The Villain is Being Suspiciously Kind

d with a calm face.
Why was she thinking of Desian when she thought of the gems shining like stars in the night sky? Why was she thinking of him when she shouldn’t be?
To be honest, Citrina had known the answer to that for a long time,
even if she was only starting to realize it now.
A star was blooming in her mind as well.
Slowly, bit by bit.

It had only been one day.
In that one day, things changed for the better.
As luck would have it, an article was scheduled to be featured in the morning paper with a report on elementism on Dartrin Street and the gemstone stars.

‘Even if you can’t turn things around completely, you can change them steadily.’

Hardship and adversity are common in heroic narratives.
She wasn’t a hero, just an average person who knew the future, but it was comforting to think that way.
Lita got the newspaper, duplicated the video to send off, and bought breakfast at the plaza’s baguette street.

“Ci, Citrina-nim.”

The boy brought back the newspaper, and baguette, along with a group of armed mercenaries.
A gaunt-faced man scratched his muscles and spoke gruffly.

“Is this Citrina’s Atelier here?”

“What…is your business here?”

Her voice was a little strained,
but Citrina spoke confidently.
The man’s expression became even more grave.
He set down something on one of the atelier’s glass display cases.

-Bang!-

It was a pouch full of gold coins.
The display case shook.
Citrina raised an eyebrow.

“What’s this all of a sudden?”
“We are members of an unnamed guild and we are here because of the advertisement in Ponei Plaza.”
“Advertisement?”

Citrina frowned.
She’d never taken out an advertisement.
She’d tried to use the media a little, but she didn’t have the means to pay for a newspaper article or a full-page advertisement.

“You don’t know about the ad? The empire is a mess right now!”
“…that wasn’t my plan.”

He was dumbfounded at her reply.
Somehow, the game had changed dramatically.
It occurred to her that she needed to find out what was going on.
She leapt to her feet.

“That, Citrina-nim.
Actually, last night while Citrina was sleeping…”

Lita carefully put something in her hands.
His hands were shaking terribly.

“… Desian?”

It was a small spherical object bearing the Pietro family seal.
Citrina looked at Lita with questioning eyes.

“Yes, that-“

But the short-tempered mercenary couldn’t handle the gap in their conversation.

“Wait.
Then you advertised without knowing anything?”
The mercenary seemed dumbfounded.

“Wait, Lita, tell me.”

Citrina lightly interrupted the mercenary and looked at Lita.
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“Yesterday, Desian-nim told me he had cleaned something up, and I wanted to tell you, but I was too tired to pass it on to you.”

Lita looked at her with a fidgety expression.
Cleaning?
Citrina bit her lip.

“Adilac, stay here for a bit.”
“Hey, where are you going?!”

The mercenary yelled as Citrina sprinted outside.
After running for a long time, she was out of breath.
Fortunately, Ponei Plaza wasn’t far from Dartrin Street.
She would have to rent a carriage at the entrance.
She thought it was lucky she’d worn a light dress with pockets today.
The rental fee for a carriage should be 1 ceril, right?