CH 64

Marrieda only smiled at Ardis’s question.

「Want to know? About me~nii? 」

It’s a gracious young lady smiling charmingly for any onlookers.

But, Marrieda’s nonchalant and joking tone had only irritated Ardis further. Ardis expression probably turned very ugly because of that.

「Oops oops. Don’t make such a scary― face. I said it just now, I’m not Ardis-kun’s enemy~yon. Rather, I would consider myself a friend~yon. 」

Marrieda panickily tried to sooth Ardis.

「If you want to know about me, that means a deal regarding my information, right? But, I’m also a formidable merchant~yon. There’s no way a merchant would hand over her stuff for free~nii? 」

「……You’re saying that I will need to pay? 」

「I don’t need money, but how about something worth the same~nii? 」

「A trade? 」

「Yes. My information for yours~nii. If Ardis-kun is willing to trade his information for mine. Then it should be an equal trade~nii. 」

Ardis was silent at that proposal.

As long as he cannot tell if the woman in front of him is an enemy or not, he would never give information about himself carelessly. The twins, about Nere, and Ardis’s own past. It was things that he didn’t want others to know, or things that he didn’t want to say.

What the woman knows and what she’s thinking isn’t clear, there’s no way Ardis can take her offer lightly.

「I refuse. 」

Of course, Ardis can choose to deceive her by providing her false information, but that’s the same for his opponent. If it wasn’t someone that can be trusted, a trade’s prerequisite isn’t fulfilled.

「To think I’m not trusted, how grieving―」

Marrieda had probably knew about that long before she spoken about the trade. While putting up her arms in front of her eyes, she acted as if she was crying.

「Then if so」

Just when he thought so, the next face she showed was a bright smile as she opened her mouth.

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「How about getting something I want, if Ardis-kun is willing to get it for me, then I’ll confess everything~nii? 」

That’s her true intentions from the start huh, Ardis guessed.

Certainly, Ardis would have refused at all cost if it meant giving out information about himself. But on the other hand, Ardis definitely had to hear the reason why she knew the words and why she knew that Ardis would meet Kyrill.

「And what’s that 『Thing』 you want. 」

As such, Ardis was willing to take a step behind.

「That’s the spirit! Here, come with me! 」

Marrieda stood up in a flair as if the trade was sealed, and snapped her fingers, heading towards the door.

「Oi, I never said anything about accepting it. 」

「I know~yon. For the time being, it’ll be faster that you see it. 」

Saying that, Marrieda immediately exited the room.

「Tch. 」

Ardis disliked people who won’t listen to others the most, he clicked his tongue but had no choice but to follow behind.

Following Marrieda’s guide, they arrived at a certain room in the basement of the building. In the room that looked like it served as a food storage originally had two persons waiting outside.

One of them was the servant man from before, the middle-aged man with a mix of white hair and a face defined with wrinkles. And the other one is a young man who is wearing an exotic type of clothes. He had a small stature, but his skin showed a healthy tanned color.

「Sorry for the wait! Is the preparation all complete~nii? 」

「Yes, Ojou-sama. There’re no gaps. 」

Marrieda confirmed, and the servant man answered immediately.

Looking at where the both had their eyes on, there was something like a magic circle drawn on the ground. And on top of that were various gems and plants, some kind of fangs, and a parchment that had some kind of spell words written on it scattered. And right in the middle of it was the sword that Ardis and Kyrill found in the ruins.

「What’s this? 」

Ardis raised his question, and Marrieda turned around and explained.

「We are making that sword a little docile for a while, with this. 」

「What you mean? 」

「There you go again―, even though you knew it. 」

Along with a playful tone, Marrieda winked at Ardis as she said that.

「There’s some preparations needed to calm that sword~nii. So we need to buy some time till then with this~yon. 」

「Calm? Buy time? 」

「Well, seeing is better than hearing. We are going to apply a temporary seal on the sword now, but there’s still one ingredient we are lacking― 」

Saying so, Marrieda stretched out her both hands to Ardis.

