IPBD CHAPTER 14

“Anyway, got it? Just wait here for a bit. I need to deal with him because he tried to give you something bad.”

“…Alright.”

Kir responded with a sulky expression.

He looked somewhat upset, which made Emilina flustered. She was about to ask why when Rosie, who had approached unnoticed, casually tapped her shoulder.

“Hey. Can we talk about this later? I was actually looking for you because I have something to say.”

“And if I say no? Also, have you given up on calling me ‘Miss’?”

“…Cut me some slack.”

“Fine, but only after I hit you one last time.”

Thud.

“Ugh— Are you a gangster or what?”

Emilina, having delivered a satisfying kick to his shin, grinned in relief.

She seemed entirely indifferent to Rosie’s pained groan.

“So, what did you want to say? I’m busy.”

She gestured toward Kir, making it clear that she had company and implying that Rosie should hurry up.

Her attitude was blatantly impatient.

Rosie rubbed his aching shin before reluctantly speaking.

“I’m going to start training properly. I’m joining the knight order.”

“That’s it?”

“Hey! I’m being serious here!”

“Don’t yell, it hurts my ears. So, what’s your point?”

“Ha, I was an idiot for thinking I’d get any encouragement from you. Anyway, you won’t be seeing me for a while. I’ll be busy with training.”

“Good for you. Not sure if you have any talent for swordsmanship, though.”

“What do you take me for?! Besides, if I put in the effort, I can do anything!”

Emilina waved him off dismissively, signaling that he should leave.

Rosie huffed in frustration before glancing at the little kid clinging closely to Emilina’s side.

Scratching his head, he greeted Kir.

“Hey there, kid. Sorry for the late introduction. Must be tough dealing with her personality, huh?”

“Sister is kind to me.”

Kir immediately turned his head away, his posture stiff with suspicion.

Rosie raised an eyebrow, scanning Kir with interest. Then, pointing his chin at Emilina, he asked,

“So, who is this? Wait—no way…!”

Rosie suddenly gasped and covered his mouth dramatically.

Before he could run wild with his imagination, Emilina smacked the back of his head.

“Don’t imagine weird things. He’s just a kid who ended up living with us.”

“You really have a bad habit of hitting people, you know that?”

“Only when it comes to you.”

“Wow…”

“Anyway, good luck with your training. Oh, by the way, which knight order are you joining?”

“Obviously, the Duke of Ditrio’s!”

And then—

“Who said you could?”

A quiet voice cut through their conversation.

Both of them turned toward Kir in unison.

Seeing their attention focused on him, Kir suddenly looked flustered and hurriedly tried to explain himself.

“Ah, no… That’s not a place you can just enter as you please….”

Kir stammered, fumbling over his words, and then, feeling embarrassed, hid behind Emilina’s back.

He peeked out just enough to glare at Rosie.

“Pfft. Did you hear that? You really need to work hard.”

Emilina patted Rosie’s shoulder in encouragement.

Rosie’s pride was wounded.

He had spoken with a grand dream in mind, yet it was dismissed before he could even begin. That was enough to sour his mood.

So, he made a firm resolution.

He would join the knights no matter what and shock both Emilina and that arrogant little brat.

“Just wait and see. I’ll make it in for sure.”

With those words, Rosie announced he had things to do and left.

Left alone, Emilina and Kirr briefly exchanged glances.

“Shall we go too?”

“Yeah.”

Kirr nodded and took Emilina’s hand.

Then, as he watched Rosie’s figure grow distant, he thought to himself,

‘Hmph. They’ll never accept you.’

Without realizing it, Kirr was feeling a twinge of jealousy toward Rosie.

Completely unaware of the dark figures watching them from the shadows.

“It’s certain.”

“Yes. After searching, we found that George’s trail also disappeared near that girl’s house.”

“I see. No doubt about it. They were hiding there.”

“What would you like to do?”

The man fell into brief contemplation.

Originally, this was a task assigned to George. However, there had been no contact from him for days.

That could mean one of two things.

Either he had been captured and tortured to death, or he had been killed on the spot.

‘It’s probably the former.’

An unexpected obstacle had appeared.

Whoever it was, they were skilled—so much so that not even a trace was left behind.

There was no way a mere child, one who couldn’t even sense a presence, could have been the one to take George down.

“Who could it be?”

“Sir?”

“You know as well as I do— George was a skilled man, personally trained by me.”

“That’s right.”

“And yet, there’s someone protecting our prey, making it difficult for us to move.”

It was truly troublesome.

They couldn’t afford to delay any longer.

The man took pride in handling tasks as flawlessly as the master he served.

He appreciated whoever had taken care of George, but since the mission had failed, it meant nothing.

Now, he had to get rid of another subordinate as well.

Losing two pawns just to capture one target wasn’t an acceptable trade.

“Hmm, what to do—”

“Did George spill everything to him?”

George, trained under him, would never have spoken under ordinary torture.

But if the one responsible was skilled enough to leave no trace, that was a different story.

They could be someone well-versed in the art of interrogation.

“But there’s no presence, huh?”

The man stroked his jaw in irritation.

There was no noticeable presence around the target.

Even the best at concealing their aura had limits. It seemed like whoever was protecting the target wasn’t currently by their side.

If they had discovered the mastermind, they should have assigned surveillance—but that hadn’t happened.

That made things more complicated.

Was this a trap, or had they simply failed to notice?

He couldn’t make a clear decision just yet.

‘There’s no harm in being careful, so let’s watch for now.’

“We’ll put this on hold.”

“I was thinking the same.”

“And why is that?”

“It looks like the target is staying at that girl’s house.”

“And why does that matter?”

“Well… she’s a noble.”

“What?”

A noble, in a backwater place like this? The man scoffed.

“At best, she’s probably a low-ranking noble.”

His cold voice made his subordinate lower his head and quickly respond.

“My apologies. I simply thought it would be cleaner to deal with him when he’s alone.”

It wasn’t a wrong assessment.

Even a low-ranking noble was still a noble. Dealing with both at once would carry risks.

But that was only from his subordinates’ perspective.

To the man, such concerns were nothing more than a minor itch.

‘So that’s why George was hesitating. Idiot.’

 George must have thought the same thing.

Waiting for the target to be alone before making a move.

No wonder there had been no news for a month after George claimed he had found the target.

The pieces finally fit together.

‘He should’ve just taken care of both. Tch.’

As he clicked his tongue at George’s incompetence, an interesting idea suddenly struck him.

“Forget the hunt. Leave them be for now.”

“Shall we at least keep them under surveillance?”

The man licked his lower lip, a sinister smile spreading across his face.

His subordinate swallowed hard.

Whenever his superior wore that expression, it meant nothing good.

And his hunch proved correct when the man, looking delighted, spoke again.

“No need for that. We’ve found fresh prey—let’s make use of it accordingly.”

“In that case…”