Kuro no Senki

September 433 of the Imperial Calendar - Sylvania's harbour is about two meters below the city. The slope of the stairs connecting the port and the city is quite steep.

This was a remnant of the use of natural terrain. I didn't even care when the Chamber of Commerce using the port was limited.

However, I am concerned that it would be better to welcome the commercial union under Emperor Kai's direct jurisdiction and recreate it when it becomes definitive that there will be more chambers of commerce.

The number of warehouses in the harbor is limited, and new vendors have no choice but to set up warehouses outside the city.

Carrying loads from port to out of the city is heavy labor, and I wanted to avoid new and changing competitive conditions with ancient ginseng.

With that in mind, Chrono sat on a staircase connecting the harbor to the city, watching Bo and the harbor - exactly how it was unloaded.

Lizardman and Minotaur cross the pier in charge of the loads unloaded from ships belonging to the Commercial Union and put them on the O8, which is where they opened.

The distance you can travel by O8 is to the stairs where Chrono is located. Once again, he climbs the stairs in charge of the load, from where it will be the turn of another O8 car.

That's what we're doing again and again.

"I wonder if a crane would make it a little easier. What do you think?"

"There are only a few places I can install it, so I can't."

Elaine's answer was dull. Looking next door, I saw the peeled leg. I'm wearing a highly exposed dress, so naturally.

Chrono likes to dress like a clerk, but Elaine always wears high-exposure clothes when appealing to honeymoons with leading men.

"No grievances like different treatment?

He's not answering.

"Really?"

"You're suspicious."

When Chrono inquired, Elaine said in a sigh.

"Whether you have a warehouse in the harbor or a warehouse outside the city, it won't change much. Either way, we have to cross the stairs."

"... oh"

Chrono raised his voice unexpectedly. I was all distracted by carrying loads to the warehouse and lost sight of what lay ahead.

"Why are you carrying your stuff to the warehouse when you don't have a store?

Speak out your doubts while looking at a ship belonging to a commercial union. The first thing they did was build a warehouse, which allowed them to do business in the territory of Chrono.

"We're evacuating the wheat this year because it's not working."

"Huh?"

Inquire unexpectedly. I do hear that the harvest will be affected this year by weather irregularities, but it shouldn't be that bad.

Scion said the harvest of the territory itself would not change thanks to the increase in agricultural land, and the tax collector was of the same opinion.

"I didn't hear you say it was that bad?

In Krono-sama's territory, yes.

Elaine had a meaningful grin. I have invested a considerable amount of money in the Temple of the Loess so far, so have the results been achieved?

"Hmm, but that was last year's wheat, wasn't it?

"That's right."

"Isn't it strange that you're going to haul me into my territory even though you're not doing it? They're just buying me a cheap ride into our territory."

The point is the question of demand and supply. If supply exceeds demand, it will collapse, and if demand exceeds supply, it will soar.

Shouldn't it be better to keep it under Emperor Kai's direct jurisdiction? Krono thought that far and realized the intentions of the commercial union.

"Maybe you're trying to soar the price of wheat?

You're right.

"I hope you don't use us for that."

Chrono sighed deeply. I feel like I'm being held responsible for a single stick of fraud.

I'm not using Master Chrono because I can't be under the Emperor's command.

"What about that heart?

"If you find out what you're buying when the price of wheat is going up, you'll be confiscated."

It's just a natural tone.

"I don't think that's gonna change in my territory."

"You confiscate it?

"In some cases. Of course, I'll write a letter of borrowing."

"I can't believe I borrowed one slice of paper."

"It's a ghost's business to manipulate the market."

"It's a fine business to deliberately hoist a value."

"Fine."

What Chrono thinks of as fine commerce is the relationship between WIN-WIN. A relationship in which only one person benefits is called exploitation.

"I really feel the limit at times like this."

They use the same words, but they mean different things. Well, the couple I've accompanied for years will get divorced, and war shouldn't be over.

"So many people suffer. Is it delicious to have dinner next to someone who's crying?

"Yeah, it's delicious!

That's a good smile.

Elaine grinned more refreshingly than ever, and Chrono sighed louder than ever.

But in some cases, we need to revive the toll tax more than some people are trying to soar the price of wheat.

I can't even see the price soaring because of the spill of wheat in my territory. We have to take extrajudicial passage taxes to prevent spills.

Write it down in your mind's notebook that you should work with other territories as well.

"And you know you carry wheat a lot."

"Naturally. It's our unionists carrying loads."

Elaine scratched up her hair.

"What do you mean?

