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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 96

CHAPTER 96: THE DARK MERCHANT

Tran Zipek.

He is a merchant currently based in the city of Horizon.

He deals in a wide range of products from household goods to groceries, and his business is said to be spread out all over the place.

He has a sensible business acumen and a lot of luck behind his belt.

It is said that he is famous among merchants as a man who built up a fortune in a single generation and developed his very own trade association.

「…… This is all the information that we were able to acquire on the man with whom the poachers are said to be doing their business.」

Back in the city, we handed Ogg, Kreuz, and the poachers over to the Guild and……

Then, as we ate our meal at the local inn, we sorted out the information that we managed to obtain.

「So, this Tran guy, *amuh*, *amuh*, is he the mastermind behind the poachers? The one that we are supposed to bring in as well?」

「Do you really need to keep on stuffing your face with food while you talk to someone?」

「*Paku*, *paku*, *paku*!」

So, now the food actually prevails over conversation, huh……?

Oh well, you could say that this kind of behavior is something we would call a very Kanade-like thing to do.

「If we know who the poachers are doing business with, does’ that mean that we have all the evidence that we could possibly hope to gather? Doesn’t that mean that we could technically leave the rest to the Knights Order and be done with it?」

「That would have been the ideal thing to do, but unfortunately, things do not work in such a convenient way.」

「Why not? ……!? Don’t tell me…… Is this guy also handling bribes left and right like the Lord did? All so that he can keep his dirty business swept under the rug?」

「No, fortunately, that is not the case here..」

After all, the one serving as the commander of the Knights Order for this town is none other than Stella.

It is very unlikely that Stella would be involved in any kind of criminal activities or taking bribes.

「Normally, an audit of the Knights Order would be conducted based on the testimonies of the poachers themselves, but……」

「…… Oh, I see.」

Realizing what this was all about, Sora’s eyes flashed brightly for a moment.

「That’s because they do not have nearly enough people to do something about it, right?」

「Yes, Sora. That’s exactly right.」

「Umu. So…… What does that mean, exactly?」

「Due to the recent events, the Knights Order has been greatly depleted when it comes to manpower. And they haven’t been able to replenish their lost personnel quite yet.」

「Oh, now I see. So, this means while they have their hands full with their own internal affairs, there is nothing that they can do about that merchant? And the proper investigation cannot be launched until they get more personnel that would be able to handle it?

「Yes, Luna. That’s right.」

Most of the knights of the Horizon’s Branch of the Knights Order were dismissed and imprisoned due to the recent Lord incident.

I heard that the Knights Order requested for more people to be sent here from the royal capital to replenish their ranks, but still……

The hole that’s been left out by the corruption incident was so big that it was not that easy to fill it up, apparently.

And at the very least, it would take them more than a month to replenish their lost ranks.

Because of that, the Knights Order is apparently not functioning properly due to a shortage of hands needed for all sorts of work.

The cases handed to them had to be prioritized as per matter of urgency and……

The investigation into the alleged poaching allegations regarding Tran was deemed to be of low priority at the current moment. The reason here being that his actions were not harming the people of the city in real time.

That was the official statement that I heard from Stella earlier.

「Not to mention that Stella had a truly apologetic look on her face when she was telling me that. She wants to help us, but her hands are tied.」

「Yeah, I understand the situation the Knights Order is in, so I don’t blame them for it……」

Still, once again she must have felt as though this whole situation was entirely her responsibility.

That’s the kind of knight that Stella Emplace was.

「So…… Does that mean it’s our turn to be in charge of the investigation once more?」

「Yes, that’s what we will have to do.」

At the current moment, the Adventurers’ Guild is taking on half of the workload that would normally be handled by the Knights Order.

Otherwise, if they did not do that, the city would cease to function in a matter of days.

「The request that we have picked up earlier could be officially marked as done, since we managed to catch the poachers responsible for illegal hunting and we managed to obtain the information about their employer. So if we wanted to, we could very well call it a day and turn it in. No one would blame us for doing that. But as far as I’m concerned, I want to get that Tran guy thrown behind bars.」

「Not to mention that it would also increase our commission reward♪.」

「Nyah…… You are such a materialist, Tanya.」

「What? If it is something that lies well within the limits of our abilities, we should go ahead and do it, don’t you think? And the more money we get, the better our meals will be.」

「Better meals!? Y-Yeah, in that case, I totally agree with you!」

Seriously…… Kanade is so easy to understand that it’s frightening sometimes.

I chuckled alongside Tanya.

「This investigation might be little bit dangerous, but…… What do you guys think? Do we want to take that risk?」

「Sora agrees. Let’s give this rogue merchant the justice he deserves.」

「Fufun! If my Sister Dearest says that she wants to do it, then I have no real reason to object to it. Same goes for my Master. So…… Leave it all to us!」

「I agree…… as well. The evil…… needs to be rooted out. Otherwise, the problems…… are never going to cease.」

「Alright, let’s do this!」

Thus, we decided to carry out our request through to the end, including the capture of the merchant Tran.

