125. Baek A (3)

The first place Theodora went to after leaving the workshop was the adventurer’s guild. The last time he visited the adventurer’s guild was a month and ten days ago. In order to evoke in some form the mind that had grown complicated thanks to Arsene Berne, Theodora went to the adventurer’s guild in charge of Maxim’s search. I haven’t been contacted in the meantime, but I’m sure I’ve been able to find some news or clues.

The sky was overcast as if it would snow again. Theodora hurriedly headed to the adventurer’s guild before it was too late.

However, what Theodora was able to hear after visiting the adventurer’s guild was not news or clues about Maxim.

“… What did you just say?”

Theodora spoke menacingly to the receptionist in a low, cold voice under a hood. Although the staff seemed to be withdrawn, they fulfilled their duties by answering the questions asked by Theodora steadily and clearly.

“I’m sorry, but the adventurer’s guild now prohibits accepting requests or contacting people related to Count Benning for any reason.”

A sure line in a relationship. The conflict between the adventurer’s guild and Leon Benning proceeded in the form of Benning’s huge power suppressing the adventurer’s guild. It could be interpreted that the reason why the adventurer’s guild was able to deny entry to Theodora with such a confident attitude was because she had such a background.

“What will happen to the original request I entrusted? It was definitely the adventurer’s guild that told me to wait a couple of months before coming back.”

Theodora’s voice went beyond rage and reached the point of desperation. The staff at the reception desk carefully answered Theodora’s question with a more troubled expression than when she asked with anger.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you a different answer. I’ll ask the upper line separately, so can you find the guild at the same time two days later?”

Theodora bit her lip, unable to reply again. It seemed that the confused head was about to fall into even greater confusion.

“Since when, who… ?”

“Fly me.”

The voice came from behind Theodora’s back. The guild’s adventurers turned their attention to Theodora and the head of the Royal Road Guild who was walking towards Theodora. The receptionist hurriedly got up from his seat and bowed his head to the branch manager. Theodora recognized the face of the guild branch manager and distorted her expression. The branch manager also narrowed his eyes, as if he had guessed who was hiding his identity under the hood.

“Branch manager.”

“You have a lot of eyes. I’ll give you a little time to talk, so let’s move places.”

The branch manager gestured as if to follow him for a while, and Theodora stood up with a distorted expression and followed the branch manager. His hand was tightly gripping the hilt of the Heilang sword he had just polished at the blacksmith’s shop. The branch manager, accompanied by an employee who acted as his secretary, headed for the office on the second floor.

“Yes, Miss Beninga. No, isn’t the head of the jackdaws visiting this place after a long time?”

“… I never thought of guilds as enemies. I just came to check the commission I entrusted you with.”

“You won’t be there. But your father goes beyond treating us as enemies, and is trying to make us idiots who can’t even do their job.”

I could hear the secretary rustling and rummaging through the bookshelves. As if he had found the information, the secretary immediately set the file down in front of the branch manager. The branch manager nodded lightly and flipped through the files.

“It’s not like we want to have an adversarial relationship with the outstanding knight you are. But, when did we live doing only what we wanted to do?”

The branch manager snorted, saying that an adventurer is someone who only takes on tasks that others don’t want to do. In the midst of that laughter, you can hear the pages of the file folder being turned.

“We can give you the information we found. Breaking up is a matter that needs to be addressed. But I want you to tell me one thing.”

The branch manager closed the file folder with a thud.

“What was the reason for entrusting this request?”

Theodora answered without hesitation. In those dark cloud-colored eyes, a certain kind of obsession and regret were deeply rooted and swaying.

“Because that person is precious. I have to get it back.”

There was no hesitation or shyness in Theodora’s words. The guild leader just stared at her, then let out a sigh.

“I will make an exception this time. There’s no such important information anyway.”

The guild leader put down the folder and opened his mouth.

“To begin with, I couldn’t find it. No clues, no sightings or rumors of sightings of him. I wonder if the fact that I couldn’t find anything for a month and a half isn’t the case even in hundreds of years of adventurers’ history.”

Disappointment spread across Theodora’s face at the guild leader’s words. Theodora bit her teeth in an effort to stop the emptiness from eating away at her mind. The guild leader tapped his finger on the desk, but continued talking.

“However, I was able to find out the whereabouts of the sorceress Christine Watson, whom you asked to search with. No, I’ve only met him once.”

