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She was dressed in refined clothing, perfect for a president of a merchant firm. The style of her dress had a faint hint of the Bearentz Archipelago, appearing vaguely similar to kimonos.

"It\'s been a while, Mimosa. Why\'d you call for me?"

Mimosa\'s face scrunched up at my simple straightforward question.

"Sheesh, way to kill the mood when you\'re meeting a girl after such a long time. At least order some tea first, only then do you lead the discussion to the recent happenings and all that, you know?"

"......Don\'t phrase it like we\'re out on a date."

I sighed, and called out to the shop assistant.

◆◆◆

Going straight to the point, she was hoping that I could introduce some sort of backer for her as the Serene Wind Co. was going to open a branch store in the Royal Capital.

A good enough time had passed since the creation of the Sail Club, but me and Dan, who was the president, were the only members at present.

Why? Well, there were many factors. In a time when ships were going through technological advancement, with them shifting to the use of magic engines, sail ships were now going out of style. Plus, around the same time when we created the Sail Club, Dan left his position of Vice-President of Hill Road Club since that club was now welcoming more members than ever, and had shifted to a new system under the command of Stella, its current president.

Dan was seen as incompetent for that. And when a person loses that attractive force, seldom do the people heed their command.

Furthermore, everyone had become busier in their academy life, and Dan had to go to the port, which was a slight distance away, to participate in the Sail Club activities, so time constraint was another factor.

But, the biggest factor was that neither I nor Dan were seeking to increase the club members. We only had one ship so far, and increasing the member count would mean our own training time would be cut short.

So to save ourselves from that inconvenience, Dan and I purposefully ignored the ill reputation— or not, the cold gazes we had been receiving. Besides, Dan himself hadn\'t denied the rumors, or spoke of his plans. He apparently wanted to keep mum about the new sail ship operation method — a.k.a. using wind magic in tandem with Bernoulli\'s theorem to speed the ship up — until he, too, could be somewhat proficient in it. I guess he probably wanted one more person aside from me to be capable of pulling that off before it became public.

I could see where he was coming from. Imagine spending months — or at worse, even a year — of their precious academy time only to have nothing to show for it. The responsibility would be too heavy to shoulder.

I basically followed Dan\'s judgement on this matter. If there was someone who knew how to perfectly balance on a tipping scale, it was him. Also, people with a good understanding of Dan\'s personality and ability had also judged, after getting the details from Dan, it would be better to put Sail Club aside for now, and devote to practicing wind magic first.

After all, their entry in the club would be moot if they couldn\'t even use wind magic. For the others, they just quietly passed on the matter when they heard they needed wind magic, their faces making frowning expressions. This only left the two of us loners in the club ultimately.

Well, someone versed in ships could tell the gist of it if they saw our practice sessions, but our training ground was in the south of the Royal Palace, where passage of ordinary ships was restricted unless they had permission from His Majesty like us. So, if there was even a chance for rumors about our new technique to spread, then this restriction would further stop it from happening.

Anyway, our reaction to the reputation of the Sail Club was ‘whatever’. We were just single-mindedly focusing on our Sail Club activities... until interference came, which was why Mimosa was here.

It seemed that Dan\'s father, Count Serdos, had started to put pressure on Mimosa\'s Serene Wind Co.

At first, the Count was delighted when he heard that Dan had formed a club with him as the president, and that I was one of its members.

However, no matter how much time passed, the reputation of the Sail Club remained still, unlike the Hill Road Club that I had once helped out. No, scratch that. Instead of gaining any reputation, the club had received no new members, no results, and its value had been steadily dropping in the public\'s eyes. To further rain on his parade, even the Magic Car Club that Lil\' Dui from Class E had established was gradually gaining traction. The Magic Car Club had, in fact, gotten quite a good number of students by the time I joined it.

Then came the outdoor classes. It was obvious that the Hill Road Club had contributed to the exceptional scores of the students this year. Hill Road Club\'s reputation, where it appeared that Dan had been deprived of his role, shot through the heavens, and echoed throughout the kingdom.

The same was true for the 3rd ranker in the knight class Stella, who had become its president and had even outclassed Leo. She became the talk of the whole kingdom overnight.

And so, Count Serdos became impatient.

According to Dan, the topic about him had lately turned into a taboo of sorts that you mustn\'t speak of in high society, a contrast from when he had been the apple of everyone\'s eye during the entrance ceremony.

The situation was still alright with those who just awkwardly turned their gaze away, but, alas, there had been some bunch who didn\'t miss speaking out like \'It\'s the parents’ duty to guide a youngster on the correct path\' right at the Count\'s face.

