For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 30

Operating a Mage-Exclusive Information Broker was entirely legal.
That’s why I brought my disciple along.
As Raina Hart and Kevenriak Heteroven pushed open the door and stepped inside, the Clerk’s greeting reached their ears.

“Welcome.”
“I’m back….”

Kevenriak Heteroven, about to say “I’m back” out of habit, fell silent.
To Kevenriak Heteroven, that greeting carried a meaning—that this was a place where he and Raina Hart could return to each other.
But.

….

Before the register in the modest shop, its walls lined with display shelves.
A muscular Clerk in a shirt, his physique rugged and imposing.

‘I’m supposed to work with that person….’

A faint displeasure and shock flickered across the Fourth Prince’s refined features.

‘The Clerk is a different person than before.’

Meanwhile, Raina Hart glanced around the shop’s interior once.
She was comparing it against her memories.

‘Everything else is similar.’

Display shelves covering every wall were crammed with miscellaneous goods.
Just like the sign outside—Daisy General Store—it seemed they sold everything. Though whether they actually sold any of it was another question.

‘To meet the Director here….’

Raina Hart naturally walked toward the register.
The Clerk attended to her as she approached.

“Are you looking for something in particular?”
“Dianthus flowers, a gentleman’s hat, and an old pumpkin. Do you have them?”
“As it happens, we do. Would you like to come in and take a look?”
“Yes, let’s.”
“How many people will be viewing?”
“Two.”
“Understood.”

The Clerk pressed a button and stepped out from behind the counter.
What caught my attention was the charming little apron he wore over his straining shirt, embroidered with a flower design matching the shop’s sign.
When he pushed the two display cases on either side of the shop, a hidden door was revealed.

“Authorized Personnel Only”

The Clerk opened the door and gestured kindly toward the interior.

“Please go right in.”

Raina Hart and Kevenriak Heteroven walked through the doorway and down the corridor.
A dimly lit hallway with sparse lighting fixtures spaced throughout.
Before long, bright light began seeping from around the corner ahead.

“VVIP”

An elegant nameplate mounted horizontally on the upper wall.
As Raina Hart and Kevenriak Heteroven turned the corner—

“….”
“….”

A man in his mid-twenties wearing a shabby suit.
The Director, who had been sitting on the sofa cleaning his eye, locked gazes with the two of them.
More precisely, it was the amber eye resting upon his hand, which hung beneath his long bangs.
…It moved. As if the pupil itself were fractured.

“Master, please step behind me.”

Kevenriak Heteroven, his eyes sharp with caution, moved forward while positioning his master behind him.

“….”

The Director, momentarily stiffened by the sudden encounter, quickly composed himself and rose to his feet as though nothing had happened.

“When did the button get pressed…. Ahem. We have a visitor?”

He was a lean man standing around 190 centimeters tall.
His gaze turned toward the two of them.
Yet his shaggy brown hair covered half his face, making it questionable whether he could see anything at all.

“Who are you?”
“Well, even if you’re subtle, I don’t treat cats like that.”

The Director stroked his chin, facing Kevenriak’s piercing gaze.

“Since you’re a person of considerable standing, I’ll answer. I’m the Director of the Daisy Detective Agency.”
“…Do you know who I am?”
“If I didn’t know that, I’d have a hard time making a living in this business. Especially with such a heavyweight guardian accompanying you.”

Then he turned his head slightly toward Raina Hart behind them.

“It’s been a while?”
“…It has been a while.”

Though this was our first meeting.

“Take a look at this for me.”

Casual speech flowed naturally from my lips.
It was simply Raina Hart’s habitual manner of speaking, after all.

***

A moment later.
The Director sat on the sofa with a reception table between us, while Raina Hart and Kevenriak sat on the opposite sofa.

“Master, what is he doing?”
“He’s appraising a magic stone.”

Raina Hart answered Kevenriak’s quiet question.
Above the Director’s amber eyes, nestled within his shaggy brown hair, magical inscriptions materialized.

Appraisal Eye.
An ability to discern and evaluate the properties and worth of objects.
The Director’s detective agency—known colloquially as the Daisy General Store—owed much of its sterling reputation to this very skill.

“Genuine, indeed.”

The Director, having examined the mana stone I brought, exhaled a note of wonder.
Truly a supreme-grade mana stone.
The purity of its mana, the stone’s resilience, its durability—nothing lacking whatsoever.

“Where did you acquire this?”
“Does that matter?”

Not when you’re taking such a hefty commission.
At my words, the Director grinned wryly.

“Not in the slightest. Our role is to fabricate a plausible provenance for the mana stone before it goes to auction.”

For the right price, they asked no questions of their clients.

‘Had I sold through the Mage Association, rumors would have spread by now.’

A Grand Mage selling multiple supreme-grade mana stones—such gossip would have circulated.
The Empire would have launched an investigation into the source.
Tedious, exhausting complications would have hounded me relentlessly.

‘And that petty Magic Association would never offer fair compensation anyway.’

