Before Frondier could answer, Colin spoke again.
“But before I offer a deal.”
He raised both hands.
“There’s something that feels suspicious. I want to make sure of it.”
“What is it?”
“The smart people I’ve met so far always shared one trait — they were cautious. When you come this far underground, most people start to get scared. You descended all those long stairs, yet this room is this small.”
Colin spread his hands wide, showing just how small the room was.
“And anyone perceptive would soon notice something else. All four walls are empty. No shelves, no furniture. Just bare walls. Those who saw the walls being torn apart upstairs can roughly guess the structure of this room.”
“......”
Frondier stayed silent at Colin’s explanation.
Colin went on.
“Why did you come down here? You must have known it would be dangerous, yet you came all the way without a single guard from the upper floor. Why?”
“W–wait, Colin.”
Realizing something about the atmosphere had changed, Carla spoke up.
But Colin’s gaze remained fixed on Frondier.
“I want to know your worth, Brother Frondier.”
Frondier scratched his cheek with a single finger.
'Empty walls, hidden structure — I noticed it in a much simpler way than that.'
He had sensed it long before reaching this room.
His intuition reacted to the killing intent seeping from beyond the door.
He knew the moment he stepped inside, he’d be surrounded by murderous intent on all sides.
That was why he had been surprised instead that the room was so small. Because the killing intent wasn’t inside—it was outside the room.
“As you may have guessed, Brother, right now you’re the rat inside the trap.”
“Colin! What’s gotten into you?!”
Carla spoke in alarm. Colin glanced at her briefly.
“My transactions with you so far have been satisfactory, Principal. But right now, I’m in too much of a predicament to care about small trust.”
Then he looked back at Frondier.
“Frondier de Roach.”
“......You’ve received information about me.”
Frondier spoke calmly.
Colin had said he was an information broker. So it meant he’d obtained information about Frondier beforehand.
He didn’t yet know who from, or what exact intel, but it was enough for Colin to see him as a dangerous individual.
And yet, at the same time, Colin had said he wanted to make another deal.
Enemies burning with killing intent on all sides, and before him, a strange merchant proposing a transaction while surrounded by them.
Frondier lifted his head.
“......Eight.”
“!”
That one short word from Frondier made Colin lift his own head.
'He counted exactly how many people are hiding beyond the walls.'
As Colin thought that, Frondier said,
“You said you wanted to know my worth.”
He raised a finger. A small amount of Heukcheon gathered before it. The black stream lined up into the shape of droplets—eight in total.
“If their lives aren’t that important, I can show you anytime.”
“......”
“If you want to know someone’s worth, prove your own first.”
Frondier’s eyes and expression mirrored Colin’s.
Colin, whose emotions barely shifted, who reacted only faintly. The moment Frondier saw him, he realized they were the same kind of person.
Broadly speaking, Colin was of the same kind as Frondier, Philly, or Quinie.
The common trait among them all: if they’re your ally, they’re immensely reliable—but making them your ally is excruciatingly difficult.
That was why Frondier knew.
“Isn’t that right, information broker?”
How to deal with Colin.
At the very least, easier than dealing with Philly.
“......”
Colin closed his eyes for a moment.
A few seconds later, he lightly raised his hand. Then the killing intent aimed at Frondier gradually receded.
“They’re well trained.”
“They’re not trained. We’re simply bound together for survival.”
“Yet they move with just your hand gesture?”
“And with just their hand gestures, I move as well.”
I see. A tighter bond than expected.
“So there’s a space much larger than this room, right? If we came this deep down, there’s likely more floors above and below. A larger operation than I thought.”
“Please refrain from excessive deductions. I fear you’ll expose everything.”
“Then at least make a face that looks afraid.”
Frondier chuckled at Colin’s still-calm face.
“Would you explain things to me one by one? You must have a lot to say.”
“Of course. I’ve already determined that it’s in my interest to do so.”
Even while pressing Frondier, and even when the situation reversed, Colin remained completely composed.
Whether that composure came from courage or calculation, Frondier wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter right now.
“As I said earlier, I’m in a very troublesome position. The moment you arrived here, Brother, it became that way.”
“You anticipated that I was Frondier de Roach.”
“You appeared exactly as the information described.”
“What information?”
Colin lifted his eyes as if recalling it.
“‘A pitch-black man traveling with several unbelievably beautiful women—that’s Frondier de Roach.’ That was the intel.”
“......”
“Honestly, a man surrounded by many beauties isn’t that rare, so I thought the info was lacking. But the moment I saw you, I knew.”
“......”
“There really were several unbelievably beautiful women.”
“Stop. I get it.”
Frondier let out a sigh.
The intel was absurd, but he had /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ still learned something useful.
'Whoever provided that information knows my situation to some extent.'
That Frondier would come to the capital.
That once here, he’d search for a mask.
That the one guiding him to the seller would be Carla.