Theodora’s movements stopped. Theodora, who had been looking at him as if she couldn’t understand what the guild leader was saying, spoke very slowly.

“that’s… When and where?”

“Aren’t you also a knight in the palace? Then I guess you’ll find out naturally… , Your father probably knows this information.”

The guild leader raised his eyebrows meaningfully. Theodora didn’t know why her father was being mentioned now, how the guild leader knew Christine’s whereabouts, and why Maxim’s whereabouts were still unclear while Christine’s whereabouts were revealed. Dozens or hundreds of questions and even greater bewilderment came. Theodora had no choice but to wait for the guild leader to continue talking.

“The royal family, the 1st escort.”

The 1st Guards, one of the kingdom’s strongest military groups that closely assist the king and act only on the king’s orders. The support and shield of the royal family that his father, Leon Benning, is most conscious of and checks.

“I saw the person you were looking for wearing the uniform of the Order.”

Theodora’s eyes twinkled. Christine, to the escort knights of the 1st escort? why?

“You seem very confused.”

The branch manager got up and called the secretary. The secretary corrected her glasses as if she were familiar with them and followed the branch manager. The branch manager looked back at Theodora, who was still sitting blankly.

“I’m busy, so let’s go first. It’s good to stay for a while until you get your mind together.”

rattle. The door to the branch manager’s office closed behind Theodora’s back. Theodora was still chewing on the words of the branch manager with trembling eyes.

‘Your father probably knows this information.’

‘The royal family, the 1st escort.’

In the room that was starting to get dark, Theodora’s eyes shone brightly.

—

“Why did you tell me about that?”

The secretary of the branch manager asked the branch manager as he walked down the stairs of the guild. The branch manager narrowed his eyes and looked back. Is Theodora Benning still organizing her thoughts in the branch manager’s office?

“You mean that Christine Watson was attached to the 1st Guards?”

“Yes… Since it is information related to the royal family, I thought it would be better not to reveal it.”

The branch manager shrugged.

“Should I say I threw rice cakes? No, they say they set another trap to isolate Leon Benning.”

“Isolation of Leon Benning?”

When the secretary asked, the branch manager nodded toward the branch manager’s office and started explaining.

“It is a well-known fact among the royal family that Theodora Benning is not on very good terms with her father, Leon Benning. The leader of the Knights of the Ravens does not hesitate to do things that Leon Benning would not like. Just like you came to the guild now.”

The branch manager’s eyes shone sharply. The information exchanged with the contact person of the royal family was being put together in my head one by one.

“Léon Bening also doesn’t seem to have my daughter completely under control. Even so, if someone like Theodora Benning decides to rebel against him, it will be quite difficult, so I guess I’ll just let it go as I want. Should I say it’s the hardships of a father with a proud daughter?”

The branch manager smiled at the staff member who opened the back door of the guild branch and went out while continuing to explain. It wasn’t snowing, but the wind was blowing pretty hard.

“I think the characters Theodora Benning is looking for, Maxime Appart and Christine Watson, are at the center of the father-daughter conflict. Leon Bening was also constantly looking for a man named Maxime Appart.”

The secretary’s eyes widened. Following the branch manager, he was swept around in the complex circumstances of the royal family, but he had not fully grasped the situation.

“Then, why did you deliberately throw out that information?”

“I think it could somehow crack the relationship of trust between Leon Benning and his daughter. If the distance between the two is completely widened like that, Leon Benning will lose another ally.”

The branch manager hurriedly adjusted his clothes. There was a lot to discuss about the royal family’s contacts and future plans.

“Leon Benning must have thought that he was monitoring the adventurers guild with only a few people he planted and a policy to suppress the adventurer guild, but no, it sounds funny. That was too disrespectful of the adventurer’s guild, which is hundreds of years older than the Benning family.”

The branch manager grinned, showing his teeth.

“Because you were the one being watched.”

—

ugly, ugly.

The craftsman, Thomas, was polishing the blade while sweating like a waterfall. The sharpening stone constantly moved on the rough surface of the hardened blade, and the craftsman looked at the sharpened blade with sharp eyes.

“Now, after heating the blade, all you have to do is dip it in the caustic solution. This, after working on it, it was like making a new sword.”

“Thank you for your effort.”

“You will have to pay a little more. I also used a lot more mithril than I thought.”

