If you think about it, things like this actually happen all the time.
Some people you don’t even know, or those lower-level cogs you’ve only glimpsed in passing, all try to use her name to boost their own prestige, flaunting borrowed authority.
These people secretly trade on my reputation points, doing bad deeds. No wonder my reputation can’t improve no matter how hard I try.
“Come on! Eat and drink with me—let’s enjoy shameless happiness together!”
“P-please let go of me! Ah, my arm hurts so much!”
“I am the Right Arm of the Gardener, Lady Erica! Before you disobey my orders, think about what will happen to your family.”
“…Ugh…”
So, how will this all develop? The person in question, Erica, was just as curious.
“Come here!”
“No! Y-your oral bacteria are decomposing sulfides and causing bad breath! Ahhh!”
The commotion was growing larger, while the ‘mastermind’ sat at her seat, calmly cutting her pork belly with knife and fork.
“Somebody stop them! If that girl gets dragged home by that guy, who knows what will happen!”
“He’s heartless! He did the same thing at the inn next door last time.”
“How are we supposed to deal with Erica’s subordinates? If we get involved and get burned, we’re finished…”
“Damn it, someday we’ll take down that wretched Erica to avenge the girl.”
Hmm, as expected, public resentment was now aiming at her, the innocent bystander.
His method of pursuing women was rather rough and lacking in charm, and pretending to be her acquaintance was a serious crime. These people were like hammering nails into her coffin lid, eager to push her towards a death flag.
Today was supposed to be her annual leave, so she really didn’t want to deal with work matters. But if she let this go on, people’s anger might gather into a barrage of arrows—where could she find a ‘Dodge’ card then?
Erica decided it was best to settle things on the spot, so she gracefully rose from her seat and slowly parted the crowd, walking toward the center of the farce.
“All right, that’s enough.”
“Who the hell are you?” The interrupted man immediately scowled. “Who do you think you are, pointing fingers at me? Don’t you know who I am?” The so-called Right Arm of the Gardener had clearly never expected anyone to stop him in such a filthy, chaotic back-alley tavern.
“Didn’t you just claim to be my Right Arm? Can’t you even recognize your master’s voice?”
“Huh? What?”
With a light motion, she removed the hood draped over her head, letting black-violet hair spill down like a curtain of the galaxy over the tavern, studded with stars. Those indifferent red eyes were like a supernova of destruction and finality.
Now that she’d exposed her identity in a place like this, she probably could never secretly gather intel here again. Truly helpless.
“Whoa, who is that girl? She’s… way too pretty.”
“No idea—what’s even happening? But I want to ask for her name first.”
Erica could feel the unrest around her. It seemed most people didn’t quite understand what was happening, probably because many didn’t realize she was Erica. Most of those present were ordinary folk who’d never had a chance to see a high official.
Unfortunately, it seemed even the tax officer before her was no exception.
“Uh… Where’s the little lady from? Trying to be a hero? Oh, sure, I’ll let her go right now, you just come home with me.” The man, leering, rubbed his hands as he walked toward Erica, casually shoving aside the waitress he’d just been sweet-talking.
“Oh my, I wouldn’t want to ruin the pure love between the Right Arm of the Gardener and his beloved.”
“Heh, what nonsense, Sophia? Nothing to do with me.”
The girl’s face went cold, patience clearly at an end. “Stop. Or do you not understand human speech?”
“Don’t be like that, miss, let me tell you a secret—just between us.” The man made a show of putting a hand to his mouth and whispered, “Actually, I’m Erica’s boy toy too…”
Erica: “Pfft! Cough, cough.”
“Heheh, shocked? I don’t tell just anyone. So, how about coming home with me and sampling the body even Lady Erica is obsessed with?”
“Cough cough…” Erica, having just caught her breath, nearly choked again.
If I weren’t Erica, I’d tell whoever this ‘Erica’ is: you must be starving. But guess why I’m not laughing?
Erica forced down the twitching at the corner of her mouth. “Does Erica really need your type?” The man was clearly displeased, putting on the air of a world-weary mentor. “Ah, little lady, you’re too naive. I’m the Right Arm of Lady Erica, and everyone—men or women—likes using their right hand.”
“Pfft!”
“You don’t get it, uncle-types like me are all the rage these days.”
“Pfft! Cough, cough, cough!”
That’s a dashing, mature uncle—at best you’re half a ton of greasy Dong Zhuo.
“All right, that’s enough! If you don’t stop, I’ll have to execute you in Erica’s name.”
“Shing!” The tax officer drew his short sword from his belt, eyes narrowing. “So there’s nothing more to discuss? Or are you really… trying to curry favor with Lady Erica? My, my, how suspicious.” The man continued approaching the girl. “As the Right Arm, I must share my lady’s burdens. Come with me.”
Planning to kill the witness? Erica frowned, quickly guessing at the villain’s thoughts. Even if he did believe she had something to do with Erica, he’d play dumb anyway.
Who would believe Erica would come to a place like this? The woman before him might know Erica, but so what? Take her back for questioning, decide what to do later—at worst, have some fun and then make her disappear… A sharp gleam flashed in the tax officer’s eyes.
A sudden chill made Erica’s pupils contract.
“That’s enough, come with me.”
“……”
What can I say—I take back my earlier words. A pretty face only draws crazies and desperadoes. If today’s bystander weren’t Erica, and actually got dragged off by this guy, who knows what would happen… Erica kept her distance, thinking about how to respond. Should she call her standby guards? No, then the man would be killed on the spot.
[Erica, killing people in a tavern.] Clearly such rumors and reports would spread instantly—unstoppable.
“If you’re really the trusted aide to Erica the Royal Gardener, then you should know what she looks like, right?”
“Of course I do! I even had dinner with Lady Erica. She’s beautiful and noble—second only to the Queen in all the kingdom! I’m just a lowly collector for now, but soon I’ll be in the royal palace!”
A shadow fell over the man’s face. “So, if you don’t want to suffer, you’d better surrender, brat.”
He was so confident, Erica almost wondered if she was the liar. Was he caught up in his own delusions? Some sort of mania? Terrifying.
There were many ways to handle this, but against those who relied on authority, the best method was to answer with authority. Erica rummaged in the pocket at her side and pulled out an emblem, or rather, a badge.
She tossed the platinum knight chess-piece brooch to the goat-bearded uncle. “What’s this?”
The tax officer reflexively caught it with his left hand and frowned. But as he took a closer look, his face went pale as paper. “Uh, urk urk urk!” The uncle let out a deflating-balloon sound, as if learning he’d have to work eight days straight over the holidays, and collapsed to the floor.
“Kukuku, if you really were my right arm, you’d know what that is, wouldn’t you? Even a bottom-rung tax officer should understand the strict hierarchy.”
A badge representing royal allegiance, and a platinum badge of the highest rank signifying personal service—there was only one in the entire kingdom. In the vast Noel Kingdom, it was a rank set aside for her alone.
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