The name of the merchant company I’d hastily cobbled together on the spot was ROKA.
Those letters felt oddly familiar…
Come to think of it, a knight order was basically an army too.
I figured it wouldn’t sound all that strange to people from another world, so I went with it.
As a rule, unless you had a truly badass name, it was better to choose something intuitive that stuck right away.
My reasoning was my own taste.
The ration soldier’s face was half surprise, half suspicion.
A guy who’d done nothing but sit around in the shelter wasting time every day since the Wave broke out.
It was understandable that he’d be flustered when someone who’d seemed like a loafer suddenly showed up under the name of a merchant company.
But his gaze soon shifted away from me and toward the sack of flour floating beside me.
When he realized it looked exactly like the flour that had been left in the barn, the look in the ration soldier’s eyes changed slightly.
“Is this real? Ah, I’m sorry. I was just startled… Um, you said you’re Kang Jinwoo?”
“Yes, that’s right. I’d like to donate some flour.”
“Donate? A donation? Understood! You can set the flour down. We’ll move it!”
Iseria stopped her magic and lowered the flour to the ground.
A faint puff of dust rose as the sack was gently set down.
The ration soldiers who had been waiting all lifted the sacks together and headed for the warehouse.
“May I enter the warehouse as well? I’d like to make sure the goods are being properly stored…”
“Yes. Of course!”
I entered the supply warehouse with Iseria.
They must have put quite a bit of effort into organizing it, because neatly arranged supplies caught my eye.
But as expected, there weren’t many food ingredients.
Could they last another three days or so?
One might wonder why a ducal territory, even in the north, was this destitute, but naturally, this wasn’t all the supplies they had.
There should still be grain left in the granaries of the lowland farming villages, and if they collected from the entire city, there would be even more.
However, that food was also the commoners’ daily sustenance, their taxes, and the seed for the next harvest.
If things were truly urgent, they would have no choice but to requisition it, but otherwise, keeping as much as possible in reserve was the better path for the city.
Still, they said a Wave was usually cleared up in a week, so with that much food, they could barely scrape by.
The strange thing was… none of the flour I’d brought to the barn over the past two days was in sight.
No, I’d come in expecting my flour not to be in the warehouse, so maybe it wasn’t that strange after all.
“Where is the flour I left here before?”
“Ah, the provisions officer is keeping that separately. Would you like to meet him before you go?”
“No. Rather, could you keep it a secret that I was here?”
“Pardon?”
If the supplier of the flour became clear, and that supplier was said to have checked the supply warehouse, how would the provisions officer react?
Obviously, before he got caught, he would either put back the flour he had siphoned off or try some other trick.
So, if possible, it was better to hide the fact that I had come.
If that was the plan, it would have been better to make my appearance quietly in the first place… but then it wouldn’t have looked cool.
Bluffing was all about momentum. Momentum. One must never forget that humans are greatly influenced by appearances.
Besides, it wasn’t as if I’d acted with no plan in mind.
Today marked my fifth day since coming to the shelter.
From what I’d observed so far, the overall operation of the supply warehouse and shelter was all handled by ordinary soldiers, medical priests, and nuns.
The provisions officer only occasionally stopped by, looked around for about ten minutes, and then slipped away.
The chances of the evacuees in the shelter talking about me and the provisions officer hearing it were low anyway.
Therefore, as long as I kept these ration soldiers in line, there was little risk of being found out.
“I understand your intention. We’ll mark this donation as anonymous…!”
“Ah, yes. Thank you. Then I’ll be going…”
Originally, I had planned to secretly slip him some pepper I’d prepared in my bag and ask for a favor.
But the ration soldier looked at me with extremely devout eyes and accepted my request.
It seemed like he had started misunderstanding something on his own… but it probably didn’t matter.
I left the warehouse with Iseria and headed straight for an alley outside the shelter.
Iseria, who had no idea what I was aiming for, had kept her mouth firmly shut the whole time. Once we got away from the shelter, she finally vented her frustration.
“Hey! You just sat around eating every day, and now all of a sudden you’re scheming something? And what was that magic?”
“I’ll explain everything.”
After entering a deserted alley, I began to talk.
First, I revealed my special ability, [Mana Market].
For me, it was like exposing my hand, so I felt uneasy, but it also meant I trusted Iseria that much.
Although we hadn’t known each other for long, we had gone through intense events together, and that had raised my trust in her.
“Do you know why mages only create elements like fire or water? It’d be convenient if they could create substances like you.”
“No? I don’t.”
“Obviously because that’s impossible. Are you stupid? How can you have so little common sense?”
Iseria, who was especially sharp-tongued today, fired off her words relentlessly.
“Even famous mages can barely manage elemental magic in simple geometric forms. Most alchemy is superstition too, except for branches that pursue practicality. But your ability? You only have to touch a substance once, and then you can create it anytime, anywhere, in exchange for the corresponding mana? That’s… that’s no different from black magic!”
