Fun Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord (Novel) - Chapter 108 - Arte's Homecoming and the Inspector

Chapter 108 – Arte’s Homecoming and the Inspector

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Arte.

“…Are you sure about this?
Not going to see your parents, I mean.”

When Orto-san asked me that, I gave a troubled smile.

“If I went back, I’d only trouble them…”

At that answer, Orto turned with a complicated look toward the wagon traveling one step behind us.
The wagon had no canopy, and seated quietly there were the two battered puppets.

Their armor had been ripped away miserably and bent out of shape.
And the puppet bodies themselves were covered in wounds wherever one looked.

Seeing them from the corner of his eye, Orto let out a sigh.

“Those two and the ballistas are what saved that city.
If the townsfolk knew it was Lady Arte, the lord’s daughter, who did it, they’d be overjoyed.
Your parents too…”

“…Who can say.
Mother loathed my Puppet Magic…
Van-sama is the only one who ever acknowledged my magic.”

When I lowered my eyes and answered that, Orto fell silent.

In truth, I couldn’t imagine anyone being happy even if I did return. Besides, our objective of driving off the enemy army under the banner of House Ferdinand had already been accomplished.

“…Come, let’s go home. Van-sama is waiting. For me, the only place I can return to now is by Van-sama’s side.”

When I said that brightly and smiled, Orto blinked, then burst out laughing.

“Is that so. Well, if you’re happy with that, then we’ve got nothing to say. All right then, let’s go bring Van-sama our victory report. He’ll probably celebrate with a barbecue.”

“Hehe, yes. I’m looking forward to it.”

With that sort of conversation, I began the road back.

Strangely, I felt as though my shoulders had become lighter. The guilt toward my mother, the misery I felt about myself, the questions of what worth my existence had, things I had always carried, all of them seemed suddenly much lighter.

Part of me still wanted to see my mother and have her praise me, but more than anything now, I wanted to see Van-sama. I wanted to see him and tell him that I had done my best, that I had accomplished it.

And so, without once looking back, I headed straight toward Seat Village, where Van-sama was waiting.

Ferdinand.

The mysterious reinforcements had utterly overwhelmed the Yerinetta army and then departed.

Their flag had borne the crest of House Ferdinand.

When those reports came in, the castle of House Ferdinand fell into a great uproar.

“Who in the world were they?”

“Could they have been nobles from nearby lands within the count house’s faction?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Crushing a great army of Yerinetta, even with wyverns among them, using only a small number of troops isn’t something just anyone can do.”

Everywhere, knights, stewards, even maids were discussing it.

Meanwhile, Arte’s mother and sisters, finally understanding that they had survived by a miracle, simply stared blankly out the window.

After a while, one of Arte’s sisters spoke.

“…Who do you think came to save us…?”

She murmured that, but Arte’s mother gave no answer and only kept staring outside. The walls of the castle town had been broken apart miserably, and smoke was still rising from some places. It was a scene utterly unlike the peaceful town of ordinary days.

At that point one of the knights who had watched the departing reinforcements came to make his report.

“Reporting. Of the knight order sent to defend the city, approximately one thousand were killed. The seriously wounded number fifteen hundred. However, thanks to the reinforcements, we estimate that, miraculously, the losses among the territory’s people are minimal so far.”

“I see.”

When he received that reply and was about to leave with a bow, Arte’s sister turned to him.

“About those reinforcements, do we know anything?”

At that question, the knight stopped. He seemed reluctant to answer for a moment, but then turned toward Arte’s mother and spoke.

“…Yes. At present, four things are known. First, that the reinforcements carried the banner of House Ferdinand. Second, that by reports of their mismatched armor and equipment, they were a band of mercenaries or adventurers. Third, that the direction from which the reinforcements appeared, and the direction in which they departed, was that of Marquis Fertio’s territory. And…”

In the middle of the report, Arte’s mother too turned her face away from the window and looked at the knight from the corner of her eye.

