A few days have passed since Rikuya and the others disappeared.
In the end, they were never found, so the search was terminated.
We still have a lot of work to do, such as dealing with the bandit gang, so we can’t keep devoting personnel to the search for the three people who are most likely not in this town.
We may never see each other again.
Just when I was thinking that.
“Lord Ars, a merchant wants to see you, but what will you do?” (Ritsu)
A merchant…
Sometimes merchants come to me wanting to sell me things.
I can leave the decision to Ritsu, but when he wants to buy something expensive, he says he can’t make the decision on his own, so I often interview him together with him.
The merchant mainly introduces me to rare magical tools and works of art.
I sometimes buy magic tools if I think they look good, because some of them make my daily life more convenient.
I am not interested in artwork, so I don’t buy much of it.
Since they are expensive, I have not been able to afford to buy them.
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However, I think that diplomacy with other nobles is important these days, and it would be better to present art works as a sign of friendship, so I may be time to start buying. And now I can afford to buy a little.
I decided to talk to a merchant in the reception room of Canale Castle.
The merchant who came this time was a mild-looking man in his thirties.
“I am most humbled by your acceptance; my name is Tenes Kamcher. I am a merchant based in Canale, and I have recently come across a rare item that I would like to share with you immediately, Lord Ars.” (Tenes)
The man introduced himself.
I had heard of him before, but I had never met him. There are many merchants in Canale, so I don’t remember all of their faces and names.
Tenes was carrying a long, narrow box, which he placed on the table in front of me.
He then opened the box.
I was surprised to see the contents of the box.
Ritsu, who was watching beside me, was also surprised. The reason is probably the same.
“The sword was probably made by a craftsman from another country and look at the design of the scabbard it is made of real gold. …You seemed to be very interested in the thing. Do you like it, milord?” (Tenes)
Inside was a sword.
Ritsu and I looked at the sword with our eyes glued to it.
We were not looking at the sword because it looked nice or for any other reason.
The sword was clearly Rikuya’s Dragon’s End sword.
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It had such a distinctive appearance.
It could not be a mistake.
It would be unthinkable that there were two swords that were identical.
The fact that the merchant had it in his possession made me wonder if Rikuya and his siblings had sold it.
I said to Maika that I would look for a place to sell them, and that Maika also wanted me to find someone who thy could sell it to at a high price through the Louvent family.
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However, there is nothing wrong with selling directly to the merchants in town. However, it would be a waste to sell the sword to a nearby merchant, but if they want to get money immediately, it would not be a bad choice.
However, Maika wanted to start some kind of business, so she would have wanted to sell it at the highest possible price.
In that light, it is unnatural for her to sell the sword so quickly, regardless of whether or not he borrowed the help of the Louvent family.
There is a possibility that it might be stolen.
Thinking so,
“Who did you purchase this sword from?” (Ritsu)
Ritsu asked the question I wanted to ask.
His eyes and tone of voice were quite stern. It was like an interrogation.
The merchant, perhaps sensing that this was something out of the ordinary, became impatient.
“I bought it from Mr. Robke, a merchant who is also in Canale. He seemed to be having a hard time making ends meet these days, and since the price was low, I bought it from him with a low price.” (Tenes)
“Robke…… is the fat man who has a store in the south district of the town of Canale?” (Ritsu)
“Yes… that’s right… Um, what is this sword?” (Tenes)
“This sword may be stolen, so I will investigate just in case.” (Ritsu)
“Stolen goods!?” (Tenes)
The merchant was surprised and raised his voice.
The sale of stolen goods is, of course, forbidden by Canale law.
If you sell or buy something without knowing it, you will not be punished, but if you refuse to investigate a potentially stolen item, you will be convicted.
From the point of view of a merchant who bought without knowing it, it seems unreasonable to be forced to investigate, but since bandits are a nuisance to honest merchants who might be stealing their own inventory, very few merchants were opposed to the current rules.
“Whoa, I understand. I will tell you what I know about this sword. However, I did not buy it knowing it was stolen. I swear this much is true.” (Tenes)
With a pale face, Tenes insisted.
“I know that. We have not confirmed that the sword was stolen in the first place. We have our suspicions, so we are just going to investigate for now.” (Ritsu)
Ritsu said, reassuring him.
