don’t have to call you here again.”
“...”
“Go.”
Varia shuddered from her seat and followed Floto out of the hall with a drained face.
Left alone, Scarlett stood still, with a bewildered expression on her face.
The Seventh Lord looked at her and said.
“You must be wondering why I am helping the workshop.”
“...Yes, that’s right.”
The problem with Varia, which had been hounding her, was quickly resolved with just a few words from the Lord. To be honest, it felt unrealistic.
As much as she was grateful, Scarlett did not know what the hell was he trying to do by helping her.
“The reason is simple. Your qualities as an alchemist stood out for me.”
“...?”
“The scarlet potion is quite good. I hope you will focus on your research and develop that potion even further. That’s why I solved the annoying problem for you.”
Scarlett’s face became even more incomprehensible.
“So what the Lord was saying is that you’re not planning to ask anything from me just because you highly valued my abilities?”
“Yes.”
“...”
“If you don’t understand, think of it as a debt. One day, there may come a time when I would need your ability. You can consider paying me that favor when that time comes.”
To Scarlett, that sounded even stranger.
How could a Lord ever need the help of an alchemist like herself?
“If you don’t have any further questions, you can go.”
Scarlett was silent for a moment, then bowed her head deeply.
“I have received a great grace from my lord. As you wished, if the time comes when the Lord would need my ability... I will do my best to help.”
After saying goodbye, Scarlett went outside, following Floto, who just returned.
The new Seventh Lord was truly mysterious, she thought.
***
After sending the two of them back, I finished drinking the tea I was drinking.
That guy acted pretty fast.
I thought of Varia kneeling down and apologizing, and I smiled.
Just like that, he lowered himself and confessed, so the investigation of Varia Merchant Corps was no longer necessary. The conversation only took a few minutes.
Anyway, this was the end of the workshop issue.
Varia noticed I was involved with the workshop, so he could no longer show his ambition. He even tried to mend his relationship with Scarlett.
Of course, I didn’t need her ability right away.
However, if I formed a relationship with the NPCs who appeared as good characters in the game one by one like this, they might be a big help to me someday when I least expected it.
'Then, what’s left is...'
I looked back at the map I had set down on my desk and crossed my arms.
The sooner I leave here, the better, so I could find the next mystery.
'I’m a little worried about the route I should take.'
My top priority right now was to collect all the Mysteries within the realm of Calderic.
And among them, the most necessary was the defense-type ability.
Therefore, it’s already fixed that the next Mystery was the [Floating Veil]. But the route I should take to get there was still not fixed. I had to be careful about going around Calderic after all.
“Lord.”
I was thinking about that when Floto came back and called me.
I wondered if there was anything left to say about the workshop or the merchant group, but the words he said next were totally unexpected.
“A guest has come.”
“...?”
“The Fourth Lord is here. He said he came to see the my lord.”
I almost spit out the tea I was drinking.
...Who’s here?
