After the conversation was wrapped up nicely like that, I took the opportunity to ask him about three or four questions that had popped into my mind as casual conversation.
Argentir answered some questions willingly, while evading others by trailing off.
"How do I plan to use the information about the Abyss Priests' attack? What an unrefined question. How information you've already sold is used is no longer any of your concern. I have no reason to answer."
For example, he avoided answering questions related to the Abyss Priests.
That made me even more curious, but I just gave up since he wasn't the type to yield to badgering or pleading.
Though he has a bad personality, he's not trash, so he probably won't use it for evil deeds.
"Amy? Kikel...? Ah, you mean those party members from your adventurer days. I don't know the details since it's not important information, but I heard they're doing well."
On the other hand, he readily shared information about the current status of Amy and Kikel, the companions I had gathered as a party during my time as an adventurer, saying it was of little value.
"That mage was concluded to be innocent after the Magic Tower's 'own' interrogation. Outwardly, that is. In reality, she probably wasn't even interrogated. It's the typical method the Magic Tower uses to protect its members."
"That's... fortunate."
"I hear she's now become an official disciple of high mage Milena Rayfield. Either her talent was quite exceptional... or she paid a large sum as tribute. One of the two."
It must be the former. Amy doesn't have assets that could be called a "large sum".
"What about Kikel?"
"That lizardman was lucky. He was in a position where it would have been difficult to avoid death in prison, but he served a mage of the Magic Tower as his master and received protection like her."
Kikel has become Amy's servant, he says. In terms of outward status.
Amy probably created the pretext of him being her servant to protect him.
"I see."
Honestly, since it's somewhat of a forced logic, it must have been difficult to convince others with just that claim... I thought Amy must have gone to considerable lengths in her own way.
To think she went through such difficulties because of me. I felt newly sorry for causing such terrible trouble.
To the extent that I vowed to definitely repay that debt someday. Though there's no telling when exactly that would be.
"It seems there were many issues with continuing to stay in Vespian, so I heard they both moved to Levant and are living as adventurers there. They've even gotten aliases. 'Ice Awl' and 'Fire Lizard', I believe?"
Ice Awl Amy and Fire Lizard Kikel. It's said that both are smoothly building up achievements as copper token adventurers in Levant.
They've added two more party members named Bardu and Jane to form a 4-person party, he says?
I thought I'd heard those names somewhere before, and after thinking about it, I remembered they were the adventurer couple we met during the battle with Belita due to the false request from the Rivilla Merchant Group.
Did they form a party based on that connection back then?
It was a good thing. Those two were typical adventurers who clearly worked only as much as they were paid and cut ties cleanly, but they had relatively good personalities for adventurers.
"Is that all you're curious about?"
"Yes. Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness."
I expressed my gratitude with sincere feelings.
I felt a bit better after hearing that the companions I had been worried about were doing relatively well.
"Yes, it's right to express gratitude like that. After all, you've received valuable information without paying a single coin for it."
I could even lightly laugh off and ignore Argentir's boastful sarcasm to this extent.
* * *
After exchanging such simple questions and answers, Argentir guided us to the basement of the log cabin.
A basement in a log cabin. You might think it's strange, but since it actually existed, I had nothing to say.
Since it was a residence built from the start as one of the organization's meeting places, underground facilities for hiding were only natural, or so they say.
Anyway, Friede and I walked in there and were guided to a wide space that looked like some kind of training ground.
"This is...?"
"An underground training ground for organization members. I promised to support you from the shadows, but I still need to verify your skills, don't I?"
Argentir pointed to the center of the training ground with his thumb as he revealed the reason he brought us here.
"If you want continuous support, you should show that much sincerity too, right? That's why I'm thinking of assigning you some work on our side from time to time."
So he's saying I should work as much as the additional support he'll provide. And he's trying to verify my skills for that.
...That's a bit...
"By 'work on your side', you mean..."
Work for Black Eagle's Shadow, which obviously seems like it would be something illegal, anti-social, and unethical.
Like putting iron shackles on people and throwing them into rivers, or sneaking into sleeping people's houses and cutting their throats.
"I'm not expecting anything in the espionage or assassination line. Our work isn't always just those things, so there shouldn't be a problem."
Argentir shook his head, smiling as if he knew what I was worried about.
He said such work was the role of professionals in the first place, not something for a non-professional like me to dabble in.
The work he'd assign me wasn't assassination and espionage, but dungeon exploration and monster subjugation, he says?
"Well... if that's the case, I don't particularly mind."
Only after hearing that did I nod. If it was that kind of work, it was ultimately no different from the work of adventurers or knights.
