Chapter 133

Kukulo Del Conti was screaming at the top of his lungs in his usual office.

His pride wounded by the events of the Harvest Festival, he was currently plotting with his three guest retainers.

"How dare they touch the Del Conti family!"

His thin lips trembled with rage.

"Now I'm really going to show them a lesson."

The owner of Herteu Mine?

He was certainly impressive, but there was no reason to be afraid when I thought about the Del Conti family's hidden assets.

I had only held back until now because I thought it wasn't the right time to reveal them.

"Contact the businesses in other cities... What's that sound?"

Ding, ding, ding, a bell rang.

Tibel Bartole pointed to a corner of the room.

"It seems to be the master's communication mirror."

"How much money does a single communication cost? I told them to use letters whenever possible...!"

I was already angry.

He grumbled and peered into the communication mirror.

What could be so urgent that they had to use this money-eating monster!

"It's the head of the Maridadio Trading Company? The timing is perfect."

I tapped the communication mirror.

Soon, a blurry face appeared in the mirror.

It was the head of the Maridadio Trading Company.

"Oh, Head of the Trading Company. I was just about to contact you."

[...Your voice sounds good.]

"Is there any reason for it to be bad?"

[...You still don't know?]

"Don't know what?"

[...You don't know. You'll know soon.]

The head of the Maridadio Trading Company sighed from beyond the mirror.

[Head of the Del Conti family. I kept at least a minimum of loyalty. I contacted you to tell you that.]

"What are you talking about?"

[Good luck.]

"Hey! Maridadio! This bastard... to contact me arbitrarily and hang up arbitrarily...!"

Kukulo clicked his tongue. What could have happened?

"Damn communication mirror. You have to use it for at least an hour for it to be worth it. Tibel, since it's already on, try contacting the other cities with it."

"Yes, master."

Tibel Bartole stood in front of the mirror.

The ability to transmit faces and voices wasn't all the communication mirror could do.

It was also possible to send short messages.

Of course, the other party also had to have a communication mirror.

The thought of the money spent on the communication mirror—thirty-five gold coins for one, twenty silver coins a month for maintenance, and a separate mana cost for activation—deepened the wrinkles on my forehead.

"First, contact Umba."

Leaving the groaning Kukulo behind, Tibel Bartole moved her hand.

She skillfully sent messages to their businesses in other cities.

Of course, the name Del Conti was not explicitly on the documents.

If it were, they would have had to pay an enormous amount of taxes.

"......"

Tibel Bartole's hand became frantic.

She was a woman who was rarely flustered, but now her face was turning deathly pale in complete shock.

"Tibel, is there a problem?"

"...I got a call from the trading company in Umba."

"What did they say?"

"...That the head of the trading company has changed."

"What!?"

Kukulo shouted.

"It's my trading company! Why would you change the head without my permission?"

"...I don't know."

"Tell them I want to talk!"

"...I already did, but they said they wouldn't talk to us anymore."

Kukulo suddenly felt as if the world had been turned upside down.

No, it was his trading company, which he had established with his own money.

It was also Kukulo who had placed a suitable man as the head of the trading company.

But for the head of the trading company to suddenly change and the connection to be cut off...

"What the... No, no! Contact another place, quickly!"

A sinister premonition came over me.

The more Tibel Bartole moved her hand, the paler her face became.

"How is it? What are they saying, Tibel?"

"Master..."

Tibel Bartole bit her lips tightly.

"...We've been completely robbed."

"Completely, you say...?"

"There's not a single business in other cities that's safe."

"...What?"

Every single one was in trouble.

They had either been sold, had their ownership changed, declared that they were cutting ties with them, or they couldn't be contacted at all.

"There's only one place that's taking our call. Shall I connect it?"

"...Where?"

"It's the San Klero Mercenary Captain."

"San Klero! Yes! He and I are like brothers! Connect it, now!"

Kukulo's voice was full of urgency.

[Ah. Can you hear me, Head of the Del Conti family?]

"San Klero! What happened?"

[Don't act so friendly. I'm calling you to tell you that our mercenary group has been bought by someone else.]

"Bought!? No, why...?"

[Don't worry, we got a good price.]

The San Klero Mercenary Captain sneered from beyond the mirror.

[More than that, I'm disappointed, Head of the Del Conti family.]

The sneer was mixed with a hint of rage.

[Why did a copy of our transaction history end up with a subordinate of some Viscount Lampo? Do you know how much I struggled to clean that up!]

"Viscount Lampo, transaction history...!?"

[You boasted that we wouldn't have to worry about secrets getting out! The guy even brought the Bururade Peninsula Alliance Special Inspector with him, and I almost ended up in jail!]

"Ah, ahhh...!"

[Don't ever contact me again!]

Only then did Kukulo become certain of who was behind all of this.

"...Right, Shion, that guy Shion went into the sewers...!"

He covered his face and sighed.

"...That bastard stole our ledger back then!!"

It made sense now.

It was a ledger filled with all kinds of secrets, so much so that it was hidden deep in the sewers.

Everything was written in it: what businesses they had, what deals they made, and what dirty secrets they had.

He said he was the owner of the Herteu Mine.

He must have a massive amount of capital and with their secret ledger on top of that, it wouldn't have been hard to cut off the Del Conti family's arms and legs.

They sent Onseu Om and Pneuve to the sewers just in case that important ledger was taken, but in the end...

"Pneuve!"

Kukulo shouted in rage.

