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"Oh, I'll get in the way."

"That's unusual, Mr. Siegfried. What can I do for you?

I came to the Wang Metropolitan Guard stuffing after serving as a practice examiner for new registrants at the Mercenary Guild.

"You heard yesterday that a merchant squad from the Marida Chamber of Commerce was attacked at the west berth of Wangdu, didn't you, Knights? I wanted to hear about it."

"Wait a minute, I'll bring the report"

A young guard waiting for me at the jar went to the back to pick up the report. I came here for one purpose. I wanted information on Shaft, the man on the black side brought in by the Marida Chamber of Commerce. Being a former Rank A adventurer, I was made inactive in an instant, even though I had been away from active duty for a long time. There's no way that powerful people are anonymous.

However, there was absolutely nothing that could be confirmed in the overall guild, there was no tax record, only that the Marida Chamber of Commerce collected and paid at the time of today's registration.

"Thank you for waiting, Mr. Siegfried. This is a report from the Knights."

"Oh, thank you, I'll show you something."

What is this... 7 bodies believed to be bandits on the streets to the west rest stop, multiple spike marks on the back, head, and chest. Around the berth, there are eight bodies of bandits and eight horses that appear to be fire magic, and nine bodies of bandits elsewhere, all with significant head damage.

And a short distance from the rest stop there are eight horse bodies without heads......

No ID on the burglar's body, headed for the report with the Grand Bandits, but no unified markings, no face corresponding to the arrangements (however, severe head damage and many unidentifiable bodies).

No damage was done to the rest stop, only two carriages believed to have been set on fire were left unattended - no sign of the bandits even scouting the area, or...

There were four merchant escorts, three of them fled immediately at the time of the raid, and their subsequent whereabouts are unknown. Does that mean that it was one person on the black side who caused this damage?

The Marida Chamber of Commerce got an interesting guy, now he can defend and attack from the feud behind the King's Capital?

I returned the report to the guards, after the guard's stuffing, and decided to return to the mercenary guild. I had a feeling in this king's capital that there would always be a commotion around the black side, without holding back the mouth that would lead to it.

◆◆◇◆◆◇◆◆

Back at the Marida Chamber of Commerce, Marta and I were handing over 100 meals of lunch, in addition to Marida, which is the reward for this Merchant Guard.

"We focused on fried and steamed food, 50 meals at a time, with Mr. Shaft's desired rice and bread meals. With vegetables to go with, the average price fits in a little more than the diner's dinner."

"Thank you. We were talking about collecting this cage later, but are you thinking of reusing it?

"Yes, the system is not yet in place to lower the price per meal and to continue to produce numerous cages of this size. Bento at this harvest festival likewise contemplates a discount on the collection of cages"

With such chatter, activate the TSS (Tactical Support System) and summon the Gift BOX. For the first time ever seeing my summoning flashy patterned gift BOX, Marida looked intrigued at how the particles of light converged.

"Is that Mr. Shaft's toolbox? It's a strange sight to see the light gather and take shape."

"Are you sure you're only storing 100 meals of my payout for today?

"Yeah, I'll have everything ready for you in the merchant squad by the time we leave."

Since two carriages were to be lost due to bandit raids, there was only one carriage returning from Wang Du to the castle city of Barga. The planned shipment had three wagons and enough for me to store and carry, but everything had been changed to what I would carry.

I can use the carriage at the Marida Chamber of Commerce headquarters, but I have trouble getting raided again on my way back to the fortified city of Barga. Even in reducing the eligibility for escort, he planned to have a carriage and head to Barga with the exclusive escort of the Marida Chamber of Commerce.

I also thought about using my mobile vehicle, but I rejected it because it was too unnatural to say that I just wanted to avoid entering Barga with a mobile vehicle, even if I got off in front of it, I walked back from Wang Capital, etc.

The confirmation of the merchant convoy escort on the way home was also largely over, and a maid from the Maltese mansion brought me some tea.

"Sir, ma'am. It's time to pick up the lady."

"Oh, do me a favor. Don't forget to take the escort."

"Yes, I'm going"

Minnea, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Malta, said she attended the Royal College of First Sorcery. She's only 9 years old, but she goes to college from about this age to learn her knowledge and experience of magic and witchcraft, as well as general upbringing and etiquette.

The First Academy of Magic is a college attended by children of leading merchants, including royal marquis nobles, and children of high-ranking adventurers. Children of the general public in Wangdu and children of adventurers below the middle rank attend the Royal Second Academy.