They would have claimed the stones were contraband and slashed the price accordingly.
I would have received a pittance—barely half the auction value.
This is precisely why high-ranking mages need reliable information brokers.

‘Bringing Keri along was the right call.’

Now that I’d reached the Fourth Circle, it was prudent to know at least one competent detective agency.

“Three in total?”
“Yes.”

To be safe, I decided to convert only three of the five magic stones into cash.
Even that amount would leave me with more than enough money.

“Get me the highest possible bid.”
“Of course. I’ll prepare the contract. However…”

The Director’s gaze turned toward Kevenriak Heteroven.

“This is your first time visiting us, isn’t it?”
“….”

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

‘I thought he’d let it slide.’

Only existing clients could speak the password to the Daisy Detective Agency Director and entrust him with requests.
Those who hadn’t made their first transaction to the Director’s satisfaction were typically forbidden from even being in the same room.
I was grateful he at least permitted observation during the appraisal.

‘Though grateful as that may be…’
“It seems you didn’t notice the sign on the door.”

The Director’s thumb and middle finger flicked outward.

“Authorized personnel only.”
“…!”

Beneath Kevenriak Heteroven’s feet, a magic circle materialized from the floor to expel intruders.
But it went no further.

“Huh.”

The magic circle faded, the floor returned to normal, and Kevenriak Heteroven remained seated on the sofa.
The magic circle had been neutralized mid-activation.
The magic circle had been installed by a 6-Circle mage no less. The Director had him set it up to teach a lesson to anyone brazen enough to claim they had no commission fee.
So someone capable of this was—.

“…A guest?”

The Director’s wavering amber eyes turned toward the Grand Mage seated beside him.
Raina Hart grabbed Kevenriak’s shoulder and pulled him toward herself, glaring at the Director.

“I’d prefer you didn’t use magic like that on my student.”

A concerned parent. The Director stood speechless, his mouth hanging open at the sight of such an overprotective guardian.
But what if that overprotective guardian was Raina Hart herself?

***

“You’ve been sent out, I see.”
….

Daisy General Store.
Kevenriak, sitting in an oak barrel, looked at the Clerk who had spoken to him.
He wanted to deny it, but it was the truth.
Though he had walked out on his own feet, he had indeed been sent out during the conversation between the Director—that suspicious person—and his Master.

“…What kind of person is the Director?”

A flower design on the Clerk’s apron seemed to smile.
The Clerk answered Kevenriak, who had spoken for the first time.

“He’s not a bad person. Though he does swap his eye in and out. Most importantly, he lacks the skill to harm the person inside.”

Mage-Exclusive Information Broker.
No one who found that place could fail to recognize the woman with the pale violet hair.
If someone didn’t know that, they had no business in this line of work and should seek employment elsewhere.
Similarly, not knowing the graceful beautiful boy who called Raina Hart his Master was equally unforgivable.

….

The Clerk gazed at the glass orb Kevenriak held in his hand.
The transparent sphere would glow red if its owner’s safety was ever threatened.
Raina had given it to her worried disciple.
Kevenriak’s gaze returned to the glass orb.

“Would you like something warm? Cocoa?”
“I’m not a child.”
“When you’re in a bad mood, something sweet helps.”

The Clerk walked toward the table connected to the counter.
Just as Kevenriak was about to say cocoa wouldn’t do.

Ding.

A sound came from the wind chime hanging on the shop door.
It meant a customer had arrived.

“Do you happen to have oil suitable for polishing armor here?”

It was a silver-haired boy dressed in mercenary attire, with a sword at his waist.
Beneath his lustrous silver hair, his green eyes gleamed with a refreshing light.

***

“Raina Hart.”

On the way back into the VVIP room after seeing Kevenriak off.
The Director sat on the sofa, filling in the contract as he called out to me.

“It seems you’ve been raising a child in my absence? And quite fondly at that.”

His tone was teasing.
I sat across from the Director without responding.
Unlike when Kevenriak was present, my expression was cold and expressionless.

“Surprising, really. Four years ago, when I heard you’d taken the Fourth Prince as your disciple, I assumed it was merely a hobby.”
“Director, you talk too much.”
“Ah, did I? My apologies.”

It’s better to be quick at reading the room.
The Director, now silent, filled in the final sentence and handed me the contract.

“Take a look. I’ve kept the terms identical to before.”

Raina Hart examined the two-page contract.
One was a confidentiality agreement for the commission.
One was a contract related to this mana stone sale.

‘Both are contracts sealed with the Director’s heart, so the binding force itself poses no issues.’

Raina Hart turned her attention to the contract regarding the mana stone sale.
There were various clauses, but.
Overall, it stipulated that after deducting the agency’s 20 percent commission, the proceeds from the mana stone sales would be paid to Raina Hart.

“….”

Raina Hart infused a trace of mana into the contract.
No particular clause stood out.

‘It seems he didn’t attempt any tricks.’

Excluding the commission clause.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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