A massive information guild. A massive assassination guild.
In reality, these two types of organizations were concepts that couldn't exist from the start.
It's not that information brokers and assassins don't exist as professions.
Of course they do. You could probably find several organizations formed by gathering a few such individuals if you looked.
What I'm saying is that it's impossible for such individuals to form a guild organization large enough to have influence on a national scale.
Why, you ask? Isn't it obvious?
A massive information organization that broadly collects all information from simple rumors to state secrets of a country and buys and sells it.
A massive assassination organization that has influence over the entire country and will kill anyone - be they knights or nobles - if paid.
How could public authorities turn a blind eye to such organizations? Even just one of them could shake the entire country if misused.
If they even attempted to form one, wouldn't the kingdom's knights rush in and crush them?
Therefore, the influence of information organizations or assassination organizations was limited to dominating at most a single city. They couldn't grow larger than that.
Theoretically.
Of course, contrary to the wishes of all scholars, it's truly rare for theory and reality to perfectly align.
In this world, there blatantly existed a massive information and assassination-related guild boasting kingdom-wide vast influence.
An organization called Black Eagle's Shadow that held and dominated the entire underworld of Hervor.
How is that possible, you ask? Didn't I just say that kingdom knights would crush such an organization if it appeared?
The answer was simple.
Because the head of the organization that the kingdom knights should crush was none other than their future lord.
It's the same reason political gangsters colluding with those in power won't be arrested unless they're abandoned or the regime changes.
How could the public authorities beneath punish this when the boss of public power is dominating the underworld?
Argentir Gardarik Hervor.
Because the head of the organization was the second prince and crown prince of the kingdom, Black Eagle's Shadow was able to smoothly expand while evading the eyes and hands of public power.
In the end, after widening their influence by annihilating or infiltrating criminal organizations scattered throughout the country, they came to dominate the entire underworld of the kingdom.
That's right.
Second Prince Argentir was a completely different person from the public evaluation of him as weak and ordinary.
How could a person who created a mafia organization at fifteen and became the boss of the entire underworld in just a few years be as kind and weak as reported?
Having his vast personal fortune swindled by investment fraudsters was a ploy to move his money to the organization's operating funds using those fraudsters as scapegoats.
Even pouring massive support into orphanages was a smokescreen to raise orphans as assassins loyal to him.
Hiding such abilities and pretending to be an ordinary mediocrity was also to deceive someone who would greatly wary of his competence.
I had attempted to contact such a person by impersonating an executive of the organization.
...Hmm, will this be okay?
Now that I think about it, I feel like it might have been a somewhat reckless action.
Surely he won't send assassins in battalion-sized units or something, saying I'm an impertinent fellow for impersonating the organization...?
* * *
"...You can go here."
It was fine.
On the morning two days after I told the man in the eagle mask that I needed to meet the organization's boss.
A member of the organization who visited the inn where Friede and I were staying greeted me politely and handed over a small map.
"This location... it's outside the city?"
"That's right. If we leave right after breakfast, we should arrive just before noon."
The location marked on the map was somewhat distant from Ahilant, but it wasn't a very far distance.
About a two-hour walk to arrive? The handling was faster than expected, and it was closer than I thought.
"Um, will this really be okay...? I mean, they might be trying to lure us out of the city to kill us."
Friede looked up at me anxiously as she asked.
She seemed quite unsure even as she spoke, suggesting this was just an ordinary, general anxiety rather than her intuition activating.
I must have explained poorly.
It seems the Argentir in her mind had already become an iron-hearted being without blood or tears, a demon in human form addicted to the thrill of betrayal and assassination.
It's not quite to that extent.
"It'll be fine. If they intended to kill us in the first place, they wouldn't have guided us out of the city. You seem to have forgotten, but this city isn't on our side to begin with, right?"
"Ah... that's true, I suppose."
I tapped Friede's forehead lightly as I corrected her misconception.
That's right. If Argentir intended to kill us, there was a method hundreds of times simpler than ambushing us outside the city.
His outward status is the crown prince of this country, after all.
Just by ordering one of his closest kingdom knights who knows his true nature to enter the city and arrest us, the entire city would have become our enemy.
The fact that he didn't do that and instead sent this map means he's at least willing to hear what we have to say. So we could relax for now.
"Besides, I have you, Friede, don't I? So there's nothing to worry about. My hero will protect me. Just as I protect you as a knight."
I smiled brightly and made a light joke to completely dispel Friede's anxiety, but while the effect was good, the side effects were considerable.
"...It's okay if we're a little late, right?"
"Huh? Uh... but making the prince of this country wait is a bit... Hey, Friede...?"
"We'll just walk faster!"
And so our departure time was delayed by an hour, crushed under the calamity I had brought upon myself.
Moans replaced sighs as they filled the inn's ceiling.
