Published: January 4, 2026
After changing clothes, I left the inn with Zoe and Kate.
Duselle during the day was just as prosperous as it was at night.
I hadn’t noticed it last night because it was dark, but compared to the capital, the buildings and the people’s clothing were all very flashy.
The whole town had a nouveau riche style vibe to it.
"It’s an easy-to-understand town," Zoe muttered, seemingly sharing the same impression.
Kate looked up at Zoe curiously.
She still didn’t quite get these things.
After walking for a while, Zoe, who had been following behind me until then, quickened her pace and moved ahead of me.
“This is the shop, master,” she said, pointing to a store with a luxurious facade.
It was the shop where Orcott’s poems were placed, which Zoe had researched.
That shop was right in the very center of Duselle, in the busiest commercial district with a large number of people passing through — a prime location.
The surrounding shops and passersby were all dressed decently.
When a beggar came out from an alleyway, a store clerk would immediately come out and chase them away.
“They’ve set up shop in a great location.”
Kate murmured with a troubled expression, “A store in a place like this... the losses must be huge...”
“It’s okay to take a loss.”
“Huh?”
“If you can create the illusion of being a popular poet by having a shop in such a prime location, that’s what matters. A loss from one or two stores is cheap compared to the gold— the bribe I gave Orcott yesterday.”
“I-I see...”
Kate was surprised but convinced.
“Regular customers wouldn’t go there, right?”
I asked Zoe.
She nodded quietly.
“As expected of you, master. That’s pretty much what we found from our inquiries.”
I thought so.
☆
In the evening, we returned to the same shop.
We had taken a stroll around the town, observing the lives of the people.
The fact that the whole town had that nouveau riche feel wasn’t some forced act — it was genuinely overflowing with money and goods everywhere.
The claim that people couldn’t even afford salt due to the recession, that sales were dropping and taxes were decreasing, was a blatant lie.
After confirming that, we actually went into the store to poke around, but—
“Eh!!”
Kate was the first to shout.
Surprised, she ran towards the store in a flurry.
“Master!?”
Peeking inside through the narrow gap of the closed door, Kate called out to me with a shocked expression.
I furrowed my brows and approached the shop.
The situation was completely different from when we came in the morning.
The signboard was gone, and the door was shut tight.
I went next to Kate and peered inside through the door gap as well, but the shop was empty.
I took a step back, then two, keeping my distance to take in the whole building in my view.
“Zoe.”
“Yes?”
“This is definitely the place, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“And inside? The shop was open when we were here?”
“Yes. Orcott’s poems framed were displayed here and there, with tables and sofas for customers, and various furnishings.”
“Hmm...”
I stopped a passing pedestrian.
“Hey.”
“What is it?”
“This store here — do you know what happened?”
“What do you mean?”
The man looked at the closed shop.
“What do you mean what? This place has been vacant for over a year now.”
“Eh?”
“No way!?”
Kate and Zoe, who were listening behind me, exclaimed in unison.
“I see. Sorry for detaining you.”
The man walked away.
“Master! This is strange.”
“It was definitely here when we came in the morning.”
“...Both of you, go ask the surrounding shop owners.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
Zoe and Kate agreed and ran off to the nearby shops to ask around.
They even questioned customers and passersby.
After a while, the two returned with puzzled expressions, as if bewildered.
“How was it?”
“Everyone says the same thing: there’s no shop there now.”
“They say it’s been so long since whatever was there left, they don’t even remember what the previous shop was.”
“I see...”