A New Development From This Chapter
“Everyone, I am most delighted that you could join us today despite your busy schedules.”
A soirée hosted by First Princess Elena was underway at one of the state guesthouses in the Royal Capital.
The invited guests included ambassadors from various nations currently staying in the kingdom. From within the country, nobles belonging to the Royal Family faction had gathered in droves.
The surrounding nations each had their own agendas. They scrutinized Princess Elena, as if searching for flaws, trying to gauge her character in anticipation of future tariff and concession issues should she ascend to the throne.
Elena, while aware of their gazes, watched them coolly from behind her smile.
Relations with these neighboring countries had to be handled with caution. Among the foreign powers she had invited, the important ones were the great power, the Calfaan Empire; the trade nation, the Ganzal Union Kingdom; the Kanhar Kingdom, for securing connections with the north; and the Fandora Theocracy, the headquarters of the Holy Church.
Of course, friendly relations with neighboring countries were important, but due to various actions by the Noble Faction, the actual harm had outweighed the benefits. In particular, the large-scale importation of wheat from the Solhorse Kingdom by the Noble Faction had dealt a heavy blow to the agricultural industry in those regions.
However, Elena was even angrier at herself.
It was true that from the very beginning, without the cooperation of Melrose and Dandole, she hadn’t been able to eliminate her elder brother the prince and his circle. Yet, she had still believed she could resolve things peacefully through political maneuvering alone. But by the time she realized just how thoughtless her opponents were, the situation had become difficult to resolve politically.
(…I never truly realized what a severe blow those three months I was banished to the desert would be.)
It could be said that the Evil Race’s scheme to weaken the kingdom by eliminating Princess Elena had been correct. But what angered Elena more was that, because of it, she had allowed her precious friend to return to the world of shadows.
Thanks to Mikhail manipulating and disseminating information, the disappearance of Aria, the princess’s aide, had been accepted without major uproar, even including rumors of her death.
Elena had hinted at it during her talks with Elvan and Clara, and though the death rumors originated from the Crown Prince’s faction, it was just as Elena intended; this should have made it easier for Aria to operate.
(…I will absolutely get her back.)
The plan remained unchanged. Within the few months before Crown Prince Elvan graduated, she would gather evidence of the problems concerning the Crown Prince’s faction and the Saint that would convince the populace. Then, she would compile the benefits of her becoming queen, convey them to His Majesty the King, and have him make his decision.
Considering the current situation, she couldn’t eliminate Elvan and the Saint yet. But Elena understood that Aria had gone into hiding with the intention of eroding their power from behind the scenes.
In a few months, the Magic Academy graduation party would be held at the Royal Castle. Resolving in her heart to create the foundation for Aria to return to the public stage by then, Elena approached one of her targets for the day—a man presumed to have come from the Fandora Theocracy to certify the Saint—and spoke to him with a cheerful smile.
“It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Hiram-sama.”
The Dukedom of Helton, located in the western part of the Kingdom of Claydale.
It was a ducal house boasting an ancient lineage, existing even before the former duchies of Dandole and Melrose unified with Claydale. Currently, however, their blood ties to the royal family were thin, with only a single princess having married into royalty three generations ago.
Though a ducal house should inherently protect the royal bloodline, the current Duke Helton possessed little of that sentiment. It was merely one of the less influential high-ranking noble families, overshadowed by the two great border margraves who held both wealth and power.
Nevertheless, he held pride in his status as a ducal house, but it was a twisted arrogance. Since the current Duke’s generation, they had been at odds with the Royal Family, which prioritized domestic demand.
Originally, the Dukedom of Helton existed to protect the kingdom from the neighboring Solhorse Kingdom. However, the Duke ignored the Royal Family’s wishes, purchasing large quantities of cheap wheat and distributing it within the kingdom.
Many of the territories in Duke Helton’s faction were wetlands where wheat did not grow well. They could catch fish and shellfish from a large lake, but the perishable seafood was mostly consumed within their own lands, and even dried fish did not sell well in other territories.
