Chapter 36 - Money Pours In
The Chief Secretary of Councilor Hinek’s office.
My body, which had been startled time and again by the recent string of incidents, was starting to ache.
I always felt weak-willed and sickly, but I couldn't show it in front of my superior.
To do anything even slightly suspicious now that the ledger had been stolen.
That would be the most foolish act in the world, a suicide attempt.
When life gives you lemons, you're supposed to make lemonade.
But there was a limit to the amount of lemons one could handle.
“The Physicians' Council has reportedly fallen at the hands of an unknown party…!!”
“We dispatched employees to the headquarters mentioned by the remnants of the Physicians' Council, but the forest was devastated, and there were no survivors!”
“The Chairman of the Physicians’ Council’s body was not found, and we could not learn of his whereabouts from the remnants.”
The Physicians' Council had vanished as if it had soared into the sky.
Its key members, too. And the Chairman of the Physicians’ Council, who must have been the focal point.
Their whereabouts had become so obscure that not even a ghost could find them.
“Dammit…. Nothing is going right.”
As I was clutching my throbbing head.
“Ch-Chief Secretary.”
“…What is it now.”
The real bomb went off in an unexpected place.
“A message has arrived from the Jubel Maxman Merchant Troupe, re-regarding the flight ban order.”
The Chief Secretary shot his subordinate a glare.
“You’re stuttering over something like that? Just respond as usual. Tell them it’s not allowed unless they bring back a griffin carcass─”
“Th-they brought it.”
“…What did you just say?”
“An urgent report that the Ma-Maxman Merchant Troupe has brought the carcass of a griffin… j-just arrived from the Citadel.”
“……”
The Chief Secretary froze for a moment.
He didn't even blink, and not a single breath could be heard.
It was doubtful if his heart was even beating.
Only he knew what was going on inside that head of his.
‘The possibility that the carcass they brought is fake. Impossible. There are no monsters similar to a griffin. Then there's no way they mistook it for another monster.’
Then how on earth.
‘How did the Maxman Merchant Troupe, which was under a flight ban, hunt a griffin. Don't tell me they procured a griffin carcass from outside.’
Whatever the case, the Maxman Merchant Troupe had met the unreasonable condition of the order.
To think that the thick chains prepared to hold down the giant would be broken this quickly.
But that wasn't the problem.
The problem wasn't the broken chains, but the giant that had been set free.
Having been tied up for so long, it would have conserved its strength and finished planning how it would run rampant.
The real challenge was that it would be ready to become a nexus of problems.
The Chief Secretary sank into the back of his chair.
“The flight ban order. Lift it. It’s no longer in effect.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“And offer Jubel Maxman a heartfelt apology, and as a sign of our sincerity, a six-month tax exemption. And a 30% tax reduction for one year.”
“Ch-Chief Secretary. Isn't an exemption a bit difficult…?”
Click. Thwack.
The Secretary silently pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
Smoking was prohibited indoors, but no one stopped him.
Phew. Smoke spread throughout the room like a sigh.
“Like this smoke. Jubel Maxman will spread the wealth he earns now that the flight ban is lifted.”
It could be a disaster for some, and a windfall for others.
The outcome would be decided by the past and the present.
“You all see the Councilor every day and are revered elsewhere, so you must have forgotten.”
Flick, flick.
He flicked the cigarette ash on the head of the employee who had objected.
The sound of skin searing spread with the smoke, but the man kept his mouth shut and stood his ground.
His slightly bowed head acknowledged his place.
“The way to get stronger in the Citadel is to survive. To survive, you must always know where you are, where your opponent is, and where they are going.”
The cigarette butt, extinguished by pressing the lit end against his temple, was thrown into the employee's teacup.
“Don't you dare raise your head just because you've climbed up a little. It'll be cut off.”
“I-I will keep that in mind.”
“Work.”
The Chief Secretary put a new cigarette in his mouth and looked at the documents.
