Chapter 14
“Earlier, Arden told me about the Temeren ship.”
Listen.
The Temeren is a union of poor sailors. Their main product is tea leaves imported from abroad.
The monarch of the Eastern Empire who trades tea leaves once owed a favor to the captain of the Temeren, so he sells the very best leaves only to the Temeren.
“You know how much the people of the Empire love tea, right, Tofu?”
Even the third floor of the dressmaking shop isn’t a coffeehouse, it’s a teahouse.
The Temeren’s tea leaves are insanely expensive, yet they sell out the moment they arrive.
They’re still paying back the bank for the ships they bought, but now all that’s left is to become rich. They make money hand over fist.
On the other hand, the Ingrid firm right in front of us?
It’s a massive conglomerate tied to noble families, but in reality, the Temeren has nothing the Ingrid firm needs. At most, they might buy a bit of the Ingrid firm’s specialty, explosives.
Meanwhile, the Ingrid firm absolutely has to secure the tea leaves the Temeren brings. Only then can they serve the highest-grade tea leaves to the customers who visit their stores.
So the giant Ingrid firm has to bow and scrape to the mere sailors’ union called Temeren.
“You get the picture, right?”
“I don’t get it at all, woof.”
“Their pride is wounded. They’re the huge firm, after all. And on top of that.”
The Temeren sells expensive tea leaves, while the Ingrid firm sells relatively cheap explosives.
“So in every transaction between the two firms, Ingrid always ends up in the red.”
Now, here’s a question.
If I were a citizen of the Empire, even a five-year-old child would know the name of this massive conglomerate, yet they can’t beat a mere commoners union and have to keep bowing every time.
And even though their pride is hurt every time they trade, they’re always the ones paying more money.
So in this situation, what would bad people do?
“Correct answer! Pee in the pillow!”
“That’s a good method too, but the Ingrid firm chose a different one.”
“No way?”
Tofu flapped his ears.
I nodded.
“The Ingrid firm chose to addict the Temeren sailors to drugs.”
By gifting cookies laced with the drug.
And then blackmailing them.
If they didn’t obey, they wouldn’t give them the drug.
“Drug abuse is strictly prohibited in the Empire. Once addicted, the Temeren sailors had no choice but to become accomplices and keep the secret, and they had no choice but to pay whatever price the Ingrid firm demanded for the drug.”
Because if they tried to get the drug elsewhere, the Ingrid firm would report them immediately.
And while they were at it, they also lowered the price of the tea leaves.
Now the power dynamic had completely reversed.
“This is a method that already has precedent in history.”
“How do you know they were forcibly addicted, woof?”
“Because Pepper’s dad said he saved the cookies so Pepper’s mom could eat them too.”
If he had unknowingly accepted them, that would be one thing, but if he knowingly accepted them, he must already have been addicted at that point.
What addict shares drug-laced cookies with others? They wouldn’t even have enough for themselves.
“So it really was intentional…….”
“Probably.”
If we checked the Ingrid firm’s ledgers starting from when Pepper’s dad started acting strange, the evidence would probably come out immediately.
“How could they do that, woof!”
“You’d be shocked if you knew how far people will go for money.”
I stood up from the roof of the neighboring building where we had been hiding.
“Now that we know who’s behind it, that’s enough. For today, let’s head back first, figure out the mansion’s layout, the number of guards, shift changes, and so on, then come back fully prepared in about a week and infiltrate….”
“Seraphina! Over there!”
“Woof!”
“Huh?”
I turned my head in the direction Doufu’s front paw was pointing.
In the quiet upscale residential area, some middle-aged man was dragging a huge dog along.
“Collie?!”
The golden retriever Pepper raises.
What the— what’s going on?!
“Woof! Woof!”
“Shut up!”
Collie struggling not to go. The man brutally beating Collie while forcibly dragging him. And at the end of that path stood the Ingrid firm’s mansion.
“What’s going on here!”
The guard standing at the main gate stopped the man.
“You little bastard!”
“Whine!”
The man kicked the fleeing Collie, stopping him in front of the mansion, then bowed deeply to the guard.
His eyes were bloodshot, his face was yellowish, and his hand holding the leash had been trembling the whole time.
The man, who clearly looked unwell at a glance, groveled before the guard.