They could grow enough crops to prevent their people from starving, but even so, the Duke did not receive sufficient taxes from his vassals. A few years ago, the Duke himself had attempted to subjugate a Phantasmal Beast that appeared along the border, aiming to restore his own force. However, that plan ended in failure when some adventurers defeated the Phantasmal Beast.
Duke Helton was still a noble of the Kingdom of Claydale. He did not wish to harm the kingdom.
His reasons for importing wheat from the Solhorse Kingdom were to improve relations with the neighboring country, reduce military expenses along the border, and provide sufficient food for his people without them having to buy expensive locally grown wheat.
The Duke himself firmly believed he was performing good deeds for his vassals and people. Farmland was decreasing, but he thought that by reallocating the reduced military personnel to the development of local specialty products, taxes would eventually increase.
For this reason, he came into conflict with the current Royal Family, which prioritized domestic demand and strengthening national power, and Duke Helton became a key noble in the Noble Faction.
Indeed, the Duke’s policy would harm no one. If only that neighboring country harbored no ambitions…
Within that Dukedom of Helton, a merchant company had risen to prominence over the past twenty years or so.
The Herman Company. It dealt in foodstuffs and daily necessities. In particular, the wheat imported from the neighboring Solhorse Kingdom, though slightly inferior in quality to wheat from within the dukedom or other territories, was sold at prices more than thirty percent cheaper. By doing so, it had gained the trust of the people, and in these twenty years, it had become known as a major merchant company with over eighty stores in more than ten territories.
However, wheat from the Solhorse Kingdom was not that cheap. Considering transportation and other expenses, they should not only be making almost no profit but should even be operating at a loss. So, from where did the Herman Company derive its profits?
“Baron-kakka… this is rather troubling. You were the one who approached us to buy your wheat, were you not? The request to ‘raise the purchase price just for this year’ simply will not pass.”
“…B-But, Zell-dono, at this rate, my people will starve. Can’t something be done?”
Baron Kelly, a vassal of Duke Helton, confronted one of the Herman Company’s managers in the drawing-room of his mansion.
Since the Herman Company began selling cheap wheat, no other merchants would buy the wheat produced in Baron Kelly’s domain, forcing him to lower his prices.
The merchant company that had previously operated in the barony had tried its best, given their long-standing relationship, needing to purchase wheat at sixty percent of the previous price to make a profit. However, as wheat became unsellable, even the survival of that company became difficult, and it withdrew from the barony.
Currently, sixty percent of the food-handling establishments in Baron Kelly’s domain were under the Herman Company’s umbrella, and the Baron had no choice but to sell his wheat to the Herman Company, even at a low price.
“In that case, Baron-kakka, why not reduce wheat production and sell timber like other territories? For villages requiring initial investment, our company shall provide loans.”
“…Timber is commonplace around here. Even if I borrow money, I don’t know if I can repay it…”
“Regarding that, if you would kindly turn a blind eye to certain matters, our company will manage things on our end, you see?”
Zell glanced behind the sofa where he sat. An adventurer-like man, presumably a guard, who had been signaled, nodded with a mask-like smile. The Baron let out a quiet sigh.
Previously, they could have survived as long as they didn’t indulge in luxury. Even now, if they restored food production to its former state and called back the merchants who had moved elsewhere, they could live as they once did.
However, as long as the Herman Company, which Duke Helton himself had eagerly brought in, was present, his wheat would not sell, and the Baron, unable to oust them, could only nod.
Several farming villages had reduced wheat production and transitioned to forestry, but just as Baron Kelly feared, commonplace timber did not sell so easily. In one village, as a result, they became unable to repay the borrowed money, and the entire village ended up selling themselves into serfdom to the Herman Company.
In the Kingdom of Claydale, slaves without human rights were illegal, but serfs were legal.
