So, targeting commoners for healing would be fine. Healing a gravely sick aristocrat would blow secrecy out of the water...though checking every commoner in the city would be way harder than checking the nobles. There were far fewer aristocrats, and it was much easier to get info on their ailments, unless it was being hidden deliberately. Servants, apothecaries, and the Temple could all be sources of information, and aristocrats liked to gossip among themselves. On the other hand, commoners were often too poor to afford help from doctors, medicine, or the Temple, making them harder to track.
Hmm, what to do...
While Reiko, Falsetto, and I were relaxing with some tea, we heard a knock at the door...but we hadn’t done neighborhood greetings yet, and hardly anyone knew we’d moved in. It would’ve been a crime if we’d moved in without permission, so I’d visited the real estate agent to explain that Salette had asked us to stay here to prevent the empty house from deteriorating and from squatters moving in, and that she would move in soon. The agent seemed pretty happy about it, even wrapping up our leftover tea snacks for us to take home...though they should’ve been given to the maids or something.
Anyway, we’d paid our rent, and it was only a day since we’d settled in, so there was no reason for the agent to visit. Sure, there were a few folks who knew me, like the jewelry store clerk, some nobles, the king, and the guards, but none of them knew I’d moved here.
Guess I’ll find out.
Naturally, Falsetto stuck to my right side like a magnet. Standing this close, I felt like she’d hit me if she drew her weapon...
Reiko stood three or four meters back, ready to cast magic at any time.
I was the one who opened the door, since Falsetto had her hand on her sword’s hilt in case the mystery visitor lunged at me. Of course, I stood off to the side, out of the door’s direct line. Ideally, we’d have a video monitor to screen visitors, like at Little Silver. We planned to install one here too, but hadn’t expected guests so soon. I would’ve needed to ask Kyoko to make it anyway. The door didn’t even have a peephole because I’d planned to put up a monitor right away, and we couldn’t just drill one without permission, since it was a rental.
I swung the door open without calling out, “Who is it?” to avoid giving the opponents time to time their attack. You could never be too careful when it came to safety, which was a Nagase family principle...though it hadn’t helped when a deity split me in half.
Anyway, I flung the door open forcefully, and...
“Whoa! Uh... H-Hello! We just moved nearby... It’s not much, but this is for you...”
There were three visitors, all men, and they handed me some snacks.
“Oh, so courteous of you. Thank you...” I said, accepting the snacks.
Bringing cheap snacks when greeting the neighbors was a Japanese custom, not one from this continent. But back in the pre-Item Box days, I’d taken the Eyes of the Goddess kids to greet neighbors when I gave them a house, hoping the locals would learn their faces and help them if needed. I’d only done it that one time, and only those present knew about it, so it hadn’t spread as a custom... So how did these guys know? Plus, people didn’t say “It’s not much” while gifting something here. They would say something like “It’s delicious” or “This is great” like they did in the West.
Come to think of it, Mariel’s men had mentioned the Eyes of the Goddess were here too... Supposedly, they’d been holding back on making contact, but once they knew Mariel’s group had reached me, they would obviously follow suit. Besides, it was odd that the guard dogs had let them through without alerting me. However, I’d taught Emile and the others some phrases in dog speak that’d make them seem like allies and servants of the Goddess. It would’ve made them look like weirdos trying to talk to dogs, but I thought it’d be useful if they were ever attacked by strays or needed help from nearby dogs in a pinch. If they’d passed those phrases down to their people, it’d explain why the dogs didn’t react.
Still, the dogs were positioned behind the visitors to attack, just in case. They weren’t dumb enough to trust strangers unconditionally.
“So, Emile sent you?” I asked.
“Yes! To be granted a divine audience with the Goddess Kaoru is the utmost honor...”
As I thought, Falsetto and Reiko still hadn’t let their guard down.
“Talk normally, please,” I said. “I’m sure Emile told you I hate that uptight stuff.”
“Y-Yes. Then, if you’ll excuse me... Since the Fearsome One’s agents and the Raphael Earldom have already made contact, we, the Eyes of the Goddess, couldn’t bear to lag behind as your first servants in this world...”
Their formality hadn’t changed much, but I decided to let it slide. Few could instantly switch to speaking on casual terms with the goddess they worshipped. It’d be like telling a Japanese person to talk to Amaterasu as if they were equals... Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
“All right, all right!” I said, defeated. “Well, Emile wouldn’t stay quiet after Francette outmaneuvered him...and Mariel’s people came over too.”
“Exactly!”
If I’d accepted Falsetto from Francette and the representatives from Mariel’s group—including the dogs and birds—and then sent Emile’s people away, the old man himself might have crossed the continent to yell at me in person, and I couldn’t have that.
Now I need to come up with an idea for casual interaction... Wait, am I stupid? This is exactly what I needed!
“Will you take on a job?” I asked.
“Of course!” the men said in unison.
Okay, back off a bit! You don’t need to breathe in my face!
“The reward—” I began, but was cut off.
“We don’t need any!”
“O-Okay...”
I suppose no true believer would take payment from their revered goddess for their service...
“So, are you guys trained in investigation and intel-gathering skills?” I asked.
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“Yes...!”
Wait, their responses were off...
“What’s everyone’s role?”
“‘Eyes’!”
“‘Ears’!”
“‘Mouth’!”
So they’re all intel operatives...
So they weren’t potion wholesalers...though, I had figured as much. They’d been sent by Emile, after all. And while the Eyes and Ears were obviously for investigation and intel gathering, the Mouth was for spreading rumors, incitement, and manipulating public opinion—intrigue specialists, basically.
Apparently, after I’d vanished, the Eyes of the Goddess had evolved from a medicinal shop to a wholesaler, then to a comprehensive pharmacy, and had even launched a sect with a souvenir shop that had turned into a general store. Even after all that, though, their core membership had never forgotten their mission from when they were first founded. It was the reason the Eyes of the Goddess had been created in the first place, and their very rationale for existence: to gather intelligence to aid the Goddess in saving righteous people suffering unjustly, and to protect the Goddess from evil trying to exploit her.