To no one\'s surprise, Dan had often been called out by Count Serdos, and preached on about how he should stop wasting his time on outdated things like sailing ships, and if he really wanted to, then he should quit the Sail Club (and wind magic research) to focus on magic ships. Also, maybe he should request me to put him back on the staff of the Hill Road Club.

Dan knew should he reveal the new possibility we were investigating to Count Serdos, it would only be a matter of time before the rumors grew its own legs and spread around like wildfire. So, he had been sticking with the \'It\'s an indispensable training for me to become a Knight\' excuse.

The impatience of Count Serdos was increasing with every passing day.

And it was around then that he caught wind that the ship that had been given to the Sail Club came from Dan\'s birth family\'s company— Serene Wind Co.

There wasn\'t much to say after that. The boiling impatience within Count Serdos had finally erupted with the momentum of a volcanic eruption.

◆◆◆

"Well, the ship had the crest of our company for promotion after all, so I had long expected this situation."

Yet, Mimosa spoke with a calm face. There wasn’t a hint of urgency in her demeanor.

"But I don\'t think you can do business so easily when your territory lord has set his eyes on you, eh? You also have employees to feed, after all. Can you still hold on when your situation gets rough, or will your workers really not succumb to the pressure?"

Mimosa\'s brow shot up momentarily when I asked.

"Uh-huh, I do hope you don\'t see us as some soft persimmon, Ren. I did say it, didn\'t I? I had long anticipated this situation. That\'s why — though none of us are determined sailors who would never abandon the ship we hopped into — I already had some of the members who had something to protect at all cost resign in the guise of our next work. Now, we only have employees with spirits of steel who will remain dauntless no matter how rough the voyage ahead seems."

The image of those brawny yet kind-hearted sailors flashed in my mind when I heard her words.

"I once told you that I... I have a dream, and that\'s why I took command of the Serene Wind Co. And your offer was the key. I\'m not a hapless damsel who would get cold feet right when the turning point I had wanted is right in front of me, and the path to victory is almost within grasp.

I’m sure you’ll have no lack of sponsors if you seriously look around. So unless you say so, we\'re not going to back down ever."

Ah, her ambition, huh? Right, she did say she wanted to increase the scale of her company, so she can rake in more profit, and hopefully build a sturdy and swift ship that could traverse the foreign seas one day. The open sea had more formidable monsters, apparently.

Nevertheless, the men of the sea never ceased their admiration for the ocean. Well, that admiration came from the valuable materials they could gain from it, obviously.

"Alright, your conviction has assured me. But that resolution is meaningless without victory. Have you thought about how you\'re going to turn the tables?"

"But of course. It\'s through people— mainly you and Dan. I believe in you, and that\'s the root of my conviction. Well, if you wish to dig deeper, then it\'s that we have the ship maintenance dock of Serdos under our grasp. The Count can do whatever he wants, but he won’t be able to do away with us so easily.

They don\'t have any replacement for us if anything happens to our company, after all. I\'m sure of this at least until you and Dan graduate. Until then, I want to shift our company\'s base to the Royal Capital and take it to a height that a Count family can never hope to challenge. This was actually quite timely since I had been thinking lately that that hinterland is no longer enough for us."

She declared all that with a fiery gaze.

Wow, props to this lady. She has the guts to actually clash against the Count\'s family head on.

"I see. Then Dan obviously can\'t take any action publicly, huh? And that\'s where I come in, right?"

Mimosa nodded.

"Yes, that\'s right. Dan\'s mother, who\'s my sister, Vina, is there as the Count\'s wife, after all. She\'s like a hostage, to be honest. From what Dan had told me, she is at the receiving end of everyone\'s criticism, though she has told Dan to believe on his chosen path while snickering in her mind. I doubt she would care even if they were to be expelled from the family.

Then again, my intention was never to fight the Count\'s family. It would be more fun to silence them with results. This is where I need your help."

I nodded with a wry smile.

Of course, as Dan\'s mother and Mimosa’s sister, I wasn\'t surprised that she had the same unyielding spirit.

"I’m going to do everything I can since you\'ve been putting so much trust in me, but what exactly do you want me to do?"

Mimosa flashed a grin at that.

"I’ve been laying the groundwork to set up our branch store here, but I doubt it would hold a candle against the Count\'s counterattack once he gets wind of it. I need a strong backing.

