With no way to refuse, Climb resigned himself and sat in his seat, drinking a sip of the tea.
“It’s delicious, Renner-sama.”
Renner smiled sweetly, but honestly speaking, Climb had no clue as to whether or not it was good; only that something brewed by Renner could only be delicious.
That was when, suddenly, he heard a flat, emotionless voice.
“—Tia should be collecting information today. The three of us was supposed to visit the palace today, but our evil boss suddenly ordered a job. Everything is the evil boss’ fault.”
Needless to say, it was Tina’s voice. Climb averted his eyes away from Lakyus’ frightening smile and asked.
“I see… Should there be an opportunity, next time, I would like to meet her at least once.”
“Climb, Tina-san and Tia-san are twins; even the length of their hair is similar.”
“So if you just see one then there’s no problem.”
Although whether or not there would be a problem wasn’t the issue, Climb showed that he understood.
Nevertheless, Climb felt embarrassed by Tina’s merciless gaze. As he was about to ignore it, the thought that she could have spotted something that he lacked prompted him to ready himself and ask.
“What is it?”
“Too big.”
“…What?”
He didn’t know what she was talking about. As countless question marks floated above Climb’s head, Lakyus apologetically intervened.
“It’s nothing. She’s just talking to herself. Don’t worry about it, Climb. No, really, don’t worry about it. I’m serious.”
“Yes…”
“…What is she talking about, Lakyus?”
Although Climb was forcing himself to agree, a confused Renner interfered. Lakyus watched Renner with a sour expression.
“Really, you, whenever it’s about Climb…”
“Ah, I meant—“
“—Shut up, Tina. The reason I didn’t bring Tia was because she was going to say something strange to Renner. Can you understand that and stop talking?”
“Got it~ evil boss.”
“…Lakyus, what was she going to tell me?”
Lakyus’ face turned stiff at Renner’s interrogation. She even looked like she was suffering.
As Climb thought about whether to intervene, Lakyus quickly turned her eyes.
“Huh… Climb, you’re using that armor.”
“Yes, it’s an incredible armor. Thank you.”
Although it was a forced change of topic, as to not embarrass the guest, Climb responded and moved his hand to the white full plate armor that he received from Renner. Forged with a great amount of mithril — with a bit of orichalcum — the armor had various magical enchants on it that made it surprisingly light, tough, and easy to move in.
The mithril for forging the splendid armor was provided by the members of Blue Rose. No matter how much he gave his thanks, it wouldn’t be enough.
As Climb was about to bow his head, Lakyus stopped him.
“You don’t have to worry about it. We just gave you the leftovers from when we made our own mithril armor.”
Even if it were just leftovers, mithril was a very expensive material. One would be able to afford a mithril full plate armor once they reach orichalcum rank. A mithril rank might be able to afford a mithril weapon. Only a person in the adamantium rank would be able to just give it away.
“I just can’t say no to Renner, after all.”
“—You didn’t accept payment back then. I saved up my allowance…”
“… Isn’t it odd for a princess to call it an allowance?”
“Funds from the demesne are counted separately. I wanted to make Climb’s armor with my own money.”
“Of course you did~. It’s Climb’s so I’m sure you wanted to pay for it~.”
“… If you knew then you didn’t have to give it to him for free. Stupid Lakyus.”
“Stupid? Why you…”
The sulking Renner and grinning Lakyus, the two bantered playfully.
Seeing such a scene, Climb concentrated so that his expressionless face would not crumble.
Even the fact that he was able to witness such a kind, gentle scene was all thanks to the master who accepted him under her wing. However, he could not allow his feelings to show.
Although a feeling of gratitude was fine, he could not show what lay beyond it, his strong feelings for Renner.
His love.
He grabbed his feelings and suppressed it. Instead, he said the words that he had repeated countless time before.
“Thank you. Renner-sama.”
His message was clear. There was a firm line drawn between them — the position of master and servant — ever so slightly, Climb saw it— because he had watched over her for so long, the smallest trace of sadness in Renner’s smile.
“Not at all. Anyhow, we’ve digressed. Shall we return to the main topic?”
“It’s about the Eight Fingers. I stopped at the part where we broke into three of their villages for growing drugs and set fire to the fields, right?”
Hearing that name, Climb’s expressionless face frowned slightly.
‘Eight Fingers’, a criminal organization that operated in the dark side of the Kingdom.
His esteemed master was acting in order to do something about that group.
As for the fields that were burned, one could only imagine the worst case scenario for the villages that depended on growing the drug for a living. However, the lives of those villagers were a necessary sacrifice in order to eradicate the drug that was eating away at the Kingdom.
If she possessed absolute authority, then any measure could be taken. But even as the princess, she had no backing. The only option was to make the cold-hearted decision of saving whoever she could save and to cut away the rest.
Supposing she petitioned her father, the King, then it may be possible for her to attack with military or political might. But as long as it was certain that Eight Fingers had ties to the nobility, there was no doubt that the information would be leaked and the evidence erased in advance.