Chapter 186

Chapter 186

***

"We don't even know if Dunkel is his real name. Information is extremely scarce, and we only found out that he was active in the Benzinen Brotherhood before working under Court Count Helauman."

Paolo said. The listeners were Rickart, Bori, Ice, and Roy.

"If it's to the extent that the Venecio Merchant Guild doesn't know, isn't it over?"

Bori said skeptically. It was because the Venecio Merchant Guild was not just a simple merchant guild.

Everyone in the know knew that the Venecio Merchant Guild was actually a very frightening organization.

Of course, on the surface, they were just a merchant guild, but in reality, they had informants spread all over the world, could did anything for their profits, and even manipulated lords from behind the scenes.

Even Paolo didn't know the proper reality of the merchant guild well. But the fact that even such an organization found it difficult to get information on Dunkel meant something.

"It's not over. The answer is always at the scene. If we go and investigate ourselves, something else might come up."

"Can't we track backwards? Starting from that woman named Sally."

When Rickart spoke positively, Ice chimed in as if to support him. Paolo must have investigated Sally as well, as he answered immediately.

"The woman named Sally is also from the Benzinen Brotherhood. It seems she traveled with Dunkel for quite a long time, but after Court Count Helauman died, it seems they went their separate ways. She married a man named Chael and was living in the Esk region, and it seems a problem arose right after her husband got swept up in a certain fight."

Since Rickart was the one who killed Helauman, would it be a leap in logic to say this tragedy was because of Rickart? Anyway, both historically and personally, it was true that Helauman's death became a turning point in many aspects.

"What is that certain fight?"

"I don't know if you know this, but in some rural areas, a whole village can act like a thief guild organization. They are called the Eska. Old people, women, kids, adults, everyone is related to the organization. That is their life. A certain fight would be a war to them. It could be special or trivial, but it seems there was a dispute over interests with another village. The man named Chael participated in that fight and died."

It's common for lords or knights to rule, exercise jurisdiction, and protect the people, but there were areas where that didn't work. Sometimes the people themselves rejected it.

Usually, such regions were often places that had received a lot of external invasions since ancient times.

Then, feeling disappointed or betrayed by the lords or knights they trusted and followed, they began to protect themselves.

In the case of such people, they naturally banded together very tightly and solidly among themselves.

So it wasn't that they intended to did so, but organizations like criminal syndicates naturally formed around the villages.

Every city had organizations like thief guilds, but when such people flowed into cities, they would instantly push out existing organizations and take over the city. It was because, so to speak, they were on a different level.

If the Imperial succession war was a macroscopic world, the things happening in the shadows were a microscopic world.

All the macroscopic world did was trample and burn, while the microscopic world somehow hid behind and survived.

"Are you saying Dunkel didn't murder her husband?"

"I wouldn't know about that. Even if he didn't kill him directly, he might have orchestrated it from behind. The Eskas have two iron rules, one is revenge and the other is secrecy. They all carry powder made from ground black lotus roots on their bodies. So they can commit suicide at any time."

"......"

Putting everything else aside, it seemed certain that this wouldn't be an easy task. As silence fell inside the barracks, Rickart threw out another question.

"How is that alienation plan coming along?"

"As the King knows, Duke Brumbaer and Duke Frederia have always had a bad relationship. However, Duke Brumbaer wants to mobilize the forces of the 2nd Prince's army. The problem is the timing."

"But if that happens, won't Duke Frederia side with the 5th Prince?"

Bori asked. Paolo shrugged his shoulders.

"Aren't there quite a lot of people among the nobles who go against common sense? It seems he will maintain neutrality until the end, but if he's going to do that, shouldn't he have taken some action when the troops were gathered? But who knows. The problem is the timing, and the good news for us is that he doesn't know about the gold mine development."

The starting point of all this was the gold mine. In fact, the area suspected to be a gold mine leaned slightly towards Duke Frederia's territory at the border with Adelorn.

