Chapter 244: So Idle Chatter on the Way Back and the Present Situation of the Town
“Sorry for making you wait.” [Ryouma]
“Ah, is the eting is over?” [Yurdum]
“Yes, it ended well.” [Ryouma]
I t up with my guard, Yurdum-san, at the receptionist desk.
Only the representatives were allowed into the eting room, so he had to wait here.
“I-In that case, I’ll be excusing myself.” [Female Receptionist]
The female receptionist said before leaving. Apparently, Yurdum was talking to her about sothing.
“Sorry, did I intrude?” [Ryouma]
“Nah, it was just so idle chatter. And so information gathering. But enough of that, what’s next on our schedule?” [Yurdum]
“In the afternoon, I’m going to be helping sweep the town, but there’s still ti until then, so I’m thinking of going back to the security company first. I’ve already left everything to the respective departnt heads, but I need to check their reports and sign so stuff.” [Ryouma]
“Okay.” [Yurdum]
And so, we headed to the exit of the rchant guild.
“!” [Ryouma]
Yurdum-san reached out for the door, but before he could, a man entered the guild, whose gaze t with mine.
For a mont, the man made an unpleasant face, but it quickly transford into a smile as he called out to .
“Well, well, it’s a small world indeed. It’s been a while.” [Wanz]
“Yes, long ti no see, Wanz-san?????.”
“The last eting didn’t turn out so well, but you seem to be doing fine.” [Wanz]
“Yes, fortunately. Have you gotten thinner?” [Ryouma]
“It’s because of the weather. It got so cold so quickly… What brings you here, by the way?” [Wanz]
“I just t up with so acquaintances.” [Ryouma]
“I see. I also have an appointnt with so acquaintances, so you’ll have to excuse .” [Wanz]
“Goodbye then.” [Ryouma]
Wanz headed for the reception desk, while we headed outside.
Apparently, he didn’t want a long conversation with either.
But our eyes t, so we had to keep up appearances and talk.
Still…
“Boss, that Wanz… Could he be?” [Yurdum]
“Yes. He’s likely the person you’re thinking about.” [Ryouma]
“I knew it. So that’s the guy you were so tense with huh. It’s good that everything ended on a peaceful note.” [Yurdum]
“There’s no way I would’ve started arguing with him there. He’s also keeping up appearances, so he probably wants to avoid causing a commotion too.” [Ryouma]
“Hmm.” [Yurdum]
Yurdum said as he looked at .
“So how co you don’t look so good? Is eting him that depressing?” [Yurdum]
“…Do I look depressed to you?” [Ryouma]
“You do.” [Yurdum]
Is it really showing that much on my face?
“I haven’t talked to him since we argued, but when I t him again after so long, I can’t help but wonder why I even argued with him. I can’t put it into words well, but… In the past, I feel like there was a much stronger ‘aura’ around him. The kind of aura that makes you think that the situation is dangerous and that things can’t keep going the way they were.” [Ryouma]
“You an there was an intimidating air about him?” [Yurdum]
“I don’t know. I just thought that if things went as he said, the result would be tragic.” [Ryouma]
But when I t him earlier, there was none of that aura left.
That’s why I can’t understand why I was so tense that ti.
It’s enough to make consider my action back then an overreaction.
No, in fact, I really did overreact.
“It’s like when you have a lot of friends, and you’re facing a single goblin, so at most, your concern should be to end the battle without getting hurt, but instead you resolve yourself for death and act like your entire country’s fate is resting on your shoulders.
From another person’s perspective, it doesn’t make sense why you’re reacting so seriously against so small fry. And now that I’m looking back at it, it’s just so embarrassing I want to crawl into so hole, and my face is burning up in sha… The more I think about it, the more embarrassing it becos, and I an, yeah, if you want to say that I lost my cool back then, then I guess――”
“Okay, I got it. In other words, you’re really embarrassed.” [Yurdum]
That incident is seriously going to beco a part of my dark history in this life.
“By the way, and I’m asking this out of personal interest and because of my other job, but… Shouldn’t you be doing sothing about that guy?” [Yurdum]
“Unfortunately, he’s wary of , and he’s not one to expose himself so easily, and besides, there’s an ‘order’ to this kind of stuff, as well as a little sothing known as the ‘winning conditions.” [Ryouma]
“Can you explain that in detail?” [Yurdum]
Yurdum-san asked quietly after checking the surroundings.
“Our enemies’ goal is to worsen the public order, so they’ve been trying to sabotage the town. But getting rid of their agents like Wanz is not among??????? our winning conditions.”