Then we got some information from Tenes.
It seems that the price he bought from Lobke was 80 gold coins. It seems that Robke bought it at an even lower price.
This made me even more suspicious.
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Ritsu said the price was at least 100 gold coins, so it seems unlikely that he would sell it for less than that.
In the case of stolen goods, they are sold quickly, so they are often sold at low prices for items for which the market price is not clear.
“What do you think, Ritsu? Is it really stolen? Or did Rikuya just sell it himself?” (Ars)
“Well… I think there is a possibility that the items are stolen under the current circumstances… When I heard that Rikuya and his siblings had run away in the night in the first place, I felt a little uncomfortable, wondering if they would be the people to do such a thing…” (Ritsu)
I felt uncomfortable too, so we agreed there.
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“If it was stolen this time, it was probably stolen by those sneaky bandits we’re chasing. Even without Rikuya and his siblings, this is our chance to catch the bandits.” (Ritsu)
“Well… what could have happened to Rikuya and his siblings?” (Ars)
“I didn’t want to think that they were kidnapped… or killed… I don’t want to think about it. It’s a group of bandits who don’t usually kidnap or kill people, so it feels strange. Well, maybe something unforeseen happened.” (Ritsu)
“Could it be that Rikuya and his siblings, having had their sword taken, are trying to get it back?” (Ars)
“We searched for Rikuya and his siblings in Canale and got no sightings of them, so I don’t think so. They look conspicuous, so if they were investigating bandits, someone would surely have seen them.” (Ritsu)
That’s also true… Which means they were either kidnapped or killed.
“The fact that there were no signs of a struggle at the inn makes it hard to believe that they were killed there. If that is the case, they were probably kidnapped, but in that case, it would be more profitable to sell them as slaves than to kill them, so I don’t think they were killed.” (Ritsu)
Ritsu analyzed the situation.
I thought so too, or rather, I hoped.
“Anyway, find the bandits as soon as possible. Please.” (Ars)
“Yes, I will call Famme and the others to investigate.” (Ritsu)
Ritsu said so and immediately began investigating.
A few days have passed since Rikuya and the others disappeared.
In the end, they were never found, so the search was terminated.
We still have a lot of work to do, such as dealing with the bandit gang, so we can’t keep devoting personnel to the search for the three people who are most likely not in this town.
We may never see each other again.
Just when I was thinking that.
“Lord Ars, a merchant wants to see you, but what will you do?” (Ritsu)
A merchant…
Sometimes merchants come to me wanting to sell me things.
I can leave the decision to Ritsu, but when he wants to buy something expensive, he says he can’t make the decision on his own, so I often interview him together with him.
The merchant mainly introduces me to rare magical tools and works of art.
I sometimes buy magic tools if I think they look good, because some of them make my daily life more convenient.
I am not interested in artwork, so I don’t buy much of it.
Since they are expensive, I have not been able to afford to buy them.
Advertisements
However, I think that diplomacy with other nobles is important these days, and it would be better to present art works as a sign of friendship, so I may be time to start buying. And now I can afford to buy a little.
I decided to talk to a merchant in the reception room of Canale Castle.
The merchant who came this time was a mild-looking man in his thirties.
“I am most humbled by your acceptance; my name is Tenes Kamcher. I am a merchant based in Canale, and I have recently come across a rare item that I would like to share with you immediately, Lord Ars.” (Tenes)
The man introduced himself.
I had heard of him before, but I had never met him. There are many merchants in Canale, so I don’t remember all of their faces and names.
Tenes was carrying a long, narrow box, which he placed on the table in front of me.
He then opened the box.
I was surprised to see the contents of the box.
Ritsu, who was watching beside me, was also surprised. The reason is probably the same.
“The sword was probably made by a craftsman from another country and look at the design of the scabbard it is made of real gold. …You seemed to be very interested in the thing. Do you like it, milord?” (Tenes)
Inside was a sword.
Ritsu and I looked at the sword with our eyes glued to it.
We were not looking at the sword because it looked nice or for any other reason.
The sword was clearly Rikuya’s Dragon’s End sword.
Advertisements
It had such a distinctive appearance.
It could not be a mistake.
It would be unthinkable that there were two swords that were identical.