The plan was to instigate a fight between Duke Frederia and Duke Brumbaer to keep them from noticing the existence of the gold mine and divert their attention.

Only if the gold mine development concluded well could all the things they had started so far settle down properly. Right now, everything was running on debt. Things like the Caldebern family's succession issue or the formation of the Master's Federation.

Meanwhile, the old woman's request had parts that differed from their current route. However, whether it was simply out of curiosity or because they smelled something fishy, the Federation had decided to investigate it for now.

"Who are you going to send?"

Bori asked Rickart. Dispatching personnel by carefully weighing the size or importance of an issue was also something the chairman had to decide.

Rickart pondered for a moment, then looked at Roy and said.

"Let's go, Roy."

"Yes."

"You're going yourself?"

Bori and Ice asked at the same time.

"I have a lot of things going on right now, so we're short on personnel. From what I hear, it doesn't seem like a job where we can just send anyone, and besides, since Dunkel and Sally are people I used to know, I figured resolving the matter would be faster if I went myself. I'll leave the managerial aspects to Bolka, so contact him. He'll probably be better than me."

"Everyone is busy with this and that. And Marie is running the kingdom all by herself."

"It's because it's still her first time. It will get better as time passes."

"The death of the old woman. There is no reward."

Ice muttered to himself. Everyone looked back at him.

"Interesting."

"Interesting? This?"

Bori asked with his eyes wide open. His eyebrows were uneven.

"I didn't say it because it's genuinely interesting."

"Then let's scatter to our respective tasks now. It would be best to rest when you can."

Rickart said. Then, without even saying goodnight to each other, they all just scattered.

It was true that Rickart and his friends were tightly knit like the Eskas, but they weren't the type to speak affectionately.

The old woman's corpse was buried in the cemetery of the newly built temple. There was no funeral, but the people who had witnessed her death merely placed a few mourning flowers.

When going on a long journey, you must tie your shoelaces tightly. Your belt should also be tightened appropriately, and your bag straps shouldn't be loose. Otherwise, that slight looseness will unexpectedly drain a lot of stamina when walking for a long time.

You must maintain the blades of your main weapon and dagger, check well if your food hasn't spoiled, and inspect if you've properly packed things like suitable travel expenses, tinder, flint, whetstone, and camellia oil. For a cloak, a soft and tough one was good.

Rickart did not ride a horse. Because maintenance was difficult. And there was no suitable place to leave it.

The Esk region was far if you called it far, and close if you called it close, but if you walked steadily southwest from Stormhearts, it was about a three or four day distance.

The 2nd Prince's army was somewhere in the Duke Brumbaer territory, and the 5th Prince was mainly stationed in Nibelungen, so it wasn't an area closely related to the war.

Of course, if harsh taxes were collected for war funds, that would also be a living hell in its own way, but the Esk region didn't suffer from taxes. They weren't people who would obediently hand it over just because they asked.

"Roy, is your hometown the Esk region?"

"No. It should be further west than that. I left when I was young, so my memory isn't accurate. I'll ask my mother later."

"No, there's no need to ask."

The master and disciple, king and servant, walked along a path in full bloom with spring flowers. Both wore dark red cloaks, so from afar, they looked like a pair of red flowers swaying in the wind.

On their second day out of Stormhearts, the path very gradually, almost imperceptibly, led to highlands.

There was a large mountain range at the border with the southern part of the Empire, and it seemed to be because of that. He heard the Esk region didn't have such rugged terrain, but it was a highland anyway.

They say extremes meet, and there were parts that resembled the Haiden plains. The only difference was that it was a bit warmer.

Around noon, a mountain with perennial snow on its peak could be seen at the edge of the horizon far away. And after passing a hillock, they encountered a small village next to where a clear river flowed.

On the outside, it just looked like a village where people cultivated vegetable gardens and did small-scale dairy farming. However, to Rickart's eyes, the heterogeneous parts caught his eye at a glance.

"It looks really hard to defend, but they live well."

"Indeed."

"It means ordinary bandits wouldn't dare mess with them."