It doesn’t matter if it’s legally, if it’s done in the shadows, or if they’re done away with physically. No matter the thod, even if Wanz and all his cronies were to be rid of, this situation won’t end.
So long as the nobles manipulating the strings of the agents aren’t dealt with, or if the ringleaders don’t give up, more agents will just be sent. And if we act poorly against the likes of nobles, they might just turn the tables on us and make us out to be the criminals.
Still…
“The duke and his wife are already moving in the capital to deal with the nobles. So there’s no need for us to put ourselves at risk to do sothing. We should just leave the nobles to them.” [Ryouma]
Just leave it to the specialists.
“As for what we can do right now, that would be to ‘suppress the worsening of the public order until the duke and his wife are able to deal with this problem by the roots’ and ‘improve the public order to at least the sa level before the laborers started pouring in’ …In other words, we don’t need to force a solution, but rather maintain the situation.” [Ryouma]
According to the guard commander, Damier, the cri rate has already been brought back down to similar levels before the laborers ca.
“Of course, since the population has increased, there are still a lot of petty argunts, but thanks to the regular patrols of the security company – made possible by the huge workforce of the security company – the small quarrels can be diated and prevented from escalating.” [Ryouma]
“Your security company is making use of the laborer influx, so it definitely has a sizable workforce.” [Yurdum]
“We’re regularly hiring, after all.” [Ryouma]
Speak of the devil, we passed by one of those patrols.
A few steps later, I heard so people thanking them.
Not long ago, they were holess people themselves, but after working an honest job and producing results, the townspeople have started to accept them to so extent.
“The air in the town is also starting to calm down. We can’t let our guard down just with this, but it’s apparent that we’ve avoided the worst case situation. We just have to keep this up, and wait for the duke’s family to solve the problem. That’s much more important than bothering with so small fries.” [Ryouma]
I myself was only able to arrive to this opinion after Hyuzu-san’s group ca and I was able to talk to them.
“The battle will be decided by the end of year in the social circles. If we can persevere until then, the victory will be ours, so I personally see this as a declaration of our intent to end everything within the year.” [Ryouma]
“I see, so you’ve already made that much progress.” [Yurdum]
“? What do you an?”
“The way you dealt with your previous tension, and how calm you are right now. This might co off as rude, but you didn’t appear that busy. I know it’s just my first day, but that’s how I see it after accompanying you as your guard so far.” [Yurdum]
“So I’m not as busy as you thought?” [Ryouma]
Yurdum-san nodded with embarrassnt, but I don’t really mind.
“I’m calm because the duke sent Hyuzu-san’s group, and I really am not that busy. But I don’t think that has much connection with how much progress we’ve made.” [Ryouma]
“But you’re the leading person of this town right now, no?” [Yurdum]
“Umm… It’s true I’ve been ddling quite a bit, but that’s all???? I’ve really done. I’ve established the security company, the garbage processing plant, and the sli goods factory with the help of the Morgan Company, but at most, I just provided the money and wrote so needed docunts. The actual work and managent are being handled by the people in charge.” [Ryouma]
Presently, all of the managent has been delegated to the skilled managers. As the owner, my only job is to read the reports they send and sign what needs signing. That doesn’t take much effort at all.
“To ensure that there are no discrepancies between the report I’m receiving and the actual situation, walking around like I did earlier can also be considered as part of my work, but… There’s no denying that I’m free enough to not seem busy.
In fact, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been working at all recently. Most of the ti I’m just researching my slis, studying farm work, and studying for my tar guild qualification exam.” [Ryouma]
“But you did participate in the eting earlier.” [Yurdum]
That’s just a little discourse. I listen to others’ opinions and give my own. The people that are actually working are the guild masters and the subordinates under them.
In the first place, the guards have been protecting this town even before I created my security company. The governnt office and the guilds have also been working for the sake of this town.
Although the public order has worsened, there are establishnts already set in place to deal with that.
It just so happens that the sudden influx of laborers was too much for them to deal with.
It’s akin to a server getting DDoSed, so the server is unable to respond due to the spike in load.
Hence, a simple solution would be to reduce the load. If the influx of laborers is too much for the existing jobs and lodging to accomodate, then I just need to provide new ones. And once everything is in working order again, the situation will naturally resolve itself and the public order will improve.
“That’s the kind of plan I proposed, and then I executed it through a combination of wealth, authority, and connection, before finally delegating everything to others. So I’m not as busy as one might think.” [Ryouma]
Incidentally, there was a ti when I was too eye-catching, so to people like Yurdum-san, who are searching for information, it must’ve looked like I was the ‘leading person’ of this whole plan.