“I’m so sorry for coming at this late hour.”
“I asked who you are!”
“I’m a sailor from the Temeren ship…….”
“Temeren? What business do those ragtag sailors have here?”
“W-well, that is.”
Drool flew from the mouth of the man who couldn’t even speak properly and was babbling.
“I had a, uh, very important deal with the vice-president of the Ingrid firm today…… but this damn dog tore open and scattered all my medicine—no, my goods……. And as you know, once those goods are opened, they lose their effect…….”
“And?”
“I-I was wondering if I could maybe get some more.”
The man rubbed his palms together and smiled obsequiously. The guard snorted.
“What, you came all the way here at this hour just for that? But why bring the dog?”
“I-I already paid my entire salary as payment for the goods. This dog may look like this, but it’s a pedigree dog. Please accept it instead…….”
“What are we supposed to do with a damn dog? Go home. Come back tomorrow. With money.”
“N-no, that won’t do! I need it right now…!”
“I said go home!”
“What’s all this noise?”
At that moment, a voice came from inside the closed mansion.
“V-vice-president sir.”
It was the hooded man who had entered earlier—the vice-president of the Ingrid firm.
The man holding a paper-lantern frowned unpleasantly through the barred gate separating inside from outside.
“What is all this commotion?”
“Vice-president sir!”
Pepper’s dad quickly pushed past the guard and rushed forward.
“You remember me, right! I’m the boatswain from the Temeren!”
After hearing the whole story, the vice-president’s gaze lingered on Pepper’s dad, who visibly looked frantic, and on Collie whimpering beside him.
Pepper’s dad sprayed saliva as he spoke.
“The president likes collecting taxidermied animals, right! You won’t find another dog as well-fed and glossy as this one anywhere!”
“……He did say he wanted a yellow-furred dog.”
“Yes, yes! That’s exactly why I came! This one! This one has yellow fur! It’s so well-fed the gloss just flows!”
“Come in.”
The vice-president gestured. The guard quickly opened the gate.
“Whine! Whine!”
Collie desperately resisted being dragged in and howled pitifully.
“Seraphina?! What do we do, woof?!”
“…….”
“Seraphina!”
“…Yeah.”
What do we really do.
I scanned beyond the wall of the Ingrid mansion.
The windows of this historic District 2 mansion were engraved with ancient protective spells that glowed blue even at night.
If an intruder climbed the wall while the gate was closed, the alarm magic engraved on the glass would activate.
If. Just if.
We were to infiltrate that mansion tonight.
The only chance was right now, while the gate was open.
‘No, but we’re completely unprepared right now.’
Originally, I was going to come back fully prepared in about a week. If I go in like this and get caught too?
But if I don’t go in, the puppy dies.
No, but we’re unprepared.
No, but the puppy.
Unprepared, puppy, unprepared, puppy…….
Argh!
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“Whine!”
“Shut up!”
Pepper’s dad kicked the resisting Collie once more and hurriedly followed behind the vice-president.
The moment the guard briefly bowed his head, I jumped down from the neighboring roof into the inner garden.
The instant I rolled across the lawn of the garden, the gate closed again.
“Huh?”
I pressed myself tight against the wall, avoiding the eyes of the guard who tilted his head and peered inside.
“Huff, huff.”
Tofu, who had jumped down with me in my arms, stuck to the wall beside me just like I did.
“W-what do we do, woof? What do we do now, woof?”
“Hmm. First.”
The vice-president, Pepper’s dad, and Collie were already heading toward the back of the main building.
There seemed to be a single-story building used as a warehouse in the rear garden. They were heading there.
“First?!”
“We follow them.”
“And then?!”
“Well, shoot them all dead with a gun?”
“Us?!”
“…….”
I hate guns, woof! Ignoring the panicking Tofu, I prepared to dash forward when—
“Ah. Right.”
“What what?!”
“I haven’t transformed.”
“…….”
Tofu, whose whole body had been trembling from tension, quietly turned to look at me.
To the puppy cursing me with his eyes, I said sheepishly.
“By any chance, can you transform quietly without any light?”
Money!
Honor!
Health!
★★★★★
Magic Saintess Seraphina!
(Silently)
Transform…….
🔕🔕🔕🔕🔕
.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