"I'm working on a loading job and I'm making a small fortune. Not just us, but the other chambers of commerce."

It's like a mercenary.

The word outsourcing plunders the back of the brain, but it's the same thing in the sense of undertaking work.

Well, Kane and Schiff would be offended if they heard.

"New jobs keep coming out."

"Right. But when it comes to this job, territorial particularities are huge."

"Is it that special?

There are several rules to follow, but that would be the same in every territory.

"If you behave violently towards a slave, you have a penalty. Merchants avoid that kind of risk."

"Mr. Elaine and the others don't seem to think it's a risk, do they?

"We have know-how."

Elaine said away as a matter of course.

"What about confidentiality?

"It's already woven enough to leak information. And they can gather information from our union members, so we can talk to each other."

I guess the fact that we are communicating information to Chrono in dignity led to the conclusion of a contract without a provision on confidentiality.

I don't want you to imitate me attacking the grey zone because I don't have any provisions in place. Is it because I'm a little man that I think that way?

"And you have a lot of business."

"The profit is to moisturize your nostrils."

Chrono grinned bitterly and poked his cheek wand in support of his thigh. When I clear my ears, I hear the sound of a nail striking me with a hammer.

We are building a workshop for craftsmen from the direct jurisdiction of Emperor Kai. A significant number of people have already emigrated.

Some people set up workshops in Sylvania, others in pioneering villages.

"Is the rice you eat by flushing the lumber from right to left tasty?

It's delicious.

Chrono mumbled back. The pioneering people cut down the trees in the coma forest, and Chrono pays to buy the trees and sell them to those who need more lumber.

This is the WIN-WIN relationship. More importantly, the site where the trees were harvested becomes a field for pioneering people.

It's not just crops, it's pioneering itself. The pioneering people continue to fell trees with terrible momentum.

Scion is overseeing us to prevent such disasters as cannon water, but a hundred years from now, the coma forest may be gone.

"Second Golden Period?"

"First, second, you want to be golden whenever you want, without saying anything cheeky."

"... right"

Chrono couldn't help but feel cold about Elaine's words. Hundreds of years later, it may be Elaine who is installed in Sylvania.

The content of the security restoration operation is extremely simple. Two battalions surround the slam before dawn and light fire from all sides.

One more battalion drives out a panicked dweller. That's all the maneuvers, but it should be simple with the maneuvers.

Slams are in flames and people are screaming and running away confused. If left alone, most of them should die wrapped in flames and smoke.

The Third Kingsguard Knights, led by Archena Dios, hang on to them like that. The inhabitants of the slums are defeated without the art of exchange.

The inhabitants of the slums are overwhelmed if only in numbers, but the strength of the two is isolated. Easily overshadows the advantages of numbers, etc.

Still, if organized disobedience could be possible, the damage could be contained. Somehow, only two battalions - the Fourth and Seventh Kingsguard - surround the slam.

Only two thousand people can't even hope for a siege net that won't let one Ant child through. Depending on what you do, you can escape.

But the inhabitants of the slums, who do not know so, are scattered in flames, pierced by spears, trampled and crushed to death one after the other.

"You pulled the poor lottery."

Roy Akbens sighed small and scratched his head. There is no special sentiment about the slam's inhabitants being killed.

I'm sure my men have similar feelings. No, maybe he feels like he's doing good.

"We got away!

"Heck."

Archena screamed, and Roy turned his spear around. Several men and women run towards us.

Roy spears through the chest of the man who was in the front as he sighs and pulls through quickly. As if the thread had been cut, the man was chopped.

It was possible to slaughter everyone, but it would not have to be that far. You understand me, Archena went back to work without saying anything.

"... why"

"Are you still alive?

Roy walked over to the man and pointed his tip down.

"... why us?"

"You guys have overdone it."

Until now, it has been missed because there has been no great harm. Of course, there were times when slum dwellers committed petty crimes in the Imperial capital.

But crimes such as injury and murder were basically committed in the slam. There was a single habitat division, and there were rules.

"Some pests are uncomfortable just watching, right? I'm good at killing people, but some of them might miss it."

But keep going.

"When the uncomfortable pests start crawling around the floor with our faces, they're gonna kill the ones who missed us, too, right? Not to mention poisoning, spreading infectious diseases, if you do something like that, yeah, but you're gonna bust it, right? I mean, that's what I mean."

We can still forgive the inhabitants of the slums for breaking into the Imperial capital. But it is unacceptable that he disrupted the order of the imperial capital and killed the guardian guards of the law.

Not only the killer, but also the inhabitants of the slums will not be shown unless they die miserably.