But nowadays, there’s probably not much aning in snooping around anymore since everyone else is working much harder than to maintain the public order.
If anything, focusing on would just make the people snooping around expend more effort and ti needlessly.
When I said that, Yurdum-san seed to have an inkling of what I was talking about, and let out a deep sigh.
“Boss, has anyone ever told you that you’re unexpectedly black-hearted?” [Yurdum]
“That’s new. Not to brag or anything, but people usually see as the gullible type, soone easy to use.” [Ryouma]
But of course, that’s a story from 39 years ago when there were a lot of swindlers and users around . After so many years of being swindled and used, the techniques of those pros have even rubbed off on … Not. I’m sure that has nothing to do with it, yeah.
“I haven’t done anything bad?????!. But enough of that, let’s continue with our conversation before going to the eting.” [Ryouma]
“What a blunt way of changing the topic. Are you talking about that technique I used in our last bout?” [Yurdum]
“Yes, if you don’t mind my asking.” [Ryouma]
“It’s not a secret technique or anything, and I also just learned it from an instructor during my school days, so sure.” [Yurdum]
“Thank you very much. If you’re going to be teaching , then I’ll prepare a ti and place. I have a lot of questions, but what I’m really curious about is that technique that shoots ki.” [Ryouma]
“But if you know enough to realize that it was ki I was shooting, then I don’t think there’s much I can teach you with words… First of all, you strengthen your body by covering your whole body with ki. This one you’ve used already.” [Yurdum]
“Yes. I’d heard that that’s how you’re supposed to use ki.” [Ryouma]
“Covering your whole body with ki to fight is the first step. It’s the basics, and you can already do it, so that’s good.
But while it’s good and all if you can win with just that, there’s no telling what will happen in an actual battle. Depending on the situation, you might have to face an opponent stronger than yourself or face an opponent your ill-matched with.
For situations like that, the ‘practical technique’ that I used yesterday was developed. To give an example, the technique that shoots out ki was developed to enable a practitioner to attack an opponent that’s outside one’s range. With this skill, depending on your mastery, you could attack flying monsters or even archers from a distance with nothing but your fists. But of course, if you actually prepare properly beforehand, that won’t be necessary.” [Yurdum]
Yurdum chuckled, then continued.
“In a similar vein, there are also techniques that were developed to defeat monsters with a hard shell, techniques that increase one’s attack strength, or those that strengthen one’s weapon… There are various techniques that were developed for a myriad of reasons.
But no matter the expert, one can only fully exhibit his abilities when in a situation that enables him to use his weapon to the fullest.
Also, no matter how many ki techniques one has learned, all experts begin with a ki armor, and end with a ki armor. That’s why strengthening the whole body with ki is the quintessence of ki techniques.” [Yurdum]
Interesting.
“…Well, sothing like that. I made it sound so grand, but really, I’m a long way away from that realm… But that’s what I’ve been taught.
It is said that the fad Martial God, Teagle, is impervious to all blades when using ki and that his fist could crush dragons through their scales. There are plenty of proofs to these rumors, so they’re likely true.” [Yurdum]
“Ohh…” [Ryouma]
For a mont, I was shocked when the grandpa from my background story was ntioned, but after that, Yurdum-san told so interesting stories about historical soldiers and famous adventurers.
He was so good at telling stories that the ti we spent walking actually turned out to be quite aningful. I didn’t even feel the ti until we reached the security company.
It was a bit regretful that we had to cut the stories short, but――
Just as I was thinking that to myself.
“Ryouma-sama.” [Lilian]
When we passed by the reception desk, the maid, Lilian-san, called out to .
She wasn’t sitting behind the reception desk, but she was standing sowhere conspicuous. I wonder why.
“Orest Moulton from the Moulton Slave Company arrived just recently.” [Lilian]
“Orest-san ca?” [Ryouma]
That suspicious but good looking guy ca? But why all of the sudden? He never ntioned anything about dropping by.
“When I told him that you weren’t around, he said ‘It’s my fault for dropping by without an appointnt, but if it’s no trouble, I’d like to wait for him.’ He’s currently waiting at the reception office. Will you be eting him? Of course, you can also refuse.” [Lilian]
“Since he went out of his way to wait, I might as well et him.” [Ryouma]
I want to know what he needs for, and he did help before…
I have a feeling this won’t be simple, though. I braced myself and headed for the reception office.
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