The comic adaptation will be updated tomorrow.
Herman Company. A company that is expanding its influence in the Kingdom of Claydale, mainly in the western aristocratic territories controlled by Duke Haerlton.
It deals in a wide variety of goods, but its main business is importing grains such as wheat and daily necessities. They were undercutting existing companies with low-margin, high-volume sales, monopolizing the market in those areas, and exerting influence in many ways.
That’s legal, though. As long as there are people who want slightly cheaper goods, even if the quality is a bit worse, that’s still a means of trade.
But normally, there should be a balance between people who want slightly cheaper goods of lower quality and people who want higher quality goods even if they are a bit more expensive. However, Herman Company’s products are sold at prices that clearly disregard profit, and they were using a method of crushing other companies and monopolizing the market, which was disliked by other companies.
But who is providing the missing money? That’s what Mikhail and the Shadow Unit investigated and heard from Elena.
The Solhorse Kingdom. That was the entity behind the Aristocratic Faction… and the Crown Prince’s faction, as a source of funds.
“Let’s go, Nero.”
—Yes—
We set off again in the night forest.
We listened to the story from the village couple who had been attacked earlier and confirmed one of the sources of funds.
What Herman Company is doing is borderline, but not illegal. Selling the people of Claydale to Solhorse, using loans and contracts as a shield, and claiming it’s merely “introducing new jobs,” makes it difficult to prosecute unless an investigation is conducted abroad.
But it’s not good morally. Originally, Duke Haerlton, the boss of this area, should use his authority to stop it, but the Duke can’t cut off Herman Company, which is his source of funds.
That’s why Elena couldn’t touch Herman Company either. It’s not just Herman Company… several surrounding countries, including the Condor Kingdom and the Principality of Illus, which are vying for mining rights, are doing similar things.
Now, with the power of the royal family weakening and the Aristocratic Faction gaining power, it’s a great opportunity for the surrounding countries to weaken the national power of the Kingdom of Claydale.
If the country has national power, it’s okay to give some benefits to the surrounding countries, but in the current situation, they have no choice but to prioritize national interests, even if it means eliminating the Aristocratic Faction.
“…Gaa.”
“It’s nothing.”
Nero reacted to the self-deprecating laugh I unintentionally let out.
This is just like Grave. He sought the peace of the nation and was willing to kill even Elena if necessary. He would have gladly moved to kill the Crown Prince and the Saint now. He said I would be his successor. That I would understand someday…
Grave. You are right. But I don’t accept your justice.
I am a “Blade.” Those with great power must not act on their own justice.
I understood that in my battle with you.
My father and mother said that there are no truly bad people. People have their own justice, and it’s just that they clash, and there is no true justice.
Elena is my conscience. That’s why I believe in Elena and wield my blade for her sake.
Someday, to save that child who has great power but is not being saved…
I won’t touch Duke Haerlton. It’s Elena’s job to deal with him without affecting the surroundings. To that end, I will sneak into the Herman Company’s headquarters, which is Duke Haerlton’s source of funds, and find out about their connection with the Solhorse Kingdom.
But I think that will be difficult. Those guys aren’t stupid enough to keep such things lying around. But Herman Company has made a mistake here.
I think it’s Herman Company’s own decision to sell the villagers. Even if they are acting on orders from their home country, they have been operating in the Kingdom of Claydale for twenty years, and they sought their own “flavor.”
Human trafficking. If there is evidence of sales in the Solhorse Kingdom, which is illegal in the Kingdom of Claydale, it will be the responsibility of Duke Haerlton, who brought them in.
The Adventurers I defeated also had the Solhorse Kingdom’s mark on their identification plates, so they must have been hired by the country as well. But even they sought their own flavor and helped with human trafficking.
…That village couple told me they wanted me to save their village. But unless the source is cut off, even if I destroy one branch of that Barony, the village’s debt will not disappear, their circumstances will not change, and there is nothing I can do.
