When Egg heard the request from Daskar, he couldn't stop his brow from furrowing.
Of course, Daskar—sitting at his desk in Egg's line of sight, reading documents, making notes, and sorting papers into several boxes—wouldn't get angry even if Egg showed his displeasure.
Egg had ended up as Daskar's subordinate through Rei's scheme... or rather, a method better described as a plot, but these days he was actually grateful for it.
Daskar was a completely different sort of noble from the ones Egg had known.
A noble who would casually strike up a conversation with Egg—a former bandit, though he insisted on the term "righteous thief"—was utterly unimaginable.
On top of that, his salary and the equipment he was issued were more than satisfactory, and Daskar would chat with Egg and his men without any pretension.
Furthermore, Egg was now treated as the head of intelligence among Daskar's subordinates.
Due to the nature of the role, he naturally couldn't operate openly, but his rank was equivalent to or above the Knight Order's vice-commander—though still below the commander.
Their treatment, which went far beyond what the word "generous" could convey, had Egg feeling genuine loyalty toward Daskar, even though he knew it was out of character for him.
And it wasn't just Egg. His subordinates never said it outright, but as someone who had known them for years, Egg could tell perfectly well that they enjoyed their lives in Gilm.
A peaceful daily life they could never have experienced before.
And yet, when it came to work, they still got to spend their time in a tense, stimulating environment.
It was the only frontier in the Kingdom of Mireana, but precisely because of that, there were foods and drinks here that couldn't be found anywhere else.
Despite living such fulfilling days... he still couldn't bring himself to simply nod along to what had come out of Daskar's mouth.
"Um, Lord Daskar? I'm sure you know this, but we're pretty busy right now, aren't we?"
"I'm aware of that."
Replying to Egg's words, Daskar still didn't stop his hands or his eyes.
As a former knight, paperwork like this was far from his specialty, but after serving as a lord for many years, he had grown accustomed to it whether he liked it or not.
By now, he handled documents so smoothly that one might think it was his true calling.
"Then why, in our current situation, do we need to investigate an adventurer... one who doesn't even seem to be involved in anything?"
"...Because Marina asked me to."
Here, Daskar finally raised his gaze from the documents and muttered with a sigh.
If they were truly too busy to do anything, Egg could have pushed back and told Daskar not to make unreasonable demands.
But... fortunately or unfortunately, it was an undeniable fact that while the Intelligence Unit was busy, it still had some margin of capacity.
How Marina knew this, Daskar didn't know, but it was that Marina.
It wasn't just Daskar who could accept that she would know that much without it being strange.
And for Daskar, who now had secrets known to her that made him want to clutch his head and roll around on the floor whenever they came up, resisting Marina was impossible.
Well, if Marina had demanded something like Gilm's secrets or the secrets of Margrave Larkus's House, Daskar wouldn't have accepted.
But whether to call it unfortunate or whether she understood everything, Marina never made such demands.
"Ah... I see."
Once Egg heard from Daskar's own mouth who had made the request, he couldn't protest any further—in fact, he even felt sympathy.
Egg knew very well what kind of person Marina was, after all.
There had been a period when Egg was the one reporting to Marina about a problem that had arisen within Gilm.
(That time, it was Rei's fault too, wasn't it.)
After Rei's great exploits in the war against the Bestia Empire—exploits that anyone could recognize as the single greatest contribution—retainers sent by numerous nobles had been dispatched to Gilm, wanting to make Rei their subordinate.
Among them were not only those who negotiated with Rei directly, asking him to join them, but also many who tried to dig up some weakness of Rei's to exploit, or who more bluntly planned to coerce him with power or violence.
If Rei came into contact with such people, it could result in significant damage to Gilm.
For that reason, Rei was asked to leave Gilm for a short while, during which Egg and others would handle things.
During that time, Egg had met with Marina on multiple occasions, and naturally came to know what kind of person she was.
She was like the very embodiment of feminine allure, possessing a charm that could be called both bewitching and captivating.
An ordinary man wouldn't find it strange to be ensnared by a single glance from her.
Of course, everyone had their preferences—some preferred innocent women, others wanted someone above a certain age, or below a certain age, and so on.
But Marina's appeal had nothing to do with such preferences; she possessed an alluring charm that could arouse desire in most any man.
Egg, too, recalled that it had been quite difficult to maintain his self-control when in Marina's presence.
"So that's how it is. I'm counting on you."
As Daskar said this, turning his gaze back to the documents, Egg let out a small sigh of resignation before speaking.
"Understood. However, if something comes up that I need to prioritize, I'll put that first instead. That won't be a problem, will it?"
In extreme terms, even if someone was trying to cause trouble related to Gilm's expansion project, they couldn't just ignore that and focus on the investigation Marina had requested.
Of course, if that investigation would have a major impact on Gilm, that would be a different matter...
But looking into an adventurer with a snake tattoo on his left arm didn't seem like something that would affect Gilm's fate, no matter how he thought about it.
Daskar apparently had no objections to Egg's words either, as he offered no rebuttal and simply focused on his own work.
Seeing Daskar's demeanor, Egg exchanged a few brief words and left the office.
At present, Daskar had a great number of merchants and nobles seeking audiences with him.
