I started jolting down the names of the people I needed information on. Not only were they major figures from the Orion Empire, but they were also the protagonists of the novel 'The Hero of Orion'.

Edward Frost

Richard Stein

Alex Herrmann

Helen Layton

Kaiser Frederick Orion

They are the standard bunch: duke, magician, knight, saintess, and prince.

The last guy literally has the name, Orion!

I must have been living under a rock for not recognizing this earlier before reality hit me in the face with a fastball.

Had I known that this was a world inside a novel, I would have made sure to put a curse on Edward that actually worked or been the heroine's personal bodyguard so that she doesn't get lost and wander off into stupidly impossible dangers.

While murmuring complaints, I slid the pen across the names that I had written to check if there was anyone left out.

'That's the lot'

I sighed.

Next, I drew a line across the paper, to separate it into a different column and wrote another name at the top.

Kalan Verglas

It was the name of the person I had recently gotten acquainted with, also the leader of the Orion merchants we are escorting.

Although Kalan appeared harmless, there was always a cloud of suspicion around him, which was further fueled by my instincts screaming that something was off.

I may have appeared friendly and relaxed with him, but that doesn't mean I was not wary.

Sure, Kalan was tall, handsome, and had a nice gentle personality than most people I know.

To be precise, Kalan was too perfect to be true. And he's from Orion on top of it.

I'm not trusting anybody from there.

'Besides the quiet ones can't be trusted' I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

It was something I had learned from experience.

I passed the list to the guild master, who had been observing me in silence the entire time.

He was resting his chin on his fist and staring at me point-blank.

When he was being so obvious, it's hard to ignore.

"Hmm.... An impressive list of individuals" The guild master commented, running his eyes down the list of names.

I know that.

That was another reason why I am seeking the help of the Third Eye instead of going to the other information guilds.

It was due to the confidentiality service.

They don't spill the client's intel even at times they get caught. Very professional.

Just like the incident when I was attacked by an assassin sent by the Third Eye, but the Knights were not able to get anything out of the perpetrator.

But since when did they get nosy?

Even though it was not necessary to know the reason behind a client's request unless it was relevant for the job, he asked,

"May I ask why you need information on them?"

"Is that necessary?"

I frowned.

Asking for the reason behind a customer's request was out of bounds of the Third Eye's policies.

"As I could see there is a mention of royalty in this"

He was talking about the Crown Prince. The man who was next in line for the throne. Although I won't be sure about that since anything could happen in the future.

"It's just for precaution. But, if there are any plans for an assassination attempt, we could do it for a reasonable price"

I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous assumption and said, "I'm a fan of beautiful, handsome, and attractive men"

"Helen Layton?" He read out with a smirk.

"......and women"

I turned away, fully aware of him laughing at me.

On the corner of the room, there was a magical communication device used to send and receive information to distant places. It was the largest and most complex set I had ever seen, even more than the device at the Frost mansion.

And there were a number of pneumatic pipes arranged on the wall behind me.

It was something I had only seen in movies when I was young. So I was impressed to see it in person for the first time in both of my lives.

I really wanna know how it works!

By the way, the Third Eye must be making a lot of revenue to be able to have such expensive devices.

"The soon to be ordained Saintess of Kal. Hmm... interesting" The guild master mumbled.

"Interesting, yeah. That's why I'm curious about them"

I turned my attention back to the guild master.

"I get that you need the whereabouts of these people. Then what about this guy?"

He tapped on Kalan's name written opposite to Edward's.

"What do you want to know about him?"

'Were you even listening to me talk?'

My face began to twitch in annoyance. I was speculating at first, but now I know for sure.

This guy is testing my patience!

"Can you be more specific, Customer?"

But still, I have to explain what I need in order to get proper results out of him. I'm not paying for nothing. Good thing I robbed the Golden Lion mercenaries.

"Who is he? What does he do? What has he done so far? Any family tree? And more importantly, does he have any kind of contact with the other people on this list?" I counted five things I needed to know about Kalan.

"That's an easy task" He said and scribbled something next to Kalan's name.

He stood up from his seat and folded the paper as he walked. Once he reached the pneumatic pipes, he opened his hand to reveal a small paper bird.

Then he gently blew on it, causing it to flap its wings as if it had come to life.

The paper bird flew around in circles making a show of its abilities before it dove into the pipes and disappeared.

"Give it a few minutes"

The guild master smiled and strode back to his seat.

"I'm Jack. You are?"

"...."

I stared at the guild master or Jack or whatever without saying a word.

Why is he acting like I'm here to make friends? The guy I met at the county had a totally different approach. Is the procedure different for different branches of the same illegal organization?

"No need to be on guard. I'm just trying to make small talk"

Jack tried to ease the tension.

"Are all the branches like this?" I asked in doubt.

"About that. We are under a change in management"

Jack leaned forward flashing a smile. I did not notice at first, but now that he leaned close. He has pale grey eyes.

"Would you like some tea while we wait?" He asked, pointing to the small trolly near the communication device.

He must have thought I was thirsty when I was sizing up the high-tech communication device.

"No. I don't drink tea"

I got goosebumps from simply taking a glimpse. Not that I can be drugged anymore.

"It's here" He clapped his hands and looked behind me.

Following his line of sight, I turned towards the pneumatic pipes, and right on cue, a container in the shape of a cylinder popped out.

With a snap of his hand, the container flew in my direction and burst into particles. When the smoke cleared there was a stack of papers on the desk in front of me.

Jack grinned at the sight of my surprised face and urged me to read it.

Show off.

I often see people with magical abilities be like this with non-magicians. It was the same with Adam when I was young.

He never missed an opportunity to show off his wind magic talents.

But the time frame in which these came was shorter than I expected. The Third Eye organization works really is fast and efficient.

I took a deep breath before I picked up the stack of papers.

The first one contained information on Crown Prince Kaiser. There were no pictures, but that doesn't matter. Since all I need to know is how far away they are from me and the progress of the novel.

The Crown Prince's current location was the capital where he resides in the palace. And according to this, he likes horse riding and nurtures rare breeds of horses from across the world.

Next is the Archmage, Richard. He too resides in the capital.

Works in the palace's magic tower.

Likes to stay in his office all day doing experiments.

When I read the novel I noticed that he had the most difficult personality among all of them.

Difficult in the sense, he has a very bad temper.

Even the slightest mishap could cause his fuse to go off exploding like an atomic bomb. And he did almost explode, which could have resulted in the demolition of the empire's capital. But thankfully, the all-powerful heroine was there to save the day.

Fun fact, Richard's ancestor Arthmus Stein is one of the protagonists in my favorite BL novel 'He and his other half'.

It's my kind of spicy novel.

And I'm team Arthum x Helo.

So screw him.

Alex the Knight is not in the capital. But he is near it doing an investigation on a series of gruesome murders.

'He is about to be engaged to a noble lady... Haaah'

Why do these guys even bother getting engaged, when they are going to break it off anyway? It's like they want to create villainesses. Anybody would be pissed off if their fiancé is drooling over another girl.

The engagement won't last since his devotion to the heroine runs deeper than the Atlantic ocean.

Yet he did die in the line of duty and had a huge funeral.

So, God rest his arrow-diving soul.

Ahhh... Here comes the real reason I came to this place.

The guy who had the most prospects to winning over the heroine and the cause for the total destruction of my super care-free life,

My ex-husband, Archduke Edward Frost.