Is Fii a secret agent?
“I’m hungry. What about you, Yuri?”
“I am also hungry.”
“How about a beef stew then? There’s a good place nearby.”
“Beef stew? Sure.”
“Let’s go then.”
It was noon when we finished the exhibition. The place that sold delicious beef stew that Fii recommended was close by, so we walked on feet. About a five-minute walk later, we arrived at a small inn.
“It’s here. Come in.”
When I walked inside, there seemed to be a dining hall on the first floor and lodging on the second floor. The shopkeeper with good built seemed surprised to see Fii.
“Huhh. Sir Fii. Are you dressed up for a date?”
“Something like that. I will borrow a room in the back. Make it two beef stews please.”
“Ey, sure thing.”
When I was about to enter the dining hall near the entrance, Fii pulled on my hand saying “This way” and he brought me further inside.
There was a small room in the back of the inn with a single table. There were two benches on its sides. There was also a picture hanging on the wall.
It was a picture of a young commander on a horse. A strip of light penetrated the dark clouds and illuminated the young man.
“Is this Roma’s painting, by any chance?”
“Yeah. He gave it to me as thanks for rescuing him. That’s why I left it with the owner of this place, who often takes care of me.”
“That’s so unfair. I wish I could decorate the mansion with it…”
Roma’s paintings aren’t something even high-ranking nobles can get their hands on. No matter how kind one is to another, to leave it with an owner of an inn…
“This picture would grab the attention of others if hung in the mansion. I’d be uneasy.”
“Is that so? Even though it’s painted so beautifully…?”
Even though he looks like a valiant commander there. Noah would be pleased if he saw this picture too.
The uncle he admires so much looks so cool in this painting, after all.
“You have a wide range of relationships, Fii. I’m surprised.”
“It’s my job, after all.”
I feel like I’m being always surprised by Fii. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t reveal too much about himself.
“Fii, just what kind of job do you do?”
“I was in charge of the intelligence-gathering unit under the Old man.”
“You mean, a secret agent?”
According to Fii’s remark, he was the top of the intelligence-gathering unit. I am bothered because he said the sentence in the past tense.
“Yeah. I was looking into the suspicious state of Troyl and investigating the situation of the neighboring countries.”
“So that is why you were often away for such long periods of time, huh. Noah said he has missed you.”
“Just Noah? You weren’t missing me, Yuri?”
“Eh? That’s…”
His question seemed like a surprise confirmation of my feelings, and just as I was about to speak up, the shopkeeper carried a pot with beef stew inside.
“You are quite a smooth talker, Sir Fii. Even though you usually deceive women with your unkempt appearances, you were acquainted with a beauty like this.”
“You don’t have to say the unnecessary, Harry.”
“Ey, ey.”
When Fii spoke to the shopkeeper with a face that blushed a little, the shopkeeper immediately withdrew. I was feeling embarrassed about being called a beauty, too.