"Right."

"Don't just keep agreeing, tell me your thoughts too."

"The King already said everything, so I have nothing to say."

"I told you not to call me King outside."

"I'm sorry, Master."

"Let's go for now."

"Yes."

Together with his disciple, Rickart walked into the village facing the spring breeze.

Then, the villagers who noticed the presence of the two from afar stared at them. While plowing the field with hoes, they leaned on them, resting their chins on them as if using a prop, and stared blankly.

Even though they were wearing swords at their waists, there was no sign of fear. That didn't mean they were intensely on guard either; it was closer to observing them slowly.

Rickart approached a person standing leaning on a hoe after plowing the field and asked.

"I'd like to ask you something. Is this the Esk region?"

Then the peasant in shabby clothes calmly nodded.

"What is the name of this village? It looks truly peaceful."

"Meringhen."

"It's nothing else, but I'm looking for someone. Do you know a woman named Sally? She has a big appetite but isn't that fat. Rather, she's on the slim side."

He naturally knew that Sally was dead. But he was asking, pretending not to know on purpose.

The village man shook his head. Since the village size wasn't that big, if this man didn't know, it had to be assumed that others didn't know either.

"Understood. I'll be going."

Rickart passed the man and crossed the village. Not very favorable gazes followed him.

After passing straight through the village, Rickart and Roy walked the path again.

"Do you think they really don't know?"

"They might not know. They say the Eskas are split up by villages, so their grudges and debts of gratitude are complexly intertwined. Outsiders probably just lump them all together and call them Eskas carelessly."

"Then how do we find out? We can't go around asking every single person. Even if they know, they'll surely say they don't."

"Don't worry. We've already entered their territory. The questions will come from their side first."

"Excuse me?"

"Wouldn't they be curious about who we are? The talk will spread faster than the wind. That a man and a boy wearing red cloaks are wandering the Esk region looking for Sally."

"If they ask first, what's next?"

"This right here. This will be an excellent means of communication."

Rickart held up his gloved fist.

"There will be guys whose nerves get touched upon hearing the name Sally. That means those guys know information. We can't just beat up anybody, right? I'm not such a violent man."

"Right......"

"What's with that reluctant tone of answering?"

"It's nothing. It's definitely a swift means of communication."

"Right, watch and learn well. Copy my every move."

"Yes......"

"What's with that tone speaking as if you're not keen on it?"

"It's nothing. I'm not not keen on it. I'm already enjoying it."

Laughing, Rickart roughly patted the head of his disciple who had blond hair similar to his own. Roy roughly stroked and neatened his disheveled hair with his hand.

For now, the two—the man and the boy—just leisurely walked across the gentle highlands.

As the sun tilted and the day slowly began to set, they went around looking for a place to camp out. There were no trees around and it was a wide open field, so they had to wander around quite a bit.

Then they found a place where the terrain dipped down near a huge rock. It looked good for avoiding the wind while also lighting a fire.

As Roy put down the luggage he was carrying on his shoulder to settle down there, several dark silhouettes could be seen from afar. They didn't particularly hide, but they approached without making footsteps.

However, Rickart heard all those faint footsteps. And he also knew that while they drew attention from the front, there were people secretly approaching from behind.

Without a change in expression, he subtly said to Roy.

"You saw that, right? I told you they would come. There are two people behind, so be careful."

"Yes."

Roy untied the cloth covering the blade of his axe. And holding it in one hand, perhaps because he had grown quite big now, he somehow looked imposing. Like his father.

Soon, the people approaching the two stopped. They didn't reveal themselves in the dusky evening shadows, and only one person stepped forward. His nose and mouth were covered with a hood.

And sure enough, exactly as Rickart had said, he asked.

"Hey, who are you guys?"

"Well, before that, let's start with rational self-introductions."

At Rickart's words, the man with half his face covered seemed to not understand what he meant.

And rightly so, the rational self-introduction Rickart spoke of was what he had shown Roy during the day. Namely, his fist.