Chapter 31
A young man was hurling nasty insults at an elderly woman who could’ve been his mother.
His attitude was so disrespectful, it made even bystanders uncomfortable.
But Rima’s thoughts were elsewhere—still consumed by the humiliation she’d suffered at the general store.
“Damn it…!”
As if annoyed that her own thoughts were distracting her, she muttered harshly under her breath and shut her eyes tightly.
“This isn’t how I wrote it! I didn’t write it that way!”
She recalled the look on the store clerk’s face when she’d said the passphrase—how he had stared at her like she was ridiculous.
And the eyes of the other customers, watching indifferently as though it were none of their business.
Rima, growing anxious, opened and closed her now-cold hands again and again.
“Why wasn’t the information broker at the general store? That’s not how this is supposed to go…!”
This was a novel world.
A world where the future was fixed.
The information she had was supposed to be flawless.
Those two things were proof—proof that Rima was destined to be loved by everyone and to succeed beyond measure.
It was her own novel, after all. Nothing should go against the will of its creator.
“It has to go that way…!”
Overwhelmed by anxiety, she began biting her nails.
Before she knew it, her body had started trembling like she was freezing.
“Hey.”
“……”
“Hey, you.”
“……”
“Rima.”
Only then did she snap out of it.
She looked up to find the elderly woman and the clerk watching her.
The older woman asked gently:
“Are you alright? Are you feeling unwell?”
“I’m fine. You don’t have to worry,”
Rima replied sharply, her tone prickly with tension.
Although the woman’s gaze was kind, it overlapped in her mind with the unpleasant stares she’d endured at the general store.
“For now, this clerk says he’d like to hear your explanation,”
the woman said as she stepped aside, allowing the man to approach.
He looked at Rima with a difficult-to-read expression.
“You said you know the passphrase?”
Rima nodded quickly.
“Yes! Yes, I do!”
Like someone on the run, she rushed to recite the code she had memorized.
“Five old wooden canes, please! One made of oak, and the ends of the other four wrapped in black socks!”
Just in case, she also explained what it meant.
“The five canes represent the two main rules that an information broker must follow.”
An information broker must put down deep roots wherever they go, and spread their branches wide to gather intelligence. That’s why oak was used.
But they must also move in total silence—hiding their footsteps, their breath, even the rustle of their clothing. That’s what the four black socks symbolize.
“I know everything about it!”
“Who told you this?”
the clerk asked.
With her confidence back, Rima gave a sly smile and shook her head with a mischievous charm.
“That’s a secret.”
“Hmm…”
The man scratched his chin, looking conflicted.
For a moment, his eyes met the elderly woman’s.
She just smiled silently.
“Then I’ll take my leave now,”
the woman said, and quietly exited.
Only after she was gone did the clerk speak again.
“That’s a code phrase used to request an audience with the owner of the information network.
But even so, we can’t just let you meet him that easily. We need some proof of your identity—”
“Delrac doesn’t have time right now, does he?”
Rima interrupted.
“………”
“His younger sister is sick, isn’t she?”
“How do you kn—?!”
Rima’s confidence had returned completely.
“Finally, things are happening the way I wrote them!”
That embarrassing moment at the general store must have been a fluke—an “error.”
“Come to think of it, I really did get isekai’d into my book…
A few errors are probably inevitable.”
And in fact, Rima had a rough idea what the cause of that error might be.
To investigate further, she had to get close to Delrac, the head of the information network.
“…Follow me.”
The clerk led Rima deeper into the building.
They stopped at the very end of the hall, in front of a door so old and worn it didn’t even look usable—more like an abandoned storage room.
But when he opened it, a large and elegant reception room appeared.
Seated at the main sofa was a young man.
The moment she saw him, Rima knew.
“Delrac…!”
The man who would become her most powerful ally—the master of the information guild.
“Daddy! Daddy!”
Nivellia always liked to tell the adults what she learned at kindergarten.
“Ask me what I learned today!”
“Alright, what did you learn at school?”
“We learned a song! A song that helps plants grow!”
“That sounds great. Aref, did you learn it too?”
“Yes, we sang and danced together.”
“If you sing it, the plants grow really tall! Just like me!”
Nivellia stood on tiptoe and stretched her arms high above her head.
“Aref, you do it too!”
At the commander’s orders, Aref stood on tiptoe and stretched both arms high toward the sky.
“Stretch! Stretch! Reach for the sunlight!”
“S-stretch…”
While Nivellia sang the chant energetically, Aref echoed back in his usual shy tone.
“Ahaha! You two are doing great!”
