Sir Gilbert - I know that name well.
　He is the leader of the Golden Fang Knights. He's someone I've met several times before, and he's one of the few people who knows Garnett's true face.

　It's probably because of that.
　Garnett quickly ducked behind me, trying to block Gilbert's gaze.

'There's no need for that. I've already heard about the escort mission from the Silver Wing.

　Gilbert's tone of voice still made it impossible to sense the rise and fall of his emotions.

　I couldn't tell if he was deliberately suppressing his emotional expression or if it was the result of acting in a natural way.

'Utterly and utterly, Carmine has done me a disservice. It is said that there are few knights even in the silver wing who know the face of his "brother". If you mix in with the town with a nonchalant face, there's no reason for the knights at the end to notice you.

　You speak as if you don't know about Garnett's gender, but there's no guarantee that you really don't know.

　There's even a good chance that he knows everything and dares to speak in a way that keeps the truth hidden.

''What in the world does the Lord Commander of the ...... Golden Fang Knights want from me? He even went out of his way to do something like that ...... disguise.
Don't worry about it. It's just that Lord Garnett seemed to be trying to avoid me to keep his identity a secret. I just thought it would be better if I could get close to him without any pretense.

　Garnett gently peeks out from behind me and looks at Gilbert like a cat wary of someone he doesn't know.

　Well, it's actually the opposite of that, and I'm wary of him because he's well known.

' (...... Perhaps it's the nastiest person you've ever met: ......)

　Before asking him about the details of the errand, I guessed Commander Gilbert's perception of Garnett and tried to organize it in my head.

　The first thing that is confirmed is that Gilbert and the Argenteer family have been involved with each other for a long time, and have had the experience of seeing Garnett's true face on many occasions.

　From what he just said, there is no doubt that he recognizes Garnett's true face, name, and title as a match.

　What is unclear is whether or not he knows that Garnet Argentia as the Knight of the Silver Wing and Alma Argentia, who is supposed to be his sister, are the same person.

　I should have confirmed that area with Garnett as well - such a regret passes through my mind, but it's quite possible that even if Garnett thinks that he 'hasn't been noticed', he's actually been detected.

　Either way, he shouldn't say anything inadvertent, nor should he.

　If he described Garnett as Carmine's brother, he should behave accordingly, no matter what his true intentions were.

'So, what can I do for you, sir? 'To be honest, I have too many things on my mind.'
'We have more than one thing to talk about. It's a bit of a hindrance here, so let's change places. I'd like you to come over to the fortress.
...... Yeah, that's fine.

　The Adventurer's Guild's Hollow Bottom Branch was established after half of the Golden Fang Knights' Hollow Bottom Fortress was paid off.

　The 'Sundial Forest', an E-ranked dungeon, and the 'Demon King's Castle Realm', which was connected to it through a hidden passage - a fortress of the anti-Demon King's army was set up at both ends of the hidden passage, spanning the two dungeons.
　It was the Hollow Bottom Fortress.

　With the end of the Demon King's War and the Demon King's Army retreating into deeper areas, the size of the fortress was reduced and its function as a base for the knights was concentrated on the Demon King's Castle area.

　The place we were headed to at Gilbert's request was a small conference room on the fortress side.

We are both busy. Let's make this quick. First of all, regarding the personnel we are sending to the newly established Order of the Golden Fang: ...... have you heard about this?
Vice President Felix of the Silverwing told us about it.
No, thank you. Then we'll talk fast. I don't know what the other Knights will do, but we have agreed to send one of our knights. As for the Silver Wing, it looks like Sir Garnett, who is here, will continue to stay, though.

　Gilbert gave Garnett an unreadable look of emotion and then handed me a stack of papers he had prepared.

'We've identified about five candidates here. If you have any hopes or priorities, please notify me. I'm not going to pass on your request as is, but I'll use it as a reference for my decision.
I'll have a look at .......

　I looked through the bundle of documents immediately, but with my current knowledge, I couldn't really discern what to look for and who to choose.

　The only thing that might be helpful would be the evaluation of their personalities, but since they'd already been selected by the Golden Fang, it was a list that was difficult to grade if you just looked at the descriptions.

''From a layman's perspective, they seem to be people whose abilities and personalities I can't complain about. So I'm sorry, but I'm going to express my hopes based on very personal criteria.

　He then brushed two of the papers aside face down on the tabletop and returned the remaining three to Gilbert.

　Gilbert took one look at the contents of the three sheets and moved his eyebrows slightly.

'Ho...... May I ask the criteria for judgement?'
Yes. The two of us here are of the female(s) gender(s), and we are of the female(s).

　Garnett, who had been listening beside me, rolled her eyes in surprise.

''Of course I have no dislike for female knights. They are all better people than myself and others, and I owe a great deal to Captain Hazel of the Golden Fang in the Demon King's War.''

　I'll be the first to deny the important points.
　I don't want you to be misled into thinking that I have any negative feelings towards Garnett.

''But ...... as I'm sure you already know, I'm in a relationship with Miss Alma of the Argentean family on the basis of an engagement. If the decision to send her was made by one of the other knights, but as long as I'm asked for my opinion, I can't give you a misleading hope, you know.

　If you are the leader of the senior knight's group, Sir Gilbert, you are bound to know about that night party.

　In the first place, the two groups have been at odds with each other for a long time, and the former leader of the Silver Wing, Sir Rembrandt, has a policy of using marriage as a means to increase his power.

　You can't help but wonder who his daughter Alma will marry, a matter that the Golden Fang can't help but care about.

''I'm truly sorry for my personal reasons, but I hope you can understand.
'Hmm, I guess we didn't give it enough thought. If you're going to put these girls on the short list, you shouldn't have asked for their opinion.

　Surprisingly, Gilbert understood easily.

''It seems that that that young lady has gotten a good partner for a daughter of Argentia.
Thank you. So, other than that, you know, I'm here to--
...... Wait a minute. Something suddenly made me feel sick, so I'm going to get some air.

　Just as I was about to move on with the conversation, Garnett suddenly turned his back on Gilbert and left the small conference room.

　Perhaps Gilbert couldn't see him, but I couldn't have been mistaken in seeing Garnett's mouth impossibly loose as he tried to leave at a fast pace.