Among all that, the reason he had made time to meet with Egg was likely because he wanted to get the matter Marina had asked for taken care of quickly.
After leaving the office, Egg thought as much while watching Daskar's subordinate go to call in the next person for an audience.
To avoid being subjected to strange looks from the merchants and nobles, Egg left the lord's manor through the back entrance rather than the front.
Along the way, he encountered several maids, butlers, knights, and soldiers on guard duty, but since Egg's visits to the lord's manor were not uncommon, they didn't particularly question him. He exchanged brief words with them as he made his way out.
Egg had a face that could rightly be called intimidating, but while that may have been the case initially, by now no one shrank back or went on guard when they saw him.
Having exited the lord's manor, Egg headed for the building that served as the Intelligence Unit's base.
...For the record, there was a building used by the Intelligence Unit within the lord's manor grounds as well, but that was merely a branch office.
Since they were engaged in intelligence work—which was better off not drawing attention—it was only natural that they should keep a low profile.
Additionally, while some members had joined the Intelligence Unit after Egg began serving Daskar, quite a few were former members of the Prairie Wolves that Egg had led.
Naturally, such men would seem out of place in the lord's manor for various reasons.
They might even be mistaken for captured bandits.
And there was a risk they would stand out as members of the Intelligence Unit.
That was why it was only natural to establish a base outside the lord's manor.
"Hey, I'm back."
Saying that, Egg entered a certain shop.
The shop, which sold miscellaneous goods, did indeed sell such goods on the surface, but in reality, it was a front for the Intelligence Unit's base.
However, the only people inside the shop were clerks hired for the cover; there was no sign of any Intelligence Unit members.
"Hey, where are the others?"
"Ah, a few are in the back. But most of them are out."
"I see."
As a shop employed as a front for the Intelligence Unit, the clerks here weren't particularly surprised to see Egg.
Well, they had been surprised the first time they met him, but after a few years of interaction, it was only natural to get used to even the most intimidating of individuals.
Moreover, whatever his intimidating appearance, Egg was in fact a rational man by nature and wouldn't resort to violence without reason.
...Which meant he would use violence if there was reason, but the people working at this shop had never made any major mistakes, so fortunately, such an occasion had never arisen.
Inside the shop, there were only a few customers.
With so many people flocking to Gilm seeking work, it would be accurate to say business was slow.
But since this shop was an Intelligence Unit base to begin with, and the general store itself was just a front, this wasn't a problem.
In fact, having more customers would only lead to complications, so fewer customers was better.
A few of those sparse customers, startled by Egg suddenly entering the shop and calling out to the clerks, hastily left.
Seeing the customers leave, the clerks showed no particular sign of disappointment and returned to their work.
Even if it was a front... no, precisely because it was a front, they couldn't afford to do things half-heartedly.
Watching the clerks' behavior from the corner of his eye, Egg headed to the back of the shop.
There, several of his subordinates were relaxing.
Even though Egg had entered the room, none of them made any move to stand up.
They simply offered a light greeting, raising a hand or the like.
Egg, seeing this, showed no sign of anger either.
He wasn't particularly strict about discipline to begin with, so as long as they did their jobs properly when it mattered, he had no complaints.
...The former Prairie Wolves aside, those who had newly joined the Intelligence Unit were initially surprised by such exchanges.
But if everyone else behaved that way, trying to be the only one who was disciplined wouldn't last long.
As a result, they eventually grew lax about discipline just like the others.
"Alright, who's free right now?"
That tone of voice was vastly different from when he had been speaking with Daskar.
It was only natural that his attitude would differ between his employer and lord of Gilm—the central figure of the Neutral Faction—and his own subordinates.
"Umm, I'm currently looking into something regarding the King's Faction Nobles."
"I'm dealing with a supposed issue in the Slum District, so I've been assigned there."
"I'm on the case of some merchants committing fraudulent acts."
"I'm keeping watch on the Noble Faction Nobles to make sure they don't make any suspicious moves."
Each of them reported their current assignments.
Egg thought for a moment after hearing them, then opened his mouth to address the man who had said he was investigating the Noble Faction's movements.
"Alright, you—hand off what you're working on to someone else for now. I've got a different job for you."
"Ugh."
The man Egg had pointed to wore an expression of displeasure, just as one would expect from his reaction.
The matter with the Noble Faction Nobles had been taking considerable time to investigate, partly due to the Relduct affair.
Of course, with Elena—the symbol of the Noble Faction—having come to Gilm, the work itself had become easier.
That was precisely why the man was displeased at being told to hand off that easy assignment to someone else.
Still, knowing Egg's personality, the man accepted the change in assignment while making his dissatisfaction apparent.
"So, what do I need to do?"
"Investigate an adventurer for me."
"...Huh? An adventurer? Is he someone dangerous? Like Rei, maybe?"
As someone who had originally been Egg's subordinate, the man knew very well just how formidable Rei was.
Perhaps that was why he said what he did, because upon hearing it, Egg let out a sigh as if to say it was no joke.
"Listen, if an adventurer like Rei were just walking around out there, Gilm would be... no, the Kingdom of Mireana would be finished."
The man nodded instinctively at Egg's words, then asked again who he was supposed to investigate.