After dinner with the Marquis Campbell's family, I had a meeting with him and his son in a private room. I didn't want his family to hear what we would discuss.
I told them everything that had happened.
"There's something odd about this," said the marquis as the butler Edmund served tea to all of us.
"What's odd, Father?"
"The Wing Shark pirates attacked us at specific times, and this party wasn't one of them. Taking hostages would have been easy, but their forces, as you said, were…?"
"They were very weak. As if they were beginners. One even said, 'this wasn't part of the deal.'"
"This is undoubtedly mysterious, Father."
The three of us agreed that the attack was very strange, but I didn't know those pirates, so I needed them to explain the details to me.
"Please, tell me all the information about those pirates."
"To start, their attacks began just after I became a marquis. I had gained a new island, and it was surely their base, as it was a deserted island but with resources to exploit."
"But the odd thing is that they attacked us, as I told you, when we had to sell merchandise or brought in new goods. They caused us to lose a lot of money, as well as ships."
"Was anyone hurt?"
"Some sailors, but nothing serious."
"Who are the Olston's?"
The atmosphere became eerily silent.
"Marquis Bradford… do you know the Olston's?"
"I met them today and found them strange. And they also disappeared right before the attack."
The marquis and his son looked at each other, as if confirming something.
"Do you know something about them?"
"Alicia told me they were merchants who became nobles, nothing more."
"There's more to it than just that."
The marquis began to explain to me in detail who they were.
Several years ago, a foreign merchant came to live in the kingdom. He made many deals quickly and managed to make a name for himself among the merchants, but he was a commoner and the nobles rejected him for it, to the point of burning his businesses out of jealousy. The man couldn't compete with the nobles, and one day an opportunity fell from the sky.
A deeply indebted viscount family needed to save their skin because the father and son would end up dead for not paying their debt. So the merchant offered to pay their debt in exchange for handing over their title. The only legal way to do it was through marriage.
He married the viscount's youngest daughter and paid the debt. Since he was also a successful merchant, he managed to bring more foreign buyers to the kingdom, which earned him a promotion to count.
But that Now-Count didn't want them near, so he banished them all, including his wife. With her gone, he had finally acquired all the family's power for himself, the Now-Count Olston.
One of his most trusted partners and neighbors were the Rossini's, but they, just after their investigation for being accomplices with pirates, the head of the family wanted to make a deal and hand over Count Olston on suspicion of being his seller of illegal weapons.
Count Olston denied it and presented evidence that he only sold them opium. In the end, the Rossini's were executed and their family disappeared.
But from there, problems with his reputation began.
Which worsened when the most unforgettable event for all those present occurred: the war against the Commonwealth.
Marquis Balzac was not only one of his clients; several of his allies and partners were connected to them. And since Balzac was a traitor and many fled, the palace suspected several nobles, including the Olston's.
Among those clients, it was discovered that many were pirates who served in the Herring territory. They bought weaponry from the Olston's, but they argued: "The sale and use of weapons is not the seller's responsibility, but the client's. If we are blamed for it, all weapon sellers are as well." And with that excuse, they couldn't be blamed because many other merchants would pay the same price.
Therefore, they were let go with a warning requiring a palace official to be present in all their transactions.
And with the fall of the Herrings, their business ended.
After hearing all that, there could only be one answer.
"These guys are an evil corporation, in every sense of the word."
(They not only sell weapons to the kingdom, they sell weapons to traitors and criminals. They are just like those arms manufacturers I read about in history books.)
(They don't care who their client is, they only care about the money it brings.)
(But being connected to the Rossini's, Balzac, and the Herrings clearly indicates that this guy is a genuine threat to the kingdom and to me.)
Marquis Campbell—Edgar, as he asked me to call him—told me:
"But, Rudel-kun, selling weapons in this country is not illegal."
"Selling them to foreigners is, Father," Lionel interjected.
"I always told you they smelled of something shady."
"A merchant is someone who must not judge their buyer. If you sold spices, you should know that some can be used as poison; would it then be illegal to sell them because someone has bad intentions?"
"No…"
"That's why, Lionel, I couldn't accuse them of something when you could end up in the same situation because of someone pointing a finger at you."
"But with what we've known before and what happened now, I can't help but think of them as the guilty ones."
I told them something I knew they wouldn't understand, but I had to say it:
"Sometimes the most cliché or the most obvious thing will always be the correct answer, even if we don't want to see it."
"But that doesn't explain the attack. What did they gain by bringing you here? Hurting you?"
"We don't have bad terms and we've made many deals for years. So revenge wouldn't make sense."
His son Lionel seemed to have an idea of what happened.
"What if they weren't trying to hurt us, but to set a trap for us?"
"A trap?" Edgar and I said at the same time.
We reacted after understanding what he meant.