The fact that the merchant had it in his possession made me wonder if Rikuya and his siblings had sold it.
I said to Maika that I would look for a place to sell them, and that Maika also wanted me to find someone who thy could sell it to at a high price through the Louvent family.
Advertisements
However, there is nothing wrong with selling directly to the merchants in town. However, it would be a waste to sell the sword to a nearby merchant, but if they want to get money immediately, it would not be a bad choice.
However, Maika wanted to start some kind of business, so she would have wanted to sell it at the highest possible price.
In that light, it is unnatural for her to sell the sword so quickly, regardless of whether or not he borrowed the help of the Louvent family.
There is a possibility that it might be stolen.
Thinking so,
“Who did you purchase this sword from?” (Ritsu)
Ritsu asked the question I wanted to ask.
His eyes and tone of voice were quite stern. It was like an interrogation.
The merchant, perhaps sensing that this was something out of the ordinary, became impatient.
“I bought it from Mr. Robke, a merchant who is also in Canale. He seemed to be having a hard time making ends meet these days, and since the price was low, I bought it from him with a low price.” (Tenes)
“Robke…… is the fat man who has a store in the south district of the town of Canale?” (Ritsu)
“Yes… that’s right… Um, what is this sword?” (Tenes)
“This sword may be stolen, so I will investigate just in case.” (Ritsu)
“Stolen goods!?” (Tenes)
The merchant was surprised and raised his voice.
The sale of stolen goods is, of course, forbidden by Canale law.
If you sell or buy something without knowing it, you will not be punished, but if you refuse to investigate a potentially stolen item, you will be convicted.
From the point of view of a merchant who bought without knowing it, it seems unreasonable to be forced to investigate, but since bandits are a nuisance to honest merchants who might be stealing their own inventory, very few merchants were opposed to the current rules.
“Whoa, I understand. I will tell you what I know about this sword. However, I did not buy it knowing it was stolen. I swear this much is true.” (Tenes)
With a pale face, Tenes insisted.
“I know that. We have not confirmed that the sword was stolen in the first place. We have our suspicions, so we are just going to investigate for now.” (Ritsu)
Ritsu said, reassuring him.
Then we got some information from Tenes.
It seems that the price he bought from Lobke was 80 gold coins. It seems that Robke bought it at an even lower price.
This made me even more suspicious.
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Ritsu said the price was at least 100 gold coins, so it seems unlikely that he would sell it for less than that.
In the case of stolen goods, they are sold quickly, so they are often sold at low prices for items for which the market price is not clear.
“What do you think, Ritsu? Is it really stolen? Or did Rikuya just sell it himself?” (Ars)
“Well… I think there is a possibility that the items are stolen under the current circumstances… When I heard that Rikuya and his siblings had run away in the night in the first place, I felt a little uncomfortable, wondering if they would be the people to do such a thing…” (Ritsu)
I felt uncomfortable too, so we agreed there.
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“If it was stolen this time, it was probably stolen by those sneaky bandits we’re chasing. Even without Rikuya and his siblings, this is our chance to catch the bandits.” (Ritsu)
“Well… what could have happened to Rikuya and his siblings?” (Ars)
“I didn’t want to think that they were kidnapped… or killed… I don’t want to think about it. It’s a group of bandits who don’t usually kidnap or kill people, so it feels strange. Well, maybe something unforeseen happened.” (Ritsu)
“Could it be that Rikuya and his siblings, having had their sword taken, are trying to get it back?” (Ars)
“We searched for Rikuya and his siblings in Canale and got no sightings of them, so I don’t think so. They look conspicuous, so if they were investigating bandits, someone would surely have seen them.” (Ritsu)
That’s also true… Which means they were either kidnapped or killed.
“The fact that there were no signs of a struggle at the inn makes it hard to believe that they were killed there. If that is the case, they were probably kidnapped, but in that case, it would be more profitable to sell them as slaves than to kill them, so I don’t think they were killed.” (Ritsu)
Ritsu analyzed the situation.
I thought so too, or rather, I hoped.
“Anyway, find the bandits as soon as possible. Please.” (Ars)
“Yes, I will call Famme and the others to investigate.” (Ritsu)
Ritsu said so and immediately began investigating.
