TCMED 09

Chapter 09

**04. I’m Here to File a Complaint!**

Even the day after a good day had plunged into chaos, the sun rose without fail.

I usually wake up early out of habit, because every morning I check the mushrooms, which are the village’s livelihood, but today, when I opened my eyes, it was already afternoon.

I wasn’t hungry, and I had no energy, so I just lay in bed. Since the celestial telescope demonstration was at night anyway, I planned to stay like this until before evening.

I stared blankly at the ceiling, then turned on my side and curled up.

“Haa…”

So Jun is Ethan.

‘From the Lowest Place’ was a fantasy novel with no romance plotline, so I really couldn’t have imagined that side of Ethan.

No, maybe I couldn’t have predicted it because I never finished reading the novel.

But there was another part that truly troubled me.

All this time, even though I knew Ethan’s age when the novel began, I hadn’t been able to find out real-world Ethan’s information. So all I could do was roughly estimate the time based on the incidents reported in the newspapers.

However, I heard ‘Jun’s’ age yesterday. He was twenty, the same as Thetis.

If he hadn’t lied to me about his age as well, then the Rift and the Apocalypse incident will happen this year.

“Ugh…!”

I rolled around on the bed and tore at my hair.

Of course, if the novel became reality, I had already thought ahead about where to take Olivia and the others for evacuation.

But I hadn’t told them the shelter locations yet. Because I judged that the information was still too early to share.

Ah, the anxiety is unbearable.

“I should go back tomorrow.”

Originally, I planned to tour the tourist spots for a week, but in this state, I couldn’t enjoy the trip.

I felt like leaving right this moment, but outside the window, the sunset had already arrived.

If I left now, I’d have to stop and rest soon anyway, so it was better to follow the original plan and go to the Academy today.

I slid out of bed and shuffled over to the window.

In the distance, a splendid and massive structure could be seen. That was the Imperial Palace.

Actually, the Rift had already been prophesied through oracles at the Temple. It’s just that they hadn’t received an exact date, so it was only unofficially conveyed to the Imperial Family.

This was the Temple’s judgment not to stir public anxiety with a prophecy that had no fixed deadline, and it was accurate. Having the information advantage, the Imperial Family managed to stabilize the country neatly within a few days of the Rift appearing.

The problem is the giant monster that appears right after, the Apocalypse, but knowing about it in advance doesn’t mean it can be prevented. So even knowing the plot, there wasn’t really anything I could do.

I rubbed my stiff eyes and headed to the bathroom. Considering dinner time, I should start getting ready to go out soon.

As I changed clothes and went down the stairs, the innkeeper greeted me cheerfully.

“Hey, honey. You’re down late today?”

It seemed the innkeeper had decided to keep using informal speech after accidentally doing so yesterday.

I didn’t feel offended, as there was no intention to look down on me. And she seemed older than me anyway.

But were we really on such friendly terms?

“Hello. I was tired, so I rested a bit.”

“Until this hour? It’s almost dinner time, you haven’t eaten a single meal yet?”

“It just ended up that way…”

I doubt it was intentional, but you probably contributed the most to this situation.

I swallowed the words I couldn’t bring myself to say.

But the innkeeper was quite perceptive.

“Oh, it’s because I ran my mouth off yesterday, isn’t it? Oh dear, what should I do.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“No, no. If a somewhat handsome man who approached me first actually lied about his name, I’d be so troubled I wouldn’t be able to sleep either.”

The innkeeper placed her hand on her chest and suddenly began a monologue with a sorrowful expression.

“Why can’t this person even state his own name proudly? What’s his story? Or maybe he wasn’t sincere with me? I’d think things like that.”

Oh, her tone is pretty good.

As I was admiring her acting despite the inappropriate situation, the innkeeper dropped the act and gave me a bright smile.

“You’re on your way to dinner now, right? Since I feel bad, I’ll buy you dinner tonight. But keep what I said a secret from Ethan, okay?”

Aha, so that’s why she was overly friendly. Her goal was to buy my silence.

I was skeptical about whether I’d ever see Ethan again, but I gladly accepted the offer of a free dinner.

“Let’s go!”

The innkeeper took out a ‘Be Right Back’ sign, put it in place, and stood beside me. I’d only ever seen her sitting, so I didn’t know, but she was rather petite.

“Any foods you can’t eat?”

“No, anything is fine.”

“Then let’s go eat some meat!”

“Wow!”

As I responded happily, being weak to someone else footing the bill, the innkeeper linked her arm with mine and cheerfully pulled me along.

