Kuro no Maou

A little deeper inside the main street was the Bar, Fairy Tale.

There was no hesitation in Lily’s steps as she led Fiona there because that’s the place where she had drunk through the night with Kurono.

“It seems to be flourishing more than I thought.”

In front of the door of the shop that had the ‘open’ signboard, Lily said that. She was currently in her child form but her consciousness was the adult one.

But there was no need to bring out her consciousness if they’d come only to have a meal.

Then, it meant that they had another reason to come here.

“Is there something at this shop?”(Fiona)

“You’ll know soon enough.”(lily)

Saying just that, Lily opened the door of the shop.

“Welcome.”(shopkeeper)

The interior was pretty small compared to a normal café cum bar.

More than two-thirds of the chairs were filled and considering that more than of them were of races other than human, it showed the type of customers this place had.

And so, even the employee that came towards Lily and Fiona with a perfect business smile was also not a human but a Fairy.

Probably because she was surprised at seeing a fairy living so normally inside human establishment, Fiona was curiously gazing at the small fairy in the apron dress.

Even in front of a being of the same race, lily showed no signs of worry, in fact she spoke her business even before the waitress could open her mouth.

“Is the innermost seat open?”(lily)

“Have you made a reservation?”

The fairy was still smiling as usual but Lily clearly sensed a slight surprise from her.

“No, this is the first time I’ll be using the ‘inner’ side.”(lily)

Lily suddenly brought out 10,000 klan and gave it to the employee.

“I can request for it now, right?”(lily)

Since the fairy was only 30cm in height, she held the bag of gold coins under her arm and gave a smile.

“Yes, then let me guide you to your seat.”

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The seat lily had asked for was certainly the innermost seat on the floor but it’s not like it was surrounded by some partition or in a separate private room.

Though it might be a bit difficult to see directly from the entrance, but structurally, it looked similar to every other seat on the floor.

“It’s a pretty amazing sound barrier they have put.”(Fiona)

But, Fiona had instantly sensed the anomaly the moment she sat beside Lily.

Though the sounds from outside could be heard, no sound would leak out from inside this barrier.

“It’s a seat meant to talk about things that shouldn’t be overheard, so it’s only obvious.”(lily)

Fiona soon realized what those who used this seat were looking for as soon as she saw Lily’s such normal attitude.

“An information broker, is it?”(Fiona)

Lily gave a small nod.

“You did well finding someone like that here.”

As it names suggests, an information broker sells info.

It wasn’t rare for places like bars or restraints where adventurers gather to also become places where info is sold. It was the same on both Arc and Pandora, Fiona thought.

“It was a full moon the last time I came here. I wouldn’t have known if I was in my child form.”(lily)

But still, it wasn’t easy to find it.

After all, nobody puts up a sign [Information Broker] boldly.

Normally, those wanting info above what is provided by guild seek for information brokers. They are usually used by skilled adventurers and usually reject newbie rank 1 adventurers as well.

Such information brokers are composed of a huge network of people who have been living in the city from a long time so only local adventurers are usually able to make use of them and outsiders aren’t able to get into contact with them unless they are extremely sharp.

When Fiona was in the republic, she did use such informants time after time but, since she was weak at human communication, she didn’t really like going to them.

“I’ll just stay quiet and eat and leave all the negotiations to you.”(Fiona)

“Yes, you do that, no problem.”(lily)

It’ll be troublesome if Fiona said something weird while not reading the atmosphere and displeased the other party.

Informants especially, have a habit of appraising the requester, so they might reject the request if they become suspicious of you.

“Lily-san, what will you order?”

Fiona had already forgotten about such things and was now focused on the menu.

“Let’s see—“(lily)

Lily was about to look at the menu but soon raised her head back.

“Sorry to have made you wait.”

That’s because the previous Fairy waitress had come back.

While shining a rainbow coloured light, the small Fairy descended on the table.

Her chignon styled hair and her round cute eyes were both the same colour as Lily, blond and green respectively.

Her appearance was like a doll that could move but that was something very natural for fairies and there would have been many in the fountain of light that looked exactly like her.

“So you’re the manager here?”(lily)

“Yes, but, you don’t seem too surprised at that.”

“fufu, it’s not that difficult to see that.”(lily)

To others, she would seem like a harmless cute waitress but that was not the case for Lily who held strong telepathic powers.

It would take some time and labour to see deep inside her psyche and thoughts but reading the outer layer of thoughts alone was enough to check that she wasn’t just the waitress.

