Chapter 84

“Ohhh…?”

Gerario’s drawn-out voice of surprise was probably because he was sorting out the situation behind it.

If he was the son of the company’s master, then even if he held different ideas from those around him, perhaps they had let it slide.

But the fact that he had been thrown into prison after being beaten so badly meant there were two possibilities.

“Either your daddy abandoned you, or your daddy’s been put in a prison for important people too.”

Instead of arguing back, Cole took a slightly deep breath and stayed silent.

“So he abandoned you.”

“No!”

That immediate denial could only seem like an expression of Cole’s hope.

“But I still don’t really get it.”

Gerario spoke in his usual laid-back tone.

“The people preaching independence from the empire went out of their way to lure Iiria-chan here and capture her. Normally, the standard move would be to take Kururu hostage, threaten Iiria-chan into becoming their puppet, and secure Jirenu’s magic stones. Then they’d use those supplies to start a war of independence, but…”

They would turn the entire mine of Jirenu Territory into an armory and have the province fight the empire for independence.

If this were a game, it would be an exciting development, but I also felt something was off.

“For that, the city seems awfully peaceful, though…”

“Right. It doesn’t feel like adventurers, the sort who’d get called in at a time like this, are gathering here either. Most of all, prices haven’t gone up. You can hide a war plan, but you can’t hide the effects of procuring supplies.”

Prices.

This was not a world where mass production had made goods abundant.

At Gerario’s words, I heard Cole let out a weary sigh.

“Independence… is only a pretext.”

“A pretext?”

When I asked back, Cole coughed, spat, and then spoke.

“Cough… Their objective is to maintain the beastfolk slave trade.”

The fact that Kururu had been in a bad mood ever since we set foot in the harbor.

“I see. They thought that if Iiria-chan with her beast ears gained power as a lord, it might invite a slave revolt.”

Just as Dodol and the others had gained courage.

“But…”

Even so, I still felt as though something was missing.

After all, Cole was the son of the company’s master, yet he had been beaten to tatters and thrown into prison.

Normally, his father would not stay silent, but in response to Gerario’s question, Cole had reacted as though his father had abandoned him.

If that was the case, was the whole story about his father understanding him just wishful thinking, or simply a lie? In truth, was Cole the only one raising the banner against the slave trade, fighting alone and trying to resist the movement of the company as a whole?

However, even then, the cruelty of how Cole had been treated still felt strange.

If he was fighting alone, he could hardly be a threat, and they could simply leave him alone.

In this world, where people were particular about honor in every way, doing something like this to Cole, who should still be a noble no matter how rotten he was, should have crossed some line in their shared values.

If so…

The sound of waves crossed my mind, and I remembered the conversation on the ship.

What had Gerario assumed about the reason Iiria had been invited by the Bax Company?

“Had you secured a promise from your father for marriage with Iiria-san?”

“Huh?”

The one who asked back was Gerario.

There was no reaction from Cole.

“Was your father betting on both sides?”

“…”

It was as if I could clearly hear Cole’s silence.

“You intended to marry Iiria-san. That is the only explanation.”

No one said anything, but I felt as if I could see each of their faces clearly.

Gerario’s eyes were wide open in shock, while Cole was pressing his face against the floor as if enduring pain.

The scraping sound was probably the sound of him rubbing his forehead against it.

“When Carini-san was boarding the ship, you told me not to hand over all the magic stones next time.”

That had not been because he intended to trade behind his superior’s back. It had been the best signal he could give, telling us not to hand over all our weapons because we never knew when Carini might attack.

Besides, if I assumed that was true, several things connected neatly.

Apparently, Nodon had once tried to lay hands on Iiria and Kururu, but by the time I came, he showed no sign of doing that anymore. Would that stubborn-looking Nodon really have given up just because of Marks and the others’ efforts?

Then there was the fact that Nodon did not own a ship.

Even with the risk of sinking, if he had no choice but to depend on the Bax Company’s ship, Nodon should have had to accept a lower position.

And yet the Bax Company, or rather Cole, had seemed to be sharing the profits of the magic stone trade with Nodon.

Why?

It did not make sense, but if Nodon had seen through Cole’s feelings, that changed the story.

In order to curry favor with Cole so that he could enjoy the sweet profits of the magic stone trade, he had given up on laying hands on Iiria.

Even without buying an expensive ship of his own, if Cole wanted to visit the territory often under the pretext of magic stone trade, using that would be far better. Cole would also have a motive to lower the freight charges so that Nodon would not want to own a ship himself.

And then there was the fact that although the Bax Company was engaged in the beastfolk slave trade, Jirenu Territory, whose lifeline was held by that very Bax Company, had been spared from its fangs until now.

All of those things connected into one thread if I assumed that Cole had feelings for Iiria.

“…It was love at first sight. Is that wrong?”

It was a sulky way of speaking, like a child’s.

Somehow, I suspected that as the manager’s son, Cole had been entrusted with the simple magic stone trade in Jirenu Territory as a form of social education.

And if, on the island he reached after boarding a ship for the first time, there had been a clever and beautiful girl with a slightly shadowed air about her.

“From your father’s perspective, either outcome would have been acceptable. As long as Iiria-san remained a figurehead lord, whether you married Iiria-san or not, it would not affect the slave trade. They could also continue monopolizing Jirenu Territory’s magic stones. But the circumstances changed.”

Iiria was trying to rise up as a lord.

Likely as a troublesome existence who carried both the blood of a great imperial noble and the blood of beastfolk.

