The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 263

“Here is the total, and this is your change.”

“Thanks again! You’ve got quite a haul this time. Good luck with your sales!”

The Commercial City of Oldek—stretching along the empire’s western coast—looked like something out of an age of pirates, with huge ships crowding the piers. The great businesses and storefronts scattered throughout the district carried a different sort of grandeur from anything in the Holy Capital or the imperial capital.

If you want to make money, head to Oldek.

That simple sentence had always been true since the days the empire was first founded.

[Oh my… so this truly is the center of commerce everyone speaks so highly of… It’s incredibly lively here, Young Master Ed! This useless Mugg of yours is getting excited just from looking around!]

“There’s nothing good about getting excited. We’re trying to avoid standing out, after all.”

[Y-yes, of course. It’s nice to be alone with you like this. It reminds me of our time together back on Acken Island. Kyaaah! The two of us really went through so much back then. I will continue to give everything I have in service to you.]

Mugg flapped his wings in his spirit form, following behind me. He started to reminisce about his past again, talking to himself.

[When I was a low-ranking spirit, I worked through the entire night with no breaks. Once the morning came, I was assigned even more work. Back then, life was so painful. I resented the world. It felt as if life was just hardship and struggles, but it really helped me grow. It is something that I guess everyone needs to go through. This is why, Young Master Ed… I am really happy to have met you. If I were to tell you of the hardships I faced from the beginning… I would have to start when I was just a mere fluid spirit… As for what my motto in life was back then…]

I already knew that, but Mugg really did talk a lot.

As if he had a lot to get off his chest, he sat on my shoulder and continued his long story with tears of emotions trickling down his face.

I covered myself with my hood as I blended into the crowd, traversing through Oldek’s streets. Mugg continued to blabber on in one of my ears, but in my head, I was still thinking about the letter I received from Lienna.

Chief Secretary Lienna was Lortel Kehelland’s closest subordinate, one who always remained loyal to her.

Even though she had never written to me before, she had alerted me of the situation before Lortel. It seemed that something had happened. After all, Lortel always took care of such things herself. She would never have had Lienna send me a letter on her behalf.

Either way, my schedule was already tight, so I did not have the luxury of waiting around. I needed to check the situation in person as quickly as possible, so I secured a carriage and made the three-day trip to Oldek.

However, you couldn’t look down on the knowledge of a merchant. There was nothing good that would come out of the news that Ed Rothstaylor had traveled to Oldek. That was why I made sure to hide my identity and move along, covering my face with my hood.

I continued to walk through the streets, turning several times before entering an alley. Mugg continued to babble on as I left him behind. I then saw a tavern ahead of me that looked rather dark.

There was a mug of beer on a small wooden sign out front. Since there was some noise inside, it was open for business.

I opened the door and entered. Inside, the tavern was full of menacing-looking men. All eyes focused on me for a moment before ignoring me as they went back to their conversations.

“If you walk down Oldek 3rd Street, turning three times at the intersection, you will find a small tavern. The name of the place is ‘Song of the Waves.’”

“Please sit as far in the back as possible, alone. Order a draft beer and two fistfuls of peanuts. Make sure to cover yourself with your hood, and don’t walk around.”

The method was certainly discreet.

I took a seat in the back as instructed, ordered the draft and peanuts, and sat still.

I sat there quietly for about ten minutes, but no one spoke to me. Despite it being a noisy pub, I continued to sit alone, drinking my beer.

After sitting like that for another ten minutes…

“Hey, handsome. Would you like to go on a date?”

As if trying to do business, a woman from the bar spoke to me. A red-haired woman in a glamorous dress looked at me with an alluring gaze. She continued to speak.

“Seeing you come into a pub in broad daylight, sit all the way in the back, order a draft beer and some peanuts, and sit alone for over ten minutes… You look rather miserable.”

Her tone seemed to emphasize my actions. It was a signal to make sure that my actions weren’t just a mere coincidence.

I nodded and said, “Fine, let’s head out then. I’ll take the bill.”

“What a smart choice. Shall we cross our arms then?”

