Walls Have Ears

All the attention was on Princess Yupe, and the gazes had already moved away from him.

No use for the plus-one, apparently.

Her sudden appearance had caught him off guard, but in a setting like this, no one was more reassuring to have around.

She'd said the salon was her backyard, so she probably came here regularly.

If he'd known, he would've asked for her help from the start…

The salon was a place for nobles to socialize, and to probe each other.

In a way, this was a battlefield.

And in that context, gaining a one-woman army as reinforcement was how he felt.

Pathetic as it was, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses. Today had driven that home again.

"Why, Your Highness Yupe. Radiant as ever! That new dress suits you wonderfully."

"Thank you, Baron Ura. I actually had an old dress refitted. I'm quite fond of how it turned out. If I kept disposing of dresses after wearing them once like I used to, my sister would scold me."

"Ha ha ha. Her Majesty Tianis is now our queen, after all. Even Your Highness must tread carefully around her good graces, I suppose… And these two? They appear to be commoners. It's unusual for you to bring attendants."

The appraising stare bore down on them.

A commoner was beneath notice, but if they were with Princess Yupe, that changed things. Offending them might sour her mood, so best to ask. Something like that.

He'd been pegged as a non-noble at a glance.

Yohane had assumed his face would be known among nobles, given that he worked under Queen Tianis. Apparently that had been a misconception, which was a little embarrassing.

"This is Yohane, a merchant. Though lately he's been running errands for Tianis more often than not. That's how I got to know him. The girl next to him is Azu, an adventurer. She's his bodyguard."

"Yohane… Ah, the commoner who was recently appointed political officer. I see, I see."

The way they regarded him improved slightly. He could tell from their eyes.

Being Queen Tianis's subordinate and on friendly terms with Princess Yupe had apparently bumped him up a notch from "mere commoner."

… Come to think of it, if he and Azu had come alone, would they have been ignored entirely?

So nobles judged by title rather than official position.

… Well, without the position, he was just a commoner. That tracked.

Nobles had land and influence even without a post.

And those posts were hereditary to begin with, he'd heard.

It made sense that the nobility's network was self-contained.

Lately he'd been around friendly nobles, but this was originally how the world worked.

He was forced to remember that.

"I am Ura Nohan, head of the Baron Nohan household. Being able to serve Her Majesty and Her Highness as a commoner is a tremendous honor. Devote yourself body and soul to it."

"Of course, Baron Ura-kakka."

"You seem to have a decent grasp of etiquette, at least. Very well, very well."

Baron Ura drank in the sight of Princess Yupe between sentences, then bowed to her and moved on to another group of nobles.

Even stripped of her right to the throne, royalty was royalty.

Greeting Princess Yupe had apparently been his sole objective.

And the same was true of many other nobles.

Before he knew it, they were surrounded, a procession of nobles taking turns greeting her.

Yohane and Azu were introduced as an afterthought along the way.

It was done casually, almost obligatorily. By the time the salon was over, most of them likely wouldn't remember his name or face.

He could tell from the feel of each conversation.

Under those circumstances, he couldn't exactly interject with his own topics, so all he could do was watch as the nobles chatted with Princess Yupe.

Forcing his way into the conversation would clearly be taken as an insult.

… The "don't interrupt" aura was intense.

He needed Princess Yupe's popularity to get anywhere, but that very popularity was keeping him locked out. A maddening dilemma.

Still, after several nobles had finished their perfunctory greetings and the crowd thinned out, an opening finally appeared.

"Hm, Azu… that wouldn't be the adventurer who's been making a name for herself recently, would it?"

"Y-yes, I believe that's me."

"Well, well. I'd heard she was young, but I never expected a mere slip of a girl. That equipment, though… quite high quality. That sword in particular. A named blade, if I'm not mistaken."

A noble with an understanding of adventurers had perked up at Azu's name after finishing his greeting.

It seemed he kept tabs on notable adventurers through the Guild.

Azu's party, as up-and-coming rookies and rising stars, was apparently on his radar.

"I thought nobles looked down on adventurers. Too crude, no refinement, and all that."

"Only those fortunate enough to never need their services. For someone like me, whose territory borders monster habitat, culling alone is a major operation with just my own soldiers. The further you are from the capital, the better you learn to get along with adventurers. Badmouthing them is the talk of people who've never set foot on the front lines. Robe nobles don't even have territory to manage."

His hearty laugh drew sour looks from a few others nearby.

Probably robe nobles, the ones without territory.

The belief that land was the essence of nobility ran deep.

Without territory, you couldn't raise soldiers or collect taxes.

When push came to shove, landless nobles could do far less than their landed counterparts.

The viscount dismissed them with a snort.

A grounded man.

It wasn't the topic he'd come to discuss, but at least the conversation had moved away from Princess Yupe. He'd take it.

"I've heard your party has cleared several labyrinths and is quite formidable."

"Um, I'm confident in a fight. My companions are all strong too."

"That's reassuring. Do you take named commissions? A labyrinth in a forest near here has become active recently, and it's been a headache. It's not lucrative enough to draw adventurers on its own, though. If someone could just clear it quickly and settle it down, that would be a great help."

Azu looked to Yohane.

She wasn't going to accept on her own. She was deferring to his judgment.

"I'll arrange it. We'll have people dispatched within the next few days."

"Good. Going through the Guild means endless red tape, so I appreciate the direct approach."

He got the details on the location.

The labyrinth was rated at intermediate difficulty.

Azu's team could handle it without issue.

Sensing the conversation was about to wrap up, Yohane caught the viscount before he moved on.

The man was in a good mood right now, so he might spare a moment.

"If I may ask you one thing, Viscount."

"Hm? What is it?"

His manner said: make it quick.

Best to stick to the point.

"Are you familiar with the Adventurer Insurance Association?"

After glancing around, the viscount answered in a low voice.

"… All I'll say is don't dig too deep. Investing is fine, but nosing around beyond that isn't wise."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Do you know who's at the top of the Association? Even though the Finance Minister's faction has pulled back from the salon, their eyes and ears are all over the castle. Asking around too loudly is reckless. Some people would sell you out for pocket change."

It was a warning.

And proof that the Finance Minister still held powerful influence among the nobility.

This in a salon supposedly dominated by royalists.

"The Military Minister's faction broke off wholesale, and the Finance Minister's faction, which had been joined at the hip with them, felt the impact, but they haven't weakened. Don't provoke them carelessly. Not until Queen Tianis has fully consolidated power."

With that, he walked away.

So merely inquiring about the Insurance Association could be construed as a hostile act against the Finance Minister.

It was more thoroughly under his thumb than he'd imagined…

It was even possible that the Association's assets were essentially the Finance Minister's slush fund.

By the end of the day, he'd met a great many nobles.

All thanks to Princess Yupe's introductions.

He'd heard that at parties, having someone to introduce you made a world of difference in how many people you could meet, and today it was entirely thanks to her.

"Ahh, I'm beat. Being fawned over that much is exhausting, you know."

"I think that's a problem only Yupe-sama has."

"So? How was your first salon? I bridged the gap for you, so at least you've shown your face now."

"Thank you. I doubt most of them will remember me, though."

"Can't help that. A single introduction doesn't stick. If a connection comes along, nurture it. This place isn't kind enough to let you achieve your goals on the first visit."

"True."

"Heh. But aren't you glad I was here?"

"Truly. We wouldn't have been able to talk to anyone on our own."

Princess Yupe's nose practically grew as she preened.

Digging into the Insurance Association through the nobles was… not going to work.

If he was going to try, he'd need a specific lead rather than a vague, scattershot approach.

Incidentally, she knew nothing about the Insurance Association either.