Retribution 6
A few days have passed since then.
Things have progressed a bit.
The employees of Larushia Trading who rushed to the royal castle that day were naturally stopped by the gatekeeper, and apparently, there was a commotion between the gatekeeper and the employees who were shouting for help.
And then, the people under the control of our “groundwork” rushed to the scene.
From there, it was quick, apparently.
Several of the soldiers ran to Larushia Trading, while some others reported to their respective superiors.
By the time the authorities headed for Larushia Trading arrived, the guards had already left, but they took statements from Larushia herself, her employees, and the crowd of spectators who were still there, and also interviewed the people in detail about the attack on Larushia Trading.
Until now, it seems that the reporting of incidents was held at the Guard HQ, so please take your time visiting…… to learn more about the incident.
Of course, I also gave a clear explanation about yesterday’s “the case in which a girl who is the head of a noble family in another country was frightened and almost violently attacked”.
I’ve also told the people above a lot of things while I’m laying the groundwork, but it’s the information that the people on the field the interviews got were the most important.
And soon after, the nobles who were in conflict with the guard-affiliated nobles, like the royal army, the royal knights who were bitter that the guys in the guard HQ were acting unethically instead of protecting the security of the Royal Capital, and the honest guards, whose guts were churning under the unreasonable orders from their superiors, all launched their attacks.
A sudden, unannounced inspection by the investigators. Moreover, to avoid being held back to buying time to hide the documents, they took many soldiers with them……
The guard who tried to forcibly stop them was hit in the neck with the pommel of the sword drawn by a soldier, and while he was frozen in place, he was tied up and carried off somewhere.
The other guards seemed to have stopped resisting at all because of this so out-of-the-ordinary forcefulness.
……Yeah, I heard that the atmosphere was such that if you were not behaving properly, you could have been cut down on the spot for treason. Well, you don’t want to follow the instructions of a bad superior and be defeated as a scoundrel……
And somehow, pieces of evidence of wrongdoings were discovered one after another.
Without hesitation, the investigators head straight for the hiding place of the back taxes.
The back books and plans for evil deeds that should’ve never been left in such a place, but we’re proudly left in a desk drawer or a filing cabinet.
For some reason, the picture hanging in front of the hidden safe was at an angle, and the safe hidden behind it was slightly visible.
Then, with pinpoint accuracy, the investigators repeatedly asked questions one after another to only those who were doing wrong.
The evil deeds were either done by oneself without anyone finding out, or at most by two or three people with whom would never speak about the deed.
If there were more people involved, there will always be someone who’ll rat out or straight-up betray them.
When they realize that they can no longer get away with it, they’ll think of ways to get their crimes reduced, such as by having only themselves be exonerated……
Well, even on modern earth, there’s a system of plea bargaining. I guess that was one of the right ways to do it……
Anyway, for some reason… It seemed that all the pent-up pus in the guardsmen had been drained out by the activities of the investigators, who have unusually good instincts.
……Yeah, apparently…
I don’t know anything about it, and besides, it has nothing to do with me at all. I only heard those rumors.
Although there had been bad rumors about the guards, the other faction had been unable to do anything drastic because if they had conducted a forceful investigation without any proof and failed to seize conclusive evidence, they would have been fatally damaged by a counterattack on their part. Evidence and witnesses can be easily erased at any time…
So, until now, no forceful measures had been taken, but there were witnesses who “knew perfectly well where things were” in advance, who were also handed some evidence in advance just in case, and who will never get easily threatened to flip their testimony or die suddenly.
I mean, who would have been stupid enough to pass up an opportunity like this?
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“Th, the guards got busted, and all of the people who were involved with them and making money got caught!” (Owner)
“Yes, and those who were promoted to fill the vacancies, as well as those who transferred in from other departments to fill in, are all good and solid……” (Watchman)
The watchman in charge of dealing with the guard reported it to the Enova Chamber of Commerce’s business owner with a blue face, but, of course, that was not the only problem.
“And according to the information I got, the inspector general who conducted the investigation seized a large amount of evidence, some of which may indicate a connection to our business association……” (Watchman)
“What? That’s absurd! I would never have created such a risky document in the first place!” (Owner)
Bartoad, the merchant owner of the Enova Chamber of Commerce, shouted, but…….
“No, that’s what I’ve heard. The meeting was written down in notes……” (Watchman)
“Wha, don’t be stupid! There is no way I would keep notes of a conversation that could get exposed!
Damn it, either those guys from the Guard HQ created it to threaten us later, or it’s forged evidence that the inspector general’s guys created and mixed it in with the seized documents…
If it’s a fake, it’s not a problem if the supporting research finds discrepancies……” (Owner)
In fact, those documents were transcribed by Mitsuha based on the recorded data and were mixed in with the documents of the guard HQ in advance…… for clarity.
