Royal Road of the Extra Scribe

77

The festival began amidst scorching heat.

This year’s Riverfish Festival lasted for five days.

During this period, inland tourists flocked to coastal cities like ours, causing Rainfall’s population to soar to five times its usual numbers.

Both Crossing’s tourists and Caliper’s visitors crowded Rainfall, creating a bustling scene.

Before promoting the book, I decided to handle official matters first.

“Hmm, what to do.”

This morning, I received a visit request from Visketa, the manager from the Kubal side.

Perhaps due to my meticulous scrutiny of the accounts and financial matters, I had piqued their curiosity, prompting them to suggest coming to see for themselves.

“But going there in person seems somewhat pointless.”

The division commander who visited the base seemed to be preparing a ceremonial display once an official schedule was set, making it difficult to grasp the true nature of the base.

Therefore, I decided to act covertly.

“At times like this, disguise is necessary.”

Instead of putting on a disguise, I went without one.

Hence, I chose to explore the residence of Kurabel as Alse.

I took off the helmet I usually wore and accompanied Rania as Alse.

Only a few from Kurabel recognized her current face, so no one could identify her, not even Bisqueta, among the Kurabel natives.

“Going out alone. hehehe…”

Eo seemed delighted to be assigned as my sole escort, chuckling happily.

“Rania, stop laughing and guide me.”

“Oh! Please come this way first. Here is the academy that is being newly constructed by Alse’s order.”

“Hmm.”

It was the Rainfall 2nd Academy. It was much larger in scale than the previous one, likely to become the main campus of the newly constructed building.

In front of such an academy ground, a group of people in vibrant, noisy clothes were energetically performing street acts.

“What’s that?”

Men dressed in various colorful outfits.

“That… seems to be the new circus troupe that has arrived this time.”

“Are they the ones Olaf brought?”

The circus troupe was named Sagi (Four Seasons). Unlike ordinary circus troupes that travel around and have irregular performance schedules, Sagi stays in one place, performing all year round, a name given by Olaf.

To celebrate the festival’s first day, Sagi members were out on the streets, promoting with guerrilla performances.

“Rainfall’s circus troupe, Sagi! We have our first show tonight at 7 o’clock, so please come and watch!”

A boy shouting loudly while promoting. For some reason, his face looked familiar.

“That guy…”

I couldn’t remember specifically who he was.

As I watched the boy distributing flyers, a member of Sagi called out to him.

“Hey, Agate! It’s your turn!”

“Oh! Got it!”

Agate ran to the designated spot and rolled up his sleeves. In front of him were thin layers of stacked stones.

The man next to him began to gather wind.

“Behold the skill of our circus troupe’s newcomer, Agate! Please watch closely!”

Even though the stones were thin, an ordinary person would struggle to break even four of them at most. Moreover, these were not stones reduced in strength for the act; they were actual stones used in construction.

Agate swiftly brought them down with force.

“Hyah-cha-cha!”

Crash! The bricks shattered loudly.

“…!”

“Oh.”

Eo and I quickly caught on.

“He used aura. That’s impressive.”

Who would have thought that a mere circus troupe member would use aura.

Eo whispered.

“Alss, you’re unconsciously using that.”

“Unconsciously?”

“Yes, the idea of raising power to its limit naturally leads the body to use aura.”

“Instinct, perhaps. You’re the exact opposite of me.”

“hahahaha, Alss, you think too much.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“It is.”

Aegert, who displayed his martial arts skills, struck a muscleman pose playfully, only to be pointed out by a kid.

“Hey! The one at the bottom didn’t break!”

“What, what!?”

Flustered, Aegert looked around, then stomped with a ‘bam!’ to shatter the last stone.

“Ha, hahahahaha! Is it good now?”

The lad smirked awkwardly.

“What a con artist!”

“A, a con artist, this kid!”

Despite that, the response wasn’t bad. Aegert, showing off his strength, attracted people with his antics.

“Hmm, where have I seen him before.”

No matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t recall. We might have met, but apparently, it wasn’t memorable enough to stick.

“Ah well, whatever.”

I moved on to the next location.

***

The residential area where the Kura Bel people lived had quite a few tall buildings.

To accommodate a large population, Visqueta constructed residential buildings in the form of apartments, with an average height of three stories, housing over five households in a single building.

In modern times, thirty-story apartments are common, so one might wonder if it’s adequate, but here, such facilities were not available.

The biggest issue arising from this density was water supply and sewage treatment.

“Hmm, it’s our water, isn’t it?”

Visqueta had considered that aspect in the residential area’s design.

