We carefully followed behind Miriola Juanere, avoiding the sheets spread across the night market stalls as we walked.

Oujin was the same as ever, but Riona's face was as pale as a death row inmate. She must find the very idea of a "Spymaster" terrifying. Well, considering that this woman stood at the pinnacle of all spies, operatives, and assassins, it was probably akin to how a swordsman would fear encountering an enemy nation's "Sword Saint" on the battlefield.

I glanced up at Void, who was walking beside me.

“Void.”

“Huh?”

“What were you even doing at the black market?”

“Idiot. What else? Shopping, obviously.”

We stepped over an array of new and old magic lanterns displayed on the sheets.

“And what's your connection to Juanere? The knights of this country don't even know she exists, right?”

Void was just a mercenary—he wasn’t even a knight. So how did he come to know Juanere?

“El-tan.”

I turned around to see Riona shaking her head, her face still deathly pale.

“It's better if you don’t dig too deep about her…”

“Fufu.”

A low chuckle came from ahead.

I turned my gaze back to Juanere.

“Young lady, I’ll allow that much of a question. I'm not as short-tempered as Lord Blythe or Lord Mard.”

How rude.

“But if you’re dealing with spies, you should remember that learning something also means being learned about in return. If you’re an assassin, you should know—”

“—O-Oh, I see! I will not listen!”

Riona clapped her hands over her ears.

Void let out a long, exasperated sigh.

“You’re such a pain, Miriola. Stop scaring her already.”

“Fufu. I’m just educating them. My adorable juniors.”

Void looked down at me and spoke in a light tone.

“Miriola is from the slums of Elva. Before she became a spy, she worked as a petty informant there, selling info to those arrogant nobles who control the tourism industry. Until the knight order recruited her for her intel-gathering skills, that is.”

“Oh? It was for the sake of channeling dirty noble money into the slums, of course. Or would you have preferred I chose another method like the other girls did, Void?”

Void fell silent, clicking his tongue with his eyes shut.

Sell one's body or sell information. That was the choice. In the end, what she sold was her skill in battle and violence—just like me and Lili.

“Anyway, my connection with her? We lived together for a few years at Scale Orphanage. That’s all.”

“Yes, yes. To Void, I was just his first love, after all.”

—!?

“Ah, those days. You were so cute back then, Void. Even if you were an insufferable little brat—”

“~~~~~~~~~~”

Shock ran through me. No, it was beyond that—sheer terror.

Void gasped, looking up at the sky, both hands covering his face. Even under the moonlight, I could see his face had turned red all the way to his ears.

I’d never seen him like this before.

Oujin and I were both left speechless, mouths hanging open as we stared at Void. Even Riona, who had been covering her ears, reacted to the sight.

She let go of her ears and turned to us with a puzzled look.

“Huh? What? Did something just happen, Ryoka-chan?”

Void shot a murderous glare at Oujin.

His eyes screamed, "Don't you dare say a word to her."

“U-Um… well… I think it's best if… Eremia explains…”

“Oi.”

Void’s deathly glare and Riona’s eager, curious gaze both locked onto me at the same time.

“El-tan, tell me! This is his weakness, isn’t it? Right?”

“You bastard, Eremia. You know what’ll happen, right?”

I wasn’t afraid of Void’s glare, but as a fellow man, telling Riona about this felt cruel.

“Void. Three meals at the cafeteria. That’s the price for my silence.”

The secrets Void knew about me were state secrets—he couldn't easily reveal them. But the secret I had on him? It wouldn't hurt him in the slightest to spill it. This was a huge advantage.

For the first time ever, I had the upper hand.

Void slumped, covering his face with one hand.

“…Guh, damn it! You’ll regret this!”

“Thanks for the meal.”

So that's why he liked older women. And if his first love was a devastating beauty who could topple nations, it made sense that he wouldn’t even glance at a little girl like Riona. The terror of the "Spymaster" was real. If she hadn't lost her sight, I wondered just how much she would have seen through me.

Before I realized it, the children who had been with her were now holding both of her hands.

They guided Juanere carefully as she walked, as if they were used to it.

Void spoke to her.

“Taking in war victims and kids? Playing at running an orphanage?”

“Now that I've lost my sight, this is about all I can do.”

“…I see.”

Silence fell.

I felt a pang of guilt. Maybe we shouldn’t have followed her after all. There were things between the two of them that couldn’t be spoken with us here.

Void wasn’t his usual sharp self.

If he still had feelings for Juanere, he would have told her to leave the dangerous black market trade and live with him instead. But my eavesdropping had taken that choice away from him.

Sorry, man.

“This way,”

The boy holding Juanere’s right hand spoke.

He was around my age, maybe a bit younger. The girl on her left as well—they must have been war orphans.

We followed them into a building nestled within the market stalls.

Inside—

“Ohhh…”

“Wow.”

“This is surprising.”

“Kuku. You really pulled through, Miriola.”

Beautifully polished weapons, shining even under the moonlight, were stacked in towering piles.