Chapter 8: Aleck [1]

“It’s political,” I lied with confidence I didn’t feel. “You know how nobles are. Everything’s political.”

He stared again.

And then, slowly—too slowly—he walked forward. His footsteps echoed like hammer strikes across the polished floor.

When he stopped a few feet from me, I instinctively backed up half a step.

“You want me to put my name on that,” he said, voice quieter now, almost curious, still with hinto fenimen voice. “Knowing nothing about what you’re actually doing.”

I hesitated.

Then nodded.

“…Yes.”

Another pause.

Another stare.

And then—to my complete surprise—he let out a faint chuckle.

Just a breath of sound.

Not mocking.

Not cold.

More like… interested.

“You’ve got guts,” he said. “Reckless. Stupid. But guts, nonetheless.”

He held out a gauntleted hand.

I blinked.

“You’ll sign it?”

“Give it here.”

I didn’t move.

“…Wait, seriously?”

He tilted his head slightly, as if bored. “Before I change my mind.”

Right. I shoved the form into his hand like it was on fire.

He took it, turned toward one of the wooden benches, and pulled out a charcoal pencil from a satchel at his side.

In less than ten seconds, he scrawled something on the bottom of the page, then pressed his armored thumb against the seal with a faint hiss of mana.

There. Done.

He handed it back.

I stared at the signature. It was messily written, but it was there. Along with his seal.

“…Thank you,” I said, stunned. “I mean it. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

He stepped past me without another word, broadsword back on his shoulder.

“Wait,” I called out. “At least tell me your name.”

He paused at the door.

Then, over his shoulder:

“Aleck.”

And just like that, he was gone.

—-

Back in the hallway, I stared at the signed travel form like it was a divine relic.

Hans wasn’t going to like this.

But he couldn’t deny it now.

I had a sponsor.

I had a signature.

I had a way out.

“Aleck, huh…” I muttered.

Not bad for a faceless knight.

Now all I had to do… was survive whatever the hell waited in the West.

No pressure.

…And at the same time, system notification appeared in front of my eyes.

[Alice Draken Affection]

[-30 (Slightly Displeased)]

Wait?! What?

Why her affection, which was -50 went to -30?

The system prompt still lingered in front of my vision, flickering like it wasn’t quite sure if it wanted to disappear yet.

> [Alice Draken Affection]

[-30 (Slightly Displeased)]

I stared at it.

Squinted.

Blink-blinked.

Then whispered, “…What?”

Her affection was -50. As in, cold as an iceberg, deep in the Mariana Trench levels of nope. So how the hell did it jump to -30?

Still in the negatives, sure, but—this wasn’t normal.

Nothing had happened with her.

I hadn’t spoken to her.

I hadn’t even seen her today.

“…Is this a bug?” I muttered, rubbing my temples.

But the system didn’t answer. It never did. It was like yelling at a god who forgot they had admin rights.

I opened my status menu out of pure panic-fueled instinct. Just in case. Maybe the system had added a line of context. A tooltip. Anything.

Nope. Just the same deadpan list of stats and tags.

[Reputation: Alice Draken — Slightly Displeased (-30)]

No note. No explanation. Not even a timestamp.

“System, show activity log for Alice Draken affinity,” I hissed under my breath.

For once, it listened.

> [Affinity Shift Trigger Detected]

[Cause: Witnessed suspicious interaction]

[Timestamp: 12:39 PM — East Training Hall Proximity Range]

“…Witnessed?”

My voice went cold.

Wait—WAIT.

She was there?

I spun around in the hallway so fast I nearly tripped.

No one.

But now that I thought about it, when I was talking to Aleck…there was strange feeling that I got in my chest but I thought it was just

paranoia.

Turns out, I should’ve trusted the paranoia.

Alice Draken had been there. Somehow. Watching.

And now she was “slightly displeased.”

That was bad.

That was really bad.

Because Alice Draken was the kind of person who didn’t get slightly anything. She either ignored you, or burned you out of existence with a flick of her finger and a bored sigh.

I clutched the signed travel form tighter, suddenly aware of how fragile my plan really was.

“…Why is she mad? Did I do something wrong?” I muttered.

But that didn’t make sense. She didn’t even like me. She barely tolerated my existence.

So what was it, then?

Aleck?

The signature?

The way I lied about politics?

Or—Gods forbid—was she mad because he agreed to help me?

Now that was a terrifying thought.

I backed up against the wall, letting my head thunk lightly against the stone.

“Great. I finally get a signature and the only person who can vaporize my chances with a single look is now less angry than before but still watching me like a hawk.”

Somewhere in the estate, Alice Draken was probably sipping imported tea while mentally calculating the most efficient way to ruin my week.

“…Whatever,” I muttered at last, pushing off the wall. “Can’t turn back now.”

I had what I needed.

It was time to report to Hans and make this official.

Even if the walls had eyes.

Even if Alice Draken had somehow decided to get slightly less mad in the middle of my lying spree.

Even if the knight with the woman’s voice and blood-red eyes had just signed his name to my fate.

—

I arrived at Hans’s office just before sunset, breath caught in my throat like a stone.

He looked up from his desk as I entered, his expression unreadable as always.

“You have the form?” he asked flatly.

I held it up, trying to steady my hand.

He reached for it, examining the signature and seal with narrowed eyes.

“…Aleck?” he read aloud, slowly.

His brow furrowed.

I could tell that he was surprised, very much suprised.

“Is something wrong?”

He looked and me and sighed and composed himself.

“No it’s nothing. Everything is okay now. You can go outside of North territory Tommorow. Now get out of my office.”

He was irritated for some reason but I didn’t point out.

Anyway, Finally I can get those artifacts for me.

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