There are few people who believe in the theory that the mastermind is someone who hasn’t gained anything.
Moreover, it’s too unnatural.
They’ve even come up with a conspiracy theory that the fact that they’re doing this all over the country and not doing it in my territory means they’re trying to pin the blame on me.
While such a thing was going on, Gohn Almond asked me to visit again.
☆
Inside the drawing room, I faced Gohn Almond alone.
Unlike the last time, he looked as if he was chewing on a very bitter bug.
After saying something several times and swallowing his words repeatedly.
“Please stop this, I beg you.”
“You can believe all you want about that rumor, but I haven’t done anything.”
“Viscount-sama!”
“Well, I might have leaked to those guys that some merchant took a prostitute as a hostage.”
“That’s i――ugh”
Gohn rotated his head fast.
For a moment, he almost said “That’s it”, but I guess he quickly realized that there was nothing he could do about me with that.
Even if it’s true that I told Kyorus――that is, the Dream Troupe, and even if I did spread the story.
No damage was done to me.
What the Dream troupe is doing is the same act of thief as before, and what I said is that there is a corrupt merchant who has taken a prostitute as a hostage.
I hate to say it, but prostitutes are looked at in many ways, and one of them is that they are “socially vulnerable”.
In this case, the context would automatically become a flow of “until you take the prostitute as a partner~”. (TN: That means that anyone who kidnaps a prostitute should marry them. Different with the case of Hestia in which she bought herself out of being a prostitute)
It’s a story that it’s natural to be targeted by the dream troupe.
As expected of a lucrative merchant, his mind is quick and he seems to have figured it out in an instant.
If he was that smart――
“Rather, I would like you to do something for me”
“――Tuh! Please tell me anything!”
This would be the first push.
The phrase “I would like you to do something ” is usually used in this context to mean that he should give me something before I drop it.
Gohn, as a matter of course, expected it, and the light of salvation emerged on his face.
“If you have any property in Canoe territory, pull it up. Then, I won’t bring anything more into this.”
“……Eh?”
“I’m pretty sure the Dream troupe is targeting you. I don’t want you bringing trouble into my territory.”
“Wha……tha,that’s ――”
“If you just stay here, I’ll have to go and catch them, which is a problem. Just trying to catch a bandit as big as the Dream troupe is enough to make the people look at you coldly. It’s double the trouble.”
Dumbfounded, Gohn opened his mouth wide.
“I don’t want to deal with any of the hassle, so don’t bring it to my house.”
“Viscount-sama!”
“That’s all, go back.”
“――tu! Hermes Canoeeeeee!”
Gohn got angry and tried to grab me.
I didn’t counterattack, I just dodged lightly.
He stumbles, then falls.
He laid flatly on the floor, then looked up at me and glared.
I didn’t pay attention to him, and left the drawing room.
“Hermes Canoeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
Even through the door, I could clearly hear his rage.
Nevertheless, I won’t do anything.
This time, I will do nothing.
This may be the first time I’ve ever felt this exhilarated without something backfiring on me.
I’ll have to thank Orthia for that.
☆
About half a year later.
As a result of this, various bandits have been targeting them since the Dream troupe obtained information about their other wrongdoings and spread it around.
Gohn Almond was devoured by hyenas and left penniless. (TN: LOL)