“Nero, hide around here.”
“…”
“It’s okay.”
I lightly stroked Nero’s neck, who was staring at me while hiding in the darkness, and turned to look at the huge mansion in the distance, reflecting it in my eyes.
The mansion where the chairman of Herman Company lived was located in the suburbs, a little away from the town that was Duke Haerlton’s base.
The store is in the town, but the reason I came to this mansion instead of the store is because the store only had normal security, while this place had unusual security.
There were clearly suspicious people. If it’s a large company, it may be connected to the Underworld and pay the Thieves’ Guild to act as security. But those normal guys were only at the store, and the security at this mansion was clearly made up of highly skilled fighters who were accustomed to combat in the Underworld.
I can’t tell the exact combat strength because of the distance, but judging from their movements and footwork, their combat strength is over 500… some seem to reach 1000.
At least Rank 3 or higher. There may be Rank 4 or higher as well. In fact, there were one or two who seemed to have noticed my gaze and were looking around.
Moreover, several dogs were released in the large grounds. That’s why the Shadow Unit’s intelligence officers couldn’t investigate thoroughly. I guessed that only people from Solhorse or people from the Underworld were allowed to enter the grounds.
The guards who are walking normally are probably Adventurers from Solhorse. If so, are the people who are walking silently members of the Solhorse Kingdom’s Shadow Unit?
…No, that’s not right. There may be people from the country, but organizations like the Shadow Unit don’t entrust important work to people who aren’t highly loyal. Even Grave, though twisted, had more loyalty to the country than anyone else. I can’t believe that such a person would allow Herman Company to do as they please. If that’s the case…
“…The Assassin Guild of Claydale?”
Judging from the large number of dark-skinned Cruz people, I think they are assassins from the Central West Branch. If it’s this strict, normal people have no choice but to give up the investigation.
“…Real Breaker…”
Using the Darkness of Real Breaker, I instantly move into the grounds of the mansion.
If I keep using Darkness like this, I don’t think anyone will find me. But since I don’t know how long it will take to find evidence, I should refrain from wasting Mana.
I lightly exhale the air in my lungs and pull out the surrounding weeds along with the soil and rub them on my cloak.
I, who can “see” Mana Particles with my eyes, am comparable to a cat-species beastman when it comes to Stealth. What I thought was dangerous based on the information I’ve obtained so far is that if there are high-ranking Stealth experts, they will come into contact with each other without noticing. I can avoid it to some extent because I can recognize them by color and shape, but the most troublesome thing is the patrolling dogs.
Wild animals won’t notice me. But if there are dogs trained to detect Stealth, there is a possibility that they will notice me with a slight scent, even if they don’t detect me.
It’s troublesome, but it’s not all bad. In order to avoid being targeted by dogs while using Stealth, the Assassin Guild members are also not using Stealth.
Besides, using animals isn’t always a good thing.
“…………”
The dog is right in front of me. It’s a huge dog like a magic wolf, and even if it hasn’t noticed me, the fact that it’s not moving from that spot means it’s sensing something strange with its scent.
The fact that it doesn’t even growl is proof that it’s been highly trained. The dog moved as if searching for something and stopped its gaze at me.
But after staring at me for a few seconds, the dog averted its gaze and quietly cleared the way, and I quietly passed through.
The reason is simple. Nero’s scent remains faintly on my body. And I myself am probably already different from ordinary humans.
Until now, wild animals would be frightened if they noticed me. But since I finished off the dragon, wild animals that see me no longer run away as if sensing “death.”
I approached the building and clung to the wall, searching for signs of anyone inside, and found a place where no one was around. I then slipped a thread manipulated with Thread Manipulation through the gap.
(…Shadow Walk…)
Complete chantless casting still reduces accuracy, but I entered the room using Shadow Walk with the thread, and then climbed up near the high ceiling and began to move while clinging to the ceiling.
