Chapter 215: 200

【191st day】

Following Yukikaze's plan, I reached out to many people.

Merchants, the flame religion, farmers, bakers, adventurers, and fishmen.

It was Arcane who held the key piece of information.

I had arranged to meet with him in a small bar some distance from the main street. It was deserted and dusty. The patrons hunched over their drinks there kept a beady eye on everyone else.

「Arcane, time to repay what you owe」

「It's finally come, huh?」

As Arcane took his place at the table, he wore a gaunt expression on his face. It was time for the reckoning that had been put off for so long.

「Because of you, Souya, Arcane hasn't been able to go on any proper adventures lately. Get it over with」

Nanassy hurried me.

The reason why Arcane can't go adventuring is not because he owes me, but that's their problem. It has nothing to do with me.

「Sell Khius out to me」

「I refuse」

His answer was immediate.

Well, that’s what I figured.

「I may be an apprentice, but I'm still a knight. I'm the man who will eventually become a real hero. I'd rather die than sell out my own」

「Then go ahead and die」

It was a threat. My weapons are still in the castle, and I don't even have a knife on me.

However, in the worst-case scenario. I'll just tear this young beast apart with my bare hands.

When I focused that killing intent on Arcane……

「Okay. What do you want?」

……Nanassy was more than willing to accept the proposal.

「You!」

In a rage, Arcane grabbed Nanassy's flat chest.

「Arcane, you need to remain calm」

「Like I can! This guy is!」

「Just calm down and think about what you've done」

I prompted him to look around.

He was attracting strange looks from the patrons of the bar, and a few of the tough-looking ones were clicking their tongues at him.

「Tch」

Reluctantly, Arcane fell silent.

「Look, Arcane. The portal you used, the one unauthorized by the Guild. It was used over the years by the knights of Elysium, am I right?」

「What? How did you……」

Arcane's face twisted.

This guy's party had gone to Urovalus through a portal not managed by the Adventurers' Guild. They had charged in without any Guild advisors and had stupidly gotten themselves captured.

In all likelihood, there are other such portals out there.

Or rather, the Guild is neither stupid nor blind. They’re likely aware of the existence of such portals.

The reason why they're turning a blind eye to them is likely because some baldy benefits from it or there's a backroom deal of some sort. Well, it's a complicated matter.

Needless to say, the portal to Urovalus has already been located by Yukikaze.

「Just by making that public, the reputation of all knights who have ever challenged the dungeon will be ruined. This will no longer be a problem for you alone」

「Urgghhh」

Sadly, Arcane is still young. With a little more experience, he would have learned how to protect himself, cover things up, and many other dirty tricks. For now, however, his brain simply grinds to a halt.

「So, what should we do?」

On top of that, his partner is so logic-minded that she's almost mechanical.

Nanassy would surely do anything for Arcane. But that's no more than a foolish kind of loyalty. She can never come up with a plan more clever than Arcane's.

I'll take advantage of the trust these two have in each other.

「That guy Khius’―――――――」

「Got it. That’s―――――」

Nanassy answered my question without hesitation.

Arcane had a quizzical look on his face the entire time.

It's good that he's slow to catch on.

In the worst-case scenario, I would be responsible for a wholesale massacre. If Arcane were to realize that, he would likely do everything in his power to stop me.

「Anything else?」

「That’s it」

I've gotten all the information I can get out of these two. With this, we're even.

「We don't owe you anymore, right?」

「That’s right」

I got up from my seat. Nanassy stood up as well.

「………Huh? Eh? Hey, Souya, is that all?」

「That’s all」

Arcane had been completely left behind.

「Is it really over? What are you going to do with information like that?」

「It's over. I don't see any reason why I should give you an answer. I won't have anything to do with you guys from now on」

Nanassy hurriedly stepped between me and Arcane.

It's probably her animal instinct.

「In that case, get lost」

Nanassy's intimidation was brimming with killing intent.

「I will. Be good to each other. Also, Arcane, you’re not cut out to be an adventurer. You should live as a knight on land. Though there's no guarantee that this world will last long enough for you to do that」

「What did you say?!」

I gave the angry Arcane a wave and then walked out of the bar.

Now, on to the next step.

I got lucky when it came to the arrangements for the ship.

That was because the Zavua merchant company and the Eruomea merchant company were already in the process of arranging shipments to the islands in the vicinity of the center continent.

The goods they were exporting there included materials from the dungeon, weapons and armor, accessories, seasonings, and cheap wheat flour.

However, there were some troublesome circumstances surrounding the cheap wheat flour.

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Elysium provides food to its allies. Most of that food is wheat produced in Elysium, which is native to the center continent. And wheat flour is made from that wheat.

The thing is, Lemuria has been understating the amount of food it produces.

Needless to say, there's a surplus.

There is much more wheat flour than needed.

Although it's steadily consumed in the making of noodles and bread, there's still a large surplus.

But if the wheat flour from Elysium were to be sold at a discount inside Lemuria, the deception would be exposed. That’s why King Lemuria had been keeping a very tight rein on it.

