Chapter 60: Interlude 1: Warmth

The proud peregrine falcon carrying the Fairy Badge shook its body, sending dewdrops flying from its feathers as it gracefully stretched. The chicken watched from the roof. She feigned indifference, but her body subtly twitched as she mimicked the movements of the Fairy Kingdom peregrine falcon.

Blaze gave a helpless roll of his eyes and opened the letter the peregrine falcon had brought.

After he released it yesterday, the peregrine falcon hadn’t left. Instead, it had waited patiently for him to read the letter so it could take his reply back.

***

Dear Mr. Black Beast Knight,

Given that your copper coins play a crucial role in our guild’s plans to raid monsters, we hope to monopolize your copper coin supply for the next twenty days.

In addition to providing star fragments, we will also offer you all kinds of assistance to the best of our abilities.

So please, you must agree no matter what. We’re begging you; this is extremely important to us.

***

"Is that all?" Blaze wrote a reply agreeing to their terms, while also including a few requests of his own.

Helping Foreigners had always been a worthwhile endeavor.

Just then, Audrey walked out of the wooden cabin. She hadn’t slept a wink all night either, but unlike Blaze, who was full of energy, she kept yawning.

"Thank you, Blaze. Thanks for taking on the night watch." Audrey stretched her back hard and happened to notice the peregrine falcon that hadn’t left yet. "Was it this little guy who helped us scare off that evil Foreigner yesterday?"

Audrey hummed a soft bird call toward the peregrine falcon. The Fairy Kingdom peregrine falcon fluttered its wings and landed on her raised arm.

"That’s the dedicated peregrine falcon of the Foreigner’s Guild, [Fairy Kingdom]. It came to deliver a letter." Blaze stuffed his reply into the small pouch on the Fairy Kingdom peregrine falcon’s chest. However, it didn’t shoot up into the sky with a SWOOSH like it usually did. Instead, it eyed him from the corner of its eye.

"What’s wrong? Hurry up and leave, shoo, shoo!"

The Fairy Kingdom peregrine falcon raised its head proudly, seemingly letting out a huff before turning away.

"What! You dumb bird, are you asking for a reward?!"

Naturally, it wasn’t Blaze who said that, but the chicken. She squawked noisily, pointing her claw at the Fairy Kingdom peregrine falcon. Unfortunately, she received absolutely no response.

The chicken was so furious that her feathers puffed up.

"You guys... sigh." Audrey shook her head in amusement. She plucked a flower and offered it to the Fairy Kingdom peregrine falcon.

It had ignored Blaze and the chicken entirely, but toward Audrey, it set aside its pride. It gracefully lowered its head to drink the nectar from the flower.

"It waited here for you all night. Shouldn’t you reward it?"

"Is... is that so?" Blaze looked around, plucked an inconspicuous little white flower from the ground, and forcefully shoved it into the small cloth pouch on the bird’s chest, completely ignoring the Fairy Kingdom peregrine falcon’s expression of utter disgust.

"Human, Songstress, what about my share?! I kept watch all night too!"

The chicken, who only possessed the intelligence of a young child, became terribly jealous. Left with no choice, Blaze and Audrey had to give her even better treatment.

The Fairy Kingdom peregrine falcon shot the chicken a look of sheer disdain, flapped its wings, and disappeared into the sky.

"[Fairy Kingdom]... They seem to be an extremely powerful group of Foreigners. What did they want with you?"

Audrey asked casually. This reminded Blaze of something, and he handed the three copper coins that had appeared today over to Audrey.

"[Fairy Kingdom] wants the copper coins I have—the more, the better. But these copper coins only appear three times a day. If I’m already holding some, they won’t spawn anymore, so I need you to hold onto them for me."

"Why me... Oh~" Audrey suddenly understood. Giving the copper coins to Herbie for safekeeping would be like throwing meat to a stray dog—gone forever.

Audrey accepted the copper coins and stored them in her inventory.

Blaze coughed. It was about time to get to the main topic.

"Audrey, what do you think of werewolves?"

"Dangerous wild beasts. If possible, I would hire Foreigners to exterminate werewolves for the safety of my territory." Audrey gave her answer without a second of hesitation.

That made sense. The Royal Knight Order wouldn’t hesitate to say the same thing when facing Titan Hybrids.

"Then Audrey, are you really an Arcadian?"

"Are you trying to pick a fight? Even though I’m an illegitimate daughter, both my mother and father are Arcadians." Audrey furrowed her brows, taking Blaze’s words as an invitation to argue, or at least bicker. "Don’t think that just because you’re a Princess Knight, you can bully a lord of a small territory! No matter how small the territory is, I am still a hereditary Count—Countess! A Countess, I tell you!"

Miss Audrey, you’re starting to sound a lot less confident. A [Knight] can acquire territory under specific circumstances and change their class to [Lord].

"Then, are you popular? Or rather, is anyone courting you?"

Audrey raised an eyebrow. She leaned against the doorframe, rested her elegant, snow-white chin on her right hand, and looked Blaze up and down.

"Are you trying to court me?

"You are undoubtedly a reliable adult male—strong, calm, and overall a good person. Even though our first meeting wasn’t exactly pleasant, it doesn’t stop me from appreciating you. As a friend, I’d trust you with all my secrets. If you were my knight, I’d feel completely safe having you guard my window. But as a lover? You’re too old. As a lord and a Countess, I can’t marry someone who is more dominant than me and has far more experience in every aspect of life. Ideally, my future partner would be someone with a sense of youthful boyishness. While I do like strong men, I can’t be too demanding.

"So, I’m sorry."

Blaze was somewhat speechless. So in Audrey’s eyes, he was some mature man in his thirties, and to top it off, he had just been rejected.

Fortunately, his goal wasn’t to confess his feelings anyway.

"Then, will you grow old alone?"

Audrey immediately knitted her pretty brows.

"What is wrong with you? Just because you can’t have me, you’re cursing me to die alone?"

Blaze couldn’t properly explain himself. He still hadn’t figured out how to tell Audrey and Herbie the story the Village Chief had shared with him.

Just then, Herbie walked out, wearing an oversized shirt. She was yawning while scratching her slightly chubby belly.

"Don’t you usually sleep until noon? I thought I’d have to go wake you up." Audrey wasn’t actually angry and took the initiative to change the subject.

"I was woken up by the scent of a transaction worth around 1.5 million. Hmm~ I wonder why?" Looking like a half-asleep puppy relying on its sense of smell to find food, Herbie wobbled over to Audrey, leaned against her, and buried her head into Audrey’s massive cleavage. "The smell of 1.5 million."

"What do you think of Herbie..."

BAM!

Audrey kicked Blaze ruthlessly.