"An attack on the territory?!"
"They want us to attack the territory and sell weapons to the pirates or to us to defend ourselves."
"'To create the vaccine, you create the virus,' right? Dirty tricksters, they truly live up to the scum from the bottom."
Edgar was angry and began to pace the room to calm his anger. He punched the wall.
"Dirty tricksters!"
"It's a flawless, self-contained business. Our territory is vast, but we can't guard it all because we don't have that many trustworthy knights."
"Weapons run out and must be replaced. If we used them, we wouldn't have money. They would sell them to us, and thus make money."
"It's a dirty trap from the beginning!"
I asked him something that caught my attention.
"Marquis Edgar, why don't you have more commoners? More people guarantee more labor and more taxes to pay the knights."
"You're right, but I don't like that idea. Because we would have to raise taxes, and that would make lower-class families go hungry, and that brings bandits."
"That's why, since my father's generation, taxes were cut in half so they wouldn't have problems."
I gave him a little talk on the little I knew about economics.
"It's the complete opposite, Marquis."
"Increasing taxes is better when it generates more employment. Those taxes will be used to improve the quality of life and create subsidies. So more people will come to receive the benefits of those subsidies."
Both seemed puzzled by what I said.
"That sounds like a wonderful economy. More people work to receive more benefits, but half of our taxes go as tribute to the king, so even if we did that, the cost of living would increase."
"That dirty son of a bitch Leonis, in the end, he harms others indirectly."
"...?"
"Forget it."
Ixion, who was hiding, made an appearance.
"It's time for me to join the conversation. It was very interesting."
"What is that thing?"
Father and son were startled, and I quickly explained that it was Ixion.
"All of you have doubts about the Olston's, right? Well, we should get into their house and look for evidence; then we'll take them to trial and the matter will be settled."
"But a raid is illegal."
Ixion looked at Edgar as if looking at an idiot who said water is wet.
"I think you exaggerate being a good person. If the master were scum, he would have ruined your family like he did with others."
"Shut up, don't say that!"
I quickly silenced Ixion and addressed them.
"Even if you don't like it, Marquis, this guy is right."
"If the Olston's are behind this, it's better to gather evidence."
"But how do we get into their house without being seen?"
Ixion broke free and told us:
"Leave it to me. There's something I want to test."
After saying those words, he told us his plan.
◇
We asked the guests if they knew where the Olston's would be, and they said they would go to the capital for an order.
We took advantage of the situation and sent the girls to their house in the capital. Lecia and the others went to the palace because we told them what happened, so they would be prepared.
Meanwhile, we quickly went to the Olston territory in a boat that Ixion prepared.
Right now we were inside their mansion.
How did we infiltrate without being detected by the hundreds of knights surrounding the place? It's very simple: with special suits.
These suits, similar to those of common thieves, reflect light and sound, so, just like in cartoons, the three of us were tiptoeing around the place.
Although they blocked our noise and appearance, they didn't hide smells or breathing.
Once the guard in the lobby left, Ixion became visible to explain to all of us.
"I made a map of the place through a scan. I'll give each of you a route to go separately. We'll meet back here in an hour."
Ixion left to investigate on his own, and before leaving, the marquis told me and Lionel:
"I'm too old to spy on people; this was normal when I was young with the maids."
"I never expected to hear that from you, Father. I'll tell Mom."
"Your mother knows, and she knows other things. I just wanted to say, don't get flustered; if you don't discover anything and they catch you, just run."
It was nice that he was worried about us.
"That was an interesting chat. Now let's go look for evidence."
After saying those words, we each went our separate ways.
It was about five floors counting the attic. Ixion will search that place, since he can lift things without touching them.
Lionel will search the second floor, Edgar the third, and I the fourth floor.
Almost all the rooms were locked; I opened each one with a master key and began looking for any kind of information related to money or names of suspicious merchants.
I found nothing; many of those rooms were just empty spaces. I imagine they were closed to mislead intruders.
The time was almost up; the room I would check now belonged to Olston's son, Jim, the idiot who stared at Alicia's breasts.
We're nothing yet, but it bothered me that he did that.
I searched for anything suspicious, and yes, I found suspicious things, but they were things not suitable to mention and very grotesque, knowing that guy was a man.
(Does he really have something like that for himself? Does it even fit him?)
Just before I left, I noticed I knocked over a photo from his nightstand.
I picked it up to put it back when I noticed something strange.
It was an obviously old photo, but there was his obese father, Jim himself, and a mysterious brown-haired man.
(I feel like I've seen him before.)
I was thinking about it before putting the photo back.
I took a picture of it with the mini-camera Ixion gave me for evidence.
Since the hour had passed, I returned to the designated spot with everyone.
We shared the gathered information while leaving.
"You didn't find anything?"
