Turning Chapter 1086

Chapter 1086

Amidst everyone's murmuring, Kishiar opened his mouth with a face that didn't lose his smile.

"That's interesting. I'd like to hear more details."

"Well, you see..."

Denny rubbed his forehead and frowned. Trying to recall his memory in as much detail as possible, he slowly continued the story.

"As you know, Mick stopped by the South this time to help you, my lord, and then came straight here. The official reason was to check on ongoing business, but in fact, it was because the Shuden Trading Company branches in the North urgently requested the head's visit. There were constant quarrels between some wandering merchant group and the Shuden Trading Company people."

Not all merchant groups have decent bases and operate from them. In the world, there were many small merchant groups that wandered around like vagrants, selling miscellaneous items to make a living day by day. The items sold by such people were mostly odds and ends that were rare in that region but very common in other regions, so they had no reason to clash with places like the Shuden Trading Company.

However, the problematic merchant group sold shoddy goods using the Shuden Trading Company's name. To avoid getting caught, they mainly wandered around small territories, but their fatal mistake was that the true base of the Shuden Trading Company in the North was Peletta.

The Shuden Trading Company people who accidentally discovered goods made using their name naturally didn't just let this absurd matter pass. However, the wandering merchants were so brazen that when a quarrel broke out, they quickly fled the town and repeated the process of selling goods in some other small territory. As this continued for quite a while, the Shuden Trading Company people judged that it would be difficult to resolve this matter on their own.

That was the very reason Mick hurriedly returned to inspect the company.

"According to Mick, he had seen many such wandering merchants who used the names of famous companies to sell strange goods before. But usually, they would disappear after being caught, handed over to the security forces, and given a good beating. However, the ones who appeared this time were incredibly good at running away and were persistent. The company people judged that they couldn't catch them on their own, so a report was sent up."

"So you went together?"

"Yes. If the story had reached our side before Mick became concerned, we would have helped, but I felt sorry for not being able to do so and went together. I spoke to Sir Welliven and took several knights with me."

"I remember. You suddenly asked if you could accompany the knights for a few days for the protection of Mick, the head of the company, and I allowed it."

Welliven added with a nod.

"We searched the territories those guys had supposedly gone to in order to track the traces of those wandering merchants. But we couldn't find anyone."

As the Peletta Knights began to move together, perhaps rumors had spread, and the wandering merchants hid tightly and didn't show themselves. It was the same even though they had roughly gone to all the places they were said to have been seen.

"Mick said those guys seemed to have run away with their tails between their legs, fearing the knights. As they didn't appear even after a few days passed, we thought they had finally disappeared completely and withdrew. Mick left too. That's all."

That is, until they saw the red marks on the map of the territories they had visited at that time again here.

"..."

After the story ended, Kishiar turned his eyes toward Yuder in silence. Yuder barely noticeably nodded his head toward the gaze he met.

With just that small signal, they could tell that the two of them were thinking the same thing.

'Suspicious merchants. And cracks. It's a combination that reminds me too much of the southern merchants and guys like Aton.'

Kishiar opened his mouth with his arms crossed.

"I have some questions, Denny."

"Yes."

"What kind of goods did those wandering merchants sell? Have you heard anything about their appearance and attire?"

At first glance, it may seem like a question of what importance that has. However, Denny, like a person of Peletta, faithfully answered with eyes showing absolute trust in Kishiar.

"They said there were mostly tools like ropes and stakes made from monster byproducts, as well as talismans and accessories. The quality was so low that it was doubtful whether they were even real monster byproducts, but since the Shuden Trading Company is famous for monster byproduct processed goods, that's probably why they said that."

"Hmm."

"And as for their appearance and attire... I didn't hear anything that would be of much help other than that they looked ordinary. They said they almost completely covered their faces and bodies, but wouldn't it be more strange if those who came to the North for the first time in winter didn't do that?"

"Well, that's true."

"They said their way of speaking used flawless continental standard language rather than being tinged with regional dialects. So it was difficult to specify where they came from."

