Chapter 2-13 : Making A New Dress (part 2)
After we finished discussing the design of my new dress, Mrs. Lamproohi went home in high spirits, saying that it would be her best creation ever.
Right now, Mother and I are having afternoon tea on the balcony.
「Ahh~ I can’t wait to see you in your new dress~」(Folia)
「Ahaha… Mother, you said that Maitena onee-sama’s hand-me-down dresses were not good enough for me, but I still think you didn’t have to order such an expensive dress for me.」(Kako)
「No, no. I had to and I will order more in the future. As a daughter of the Kushaq Family, you need fancy dresses that suit you well to go to parties.」(Folia)
「Parties? But… I’m just an adopted child. Can I even attend parties for nobles?」(Kako)
「Of course. There will be a party held by a certain nobleman in the near future, and you better go there because you don’t want to miss it.」(Folia)
「Umm… Why is that?」(Kako)
Before answering my question, Mother changed her expression. She looked somewhat serious for some reason.
「Because it has something to do with your mission. You might be able to find what you’re looking for there.」(Folia)
「Wait… Do you mean…」(Kako)
Is she talking about the stolen weapons and armor from Sheila’s village?
「Well, you can ask Maitena-chan for more details. Right, Maitena-chan~?」(Folia)
「Eh?」(Kako)
Mother suddenly moved her gaze to the door.
I followed her gaze and saw the person Mother mentioned passing through the door to the balcony.
「Maitena onee-sama!?」(Kako)
「Mother, you knew I was here?」(Maitena)
「Fufu~ I could see your shadow through the window. Aa-ahh~ If you came home sooner I could have asked Mrs. Lamproohi to make another dress for you.」(Folia)
「N, no, I’m good…」(Maitena)
She looked away from her mother and smiled awkwardly as if hiding something.
Don’t tell me…
Did she actually get home early and hide somewhere until Mrs. Lamproohi left? Hmm… That’s possible.
I can understand why she doesn’t want to see that woman.
「I want to see you in a dress just like when you were young. What a shame…」(Folia)
「Ugh… A, Anyway, after investigating together with Father, we got information about a certain nobleman.」(Maitena)
「The one who will hold a party that Mother was talking about?」(Kako)
「Yeah. That nobleman is a collector. Every time he gets hold of something rare, he will hold a party and invite other people to brag about it.」(Maitena)
「A collector? Does he collect weapons and armor?」(Kako)
「You’re sharp. Yes. This man, Count Oglan, is an arms collector.」(Maitena)
「I see. That’s why we might find the stolen goods at his party.」(Kako)
「Yes. It seems that Count Oglan dreamed of becoming a knight, but because he lacked combat talent, he was unable to become one. That seemed to be the reason why he started collecting weapons and armor from various regions.」(Maitena)
So in other words, he couldn’t accept the fact that he didn’t have the ability to become a knight and tried to satisfy his desire by collecting arms?
Uhh… Honestly, I kinda feel bad for him…
「I see. As expected from Maitena onee-sama. You did a great job on gathering the information this quickly!」(Kako)
「Umm, actually, it was Father. He worked hard to gather the information.」(Maitena)
「Father?」(Kako)
「Count Oglan only invites people with similar interests as him to his parties, so it must have been hard for him to gather all this information.」(Maitena)
Hee… So, Father who did the investigation? I thought Maitena onee-sama was the one who did all the work.
My first impression of Father was that he was kind of a silly person who liked joking around just like Mother, but he seemed to be a talented hard-working man.
「Kako, you looked so surprised. I know Father is a silly man, but no matter how silly he is, he’s still a feudal lord who governs a big region, you know?」(Maitena)
「Fufu~ Kako-chan, I understand what you think.」(Folia)
「Uhh…」(Kako)
I couldn’t help but look away and scratch my cheek with my index finger.
「Alright, now I understand that Father is an excellent man, but how did he manage to get this information so quickly?」(Kako)
It’s only been a day since we came to this city, but he’s already investigated this far. That’s kinda odd.
「Ah, actually, I sent a letter to Father and told him about the Keemariq Bandit Group before I left Tranto Town with Izack and the others, so he had started the investigation a few days before we got to this city.」(Maitena)
「I see. So he has been keeping an eye on them for a while.」(Kako)
Even though he had time, a feudal lord like him must have been busy with other things, right? But he seemed to choose to give his all into this case.
Maybe, it’s because the Keemariq Bandit Group is not a small criminal group. They must have been causing a lot of trouble in this region, that’s why Father put so much effort into investigating them.
「Hahh… You know? He has been so busy that he has to reduce his time to rest. Lately, he has rarely even had time to spend with me. 」(Folia)
「Ugh… I’m sorry for that, Mother…」(Maitena)
「No, it’s okay. I understand. Well, you should say your thanks to your father later.」(Folia)
「Of course. Honestly, I wanted to investigate them by myself since this is my party’s mission. I sent the letter to him hoping he could help me a little bit, but… I never thought he would do all the work by himself…」(Maitena)
「Fufu. I think he wanted to show his daughter that he was a reliable father~」(Folia)
「Well, he’s so reliable that I didn’t have to do anything.」(Maitena)
「He would be very happy to hear that from you.」(Folia)
Not only Maitena onee-sama, I must also thank Father for his hard work later.
Count Oglan’s party is off-limits. Only certain people know about it. I don’t think we could get the information about the upcoming party this quickly without Father’s help.
「Anyway, our next objective is clear. We need to go to that party and search for the stolen goods. But… There’s one problem.」(Maitena)
「A problem?」(Kako)
「As I mentioned earlier, only the people with the same interests as Count Oglan can participate in his party. In other words, you have to be some kind of rare weapons and armor collector or a professional that has a fair amount of knowledge about arms.」(Maitena)
「I see… That’s troublesome…」(Kako)
「Yeah… I don’t think you can participate simply through connections. We’re kinda stuck…」(Maitena)
「Hmm…」(Kako)
I folded my arms and started thinking.
This is difficult… None of us are arms collectors nor someone who knows a lot about rare arms.
Sheila might have some knowledge about arms but she’s a blacksmith. She knows how to make weapons, but I don’t think she has the knowledge about rare weapons that are worth collecting. Besides, I don’t think she could survive a rich people’s party.
I wonder if we have another way to be able to participate in the party…
Count Oglan loves rare weapons, right?
If only we had an extraordinarily rare weapon that could pique his interest, we might have a chance.
A rare weapon doesn’t just have to be high quality, but it also must have some kind of unique ability.
For example, a magical weapon.
A super rare magical weapon… with a unique ability…
「Maitena onee-sama!」(Kako)
「Hm? Kako, you have an idea?」(Maitena)
「Yes! And I believe that it’s gonna work! I think I can solve this problem!」(Kako)
「Really!?」(Maitena)
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Couldn’t you use what you did that small town when blacksmith ask you to look at their work….?