The employees focused on their work, if only to avoid becoming the next ashtray.
***
Mariella soared.
As it was the first time seeing the sky in a while, the weather felt all the more refreshing.
That wasn't to say there were no problems.
Jubel looked at the Youngest Son, who was the source of the rumors and had sent back the griffin that had pretended to be hunted.
“We are moving Mariella to distribute the piled-up stock, but the East is too vast, and the cities are far apart.”
“Right. There's a limit to our speed on our own.”
During the flight ban, the vaccines had piled up, and there were cries of shortages from all over.
What's more, while the merchant troupe was idle, rumors from distant provinces proved that they had legs of their own.
“Praise from people who have seen its effects in the provinces is reaching the big cities! Now is our chance, with the Physicians' Council gone!”
Vice-Captain Marvin was right.
Though he spoke with excitement, his eyes turned to the Youngest Son, who seemed lost in thought.
The Youngest Son, who had gone to the mansion, had declared the defeat of the Physicians' Council as soon as he returned.
He had solved the problem in the most perfect way.
Now that the malicious rumors about the vaccine had disappeared, the promotional effects were becoming more apparent, and even the rumors from the provinces were added on top.
“The market is as good as ours to monopolize!”
“That is, if we can supply the goods on time.”
The atmosphere, which had subsided slightly at Jubel's realistic words, was lifted for a moment.
The Youngest Son opened his mouth.
“I have hired workers.”
A short phrase.
But even the quick-witted merchants realized what these workers were for.
“Are you talking about workers to supply the vaccine? But there would be a limit with carriages…?”
Vice-Captain Marvin was right again.
That is, if those workers were ordinary workers.
“Recently, some laborers who wanted to change their profession have appeared nearby. I made them an offer before coming here.”
To supply the vaccine all over the East.
To deliver the vaccine, which was as vital as oxygen to the people of the East, with Mariella as the heart, like blood, without any gaps.
“They gladly accepted and agreed to deliver the vaccine much faster than carriages, reaching every nook and cranny that airships can't pay attention to.”
“Wh-who on earth are they?”
Jubel, who had been silent, answered instead.
“I have a feeling we already know them. But since they've changed their trade, we'll have to change the name we call them by.”
“We know them…? Us?”
“Isn't that right, Young Master?”
The Youngest Son smiled.
“We are scheduled to meet them in the Barony of Kabala, our first destination. It won't be too late to judge their contract or abilities then.”
“They were chosen with the Young Master’s eye, so they must all be quite capable.”
Hearing this, Vice-Captain Marvin was startled and trembled.
To think that money-grubber could say such a thing.
It looked like flattery, but to Marvin, who had been his long-time subordinate, those words felt like trust.
An immense trust, at that.
At least when it came to money, Jubel would never doubt the Youngest Son.
This was even more so since he had managed to get tax exemptions and reductions while being tied down for so long with the griffin issue.
“Did you purchase the land I told you to buy?”
“Of course. I will send you the purchase details and sales contract later.”
As they were talking.
The Barony of Kabala came into view below the clouds.
Jubel’s lips curled up into a grin that threatened to tear his face.
“I don't know if I should be saying this to you, Young Master. But you're filthy rich now.”
“I helped with the supply and transport. But from here on, it's your domain. Sell it fast, as much as we're delayed.”
“It's already sold.”
Mariella’s cargo hold opened.
The vaccines, piled high, felt the wind for the first time in a long while and descended in hot air balloons.
The East, where people were so afraid of opening their doors due to the suffering caused by the Plague Demons.
To them, those hot air balloons felt like salvation sent from the heavens.
***
After arranging the meeting between the (former) Black Wolf Brigade and the merchant troupe.
The Youngest Son left the scene on the griffin.
To the merchants of the troupe, Mariella was home, and to the wolves, every place with land and wind was home.
But the Youngest Son's home was fixed in one place.
The griffin landed in the backyard.