They say school attendance at the college is optional, but most families who can afford to let them go. Even students of the Second College can attend the First School of Magic with the help of scholarships and guardians, if they are recognized for their high intake magic and high witchcraft qualities.

I can well see how this world values magic and seeks to produce descendants with higher magic.

Listening to a college like that makes me want to go check it out there, too. My maid's already picked me up today, but I guess I'll keep up with the escort tomorrow morning or something.

But Minnea didn't come home that night.

"Have you found any clues as to where you're going?"

"No, we have been witnessed leaving the First College in the First District by carriage, but the passage of our Chamber's carriage to the Second District has not been confirmed"

"I mean, as soon as I left college, something happened..."

Normally, Minnea doesn't return home before dusk, and it's been about three hours. I didn't even know where the maid I picked him up and the three dedicated escorts were going, and this seemed like no mistake when I saw something had happened.

The Maltese are hearing reports of a dedicated escort who went on a search, but no progress has been made. Given the timing, it would be kidnapping by bandits or their associates. But the Marida Chamber of Commerce had not received anything that seemed demanding.

It took another two hours. The sun falls completely, and all around is light by demonic props and lights by lanterns lit up a little bit.

I was on the roof of the Marida Chamber of Commerce. He told Mr. Malta that he would know if he called from within the building, and was upright with his arms on the roof of the merchant hall, watching the movement of the light points on the map with thin eyes, concentrating all nerves on listening to the various sounds heard from the sound collecting sensors.

Something always comes to convey the demands. I won't let Soytz get away with it.

It took another two hours. Still nothing happened, and the exclusive escorts of the Marida Chamber of Commerce went back on the search and just repeated clueless reports.

By the time I got up to the roof for a little while, a unit of the Wang Metropolitan Guard was visiting the Marida Chamber of Commerce to cooperate with Minnea in the search for maids and exclusive escorts.

Malta had reported to the guards early because it was not possible that the kidnapping was due to the prolongation of the raid by the bandits. But the guards couldn't get a clue about anything either.

And when another hour had passed, the lights around him went out, and the day in the king's capital was over, and in the silence of a new sleep for tomorrow, I could hear something approaching me to kill the sound.

It's a constant rhythm, quietly closing in, footsteps. Footsteps stopped in the shadow of the building about 100 m from the Marida Chamber of Commerce. What follows is the sound of a bow, and the sound of the wind cutting off, and the sound of an arrow stabbing at the wooden door of the Marida Chamber of Commerce. It's Yafumi, what an old-fashioned way to get in touch, but it's a clue I'm finally here, I'm not letting you get away with it.

Switch the Kevlar mask lens to NV (Night Vision) mode, jump off the roof of the Marida Chamber of Commerce, and follow the kidnapper's liaison to the roof transmission.

Neither did the liaison officer think he was ever perceived approaching, let alone imagining he was being chased by roofing. Some distance away from the Marida Chamber of Commerce, he stops killing footsteps and runs through the second area in light footsteps.

Eventually, he turned to the back of a large building and went inside, checking his eyes.

"Here..."

It's a building that feels like the Marida Chamber of Commerce. After all, it was a kidnapping of a commercial zone wrangling? Upon confirmation of the sign hanging on the ground floor part of the building with three stone floors, it reads "Yagoche Chamber of Commerce".

Stand on the roof of the Yagoche Chamber of Commerce and listen to the sounds inside -

"Has Yawen delivered it?

"Ha, I've hit the front door"

"Ooh, good luck, stay back. Hey!, how are the little girls doing!

"I'm stripping him so he can't escape and throwing him into the dungeon at the chairman's place."

Dungeon...... or is this order-tongued man the president of this Chamber of Commerce? No, I remember hearing this voice... the voice of the bandits or the man who was leading the bandits who attacked us at the berth.

So the building behind this mall is the building of the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce? When Wang Du says he is in a quiet sleep time, many times on the grounds of this Yagoche Chamber of Commerce, men with lantern lights travel back and forth to the building at my feet and the mansion behind it.

Return to the Marida Chamber of Commerce once and let us know where Minnea and the others are, or do we just keep going to the rescue?

Without checking the contents of Yawen, he has followed the liaison officer away, so if the priority purchase rights for the Harvest Festival are to be discarded as soon as possible, it must be stopped.

Just for a few moments, I decided to make rescue my top priority. Even if we lose our preferred right to buy, it will be the Minneas and maids that matter to the Maltese couple. I'll rescue you as soon as I can, I'm sure that's the best I can do.