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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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The guild building was completely burned down, leaving only a blackened frame.
The faces of the merchants, who had been chattering lively in front of it just a few hours prior, were utterly vacant.
“Lumia.”
“Yes, understood.”
Now, even without me explicitly saying anything, Lumia handled her tasks perfectly. She was practically at a level where she could be appointed as vice squad leader right away without any issue.
Scanning the gathered crowd, she soon found someone she recognized and approached him.
Having been in the unit longer than me, and having consistently been in charge of interior affairs, it was natural for her to know at least one person in the city’s merchant guild.
“Officer John!”
“Ah…! Sergeant Lumia.”
“Do you happen to know where Chief Clerk Alpera is?”
“If it were Alpera, he should normally be inside doing clerical work… but as you can see, it’s become like this. I really don’t know.”
“Then, could you at least tell us his home address…?”
Lumia asked again without giving up, but he answered by shaking his head.
“I’m sorry, I’m so out of it right now, I don’t think I can help you with anything.”
“Ah, no, it’s alright. Excuse us!”
“Others probably won’t know either. Alpera was especially famous for managing his personal life thoroughly.”
So that was why Shakov had entrusted him with it.
So that even if Lamur tracked him down, he could buy as much time as possible.
Even after that, Lumia continued to ask about Alpera’s whereabouts, but all she received back were only the ramblings of merchants who were half out of their minds.
Eventually, she returned, trudging back, in failure.
“What should we do now?”
“If Alpera really went into hiding to avoid Lamur’s pursuit, now that the Merchant Guild has ended up like this, he would have hidden even more thoroughly.”
They had brazenly committed arson on the building to destroy evidence. In this situation, it was frankly unreasonable to snoop around the vicinity.
Especially if his private life management was thorough, it was typical for someone to abandon their existing address and hole up in a ‘truly’ secret place.
“For now, it would be better to return to the unit. It’s getting late too.”
If we couldn’t find him, it was better to return quickly and report to Major Lanister.
Originally, the reason Lumia and I decided to visit Cherno City was as preliminary reconnaissance, not to investigate the garrison or the Merchant Guild.
If Lamur hadn’t done something stupid like burning down the guild building, Lumia and I would probably be leisurely taking a stroll right now.
This current situation was purely coincidental.
“And who knows, Guard Captain Lamur might have caught on to something.”
Although we had disguised ourselves, now that we had been caught by the garrison, it was only a matter of time before the fact that I was the officer who caused the disturbance last time became known.
Even though they were a criminal organization that would be swept away with the arrival of the National Military Police, it was better to avoid confronting them directly right now if possible.
If we ended up in another physical fight like last time, I might end up with body aches again tomorrow and be listless with illness, wouldn’t I?
And I couldn’t exactly use magic on civilians, so it would be better to leave quickly.
‘Additional investigation can be assigned to Claude or Belle.’
I thought those two would do a good job.
…Or maybe not?
In any case, returning to the unit now was the right decision.
It’s not that we are afraid of the poop, we are avoiding it because it’s dirty.
At that moment.
Thud-, someone lightly bumped my shoulder and passed by.
“Excuse me, hey you!”
Lumia, displeased that he didn’t apologize after bumping into me first, shouted out. Through the slightly revealed robe hood, his eyes met mine directly.
In that fleeting moment of exchanging glances.
I intuitively knew that he was ‘Chief Clerk Alpera’ that Guild Master Shakof had mentioned.
“-!!”
The man, as if signaling us to follow, slipped into the alleyway like swimming.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes? Where to… No, Squad Leader!”
I immediately chased after the man, and Lumia, without knowing why, followed behind me.
Entering the alleyway, he skillfully ran through a path cluttered with all sorts of trash and carelessly discarded boxes.
Finally, he stopped in place when he reached a dead end.
“You’re quite fast.”
The man chuckled with a smile under his deeply pressed hood. As he took off the hood covering his face, jet-black hair was revealed.
‘This is a bit unexpected.’
I had expected a bespectacled, nerdy impression for a chief clerk, but he rather gave off the impression of a very nimble deliveryman.
He looked back and forth between Lumia and me and asked.
“Judging from your looks, you don’t seem to be from Lamur’s side… Under whose orders are you looking for me?”
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“Honestly, I didn’t expect your intelligence network to be this outstanding.”
When I told Alpera the password I had received from Shakov, he exclaimed in admiration and clicked his tongue.
“O-Of course, because we are the National Military Police…!”
“Hmm.”
To be honest, it was just a lucky guess, but neither Lumia nor I bothered to correct him.
It was much better if they misunderstood as they pleased. That way, they wouldn’t play any tricks, right?
“Does the garrison know about this fact?”
“No. Since definite charges haven’t been proven yet, only we are moving independently for now.”
Lies flowed smoothly from my mouth. It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a while.
‘It used to be so difficult to do this back then.’
Back when I was still wearing a military uniform.
What always held me back whenever we went into operations wasn’t shooting skills, nor physical fitness, but rhetoric.