“No, my ability is limited to food ingredients…”
“How are people supposed to believe that!”
I waved my hands at the highly agitated Iseria, meaning for her to calm down.
But Iseria smacked my hand away and raised her head.
She wasn’t being sharp-tongued.
She was—
Tears were welling up in Iseria’s eyes.
Her green eyes, reflected through those tears, were beautiful to the point of sadness.
Iseria was worried about me. Quite seriously, at that.
“I know you’re not that kind of person. You’re not a black mage, and you’re not someone who would misuse that ability. That’s why I’m even more… worried. An ability like that can look like a miracle of God, but at the same time, it could also carry the meaning of denying God.”
Whether nonliving or living, being able to create something with intent.
In a world where the concepts of mana and divine power actually existed, such an ability could imply many things.
I had never thought that far before, so Iseria’s words struck me like a hammer to the head.
In the eyes of devout believers, I might look like a heretic mocking the authority of God.
And yet, my heart actually grew lighter.
I let out a small laugh.
Soon, that smile grew more and more pleased, until it became a burst of laughter.
Seeing me suddenly laugh while we were having such a serious conversation, Iseria looked at me as if I’d gone insane.
“So the point is… Iseria, you were that worried about me? Enough to cry.”
“Wh-what?! I wasn’t worried at all! And I definitely wasn’t crying… sniff!”
“You clearly said you were worried just now. And there are still tears in your eyes.”
“Y-you…!”
The slight anxiety I’d felt when first revealing my ability.
All of that anxiety was resolved by Iseria’s attitude before my eyes.
I hadn’t known my ability had such a significant element to it… but it didn’t matter.
Because I had just clearly confirmed the kind heart of Iseria, who knew about it.
“I didn’t know you’d worry about me that much. Was the tofu really that good?”
“No, this isn’t about that… I-I don’t know!”
Iseria grabbed her blonde twin tails with both hands and covered her mouth with her hair like a mask.
The blush on her cheeks, made relatively more prominent by her hidden mouth, was impressive.
“Anyway, more importantly, I had a favor to ask you. Can you feel the mana in the food ingredients I created?”
“Y-yeah. Your mana is distinct in the warehouse we just left.”
“Then… can you also find where mana identical to that is?”
“Hmm… It’s faint, but there are traces of your mana farther north. It’s not that far.”
My plan to obtain evidence that the provisions officer had embezzled the flour.
It was an untested method, but fortunately, it was powerful.
I told Iseria the whole story.
From secretly leaving the flour there, to the provisions officer making off with it, to the fact that I was trying to find proof.
After hearing me out, Iseria smiled in a way that made it hard to believe she had been embarrassed just moments ago.
It was the mischievous grin unique to a brat who had found something fun to do.
“That sounds pretty fun. Perfect timing, too. Do you know how bored I’ve been?”
“I believe you. You really are Iseria.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.”
You’re going to need a dopamine detox later… Your eyes look a little unhinged.
Anyway, now that I had a reliable helper and the proper qualifications, it was time to start moving in earnest.
I returned to the shelter with Iseria and found that ration soldier again.
“Would it be possible for us to enter the knight order’s garrison? I’d like to hear the knights’ actual opinions on what kind of food ingredients they need more of.”
“I appreciate the sentiment. However, if you wish to go any farther, you’ll need an identification card issued by the Merchant Guild.”
‘Damn it, this won’t be easy.’
I’d tried to slip by smoothly, but the ration soldier was faithful to his duty.
Of course, since the merchant company was a complete lie, I didn’t have anything like an ID. Should I just say I’d left it outside?
As if he’d let me in for that.
In that instant, stretching out like taffy, I kept my mind spinning nonstop.
“Now hold on, as a ration soldier, you don’t even know the name of the ROKA Merchant Company?”
“K-Kallius, sir?”
“That’s right. These days, rumors of the ROKA Merchant Company are spreading all over the capital. They say it handles food ingredients of a quality fit to be used in the imperial palace’s formal dinners. And this young man here is the head of that very ROKA Merchant Company!”
Huh, what was this now?
In other words… the old man who had often kept me company for chats because he was so bored in the shelter.
That old man had suddenly appeared behind us and scolded the ration soldier.
The ration soldier, who had abruptly ended up being hassled by civilians, looked confused.
“If Sir Kallius vouches for you, then it should be all right. My apologies. I’ll guide you to the garrison.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Unable to hide my uncertainty, I glanced back at the old man… at Kallius.
Kallius met my eyes, gave a light nod, and smiled.
I couldn’t tell his exact intention, but it felt like the vibe of a wealthy patron saying, “I’ll cover for you, so go have some fun.”
It didn’t seem like an act done with malice.
After talking with Kallius for several days, I had felt that he was a pragmatic person, but not an evil one.
I might as well not waste the opportunity that had been given to me.
Iseria and I quietly met each other’s eyes and recalled the plan once more.
After walking a short distance, we entered the knight order’s garrison.
There wasn’t much time left until the embezzler was caught.