I told them about the misunderstanding

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“Hohoho. Liza will be very happy when she hears about it.”
“Um…don’t do that. It’s embarrassing.”
“Hmm, but embarrassing Mr. Takumi is also good. Don’t you agree, Claire?”
“Indeed… Oh! Um! No… That would be rude to him, father.”
“You should just admit it already…”

Mr. Ekenhart let out a sigh… What were they talking about now?

“Ah, by the way… Mr. Ekenhart. Sebastian.”
“Hmm, what?”
“What is it?”
“It’s about Deam… I talked with Nick before coming back, you see.”
“Oh, that man who you hired?”
“And what did you talk about?”
“Well…”

And so I told them what Nick had told me.
How if the duke got involved, the cowardly Deam would just run away. And that there was no need to worry about an uprising or retaliation of any kind.
I told them that Nick had come from the slums, and knew Deam.
Deam was cowardly, trusted no one, and was trusted by no one… A sad person.

I didn’t know what had happened in his past to make him like that, but I was still not going to be sympathetic, because he had targeted Liza.
While he didn’t trust people, he used them to gain power…
…I would soon be in a position of power over the people I had to hire. But I would like to build a relationship of trust with them.

“Hmm, I see. …Sebastian. It seems like we misjudged the situation?”
“Indeed. This was the man who evaded the guards and ruled the slums of several towns as a boss. We thought him very cunning. Someone who would strike back with force if something happened…”
“But according to what Mr. Takumi heard from Nick, that was not the case.”
“Yes. He sounds like your average thug.”
“We were fooled then… Well, it was merely our own assumptions. I don’t mean to boast, but I have a very high opinion of the investigative abilities of the guards in this town. And since he was able to escape them, I ended up overestimating him.”
“Indeed…”

There was still a lot about this world that I did not know, but I thought that the duke would hold enormous power.
After all, in terms of nobility, he was the closest to the royal family.
And he had many soldiers working for him, who kept the peace on his lands.
Perhaps Deam being able to evade them was just a coincidence. But it did seem quite impressive…

So that was why Mr. Ekenhart and the others made assumptions about Deam, and thought that he must be plotting something.
If you are a leader, then you sometimes have to consider the worst outcome… That was something I had once heard.
There were all kinds of people gathered together in the slums. And he had made himself their boss. That would have affected how they saw him as well.

“Father… In other words, if you and Sebastian had a proper grasp on this Deam, then Mr. Takumi would not have been put in danger… Is that what this means?”
“Well… I suppose…”

She glared. Perhaps it was revenge for all the teasing he had been doing to her.

“As for that matter. It was my investigation that was lacking. I am sorry.”

While Mr. Ekenhart recoiled, Sebastian honestly admitted that he was at fault, and he apologized with a bow.
Well, even though he had a mysterious information network, he could not know everything. So it could not be helped.
Still, he somehow knew about what I had shouted… But I decided to not ask about it, as it would only be embarrassing for me.

“While Sebastian is responsible for gathering information, it is father who makes decisions. He even told me that it was dangerous, and that we should only wait and learn more… But the reality was…”
“We-well, it was definitely possible that there would be consequences if you got involved, Claire. Besides, you cannot even fight. What good would it do for you to go to the slums?”

Said Mr. Ekenhart, as sweat dripped down his face.
I understood what he was saying.
It was still dangerous to go to the slums. And so this was not a matter for Ms. Claire to get involved in…
Also, he probably just didn’t want to risk putting his daughter in harm’s way.

Next Chapter

My Beloved Dog is the Strongest in Another World