「If you happen to have some suckles of 『Unholiness』, can you sell some? At a price of one gold coin per. 」

「Wha……! 」

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At the totally unexpected words, as expected, even Ardis would be flustered.

The fact that Ardis is currently in possession of Unholiness’ suckles, there shouldn’t be anyone else other than he himself, Kyrill, and the villagers in that village know.

In the first place, suckles of Unholiness is something that mercenaries typically dispose of, in other words, useless trash. There’s no guarantee that there’s someone who have that while walking around even if you looked in the entire capital.

But, the woman in front of Ardis is clearly requesting him to sell her the suckles if he had it. Although she had said 『If you have it』, Ardis couldn’t think otherwise than that she confidently somehow knew that Ardis would have it.

「Heuuh? You have some right? 」

Tilting her small head, Marrieda asked once again.

「……Why do you think I have it? 」

「That’s the secret~yon. If you want to know then retrieve what I want. 」

「That something you want isn’t the suckle? 」

「Nn? Nope. I offered to buy that from you at a price of one gold coin per, right? 」

Marrieda shook her head lightly as she said.

「…………One is good? 」

「One is more than enough~nii. 」

Ardis is currently holding onto a total of twenty-four suckles that he collected for the shaman in the capital. In the first place, there wasn’t an amount needed specified, and it wasn’t an official request as well. Even if he sold one here, there’s still twenty-three left.

Ardis had pondered for a while but, judging that there aren’t any problems especially, he sold one to Marrieda.

「With this the preparation is complete~nii. 」

The servant received the suckle and put it on the magic circle, and Marrieda called out to the small stature man.

「Then, it’ll be up to you~yon. 」

「Yes. 」

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The small stature man replied shortly, before standing in front of the magic circle and chanting. It was in a language that Ardis wasn’t familiar to.

It was different than the chants of magic, it was more towards the prayers that the priests sang in the church for the Goddess. Similar but different, it gave off such a feeling to Ardis. Different from the prayers to the Goddess, Ardis didn’t feel disgusted when he heard it.

Eventually, at the same time the chanting is finished, the magic circle let out a faint light. The faint light became threads that extended in various direction before covering the sword.

「It’s a success. 」

As the small statured man said so, the sword seemed like it was tied down onto the center of the magic circle by the threads of light.

「With this, it should be fine for seven days. But when that passes……」

「I know~yon. We will handle it from now on so don’t worry. Sorry for holding you up so much~nii. 」

「No, please don’t mind such little things. Rather, with this much, I can’t possibly return your grace. 」

「Yes yes, it’s fine. Good work for today~nii. 」

「Yes, I will excuse myself for today. I will visit once again in the future. 」

The small statured man spoke with Marrieda shortly, before departing from the room. Ardis had thought that he was a member of the merchant association, but it seemed like he was an outsider.

「Now then, Ardis-kun. 」

「What」

「With this, the sword will be docile for seven days but, it’s not like the problem had all solved~nii. 」

「I guessed so. 」

「There, that’s where the 『Something』 I need come in, it’s something needed for calming the sword entirely. And what I need you to do, is to get that something for me~」

It’s that kind of matter huh, Ardis muttered in his mind.

「So? What’s that 『Something』? 」

「Hair」

「HaaA? 」

Once again, unexpected words came out from Marrieda’s mouth, Ardis immediately had a huge question mark.

「Whaaat I need is, a single strand of hair~yon. Color is Aliceblue. And it must be from a woman with a high magic capability. Right, needless to say, her pupils must be of the sky color. 」

Ardis’s expression clearly showed more caution towards the woman.

Aliceblue hair. Woman with strong magic. Sky colored eyes. All of them were descriptions said as if to target Nere pinpointedly.  

How much does she knows about Nere, what about the twins, in the first place, who is this Marrieda woman. Ardis’s brain was full of questions that had no answers.

Just when Ardis wanted to ask her about the questions, Marrieda opened her mouth first.

「Why? What’s the matter? If you want to know, then prepare something of an equal value for the trade. In seven days, right~ 」