All sorts of elocution techniques I had learned while being thoroughly reprimanded by my seniors were still valid even in the world of Hearts of General.
Lumia seemed like she was about to say something, but seeing my quick and appropriate response without even blinking, she looked slightly surprised.
“So, I just need to show you the evidence then, is that it?”
When I nodded silently, Alpera stood up from his seat.
He said that this place was the secret archive of the Cherno Merchant Guild.
A type of ‘archive’ known only to Guild Master Shakov and his close associates, including Chief Clerk Alpera.
It was Pandora’s Box, where not only documents related to this artifact theft case, but also evidence of all sorts of illegal activities that the garrison and other merchants had been secretly carrying out until now, were perfectly preserved.
“This is all evidence of corruption?”
Looking at the mountain of ledgers piled up, Lumia made a somewhat weary expression.
“Guild Master Shakov is always one to keep a hidden dagger,” Alpera said, taking out a stiffly sealed envelope from among the mountain of document bundles.
“Here it is. The security documents co-authored by the client who requested the transport to Belgo Fortress are also enclosed.”
I tore open the seal of the envelope and checked the documents inside.
Cargo Transport Ledger
Item: Fresh Food
Destination: Regular Food Supply to Militar
To anyone else, it would just look like an ordinary transport ledger, but the problem was precisely this part.
Note: Subject to Special Inspection
A phrase written as if painted over the document. Underneath it, the Guard Captain’s seal was stamped.
“Special inspections of military supplies are quite frequent occurrences, so we just overlooked it, but generally, it is rare for the Guard Captain to personally conduct inspections.”
As befitting of a chief clerk, he seemed to have meticulously checked the suspicious points of the documents.
“With this, can we prove it sufficiently?”
“More than enough.”
I accepted the envelope of documents and handed it to Lumia.
Just thinking about it simply, it was an enormous gain.
Since we had also obtained intelligence from Shakov that ‘the person who leaked information was Lamur’, if we returned to the unit as is, the National Military Police would be able to move.
We had achieved results as soon as we received Major Lanister’s request, without needing to drag it out for long.
Doesn’t it look like another diamond is right in front of my eyes? It really feels like one will be added?
But I absolutely didn’t show any excitement.
One must maintain a cool head until everything is wrapped up.
“Well then, we will definitely take responsibility for the cooperation you’ve given us.”
“Please do.”
Alpera bowed his head in greeting, and I lightly nodded in return before standing up from my seat.
Exiting the alleyway like that, we finally arrived at the Merchant Guild’s carriage waiting area where the driver would be waiting, but.
It was already occupied by heavily armed garrison soldiers. When the driver, with a troubled expression, turned his head towards us, the garrison’s gazes all focused on us at once.
“Found them-!!”
The gathered individuals weren’t just garrison soldiers.
“Th-That looks right, doesn’t it?”
A guy wearing different clothes from the garrison soldiers pointed a finger at me.
A face that somehow looked familiar. It was one of the thug gang members that Belle Meyer and I had dealt with before.
‘To even mobilize thugs, it seems like they’re scraping together every last bit of force they have.’
It was certain that the Guard Captain had noticed something.
Now that I had even verified my identity as a magic officer, there was no reason for the garrison soldiers to treat me like this.
“Lumia.”
“Y, Yes?!”
Even the sergeant seemed to be taken aback, not expecting the garrison to go this far, her expression clearly flustered.
Unless Lamur recognized Lumia and me as the National Military Police, or a force equivalent to them.
If they were handed over to the National Military Police, they wouldn’t be in for a good outcome.
In that case, wouldn’t it be better to capture us before we could report, and then negotiate or threaten us?
But that was only if we couldn’t escape the city, right?
“Go back to the alleyway we just came from, hide there, and then take a carriage and leave the city immediately.”
“Yes!? Then what about you, Squad Leader…!”
“I can escape on my own just fine.”
Having two people would only draw more attention. To buy time, being alone was much better.
“Please take care of the transport ledger. As soon as you arrive at the battalion, report the current situation in the city to the Battalion Commander right away.”
“Second Lieutenant Enoch…!”
“Hurry! If you get caught, it’ll be neither here nor there!”
As I urged her, Lumia bit her lip in resentment and disappeared back the way we came.
“Phew.”
I took a deep breath and immediately deployed mana.
The moment I conjured up a blazing fireball, the garrison soldiers who were rushing in recklessly stopped in their tracks all at once.
“Don’t come any closer.”
“We are merely executing official duties according to legitimate procedures! Lower your magic!!”
“Legitimate procedures?”
What a ridiculous excuse.
“I am also just exercising my right to self-defense according to legitimate procedures.”
“A-Are you really going to use magic? Using offensive magic without permission is a serious crime…!!”
“I’ve already done it once, it’s easy from the second time onwards.”
Rex also spouted the same nonsense, so I thoroughly dealt with him.
And listen here.
If your backer is the Guard Captain, then my backer is the Military Police Commander, got it?
“Anyone who wants to retire from military service right here, step forward first.”
Come on and try me.
You bastards.
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