Mad Hound— You have quite the reputation in the underworld, noh? I’ve heard rumors about your violence against the Rots or whatever the small fry group\'s name is. So I was hoping you can hit me up with the Dragon-Crane Union that\'s managing the eastern part of the Royal Capital region. I could join them on my own of course, but anyone could tell that we\'re having a showdown with a noble family.

So why not be open from the beginning and see if they can pull our weight, and how far they can do so? This is why I need your connection."

My face scrunched up as I shook my head.

"......Oh please, violence is such a heavy word for what happened when it was their fault. I just went to greet them personally. Anyway, are you sure about the Dragon-Crane Union? Among the organizations that are managing the underworld affairs, I’m sure I’ve heard that the Continent Firm has connections regarding ships since their bases are close enough to the Rune River in the south…"

However, Mimosa\'s eyes widened in surprise.

"Hmm? So... the rumors are true that the newly established mutual aid society \'Mad Dog’, raised by the bunch of young explorers you’ve been looking after, can\'t see eye-to-eye with the Dragon-Crane Union?

It mostly consists of greenhorn youngsters, so I dismissed them since there\'s no way they\'re big enough to pick a fight with Dragon-Crane Union or the noble society. It also didn\'t seem like you had interacted with them much as well."

Yikes, what the hell was with that cringe name?......

It was created by Benza by bringing in good-for-nothing fellas like himself while I was out of the explorer circle for a while. Well, Red had said he wasn\'t going to set foot in the eastern region anymore, so they weren’t a problem anymore. But I wonder what happened to the Golden Rat that fatty was part of.

Whatever. I didn\'t care much, to be honest.

"Yes, I have no connection with them. Hell, it\'s news to me that there\'s such a mutual aid society. Also, I haven’t supported them or anything like that. If anything, I only threw the troublesome stuff to the fatty to deal with."

Mimosa chuckled.

"I’ve roughly heard the details, but that\'s quite a harsh way to put it."

I mean, alright, it might have been irresponsible of me to push troublesome matters to him, but I didn’t have a hand at Benza gathering other people and shouting that we took down Rose. Honestly, his \'heart compass\' was so chaotic that I had no idea what was going through his thick skull.

"......Rumors are out that it\'s the era of the Mad Dog now. It\'s quite strange how that has been spreading in such a short amount of time. But alas, they\'re lacking in many areas to become someone\'s patron. Well, I don’t doubt it happening if someone like you does take it seriously."

Mimosa then stared at me. I shook my hand with a fed up look.

"Please, I’m not so free to go along with their whims. Anyway, Dragon-Crane Union, huh...?"

\'Explorer Ren\' hasn\'t shown his face lately. After all, if anyone ever caught wind that \'Ren\' was actually Allen from the Knight Order in disguise, the mastermind wouldn’t hesitate from cutting off Rose like a lizard\'s tail, and vanishing into obscurity.

I also wanted to avoid showing my face to the Dragon-Crane Union, since Rose apparently was targeting them.

While I was in a dilemma, Mimosa, who was obviously a sharp woman, noticed that and pushed the following.

"I’ve done my research as well in the last few months, and only Dragon-Crane Union seems fitting enough to become my backer. And what I need right now is someone with caliber, not a connection for ships."

She sure had been putting the Dragon-Crane Union on a high pedestal, huh? I guess their help was indispensable to lay the groundwork for Serene Wind if she was going this far. And in turn, it meant it wasn\'t an unrelated matter to our Sail Club.

"Alright. You can make an appointment with them. However—"

I paused, and continued in a subdued tone.

"I’m not going as the explorer Ren, but as \'Allen Rovenne, the supervisor of the Royal Academy Sail Club’."

Mimosa squinted her eyes when she heard me.

"......Are you sure about revealing your real name to me?"

I sighed.

"Haaa. As if you hadn\'t done your due research already. Anyone should be able to guess as long as they know I am one of Dan\'s friends from the Royal Academy."

However, I received a glare in response.

"You shouldn\'t think so lowly of me. I’m not some low-life to check the identity of our benefactor when they\'re hiding it."

Then she shrugged her shoulders and continued.

"......Well, the answer would either way be forced on your face as long as you live in the Royal Capital for a while though. After hearing the never-ending rumors about the \'Walking Anomaly\', I had an inkling, as much as I didn\'t want to think about it."

T/N - I guess these chapters are a buildup for what is about to come in a few chapters. But the noble society sure sounds like your typical Asian family dynamic. Good ol’ parents being livid over others opinion, and nosy relatives inserting themselves and commenting xD.