Headquarters of the Merchant Guild of the Western Continent.
In a room of the building in the eastern district of Kilket, two people were meeting.
One was Marcus, head of the guild of the Western Continent Merchants Guild.
The other was a nobleman named Kudrin, the third in rank within the Kilket nobility.
The two men were seated deep on couches facing each other, Marcus flanked by his secretary, Jahal, and his bodyguard, Dacoras, and Lord Kudrin flanked by his two bodyguards.
“So, Marcus. Has that merchant already headed north?”
Lord Kudrin opened his mouth gravely.
“Yes! He seems to have gone out in high spirits, without question.”
Lord Kudrin smiled at the report from Marcus.
“He is a damned man. A merchant should not be allowed to hold a “theater show,” which is a privilege of the nobility, for the common people. In other words, he deserves to die.”
“Yes! That’s right.”
“Then why? Why, then, is the merchant not executed?”
“Yes! That is because that Gilbert Warren is thought to be backed him. Also, Albus himself is well known by the residents of Kilket due to his capture of the Earth Ruins and his theater, so it is difficult for us to make any direct moves to—”
“I know that!”
At Lord Kudrin’s yell, not only Marcus, but also his secretary, Jahal, and Lord Kudrin’s bodyguards stiffened.
Lord Kudrin, who holds a theater for the nobility in the central district of Kilket, has been receiving bashing from all quarters since the theater in Albus was built.
According to them, ‘Kudrin’s theater is too much publicity’.
The Kudrin theater is always full of mediocre performances.
The singers in Kudrin’s theaters are not skilled enough to begin with.
In all of these, they said, the Mistria Theater, which is held for the common people, is superior to Lord Kudrin’s theater.
For Lord Kudrin, running a theater in the central district of Kilket was just a one-sided affair. ……
When Sir Kudrin heard the rumors, his guts began to boil, and he began to take action against the merchant, Albus, who was running the theater.
But just as he was about to bring the theater business to a standstill by imposing a high tax, he was intercepted by Gilbert Warren.
The theater was to be held in the Warren family’s detached house.
Gilbert Warren himself said, “I will make sure the theater is good. If it’s a bad one, I’ll knock it down myself,” and so the story of Lord Kudrin’s imposition of a tax was dropped.
And after all.
Gilbert acknowledged the theater’s existence once and for all by inviting its diva as an auctioneer’s entertainment, while the Mistria Theater became even more well-known.
“Gilbert, you damned bastard, you have thwarted my schemes on numerous occasions …….”
At the auction, Jimmy Radiak and his merchant, who somehow came out from the side, competed with each other. Gilbert himself entered the auction, and Lord Kudrin, who had been waiting for the right moment to enter the auction, was nailed to the wall.
Although Gilbert Warren was ranked second in the Kilket nobility, his wealth was said to be greater than that of all the other nobles combined.
Jimmy and his merchants were no problem for Lord Kudrin, but against Lord Warren, he had no chance.
And now that Lord Warren had entered the war, it was not in Lord Kudrin’s best interest to openly oppose him.
In the meantime, the theater belonged to a merchant named Albus, both in name and reality.
At that time, Lord Kudrin had a simmering resentment toward Albus.
And Lord Warren’s own participation in the auction of the detached house had yet another effect.
It also had the effect of making Albus’s offer for his own goods, which had been made only a short time before, go unnoticed.
Lord Kudrin was beginning to think of a grand scheme to denounce Albus for his actions and expel him from the Merchant Guild …… and, by extension, from Kilket.
However, the moment Lord Kudrin was about to mention this at the nobles’ meeting after the auction.
“Lord Kudrin, what do you mean, do you have a problem with me?”
Gilbert Warren’s words completely cut off the flow.
If you denounce the actions of Albus, are you also going to denounce me who did the same thing? That’s what Gilbert Warren is really about.
On the surface, Lord Kudrin said, “It’s a terrible thing, Lord Warren,” and withdrew, but Lord Kudrin’s guts were boiling.
The disparity in economic power and authority, which he could not outwardly confront, was a source of irritation to him.
But it seems that even Lord Warren could not interfere in this matter this time.
Marcus said with a grin, and Lord Kudrin smiled again.
“The trade with Poppo Village will be beneficial to the Merchant Guild as a whole, and with the visit of the great merchant in attendance, even Lord Warren could see no particular reason to oppose it.”
“No matter how many traps may be laid along the way.”
“Guild Leader, you must be carefull!”
“Yes!”
And so the two men drank the mellow fruit wine that had been prepared for them.
→→→→→
And in that small room after Lord Kudrin left.
“Sir Marcus, are you sure you are all right?”
Jahal, the secretary, began to ask, looking a little impatient.
“Albus has already broken through one of our traps.”
“……”
At Jahar’s words, Marcus nervously continued to tap his fingertips on his temples.
The first trap set by Marcus against Albus.
The first trap was the obstruction of movement by the articulated wagons.
The wagons loaned to Albus by the merchants’ guild were “articulated wagons,” which consisted of two wagons connected at the front and rear and pulled by three ushama.
It is a type of wagon used mainly in the vicinity of the royal capital to transport relatively light items on well-developed roads.
However.
Even though the road was well maintained, it was the worst kind of wagon on the Popoi Road, where many hard-shelled monsters such as Mashura and Tamashura roamed, and their coupled wagons often stopped moving because of monsters getting caught on the wheels here and there.
No one would be foolish enough to use such a wagon on this road.
The first trap is where Jahar dared to give it to Albus.
Albus stored the entire four wagons in his warehouse and then quickly departed, borrowing only four of the six Ushama horses.
“Apparently he has some special warehousing skills. I was caught off guard by the fact that he was a merchant with little name recognition or fighting ability, even though he was a former member of a brave party.”
Hearing this again, Marcus kicked the furniture in the room.
“You should have looked that stuff up beforehand!”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“But I have more tricks up my sleeve. You must complete Lord Kudrin’s request.”
Marcus told Jahar in a firm tone of voice and retreated into a back room.