Chapter 63 – Lavender Garden

She answered, her eyes open wide.

“No. You can date. It’s just that I naturally thought she wouldn’t be a woman who suits you, Chief Inquisitor, which is why I said that.”

“What do you mean, suits me or not?”

Rashid opened the letter she brought and examined its contents.

The content requested to meet today at lunch.

‘Today. Come to think of it, the bloody purge is coming soon.’

Even if the letter was lengthy, the only information he needed to obtain was the time.

His gaze turned back to her.

“Then what kind of woman suits me?”

“If it is Dame Varasha at least, I would also approve. She might be a suitable match for you, Chief Inquisitor. She is noble, elegant, and perfect to the point where not a single flaw can be found.”

“She is your idol, isn’t she? There is no way I’d get involved with your idol.”

The only one would be Kaiser anyway.

Since she was originally a character who bickered with Kaiser but eventually agreed with his revolutionary ideology and became his subordinate.

And she was Kaiser’s one and only sword to keep Ryden in check.

“Anyway, I have an appointment at lunch, so keep that in mind.”

“Is it work? Or is it personal business?”

“It is just personal business.”

Rashid indifferently pointed to the love letter that had come to him.

“I will follow you.”

“What?”

“Originally, you and I are supposed to go around together as a two-person team, Chief Inquisitor. Since your personal business won’t last all day, I will follow. Of course, I will strictly protect your privacy, Chief Inquisitor. I will wait nearby.”

According to his personality, he wanted to reject her immediately, but

there was no particular opening.

She was not wrong, and though he could force it if he really wanted to,

that had the potential to cause misunderstanding.

Because if it really was a trivial matter, it was enough to tell her to wait nearby.

‘In a way, that woman is like a robot. A emotionless machine.’

Since she probably had no particular feelings toward him, they were in a relationship where he must not do anything to give her a handle on him.

The Dark Blood Ghost Executioner.

Who was to say the tip of her blade would never reach him?

For a completely different reason other than matters related to Vane, of course.

‘Though she is useful, I might get hurt if I handle her poorly.’

The sole ground for her to harm him was only one.

‘The fact that I am a player.’

If she found out about that, how would she act?

‘There’s no harm in being careful.’

He thought a bit more.

Should he leave her here, claiming it was personal business?

Or would it be better to keep her nearby while disguising it as a trivial matter?

‘I forgot. She is a woman who will wait nearby anyway, even if I don’t take her.’

Her thorough personality

included even such things.

* * *

On the way to the meeting place with Kaiser.

Sitting in the back seat of the vehicle, Rashid heard various trivial stories from her, who had followed him.

She was no longer in the position of an attendant, but what she did was unmistakably that of an attendant.

Among the stories she told, there was also a mention of sponsorships that had increased significantly lately.

“You refused flatly during Count Gerard’s time, yet you haven’t rejected the bribe-like sponsorships that came in recently at all, accepting them without a single exception?”

Naturally.

I am not rich.

And why refuse free things when there is no longer anyone whose reaction I have to worry about?

Those words boiled up inside him, but he could not spit them out of his mouth.

“Do you have a complaint? There was a clear reason back then, and since there is no need to worry about that now, I just accept them. And I can’t stay at the monastery forever either, can I?”

Since returning to my original world is a lost cause anyway, I should at least prepare for my old age here.

Rashid suddenly asked aggressively,

“Or are you trying to do something to me with that?”

She smiled faintly.

“No. Inquisitors are people who receive things openly rather than covertly anyway, so I don’t think this would particularly become a problem. And it is not like I don’t understand either.”

“Why?”

“From the perspective of the person who gave the bribe, they feel at ease only when the inquisitor accepts it. It would also have the effect of eliminating a potential enemy.”

Was it an idea typical of her?

He hadn’t thought in that way, but it made sense.

“This is not something I really need to say. But do not think of me as such a moral person. I intend to compromise reasonably with reality and live reasonably.”

She handed him something without a word.

“What is this?”

“An anonymous sponsorship.”

“Anonymous?”

There was no fool who sponsored anonymously.

It was not as if he represented the Holy Order.

“No way. Does sponsorship even come anonymously?”

“Could it be strategic? If the content of the sponsorship is not small, it arouses curiosity in the recipient.”

Glancing to the side, she continued speaking.

“’Who could it be?’ That kind of feeling.”

Rashid examined the content of the sponsorship without much thought.

Inside the envelope was a bearer transfer deed for a certain residence in Basilica.

Literally, a deed where the giver was unclear, but the receiver could definitely possess it.

“This is… real estate? What kind of crazy bastard gifted me real estate?”

“Congratulations. You suddenly have a house, I see.”

The house prices of Basilica residences were at a crazy level, so transferring this was absurd in itself.

Even when he checked vaguely, it cost 10,000 denarions just to buy a room the size of a booger.

Roughly equivalent to 1 billion won by the standards of Rashid’s previous world.

But if it was a house and not a room, it would exceed at least 50,000 denarions.

“They did this anonymously?”

“Yes, as far as I checked, it was anonymous. Since it is a bearer transfer deed, once you complete the registration of ownership, that residence will entirely belong to you, Chief Inquisitor.”

“Is it truly anonymous?”

“Yes, I have completed the check multiple times. It is anonymous.”

Rashid contemplated for a moment the target who could sponsor him with such a thing.

He was a Chief Inquisitor, and there were indeed many who sent sponsorships to him due to the count’s case or the Director of Palace Affairs’ case.

They were probably people with a lot of guilty consciences, but still, would there be a crazy person who sponsors a house itself for free like this, rather than a bribe solicitation?