Kaleo, who had been watching with delight, offered a suggestion.
“Then why don’t we make today’s work singing the plant-growing song in front of the herb garden? Detter, go with them and observe.”
“Understood.”
The children immediately set off for the garden.
Ever since their partnership with Azel had begun, a special section of the Deiamor estate had been designated for cultivating medicinal plants.
The children had helped establish the garden too.
Their labor was officially recorded in their salary books under “Herb Garden Creation.”
On the way, Nivellia had another idea.
“Aref, want to go work in the stables next time?”
“Yes!”
Aref beamed.
“A-and we get to ride horses too!”
“Great! Want to ride Benti? He’s a little full of himself, but he listens to me. He’s my subordinate.”
When they arrived, Azel was already in the garden.
“Azel!”
Nivellia ran up excitedly.
“Young lady. Young master.”
Azel, wearing gloves covered in soil, greeted them warmly.
“Back from kindergarten?”
“We learned a song that helps plants grow! We’re going to sing it here so the herbs grow up strong!”
The small garden was filled with various medicinal herbs.
Thanks to Azel’s abilities, the plants had sprouted in just a few days. Some had already begun to bud and swell with life.
“Dance prep!”
At Nivellia’s command, Aref snapped into position.
He spread his legs shoulder-width apart and placed his hands on his hips.
“Azel too!”
“M-me too?”
“If we all do it together, the plants will grow faster!”
“But I don’t know the dance or the song…”
“Just do it!”
Unable to resist the cute pressure, Azel awkwardly mimicked the stance.
“Dun-dun! Da-da!”
Nivellia confidently provided the beat with her voice.
“Plant a tiny seed in the ground!”
Stretch! Stretch!
And so, their performance began.
“Breaking through the darkness! The sprouts reach high!”
The choreography was completely off, and eventually, Nivellia ended up singing solo.
“Stretch! Stretch! Toward the sunshine, stretch!”
“Stretch…”
“Stretch!”
Watching the trio dance and sing in front of the herb patch, Detter couldn’t help but think:
“This looks like some strange religious ritual.”
Still, there couldn’t be a more adorable or heartwarming ritual than this.
Detter clapped along, cheering them on.
Now nearly hopping with excitement, Nivellia bounced around, while Aref shyly but diligently danced. Azel had no idea what was going on, but eventually smiled too.
In the end, all three of them laughed and finished the performance with joy.
“Wow!”
Detter clapped enthusiastically.
“That was wonderful. Truly a fantastic performance.”
“Hehe! Was it cool? Really cool?”
“Very cool. Now, could you both hand me your salary books?”
Today’s labor was recorded as “Herb Garden Maintenance.”
Nivellia and Aref looked proudly at their neatly written effort logs, smiling with satisfaction.
Seeing this, Azel let out a soft “Wow.”
“You work this much? Even though you’re noble children?”
“Nobles should work hard too,”
Nivellia said, lifting her chin proudly.
“Nobles need to know how hard work really is. I’m going to grow up to be a rich and awesome adult!”
“I want to be a knight,”
Aref added, quietly revealing his dream.
“You both have such admirable goals,”
Azel said with a gentle smile.
“What’s a ‘goal’?”
“It’s something you want to do when you grow up. Like being a doctor, or a teacher… or just wanting to eat lots of cake.”
“Then I want to eat chocolate cookies!”
Nivellia declared.
But after such an energetic post-school performance, Nivellia soon fell asleep to recharge.
While she napped, Aref went to the annex to train in swordsmanship.
He had only recently reached a healthy, average weight for his age.
Today, Ardores finally gave him permission to hold a real training sword.
“…!”
Aref’s eyes widened.
The wooden sword felt completely different from the toy one Soles had given him.
That toy sword had been surprisingly heavy—but this training blade was even heavier.
“Heavy, isn’t it?”
Ardores asked, as though reading his thoughts.
Aref nodded honestly.
“Yes. It is.”
“That’s because you still lack strength. You’ve gained some weight, but compared to other kids your age, you’re still far behind.”
“But… I eat a lot…”
“Now it’s time to exercise as much as you eat.
Once you build muscle, this kind of sword will feel lighter than a feather.”
It didn’t seem lighter than a feather, but Aref nodded without complaint.
“Ardores…”
“Yes?”
Aref remembered something Soles had told him and asked,
“Why is the young lady afraid of swords?”
“Soles told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… That’s a hard one to explain to you right now.”
“Was she badly hurt?”
“Something like that.”
Sadness briefly flickered across Aref’s face.
“Getting hurt… is painful and scary…”