Kishiar let out a deep sigh. He looked around at the retainers as if he had reached a conclusion.

"It's difficult to say in detail right now, but I think the ones who provided the cause of the incident that occurred in the South might have been wandering around here as well."

"Pardon?"

A surprised look appeared on the faces of the retainers.

"It will become more certain if we collect and examine the items those wandering merchants supposedly sold as much as possible, but for now, I don't think this thought will change."

The first to break the shocked silence was Welliven, who had a grim face.

"So you mean, my lord... some bastards who need to be killed have been trying to make our North like the South?"

The next one to speak was Denny.

"Is it those merchant bastards? Should we catch them, skin them, and throw them into the sea?"

They truly had tremendous momentum. They were the ones who had guarded the territory in Kishiar's absence and easily thwarted the assassination attempt by Duke Diarca, so how great must their pride have been? The anger of those who learned that the anomalous cracks might not be a natural phenomenon but someone's manipulation was truly immense. Even Shusainer, who had been elegantly holding a kettle to pour more milk at any time, had an extremely cold expression. Because they had been infinitely gentle and kind in front of Yuder until now, their appearance felt quite unfamiliar.

However, Yuder rather felt a deeper sense of kinship with the people of Peletta because of that. Their belligerence and anger stemmed from their confidence in their own abilities and pride in Peletta. Yuder really liked the eyes and honest attitude of those who knew the weight of what they were protecting.

At that moment, a soldier outside knocked on the door and shouted loudly.

"My lord. Guests from the Cavalry's Northern Branch have requested a visit."

'From the Northern Branch?'

Kishiar raised his hand and allowed the guests to enter the conference room. Soon, several people wearing black uniforms appeared. They were all 1st batch members who had been dispatched to the North and had been guarding the branch without going to support the South.

The one who stepped forward as their representative bowed his head.

"Greetings, Commander."

"Isias. It's been a while."

"Yes. When I heard the news that you were visiting the territory for a while this time, I had been looking forward to seeing you again, but I never thought it would be for such a matter."

Isias Keltar. The only peculiarity about her, who belonged to Shin, was that in her previous life, she had been selected for the Red Stone Recovery Team and then quietly left the Cavalry later on. Since she wasn't selected this time, naturally, there was no reason for her to stand out anymore. Yuder had once suspected that there might be something special about the members of the Red Stone Recovery Team in his previous life, including her, but in the end, he only concluded that there was nothing and stopped paying attention.

That thought was slightly overturned right before selecting the 2nd batch members when they were receiving applications for those who would go to each regional branch. Peculiarly, all the members of the Red Stone Recovery Team in the previous life, including Isias, had applied for the North.

As it turned out, they were either from the North, had someone close to them who was from the North, or had personal reasons to go to the North. It was quite unexpected because it was impossible to tell from the surface-level information that they were people who would want to go to the North.

Come to think of it now, in his previous life, Kishiar might have selected those connected to the region where his forces reached the closest in order to carry out the 'disposal' quickly and conveniently in case of an emergency.

'If there's no need to choose particularly skilled individuals, it's better to do that.'

Isias gave a faint, pleased look toward Yuder, who was sitting next to Kishiar, but didn't greet him. They both knew well that now was not a situation to have a friendly conversation no matter how happy they were to see each other, so Yuder didn't mind either. Rather, if she had greeted him, he would have said something to her later.

"We came here as soon as we heard the news that anomalous cracks had appeared in Peletta. Please give us an order at any time if you need our strength."

"That's reassuring. The situation has ended for now, but it's also a time when we can't let our guard down. It will make things much easier for us since you came before we even contacted you."

The Peletta retainers weren't very surprised to see the Northern Branch members either. They seemed to already be acquainted. Kishiar ordered the Northern Branch members to also share the situation summary and adjourned the meeting for now.

"Let's continue the next meeting after the things I've ordered are somewhat resolved and the information becomes certain. It will only be a few hours, but everyone, have a meal and rest for a bit."

"Understood."