She smiled rather seductively as she looped her arms with mine. We then walked out of the bar together. Since it was a common sight in such a place, the others paid no attention to us.

With my arms locked with hers, the two of us walked out towards the street. Then, she finally moved her lips to my ear, whispering, “Since there are a lot of eyes, let’s mix in with the crowd some more. Let’s try to walk to 2nd Street, where it gets crowded. If it seems like no one is following us, we’ll then make our way to a more remote location.”

“Alright.”

We continued to walk together for about thirty more minutes. We walked back and forth down the streets of Oldek, constantly looking around us. In the process, I had time to look at all of the different stores and buildings there. It was quite a sight to see so many famous businesses and large buildings stretch along the road.

After walking around for some time, we were finally convinced that we were not being followed. The woman took my arm, dragging me into a rather dark alleyway nearby. Walking down the alleyway and turning a few corners, we were able to find a place between two buildings where no one would pass by.

“I apologize for acting so disrespectful, Young Master Ed.”

“No, don’t worry about that. But you look much different than before…”

She had used a device to create a disguise. Deactivating it, the woman’s red hair changed back.

And that appearance… It was what I was used to seeing back in the Elte Company’s Silvenia Branch.

Lortel Kehelland’s chief secretary, Lienna Clemson.

“I’m…not used to doing things like this… So, I have to use tools like these…”

The seductive girl from the bar was gone. She had turned back to her usual indecisive and shy secretary self, which I was familiar with.

Lienna Clemson was the only subordinate of Lortel’s that took her side when Dune had tried to take over the Elte Company. Because of her actions, she was able to rise in position, effectively becoming Lortel’s right hand.

She still had her indecisive and timid temperament, so seeing her suddenly act confident while dragging me away toward an empty place felt rather refreshing.

“Acting like such a woman… It didn’t suit me in the slightest. I was sweating so much that my makeup almost came off…”

“I see. But why did you send me such a strange letter?”

Lienna looked around once more. She then tied her hair back and put on her glasses. She then slowly lowered her voice and spoke.

“Deputy Director Lortel has fallen under a curse that Slogg Keldricks prepared.”

“…What?”

I frowned as I responded.

“He used such violent means?”

“Whether it was violent or not… That’s rather hard to say. It depends on who you’re asking…but if you ask me, yes…it was rather violent…”

“But I don’t think Lortel would so easily fall victim to such an attack. I know that Slogg is an impressive person, but this is Lortel we are talking about. Her skills in magic are superior to most magicians.”

“That’s right. But…the circumstances were a bit special…”

“Still, no matter how unusual the circumstances were… does he really think he can take the top seat of the Elte Company in such a ruthless way…?”

Slogg Keldricks may look like an innocent and sincere merchant, but I heard rumors about him being one of the trickiest and devious of them all.

Still, it didn’t suit his image for him to use such a means to take Lortel down. On the contrary, it seemed like the opposite.

“Curse magic? What type of curse was it? It wasn’t instant death, obstruction of breathing, or prevention of blood flow, right…?”

“Nothing like that… In fact, she currently has no health problems right now… However, she has been rather incapacitated…”

“Then…is it a suppressing type?”

“Uhm…it’s similar…”

Secretary Lienna didn’t know how to explain it as she muttered her response.

“For now, it’ll be easier if you see her in person…”

* * *

After that, we had to walk back down the market streets for some time.

What I was about to see was something that was even being kept secret from the executives of the Elte Company. She had repeatedly explained the importance of that fact to me on the way there.

It made sense. The fact that an important person of Lortel’s status was incapacitated was, in and of itself, confusing.

Lienna then told me how, at that moment, I was the only one capable of safely taking Lortel out of Oldek and protecting her.

It seemed that Lortel told Lienna about me whenever she had the chance. I didn’t know what she had said, but it seemed that Lortel had told her to contact me if there was any kind of danger or a crisis, as I would surely lend a hand without asking for anything in return.

And she was right. After all, I was confident that Lortel would do the same for me if I was in trouble. It only made sense that I would do the same for her.

A two-arm scale should always be level. If I received something, I needed to give something back in return.

“We have to go underground again.”

“Again? This is already the 3rd time.”

