Previous Chapter l Next Chapter

A few days have gone by since I assigned Soraid.

There have been no noteworthy movements in the nations including the resident of Yugura’s planet.

But this also means the resident of Yugura’s planet hasn’t died, too.

That man has 3 Demon Lords serving him and has obtained power that rivals that of a country.

If he had died in the matter with Seraes, there should have been movement of some sort.

It is because he is alive that the Demon Lords are staying quiet.

“Hey, Ritial, isn’t it okay for you to go back already?”

“Can’t do that. Also, the only thing missing over there would be someone to prepare tea for Nektohal if I am missing anyways. Enjoying a holiday in Torin is my freedom too, right?” (Ritial)

“A guy that can’t walk around the city without a disguise is taking a holiday, huh. Should I ready a woman to stave off the boredom?” (Soraid)

“Let’s not. It would be troubling if information were to leak from there, right?” (Ritial)

“Just kill her after you are done embracing her. Play until she breaks and ready the next one once you are tired of her.” (Soraid)

Soraid offered this with pure consideration and giving his plain honest opinion.

There’s no ill intent there. It is simply that his mind is in tatters.

I won’t be able to empathize with him as someone who has lived the life of a normal adventurer.

“We are not an organization that likes to do crimes. We have to protect common sense to a certain degree.” (Ritial)

“One life or two are nothing in comparison to what Nektohal has done. Even if you were to live a pure and proper life, you will still be set for execution once you are captured by the country. Who are you protecting your morals for?” (Soraid)

“I don’t even need to think about it: it is for my sake. I have guided many people to this path. I want to continue being the kind of person that they wouldn’t regret having made such a choice for.” (Ritial)

“Being someone that stands on top of others is tough. Well, the people under me are all trash anyways, so it is nice that it is easygoing for me on that front… Speaking of the devil…” (Soraid)

A coarse knocking of the door that has no hint of elegance.

I hid myself with magic and blended into the background.

The one who appeared right after I did that was a demi-human man. Judging from his appearance, he is most likely one of the hoodlums you sometimes find in the city.

Soraid has people of such backgrounds as his underlings.

“Soraid-san! Excuse the intrusion!”

“Aah, okay. I didn’t say you could come in though. Why did you open it on your own?” (Soraid)

“Eh…Ah… S-Sorry! Sorry!”

“I was joking. I have not responded to any door knocks before in the first place. Why do I have to speak to match the actions of someone else? Don’t you think that’s weird?” (Soraid)

“I-I see… Maybe it is because there’s times when the other party would be troubled if you were to suddenly come in…?”

“Hmmm, like for example?” (Soraid)

“U-Uuh…they are not wearing clothes? Embracing a woman…?”

“I wouldn’t be troubled by that though. Aah, but I wouldn’t like it when I am sleeping. The scent would stay if I were to stain the room with blood in a daze. Being woken up is also… Aah, but the knocking would wake me up… Yeah, there’s no need for that.” (Soraid)

I was on the verge of sighing, seeing that even hoodlums have more common sense than Soraid.

Soraid only moves at his own pace.

We would have to interfere with our own actions in order to move this man, and have him work at that pace.

“Uuh…about the matter you told us about, we have investigated a variety of things. The Torin army is moving as usual. We could not investigate the state of the other countries that much, but they seemed to not be that much different.”

“Isn’t it just that your eyes are for decoration? I would like to investigate it, so give me one.” (Soraid)

“P-Please no! Ah! Speaking of recent changes, there seems to be some goods that are not seen on the market.”

“Are not seen? Isn’t it just that you are not educated enough?” (Soraid)

“I won’t deny that, but it seems like they are minerals and medicinal plants from the Nether.”

Nether; that word made me react too.

Right now the Demon Lords who have control over the current Nethers are the Green Demon Lord and Blue Demon Lord.

It is currently impossible for the humans to gather things from the land of the Green Demon Lord which they find a threat.

The Gahne Nether doesn’t have the Scarlet Demon Lord, but monsters are still appearing, so gathering resources from there would come with dangers.