“If Iiria-san became a lord with real power and entered into an equal marriage with you, Cole-san, the situation would change completely. Policies toward the beastfolk would also change, and above all, it might draw the attention of the great noble from the imperial mainland who is Iiria-san’s father.”

As the master of the Bax Company, he might even have calculated that even if it meant no longer being able to conduct the slave trade, obtaining strong ties with the imperial mainland would be more profitable.

But he could not have known how the faction inside the company that handled the slave trade would respond.

And Carini and his people resorted to force.

Most likely, they had allies outside the company too.

For example, as subjects conquered by the empire, they might have persuaded nearby power holders, under the pretext of hatred for the empire, of how dangerous it would be to leave Iiria as she was.

If Iiria built up power and coordinated with the imperial mainland, then for Roran, which still wished for independence from the empire someday, she would become an extremely troublesome existence. After all, it would be like having an unsinkable warship with a vast amount of magic stones floating on the sea close to Roran.

If Cole and Iiria were to marry, Roran would never be able to escape the empire’s yoke.

Facing Carini’s faction, which had secured the support of power holders who shared those concerns, the master of the Bax Company folded. Or perhaps, based on a cold merchant-like calculation of profit and loss, he decided to cut Cole loose.

Most likely, as was common among nobles, he had several other sons besides Cole.

That was why, until now, he had allowed Cole the selfish wish of marrying a girl with beastfolk blood, and more than that, a girl who might carry the blood of the imperial great noble who had conquered the historic city of Roran and reduced it to provincial status.

But when the situation took a turn for the worse, he quickly cut his losses.

And that was how Cole had ended up in prison.

“How does that sound?”

When I checked my deduction with Cole, I heard the rustle of clothing.

Next, I heard breathing like coughing, and finally an irritated laugh.

“If that is so… then what? Are you satisfied after making a fool of me? Since you do not even know whether you can leave this place alive, are you saying you will at least vent your resentment?”

His first-person pronoun had changed from formal to informal.

The deduction must have been so accurate that Cole had even stopped putting on airs.

And of course, I had not made that deduction simply as sarcasm.

“That is completely wrong.”

At how clearly I said it, even Cole closed his mouth.

“Come to think of it, Yorinobu.”

The one who cut in was Gerario.

“You were about to say something earlier, weren’t you?”

If it was to save Iiria and Kururu, I did not care if I used the fate of this world as a gambling chip.

My resolve had already been set long ago.

“Yes. There is a way to get out of this prison.”

“!”

The one who drew a breath was Cole, and as for Gerario, I could somehow imagine his face half-smiling.

“But Gerario-san’s cell was far away, so I wasn’t sure whether it would work. Then Cole-san came here. It will probably go well.”

“Bo… wh-what does that have to do with me?”

Cole corrected his first-person pronoun, probably because he had recovered a little energy.

“Cole-san, how are the injuries to your hands and feet? Can you move?”

“…”

Perhaps he sensed that I was serious.

Cole fell silent for several moments as if he had drawn a breath, then answered suspiciously.

“I am… tied up… but… I can move. What on earth are you—”

“The young master’s got an iron shackle locked in front of his body. His fingers don’t look broken. His nails haven’t been peeled off either. An acquaintance of mine escaped by strangling a guard with only the index finger and thumb he had left at the end of torture. If you’ve still got all ten fingers, you can do anything.”

It was pitiful to be measured by Gerario and the other adventurers’ standards, but it seemed Cole could move for the time being.

“What are you… scheming, mine returnee?”

If he could still hurl abuse, then he had enough spirit.

“There is something I want you to deliver to Gerario-san.”

“What?”

It felt as if Gerario and Cole said that at the same time.

“A magic stone.”

I made up my mind, removed my belt, and struck the buckle part against the floor.

It was something I had ordered along with Kururu’s ornaments when Kururu and I had toured the town.

When I struck it a second and third time, the buckle shifted.

Inside it was…

“Impossible… A magic stone? Are you saying you hid it in your ass?”

“Hey, if that sound just now was the sound of him hitting his ass, he could break the iron bars with that ass too.”

At Gerario’s carefree teasing, Cole fell angrily silent.

“But Yorinobu, what’s going on? The people of the Bax Company aren’t idiots.”

The reason they had kept Gerario alive was probably to deal with Balan and the others who remained in Jirenu Territory. Even for them, actually fighting the adventurer who had slain a dragon would be a frightening loss.

So they would use Gerario’s safe return as a condition to keep them from getting involved in Jirenu’s problem.

However, if they were going to throw a mage into prison, it was only natural to check whether he had any magic stones.

That was why Gerario was stark naked, and I had also been stripped of everything, even my shoes. Normally, hiding an emergency magic stone in the heel of a shoe would be standard practice.

But those people had not considered another possibility.

They had never dreamed that in a remote place like Jirenu Territory, the secret of magic stones had been unraveled.

That was why they had not confiscated the belt buckle, which was made like openwork and did not look at all as if it could hide a magic stone.

They had not imagined in the slightest that a synthetic magic stone had been built into it.

“Gerario-san and Cole-san, I have a request.”

The belt buckle was engraved with the workshop’s crest, about the size of a small thumb.

And this belt buckle was hollow ironwork inside.

What had been pushed into the hollow part was a single small lump of clay.

“From now on, the two of you are going to learn the secret of the world. Prepare yourselves.”

Even though I heard no voices, I felt as if I could hear Gerario’s half-smile and the sound of Cole’s brows furrowing.

“But I have no choice except to bet on this. No matter what happens to the world, I have no choice but to do it.”

Perhaps that was an excuse, and in fact, it was.

Because anyone who picked up a suitcase containing a nuclear launch button would surely feel this way.