Chapter 593: The Rumor’s Purpose
Chapter 593: The Rumor's Purpose
Having unexpectedly learned some valuable information from Khanna, we returned to Sheftent and met up with Lovren.
There, we also gave him the information we had received from Khanna.
「The Merchant Association has ties to the Kingdom of Raidos? It’s kinda hard to believe…」
Lovren was also quite surprised. He said that the Mesther Merchant Association, which was selling the Scarlet Waterweed medicine, was a very old merchant association with a high reputation in this country.
「We’ll need to double-check that first」
「Nn. But, Lovren didn’t notice it? That the disease wasn’t really an epidemic」
Indeed. That was what we were most curious about. Anyone who did a little research would know that the epidemic was false information, but was anyone else in the country aware of it?
「Well, yeah. In the first place, we don’t have anyone who’d investigated such things」
「Why?」
「Because there’s no one in trouble」
Although it was said that there was a shortage of Scarlet Waterweed medicine, it didn’t mean that there was no distribution at all. There was always a certain amount of it available in the country. But still, it was thought that there was not enough for everyone…
「Actually, even if the disease was not endemic, I’m sure it would have been properly distributed to all patients. So, no one would be making a fuss about the shortage」
「Nn」
「And its price was still the same as in the previous years」
Furthermore, the distribution was being handled by the Mesther Merchant Association, a relatively big merchant association. If the source of the rumor was the Mesther Merchant Association, no one could point out anything strange about the distribution.
After all, although it was being said that there is a “shortage of scarlet water pills,” not many people had been affected by this. The only people who had suffered were the adventurers near the lake, who had to collect more Scarlet Waterweed than usual.
「But why would they spread such rumors?」
「Well. I could understand if they wanted to raise the price of Scarlet Waterweed medicine by spreading false rumors that the disease that was not actually an epidemic had become an epidemic… But if that was not their aim, maybe they were actually aiming at the Scarlet Waterweed medicine itself」
「What do you mean?」
「They could disguise it as a domestic sale and ship it elsewhere. Like the Kingdom of Raidos for example. But I don’t know what their purpose is though」
In other words, there was a high possibility that their objective was to obtain the medicine.
「How should we investigate it then?」
「Well, I guess our best bet would be to ask around to the people in the merchant association」
Well, he was right. I would also like to hear from their top brass if possible.
「Where is the merchant association?」
「Its headquarters is in the Commercial Fleet」
It seemed that both the atelier and the headquarters of the merchant association were located in the Commercial Fleet.
「The problem is that we can’t just barge in without an appointment and expect them to listen to us」
「Don’t worry」
「You got a secret plan?」
「Just give them Weena Rhyn’s name」
Both Fran and I already witnessed the tremendous influence Weena Rhyn had in this country.
I didn’t think there was anyone who would dare to defy us with Weena Rhyn’s name. We were already at Komon-sama level, weren’t we?
(Note Trivia (skip this if you’re not interested in these details as it is quite long XD): Mito Komon (Tokugawa Mitsukuni), was a Japanese Daimyo (feudal lord) that lived in the 17th century. During the latter half of the Edo period and the Meiji period, a kōdan (narrative tale) named “Mito Mitsukuni Man’yūki” fictionalized the travels of Tokugawa Mitsukuni. This tradition of dramatizing his life continued with a novel and, in 1951, the first television series to portray him as a wanderer, masquerading as a commoner, who castigated evil in every corner of the nation. The most memorable phrase of the series is 「この紋所が目に入らぬか!!」 (Kono mon dokoro ga me ni hairanuka!!) “Don’t you know whose family seal is this!?” while his escort shows up with the Tokugawa family’s emblem. Well, you should get the idea about the references already)
(Another Trivia: In the light novel Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku, the main protagonist quotes Mito Komon frequently)
Moreover, she gave us a valuable but frightening assurance that she would cover things up for us.
I have no intention of abusing it, but it was times like this that we needed to use that power.
「Hahaha. Now that you mentioned it, you’re on a mission for Weena Rhyn-sama, aren’t you? Let’s go with that strategy then」
「Nn」
We had planned to head to the Commercial Fleet by boat at first but decided to ride on Urushi instead. It was much faster that way.
If we didn’t get lost, that was.
This lake was the size of a small country. If we ever lost our direction, we could get lost. In fact, it was said that several ships a year fail to return because of it.
This time, however, the Commercial Fleet was relatively close to shore, and we had a guide to lead the way. Well, there was no need to worry about getting lost, since Lovren was familiar with the route.
「I see it」
「Haha! So fast! Amazing!」
「Woof woof!」
About three hours after we left Sheftent, we had managed to find the Commercial Fleet.
Lovren seemed to be in high spirits. He seemed to like the experience of riding the flying Urushi more than he thought he would.
His praises also put Urushi in a good mood.
「The ship is a little behind that one in the center. Can you go down there first?」
「Okay, Urushi」
「Woof!」
It was hard to tell from above, but it seems to be the ship of the Adventurer’s Guild. The Adventurers on deck were surprised to see Urushi descending from the sky.
Some of them even raised their weapons, but the commotion quickly died down when they saw Lovren on his back.
It was a good thing we had come down here. If it had been any other ship, we might have caused a commotion.
「Well, let’s head to the Mesther Merchant Association first」
From here, the Commercial Fleet was apparently much more organized than I had thought. The Commercial Fleet seemed to look like a mess of ships, but in fact, the specific placement of each ship was carefully regulated.
Therefore, it seemed that those who were familiar with it already knew where some things were.
「Which ship?」
「That one. The ship with the red flag」
It looked surprisingly close, but we had to take quite a detour to get there. Well, we had to move from ship to ship. Sometimes we crossed a simple suspension bridge that connected the ships and even had to move from ship to ship in a small boat.
「Can’t we just ride on Urushi?」
「We can’t. It would only cause a fuss here」
Well, it couldn’t be helped. The Commercial Fleet was just like a town after all. Flying over it on Urushi was just like running around the town on Urushi.