What this means is that it is either the Kuama Nether which is under the authority of the Blue Demon Lord, or the Mejis Nether which the Purple Demon Lord has taken her hands off and has no monster threat anymore.

Both of them are subordinates of the resident of Yugura’s planet.

“Do you know where it is coming from?” (Soraid)

“Yes, I asked a number of merchants directly, and it seems they are all goods obtained from the Kuama Nether.”

“A number of them? Is it circulating that much?” (Soraid)

“It seems like the Kuama Nether is currently being reclaimed by the man called Gestaf, and he is selling the goods there to Kuama in order to earn funds.”

Gestaf Heriodora was a skilled pawn, but he has also fallen into the hands of the resident of Yugura’s planet.

I heard it is in order to found a nation, but it is true that the resources you can obtain from the Nether should have a decent degree of monetary worth.

There’s a lot of cases where the minerals and plants dyed by the special mana of the Nether maintain a special trait.

They can gather them freely with the threat of the monsters gone.

Gestaf is the only one who has obtained official permission from the Kuama King. He should be able to earn a decent degree as a business.

“…It smells. The stench of the resident of Yugura’s planet being involved. Aah, how are the merchants of Torin moving?” (Soraid)

“There are some who are heading to Kuama to get them, but most are negotiating with the merchants that have come from Kuama to secure a supply line.”

“That’s the most logical choice. The Kuama capital was the one who gave the right to Gestaf to reclaim the Kuama Nether. The transactions of the Nether goods revolve around Kuama, so it would be troubling if the merchants of Kuama are not in the best position to sip on the nectar. The people who are heading there to get it themselves are the ones picky about the quality. The ones who want a light touch of it will make transactions with the merchants of Kuama… In that case, it feels like the Holstear Company will be riding that wave too.”

Have several merchants hold those goods, and have them flow into Torin. That way there will be more and more merchants who will try to join hands with merchants dealing with those goods.

This is a method that that man would take in order to make contact with the Holstear Company.

Considering the personality of Landos, he might negotiate with 4-5 of them. Does he plan on sneaking into that group?

“And so, what should we do?”

“Can you keep an eye on Landos for a while? Of course, with several others for straight days without breaks. Note all the merchants that Landos makes contact with.” (Soraid)

“Understood.”

“I won’t forgive a single missing one, got it? If I get a ‘I didn’t know there was that guy’, the people who know you will be erased.” (Soraid)

“Y-Yes boss!”

The man exited the room while still completely tense.

There’s no issues with the decisions of Soraid as of now. I would have done the same.

Soraid is used to utilizing his brain. The worrying point is how unrestrained he is when he acts.

“You look like you want to say something, Ritial. It is okay. I won’t let them do something like harming Landos himself. He is looking after me, you know. I at least feel indebted to that degree.” (Soraid)

“I don’t think you feel much weight to your debts though.” (Ritial)

“That’s true. Now that you mention it, there’s no point in being here if it is okay to not look after the other Illegitimate… Aah, but I find someone’s house to be important. If it were a house for only me, I would want to kill the others just for doing whatever they please. It is a nice point of compromise.” (Soraid)

The other Illegitimate in Torin all fear Soraid. I am always being told to move him to Serende if possible.

I don’t like ruling with fear that much, but that’s just how much influence Soraid has.

Nektohal has left the management of Torin to Soraid exactly because he understands this.

“Speaking of which, are you not going to greet the other Illegitimate?” (Soraid)

“They would tell me to bring you to Serende if I were to show my face here.” (Ritial)

“Haha, no doubt. It would be fine if they were as useful as Arcreal. Every single one of them are chickens.” (Soraid)

“It would be better for you to be aware that this is all your fault though.” (Ritial)

“Aah, yeah. But isn’t that nice in its own way? It is far better than getting all high and mighty with half-baked talent.” (Soraid)

Soraid nodded with a nonchalant smile at my disapproval.

◇◇

Melia stealthily spoke to me while I was managing the inventory of the goods.

“Comrade-san, Comrade-san, can you lend me a bit of your time?” (Melia)

“Hm, what is it?”

“A small question. Do you know what food Ekdoik-san likes?” (Melia)

“Ekdoik, huh… You already know that he can’t eat meat, right?”

