It had been decades.
This much should be fine.
I don’t know when that figure will disappear.
So.
While I can still see it.
Just a little longer.
&
Serafinlie’s private office in the Deharmont estate.
Serafinlie was glaring at me.
Why.
Why me again...
“You should’ve come quickly. What were you doing?”
“Oh my. Shouldn’t you be grateful I came at all?”
“I wasn’t talking to you, you know?”
For a moment, I was flustered.
“Pardon? I thought the one who called me was Aile—”
“Quiet.”
“...”
I scratched my head.
Serafinlie shot me one more sidelong glare,
then immediately spread the ledger out in front of Aileen.
Aileen’s face had, at some point, been wiped clean of mischief.
She turned one page,
then another.
Only her eyes moved in silence.
At last, the space between her brows narrowed ever so slightly.
“Even to me, this doesn’t look entirely like coincidence.”
“I think the same.”
Serafinlie answered shortly.
“More than anything, Viscount Defiros Gremory said he’d clashed with that merchant company once before too.”
The two who had been growling at each other until moments ago were nowhere to be seen.
Their speech was brief,
their gazes cold.
Even though they only exchanged what needed to be said, they matched each other strangely well.
Aileen closed the ledger and said,
“Then if I shake them up, something should come out.”
Seeing Aileen’s confidence, Serafinlie wore an expression that said, as expected.
“How should I set it up for you?”
Aileen rested her fingertips on the ledger for a moment and thought.
“Let’s go to where they are.”
“Good.”
“It doesn’t look difficult. But.”
The corner of Aileen’s mouth lifted very slightly.
“Will evidence come out?”
“It’s fine.”
Serafinlie didn’t hesitate in the slightest.
“That alone will be enough.”
“I understand what you mean.”
I looked back and forth between the two of them.
To be honest, watching them, there was something I hadn’t quite understood.
How they could bicker and fight whenever they met, yet later trust each other more than anyone else.
But now, I felt like I understood a little.
One move, and the other understood.
They were different in nature,
but when they fit together, they fit together oddly well.
“Good. It’ll be ready by tomorrow.”
Serafinlie closed the ledger as well and rose from her seat.
“Then I should... get some rest now.”
Then she walked straight over to me.
“Get up.”
“Uh, pardon?”
Just as I was about to stand in confusion, Aileen blocked the way this time.
“Why? Do you have some business with him? You said you were going to rest. Go on.”
“I’m going to rest. And... how about a little fair play?”
“Oh my. What’s that?”
They had matched each other so well just a moment ago,
and now sparks were flying between them again in an instant.
I genuinely couldn’t understand it.
Why on earth were they like this?
“Mr. Rayon. Sit down.”
I tried to sit back down with a flustered look.
“Don’t sit.”
Serafinlie’s gaze turned icy.
So without realizing it, I stopped halfway through sitting and was about to stand again when—
“Sit down.”
“I told you not to sit.”
No.
What do you want me to do?
Why are you doing this with me?
“Fine, then let’s go together.”
Serafinlie looked at Aileen with a provocative expression,
and Aileen nodded as if full of confidence, as if finding it laughable.
“Let’s.”
And the two of them turned at the same time.
As I stared blankly at them,
the two looked at me at the same time.
“What are you doing?”
“Aren’t you getting up?”
...
They match well again.
In the end, I had no choice but to follow them.
***
We walked through the night market.
After the sun had completely set, Kerenia was far noisier than it had been during the day.
The smell of oil rose from every stall,
and skewers sizzled over charcoal fires.
Merchants shouted at the top of their lungs to stop customers,
and children ran through the alleys clutching a single piece of candy.
The light of red lanterns wavered long across the wet stone pavement.
Even amid all that, Aileen kept walking half a step ahead of me,
then suddenly turning back.
“Oh my, this is good. Try it.”
Aileen came back after buying a skewer.
Seeing that, Serafinlie raised an eyebrow.
“You eat things like that?”
Aileen gave a small laugh and came straight up to me.
“Ah~”
Since I had eaten like that earlier too,
this time I opened my mouth without thinking much.
Serafinlie’s eyes widened.
And then, truly in an instant, she ran off somewhere,
bought something herself, and came back.
“A-ahem... A-ah...”
“...”
I was briefly flustered,
but in the confusion, I accepted it and ate that too.
At that moment, the tips of Serafinlie’s ears turned bright red.
Aileen saw that, narrowed her eyes, and asked,
“Mine tastes better than Serafinlie’s, right?”
“No. What I gave you should taste better. So try more.”
“Finish mine first.”
“Eat mine first.”
I didn’t even have time to close my mouth under the constant rush of food.
At some point, the skewers and snacks I’d received from both sides had packed my mouth full.
“Uh, uurk. Uuh.”
I’d heard that a strict military culture had taken root on the northern continent,
and that forced feeding was rather common over there.
Right.
This was forced feeding.
***
The next day.
The Infinite Carriage Merchant Company had set up an office on the outskirts of the Kerenia territory.
For an outskirt location, it was fairly presentable.
The smell of freshly applied paint still lingered,
and in front of the entrance, there were even carriage wheel tracks that had clearly been polished to shine on purpose.
Exactly.
It showed the unmistakable air of having made money recently.
Inside were me, Aileen,
and Serafinlie,
and seated across from us was the man who operated the Infinite Carriage Merchant Company.
“What brings you in person to such a humble place? If you had called, I would have come to you.”
He was somewhat flustered by the situation,
but his eyes were different.
They were darting quickly, trying to read the situation.
Serafinlie was smiling faintly without saying a word,
and Aileen was the first to speak gently.
“I’m Aileen Belmardian.”
“Goodness, of course I know. I’d only heard the rumors, but they truly weren’t exaggerated in the slightest.”