"Nothing at all."
"It's all clean. Just many really disgusting things, but nothing else."
"I found out that the pirates were heading to their territory to attack."
"What?! Why didn't you say so before?"
I shouted angrily at Ixion, and he calmly replied:
"Because it wasn't time to meet yet."
We quickly went to the territory and found that the knights were already fighting them.
But there's something strange here.
"Those pirates are very strange," I told Ixion before boarding the Battler, the slim armor.
"You noticed it too?"
"Their movements feel weird. As if they were beginners."
There are quite a few pirates, but very clumsy, and it's easy to defeat them.
The battle continued, and the more I hit them, the more this strange feeling grew.
Then, when I attacked their ship, the pirate flag with the shark logo went flying.
That's when I finally noticed it.
These guys weren't pirates; they were mountain bandits.
Mountain bandits are criminals who live on large islands with obvious mountains.
They can hide there, and armors can't enter because they would destroy the fauna and resources.
These guys were hired bandits.
But what were they doing here? Who hired them?
"Master. You're thinking the same thing I am."
"For a while now."
I quickly went to Edgar, who was in command of the place. After approaching, I told him:
"Marquis Campbell, there's something I want to discuss with you."
"Right now? Is it necessary?"
"It is, very much so."
Seeing my eyes, which spoke with seriousness, he handed over command to the ship's captain.
I explained about the bandits.
Then I told him something I had been thinking since yesterday.
"A mole?"
"It means there's someone inside your territory selling information about what you do and when you'll do it."
"It's surely someone hired by the Olston's. That's why I want to ask you: have you noticed anything strange about your employees?"
"No, nothing strange."
This wasn't going anywhere, so I showed him the photo.
"I'm sorry, but I don't remember."
(The marquis didn't remember, but this man here is very familiar; I've seen his face, but I don't know where it was.)
This photo kept circling in my mind, so much so that my head went through the hologram.
When I pulled it back, I realized something.
"Ixion, put my hair color on this guy."
"Some new weird hobby?"
"Just do it."
After giving the photo figure black hair, the marquis and I made the same expression.
"It can't be!"
◇◇◇
The women of the Campbell family returned to their house in the capital.
They were all in the living room enjoying the tea that the butler Edmund was serving them.
The last to receive her tea was Alicia.
"Thank you very much, Edmund."
"You're welcome, Miss Alicia. I like my job."
"Hee hee. It's amazing you say that, because when you started working here you didn't know how to make tea."
"Please, don't remind me. I was still an apprentice."
The other women in the family remembered the old times.
"It's true, it was over a year ago, wasn't it? When you arrived."
"That's right, ma'am."
"Back then, we were surprised to see you knocking on our door on that rainy day. My husband didn't hesitate to let you in or give you a job."
"I am eternally grateful to the master and to all of you for letting me into your home and your hearts."
The whole family loved Edmund, as he was very hardworking and helpful. Almost like a robot.
With that trust, in less than a year he became the head of the butlers and servants.
Edmund mentioned something curious after serving his cup.
"Speaking of dates, wasn't it also over a year ago when the pirate attacks started getting worse for the family business?"
"Why do you ask, Edmund?"
"For no reason. I just said it was curious."
"Certainly, those attacks started getting worse from then on. As if they knew our movements."
"The tea is very good; more, please."
Edmund served Belinda more tea and, after doing so, said:
"About that, there's something even stranger."
"What is it?"
"Why let a complete stranger into your homes and so easily give him a job?" he said, no longer using a polite tone, but a colder one.
The cheerful atmosphere vanished, and everyone's gaze focused on him, who began to frown.
"I thought it would be more difficult, since I had a more complicated and elaborate plan, but it was as easy as going to the store to buy gum."
"Edmund, what are you talking about?" asked Belinda, puzzled, who began to feel dizzy for some reason.
Not just her; all the others.
"You are such good people, extending a hand to those in need; it's something rare these days. But I'll tell you something: sometimes you must distrust your own shadow."
One by one, they all fell to the floor, asleep.
Alicia was the last one trying not to fall asleep.
Edmund approached her to close her eyes.
"E-Edmund… why?"
"My name is not Edmund Bartley, Miss Alicia. My name is Clyde Olston, the second son of the Olston family and the captain of the Wing Sharks, who right now…" —checking his pocket watch, he marked the imminent end— "…are taking over the port financed by your family, and my family will clear its name by defending the place from the pirates."
"While also blaming everything on yours, at the same time we will take your wealth and sell you as slaves."
Alicia couldn't hold on any longer and closed her eyes.
Immediately after, several mysterious men entered the house, and with that began the final act of their plan.
_________________
The fanservice is for Wendy and Rosetta, because this mini-story is almost over:
Wendy
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/139970931
Rosetta
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/140025587