After Karl arrived, Aya and the others rented a small courtyard. Each of them had their own room, and they no longer had to squeeze together like before.
They even set aside a room specifically for receiving guests.
"Jacqueline!"
Seeing the figure step through the door, Karl couldn't hide his surprise.
"It's you?"
Jacqueline, a companion he'd met beneath Black City and one of the surviving Whisperers of the Wind, had come to Free Port too.
That made sense.
Nine out of ten people who escaped Black City would come here.
"Mr. Karl!" Jacqueline, a broad-shouldered woman with a scarred face, bowed respectfully.
"We meet again."
"We do." Karl sighed with feeling.
"You escaped too?"
"It's all thanks to you." Relief at having survived, along with gratitude, colored Jacqueline's voice.
"If you hadn't led the resistance and killed the captain of the city guards' knight squad, we would have fallen along with Black City."
"You saved our lives!"
"That's all in the past. Let's not bring it up again." Karl waved a hand and looked at the person behind her.
"And this is?"
"Allow me to introduce him." Jacqueline quickly gestured toward the man.
"This is Knight As, the Scythe Brotherhood's manager at Vanilla Market. I'd only just arrived in Free Port and didn't know my way around. He's been a great help."
"Pleased to meet you."
As was a refined, well-mannered middle-aged man. Unlike ordinary people in Free Port, he didn't smell of fish; instead, he carried a faint scent of incense.
Perfume?
Not only had he put on perfume, but his clothes were immaculate, and his boots were spotless.
Keeping clean on such muddy roads wasn't easy.
Clearly,
he was a man who cared about his appearance.
"I've long heard of a hero from Black City who led