As for how he kept it under control……

First, disposal.

Second, feed.

Third, mixing.

The first one is simple enough, but unfortunately, humans are greedy creatures.

Apparently, there were some who tried to sell off the surplus in defiance of the king's royal order. Those people were erased behind the scenes, but there were many more who attempted the same, so I heard that the plan to dispose of the surplus itself is being scrapped.

The second one is also simple. Feeding the surplus to the monsters in the dungeon is all it entails.

For example, the dungeon pigs, which are a specialty of Lemuria, are gluttonous creatures.

However, there's also a problem with this. When dungeon pigs become huge, they become vicious and are tough opponents. A lot of adventurers will probably get eaten.

To make things worse, monsters that have eaten human flesh develop a taste for it. They won't care for the wheat flour anymore.

That's how he arrived at the third method of mixing it.

This is, to tell the truth, such a waste.

Whole wheat flour is used to make the poor-man's food commonly known as beastkin bread. Whole wheat flour is made by grinding unprocessed wheat into flour. I had always thought that the reason why whole wheat flour was unusually cheap in Lemuria was because of its low production cost.

But I was wrong.

Simply put, the surplus wheat flour from Elysium was mixed with the wheat bran and whole wheat from livestock feed to make whole wheat flour.

Thus he was able to disperse the surplus at a low price, drastically reducing the price of whole wheat flour along the way.

This is one of the reasons why even the poor do not go hungry in this country.

This third method is why the understating of Lemuria’s food production hasn't been exposed until now………………or is it? I believe there's more to it than that.

At any rate.

No matter what schemes are devised, the greed of humans always lurks in the darkness.

Before being mixed to make whole wheat flour, some of the surplus found its way into Lemuria's black market. I don't know how it happened, but one of the merchant companies that I crushed had a large amount of this black-market flour stocked.

There was too much for a single merchant company to dispose of or use in cooking.

On top of that, the left continent's wheat will be harvested soon.

Once the price issue is resolved, the pasta boom will probably be rekindled.

The above is why wheat flour is being exported.

Or rather, that's why it's being smuggled.

With Geto-san's help, the flour is being shipped to the ocean via a different route. A fleet is supposed to pick it up from the fishmen at a later date.

This is a plan that would not have been possible without the Eruomea merchant company, which I've helped to build close ties with the fishmen and whose chairman has married the granddaughter of one of their own.

「You know something, Yukikaze?」

『What is it, indeed?』

「If I sacrifice them all, there'd be no hell for me to fall into」

『That's the worst-case scenario. Yukikaze believes that the chances of that happening are slim』

「Chances, huh? I think that the moment a person exposes his friends and business partners to danger, there's something to be said about him as a person though」

『Yukikaze doesn't understand. What makes this any different from the adventures you regularly go on?』

「Ah」

That's true.

No no no, it's different, isn't it?

「There's a big difference between involving those who are resolved and those who are not」

Killing soldiers is just business, but killing civilians is a massacre.

There is a clear difference.

『No, there's no difference. People feel a heightened sense of security when they’re part of a large community, but that’s merely an illusion akin to mass hypnosis.

Life is a constant battle.

A person is always staking their own survival in the series of choices that is life. Even if the worst comes to pass and the lives of the fishmen and merchants are endangered, that's no more than the result of those people making the wrong choice of associating with you, team member Souya. Therefore, dwelling on it is completely meaningless』

「Hey, Yukikaze」

That's some crazy logic you got there.

But……

「Could it be that you're trying to comfort me?」

『That's a yes, indeed』

………………W, well.

I'll just leave it at that.

I simply need to not get too worked up about it and try to arrive at the best possible outcome instead of the worst.

Perhaps it's because Izora had become too human, but Yukikaze has now grown to become oddly mechanical. Is it because I've lifted the restriction on her? If there's a tomorrow for this world, I can only hope that it's a good one.

That's because, by her logic, the responsibility for people's choices always lies with themselves.

「Alright then, let's move on to the next step」

『To the next step, indeed』

The preparations for the scheme to defeat the hero were done in a single day.

That was astoundingly quick. It had all gone off without a hitch. Everything had gone so smoothly that I found it difficult to be happy about it.

That's because I can feel the will of someone I can't see.

It feels as if everything I had planned this time had been prepared for me in advance. I have the sense that something is lurking in my shadow.

The mask of a man without a face flashes across my mind.

Are my concerns groundless, or am I about to step on the tail of a gigantic monster?

Inside me, a sense of anxiety and………………elation wells up.

Cowering in fear will get me nowhere.

I've done what I needed to do.

All that's left is to play things by ear, as I've always done. I'll take things as they come.

He’s talking about the Faceless King there at the end, isn’t he? Well, as the Faceless King is sorta enemies with Elysium, it makes sense that he would help Souya out against a hero of Elysium. But if it’s true, the extent of his reach is kinda scary, isn’t it?

Well, what’s Souya got planned? Unfortunately, it won’t start just yet, but the next chapter is definitely a revealing one! Stay tuned!!

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