“Are you telling us you’re going to abandon us, the good craftsmen, and just leave?!”
Yes.
The last bit of trouble.
It was the fact that with the mercenary group arrested, there would be no one left to protect the village.
“Huh?! Those idiotic mercenaries were the ones who summoned the Fire Drake to your village!”
Shio shouted.
She’s so belligerent.
“But, you guys defeated that monster called a Fire Drake, right? So, isn’t that good enough?”
“Huh? Do you really think someone that untrustworthy would properly protect the village?!”
“W-w-well then! You guys should do it! H-heh, yeah, that’s a good idea! Since you took care of the mercenaries, you should replace them! It’s not like we’d be picky with women, even if they’re dirty barbarians. You guys want men, right? There are only women here…”
Wow, what an amazing thought process.
Completely self-centered.
And with added lust, it’s just plain creepy.
“You, you’re kidding me…”
Shio was about to really lose it, but…
“Stop it, Shio!”
Katrina stopped her.
“Don’t stop me, Captain! They’re underestimating us!”
“Just stop it! There’s no need to deal with them seriously!”
And after some back and forth…
“…No matter what you say, we have completed our job. The fact that there will be no one to protect this village has nothing to do with our job.”
She refused.
“Don’t you guys have any compassion?!”
“Yeah, that’s right!”
“Take responsibility!”
The villagers started heckling them…
“Rather than that, you should be thinking about what explanation you’ll give to the Lord’s soldiers who will be arriving soon.”
Katrina replied coldly.
“Huh? What are you talking about? Explanation? You mean come up with excuses? …Why?”
“The mercenary group you hired were actually heinous criminals. You understand that, right? …In that case, you will also be suspected of being involved.”
“H-huh?! D-don’t be ridiculous! W-we didn’t know anything!!”
“Is that so? Then explain that to the Lord’s soldiers. Whether you were involved or not, the soldiers will definitely investigate and question you.”
“N-no way…!”
“This matter is no longer something that can be resolved between us and you. The Lord-sama himself will be taking action… it’s that serious of a problem.”
The craftsmen’s faces turned pale and they began to tremble.
If they were directly glared at by Count Missgancia, they wouldn’t be able to do business in this area anymore.
No, that would still be okay.
At worst, they could lose their human rights.
Well, it’s not like the concept of human rights exists in the first place, but…
Rather, it’s like… a village society.
If word gets around that “Hey, that guy seems to have been glared at by the Lord-sama!” everyone will be like, “Seriously? Scary… I’m not going near them…” and they’ll quickly become isolated from the village society, losing their jobs and everything else…
Just being suspected, just having rumors spread, is dangerous.
“I-I don’t know! I don’t know anything! It has nothing to do with me!”
“Not me! I didn’t see anything!”
“T-that’s something they did on their own, right?! We have nothing to do with it!!”
That’s why these middle-aged guys are starting to freak out.
“If you try to run away from here or try to hide something… even if you haven’t committed any crimes, you won’t be able to avoid being suspected. All you can do is tell the soldiers who are coming everything in detail.”
“O-okay!”
“Now… we will return to Midford as is and report the details of the matter to the Lord-sama… If we are told to remain here, we will have no choice but to tell the Lord-sama that ‘the villagers were acting suspiciously’…”
“Okay! Okay! Go quickly! Please go! D-don’t report bad things about us, okay?! Promise?!”
Oh…
As expected of a former Knight.
She has this much negotiation skill…
“All members, withdraw!”
“”””Yes!””””
And so, they successfully ignored the troublesome situation and were able to return…
“You’re something else, Katrina.”
“What can I say, it’s an old knight’s trick.”
Katrina smiled with an Isekai proverb.
No, really, she’s amazing.
She’s probably one of the strongest warriors in Midford, but she also has abilities other than fighting.
She can probably handle the “politics” command, which I’m not good at, much better than I can.
Don’t get mad when I say this, but isn’t a warrior who’s only strong like an idiot? That’s what I mean.
Well, frankly, the people in this world are barbarians, so they casually brandish their power, but actually using that power is, just like on Earth, a last resort.
Power is important, of course, but how you use it is even more important.
…Really, why is Katrina doing such a lowly job like a Strider?
Of course, digging into the past is not a good thing in this kind of industry, so I won’t ask.
But, I was really saved.
Actually, if I was going to be stuck here doing nothing, I was thinking of secretly teleporting to the Lord’s mansion and telling Count Missgancia directly…
I’m trying to hide the fact that I’m a Magician as much as possible, but the fact that I can use magic makes me think of solving things with magical power plays, so it’s no good.
It’s like once you learn how to use console commands, you can’t play the game without using them.
Anyway, I was saved.
There’s a way to clear the game without using magic and cheats…