After finishing the clothing production and alteration requests and returning to the Academy, it happened just as I had finished washing up in the bathroom.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knocking sound came.
Not from the door, but from the window.
There was only one person who would visit my room in such a manner: Pret.
‘I could just ignore it, right?’
For a moment, such a thought crossed my mind.
But if he was knocking on the window instead of using the perfectly good door, it meant Pret was visiting as a member of the Information Guild, not as an Academy student.
Ignoring him would have left me feeling uneasy.
‘There must be a good reason for him to come this urgently instead of waiting until I use the private training hall…’
Besides, Pret hadn’t shown his face at all during the entire school suspension.
He must have certainly heard the news about the Demonic Realm appearing in the Academy Back Mountain a few days ago.
That meant he was busy focusing on his main work.
And the fact that he came to my room now suggested he was busy with my request, not other work…
‘Seems like he made some meaningful progress.’
If he had come up empty-handed, he wouldn’t have bothered to report back.
After some deliberation, I decided to let Pret into my room.
After all, I had already let the Protagonist of Another Novel into my room multiple times, and Valtraus had come and gone as well.
Being particular about my personal space now would be too late for that.
‘Looking back, I think I was overly fussy about it in the past.’
When I lived as ‘Imir,’ there was never a reason to invite someone into my home, and I had never been invited to someone else’s either.
Perhaps I had unconsciously attached too much meaning to that act.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
The [Character Analysis] skill didn’t activate during my self-reflection.
The person waiting outside the window knocked again, urging me to open it quickly.
With Pret’s abilities, he could have just unlocked the window and let himself in.
The fact that he didn’t meant he intended to show at least a minimal level of courtesy.
“Wait a moment. Let me change my clothes.”
“Are you naked right now? If not, could you just let me in? If I get caught hanging around here, you’d be in trouble too, Senior.”
“……”
As expected, the voice from beyond the window was Pret’s.
He was the Heir of the Information Guild Leader, so he would surely be able to hide himself well without being seen by anyone.
But I didn’t want him to misunderstand that I had been standing around naked since leaving the bathroom.
So I immediately drew the curtains and opened the window.
“Take your shoes off before coming in.”
“Oh? Reysir Senior said the same thing.”
“That’s because he copied me.”
To explain how that conversation came about, the answer lies in Chapter 267.
At that time, Reysir had purchased information about the acidic villain Drembi from Pret and told him to come to his room later to collect the payment.
Pret quickly took off his shoes, stored them in his Inventory, then entered the room, closed the window, and drew the curtains again.
“By the way, Karbaldr Senior, didn’t you change your pajama preference? I heard you bought pajamas recently, but you’re wearing a nightshirt?”
“…Reysir is one thing, but why is everyone so interested in other people’s sleepwear?”
“Aha! So Reysir Senior teased you into buying pajamas, but you find nightshirts more familiar and comfortable, so you wear those normally, and you bought the pajamas just to wear when guests come over? That’s why you said you needed to change clothes just now? And yet you managed to sign up for the cross-dressing contest?”
“……”
Since the supporting character from another novel had explained everything, I will omit the description regarding my current attire.
“Karbaldr Senior, a true man doesn’t fear wearing a skirt. Because he knows his masculinity remains intact even in one.”
“…What exactly are you trying to say with that?”
“I’m just giving you advice so you can be confident and unashamed when you participate in the cross-dressing contest.”
Was that really what he meant?
It sounded more like he was mocking me, saying, ‘Someone who’s embarrassed by a mere nightshirt isn’t even a man.’
“If you came all this way just to say that, leave right now. And don’t ever come near my room again.”
“Aww~, I’m not Reysir Senior. There’s no way that’s my real purpose, right?”
“Then get to the point.”
“While standing like this?”
“…If that bothers you, then sit on a chair.”
I felt quite annoyed.
But he had done the work I asked of him and returned, so I couldn’t very well make him stand the whole time.
So I pulled out a chair, sat down, and offered him a seat as well…
“Before that, I’d like to offer my apologies first.”
He was the one who asked for a place to sit.
Instead of walking over to the chair, Pret stood rooted to the spot, hands clasped neatly in front of him.
Then, with a serious face devoid of any trace of a smile, he bowed deeply.
“I’m sorry, customer.”
“…Did you fail to find who killed Professor Vanahilda’s family?”
Rather than calling me ‘Senior’ and acting cheeky as usual, he suddenly used the title ‘customer’ and offered an apology with the utmost courtesy.
I could only assume the above.