However, the Herman Company exploited this legal loophole, moving entire young, productive families elsewhere to raise profits, simultaneously削ging away at the kingdom’s production capacity.
Even if it was for dangerous coal mine development or brothels, such things were legal in the Solhorse Kingdom.
“Are you alright? It’s a little further to the next town.”
“Yes.”
A man in his twenties, carrying minimal luggage, led his young wife as they traveled along the night road, relying solely on the faint moonlight.
In the village they came from, it had been decided, through the mediation of the Herman Company, that the entire village would become serfs. The villagers, who knew no way of life other than in their birth village, had resigned themselves to it as unavoidable. However, this man had coincidentally overheard Herman Company guards discussing how many young peasants they could take as slaves to the Solhorse Kingdom. He, still a newlywed, fled by night that very day with his wife, his childhood friend, to protect her.
But—
“This is a problem, you know. If we let the young ones escape, our reward goes down.”
“Wha-!?”
The man who suddenly appeared ahead on the road was an adventurer who had been guarding for the Herman Company.
As the village man put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and tried to back away, two more men, apparently fellow adventurers, appeared from behind them.
“Wh-why are you chasing us!? We haven’t signed the serf contract yet!”
“Well, about that… We’re not gonna tell you to go back to the village, so we’ve decided to just take you as you are. So, yeah, just give up.”
“What did you say…”
At the adventurer’s mocking words, the village man drew the hatchet he used for felling trees, as if to shield his wife behind him.
The guards were Rank 3 adventurers from the Solhorse Kingdom, hired from their home country (・・).
Of course, they had no intention of losing to mere peasants, but judging it difficult to capture cornered peasants—who at least had brute strength—unscathed, the first adventurer sighed wearily.
“What a pain… Alright, fine. We’ll just take the woman, so go ahead and kill the man.”
At those words, the men who had come from behind cackled loudly.
“Kuh…”
“Dear…”
As the village man groaned and his wife clung to his back, the first adventurer, with a look of annoyance, drew the longsword from his back.
“Good grief, at least understand the difference in our strength. Don’t resist too much, okay? It’ll be a pain if the woman gets hurt.”
“Someone!”
“No one’s coming! Just give it up already—”
—It was then that the sound of a “beast” roaring in the distance reached the ears of everyone present.
It wasn’t the voice of a wolf or a goblin. As the first adventurer frowned at the roar, reminiscent of a much more terrifying predator, one of the adventurers behind the couple noticed something and turned around. The next moment, a giant black Shadow shot past from the side, snatching away the two adventurers.
“What the…”
Just as the first adventurer let out a dumbfounded voice at his suddenly vanished comrades, he too noticed “something” and swung his longsword horizontally as he turned.
What stood there was a small person, like a child or a young girl, clad in an unbleached cloak.
He didn’t know who it was, but at this timing, they couldn’t dodge. The adventurer, who knew his own abilities better than anyone and could deliver a killing blow instantly without hesitation, had a faint smile play on his lips for a moment—
“Wha—”
The figure precisely deflected the flat of the Blade aimed at their neck upwards with their right palm, grabbed the astonished man’s jaw with their left hand, and snapped it sideways.
“—!?”
He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened in an instant. It was beyond the scope of what his level of skill (・・) could understand.
It wasn’t just strength. The adventurer, realizing his neck had been snapped with such little force due to technique and timing, collapsed onto his back. As he died, he looked up at the “Pink-Haired Girl” looking down at him with cold eyes hidden by her hood.
“Don’t make a ruckus at night.”
The man suddenly understood. As a result of overestimating his own strength and causing a commotion in the forest at night like this, he had summoned such a terrifying “night monster”—
Aria, having reached the west.
But there, the Shadow of the neighboring Solhorse Kingdom lurked behind the Noble Faction.
Next time, Solhorse Kingdom.
(Author’s Note: When I started writing, I thought about keeping a kill count for Aria, but I gave up partway through.)