Thomas sighed and turned the blade around. The blade made of an alloy of white iron was shining with a lighter light than the existing iron blade. After scorching the sword, the craftsman picked up the blade, dipped it in the caustic solution, and took it out.

“This… ”

Looking at his newly born sword, Maxim exclaimed involuntarily. The blade of the sword mixed with high-purity mithril was shining with a divine white light. The craftsman also let out a sigh as he saw the true form of the blade.

“This might have resulted in a much more monstrous sword than I thought.”

Baek-ah was calm, but violent and sharp. Maxim, not paying attention to the reddish light of the forge, stared blankly at the white screeching sword.

“I could say that the Heilang I made for Captain Jeo was a masterpiece that I had never made in my life, but this time… I’m not sure. It feels like something outside my realm has been created.”

The father-in-law looked at Baek-ah like Maxim. It also meant that the karma accumulated by this sword was much heavier than the craftsman expected, and it was also said that the karma he would accumulate in the future would be just as heavy. Thomas stared at the bag for a while, then started adding leather to the hilt.

“I don’t know what kind of story Baek Ah will write.”

The leather finish is finished. Thomas lifted the polished bag and delivered it to Maxim. Maxim, bewildered, raised his hand and accepted the sword the craftsman gave him. The leather newly attached to the hilt was an unfamiliar sensation, but the body sensation felt when holding the sword remained the same. Without a sense of incongruity, Maxim seemed to be able to reproduce all swordsmanship at any moment.

“I hope that this sword will complete a story that will go down in history.”

Maxim nodded after accepting the sword. tell a story that will go down in history Actually, that wasn’t what he wanted. Just, one person’s salvation. and the ruin of one person. The sword quietly cried as if responding to Maxim’s wishes. Thomas opened his eyes wide and looked at Maxim.

“Sword name? what the hell is this… .”

Maxim smiled bitterly and put Baek-ah in the scabbard. Just as it always felt, the sword returned to Maxim’s waist.

“Thank you, Meister.”

“… yes. If you need repairs, come to me anytime. If it’s your white child, I’ll put aside any other sword repairs and repair it.”

Maxim nodded, said hello, and left Thomas’ studio. A gust of wind was blowing. Maxim looked to the north and fixed his hand several times to get used to the feel of the hilt.

You have to win. You have to win, change the position of the first prince, and get ready to take down Leon Benning. And, Theodora.

Maxim’s hand squeezed the sword for the last time. As if in response, the sword cried again. At the end of Maxim’s gaze lay the road leading to the palace.

—

“For some reason, you came out so smoothly. Did you have a change of heart?”

Unexpectedly, Leon Benning said that in front of Theodora, who meekly accepted the request to meet face-to-face. As usual, it was Theodora who avoided face-to-face, saying that she was not in good shape and that she had to focus on training. Leon Benning, however, frowned slightly when he sensed the serious mood his daughter was exuding. Theodora pretended to be unconcerned and sat across from Leon Benning.

“The atmosphere is not unusual. You’re ready to pull out your sword at my father.”

“… it’s nothing.”

“They said they went to the adventurer’s guild today.”

Theodora did not respond to Leon Benning’s words. The Count tapped the table and continued talking.

“What did you hear?”

“It’s none of the Lord’s concern.”

Theodora almost ignored the count’s question. However, the count sighed briefly as if he knew everything about why Theodora had stopped by the adventurer’s guild.

“I’ve just closed my eyes, but I can’t stand to see contact with them any longer. But as a father to force you by force, it doesn’t seem like a good look. Let me make one suggestion.”

The Count raised his eyebrows and spoke as if proposing to Theodora.

“If you win the martial arts competition, I will cooperate with you in finding Maxim Apart.”

“No need.”

Theodora rose from her seat, refusing the offer as if it were not worth listening to.

“Theodora, I have no choice but to find out who Maxim Appart is.”

“I don’t know why you’re trying so hard to find someone who was once your enemy.”

“I don’t know why he still thinks he’s my enemy.”

The curse will definitely remain on that body. Despite repeated searches, no news of Maxim Appart was heard, but sooner or later, he would trickle into him. The curse that he painstakingly carves into his body will surely lead him to the ‘right’ path.

“Remember, Theodora. In the end, you have no choice but to follow my words.”

Theodora grabbed her sword as she left the count’s room. Heilang cried softly in response to Theodora’s touch.