“Oh, honey, you don’t know my name, do you? I’m Darlin. You can call me Darling if you like.”

“I’m Thetis, Darlin.”

“Oh my.”

“No, Darlin…”

I almost got swept up because it came out so naturally.

I corrected myself belatedly, but the other person had already heard it clearly.

My face flushed, and I pressed the back of my hand to my cheek to cool it down. Seeing that, Darlin laughed heartily.

“Honey, you’re cute.”

I really want to crawl into a mouse hole…

Fortunately, we reached the restaurant not long after. It was a high-end restaurant that looked quite expensive.

I’d never been to a place like this in this life, so I sat awkwardly, and Darlin ordered for us. Not teasing me in a situation like this was truly mature of her.

After sending the staff away, Darlin rested her chin on the back of her hand and stared at me intently.

“Hey. Ethan lied to you, and I went along with it, right?”

“Wasn’t it more like just going along?”

I tilted my head. Before that, Darlin and I had almost no connection and hadn’t spoken, so it seemed ambiguous to call it ‘going along’.

But Darlin didn’t seem to think so. She stared at me silently for a moment before returning to her usual demeanor.

“…Anyway. So, as a form of apology, I’ll let you know one thing about Ethan. Is there anything you’re curious about?”

Curious, huh.

There were many things, but most were related to the novel, so it was hard to ask Darlin.

But aside from that, it was still a good opportunity. I thought carefully.

“Can I ask anything?”

“Come on, you know. Nothing too difficult.”

I had read up to the middle of the novel, so I knew as much as I needed about Ethan. It also felt a bit prickly to talk about him without him being present.

“Then what about Darlin?”

So I changed the subject of my question. Darlin’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, then she smiled pleasantly.

“Sure, ask away.”

“You’re not just running an inn, are you?”

When we exchanged names earlier, she had only introduced herself as ‘Darlin’. So at first, I thought she was a commoner running a small inn.

But the more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Despite charging cheap accommodation fees compared to the service, Darlin seemed familiar with restaurants like this. Her clothes changed every time I saw her.

And crucially, Darlin had known the protagonist, Ethan, from before.

With these clues, one person came to mind.

“…Yeah, no. I didn’t know you were this perceptive. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought you here?”

But Darlin’s eyes turned serious.

The back of my neck stiffened in an instant. I had said it based on the character’s personality from the novel, but had I overstepped?

Just as I was about to break out in a cold sweat, the corners of Darlin’s mouth curled up significantly.

“Well, I suppose it’s only natural that the person Ethan found wouldn’t be ordinary. I was being careless.”

After saying something I really wanted to ignore, Darlin gestured for me to come closer.

I leaned over the table, and she leaned in too, whispering in my ear.

“Well, Ethan will probably tell you everything someday anyway, right?”

Tell me what?

As I just blinked, Darlin let out a small laugh.

“So let me tell you first. My real name is Darlin Tasis.”

Ah, as expected. I barely suppressed a sigh.

The younger sister of the current Marquis Tasis, a businesswoman who ran away from her family during her time as the second princess and built the Filia Trading Company, and the protagonist’s hidden supporter, ‘Hin’.

In the novel, only her alias, Hin, appeared, so I didn’t know, but her real name was Darlin.

“Make sure you keep this a secret, okay?”

It’s well-known that the second child of Tasis is the head of the trading company, but Hin always used an agent. So surprisingly little was known about the head of the company.

Especially since there’s a setting that the Tasis family considers the second child a disgrace and avoids mentioning her.

“Ah, I didn’t expect to be the one having information squeezed out of me. But since it was fun, I’ll give you this as a service. You can ask one more question.”

“Another one?”

“Yeah. You can even ask what my relationship is with Ethan.”

I already knew that Ethan and Hin had a mutually beneficial relationship and occasionally worked together. Now that I knew Darlin was Hin, there wasn’t much more I needed to ask.

But that was exactly what I was waiting for.

Hin tends to become generous when she gets unexpected enjoyment, so when she’s in this state, there’s one thing I can try.

“Can I change the question into a request instead? Please feel free to refuse if it’s difficult.”

“Hmm, we do take requests sometimes, but the fee for that is quite expensive, you know?”

“Well, I don’t know. Since it’s come to this, isn’t information far more valuable?”

Because you are the head of that Filia Trading Company.

I said it deliberately and shamelessly.

Darlin let out a scoff, then flopped onto the table and burst into loud laughter. Loud enough to startle the waiter who was bringing the food.