* * *
The place Argentir chose for the meeting was a small cabin in the woods outside the city.
Several animal hides being dried were hanging on the log walls, perhaps the dwelling of an organization member disguised as a hunter.
"This seems to be the place... Hmm, there are more welcoming parties than I expected."
I sighed in embarrassment as I scanned the dense forest surrounding us.
I couldn't see them, but I could sense them. The presence of people hiding among those trees. No, more precisely, I could sense faint killing intent and the smell of blood.
It seems our Lord Argentir is quite sensitive about his personal safety.
Judging by how he brought dozens of assassins and knights.
"Should I kill them?"
What a savage thing to say again.
Friede asked, glaring sharply into the thickets. She looked ready to draw her holy sword and start slashing at a single nod.
"No, calm down Friede. That's not it."
I hurriedly calmed Friede down.
Drawing swords first against the forces Argentir brought was literally equivalent to declaring the end of our lives.
I currently have charges of embezzling state support funds and attempted murder of the hero party, as well as suspicion of collusion with Abyss Priests and multiple murders of pursuers.
If an attempted regicide charge was added to that, there would be no way to survive except fleeing to a country of another race.
"That's just for escort or gaining the upper hand. If they were hiding to ambush us, they would have concealed themselves more carefully than that."
"Ah, is that so...?"
Perhaps my explanation got through to her, as Friede finally lowered her killing intent. I had barely managed to prevent a situation where we'd become mortal enemies with the country of Hervor.
"Haah..."
A sigh of relief escaped involuntarily.
Unlike her cute and innocent outward appearance, Friede has some surprisingly reckless aspects.
...Like, at night too.
No, why am I suddenly thinking of such things?
Is it because of what happened this morning...?
I shook my head vigorously to dispel the unwholesome memories that had surfaced in my mind, and trudged towards the log cabin with Friede.
"...You've come."
A man standing in front of the log cabin's door said as he looked at us.
A kingdom knight perhaps. He had a visibly sturdy build, and metal gleams characteristic of armor occasionally showed through gaps in the cloak covering his body.
If I were to fight this guy... hmm, I think I'd win.
I instinctively gauged the superiority between myself and him, but I didn't feel any particular sense of crisis.
It probably means I've somehow become strong enough to surpass an ordinary kingdom knight. Not a bad achievement. For the early stages.
"Disarm all your weapons. If you attempt anything foolish, you'll be killed immediately."
The man pointed at the longsword at my waist, speaking in a low voice as he made threats.
Perhaps because he had been wary and waiting, knowing we would come from the start, the effect of perception interference seemed weak.
"As you wish."
I shrugged lightly to indicate I had no intention of picking unnecessary fights, then unfastened the scabbard at my waist and leaned it diagonally against the log cabin's railing.
Then, I roughly placed my spare dagger on top of the railing as well.
Friede just stood still.
Her beloved Nibelung was a sword stored in subspace and summoned for use when needed.
There was no need to take it out and show it, and even if she did, she could summon it to her hand at any time, so disarming had no meaning.
"Hmm..."
After we disarmed like that, the man let out a low hum as he quickly scanned me and Friede from head to toe.
It wasn't a gaze filled with lust, he seemed to be considering whether to properly search our bodies or just let us through.
If we were men, he would have started the body search without hesitation, but perhaps because the perception interference had weakened, he seemed to recognize that I was a woman. Friede was obvious of course.
So he was probably deliberating. Whether it was alright for a kingdom knight to thoroughly feel up a woman's body even with the pretext of a body search.
Originally there are female knights or female soldiers for such tasks, but it seems all the forces gathered here were only men.
"...Tch. Fine, whatever. Go in."
Eventually, the man clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction but stepped aside to let us enter.
Judging by his muttering that it should be fine, he seemed to have complete faith in the guard knights waiting inside with the prince.
That they could sufficiently stop us even if we tried to ambush the prince.
It was welcome news for me.
If this man had insisted on conducting a body search, it seemed Friede would have drawn Nibelung and started searching this man's intestines.
Anyway, thanks to that, we were able to enter the log cabin without any unpleasant experiences.
"We finally meet. Such a bold request for an audience, it was not just impressive but surprising. Even more surprising than learning you were doing something like being an adventurer."
And there, we faced three men.
Two knights who looked five times stronger than the kingdom knight guarding the door, and a young man with a delicate face sitting in a plush chair with his legs crossed, receiving their protection.
"Come, sit down. You said you had something to tell me? I hope it's information I don't know."
The ruler of Hervor Kingdom's underworld.
The only royal family member with the right to inherit the throne.
"As you wished, I've personally come here, so please tell me an interesting story. Brunhilde of the Kingdom of Rhine, Friede the hero of Rhine."
Argentir Gardarik Hervor.