And so, a duel between me and a kingdom knight was arranged.
More precisely, a duel between us and the kingdom knights.
What Argentir demanded was only verification of my skills, but Friede asked if she could participate too. Saying she wanted to objectively verify her skills as well.
As it happened, Argentir had exactly two guard knights, so it was decided that Friede and I would each take on one for the duel.
* * *
"Belliherd of the Hervor Kingdom Knight Order. I'm not sure if I should consider it an honor to cross swords with a member of a hero party, even if they're from another country."
My opponent was a middle-aged man named Belliherd. At least his face was middle-aged. Maybe because of his beard and wrinkles?
But this guy, when did he see me to speak so casually? He even seems to harbor some hostility.
How rude.
"Brunhilde. A knight protecting Friede, the hero of Rhine. You can feel honored. It's better than shame and humiliation, isn't it?"
I smiled faintly provocatively while drawing my black iron longsword.
Rudeness for rudeness. It was my iron rule. Except when the other party was a noble or royalty where rudeness would return in droves.
"...How arrogant."
Belliherd's hostility grew stronger. He groaned lowly as he raised the greatsword resting on his shoulder to the front.
It wasn't an absurdly large and thick piece of metal like Friede's holy sword, but just an ordinary two-handed greatsword that looked like a slightly enlarged longsword.
Sturdy and heavy plate armor with a two-handed greatsword. How typical.
It was armament that you could clearly recognize as a knight's even from 10km away.
"I'll confirm with this sword whether you have the skills to back up that arrogance!"
He kicked off the ground and hurled his body towards me.
"Go ahead."
I too shot my body forward to meet him. As swift as an arrow. The Eternal Maiden's armor gleamed with a dark luster.
"Haaaaaah!"
A greatsword swung diagonally with a rough battle cry. The sound of wind, "whoosh", brushed past my ears.
Indeed, a kingdom knight.
The descending sword was surprisingly fast, heavy, and therefore powerful.
Baaang!
But not enough to reach me.
"Too ba-!"
I quickly twisted my body to avoid his greatsword, then moved to his side and thrust my longsword towards his armpit.
"Not a chance!"
He violently swung his gauntlet to deflect my sword. Along with a clear metallic sound, "clang", an intense vibration traveled through the blade.
So this is his reaction speed. Not bad.
No, honestly, it was excellent. Among all the enemies I had encountered so far, only the Valkyria spirits had shown this level of reaction speed.
It would have been difficult for my former self to respond to such movements.
"As expected, you're decent."
But not now. How many Valkyria spirits have I killed? That level of speed was already all too familiar to me.
"What... strength...?!"
On the other hand, Belliherd staggered slightly from the force contained in my sword, even after parrying it.
It ended with just a stagger because this was a duel, but if I had activated Iron Arm at full power, his arm would have been crushed along with the armor.
"What's wrong? You're staggering!"
The longsword cuts through the air in an arc. Belliherd, growling fiercely, raised his greatsword to deflect my sword.
"Stronger than..."
"You expected?"
Using the rebound, I spun my body and dove into his side to slash. Belliherd's breastplate cracked slightly and tore.
A faint trace of blood seeped onto the sword tip.
"Not yet!"
Belliherd pulled back his greatsword and charged at me with his shoulder and body.
If I tried to block, my posture would crumble under his weight and strength, and if I dodged carelessly, I'd be directly hit by the greatsword swung as if waiting for that moment.
I threw my body to the side without hesitation.
"Got you!"
The greatsword swung without delay. It was clear that my sword would break if I tried to receive it with my longsword. There wasn't even proper time for that.
So I just offered my body. Abandoning defense, instead thrusting my grasped longsword towards Belliherd's helmet.
Belliherd's mouth corners lifted as his eyes gleamed. As if certain that no matter how fast my sword was, his greatsword would reach first.
Well, he wasn't wrong. I thought so too.
However...
Baaang!
"What...!"
Belliherd's eyes widened at the resounding metallic sound. Shock was etched on the middle-aged face inside the helmet.
"Why so surprised."
I smiled while aiming my longsword at Belliherd's neck, firmly fixing his greatsword to my side with my left arm.
As if boasting of the sturdiness of the cloud iron armor without a single scratch.
"Did you think you could break or blow it away?"
His greatsword couldn't break my armor. No, it was impossible to even transfer the shock to the inside.
The defensive magic that automatically spread out reduced the power of the slash first, and the armor's own strength perfectly blocked the remaining force.
Equipment advantage is also a skill.
A duel that would have taken quite some time if fought head-on was concluded in an instant due to the tremendous equipment gap.