A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

"It hurts so much, it's still stinging," Eric said, sticking out his tongue and groaning.

"Oh." Alice could only say that Eric had brought this upon himself, and had no other words to express it.

---

Latis leaned back in his chair, once again sitting in the familiar interrogation room.

He guessed that he wouldn't be as lucky this time.

Latis stared blankly at the chandelier on the ceiling, his pupils slightly unfocused.

He wondered if he would be locked up for more than ten years.

Latis knows nothing about the Empire's laws, and his attempted murder...it's unknown how long he'll be imprisoned.

"Stop spacing out, there are plenty of questions to ask." Eric leaned back in his chair without any regard for appearances, twirling his pen.

Behind Eric stood Alice with her hands behind her back.

Alice stood ramrod straight, her eyes slightly lowered, as if awaiting a command.

“Before you ask me anything, I thought of something,” Latis said.

"Ask away, I'll answer you if I can." Eric wasn't an unapproachable person.

"What I just did will soon become known."

Will Tiggia find out about his affairs?

What would Tiggia think of herself back then...? Did she even know about her brother?

“It seems you’ve misunderstood something.” Eric tapped the edge of the table with his pen.

“We won’t publicize these disorderly conducts everywhere,” Eric said, glancing at the guards on either side.

The guards who were seen began to whistle nervously.

“These events, once they get out, won’t just be used as topics of casual conversation.”

"These things will cause a lot of people to feel uneasy."

"It might even lead some people to believe they have 'companions' and start acting together."

“Anyway, once these kinds of things get out, they will only worsen the security situation,” Eric said solemnly.

Often, seemingly small things involve far more profound issues than we imagine.

"I see..."

“But I can’t control what Budsh says himself,” Eric added, a rather irresponsible remark.

“Alright, I’ve answered your question, now it’s your turn to answer mine,” Eric said in a flippant tone.

"I..." Latis seemed to want to say something.

"Stop." But Eric interrupted him abruptly.

Alice probably learned her bad habits from Eric.

"You just need to answer my questions, and you don't need to worry about anything else."

"Whether what you say is true or false, I will judge for myself." "Father, are you alright?" Tigia looked at Budbush anxiously.

Budsh's face was still very swollen, which made Tiggia feel sorry for him.

“Father…” Eors looked at Badbusch expressionlessly and murmured in a flat voice.

“Don’t worry about me, I was just kidnapped by accident,” Budsh said, glancing at Tiggia almost imperceptibly.

Tiggia herself seemed unaware of Budbush's gaze.

"I'm fine, just focus on preparing for the performance."

“But Father, you’re in this state… Eorz, please say something.” Tiggia said anxiously.

"Father, please get some rest."

“I plan to postpone the performance for a few days,” Eors said, maintaining his original tone.

“There’s no need. Postponing the performance would have too much of an impact,” Budsh said, shaking his head.

“No, I want you to hear my song, Father.” Eors looked earnestly at Badbusch.

Despite his expressionless face, the unwavering determination in his eyes silenced Bud Bush.

"Okay... I will try my best to recover from my injury."

That's why Budsh said Eorth wasn't a puppet... he was a living, breathing person.

They are not just human, they are already kind angels.

Budbush's gaze softened. It was hard to imagine that this man was the one who killed Tiggia and Latis's father.

Tiggia, on the other hand, probably never imagined that she would hate Budbush or anything like that.

---

"Hello, Mr. Bray." The receptionist at the Adventurers' Guild smiled.

When greeting Bray, the young lady rarely used that professional smile.

Because Bray is very funny, the girl likes to tease him.

Well, what exactly constitutes "fun" is hard to guess...

Her professional smile was meant to deal with all sorts of troublesome adventurers.

In a large forest, you'll find all sorts of birds; not all adventurers are good-tempered.

Some people are insidious, while others like to cause trouble.

That's why the receptionists of various adventurers' guilds have developed professional smiles.

It's that kind of smile that makes you unable to get angry.

However, she didn't need to be so fake with Mr. Bray, because Mr. Bray never made people angry, and she had never seen him angry.

"Good afternoon." Bray walked to the front desk. He had come to the Adventurers' Guild alone today.

Today happens to be the third day since I accepted the commission, and Bray came to check on the situation right on time.

