I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother Chapter 24

The guilty-looking Letty was visibly fidgeting, glancing at me nervously.

Sir Hael approached her with a thoroughly displeased expression.

With a sigh, looking as though he had no choice but to play along with his lord’s antics, he said,

“You are correct. This person is His Majesty Emperor Scarlet of the Quizen Empire’s Shadow Knight. He has come outside the imperial palace today on an important mission. I apologize for startling you, Lady Evanroar.”

“Uh… I see. No, I’m the one who should apologize. About earlier, um… is your shin okay?”

“……”

Hael fell silent for a moment. His eyes rolled upward to the sky before slowly dropping toward the ground.

“It’s perfectly fine. I may look like this, but I am His Majesty the Emperor’s glorious escort knight, after all. That sort of soft little kick was nothing. Haha.”

“That’s a relief. Whew. I was a little worried because you had trouble getting back up earlier.”

“Ha. Ha. You must have seen it wrong. I got up very easily.”

Oh, did I see it wrong? Thank goodness.

Whew. I almost took out the Emperor’s escort knight.

I let out a sigh of relief and shot Dazar, who was looking down at me with a displeased expression, a sidelong glance.

He had been listening to our conversation with a scoff, but then he stepped in front of Letty—no, the Emperor—and said,

“Shadow Knight. Tell your master to stop acting so recklessly.”

“What?”

“You should be sitting quietly on the throne. Why deliberately send out bait? Tsk.”

“You know as well as I do.”

Letty, who had bristled for a moment, eventually lowered her voice and spoke quietly.

“Their movements are suspicious. The cult’s words may be true.”

“……”

“It’s possible that Ruben really has appeared.”

Thinking that this probably wasn’t something I was supposed to hear, I took a couple of steps back.

But then I froze at the word that came out of Letty’s mouth.

‘Ruben.’

Did she just say Ruben?

Dazar casually remarked,

“If that were the case, do you really think I wouldn’t know?”

“……Yes. That’s certainly true. You are a Siastor, after all.”

So if Ruben appeared, there was no way Dazar wouldn’t know.

What kind of relationship did Ruben and Dazar have?

Just as I was about to strain my ears to listen more closely, Letty glanced at me as though she had become conscious of my presence and lowered her voice even further.

“Various strange things are happening across the continent. The sudden increase in assassins, as well as the food problem you’re handling, are the same. They may try to interfere with what you’re doing.”

“You can tell them not to worry about that.”

“Good. Then we’ll find out who is behind these people through interrogation. ‘The Day of the Rift’ is coming soon, isn’t it? If anything seems different from usual, report it immediately.”

“Ah.”

Dazar nodded to show that he understood, but Letty added,

“And please cooperate with the other Transcendents.”

Dazar’s face twisted.

 

***

 

After parting ways with Letty, we hailed a passing carriage and headed toward the imperial palace.

Letty, who had brightened when she saw me and asked me to return to the imperial palace with her, made a face as though she had bitten into something rotten when she saw Dazar tagging along. (I couldn’t see it very well because she was covered by a yellow cloth, but I could tell from her twisted lips.)

In the end, neither of us could do anything about it, and we parted ways.

‘I’ll send you a letter, so please make sure to reply! Cilia!’

Letty said it in a shy, slightly trembling voice before quickly disappearing with Sir Hael.

‘Uh, sis. Please put in a good word for my lord. Hehe.’

The Black Hawks, who had been standing around like background characters, scratched their heads repeatedly when they saw me before disappearing as well.

I had no idea what they wanted me to put in a good word about.

Leon gave me a piece of candy before leaving. He called it a bribe. I tossed that bribe to the earthworm that had been crawling around on the ground earlier.

And then there was me……

“Can we stop somewhere for a moment before we go?”

“What? Where?”

After having me get into the carriage first, Dazar climbed in after me and tilted his head.

Inside the carriage, which had the Siastor ducal family’s crest emblazoned across it, I boldly pointed toward somewhere in the distance.

“I need to prepare to defeat the existence that threatens the safety of the world.”

“……What?”

Dazar’s face instantly hardened as he sat across from me. His lips became as firm as stone, and his eyes turned cold and sharp.

No, I was only making a joke. Why was he taking it so seriously?

He was making things awkward.

“I mean the worst villains who prevent us from obtaining healthy rice. Those terrifying creatures called pests.”