***

As the night fell, the city was enveloped in the shroud of darkness.

Blending in with the darkness of the night, we moved near Tran’s house.

It was a large two-story mansion.

The yard was large and the house was surrounded by high walls from all directions.

I wouldn’t say it was as big as the Lord’s mansion, but it was a pretty luxurious house for sure.

「That’s where the bad merchant’s lives, right?」

「So, what do we want to do? Want me to just level it to the ground with my Dragon Breath?」

「No. No blowing up and no leveling to the ground.」

Why is it that Tanya’s only solution to problems is to blow them all up? Every single time.

Isn’t she being way too reckless with that line of thinking?

「We are here to get Tran into custody. We don’t want to actually kill him now, do we?」

「Yeah, yeah, I know. I was just kidding.」

「Really……? I thought that…… you were really serious…… just now……」

「Muguh.」

Tania made a bitter face as Nina said those words.

「What are we going to do, Rein?」

「Well……」

According to the information we gathered beforehand, Tran has been busy going around from one place to another recently.

However, tonight, he was staying at his house here in Horizon.

Tomorrow, he would be leaving the city again, so tonight was the only real opportunity that we would ever have at catching him.

We have already obtained the incriminating testimonies from the poachers.

We have also been given the authority to audit the merchant on behalf of the Knights Order, so there would be no problem if we really just wanted to charge right in and get this over with.

However, it seems that there are also guards, so we shouldn’t let our guard down.

Maybe they might have hired mercenaries like they did at the lord’s mansion.

But I would like to avoid a confrontation like that, since that could potentially lead everyone to be in danger.

「First of all, I want to know what’s going on inside. Sora, Luna. Can you just check it out for me real quick?」

「Mmh.」

I was going to have to rely on Sora and Luna once again for recon, but they gave me a difficult and troubled look in return.

「Hm? What’s wrong?」

「We can most certainly use our magic and check out what’s going on inside of the house, but……」

「It would be hard to do that without being noticed almost right away.」

「Hm? What’s the meaning of this?」

「We can feel a disturbance in the flow of magic around this place. Perhaps there are magical tools in place that serve to block the flow of magic.」

「Of course, with our magical powers, we can use our spells without the use of cheap magic tools to assist us. But since we would have to force our way into the potentially magically isolated space, there is a chance that they are going to sense it and know that we are here.」

「…… Hmm, I see.」

So this means that this place might look unguarded, but there is a fair amount of security in place.

Now then, what are we supposed to do?

I want to check out what’s going on inside of the mansion, but if we use magic, they might be able to detect our presence.

Should I ask Sora and Luna to use their magic, but to also take some necessary precautions against being detected?

It would probably be better than charging straight in with no information at all and……

It still worries me.

「…… Say, say.」

Nina tugged at my clothes a little bit.

「Yes? What is it, Nina?」

「I was just wondering, but…… You know, do you perhaps think that we could…… Umm…… maybe get Tina to help us out? What do you think?」

「Help from Tina?」

「She’s a, ghost, so…… She should be the…… ideal pick to…… investigate the house…… without being found out.」

「…… Oh. Yeah, you’re right, nya.」

「Yes, that’s actually a very sound idea. Don’t you think so, Rein?

「Yeah. Thank you for your help, Nina. You really saved us here.」

「Ehe……」

Nina smiled happily as everyone praised her.

Her three tails were twitching and wagging happily as well.

「Kanade? Could you go and grab Tina for us really quick?」

「U-Unyah? M-Me……?」

「Umm, yeah? Is there a problem with that?」

「N-No! It’s all good, but……」
「…… Could it be that…… You are still scared of Tina, Kanade?」

「Well, actually…… Yeah. A little bit.」

Now that they have been living together under the same roof, I was honestly hoping that Kanade’s fear of ghosts would dissipate, but I see that it was still something that was not going to happen anytime soon.

It’s actually understandable. Deep rooted fears like that are actually hard to get rid of in a day or two.

So I guess that it’s still something that cannot be helped, that Kanade is afraid of ghosts.

「Alright then, I guess I’ll just ask Tanya to go get Tina instead and……」

「…… No, no, no! I’ll go! I’ll go!」

「Are you sure, Kanade? You don’t have to force yourself if you really don’t want to……」

「I know, but…… I can’t just stay afraid of Tina forever. I need to learn how to get along with her from now on……」

「Yes, that’s the spirit.」

I’m glad that Kanade was willing to accept Tina for who she really was.

After all, I want all my friends to get along with each other. That would be the best thing for everyone.

「Alright, then! I’m heading out!」

Kanade said while jumping on the spot, as if to psyche herself up.

She then took off, running straight towards our house at full speed.