Ren Cassius was a sound sleeper.
Whether he was on the battlefield or in the middle of a mission, he could fall asleep the moment he lay down, no matter the circumstances. Tossing and turning while burdened by unnecessary worries simply wasn't in his nature. Yet last night, he spent quite a long time staring at the ceiling without falling asleep.
Sophia. And Kael Edelhardt.
He had been thinking about the mission Archel had given him. She had told him to investigate someone he didn't even know, on the assumption that she was connected to Kael Edelhardt somehow.
Ren didn't like Kael Edelhardt. Between that smooth, polished face of his and the way a man who normally lived without a single expression cracked a grin only in front of Archel, Ren couldn't stand looking at him. The man seemed exactly like the sort who was secretly up to something behind everyone's backs.
Could that bastard have another woman besides Archel? Or was she someone important to him, which was why he wanted to help her?
He came up with several theories, but what struck him as strangest of all was that Archel had secretly entrusted him with gathering the information. Naturally, the imperial court had its own intelligence organizations—both official ones and those operating through darker channels. With a single word from Archel, they were capable of finding out what someone had eaten a month ago within a few days. And yet she had specifically ordered him to do it.
Ren examined what that meant for a long time. She herself was the ruler of the imperial court of this country, so what could she possibly fear? Was there a rat within the imperial court? She didn't want the investigation into a woman named Sophia to leak out through any channel within the imperial court.
It was absolutely not something to take lightly.
But at the same time, he couldn't deny that it made him feel good. It was proof that she trusted him completely.
Thinking that he should use this opportunity to look into Kael Edelhardt as well, Ren changed his clothes and went out into the streets an hour before sunrise, during the darkest and quietest part of the night. He pulled his hood low, strapped two daggers to his waist instead of his usual sword, and wrapped a threadbare cloak over the hood to conceal his build.
The broadsword he used was actually closer to a greatsword—a massive blade that stood out far too much. (An ordinary broadsword is shorter than a longsword but has a wider blade, while a greatsword resembles a longsword but is even longer. Ren's sword had a blade as broad as a broadsword and was as long as a greatsword, a massive weapon made specifically for him.)
Ren made his way along the dark road, keeping to the edges of the alleys. The main street had not a single person—or even a cat—but as he entered the slums, he began to spot scattered figures sprawled along the roadside.
Ren muffled his footsteps and deliberately disrupted his stride.
Ren Cassius was a man who attracted attention even in ordinary clothes, even with his hood pulled low. He had a tightly packed, powerfully built frame made for wielding a greatsword twice the size of other people's, a tall stature, and features that radiated unmistakable masculinity. That was what he was criticized for on every disguise mission.
“Cassius, you stand out no matter how well you disguise yourself. That's the problem.”
After hearing that, Ren separately learned how to avoid attracting attention. Pull the hood low, but don't lower your head. Tuck in your chin so the lines of your face don't show. Deliberately slow your pace and relax your muscles to disrupt your stride.
People trained in swordsmanship walked with orderly steps without even realizing it. Ordinary people distributed their strength and center of gravity differently between their left and right steps, and sometimes they walked at an angle or even stumbled. A natural gait was a mixture of irregularity and asymmetry.
At this hour, in this place, anyone moving around would be more suspicious than someone standing still. He had to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
After deliberately winding through the maze-like streets of the slums, he arrived at a small inn with no sign and tiny windows. Ren scratched his fingertips across the door in a set rhythm.
Scrape, scrape—scratch—scrape, scrape—tap, tap.
Then—tap—the door opened.
Inside, a thin, sharp-featured man was pouring liquor into a glass behind a bar lit only by a small oil lamp. The man pointed toward the door on the right with his eyes. Ren opened it without a word and stepped inside, where a red-haired woman sat on a sofa.
“What do you want?”
The woman smiled broadly with her painted red lips and gestured for him to sit. Ren simply pulled a pouch from inside his clothes and tossed it over. Click! The woman caught it, opened it, and whistled when she saw the gold coins filling it.
“Well, aren't you a special customer~”
“It's an advance. I want information on someone named Sophia.”
Ren scraped his throat and altered his voice into a low, rough one. The woman's brow furrowed at his words.
“You expect me to find her with just one name? Do you have any idea how many people named Sophia there are in this empire?”
“You can't even manage that? You're worse than I'd heard.”
Ren deliberately added words meant to provoke her. He stared at the woman as she frowned and made her displeasure obvious, letting an uncomfortable silence stretch between them. His silence was intentional. He wanted to leave the impression that he knew far more and was only tossing her a little information because he had no choice.
“…We can start by digging into Edelhardt.”
“Edelhardt? The ducal family?”
The woman, who had been leaning back against the sofa, straightened and asked again. Then she went, “Ahh~,” and slapped the pouch in her hand down onto the table. Click!
“Ah, that side is tricky.”
She tapped her fingers against the table as if calculating. It meant this much wouldn't be enough.
“What deadline?”
“The sooner, the better.”
The woman hummed, then leaned back into the sofa again and gazed intently at Ren.
“That'll be a little expensive, then~”
“Three times the advance.”
Ren tossed out the words as though they were laughable. At that, the woman sprang to her feet and bent at the waist.
“Thank you, customer~ Your order has been received!”
In a place like this, everything ultimately came down to money.
“Then I'll see you here again at this time next week.”
Still bent at the waist, the woman only raised her head and smiled. Like a snake, she wore an unpleasant smile that stretched nearly from ear to ear. Ren turned around and walked outside. He continued moving with the hunched gait of his disguise, but the moment he rounded the alley leading out of the slums, he climbed onto the roof of the building beside him. Keeping close to the roof and hiding himself, he moved swiftly and silently to the next building.
People who dealt in this kind of dirty information had to be more careful when leaving than when buying information. To people like them, his identity was worth far more money. While the tails following him searched for him, Ren crossed several more buildings before finally dropping back down onto the street. He removed the cloak around his shoulders and left it by the roadside, straightened his hunched back, and changed his gait.
By the time he neared home, Ren had also removed his hood and thrown it into a trash can. He returned to his room and hurried to prepare for work.
The sun was already rising, casting a bluish glow across the sky. He was pressed for time today. He had to stop by the Imperial Knights to handle his duties, then go on guard duty for Archel.
In fact, Archel knew how heavy the commander's responsibilities were, so she had ordered him to work in the morning and take up his guard duties in the afternoon. Ren had refused.
He still didn't know what had happened to Archel or what the purpose of this mission was, but if she was unable to trust the imperial court for whatever reason, then he needed to stay by her side. He had to protect her from any danger that might arise.
He could take care of his duties ahead of time before dawn and go. And if there really was too much work, he could always make the deputy commander or the squad leaders handle it. Wasn't that what they were under him for?