"You're so punctual! I wish everyone were as punctual as you," the young woman remarked with a touch of wistfulness.

“…” Bray pondered how to respond.

Bray wasn't the type to have a smooth conversation and couldn't immediately respond to the girl's difficult question.

"Mr. Bray, you've been chosen to be a security guard at the event!" The young woman put her hands together and smiled happily at Bray, initiating a new topic.

"Phew..." Bray patted his chest, letting out a sigh of relief.

He was genuinely afraid of being unexpectedly transferred to a bodyguard role, but luckily, he wasn't that unlucky.

Becoming Eors's personal bodyguard is a blissful experience for many male adventurers, and even some female adventurers.

But for Bray, that was a problem.

Just don't assume Bray is gay; he occasionally reads unspeakable books.

Bray considered himself to be perfectly healthy and quite enjoyed appreciating beautiful women.

However, if he had to choose between looking at beautiful women and avoiding trouble, Bray would choose to avoid trouble.

"Why do you look so relieved? Were you really that unwilling to be a bodyguard?" The young woman covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

“I don’t want to.” Bray shook his head.

"I originally thought I would be forced to be assigned as a bodyguard."

"You're quite confident. Are you really sure you'll be chosen?"

"kindness."

"Haha~" The young lady was amused by Bray's confidence.

"By the way, how are they? Were they selected?" Bray had forgotten to ask Naruko and Levi.

"Because I was in the same queue as you, I was also selected." After telling Bray this, the young lady began to organize the necessary documents.

"I'll give you the necessary documents now; these will serve as your proof of employment." The receptionist skillfully stamped and separated the papers.

Not long after, three documents were handed to Bray.

“However, next time please have them come in person.” The receptionist put her hand to her lips and winked at Bray.

"This is a one-time exception."

Actually, these procedures should be applied for by the adventurer himself.

If you were to use an agent, there would be many procedures involved, but the receptionist waived them for Bray.

"Thank you." Bray paused for a moment, then quickly thanked him.

Politeness is a fine tradition of the Clarice family.

"By the way, Mr. Bray, the time for this commission might be delayed." The receptionist remembered something and reminded Bray.

Although there were changes mentioned in the commission document, she still decided to remind Bray anyway.

Many adventurers don't read the instructions carefully.

It would be foolish of Bray to go to the venue at the old time without carefully reading the instructions.

"Postponed?" Only then did Bray take a closer look at the notice board and saw that there was indeed an update.

"Why was it postponed?" Logically speaking, performances should be on time, right?

Postponing this operation will definitely cause dissatisfaction among many people.

"The main reason is that Eorz's adoptive father was involved in a kidnapping incident today."

"So due to various chain reactions, the performance was postponed." The receptionist was actually quite saddened when she learned that Eors' performance had been postponed.

She didn't care about Eorz's adoptive father, but she did care about Eorz.

Although Eric won't let the news get out, he has no say in Bud Bush's case.

If he tells these things to others, we can only let him say it.

Of course, everyone only knows that Bud Bush was involved in an incident, but they don't know the specifics.

We don't know who the criminal is or what he looks like.

"I had no idea..." Bray was a little surprised that there had been a kidnapping in the capital recently.

This city is still not stable.

"Therefore, the performance may be postponed by four days."

"This is quite a long delay."

"Yes, I thought it would only last a day or two." The young woman sighed. Eors must have been greatly affected.

Is he probably worried about his adoptive father right now?

If the singer doesn't get into the right mindset, the performance can't proceed smoothly, so all we can do is wait patiently.

However, many people are quite patient in order to hear Eols's singing.

Of course, there were some impatient people making a fuss, but they were only a minority.

"So please, Mr. Bray, go four days later than the originally scheduled time."

"If there are any changes, the Adventurers' Guild will notify us proactively."

Bray nodded and put away all three documents. In the basement of a house, a red-haired elven male, wearing goggles, was using various magical tools to manipulate a puppet in front of him.

Beside this red-haired elf was an elf woman with the same hair color.

That woman exuded intellectual beauty; she could attract attention simply by standing there.

The female elf was staring intently at the puppet in front of the male elf.

She and the elven man were husband and wife, and members of a family that specialized in making puppets and golems.

They are currently creating a doll, no, it should be called an art piece.

The doll was sculpted to be incredibly beautiful, resembling a charming young girl.