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Chapter 21
“…Aril.”
Glen knelt on one knee in front of Ariletti, meeting her gaze. His blue eyes held a gravity unlike any other time.
“So… what should I do?”
“…”
“I know I can’t just keep going like this. But I don’t know how to fix this. All I learned growing up in the North is how to protect with a sword.”
Not just Glen, but the Hesete knights were the same. They had spent more time facing monsters than dealing with people. They had grown strong through trust, love, and reliance on each other, but outside their territory, they were treated like naïve country bumpkins.
Ariletti was right. They could no longer be looked down on like this.
“If there’s a better way than what I know, tell me. I’ll learn anything.”
“…Are you really going to do exactly as I say?”
“Yes, teacher.”
Ariletti, whose eyes had been bright red and lips pouted, relaxed her expression slightly. The child, rubbing her eyes with both hands, took a solemn deep breath. Then she gestured toward Glen’s back.
“Uncle Deng, give me the bag.”
“…Teacher, why do you speak politely to Lord Denken?”
“Because Lord Soga is an idiot.”
The small yellow bag hanging from Denken’s wrist was transferred into Ariletti’s hands. She opened the bag, already so full it seemed ready to burst. Glen craned his neck to look inside, curious what could make it so heavy.
“…Huh? You brought this?”
Unexpected items came out of Ariletti’s bag.
Marquis Nemar glared at the Hesete knights who had barged in without warning.
He didn’t like that they had entered without even sending a notice of their visit, and now the young, green Soga Lord was sitting him down, reading some documents for half an hour.
The scroll was thick, and more remained rolled up than had been read.
‘What exactly do they want?’
Next to the Soga Lord sat a young girl with bright pink hair, clutching a scroll. He had never heard of a baby in Hesete’s direct line. Her cheeks were plump, her features delicate, doll-like, but her gaze… somehow, it was too sharp.
‘Way too fiery…’
He slid a plate of cookies toward the child, but her gaze only sharpened.
Feeling awkward, the Marquis took out his frustration on Glen.
“Are you not going to explain what kind of rudeness this is, Sir Hesete? I am beginning to feel quite offended.”
“Offended.”
Glen repeated the word softly after the Marquis.
“Offended, you say. I’m just talking about what happened today, Marquis.”
“Whatever happened to you, I am under no obligation to indulge your complaints…”
“I experienced absurdity at the street grocery today.”
Glen’s tone had grown cold.
Marquis Nemar flinched slightly.
“They were selling goods to Nemar vassals for 1 silver, but charging Hesete vassals at least twenty times that. Not just one place, all the shops in the region.”
“Th-That is… because of this year’s poor harvest.”
“Was last year’s harvest poor too? The year before that as well?”
The Marquis could not answer easily. He had no excuse.
Last year had been an unprecedentedly abundant harvest, and the amount sold to Hesete territory had been enormous.
Still, he regained his composure and lifted his chin higher.
“So what if the price was a bit high?”
“A bit…?”
“Do you intend for Nemar’s peasants, who worked blood and sweat, to sell their wheat and barley at the same price to Hesete? I didn’t think so, Sir Hesete. There is such a thing as commercial ethics. Do you think we are distributing our food for fun?”
About twenty years ago, after Nemar’s head of house made a free trade agreement with Hesete, Hesete vassals would diligently visit Nemar from spring to summer, buying food to survive the winter.
The amount of food they bought every year was massive. The harvest had limits, but they had to feed two territories.
Although the North is considered mild, it was still harsh land compared to the Central or South regions.
Agricultural products and livestock in Nemar were limited.
‘Why should we even feed Hesete’s vassals? What have they ever done for us?’
The Marquis glared at Glen confidently. Ah, so he had nothing to fear.
When Ariletti growled softly, Marquis Nemar flinched slightly. Not only the Soga Lord, but the hostility of the small girl sitting beside him was formidable.
“You, you probably don’t know because Hesete is so isolated in the mountains, but, Sir… prices in the North are naturally higher than elsewhere.”
“So that means it’s fine to charge twenty times?”
“That’s up to the seller!”
“Up to the seller.”
Glen, having glanced over the newly unrolled scroll, snorted.
“So Hesete was being fleeced for 1,000 gold each year, while they supplied materials in Caspel at barely a quarter of the price?”
“Excuse me?”
Marquis Nemar’s pupils trembled as if there had been an earthquake.
Ariletti, as if waiting for this moment, pulled another bundle of documents from the yellow bag.
What Glen had just seen was the official trade ledger between the Nemar house and Hesete, taken from the lord’s office in Hesete Castle.
The new documents Ariletti pulled out were from the grocery store owner who tried to cheat them.
“Look, Lord Soga. Just comparing last year’s transactions, it’s clear. They sold 500 pounds of raw meat to Hesete for 30 gold, and the next week bought 500 pounds from Caspel butcher for 2 silver.”
“…Kept the difference. Almost the entire 30 gold.”
“Even the quality of the grain was probably better from Caspel’s mill. Do you understand now?”
“They sold us low-quality goods at high prices, and bought good goods cheaply… Then the difference, the 30 gold?”
“Look below. It’s written there.”
It was stamped clearly in the butcher’s ledger.
Glen held it up in front of the Marquis.
“The difference was split evenly with the lord?”
“That…”
“So the entire territory colluded to cheat Hesete?”
Glen’s pupils noticeably shrank. Something churned wildly inside him.
Aura. It’s aura.
Ariletti smirked slightly. See? This is the person you underestimated!
As Glen openly expressed his anger, Marquis Nemar faltered. Ordinary humans struggled to endure raw aura directly. Glen had never unleashed it on common people before. But now…
“The harvests of Nemar were earned through your blood and sweat, and the payment from Hesete is not money falling from the sky.”
Each word made his anger boil uncontrollably.
“This money is the life price of Hesete’s knights.”
Ariletti made sure he realized the obvious truth.
“Go to your lord and demand that the merchants who dared cheat nobles be properly punished. They trampled Hesete’s honor, and if you don’t show us courtesy, we are under no obligation to protect you either.”
At that moment, Glen’s mind cleared as if he had been struck at the back of the head.
It was the truth, repeated a hundred times over. Hesete was not some group of day labor mercenaries Nemar could use cheaply whenever needed.
“From now on, the southern slopes leading from Nemar to the Colden Mountains will be excluded from the patrol.”