That Carla would inevitably come to find Colin.
Whoever provided all that must have known every piece of it to approach Colin specifically.
'Who could know all of that?'
The most suspicious was Antero. He knew of Frondier’s existence and his connection to Carla.
Above all, he was the one Frondier had beaten senseless. Of course he’d be burning with revenge.
Antero had no memory of his contract with the demon Bune—because he wanted it that way. So his memory of the fight with Frondier must have been conveniently edited. But it wouldn’t have been rewritten into a victory.
On the other hand, he’d likely forgotten just how horribly he’d lost.
'Antero’s a Paladin or whatever, so naturally he’d know the current situation in the capital. That’s not strange. But how does he know I’m surrounded by women?'
Neither to Antero nor to his demon Bune had Frondier ever shown any woman other than Carla.
Judging by the situation, Antero was the most suspicious—but he possessed information he shouldn’t have.
After thinking for a moment, Frondier asked,
“Who’s the source of that information?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you that.”
Colin’s expression didn’t twitch.
“......Fine. Let’s say I don’t know, then what did that source say next?”
Frondier dropped interest in the provider. If Colin wouldn’t tell, then there was no point wasting effort. The follow-up information mattered more.
At that, Colin frowned slightly, as if troubled.
“......You really are a difficult opponent, Brother.”
“And what’s with you calling me Brother all the time?”
“Male customers seem to like it.”
......What kind of prejudice is that?
Well, if it worked that often, maybe not just prejudice.
“For reference, I don’t recommend calling women ‘Sister.’ They hate it.”
“I won’t. I’m not a merchant.”
“Someday you might want to use such a title.”
Frondier calling someone Sister. He couldn’t imagine that himself.
Colin rolled his eyes, thinking, then sighed.
“Actually, the provider was a Paladin named Karon.”
Karon.
The one said to possess Poseidon’s Divine Power—the exact man Frondier needed to confirm first.
And yet Karon had known of Frondier’s presence and had given Colin that information.
It was shocking, but Frondier didn’t show it.
“You’re suddenly awfully forthcoming.”
“Since you’ve shown up yourself, there’s no point hiding it anymore.”
What’s that supposed to mean? As Frondier tilted his head, Colin said,
“Karon told me to report when you arrived. Other than that, he didn’t care—he said I could do as I pleased, trade or whatever.”
“Then why tell me everything instead of just following that?”
At Frondier’s question, Colin shrugged.
“I side with the stronger party.”
“......You say that awfully calmly. Your opponent’s a Paladin, and you’re sure I’m stronger?”
“It’s a merchant’s virtue to lie down where it’s safest.”
Colin looked toward Carla.
“The fact that Miss Carla can look someone in the eye for this long is thanks to you, isn’t it, Brother?”
“......!”
Carla’s eyes widened.
Frondier spoke.
“So you knew about Carla’s issue.”
“I didn’t. I only knew she subconsciously avoided looking at others. It happens sometimes, personality-wise, but hers was pathological. She didn’t just avoid eye contact—she avoided seeing any part of another person at all.”
Colin’s gaze softened slightly.
“But now she looks at me without hesitation. I don’t know what her problem was, but she’s been my long-time client. When someone like that’s been helped, it’s only right to take their side.”
Frondier was impressed.
Colin wasn’t using any special ability—he gathered information through long observation.
“Now you can see roughly how tight my situation is. If I don’t report that you came here, the moment your companions start walking around wearing masks, Karon will immediately come for me.”
“If you just report, you wouldn’t be in trouble at all.”
“If something happens to you, Brother, I’m sure you’d know it was because I talked.”
So that was instinct honed from being an information broker.
Then Colin must be a born broker.
But aside from that, his situation couldn’t be summed up as merely troublesome.
“You realize just how dangerous a thorny path you’re walking, right?”
As he said, when Frondier arrived here, Colin was already cornered.
If he hid Frondier’s location, Karon would punish him; if he reported it, Frondier would come for him. Either way, a nightmare.
Between the two nightmares, Colin had chosen to flee from Karon and side with Frondier.
“That’s what I said, didn’t I? Troubled. That’s why I’m proposing a new deal.”
With that, Colin stood up. He rummaged through another shelf drawer and pulled out a rolled-up item, spreading it on the table.
It was a map.
Frondier looked at it with interest.
'Unlike the one I used to get here, this is a proper map. The capital’s terrain and facilities are all marked precisely.'
It had a clear scale, and the symbols used were this country’s official ones.
“The Paladin Karon who came to me, the information he brought, the strange current flowing through the capital right now, and the man who appeared just like that information—when these pieces come together, even a child can see the picture.”
On the map’s center, Colin wrote two names: Hera and Aphrodite.
The goddesses representing the two factions now dividing the capital. And between them, he wrote the name Poseidon.
“This isn’t a petty dispute. It’s the sign of civil war.”