“It was necessary.”

After entering, exiting, entering, and exiting the sewer several times down a sketchy back road, we eventually reached the back door of a brick building.

Lienna knocked on the door a couple of times as she said something in an unfamiliar foreign language to the person on the other side. It seemed to be a password of sorts.

After saying it, the door slowly opened. Inside was dark, with a counter facing the door. On the other side of it was a big man sitting down. Looking at the pattern on the side of his cloak, he appeared to be a merchant of the Elte Company.

He bowed his head to greet Lienna, then bowed his head politely to me as well.

“It is an honor to meet you.”

After bowing to me, he began to guide me further inside. However, Lienna suddenly raised her arm, stopping the man. She then ordered him to turn around and look the other way. Lienna planned to guide me herself, so she asked him to keep guarding the entrance.

The man nodded as he closed the door. Lienna then led me down into a dark hallway.

“This used to be an old inn that we had remodeled, and now we use it secretly. In the farthest room, Deputy Director Lortel is there.”

“I see… This place is kept rather secret.”

After reaching the door of the farthest room, Secretary Lienna turned her head towards me once more as she asked, “I’ve already told you this before, but this has to remain a secret. But I also wanted to say…uhm…try…not be too surprised…”

“Surprised…?”

“N-Never mind… Let’s go inside.”

After saying that, Secretary Lienna opened the door.

The room was in rather poor shape. It truly was like an abandoned inn. There were old, shabby pieces of wooden furniture all over. It was dark but on the round table in the middle… There was a girl with reddish-brown hair sitting with her back towards us.

Lortel Kehelland. It was unmistakably the back of the famous merchant I knew so well. And yet something about her felt strangely different.

“Deputy Director Lortel.”

The moment Lienna said her name as she entered, Lortel quickly turned around. Seeing such a bright movement, I felt a momentary sense of incongruity… I could tell that something wasn’t right.

“Lienna!”

Lortel jumped out of the chair with a bright expression on her face. She then ran to the door as if she were going to embrace Lienna.

It felt completely unnatural to see her act so bright.

While I was left speechless, Lortel began to speak unnaturally.

“I didn’t go anywhere, just like you told me to! I made sure to stay right here! I was so bored, but since you said you would compliment me, I made sure to bear with it! I was doing my best to read through the diaries to try and regain my memory as well, but, hmmm… I don’t really remember anything.”

“Ahhh… D-Deputy Director…good…job…”

“Yeah! Then, can you stroke my hair?!”

Lortel spoke lively as she grabbed Lienna’s hand, putting it on her head with a bright smile on her face.

For some reason… it almost felt as though she had gotten shorter. As that thought crossed my mind, Secretary Lienna finally spoke.

“So…here is…uhm… Young Master…Ed Rothstaylor…”

“Ahheeek!”

Lortel was startled, quickly hiding behind Lienna’s back. She only stuck her head out. She looked at me nervously, covering her face. She then spoke with a ridiculously quiet voice.

“Uhm…. Th-the young master…that was written about…in the journal… I didn’t…expect to see you…so soon…”

“Come out now, Deputy Director. It isn’t polite to hide behind me like this.”

“Ah, umm, wait…no. I don’t want to…”

The way she hid her face in embarrassment wasn’t appropriate for her age.

I then stared at Lienna for a moment with a hardened expression on my face. Was this a ‘hidden camera’ prank or something…? But that wouldn’t make any sense…

There had to be some sort of rational explanation for what was going on.

“…She didn’t shrink in height that much, but…her mental age…is…as you can see…” Lienna struggled to finish her sentence. “Now…things…are like this…”

I was frozen. I then stepped toward the center of the room, grabbing a wooden chair to sit down. I kept wiping the area around my mouth with my hand… I couldn’t help but sit there with such a troubled expression on my face.

The reason I was in a cold sweat was because…it was something I never even imagined would happen.

“Wh-why isn’t anyone saying anything…? Y-you’re making me scared…”

Lortel trembled as she grabbed Lienna’s sleeve, hiding behind her.

For a while, the only sound in the room was the rustle of Lienna’s sleeve.