"You said you protected the ledger! You said he wouldn't even know it existed!"

"...I thought so, but..."

"Aaaah-!"

He couldn't contain his anger and threw an ashtray.

It hit Pneuve Freira's forehead, and blood flowed.

Pneuve Freira stood still without showing any sign of pain.

The blood flowed down his cheek.

"Don't make me laugh-!"

Kukulo Del Conti, with his wounded pride, shouted even louder for no reason.

"Shion, you son of a bitch! You think you can take my business like this? You little runt! You don't know anything!"

His teeth gnashed together.

"Let's make this long and boring! Let's fight in court! If I officially protest and go through the proper procedures, I'll get at least half of it back in my hands...!"

He couldn't finish his sentence.

"If I protest..."

A chill ran down his spine.

Even if the Del Conti family preferred business methods that didn't care about the means, they had at least maintained a minimum line.

But now, Kukulo realized that influential people had become his enemies.

"...The Peninsula Alliance, we got on the wrong side of their inspector in the sewers. The Original Ladder Church, they won't help us either... The Merion City Council..."

For example, Bishop Hille. For example, Meh al-Hmed.

For example, Old Man Arellay or Guild Head Horem. After going through all those events, they had all become uncomfortable with him.

"When did the Del Conti family become so isolated...?"

It was unbelievable.

"...Could it be that this was also his plan?"

It just didn't make any sense. How could something like this be possible?

"...But this Kukulo didn't even notice? I walked into the fire pit myself, and my arms and legs were being cut off on the side, but I was so distracted by the Harvest Festival carriage...?"

He had even lost to the Vercello family at the Harvest Festival.

A dizzying sensation overcame him. Pneuve Freira quickly supported him as he was about to fall.

Even the noisy Onseu Om was watching his every move. It was that much of an outrage.

"What is this...? What in the world is this...?"

Kukulo's mouth hung open.

"This isn't a dream, is it? Can something like this really happen...? How could something like this..."

This was a force he had nurtured his entire life.

He had laid the foundation for the Del Conti family to rise up in a hidden place at the bottom of the Bururade Peninsula. But now, half of his life's work had suddenly disappeared.

"What happened...?"

Questions swirled in his mind.

A storm of questions, a tangled mess with no beginning or end, raged in his head.

Saliva dripped from his open mouth.

"It's only been one day, just one day..."

He looked as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

"It was just one night..."

***

Tibel Bartole is an Imperial intelligence agent.

She had forgotten her real name.

No, she had to forget it.

There are several types of memories that the Empire does not allow its agents to have.

Their past before becoming an agent, very deep secrets, and information about their superiors.

These memories had to be locked away with magic to be considered a Cordis intelligence agent.

She couldn't remember all of her past, but she could recall that she had always been outstanding.

The fact that she was performing a mission in the West as a woman was proof of her excellence.

Despite being Tibel, she couldn't hide her astonishment today.

'It's too fast!'

She had expected a counterattack from Shion.

The moment she came face to face with him, she realized he was no ordinary person.

He wasn't someone that a person with a capacity like Kukulo could handle.

But she thought there wouldn't be a big problem.

She had made the Del Conti family's fortress as strong as an iron wall.

But to her surprise, they had lost half of their power in just one day.

'The opponent must have prepared for this for a long time. But there wasn't a single sign of it...'

Shion didn't push the Del Conti family's forces back with power; he swallowed them.

He had swallowed up dozens of businesses that they had worked so hard to build.

That shouldn't be easy and it's not something that can be done without preparation.

But in just one night!

His skill was astonishing.

But there was no time to be lost in admiration.

She was a skilled Cordis intelligence agent.

She was used to suppressing her emotions.

"Master, master...!"

"Tibel..."

"Pull yourself together! You have to protect what's left!"

"...What's left? Yes, I have to..."

Kukulo was muttering blankly.

His eyes were as hazy as those of a dead fish.

It was understandable.

He must have felt as if the sky had fallen.

But it wasn't a situation to consider his feelings.

"What do I have left...?"

"The canal, master!"

Tibel Bartole urged Kukulo on. She felt like slapping him.

"The Del Conti family still holds the passageway of the Bururade Grand Canal. And next to it, what we've been preparing for all this time..."

"...The canal. Right, the canal!"

A light returned to Kukulo's eyes.

He stood up abruptly and spat.

"My family's lifeline! And the things that you and I have been preparing...!"

"That's right, master!"

The Grand Canal that runs through the Bururade Peninsula.

The Del Conti family had ownership of its central part.

This was because they had purchased the legitimate right to collect tolls from those passing through from the Canal Company.

They also owned a dam that controlled the water level of the canal.

Since it was next to Merion, it was called the Merion Dam and beneath that dam, a special power that Tibel Bartole had worked so hard to prepare was sleeping.

"Let's go to the Merion Dam! No matter who he is, there's no way he knows about those things!"

Kukulo, who had regained his strength, gnashed his teeth.

"If I can just get there... if I can just get there, I can counterattack...!"

***

I set up a spot on top of the Merion Dam.

"Wow, this is a big dam."

I brought a small chair and even a table to sit on very comfortably.

On one hand, I had my homemade Seram-ade, and in the other, bread that Serena had baked.

I cut the bread with black olives embedded in it in half and filled it with ham and green leaves.

"The sound of the water is nice, the smell of the forest is nice. And the taste is absolutely great!"

I even hummed and smiled.

"I hope he comes soon, Del Conti."