I glanced down and saw a fiery gaze waiting for me.
“Where in the world is there a Young Master who abandons his escort like that?”
“You made it back safely. By the time I remembered, I thought it was too late to go look for you, so I had half given up.”
“……”
“Welcome back. Gatekeeper.”
I patted his shoulder a couple of times as a sign of appreciation and entered the mansion.
The Head Maid, as always, stood in her place and greeted me politely.
“Congratulations on your safe return.”
Just as the gatekeeper had, the Youngest Son was congratulated on his safe return.
For a kinsman of another bloodline to enter the Fourth Son’s Black Citadel and return with all limbs intact.
The Head Maid's expression, which had been fraught with worry since his departure, finally relaxed.
Although it was only a change from a slightly stiff, expressionless face to a relaxed, expressionless face.
There was a difference.
Furthermore, the reason I came here wasn't just for rest.
“Prepare to move.”
“Y-yes…?!”
Someone came running down from the second floor with a clatter.
It was the multi-purpose porter, Lubosch, who had just finished cleaning the mansion a few seconds ago.
“If we're moving, tell me a little earlier! I just finished wiping everything down!”
“…We're not doing it right now. Your cleaning was not in vain.”
“Ah, is that so?”
I had been gone for a little while, and the kid’s state had gotten even stranger.
It was hard to believe he was a young talent from the Intelligence Department.
In any case.
“A huge amount of money will soon be coming into the mansion. I plan to move out with this first.”
“…Young Master. Does that mean…”
“Yes. We are also leaving Pandemonium Hall.”
The young bird known as the Youngest Son was fated to remain in the nest until the very end and die there.
But now, he had twisted that fate.
The Youngest Son had spread his wings towards the outside of the nest.
The Head Maid accepted his command.
“Where would you like the new residence to be located.”
The residences of the new generation of kinsmen were all different and were tailored to their specialized sorcery.
Because the demonic energy spread throughout the East was not all the same.
Heavy, faint, vast, hazy—each had different properties.
There was a type of demonic energy that suited each school of sorcery, and one had to find land where such energy was rooted.
Just finding the right land could double the effectiveness of training.
Thus, there was even a family institution dedicated to finding such land.
“If you don't have a place chosen, shall I make a request to the Millesdusk Land Development Department and the General Construction Department.”
“Just make a reservation with the Construction Department. We don't need the Development Department.”
The Development Department finds the land, and the Construction Department erects buildings on the land they find.
Thus, the two departments usually worked as a team, but the Youngest Son said he would only use the Construction Department.
It seemed likely that the other department, not being named, would feel offended, but….
The Head Maid, knowing full well a fact the Youngest Son was also aware of, did not bother to say it and followed the order.
“As you wish, Young Master.”
Having finished giving his orders, he didn't lie down or sit anywhere, but simply changed his clothes and prepared to leave.
Instead of asking if he was leaving again, the Head Maid prepared Lubosch.
“W-wha? What is this? W-what about my break time…?”
The porter, who had been about to take a nap in the sunlight, was dragged out just like that.
“You can sleep on the griffin.”
“A-am I going too?”
“It's an important mission. An important mission.”
The porter was treated like a piece of luggage and placed on the griffin's back.
With its master on top, the prince of the sky soared as if to pierce the clouds.
Kyaaaaaaaaa!
A girl's scream echoed through Pandemonium Hall for the first time in a while.
She, no. Lubosch, tightly clutching the waist of the Youngest Son, who hadn't even lived half as long as he had, asked.
“I know we're going to the Dusk Citadel, but! Why are we going again!”
“The reason is a little different this time.”
There was a weapon lying still as a mouse in the subspace over there.
It was an item passed down through the generations by the founder of a family, but it was a poor fit for its new owner.
This was even more so since the Demonization skill had changed to Blood Demonization.
If you don't like your weapon?
“You have to go to a technician.”
The griffin quickly picked up speed, heading towards the girl of Wisdom.