At the same time, Lily had also come to know that she was acting like a maid because she liked it as a hobby.

“Welcome to Fairy Tale, I’m the one in charge of this store, my name is Karen. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“I’m Lily and this is Fiona from rank 2 adventurer party, [Element Master].”

“Sorry but can I give my order already?”(Fiona)

Shit, I should have fed her earlier, is what Lily thought but Karen gave a smile and listened to Fiona’s demand.

“Yes please, I’ll take your order first then.”

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In the end, the dealing of information did not begin till Fiona’s order had arrived.

Fiona alone had ordered numerous dishes so Lily would be fine as long as she ate a bit from what she ordered and only asked for some tea.

“I have both things I want to know and things I want you to investigate.”(lily)

Lily quickly cut to the chase.

“A trusty weapon shop, item shop, and a skilled tailor. And also tell me about a place where we can buy horses.”(lily)

“Lily-sama, this is the first time you have come to Spada, I see.”(Karen)

From Lily’s questions, she could infer that she wasn’t well informed about Spada so this must be her first time coming here but Lily guessed that this Karen already knew more about them than that.

For example, we were one of the adventurers that escaped from Daedalus and had taken the emergency quest.

“For both weapons and items in Spada, Mordred Weapon Company is the most reliable. It has a store in both upper stratum and lower stratum as well after all.”

“I see, so we can’t expect for any better than that right now, is it?”(lily)

So you have already gone there once. Lily nodded to that and confirmed that they weren’t so bif just for show.

“Other shops that I can recommend, I’ll make a list and give it to you along with markings on a map.”

“Thank you.”

I’ll also mark some good date spots as well, on those words, Lily ended up grinning while breaking her poker face.

It seems, she remembers her coming along with Kurono even though she was in her girl form, but it seems Karen had already realized that they were the same person.

In any case, with this info, they should be able to get a proper present for Kurono.

Not just that, since they were going to work as adventurers in Spada from here onwards, they’ll be able to avoid going to poor shops and directly go to the recommended ones.

In Spada where there were a lot of people as well as shops, it would take a lot of labour to find a good shop normally.

That’s why, people like Lily who first looked for informants to get such knowledge weren’t really rare.

“Then next, do you know about a rank 1 adventurer called Simon?”(lily)

She hadn’t talked to Kurono about this but when he had told that his sister was a general of the Spada army at Gallahad Mountains, Lily didn’t have a really good feeling about it.

Probably Simon wasn’t a normal adventurer but actually belonged to some great family or something.

If you get tied up with someone with a high social status, who knows what kind of trouble might come with it?

It might sound like exaggerating but Kurono and them did possess power more than a rank 4 adventurer, there’s a good enough chance that someone might try and use them.

That was still in the realms of a wild idea but until they knew what kind of person Simon was, why was he working as an adventurer, Lily felt that there was a need to do a background check.

If they were lucky, she could get hold of some kind of weakness and stop them if they try to use Kurono.

As Lily held such expectations, Karen answered after a small gap.

“I don’t know, is what I want to say but I can’t hide anything from Lily-sama.”(Karen)

“No, you shouldn’t hide things from not just me but anyone. Fairies don’t lie after all, right?”(lily)

So it seems that legend was really just a legend, so thought Fiona as she ate the giant sandwich.

“I’ll confirm this just in case but, name is Simon, Rank 1, Class alchemist, greyish hair and green eyed small elf, right?”(Karen)

“As expected of an information broker or is Simon simply that famous, which is it?”(lily)

Both actually, Karen replied with a smile rivalling Lily’s own.

“I want to know further detailed info about Simon, if possible, along with his family relations.”(lily)

“Very well, I’ll be able to give info on him immediately as well though.”

With the same movements as when Lily had entered the shop, she left a bag of gold coins on the table.

But, this time it was 50,000 klans.

“I want to know his recent actions and movements as well. Investigate that as well. At the same time, also get info about the Spada troops to which Simon’s elder sister belongs to as well. It’s fine even if that info is only general things that are commonly known.”(lily)

If she were to actually ask about confidential matters regarding the Spada army, she’ll have to pay upto hundred times of current amount. Of course, Lily didn’t need such info.

“I understand, I’ll complete my investigations within 3 days so please come again after that.”

Karen gave refreshing smile to which Lily also gave a bold smile and they shook each other’s small hands

“By the way Fiona,”(lily)

“Yes?”

“The bill for your food, pay it yourself.”(lily)

The bill will be 4700 klan, those words spoken by Karen resounded vainly in Fiona’s ears.