“I don’t know. I have no idea who sent it. It seems they would be at least at the count level?”

“More importantly, is this the place? The meeting place you promised?”

His official vehicle had arrived near the Lavender Garden before he knew it.

“If it is here, it must be the Lavender Garden?”

“Yes. Since you followed because you wanted to, wait here. It might take a long time, or it might end quickly.”

Then he looked for Carl.

“Carl, wait here.”

“Yes, I will wait.”

She quietly watched him walk away through the car window, and Carl checked her through the rearview mirror, then hurriedly looked forward when she shifted her gaze to the front.

“Carl?”

“Yes, Inquisitor.”

“You are currently staying at the monastery, right?”

“Yes, I am staying at the same monastery as the Chief Inquisitor.”

“Then if the Chief Inquisitor moves to Basilica, your travel route will become quite long, won’t it?”

“Pardon? Ah… yes, that’s correct.”

“Move to Basilica.”

“Pardon?”

Carl was flustered at the unexpected words.

“To Basilica, you mean?”

“There are cleric barracks here too, aren’t there?”

“Ah, yes.”

“I will help you with the paperwork. Once contact is made soon, please move over to Basilica. That would be better.”

“Yes, Inquisitor.”

“And the Chief Inquisitor seemed to like you quite a bit… you don’t have mana armor or anything, do you?”

“I don’t have mana armor. It is not something permitted to us.”

“Then I will order one for you. Usually, an inquisitor’s attendant holds a knight title. This is a consideration to ensure no setbacks in your escort duties, so please continue to work hard like that. For your information, I am someone who dislikes being disappointed very much.”

“I will absolutely never disappoint you.”

Having finished speaking, her gaze turned back out of the car window.

He had already vanished.

She opened the car door.

“Since it’s boring, I will step out for a moment.”

“Yes.”

* * *

“You’ve come. I was waiting here, knowing you would come.”

Kaiser was, just as before, in the form of a young gentleman wearing a monocle and holding a sophisticated cane.

However, the difference from before was that there was a woman accompanying him.

“You brought a companion as promised. Is she your lover?”

“No way. She is an executive belonging to the Revolutionary Army. She is an absolute soldier, but dressed up like this, doesn’t she look exactly like your lover?”

“My taste is a bit different from that, though?”

“I’m sure it is. Tastes vary, after all.”

Kaiser cast his gaze at her, asking to be excused.

“A moment of your time, please.”

She naturally bowed her head.

She rose from her seat and vanished as if going to the restroom, and Kaiser, looking around, brought up the main topic.

“Lately… things have become quite a headache.”

“Your head must always ache. What is the matter?”

“The future events I knew keep going awry.”

“Things went awry?”

“Yes, I had expected espionage charges to some extent, but I didn’t expect to suddenly have player suspicions attached.”

“Player suspicions?”

Rashid recognized the reason immediately.

“It seems there is another player besides us. They must have leaked information to keep you in check?”

“No one knows the fact that I am a player. Except for you. But there’s no way you leaked that information.”

Kaiser spoke with certainty.

“Someone must have aligned with the Blood Empress. At this point, the Imperial Family doesn’t keep me in check to that extent, but now they are targeting me very overtly. Seeing that even the Imperial Guard came, that says it all.”

“To what extent?”

“To the level where we cannot hold rallies at all. At this rate, Landfall is impossible.”

His words continued.

“Moreover, it is a state where there would be no problem even if I am dragged in right away. I am keeping as low a profile as possible, but…”

Rashid raised his hand to stop his words.

“Is something wrong?”

His superhuman senses caught several gazes watching this place.

Among them were the gazes of the deputy inquisitor who followed him, and the Internal Inspectorate monitoring Kaiser, who was under espionage charges.

“We are not the only ones here. Though most of them are specialists who killed their presence.”

The woman Rashid was consciously aware of, whether knowingly or unknowingly, was not of that sort.

She was of a sort who could not erase her presence, just like Kaiser.

“That woman strangely cannot erase her presence. She is a non-professional like you.”

A twenty-year-old woman whose freckles showed sparsely under her glasses, and about whom a strange energy hovered despite her ordinary attire.

Rina Spiegel, she was monitoring Kaiser along with disguised Imperial Guard knights.

“By the way, why are you so popular? If it is like this, there is no meaning in meeting secretly, is there?”

Kaiser smiled bitterly.

“Actually, the surveillance is so severe that I can do nothing. This has far exceeded the level of normal surveillance. The Revolutionary Army was also attacked by Ryden and is in a state where they cannot exert power as they used to.”

“Indeed, with that much surveillance at this point… it makes sense.”

“Even this place is dangerous now. Requesting a meeting like this was actually to ask you to capture me.”

“What? Capture you?”

“Yes, they will barge in soon. I brought them here.”

As soon as his words finished,

a blonde beauty was approaching their side.

Varasha Swallow.

She was the Internal Inspector attached to Kaiser.

“Kaiser, suspicion of treason has been caught on you. Suspicion of being a player has also been added to boot. On top of that, a special directive came down from the Imperial Family.”

Varasha showed a cruel smile.

“It will be hard to escape this time. The death penalty, or even if you live, you should prepare for a long prison term.”

Arriving with secret agents, she happened to see the inquisitor sitting with him.

Narrowing her brows, she spat out a question.

“You became… an inquisitor?”

Rashid could understand this situation.

To think this clever guy would play a trick on him in this way.

However, if Kaiser was crushed here, the target to face afterward would be the Blood Empress.

The Blood Empress was not the option he wanted.

Soon, rising from his seat, Rashid stood facing her.

“Inspector. I’m sorry, but this side has secured custody of Kaiser first.”