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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Silavin
The new group was the same group of knights from the Tausen Kingdom, who had been repeatedly pushing and shoving the gatekeeper.
At first, Kousuke and the others thought they were taking the side of the original group of knights. After all, they seemed like the same group of knights. However, when they looked into the situation, they could not help but notice something strange.
As they listened to their conversation without saying a word, they began to understand the situation. Naturally, they were not directly in front of them. It was just that the knights were within the range of what they could hear.
The knights who they saw first were those who belonged to the First Order, and those who came later belonged to the Third Order.
From the looks of it, they were definitely caught up in a factional war within the kingdom.
“…Looks like things have become a lot more troublesome to say the least.” Kousuke said with a sigh as he looked at the place where those of the Third Order were poking at those of the First Order.
Both parties were attempting to conduct an inspection without a warrant.
Hearing Kousuke’s thoughts, Rein chuckled and then replied.
“Well, this was predictable… After all, there has always been a struggle between the First Order and the Third Order?”
“Why?”
“They are famous for not getting along well with each other.”
Hearing this, Kousuke’s expression twitched.
“No matter how much a merchant can dig up information, is it really acceptable for such things to be known to the public? Is the country really fine with this?”
Rein returned a wry smile, which contained a hint of dismay.
“From the perspective of other countries, it’s probably quite foolish. But in this country, there is a custom of having knights compete to hone their skills.”
“Ah, I see.”
If that was the case, it was understandable. However, they were still not being too overtly hostile to one another? So much so it might hinder the management of the country.
However, according to Rein, this was just a habit that had been going on for a long time. So things were not that bad..
Nevertheless, they were currently on a tightrope.
“I expected that the attackers would be released and that the Knights would be involved, but I didn’t expect them to directly get involved.”
“Do they think they can get away with it with their power?”
“I don’t think so. If I have to guess, I’d say that they would replace the goods under the guise of an inspection.”
If a system in which those in power could use their power to take away the goods of merchants at will, there would be no hope for the development of commerce here.
In the Tausen Kingdom, which was a commercial state, to all intents and purposes, a country facing the sea, such tyranny would not be tolerated.
However, the First Order did not seem to be backing down at all, even though they still needed a warrant.
“…Seems like a very foolish thing to do. Have they not considered the consequences?”
Rein returned a wry smile to Kousuke, who tilted his head.
After all, the goods they were carrying were an offering to the royal family. It did not matter who the other party was. The Knights were not exempted from this. Some measures had naturally been taken for this delivery.
“Perhaps they are planning to take advantage of the commotion and have someone from the Chamber of Commerce bring it to them?”
“Ah. A betrayal.”
It would mean that there might be some employees who gave in to temptation, and have connections with the Knights.
However, as could be seen from Kousuke and Rein’s leisurely conversation, measures had also been taken against such things.
The goods that was supposedly an offering to the royal family was a dummy, and the contents were different from the actual offering.
The real thing was kept in the safest place, in Kouhi’s item box.
Rein took such a step out of complete trust in Kousuke.
In addition, they knew that Kousuke and his group were more than capable of taking back the dummy items if they had to.
There was no point in going through the trouble of risking being targeted by the kingdom’s higher ups to save the dummy goods.
In fact, it was Kousuke who suggested Kouhi to use her item box to store the goods.
Kousuke also knew that Rein had entrusted the items to Kouhi with this in mind.
Rein naturally knew that if the items were with Kouhi, they would not be stolen. So, when Rein first heard of this, readily accepted the offer.
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“Whoa?! It looks like it’s about to be settled.”
Kousuke and his group, in a remote location, could understand that the situation had changed.
While the First and Third Order knights were arguing, several more knights joined in and showed them a piece of paper.
From the way the conversation went, that would be the official warrant.
The knights of the Third Order, who until now had blocked using the lack of a warrant as a shield, looked livid.
To Kousuke, he could not help but wonder if it was fine for knights to show their expressions so easily. Though, when he thought about it, in general, knights in this world tend to be quite simple thinkers, and they were quite expressive. They often showed their emotions without much worry..
“Seems like the First Knights have them beat this time.”
When Kousuke said this, Rein tilted his head.
“I wonder about that. It looks to me like they are simply stalling for time. Oh, look. They’re saying they’re going to accompany the inspection as well.”
Just as Rein said, this time, the Third Order knights had offered to accompany the investigation, and that ended up in a dispute.
“Even so, doesn’t it seem strange for a warrant to only be prepared after they come here?”
If they had planned to investigate the goods Kousuke and the others were carrying in the first place, they should have prepared a warrant from the start. The fact that they came completely empty-handed was unbelievable to Kousuke.
“Well… maybe because we arrived in this town sooner than they expected.”
“Perhaps so… I think we’d know for sure as we move closer. I bet the frequency of the attackers we have to deal with will increase.”
At Kousuke’s words, Rein also tilted his head.
“Perhaps the communication between the upper and lower hierarchy of this country’s knights is not as good as we thought.”
“…I wonder if that’s all right as knights of this country.”
When Kousuke said so, Rein could not help but smile bitterly again.
He could not refute him.
Incidentally, the gatekeeper, who was watching the argument between the knights, took a nonchalant attitude.
For the gatekeeper, there was no problem letting them through if they had a warrant.
The rest was up to the knights to do as they pleased.
Kousuke muttered a few words as he saw the dispute getting bogged down in the mud.
“…If they continue like this, it looks like they will continue bickering without going to sleep even after midnight.”
Kousuke’s assumptions continued, hoping that would not be the case.
Rein nodded in agreement.
“That’s for sure. So, I think it’s time for us to intervene.”
“Intervene?”
“Well, we don’t want to continue waiting for them to end their arguments, right?”
The main ones who would be troubled by this would be the trading associations that use the warehouse, but Rein, who was doing business with them, was no stranger to such a situation.
Besides, as Kousuke said, they might end up troubling others if they made so much noise until late at night.
Thus, the barren dispute between the two Orders, which seemed to go on forever, was temporarily settled when Rein intervened.
Rein’s intervention resulted in the warehouse being entered and inspected by both the First and Third Order.
The only items permitted under this warrant were those brought in by Rein.
It was obvious that they were blatantly targeting the goods, but it was too late for them now.
In the tense atmosphere of the Third Order watching the First Order inspecting, the luggage brought by Kousuke and the others were inspected.
However, once the inspection started, things went smoothly.
Kousuke was thinking that there might be some trouble during the inspection, but it was done peacefully without any particular commotion.
Kousuke and Rein watched the knights inspect while tilting their heads.
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