They artificially diverted a river flowing towards the sea, using one side for drinking and agricultural water, and the other for sewage treatment.

Taking into account that discharging sewage into the sea would pollute the nearby coast and reduce fish catches, they built treatment facilities at the discharge point to dispose of pollutants that couldn’t be treated into the ground, converting them into fertilizer distributed to farms.

“So, that’s why they demanded so much money.”

For such a large-scale project, a substantial amount of money was inevitable.

‘I guess this is better.’

It was more efficient to finish things off decisively rather than dragging them out.

Of course, it presupposed that the person had the ability to do so.

Visqueta possessed that ability.

‘I’d like to bring them on board if possible…’

With a firm goal of returning home, it was challenging to figure out how to persuade them.

Just then, as luck would have it, Visqueta made an appearance, as they say, when you least expect it.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

It seemed that Visqueta was also inspecting the festival.

She stared at Eo, who was showing his bare face, with wide eyes.

“Growth!?”

Eo was at a loss for words at her sudden appearance.

“Uh, um! I’m Eo. My name is Rania!”

“Come to think of it, you were supposed to look like that.”

Biscetta glanced at Eo once and then turned her gaze towards me.

“But who’s that person over there?”

Why does everyone refer to me as a child?

“Although they’ve grown quite tall already.”

Yet, their face still shows signs of youth.

“Well, that’s…”

It could have been a passing encounter, but Eo’s awkward rambling was the issue.

“They, they are dear to me! We occasionally exchange stories!”

“Dear to you? Really?”

Biscetta gestured towards me as if asking for the truth.

From Noble mtl dot com

I reluctantly played along with the rhythm.

“Yes… I’m always indebted to Rania.”

“Hmm?”

Thinking I had covered it well, Biscetta narrowed her eyes as if she had caught onto something.

On the other hand, Eonia was trembling with excitement.

“Sister…!?”

Biscetta shrugged her shoulders.

“Since we’ve crossed paths like this, will you two join me for a moment? Both of you.”

Following Biscetta, we could thoroughly explore Curabel’s residence. Biscetta briefed me on the design of the residence as if addressing a superior.

The explanation was so professional that Biscetta’s secretary seemed puzzled as to why someone like me was being given such details.

“This is definitely going to be exposed.”

Since I planned to reveal my identity soon anyway, it didn’t matter. However, the situation of being exposed led to a strange form of teasing.

“Leaving that aside, I was quite surprised that the man who stirred up the continent was such a young kid. If he’s into such childish masquerades, he can’t be that old.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Huh, it was just a mutter, why so defensive? Is there something that’s hitting a nerve?”

“You didn’t refer to me as a kid.”

“So you think of yourself as a kid. Oh my.”

“But Rania, why are you acting like that? If you cherish them, why keep your distance from this kid?”

As the arrow turned towards her, Eo blinked his rabbit eyes and asked.

“Is there a problem?”

“There’s no problem… Just. If you’re close, you should at least link arms, right?”

“L-Link arms!?”

“No, not that. It might be nice to gently embrace the child. So they don’t get lost.”

“!?”.

“Can’t you do it? I guess being close was a lie after all.”

This woman. What strange talk…

Tightly! A warmth felt on my back. Eo was embracing me.

Perhaps due to our similar heights, I could immediately feel her breath in my ear.

I sensed a slight trembling through my back, as if she was shaking.

I whispered softly.

“…What are you doing right now?”

“I-I’m just trying not to get caught by Seongjang. Besides, I’m your older sister now! This is natural for me to do!”

It seemed like Eulia-noona was imitating her usual behavior towards me.

“Got it. You can stop now. It’s okay to let go now.”

“Oh, no! Seongjang is a sharp person; I can’t let my guard down till the end!”

I wondered what the point was when the situation seemed so obvious.

Eo continued like that for a whole 10 minutes.

“I should be going now. Rania, let’s have tea sometime when you’re free. Als, see you next time. If you have anything to say about the circus troupe that just arrived, let’s talk then.”

With a smirk, Bisqueta left. It was definitely clear that she had figured it out.

“Well, that turned out better than expected.”

It was easier to reveal my identity naturally like this than by taking off my helmet in public.

“But Eo, how long are you going to keep this up?”

“Huh? Oh, um…”

Showing a hint of regret, Eo left. Perhaps due to the midsummer heat, my back was damp with sweat.

She was in the same state. Her sweat had soaked through her outfit, revealing her underwear line. I pretended not to notice, but she seemed to catch on and didn’t know how to react.