I don’t carelessly enter the attic. I would set traps in places where normal people wouldn’t go.
If someone passes by, I’ll stay still and let them go. Honestly, the difficulty is higher than the Evil Race Fortress with its many soldiers, but the tension is similar.
There were many Adventurers and Assassin-like people inside, but if I ignored the premise of “being killed if discovered,” it wasn’t that hard to keep hiding.
After wandering around for about half an hour, I understood the situation inside quite well.
The lower floor had a reception room, a kitchen, and a place for the guards. It was a two-story building, and the person who seemed to be the chairman of the Herman Company was on the upper floor. There was also a study, but I felt a slight discomfort there.
Compared to the strict security elsewhere, there were only traps in that study. If they only used lethal traps, they wouldn’t need to deploy personnel, but that would make it difficult to use regularly.
Am I overlooking something? If so… the most heavily guarded place.
“…The basement?”
I went down to the first floor again to look for the entrance to the basement. The most guards were gathered in the garden, but if that was because they didn’t want to let the Assassin Guild, who were outsiders, into the mansion, then the entrance must be inside the mansion.
I didn’t notice it when I first went around, but when I searched thinking there was a basement, there was an unnatural shelf under the stairs leading to the second floor, and a hidden door to the basement was found in the gap there.
The shelf itself was designed to open like a door, but I used 【Shadow Walker】 again to slip through the door without unlocking it. I thought it would be like this, but there were no lethal traps. Of course. They wouldn’t use dangerous traps in a place used by important people of this company in case of emergency.
At the same time, I thought that if there were important documents, there shouldn’t be any mechanism that would damage them.
It’s dark inside, but even a small amount of Magic light is enough to read the letters without any inconvenience.
There was only a simple table and a simple shelf in the room, and there were documents filled with numbers, but I didn’t have time to examine them in detail. Still, I wondered if I could use anything, so I glanced through them and put everything into 【Shadow Storage】.
Most of them were income and expenditure statements related to business. Even a quick look revealed that they were importing from neighboring countries at ridiculously low prices.
But so far, it’s just a normal income and expenditure statement. It’s full of discomfort, but it’s not evidence of a crime.
“…?”
When I stored all the documents on the shelf, I noticed that part of the shelf moved.
Are they using the same trick twice…? They probably didn’t think there would be a spy who would take all the documents back. But when I gently moved it, I heard an alarm-like sound in the distance.
A trap here? Maybe it’s a mechanism that sounds an alarm unless you follow a certain procedure. I was wary of lethal traps, but these simple things are difficult to deal with.
“…………”
I opened the shelf as it was and read the documents inside.
As expected, there were no directives from the Solhorse Kingdom. But among them, I found a still unfinished activity report addressed to a certain person, either handwritten by the chairman himself, and a description of the slaves that could be sent this term.
Perhaps there are still parts that need to be written. It might have been sent if the days I sneaked in had been off by a few days.
“Don’t move!”
At that moment, the door burst open, and several men with weapons drawn came down.
When I turned around while putting the report into 【Shadow Storage】, the Rank 4 Adventurers seemed to relax slightly when they realized I was alone.
“A Claydale spy, huh? How did you manage to get this far? But now that you’ve come this far, don’t think you can go back alive.”
“It’s unlucky that the chairman is here. Today, skilled people in the surrounding area are also gathered as guards, so we’ll have you tell us which organization you belong to.”
At that moment, I spread my cloak in front of the men. The Rank 4 men dodged instinctively, but my Dagger pierced the forehead of the man at the front through the cloak.
No matter how much it’s me, I can’t do anything without evidence.
Even if there is evidence, if I leave it to Duke Haerlton, the village’s debt will not disappear.
…But now, I finally have a reason to do it.
Amidst the torn cloak and bloody mist, I point my Black Dagger at the astonished men.
“There’s no reason to hold back anymore.”
The Ash-Covered Princess finally bared her fangs.
Next time, a battle with the Herman Company.