Chapter 44

I had asked Torun to do some preliminary investigation for the plan, but I also tried moving on my own side.

The first people I spoke with were Iiria and Kururu, but the two of them gave rather sluggish reactions.

“I wonder… whether that would work.”

When Iiria turned her gaze toward Kururu, Kururu was frowning.

I had spent a fair amount of time with Kururu too, so now I understood the meaning of that expression.

When there was something she did not understand, it frustrated her, and she made that face.

“When you put it that way… no, when we’ve boarded ships until now, what was it like again…?”

Kururu, who was always brimming with confidence in all things, hesitantly asked Iiria.

“I never even paid attention.”

After the two girls looked at each other, Kururu said,

“Wouldn’t that guy know?”

So we summoned Marks, who had been loitering in front of Iiria’s mansion.

“…You want to use beastfolk for the company’s cargo hauling?”

When the summoned Marks heard my proposal, he asked back suspiciously.

“The port in particular is being charged additional fees by the Bax Company because unloading is backed up. Even if they overcharge us, we have no way to fight back. More than anything, if we keep ships docked in the harbor forever, it will affect future purchasing as well.”

“So if you use beastfolk for the heavy labor, that solves it… is that it?”

For example, when unloading the mining tools Kengo had purchased from the ship, a large pickaxe and the like had to be unloaded by five people working together. It was dangerous work, and it took time.

Yet when we delivered those things to the mine, the beastfolk casually lifted the pickaxes, slung them over their shoulders, and trudged off with them.

Not to use that labor force would be absurd.

“The harbor—”

Marks, who had gone still, finally returned to reality.

“Is human turf.”

Then he turned a somewhat troubled look toward Iiria and Kururu.

“They say beastfolk are clumsy and rough, so they break cargo.”

Both Iiria and Kururu shrugged. After that, Iiria ostentatiously toyed with the ornament swaying in Kururu’s hair with her fingers.

It was the thing braided from the hair of beastfolk children that Kururu had made as proof that she would not betray beastfolk society when Nodon was expelled.

“…I know. Or rather, it’s obvious from the mining work that they’re not that clumsy.”

Marks said it unpleasantly, then groaned.

“Would it be okay if I put it vaguely? Probably the town’s wall… well, here it’s not enough to really call it a town wall, but inside it feels strongly like human turf. Outside that, beastfolk can work however they like. That kind of atmosphere exists. In fact, beastfolk work in the fields outside town and normally carry cargo into town. But past that point, it becomes the territory of the human cargo haulers. It’s the same with ores coming from the mine.”

For carrying heavy loads, beastfolk were better suited by any measure.

And yet, it was not their market to dominate.

“Besides, beastfolk can’t join artisan guilds either, right? It’s also hard for them to acquire land and buildings, so they can’t do large-scale business. In the district on the outskirts where beastfolk live, they make handmade stalls and somehow get by.”

I did sometimes see beastfolk at taverns where people stopped by, so they were not being completely excluded, but hearing stories like this made the meaning of beastfolk being second-class citizens very clear.

They were being shut out of many kinds of work.

Even though overwhelming labor power existed right there.

“Through Torun-kun, I’ve been asking whether there are beastfolk who want to work, or whether it would be a problem to sound them out about that kind of job.”

“Ahh…”

Marks scratched his head, thinking about something.

“Well, there are probably plenty of people who want to work, but…”

“Who controls the harbor, I wonder?”

At Iiria’s comment, Marks shrugged.

“That place is the turf of the stevedore boss. Not land-rooted fellows like us, but guys who gather men who ride ships and drift from port to port. Though—”

Marks looked at Iiria.

“In the end, it also kind of depends on Iiria-chan.”

Iiria met Marks’s gaze head-on and shrugged in a self-possessed little way.

“Because I am the lord.”

The fluffy-haired, fluffy-tailed young lady sitting here was none other than the highest authority in Jirenu Territory.

“But they’re a bunch of rough bastards too, former pirates and rowers from slave ships, every bit as rough as beastfolk. So normally I’d say they’re troublesome, but—”

Marks’s gaze turned toward Kururu.

Kururu’s green eyes narrowed.

“Is it time for the magician Dorasutel to appear?”

Dorasutel, the wandering magician Kururu impersonated. Even if her magical ability itself was small, the gap in power could be made up by increasing the size of the magic stones used. Even with this girl’s power, she could probably turn the whole town into a burnt wasteland with ease.

