There was no way a shady shop existed in the academy city of Lehan. That was what Void had declared with absolute confidence—yet the place he led us to was a district filled with nothing but questionable establishments.

That said, it was quite different from the kind of shady places we had imagined, like taverns or brothels.

In fact, calling these "shops" at all felt inappropriate. They were nothing more than crude sheets laid out with goods displayed on top. Even more striking was the appearance of the sellers.

Their ages ranged from children to adults, but they all had two things in common: they wore tattered rags, and most of them were missing parts of their bodies.

“...A black market for war casualties?”

“Tch. You’re just a brat, yet you still know about complicated shit like that, huh?”

Void nodded at my muttered observation.

Most of their missing parts were arms and legs. There were fewer missing eyes—likely because even with one eye, a person could still fight. They didn't have to live like this.

The customers were sparse, and there was no sense of liveliness. Most people left without buying anything. Occasionally, an old magic tool or a used crystal stone would sell, but that was about it.

Then, suddenly, a young woman’s voice called out.

“Void, are you here?”

The woman had her eyes covered, indicating she had lost both of them. The children clinging to either of her hands were likely serving as her guides.

Void responded in a clear voice.

“Yeah. Over here.”

“That way, then.”

So, she really couldn't see.

She looked slightly older than Lili. Maybe just shy of thirty. Her unkempt hair was tied in a loose ponytail, and she was dressed somewhat better than the other sellers.

Judging by how the other vendors made way for her, she seemed to be the face of this section—perhaps even its leader.

After giving instructions to the children at her side to tend to other customers, she wandered toward us with unsteady steps, as if groping through darkness.

Oujin hurriedly rushed forward.

“Wait! That’s dangerous!”

Before her feet were several sheets laid out with merchandise—old-model magic lamps among them. The moment Oujin reached out to help, however, she lightly leapt over them and landed smoothly.

Without breaking stride, she walked straight toward Void, me, and—strangely enough—the now utterly silent Riona, who had completely erased her presence.

“...Are these Void’s friends?”

“Idiot. No way in hell. They just tagged along. They’re nothing more than classmates.”

“Ufufu. That means they’re very, ve~ry~ important classmates, then.”

Void rubbed his neck and grimaced.

“How do you figure that?”

“Because someone I knew during the war used to say the exact same thing. You all remind me of them.”

...She’s talking about Blythe, huh?

But I don’t know her. No matter how much I dig through Blythe’s memories, I can’t recall anyone like her. Her face doesn’t ring a bell, and even her voice doesn’t trigger any recognition.

Well, Blythe was a Sword Saint. It wouldn’t be surprising if people knew of him one-sidedly.

Void snorted and jabbed a finger at me.

“Heh, is that so? Well, I don’t give a damn about some old man. Unlike this guy, who actually wants to become a Sword Saint.”

The woman turned her blindfolded gaze toward me.

She shouldn’t be able to see, yet after that jump earlier, I was already suspicious. She hadn’t reacted to physical objects—meaning she perceived something else.

Still, her gaze was aimed above my head. She hadn’t realized I was just a ten-year-old. Did she sense my presence instead?

“Good evening, student.”

“Ah.”

The moment I responded, her gaze dropped. Her face was filled with shock.

“...Elementary school!? A child who hasn’t even gone through voice change—no, you can’t be here! Void, you—!”

“Relax. I’m in high school.”

Void and Oujin laughed at the same time.

“Eh? Really?”

“Yeah.”

It wasn’t a lie. I was ten, though.

Turning toward Oujin this time, the woman gave him a polite greeting.

“And you—thank you for trying to help me earlier. But there’s no need to worry. I oversee this market myself, so I won’t trip over any merchandise. I have every stall memorized.”

“N-no, not at all. If anything, I almost touched you without permission, and for that, um… I’m sorry.”

Tch, Oujin. You’re getting flustered just because she’s a woman.

That honesty of yours is exactly why you’re so popular. Why don’t you realize it? Look, she’s already smiling.

“It’s been years since someone treated me like a woman.”

“Uh… s-sorry.”

“Ufufu. No, I meant that I’m happy. Thank you, student.”

Void stuck a finger in his ear as he spoke up.

