“Earlier, Arden told me about the Temaeren.”
Listen.
The Temaeren is a union of poor sailors. Their main product is tea leaves imported from foreign lands.
The monarch of the Eastern Empire who trades in tea leaves once owed a debt of gratitude to the Temaeren’s captain in the past, so they say the best leaves are sold exclusively to the Temaeren.
“You know how much the empire’s people love tea, right, Dubu?”
Even the third floor of the dress shop is a tea house, not a coffee house.
The Temaeren’s tea leaves are astronomically expensive, yet they can’t keep them in stock.
They’re still paying back the bank for the ships they bought, but now it’s only a matter of time before they get rich. They earn money that well.
Meanwhile, what about the Ingrid Merchant Guild before our eyes?
It’s a mega-sized merchant guild connected to the nobility, but the truth is, the Temaeren doesn’t need anything from the Ingrid Merchant Guild. They might or might not buy some of Ingrid’s signature product, explosives.
On the other hand, the Ingrid Merchant Guild absolutely has to secure the tea leaves the Temaeren brings in. Only then can they offer top-grade tea leaves to the customers who visit their stores.
It’s a situation where the mega-sized Ingrid has to bow and scrape to the Temaeren, a mere sailors’ union.
“You get what this means?”
“I don’t get it at all, woof.”
“It’s a blow to their pride. They’re a massive merchant guild. Besides.”
The Temaeren sells expensive tea leaves, while the Ingrid Merchant Guild sells relatively cheap explosives.
“In transactions between the two guilds, Ingrid is always in the red.”
Alright, then here’s a question.
If I were an imperial citizen, I’m a mega-sized guild that even five-year-olds know by name, yet I can’t beat a measly commoners’ union and have to bow my head every time.
On top of that, even though I trade while swallowing my pride, I’m always the one paying more money.
Then in this situation, what would bad people do?
“Correct! Pee on their pillow!”
“That is a good method too, but the Ingrid Merchant Guild chose a different one.”
“No way?”
Dubu flicked his ears.
I nodded.
“The Ingrid Merchant Guild chose to get the Temaeren sailors addicted to drugs.”
By gifting drug-laced cookies.
And then threatening them.
Saying they won’t give the drugs if they don’t obey.
“Drug abuse is strictly forbidden in the empire. Once addicted, the Temaeren sailors would have no choice but to become accomplices and keep the secret, and they would have had no choice but to pay whatever price the Ingrid Merchant Guild demanded for the drugs.”
Because if they tried to get the drugs from elsewhere, the Ingrid Merchant Guild would report them immediately.
Killing two birds with one stone by lowering the tea leaf prices too.
Now the power dynamic has flipped.
“It’s a method with plenty of precedent in history.”
“How do you know they were forcibly addicted, woof?”
“Pepper’s dad said he saved that cookie so Pepper’s mom could eat it too.”
If he had received it unknowingly, that would be one thing, but if he received it knowing what it was, he would have already been addicted by that point.
What addict would share drug-laced cookies with someone else? They wouldn’t even have enough for themselves.
“Then they really did it on purpose……”
“They must have.”
If we go through the Ingrid Merchant Guild’s ledgers from around the time Pepper’s dad started acting strange, the evidence will come out immediately.
“How could they do this, woof!”
“You’d be surprised how far people will go for money.”
I raised myself from the roof of the adjacent building where we’d been hiding.
“Now that we know the truth, that’s enough. Let’s head back for today, and after learning the mansion layout, guard numbers, shift changes, and such, we’ll come back in about a week fully prepared to infiltrate….”
“Seraphina! Over there!”
“Woof!”
“Huh?”
I turned my head in the direction Dubu’s front paw was pointing.
In the quiet upscale residential district, a man was dragging along a large dog.
“Collie?!”
Pepper’s golden retriever.
What the—what’s going on?!
“Woof! Woof!”
“Shut up!”
Collie was struggling, refusing to go. The man was forcefully dragging Collie along, shoving him roughly. And at the end of that path stood the Ingrid Merchant Guild mansion.
“What’s going on!”
The guard standing at the main gate stopped that man.
“You bastard!”
“Yipe!”
The man kicked Collie, who was trying to run away, stopping him in front of the mansion, then bowed to the guard.
His eyes were bloodshot, his face was sallow. Moreover, the hand holding the leash had been trembling since earlier.
It was obvious at a glance that the man was in bad shape as he groveled to the guard.
“Oh my, apologies for coming at this late hour.”
