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The next day, I accompanied Cortina and went to Horton Corp., Raum’s largest trading company.
Both Cortina and I disguised ourselves and hid our hair.
The reason was that since we were here to investigate illegal goods, they would just keep up appearances if someone famous showed up.

Cortina hid her fluffy tail in her pants with supporters and wore a neutral looking outfit with a white shirt and dark blue jacket.
Her distinctive cat ears were concealed by a beret.
I also wore a blonde wig and a dress that had more frills than usual.

Cortina’s hair was also blonde so we could even pass off as sisters depending on our acting. Finia seemed to have enjoyed seeing me in such an outfit… No, never mind, I’ll leave that for later.

When we passed through the entrance of the company, the clerks greeted us with a cheerful smile. Because of how unused she was to her disguise, Cortina couldn’t help but flinch in response.

“Welcome! We welcome you to the Horton Corp.!”
“Eh, ah… yes?”
“Tina, you don’t have to return their greetings.”

As Cortina bowed in a fluster I warned her with a spank.

“Ah, uhm… well… ”
“There is a certain medicine that we want.”
“A medicine you say? Then, would you like me to call a pharmacist clerk ――”
“No, it’s a rather special kind of medicine, that’s why we would like to talk directly to the Head of Commerce if possible.”
“The Head of Commerce is it… ”

Well, to ask for a direct trade immediately to the Head of Commerce without notice would certainly be suspicious.
By the way, this was the home of a kid named Matisse.

“Ah, speaking of which, I’m in the same class as that child, Matisse at the Magic Academy… ”

Even if we were in the same class, the number of people was still quite high. But this should’ve been a good excuse to advance the conversation.

“You are Miss Matisse’s… then the drug must be――!? Please wait here for a moment!”

The clerk rushed to the store’s back, clearly panicked.
Her behavior told me the situation was actually quite serious.

“Something’s… weird.”
“Right. It also seems like they were frightened by that.”

A glance at the surroundings revealed that the other shop assistants were also on edge since that last remark. There were even ones that would peek over here. But the customers didn’t show any particular reaction.

A while after being under the strange tension, a good looking man emerged from the back area of the store. However, his face was pale and didn’t seem to look so good.

“Were you the customers? You seem to be looking for a certain medicine. You also seemed to be acquainted with Matisse.”
“Ah, yes.”

I was a bit confused but still managed to reply to the man who was breaking out in a cold sweat. The man introduced himself while holding out his sweaty hand.

“Sorry for the late introduction. I am Heiz Horton, and I am the one in charge of this company.”
“I am… um, Donna.”

I judged that there was no need to give Cortina’s name now, so I just gave my own. While not exactly town-wide, rumors about me were still spread quite far. Not just Cortina’s but even my name needed to be concealed now.

Donovan,¹ sorry for basing my alias on you. Though, I suppose there is no need to apologize to him.

“Miss Donna, right?”
“Yes, this is my sister and guardian Tina.”
“P-please to meet you.”

Cortina was very resourceful and adaptable, but she was currently perplexed by her own getup. Bargaining with a merchant, while hiding her identity, was probably something that even a strategist like her didn’t have much experience in.

If I don’t take the lead here, things might get a little problematic.

“It would be awkward to talk here, so please come over at the back office. I’ll be serving some tea.”
“Ah, yes.”

Mr. Heiz suggested we take our conversation to a separate room behind the counter. It seemed like he didn’t want other people to hear our talk. It was as if he wanted to avoid all public attention.

We entered a modest but tidy small room, then Heiz closed the door tightly. He locked it shut, in fact.

“Um, why did you lock it?”
“… A――”
“A?”
“Are you the ones who kidnapped Matisse!”
“Haah?”

Mr. Heinz approached Cortina and attempted to strangle her.

“Hey, wait!?”
“To urge me to buy an illegal drug, and now kidnapping my daughter because I refused――”
“Wait, no, we have nothing to do with those people――”
“Hold it, Cortina. Mr. Heinz, can you tell us about that story in detail.”
“Such barefaced lies! You are part of those people… ”

He completely snapped. At this rate, he wouldn’t be listening to us, and even if he did, he wouldn’t believe any of it. For the time being, I need him to calm down.

“No other choice then. Cortina, take off your hat.”
“Eh?”
“So you were disguised after all! And the real identity is Corti… na… ?”
“Eh, ah yes.”

Not stopped by the momentum, Cortina took off the beret that she was wearing. From under it, her blond hair, and almost equally blond longhair cat ears perked up.

“Those… Ears… You are really… ? I’m, I’m so sorry!”

He leaps out like a spring-loaded doll and dove down on the ground with a brilliant slide. Seeing how he was prostrating on the ground while trembling all over, it was clear that he was truly frightened.

“It’s fine already, I’m not really mad about it. On the other hand, can you tell us about that story with more details――”

Cortina fixed her clothes then sat down on a chair. With this, I think we could now have a calm discussion. Even so, I could already get the gist of it based on what happened before.

Most likely, the people who stole the Queen Blossom seeds came to Horton Corp., the biggest company of this country, and tried to sell them off, but Mr. Heiz rejected that illegal offer. That probably pissed them off and they abducted his daughter to get back at him.

“Actually, this happened 3 days ago. Three men who look like adventurers brought in seeds of Queen Blossom… naturally, I know that Queen Blossom was a monster that should not be approached. I also explained to them that there would be a lot of legal problems if we buy the seeds so I told them to take it back.”

The adventurers were quiet at that time… well, they did curse, but still obediently pulled back. Two days later, however, Matisse disappeared. That was followed by threatening letters asking him to buy the seeds of Queen Blossom.

And the following day, I showed up asking for the drugs and calling myself Matisse’s classmate, so he mistook me as one of the offenders.

“Looks like we got the right place.”
“Yeah.”

Cortina answered, with a dark smile on her face.

1. Remember Donovan who appears in Chapter 55? Nicole is basing her alias on his name so she’s apologizing to him.