“Yes. I heard about that before, but I thought that maybe he had some sort of preference with vegetarian food.” (Melia)

It would be the end of the discussion if I were to tell her to ask the person himself, but her asking this in secret must mean she wants to stealthily make Ekdoik happy.

“He normally prefers dishes with a lot of work put into it. He is the type that gets honestly impressed with tastes that he can’t bring out after all.”

“Now that you mention it… Should I expand my repertoire?” (Melia)

“I think he would be happy even if you were to just put one more extra step to the dishes he already knows. On the contrary, I think you can get a better feel by making food together with him and teaching him rather than making him happy with the taste.”

“I-I see… You know a lot of Ekdoik-san, Comrade-san!” (Melia)

“I do know a lot about him, but I wouldn’t do something like do my fullest to make him happy though.”

I have confidence that I could make him like me more than now if I were to do it thoroughly.

But I might end up making him dependent on me.

He is in the middle of growing to act by his own will, so I don’t want to do something that would take away that opportunity.

“Does that mean the sense of distance is also important…? So deep.” (Melia)

“It is not like I want to work him to the bone after all.”

“I-I also don’t think that! I simply want to be relied upon by Ekdoik-san like he does with you…” (Melia)

Melia averted her gaze while muttering this.

This atmosphere as if honey is evaporating and permeating the air….there were rarely such scenarios in this isekai.

It was all the scent of alcohol.

Well, about Purple…it is more like she is smearing her whole body with honey.

I don’t dislike it, but I would most likely be turned into a bum if I were to stay too long in that sensation.

“Complimenting the sides that are lacking in battle and wits with what you are skilled with is good. But it is a bit complicated when it comes to Ekdoik.”

“Really?” (Melia)

“Ekdoik is soft to even Rakura. Being soft to even her means that being excelling isn’t all.”

“…Ah! This is the kind of stuff that I shouldn’t be agreeing with, right?!” (Melia)

You made a face as if you agreed, so I think it is already too late though.

Blue has become soft towards Rakura in her own way too.

Rakura has a talent in being able to tell who she can get pampered by.

She often gets ahead of herself, so I feel like Ekdoik will eventually reprimand her though.

“I am the one in charge of cooking today, but do you want to cook together with me if you want to test out what we talked about before? I would like you to invite Ekdoik at some other time though.”

Inviting even Ekdoik would mean that I will have to cook within that sweet atmosphere.

I feel like my seasoning will end up being too spicy if that happens.

“Yes, please! Thank you for giving me the opportunity!” (Melia)

“It makes things easier for me too, so there’s no need to be so grateful.”

“No, it is a proposal that takes me into consideration, so please let me be grateful!” (Melia)

Melia is waving her tail in happiness.

The ears and tails of this spell move through your emotions.

It is extremely easy to tell for the dog types.

Hmm, I would like Rakura to learn a thing or two from this pure and earnest Melia.

No, I tested it out before with Wolfe, but there was no effect, so I can’t expect much.

“Excuse me, is something the matter?” (Melia)

“I just thought all people have their own individual traits. They all have their own flavor, but I should keep the comparisons to a moderate degree.”

“Ooh…so deep.” (Melia)

It is in the realm of giving up and just accepting it, so it is not deep.

I ended up cooking dinner together with Melia.

This basically doubled the hands on the kitchen, so Melia made some complicated dishes and impressed Ekdoik.

A certain someone helped out with the preparations of it, but she was the one who did almost all the seasoning.

The mistake was that Melia was in charge of almost all the cooking, so the passion of Melia rubbed off on a certain someone who now had more spare time in the kitchen, and ended up unveiling a dessert that you would not see anywhere in this world.

The final evaluation of Ekdoik ended up going there as a result.

“Uh…sorry.”

“No…it was really tasty… As expected of Comrade-san… You must have shown me the difference in skill as a way to tell me to work even harder, right…?” (Melia)

No, the horrible one is the guy that used the unfair technique of egg tarts which entailed using a precious good even within the luxury goods -salt- and using cream and butter without reservation despite there not being a set production method yet.

Sorry.

Previous Chapter l Next Chapter