“…Fourth, it is rumored that the person riding at the front and directing them looked like a young, white-haired girl. That is all.”

Hearing that final report, her shoulders trembled sharply and she turned her face back toward the window.

“…Surely not, that can’t…”

Murmuring something in a small, quivering voice, Arte’s mother fell silent again. Her daughter watched her back without saying a word.

The inspector.

A new merchant company earning abnormal profits had appeared in Scuderia. Astonishingly, that company was based not in the royal capital but in a tiny frontier village, or so it was said.

Impossible. There had to be something behind it. Rumors like that spread instantly among the guild staff.

The Commercial Guild gathers information on a wide variety of nations and the merchant companies belonging to it. If you belong to the Commercial Guild, you can obtain detailed import and export lists and price tables for many nations. On top of that, through cooperation between guild members, you can exchange letters across great distances and be introduced to trading partners in countries and cities you have never entered before.

Such things would be impossible if not for a great merchant company with roots in multiple countries. That is why the vast majority of merchant companies join the Commercial Guild first thing.

There are countless other benefits to being a Commercial Guild member, but most companies join to expand their trade routes and learn about goods from other nations.

However, once you join the Commercial Guild, you must pay not only an annual fee according to your company’s scale, but also a portion of your sales.

Hating that, many companies have appeared before that concealed their sales or the true scale of their business.

Such companies, when found in violation, are fined and removed from membership, but very few of them simply accept that. There have even been fools who tried to murder inspectors to silence them.

That is why, when inspectors like us are dispatched, we move in a large group with enough ability to defend ourselves.

Since the capitals of each country all have Commercial Guild branches, the journey itself is not too long, but moving with such a large group costs a great deal.

This time, by pure chance, the Mary Company, which had a base in the royal capital, agreed to cooperate, and we were able to accompany a caravan already heading to the same destination. Even so, we had hired ten adventurers connected to the Commercial Guild.

Considering the destination was the frontier, this investigation too was shaping up to be rather costly.

“…Apollo-sama? You seem to be wearing a rather stern expression…”

At that voice, I cut off my thoughts.

I raised my face and looked at the two women seated before me. One was the owner of this wagon and the third daughter of the Triomphe sisters, Diane Triomphe, who at a young age served as the head of the Mary Company. She was a charming girl with red hair and a green-based dress, but her actual ability was remarkable enough to be spoken of from time to time even within the Commercial Guild.

The other woman, seated beside her and around thirty years old, was Rosalie. She was the manager entrusted with one of the Mary Company’s stores in the first city of Marquis Fertio’s territory. Judging from the two of them speaking, she had no blood relation whatsoever to the Triomphes, the family of the first company head. She had started even below apprentice level, as little more than a drudge, and risen all the way to become a store manager, a rare kind of person indeed.

In short, they were two women of outstanding commercial talent that the Mary Company could boast of.

I looked back at the two women, both knitting their brows in much the same way, though for clearly different reasons, and spoke.

“No, it’s only that being an inspector for the Commercial Guild forces one to think about all sorts of things one would rather not think about… my apologies.”

When I said that with a bitter smile, Rosalie nodded.

“That is the same for us as well.”

“Is that so? No, yes, I suppose it is. Indeed, your positions must involve troubles not so different from my own.”

At that answer, the two women smiled in a troubled way. On the surface it looked like harmless small talk, but I could tell that both of them were trying to probe what lay in my stomach.

That was only natural. Our destination was the Bell-Rango Company, newly established by former members of the Mary Company. Depending on what we found, the eye of scrutiny might turn toward the Mary Company as well.

Was the Bell-Rango Company, which was earning profits far beyond anything a newly established company should, working together with the Mary Company? Or with House Fertio?

In the worst case, I might even have to consider the possibility that the kingdom itself was involved.

“…Honestly, it’s nothing but things I’d rather not think about.”

With that mutter, I gave a dry laugh. If matters turned bad, I might end up surrounded by enemies on all sides. I needed to steel myself.