[Yes, I’ve also received the same information.]
[She should be able to make enough money to buy her freedom after her last fight, right?]
[Probably.]
[It might become complicated though if we were to negotiate with her using gold.]

She’s not the type who looks like their eyes would glow after seeing money.

[However, there’s an information I got that kind of worries me.]

Seras came a bit closer to me.
Lowering her voice, she whispered.

[Apparently, she seems to have had enough money to buy her freedom back two years ago.]
[Hmm? Then, for the remaining two years, is it that she had been earning money to spend after she had became free?]

Well, it must have been that.
And now, she must have been able to save quite a lot.

[I’ve also thought that was the case, but it seems that it’s different.]
[What do you mean?]
[It seems that she’s trying to buy back the freedom of another person.]
[So, she has been trying to earn extra money for these two years for that?]

Fumu…

[Whose freedom she’s trying to buy or the whereabouts of this person— as expected, you wouldn’t know huh?]
[No.]

Seras held out a piece of paper.

[This is…]

I received the paper and checked the contents.
There was a name written on it, along with some brief information about her.

[A child?]
[This child had been sold here in Monroy by the slave trader at the same time as Eve.]
[Is she Eve’s daughter?]
[No, she’s not a were-leopard.]
[Funnn…]

It seems that there are some surprisingly complicated circumstances.

[Either way, I don’t think there’s any chance that we could solve this with gold.]

I remember that time when I talked with Eve about the Witch of Taboos.
That impression I had about her.
I had the impression that she’s stubborn and stiff when it comes to her decisions.
It’s possible that she’s feeling gratitude towards the Witch of Taboos.
To make someone like her talk, it may be necessary for her to have more gratitude towards me.
I started pondering about it.

[Now then, I wonder what bargaining chip we could use…]

I want some kind of clue.
She has already earned enough money to buy back the freedom of the young girl Seras had mentioned before.
………………….
Should we just drop asking the information from Eve and just directly enter the Demon Zone?
Or we could—-

—hire Eve as my guard immediately after she buys back her freedom…

[Also, I have one more thing that I want you to hear.]
[…………..]

How much information does Seras have?
The amount of information I collected can’t even be compared to hers.

[Can I ask you one thing before that? How did you get these information…?]

Hesitating for a moment, Seras replied.

[I went towards an information broker.]
[Information broker?]
[They weren’t found in Mills, but in large cities like Monroy, you could find information brokers that handles information that usually weren’t opened to the public.]

So, that’s why she went to another district huh…
They may also know a place where you could sell the Azure Dragon Stone…
I can’t make light of such a place.
Speaking of which, she was the leader of a company of knights.
Did she usually get information that weren’t opened to the public by going to the information broker?

[I learned from the princess about the “dark room”. I heard that there were times where conspiracies were rampant inside the royal court. It seems that the princess managed to protect herself by skillfully using those people who were from the underworld.]

The underworld who handles the dirty jobs.
In this world, it seems that they were called people from the “dark room”.
I see…
This may also be the reason why Seras is really knowledgeable.
So, it’s the influence of the princess who she served.

[I apologize for going to the information broker alone without telling about it. It’s because they extremely dislike it when they’re talking with someone accompanied by people who don’t know about their existence…]
[It’s up to you to decide. You don’t have to worry about it. However, how would they know when someone knows about them or not?]

I asked just purely because I’m kind of interested.

[I understood how their “etiquette” works. That “etiquette” can only be learned by the “customers” of the information brokers and this “etiquette” is the proof that you are a “customer”. They would be able to easily see through if you’re just imitating their etiquette.]

Is it something like a cipher that only they could understand?
It seems that group was quite thorough with their confidentiality.
I finally understood why Seras has to go there alone.
I don’t know about these “etiquette”.
If I were to go together with her, I might thoughtlessly make the information broker vigilant towards us.

[However, I should have told you about making use of the information broker… I apologize. Umm, also—]

Seras timidly held out something towards me.
It’s the small bag I gave her earlier, now empty.

[All of the money I received was used to buy these information. Umm… It seems that bargaining for prices with them was a bad move.]
[That’s alright. It’s thanks to this that we acquired valuable information. Rather, I should be thankful to you instead.]
[Milord really is kind.]

Seras looked quite relieved.

[……………….]

No, there’s really no reason to scold her now though.
If you just think about it normally.

[And, what’s the other thing you wanted to tell me?]
[Yes, about that—-]

Without any change in her expression, Seras said.

[Have you heard that most of the strongest Blood Champions in the past have died in their last duel?]

[Yeah, I’ve also heard about that before.]

Most of them have lost their lives in their last duel.
For this reason, the final duel would get everyone excited.
Whether they would be able to survive or not.
Their probability of survival is really low.
It’s as though, it’s just like the Disposal Ruins.

[However, isn’t it because it’s their final duel that it would just simply be a straightforward battle where she defeats her opponents?]

I don’t think that kind of information is necessarily something that can’t be released to the public.
However—

[It doesn’t seem like it’s just that.]

Seras started looking around the area.
Subsequently, she went even more closer.
Standing on her tiptoes, she brought her mouth closer to my ear.

[It looks like one of the dukes who manages the Blood Colosseum is doing something disadvantageous against the Blood Champions to make them lose on the day of their final duel.]

That’s not an admirable act at all.
No, you could even say that’s purely foul play.
It’s an act that unfairly tramples on the hopes of the Blood Champions.
However, that’s something that I—

[Funnn…]

I will seize this wonderful opportunity.

I completely realized that I really am a piece of trash.

[I guess this would be our clue…]