Therefore, the content itself was quite accurate. It was easy to know that it was true if one performed a fact-check based on it.
“Anyway, it seems that a lot of bad documents were seized.
And as a result, stores with close ties to the guard faction could be investigated like a sack of potatoes……” (Watchman)
……That’s not good.
It was very bad.
“In any case, we didn’t even make such dangerous documents, let alone give them to the guards. I’m sure the same goes with the other stores…… No one would be stupid enough to do that.
The guards must have thought, ‘If we can seize the weakness of the Enova Chamber of Commerce, they can be a source of money later on,’ and kept a record of it. Those idiots……
However, the only created records were unauthorized. Both handwriting and signatures would be only from the guards. All we have to do is claim that the documents were forged in an attempt to defraud us and extort money from us.” (Owner)
It’s a bad situation, but not a fatal one.
Although it’s necessary to distribute a considerable amount of money to each department, with the power that money can buy, the testimony of a commoner can be easily suppressed. Both the content of the testimony and the very existence of the witness…….
“The inspector general may investigate the guard faction all he wants, but he cannot forcefully investigate a private store, a large store that is in good standing with the nobility and influential people, without any evidence. If they make a bad move, they will make enemies of all the merchants in the country.
If that were to happen, no matter how high his noble position might be, he would not get away with it scot-free.
Yes. It’s not time to panic yet……” (Owner)
The Enova Chamber of Commerce owner did not know that Mitsuha and Larushia had their hands all the way to ‘the top’.
And, of course, there were also a number of documents scattered throughout other stores and his own store that the investigators can easily find…… Which he was unaware of.
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“Mitsuha, why are you going through all this trouble? Why don’t you just take everything in the warehouse, like you did the last time……” (Colette)
Colette-chan said such a thing, but I, too, have a policy.
The last time, that was, when the Rephilia trade was attacked, the warehouse was robbed of its merchandise.
So I took the contents of the baddies’ warehouse over there.
Other than that, I have not done anything that would violate the civic law.
This time, no merchandise was taken.
And since a lot of the merchandise was destroyed or rendered unusable, I ruined all their merchandise on the sales floor as well. Without taking away anything.
There were many ways to do it, such as transferring them to an isolated island offshore and leaving them there, or physically ‘crushing’ their stores.
……But that won’t do.
The perpetrators were firmly aware that there was an aggressor who was against them and who it was…… Although, they have neither proof nor can explain to anyone why they were being targeted.
To let the likes of them know the fear that there’s “someone they should never mess with”.
And to let all honest merchants and the public know that Larushia Trading and Viscount Yamano were honest business partners with no ties to illegal activities.
As a bonus, I can tell them what kind of position they will be in their own country and the dealings with neighboring countries if they make enemies of the “International Network of Women Business Owners” member stores.
Yes, connections against connections. Power against power.
Do not think you were the only one who has weapons.
And the one who can wield weapons must be prepared to be struck back as well……
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Author’s Note:
Bookstores, upon the release of book 5 (August 2019) of my work “I will save 80,000 gold coins in another world to prepare for my old age”. The SS I wrote as a bonus is posted on the blog of the Kōdansha ranobe bunko editorial department.
We would be happy if you could read it. (^^ゞ
And here’s an announcement. (^^)/
In fact, I have been very busy and have been working on a browser game.
……not as a “player” but as a “creator”. (^^ゞ
Distributed by DMM Games
The official name is “Angelic Link” or “En Kuri” for short.
Pre-registration started today.
I was in charge of supervising the world view and 10 side stories.
And what’s more, my work “I’ll survive by using potions!” Sukima-sensei did the illustration of the characters (^^)/
To search, you can Google “Angelic Link” or “En Kuri DMM”…….
(Because the URL and direct linking to pages such as sales are prohibited by the rules of Narō…)
Yoroshiku onegaiitashimasu. (^^)/
Moreover, in the past, the Narō management said “In the current [Let’s become a novelist], even if it is a work that is not published in [Let’s become a novelist] or a work that you have not posted, you will be notified of the information. There is basically no problem. Rest assured that there is no particular problem with the information announcement of related works in the postscript column when you have a question such as this (separate matter)”. “[Let’s become a novelist], regarding the promotion of works sold outside, if it is an announcement in a place other than the text of the work, such as an activity report, a synopsis of the work, a preface, a postscript, a ranking tag column, etc. [Let’s become a novelist], regardless of whether or not the target work is listed above, it is basically not a problem”. The answer I have received.
In addition, since the announcements such as animation and comicalization, which are not novels, are not regarded as a problem, we believe that there is no problem in announcing the novel-style-scenario-type game that I wrote.
May it help Narō writers to get requests for game-related work …
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