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The three Duchess of Barga, a former camellia (Southern Ka) Lapitirika, had a good escort assignment, but the woman I work with as an escort was Alliance investigator Ashley.

I am now moving out of the salon of Castel Valdage and waiting in a private escort room next to Master Lapitilica's private room. The escorts of the two men and women were clearly divided in roles.

A man keeps his word close to him, escorts him as he goes, and guards the subject with force. The woman is a secretary and a woman with a private office. A female official is an official position held by a nobleman, unlike a servant, who has the role of assisting in the affairs of the vicinity of a noble woman he serves.

In other words, Mr. Ashley was called as an escort because he was considered to be a nobleman with some escort ability, and as a secretary, as a woman officer with a private room, as well as close friends with Lapitilica.

I'm basically not allowed in or out of Lapitilica's private room. Entering a private room is only called or unforeseen. Mr. Ashley worked a lot as a secretary while traveling back and forth between the waiting room and the private room.

I'm just looking at it. No, you're working for once, aren't you? I monitor ambient movements while looking at the map shown on the lens of the Kevlar mask, I listen to ambient speech on the sound collecting sensors, and I still hear Mr. Ashley and Lapitirica talking in their private rooms.

"Was Sister Ashley acquainted with Shaft?

"He and I... met ahead of us on a general guild investigation."

"Really?! But isn't your sister... that... scared to see his face?

"Face?"

"Yes, I participated in various labyrinths and crusades with camellias. Of course I fought with the undead. Now, you don't feel afraid of them. But this is the first time I've feared the face of a living universal race..."

"Larry, you're going out into the social world. You may be seen as Prince Ark's Queen, but before you do, you will meet with many of the magical guiding nobles and powerful nobles. Don't let their appearance fool you.

In the same way, don't judge a shaft by its appearance. He's a very trustworthy man, and no matter what happens to you, he'll always protect you. "

"Really? I've heard rumors of black-sided shafts. We all rumor that it was he who killed everyone at the Yagoche Chamber of Commerce and blew up the hall."

"Well, his battle record has arrived in the General Alliance as well. Looking at the numbers alone, it was the number of dead people who could only be described as insane. But, Larry, he's rescuing six captured women at the same time. Plus, it said that the four of them were unrelated girls who were only there. What kind of a brutal man would help an irrelevant person?

"It's... I don't know"

"So, Larry. Identify, shaft, and all the nobles you will meet."

- Yes, sister.

At some point, he stopped looking at the map and turned to the ceiling with his eyes meditating.

There seemed to be nowhere else for me to be a killer side, to do an unrelenting act of sabotage, or to have to be afraid of her knowing that...

Mr. Ashley's footsteps are approaching, he seems to be returning to the waiting room.

Shaft, I'm heading to the terrace to change my mood.

Copy that.

That's all Mr. Ashley said and went back to his private room again. I get up out of my chair too, out of the waiting room and out into the hallway. Outside the room stands a guard, so Lapitilica tells him to move and stands in front of the door of his private room.

Mr. Ashley talked a lot to me when we were alone in the waiting room after I found out I was Schwartz.

About the zombie face, about the King Hua (Rafflesia), the refusal of Remi to join the Alliance, the fact that he continues to attack the Labyrinth alone, and the creation of a false identity called Shaft to act freely as Schwartz.

She listened to them all in silence and accepted them.

Speaking of which, only one condition was given. I call her "Ashley" when I'm in the shaft, she calls me "Shaft" too, that's good. But she has offered to call me "Ashley" even when I was in Schwartz.

Of course I promised.

Take Lapitilica, who came out of the private room, and Ashley, who follows her, and lead her to the terrace. The mapping of the main locations in the castle has already been completed and the location of the terrace is well understood.

The terrace is on the rooftop of the upstairs part of the castle, out of the third floor. There is a gazebo built on a cylindrical onion dome roof. Lapitilica and Ashley sit at a table in Gazebo. I'm standing guard at the entrance to the terrace a little further away.

Come to the terrace. Is it tee time? Thought so, but apparently studying over a cup of tea. He's spreading thick books and confirming something.

According to the speech you hear, apparently what you're looking at is a drawing of a collection of noble crests. I guess he remembers the crest to judge the nobility he meets at future nightclubs and such. Precisely a recollection?

Looking around with guard for a while, I hear footsteps heading from the castle to the terrace. Coming from within the castle was a maid pushing a tea wagon and before that Viscount Butler Caymon, vice president of the Western Knights of Varga, was walking.

Viscount Caymon is the knight we met in the crusade of the Green Ghost's Labyrinth. I've seen him as Schwartz before, so as a shaft, it's my first meeting. The same as when we met in the labyrinth, silver full plate mails with the same fine design as Captain Steed. But the captain of the regiment was the blue line, but Viscount Caymon's is the same silver as armor.

"Lapitilica Barga, what can I do for you?

I plug the entrance to the terrace with my body and ask the old knight, who beautified his gray hair and beard.

"It's Butler Caymon, vice president of the Western Knights of Varga. I came to Lapitilica to report an outing date, please follow up."

"Wait."

Let Viscount Caymon and the maid wait on the terrace and on the border in the castle and head to Gazebo. As soon as I got closer, Ashley noticed.

"Is there something wrong?

"Lord Deputy Commander of the Knights is here to report on the outing schedule. And the maid brought the tea."

"Please let me through, Mr. Shaft"

Lapitilica is the one who answered my report, and since I saw my zombie face, I haven't looked a little frightened yet. Apparently, it was getting over there.

"I'm in awe"

I bent one arm horizontally in front of my belly, pulled one foot slightly back, gave a small thank you in the form of a bow-and-scrape, and returned to the border with the castle again.

"Thank you for your patience, Deputy Commander. Lapitilica will see you, please proceed."

"Thank you. By the way, is your lord the black-sided shaft?”

"The black side isn't my name, but it's a shaft"

"Ho, Lady Larry, please."

"Ha."

This guy doesn't seem to realize I'm Schwartz. With his head down, wait for Viscount Caymon to move on.

When I was talking to Ashley in the waiting room, she didn't tell me exactly why she first saw me as Schwartz. Reddening clear white skin even when asked, "It's a secret!" How dare you reply like a maiden in love, but I have a lot of trouble. I felt something embarrassed until I did.

"Oh, um, may I go, too?

When I looked up, I squeezed the bar on the tee wagon and the maid was listening horribly.