“I asked who you are!”
“I’m a sailor of the Temaeren, s-sir……”
“The Temaeren? What are those union lowlifes doing here?”
“W-well, you see.”
The man couldn’t even speak properly, rambling and spitting from his mouth.
“Today, I conducted a very, very important trade with the Vice-Guildmaster of the Ingrid Merchant Guild…… but this damn mutt tore open my medicine—ah, I mean my goods, and scattered them all…… But as you know, if those goods get torn open, they lose their effect, don’t they……”
“So?”
“I-I was wondering if I could get some more.”
The man rubbed his palms together and let out a servile heh-heh laugh. The guard snorted.
“What, you came all the way here at this hour just for that? But why did you bring the dog?”
“I-I already spent my entire salary paying for the goods. This dog may look like this, but it’s of good pedigree. Please take it instead……”
“What would I use a mutt for? Go back. Go back and come again tomorrow. With money.”
“I-It can’t wait! I need it right now…!”
“I told you to go back!”
“What is going on?”
Just then, a voice came from inside the closed mansion.
“V-Vice-Guildmaster.”
The hooded man who had gone inside earlier—it was the Vice-Guildmaster of the Ingrid Merchant Guild.
The man holding a lantern with a paper hood furrowed his brow unpleasantly beyond the barred gate separating the mansion’s interior and exterior.
“What is the commotion?”
“Vice-Guildmaster!”
Pepper’s dad quickly pushed past the guard and rushed forward.
“You remember me! I’m the helmsman of the Temaeren!”
Having heard the whole story, the Vice-Guildmaster’s gaze rested on Pepper’s dad, who was visibly anxious, and on Collie, who was whining beside him.
Pepper’s dad sputtered.
“Doesn’t the Guildmaster collect taxidermied animals! You’d be hard-pressed to find a dog this well-fed and glossy anywhere!”
“……He did mention that he would like to acquire a dog with yellow fur.”
“Y-yes! That’s exactly why I came! This one! This one has yellow fur! And it’s so well-fed that its coat is all sleek and glossy!”
“Come in.”
The Vice-Guildmaster gestured with his eyes. The guard quickly opened the gate.
“Yelp! Whine!”
Collie let out a pitiful howl, desperately resisting being dragged inside.
“Seraphina?! What do we do, woof?!”
“……”
“Seraphina!”
“…I was just thinking the same thing.”
What the hell do we do now.
I looked beyond the wall of the Ingrid mansion.
Ancient protective runes were engraved on the window glass of the historic District 2 mansion, glowing blue even at night.
If an intruder scaled the wall while the gate was closed, the alarm magic engraved on the glass would activate.
If.
If we really.
Want to infiltrate that mansion today.
The only chance is right now, while the gate is open.
‘But we aren’t prepared at all right now.’
The plan was to come back in about a week after preparing everything. If I go in like this and get caught too?
But if I don’t go in, the puppy dies.
But I’m not prepared.
But the puppy.
Preparation, puppy, preparation, puppy……
Argh!
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“Yelp!”
“Shut up!”
Pepper’s dad kicked the struggling Collie once more and hurriedly followed after the Vice-Guildmaster.
Taking advantage of the moment the guard lowered his head, I jumped from the neighboring roof inside the wall.
I rolled once across the garden lawn, and at the same time, the gate shut closed.
“Hm?”
I pressed myself flat against the wall, avoiding the eyes of the guard who was peering inside with his head tilted.
“Huff, huff.”
Dubu, who had leaped down with me wrapped in my arms, pressed against the wall alongside me.
“Wh-what do we do, woof? What do we do now, woof?”
“Hmm. For now.”
The Vice-Guildmaster, Pepper’s dad, and Collie were already heading around to the back of the main building.
There seems to be a single-story building used as a warehouse on the rear grounds. It looks like they’re heading there.
“For now?!”
“We follow them.”
“And then?!”
“Well, shoot them all dead with guns?”
“Us?!”
“……”
“I hate guns, woof!” Ignoring the frantic Dubu, I prepared to dash forward.
“Ah. Right.”
“What, what?!”
“I didn’t transform.”
“……”
Dubu, who had been trembling all over from tension, quietly turned to look at me.
I said sheepishly to Dubu, who was cursing me with his eyes.
“Can you maybe transform quietly without any light?”
Money!
Glory!
Health!
★★★★★
Magical Saint Seraphina!
(Silently)
Transform…….
🔕🔕🔕🔕🔕
Magical Saint Seraphina