At my quick clarification, Dazar’s expression relaxed. He let out a small, incredulous laugh and muttered,

“You really have a talent for making people worry.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Why was he looking at me like I was ridiculous?

If the rice farming meant to solve the food shortage failed because of pests, then it really would be a problem for the safety of the world.

“So these pests prevent the rice from growing?”

“Yes. But there’s no pesticide here……”

“Pesticide?”

That was right.

The reason I was heading to a shop with the terrifying name ‘Poison Them in Three Seconds’ was because this place had nothing that could be called a pesticide.

‘Maybe the food shortage happened partly because of problems like this.’

Dazar seemed quite curious about what this pesticide was, but—

“There is such a thing.”

I didn’t feel like explaining everything one by one, so I ignored him and hurried toward the alley where the shop was located.

Erasing his cold expression from my mind.

‘He has plenty of things he’s hiding himself. Why does he expect me to explain everything?’

When I had casually asked him what the Ruben Letty had mentioned earlier was, he had clammed up like a shell and refused to say anything.

Well, he did say one thing.

‘You shouldn’t go around listening in on other people’s conversations.’

Apparently, he had forgotten that they were talking loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Judging by the circumstances, it seemed that Dazar had also come to the imperial palace for some reason.

What on earth was Ruben that made him react like that?

I folded my arms and looked out the window with a sullen expression.

It took about thirty minutes to reach the secluded alley.

After winding our way through various back alleys, we finally arrived at the place where the shop with the terrifying name was located.

As expected, the place was extremely gloomy.

“Then I’ll be back.”

“……Are you sure you can go alone?”

It was understandable that Dazar would ask such a question despite it being unlike him.

“Are you worried about me right now?”

“Of course not. Ah, come to think of it, I suppose I am worried. About some thug who might attack you without realizing what those iron legs of yours are capable of.”

“……”

“If that happens, it’ll be troublesome, so I’ll come with—”

“I’m fine.”

I slammed the carriage door shut and marched away.

I heard a thunk behind me, as though Dazar had hit his forehead against the carriage door after sticking his head out slightly, but I decided it was probably just my imagination and continued walking until I found the shop.

“Is anyone here?”

The shop’s dark wooden door was covered in cobwebs, but once I opened it, the interior was surprisingly well-organized.

There were still tails of unidentified animals and dried hides hanging around, giving the place a gloomy atmosphere.

I wrinkled my nose slightly at the medicinal smell brushing against it.

‘There’s a customer?’

A customer who had arrived before me was standing in front of what appeared to be a messy desk serving as a counter.

Their entire body was wrapped tightly in a robe, so I couldn’t see what they looked like.

The pitch-black robe matched the ominous atmosphere of the shop perfectly.

‘The owner must be preparing the goods.’

I could hear a grinding sound coming from a small door beside the counter, as though someone was grinding something.

Since the customer was simply standing there waiting while the sound continued, the owner must have been preparing their order.

‘Hmm.’

What I wanted was a poison that could eliminate pests while having as little effect as possible on the plants themselves and causing no harm to people who ate those plants.

It was quite a demanding set of conditions, so I would need to discuss it with the owner.

‘Should I wait for now?’

Since the owner hadn’t appeared yet, I decided to look around the shop while waiting.

There were many strange things inside.

Feathers from a thorn eagle that looked like spines.

A mushroom shaped like a finger.

‘Whoa. What is this?’

Then I spotted something inside a round glass bottle and widened my eyes.

‘The eye of a one-eyed giant?’

It was a huge eye that looked almost alive.

Ugh. For some reason, it made my stomach turn, so I quickly looked away.

‘Huh? Did that eye just move?’

I was certain that its pupil had just contracted and expanded, as though it were focusing on me.

Startled, I took a step backward—

—and bumped into something behind me.

“Oh! I’m sorry.”

“……”

It was the back of the customer who had arrived before me.

The person turned around with a tap, tap sound.

‘Huh?’

I wondered what that sound was until I realized it was the staff hidden beneath the robe bumping against the floor.

The staff, seemingly color-coordinated with the black robe, was embedded with a large black opal and looked expensive at a glance.

“Are you all right?”

While my attention was still caught by the staff, a gentle voice came from above me.

“Uh, yes. I’m fine. I’m sorry.”

I bowed my head before looking up at the man.

And I was surprised.

‘Wow. He’s handsome.’

He was such an extraordinarily handsome man that I couldn’t help but think that the moment I saw him.