“Thank you.”
When Aileen smiled at him once more, the merchant company owner’s face visibly relaxed.
It was the buoyant expression unique to someone in a good mood.
And Aileen slowly opened the ledger.
“Mm... let’s see. You mainly deal in transport, correct?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“I heard winning transport work in Deharmont isn’t easy. How has it been?”
At that moment, the corners of the merchant company owner’s mouth rose.
“It was not easy, but... for three years, we truly worked hard.”
“Wow.”
Aileen’s eyes widened a little.
“You must have many success stories born from that effort.”
“Haha, I suppose I do.”
“I like stories like that.”
Aileen smiled with her chin propped in her hand.
“Hearing how someone climbed up. It’s really fun, isn’t it?”
“Ah...”
The merchant company owner looked completely pleased.
He was probably thinking this meeting was about recruitment.
Or at least interest.
The two people who would lead Belmardian and Deharmont forward from now on.
Those two had come personally to listen to his story.
And with such bright expressions, no less.
So he had no choice but to think that way.
Yes.
On this stage she had created,
the thoughts he would have were already decided.
“At first, we started with very small sundries. They were low-margin goods, so everyone avoided them.”
“Mm.”
“But we stuck with it tenaciously. Then, little by little, merchant companies began trusting us with their goods.”
“So that’s how you rose all the way to silk and spices? I heard those are difficult to trade in.”
“Yes. Those two goods are expensive and demanding, so everyone says they’re difficult, but... the Infinite Carriage has our own know-how.”
Serafinlie’s eyes moved almost imperceptibly.
Aileen, on the other hand, smiled even more brightly.
“Oh my. If you’ve already established yourself to that extent in just three years, that’s truly impressive.”
“Of course!”
The merchant company owner unconsciously straightened his back a little.
“We came this far thanks to that know-how.”
“Good.”
Aileen tapped one side of the ledger with her fingertip.
“Then how often can you move goods? It seems we may be looking into military provisions transport going forward.”
For a moment, Serafinlie looked impressed.
On the stage Aileen had set,
she had cast the bait.
Bait he had no choice but to bite.
Bait that truly made him certain something was about to happen.
“Military provisions?”
Unexpectedly, however, he didn’t bite the bait right away.
“With the territorial wars lately and all, it seems activity in that area will increase.”
Aileen shook the bait once more.
At that moment,
unable to hold back, the merchant company owner opened his mouth and bit down on it.
His eyes had gone wide.
Of course they had.
Aileen Belmardian.
Who would doubt the trust that name alone inspired?
“Y-you truly have exceptional foresight. As it happens, there have been whispers among the merchant companies that that sector will definitely grow.”
“My calculations say the same.”
Aileen continued very calmly.
“If you seize it properly, it’s a pie large enough to become a major merchant company through transport alone.”
“Exactly!”
The merchant company owner’s voice grew loud.
“We operate in three shifts. We can keep moving almost without rest.”
“Oh my. Do you have experience with military provisions as well?”
“Of course.”
The merchant company owner now looked completely excited.
“Even if they aren’t luxury goods like silk or spices, military provisions require their own techniques.”
“For example?”
“First, you have to load as much as possible. There are many items, and turnover is fast. But if you simply make the carriage bigger, the shaking increases and you suffer losses... You have to strike a balance. And...”
Aileen cut in very naturally.
Because if he said everything, his excitement might be relieved,
and she needed to keep that excitement from dying down.
“Just hearing that, you seem very experienced. You’ve done it at least fifty times, haven’t you?”
“Of course! Wouldn’t one need to do at least that much to be called experienced? Haha!”
It was all too natural.
Desperate to seize any opportunity,
he must have been thinking of nothing but making a good impression on Aileen.
In that situation, when he was so excited he wasn’t in his right mind,
could he truly have spoken calmly?
He himself
probably didn’t even know what he had just said.
That was why,
for a moment, he couldn’t understand the silence that instantly flowed through the room.
The air in the room chilled.
“Uh...”
He still wore an expression of incomprehension, but as the blood that had rushed too heavily to his head slowly settled back down,
he began to understand the situation.
“Three years, and more than fifty times?”
Serafinlie said.
Low,
and cold.
“Ah, uh...”
“Military provisions are random.”
“T-that is.”
“Fifty times in three years is far too many, no matter how you look at it.”
The merchant company owner hurriedly tried to explain.
“Ah, haha... That was, you see... I got excited and said it, but in reality...”
I knew.
In reality, it had been ten times.
But Serafinlie’s expression remained frosty.
“I clearly heard you say that just now, so as the person responsible for Deharmont, I can’t not investigate.”
The color drained from the merchant company owner’s face in an instant.
He was probably feeling his heart drop right about now.
“Bring all your ledgers and transport contracts. You acknowledge that this is a proper procedure, don’t you?”
The merchant company owner’s mouth fell open.
“T-that is an abuse of authority!”
“I am the eldest daughter and responsible party of Deharmont, and I just heard that illegality is being committed in a business run by our house. Yet you’re saying I’m not allowed to confirm it?”
“T-that’s not what I—”
Serafinlie’s gaze sank even colder.
“Unlike Aileen, I don’t waste words. I’m not very patient.”
The merchant company owner flinched.
He bit down hard on his lip, and in the end, he had no choice but to lower his head.
“I-I will bring them. Please... wait a moment.”
Watching him hastily open the door and leave, Serafinlie looked at Aileen.
“Good work.”
“It was nothing.”
I was genuinely, truly impressed.
Wow.
If I’d been that merchant company owner, I think I really would’ve pissed myself just now.
And a little while later,
the merchant company owner returned personally carrying a box containing the ledgers and transport contracts.