But the person who straightened back up shook his head from side to side.
“No, I found that person. I’m apologizing because of a different request.”
“A different request? Are you talking about the arrangement to send money to Svein’s house regularly?”
“To begin with, that wasn’t a ‘request,’ just a simple ‘errand.'”
That meant this wasn’t the right answer either.
He found Vanahilda’s enemy, and there was no problem with the process of delivering money to Svein’s house…
‘Then why exactly is Pret apologizing?’
I couldn’t figure it out at all.
Judging by his attitude, something significant must have happened, but I had no idea where to even begin guessing.
My chest felt tight, and my brow furrowed on its own.
“When I looked into it this time, the first son of the Offrausi Family purchased the acidic solution on Friday of last week. In other words, the day after Drembi lost the duel and returned home.”
Should I call this an unexpected reason?
It wasn’t something Pret needed to apologize for.
According to him, the acidic solution had fallen into the hands of the villain brothers only after the investigation into Drembi, as well as the information delivery and payment, had all been completed.
“Surely you’re not apologizing for missing that fact..? Once a transaction is over, it’s not your obligation to keep observing the target, is it? Especially when it wasn’t even Drembi, the main target, but his older brother.”
“It wasn’t his first purchase.”
“……What?”
“I found transaction records showing he had purchased acidic solution before as well. As for where it was used… I’m sure you can guess without me explaining.”
“……”
Now I understood why Pret had apologized.
If that information had been included in the documents he sold, I wouldn’t have provoked Drembi.
He must have judged that I wouldn’t have faced that danger either.
‘Even if I had known in advance, I would have done the same thing…
‘No, that’s not all.
‘I would have provoked him even more aggressively.
Unlike me, who can enjoy the mental acceleration effect of the [Character Analysis] skill, Hale wouldn’t be able to deploy an Ether Barrier at the right moment to defend against the acidic solution.”
“Anyway, since no one got hurt, there’s no need for you to apologize to me about it.”
“No, even so, the fact remains that important information was omitted. This is a matter of my pride.”
Can we really say the omission was the fault of the information source who investigated the Hyeong Villain, or Pret’s mistake?
I don’t think so.
The main target of the investigation was someone else, and information about the Hyeong Villain was just a side detail that came along.
‘Besides, I wasn’t the only one who read the investigation documents on Drembi, right?’
The Original Protagonist, Reysir, read them even before I did.
And if Reysir had been aware of the acidic solution’s existence, he would have had to stop Drembi before he could use it.
Otherwise, the Original Work’s readers would have felt frustrated and annoyed.
‘It’s clear the Original Author deliberately restricted that information to steer the story in the direction they wanted!’
Judging by his expression, Pret was quite wounded in his pride.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to share this speculation with him.
“Well, then just be more thorough with your investigations next time.”
“That was exactly my plan. I’ve already instructed my information sources to keep observing their targets for a while even after the transaction ends.”
“Good.”
“I’ve also made arrangements to ensure that what the first son of the Offrausi family did in the past comes to light soon.”
“Right.”
“I need to tell Reysir Senior about this too, and I’m already dreading it.”
“…That’s unfortunate.”
Not only does Reysir still harbor ill feelings toward Pret, but after the experience of being trapped in the Demonic Realm in the Academy Back Mountain with me a few days ago, he would be far more sensitive about the safety of those around him.
He wouldn’t be able to think, ‘No one got hurt, so let’s just move on,’ like I did.
“Anyway, I’m sorry. Because of the insufficient information provided by our side, something really serious almost happened.”
“That’s enough apologizing.”
“I’ll refund the payment too.”
“Go ahead.”
“And I’ll handle one request for free later.”
“That’s good. But wouldn’t the actual buyer of that information be Reysir, not me?”
“……I was planning to visit Reysir Senior as well and say the same thing.”
Pret let out heavy sighs and muttered, ‘I shouldn’t have taken a double contract…’
On top of having to give back all the money he received, he now had to perform not one but two requests for free.
He must be feeling the loss.
“Let’s put this topic to rest and move on to the other request. So you found the culprit who killed Professor Vanahilda’s family?”
“You’re just moving on to the next topic like that?!”
“…Is there a problem?”
I received the apology and heard about the compensation.
So the conversation was over, wasn’t it?
I frowned in confusion at his reaction, and he replied as follows.
“You almost got that acidic solution splashed all over your pretty face! How can you be so calm about it?? You’re not even angry…!”
Ah, so that was the issue.
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“pretty face” im dead😭