“Anyway, Miriola, let’s get to the main—”

Before he could finish, the woman raised a hand to silence him.

Then, to my surprise, she turned her blindfolded gaze toward Riona—who had been completely suppressing her presence.

“～～”

Riona gasped. Her face had turned pale.

Even though she had erased her presence so completely that even we had almost forgotten about her, the woman spoke as if she had known from the start.

And the words she spoke were outrageous.

“Good evening, as-sas-sin-san. Which country are you from?”

A chill ran down my spine.

Oujin froze as well.

This… is something else.

Tension and silence dominated the air.

The woman was unarmed. There was no intent to kill, no murderous aura. That made it all the more terrifying.

Finally, Riona forced out a response.

“I… I'm not an assassin… not anymore…”

The woman placed a hand on her cheek and tilted her head slightly.

“Then are you an operative? Or a spy?”

“N-no… I quit… already.”

“Oh re~ally?”

This time, she turned to Void.

She behaved as if she could see perfectly fine. And worst of all, she had a look of amusement on her face.

Void, on the other hand, looked exasperated.

“That’s how it is. She’s not dangerous anymore. — This brat here cut her off at the root.”

Void shoved me forward.

Stop it. I really don’t like this woman.

She was sizing me up. Even though she was blindfolded, her gaze was terrifying.

“…Was that already approved?”

“Yeah. That bastard was there too.”

“I see. Then it’s fine.”

Approved? What was she talking about? Surely, she didn’t mean Kilpus’ approval…?

I glanced at Void, but he blatantly avoided my gaze.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Eremia. I didn’t say anything. But give it up. There’s no point trying to hide anything from this woman. Unlike that cat over there, she won’t use it for anything bad as long as you don’t give her a reason to.”

There were plenty of things I wanted to hide. About myself, for starters. If that was connected to Kilpus, then that meant… that I was Eremi Oldingham… No way.

But seeing Void surrender from the start was unusual for him.

As I was thinking that, Riona whispered into my ear.

“El-tan, El-tan, no good, no good. Really no good. You don’t know who she is?”

“Not at all.”

Miriola, was it? Never heard of her.

“Then… do you know ‘The Tale of Intelligence Officer Juanere’?”

“Of course I do. My mother used to tell it to me as a bedtime story when I was a child. It’s been reenacted over and over again for years in the royal capital. I’ve even gone to see it a few times.”

It was a heroic romantic adventure about a young female intelligence officer.

With a delicate and ephemeral beauty, her swordplay was said to have impressed even the ‘Sword Saint.’ The story of her battles thrilled the people of the royal capital.

The young protagonist infiltrated enemy nations as a spy, sometimes spending months or even years earning their trust, exposing their secrets, assassinating villains, engaging in romances with high-ranking officials, and when necessary, taking up her sword to fight in the most graceful of duels.

To be honest, I was quite a fan of it myself.

I even snuck out with my mother, Queen Arina, to see it a few times. Ironically, though, my mother’s interest was less in the ‘intelligence officer’ and more in the ‘Sword Saint.’ For me, those times were both heaven and hell.

These days, a new play, ‘War Maiden,’ supposedly based on a retired officer’s life, was becoming quite popular. I hadn’t seen it yet, but maybe I should invite Lili to go watch it. I was curious to see how she’d react.

By the way, there was no play about the ‘King’s Shield.’ Lord Orunkaim was just a muscular old man, so he wasn’t popular with the public. Besides, there wasn’t an actor out there who could fill that massive frame.

“But that’s just fiction. The ‘intelligence officer’ was nothing more than a character created to give people hope during wartime. There’s no way someone that perfect ever really existed.”

I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up.

Void was pointing at Miriola.

She stood there, arms crossed under her ample chest, wearing a wry, slightly embarrassed smile.

“That story was based on real events. Just like all those tales about the ‘Sword Saint.’ But unlike him, her existence was classified as a state secret, so she got lumped into fiction.”

“It’s a reversal, El-tan. The fourth hero, standing alongside the Sword Saint, King’s Shield, and War Maiden—while the people of our kingdom see her as fiction, the foreign nations that suffered at her hands believe in her existence even more.”

…Huh?

“Ufufu, this is a little embarrassing.”

…Huh?