After all, we had the secret of synthetic magic stones in our hands.

We absolutely could not make it public, but for the amount we used in secret ourselves, we could make huge magic stones almost for free and as many as we wanted.

“If a magician showed up, those guys would probably dive into the sea and run. But I’m not sure stirring things up too much is a good idea either. They help keep order in the harbor, after all. Iiria-chan, you still can’t spare effort for that side of things yet, can you?”

Iiria shrugged.

“Besides, you and the others only just got into a dispute with the Magic Stone Processors’ Guild too.”

At Marks’s words, I groaned.

While glancing aside at Kururu kicking Marks in the rear for not calling her Lady Iiria, I looked at the thoughtful Iiria.

“Would it be… better to leave it alone?”

To that question, Iiria came up with an answer more quickly than I had expected.

“I owe Dodol and the others a debt, but I still can’t do anything that costs money. In that case, bringing new work to the beastfolk would serve as a bridge. The magic stone preparation work at the mine is, in the end, a job for beastfolk children. Being able to entrust cargo-hauling work to them would be a very good thing. More than anything, it’s absurd that beastfolk, who are obviously suited for heavy labor, are being excluded.”

Kururu looked as if she might cry, probably because she was moved by how admirable Iiria looked.

“Then I guess the compromise would be finding a way to wedge it in with a bit of ingenuity. Like, by order of Iiria-chan, limiting it to cargo hauling for Yorinobu’s company and no one else. Well, I can’t imagine there are any other companies that would particularly want to use beastfolk anyway… no, right, that’s the point.”

“What is it?”

Marks put a hand on his hip and asked in a somewhat puzzled tone.

“Would the people at your company not complain if beastfolk were entrusted with the work?”

“…”

I could not answer because I had not considered that in the slightest.

“W-Would they… dislike it?”

The reason my words snagged partway through was also because the two girls standing beside me both carried beastfolk blood.

“Well~~~~… yeah, of course.”

With his hands laced behind his head, Marks said it as if there was no point in trying to smooth it over now.

“If their own work ended up being the same as beastfolk work, that’d be a matter of honor, wouldn’t it?”

Honor.

The head of the magic stone processors’ guild had also raged that my proposal had stained his honor.

And even though I thought Kururu, who had beastfolk blood, would snap at Marks’s frank way of speaking, both Kururu and Iiria simply tightened their mouths expressionlessly.

They were two girls who had been endlessly shoved around as people without honor.

And yet, the ridiculous plan Kengo and I had come up with had been made possible because of them.

“There won’t be a problem.”

“Hm?”

“If necessary, I’ll fire everyone who complains.”

Marks hung his mouth open vertically in astonishment, then shut it sideways and gave a whistle.

Iiria blinked as well.

And Kururu raised the corners of her mouth enough to show her fangs, while her cat ears flicked back and forth.

“There are people like Torun and Yoshu who are favorably disposed toward the beastfolk. And more than anyone, Kengo gets along with them that well. The people at the company should be able to manage just fine, and I believe they are good people too.”

Of course I was fully prepared to be told it was naive thinking.

But if I was going to keep fighting alongside Iiria and Kururu from here on, then people who opposed that way of thinking should not be our companions in the first place.

That was why I made that declaration boldly, but at the same time, it was also true that ideals alone felt unreliable.

Secretly, in the back of my mind, I was also calculating that if the people at the company were shaken, I could use the doubled magic stone sales to keep them on board by raising wages.

And then Marks, who seemed likely to take the harshest view of this sort of matter, said this.

“I think it’s good. Once you start doubting your companions, it’s over.”

Iiria smiled and nodded too, while Kururu seemed somehow restless.

Judging from her ears and tail, she was apparently a little embarrassed by how youthful and earnest the conversation had become.

When our eyes met, she quickly looked away, but in the end she did not voice any objection.

“Then… may I move the talks forward?”

When I asked that, Iiria smiled in a troubled way this time, and Marks did the same.

Then Kururu, who alone was plainly exasperated, spoke as if on their behalf.

“Why are you uncertain at that part?”

I wanted to say that I was not the type to drag everyone forward by sheer force, but just as I had come to understand them, it seemed they too had come to understand me.

Well, that’s just Yorinobu, their three different expressions all seemed to say in their own ways.