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“Indeed. She is a talent I barely won over with hard effort, so see to it that all her needs are met.”

“Yes, sir,” the butler replied. He seemed uncomfortable; he glanced at me in disgust and adjusted his reading glasses on the tip of his nose. It did not escape me how he pointedly stared at my hair—it was why I hated how hair color reflected a person’s mana type. The only ones that liked it were attention seekers who had a popular mana type.

I twisted my lips, disgruntled. I had had enough. I wanted to get away from the butler’s disbelieving gaze, but Mayer’s grip on my shoulder was unrelenting. I couldn’t even bulge. Unaware of my feelings—and he would remain unaware for the rest of his life—Mayer kept me in the front as he continued to speak. “Come to think of it… Jun, what is your preferred type of room? A high story or a low story room? A sunny one? Just say the word and I will give you the best I can.”

The butler stared at me with increasingly widening eyes as the captain kept on talking. I wanted to laugh. Even if he looked at me like that, I didn’t know why the duke was being so good to me. I just wanted him to stop staring at me so questioningly…

Mayer’s attitude was so favorable toward me that his memories of me from the first playthrough weren’t enough to explain it. I hung my head, avoiding the butler’s eyes. For some reason, I got a hunch that I’d be staring at the floor the entire day.

* * *

My hunch proved to be correct, as usual. Everyone who saw me walking beside Mayer looked as if they’d seen a ghost. I continued my futile attempts to hide behind his cape and at times his shadow, but with how he kept checking on me and chatting, I didn’t get what I wanted.

I truly wasn’t used to the look those around us were giving me. Their gazes made my ears burn hot. I always had little presence when I was with Fabian Corps—I had always kept myself a step away from the center of things. No one would spare a glance my way, and my name was rarely mentioned by other people, if ever. Now, though…

“Just who is she… for His Excellency to talk so intimately with?” Someone asked.

“Never seen her before… I suppose she’s a recruit?”

“But there’s still a long while until recruits are picked.”

“She has gray hair…” another person murmured. “Can’t be that she’s a support type mage, right?

“As if. She probably just has gray hair. A support type mage joining the Dark Knights? Ridiculous.”

It wasn’t just the expedition members; even the workers of the castle were gossiping! I didn’t want to listen to their chattering, but whether I liked it or not, their voices reached me loud and clear. I did not doubt that Mayer could hear them too with his superior senses, yet he continued to feign ignorance as if nothing was amiss. Feeling that this could not go on, I tried to stop this train ride of a tour. “I’m sorry, but… I think we’ve just about looked around everywhere?”

“We still have not entered the main area,” he replied.

“I tend to be confused when I try remembering too many places in a day, you see.”

“That is not something I would expect of an expedition member who has cleared many a complex dungeon.” Noticing my excuse for what it was, Mayer smiled as he firmly stated, “I understand that the interest you are gathering is making you uncomfortable, but I must take you around like this to imprint your existence among the Dark Knights with relative ease.”

So there was a reason he was parading me around the base: to let everyone know he had my back. But still… “Isn’t it too radical to appoint me as vice-captain out of nowhere? I think there would be fewer protests if you recruited me as a somewhat low-ranking member, at the very least.” I suggested.

Even the people who weren’t sure whether I had joined the Dark Knights or not were making such a commotion already; they were sure to explode into a riot if they knew I was to be vice-captain. Mayer, however, did not seem concerned in the slightest. “I do not recall if I have told you this before, but I am not fond of wasting time. You would have eventually become the vice-captain regardless since I must constantly discuss things with you.”

“I am thrilled that you trust me so…” I trailed off.

Mayer insisted on having his way so brazenly that he looked almost innocent, and to that I could only nod weakly. Two resources were necessary to avoid wasting time, and they were money and manpower. The former wasn’t required in this circumstance but the latter, in this case, had to be none other than myself. In other words, I had to work my butt off.

A sigh slipped from my lips as I recalled the conversation I had with Axion and the other Dark Knights as we sat around a campfire, right before arriving at Nochtentoria Castle.