I subtly said, “I’m a bit tired from walking for so long. I’ll rest here for a bit, so if you have things to do, go ahead and come back.”

“Y-yes! I’ll step out for a moment then!”

Eo vanished in a hurry. Yumire, who came in her place, said, “My lord, Eonia asked me to stand in for her.”

“hahahaha…”

Realizing how embarrassing his actions were upon reflection, it seemed he couldn’t face him.

“What happened?”

“Just… Anyway, Yumire, do you have any other tasks today?”

“I have no particular tasks.”

“Great. My inspection just finished, so my schedule is clear. Let’s stroll around the festival together.”

Even if just for the sake of the usually hardworking Yumire, he decided to escort her for the day.

* * *

Typically, the peak of a 5-day festival begins on the 3rd day.

So, even though I thought the early days of the festival would be relaxed, it wasn’t the case.

Due to unique circumstances in Rainfall.

Unlike the Crossing nationals who had many other options and didn’t necessarily come here for tourism, it was different for Caliper.

The fact that Caliper didn’t have a summer festival played a significant role. Currently, Rainfall was the only city within Caliper where a festival was taking place, so tourists naturally flocked here.

“Gosh, I didn’t expect this many people.”

I intended to escort Yumir, but ended up investigating the festival situation.

Street vendors running out of food, tourists bickering due to lack of accommodations. Even nobles wrinkling their brows at the street cleanliness.

“I need to check quickly and inform the supervisors. I’m sorry, Yumir. Let’s look around the festival together next time.”

“It’s okay, this time alone is enough for me.”

“It can’t be like that. I’ll make time for sure.”

Thus, as we were strolling through the festival, we came across a familiar face.

“Oh, Alz!”

A slender man approaching with a wave of his hand. It was Dorothy.

“Dorothy? What brings you here?”

“I came to celebrate the festival. It’s my friends’ domain. Just like you, Varyl and Banings.”

“hahahaha, Max will be surprised. The Earl of Greenwood has arrived.”

“I’m still just a rookie. And if that’s the case, I have nothing to worry about.”

“Why?”

“Well, because the Helian Duke is also here.”

As Dorothy spoke, the figure of the Helian Duke began to appear menacingly behind her. He was surveying the festival with his five closest aides. Among them were Viscount Reinhardt and General Ironheart, who knew my identity.

“Ugh.”

Anticipating trouble, I tried to leave with Dorothy, but the Helian Duke spotted me first.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Sir Alz.”

“…Are you well, Your Grace?”

“Hmph, as well as can be.”

Seeing the Helian Duke address me, the two aides expressed doubt. They probably didn’t know my identity.

The Helian Duke explained to them about me.

“He’s one of the leading figures among the Golden Generation cadets. He’s destined to be a key figure in our military in the future.”

“If he’s a key figure… can he stand shoulder to shoulder with Luan Chase and Casper Milius?”

“Who knows. I actually think he has even more potential than them.”

“Oh! If Your Grace says so, it must be true.”

It seemed like the Helian Duke had visited Reinpol for the unity of the factions.

“Max must be fuming.”

So many high nobles visiting like this. This has never happened in our family history.

But that wasn’t the end of it. The Helian Duke, plowing through the crowd formed by the island, was approached by a man.

“If you block the path at the festival, it’s called Regnant.”

A man with a meaningful smile. It was Gilbert Salleon.

Seeing Gilbert, the Helian Duke frowned with arrogance.

“Gilbert? What brings you here…”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t be here? I came to enjoy the festival as well.”

In fact, there was a reason he shouldn’t be here. It was because our family belonged to the Helian faction.

It was implicitly forbidden in the noble circles for leaders of different factions to visit without an invitation, enough to create rumors.

“I knew you did many reckless things, but I didn’t expect this level of audacity.”

“Hmph, relax. Just getting worked up over such a thing. Besides, today I have business with Earl Laine outside of the festival.”

“Business with Earl Laine? What kind of business are you talking about?”

“You don’t need to know. But… Ah, Ilain. It’s been a while. Have you been well?”

Gilbert smiled at me. For some reason, his gaze towards me seemed even warmer.

“If it’s alright with you, would you guide me to the Duke’s mansion? I’m not familiar with the roads, you see.”

Upon hearing this, the Helian Duke became irritated.

“How rude. I was in the middle of a conversation with Alz.”

“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to leave it at that? I was just watching earlier, and talk of the future of the factions was rather distasteful. What a spectacle to put on in front of the young ones.”

“What did you say?”

A tension arose between the two.

Not Estelle or Erina.

Seeing elderly gentlemen acting this way didn’t sit well with me.