"Oh, we have to live."

"I get it. You stole, offended, and killed to live. I can see that. Society pushed you guys, didn't it?

It was Emperor Alfort who created this situation. All the measures that began with the construction of the temple appeared on the back.

It tilted the empire's finances, created massive numbers of poor people and discredited the empire.

"... then"

"Thieves have three minutes to reason, though. You can't justify evil with three minutes of reason."

……

The man does not answer.

Shit, he's dead.

Roy returned to his original position exhaling.

"Ha, I really pulled the poverty lottery."

I don't know how many times. Exhale.

Passing the back of your brain is what your colleagues look like. Leonhardt and Brad say no to the mission, and Rio and Nege say no because they're ill.

Not even a voice has been called to Chancellor Pisce, and military director Ralph Libra has not come to the scene despite planning this operation.

After all, Roy and Archena are the only Kingsguard Knights leaders participating in this operation.

"... the guidelines were meant to be good."

Roy sighed and looked at Archena. Even if the opponent is a woman or a child, the appearance of shoving a spear relentlessly is a ghost.

At least not in the hands of the Knights of Kingsguard. Probably a prospective candidate.

The Kingsguard Knights Commander has a distortion somewhere. Decent is about Count Ernato of the Second Kingsguard Knights.

"Well, I'm the same one who's distorted."

Roy remembers my mother. My mother was a loving woman. He flew around like a butterfly among the leading nobles and caged Roy at its end.

Not sure if blood is really connected, but Count Akbens recognized Roy. That said, I have no inheritance rights to the housekeeper.

He's called a bastard. I don't know why Count Akbens recognized me. Maybe he tried to connect and stop Roy's mother.

If so, Count Akbens would have lost his prospect. My mother didn't even hang Roy's presence on her teeth.

When I turned ten, my mother died. One of the men on his sleeve stabbed him. Roy signed up for a duel and killed a man.

Now I remember it was a battle I could only say it was unpleasant, but it was enough to hang my life.

I had an overwhelming fever. There was such pleasure that holding a woman seemed farty. In search of that fever and pleasure, Roy became a soldier.

The only miscalculation would have been that the two brothers were dead and were to succeed the housekeeper.

"No, is there another miscalculation"

Roy was alone and stared at Archena. Residents' behavior has changed to that of order, with redness on Archena's cheeks.

There's nothing like forgetting me at this point.

"I knew you pulled the poverty lottery"

Roy looked up to heaven and sighed.

Betil jumped outside at the right time for the boxcarriage to stop or not, falling unnecessarily.

Strike your face hard to the ground.

"The Betils. - Chancellor!

"Don't worry!

Betil controlled his men with her hands trying to rush over and woke up with trembling arms. Not from pain.

You're trembling in anticipation of the tragedy you'll see.

"... this is"

I looked up and lost my words. Betil has never set foot in a slam like any other nobleman has.

I've just seen it from afar once. There was a cabin spread out on one side that didn't seem strange whenever it collapsed.

What is now spreading in front of me was ruin. Most huts burn down and only a few walls remain burnt.

Drifting around is the smell of burning and choking blood. There is already no Kingsguard Knights who carried out the operation.

A guard with a cloth covering his mouth brings out a burnt corpse, slaughtered with a spear, and arranges it on the ground.

That was a sight for nausea. I didn't nauseate at the smell of a corpse. Betil, a soldier, is used to the smell of corpses.

I've killed so many people before. Not only enemy soldiers, but also soldiers who do not obey orders have been put in their hands.

Not once or twice have you killed a thief miserably combined with the meaning of a warning. But there was great righteousness there.

I was proud even if it was just a convenience.

But this is just a massacre. Yes, Betil was nauseated by the fact that the Kingsguard Knights committed the massacre.

"Hey, what are you talking about?"

Finally squeezing out that word. I had a bad feeling about it.

The recent meeting was a mild one, but I was feeling something disgusted by the gaze of military commissioner Ralph Libra.

So I was acting with great care. I even gathered information from Nicole so she wouldn't get stuck underfoot.

Still, I couldn't wipe my bad feeling. It was like walking on a board floating in the water.

So the hunch became a reality.

"... why are you doing this?"

Betil punched the ground. It was visible that the security of the Imperial capital would deteriorate if the slums were left unattended.

But isn't it Alfort who sowed the seed? How can we easily cut off the poor created by our mistakes?

"... Survivors, no survivors?

Betil stood up and started walking nicely. Ashes still had heat, even smoked, but didn't care.

We wandered the ruins for a while, but no sign of the survivors. Death and destruction were swallowing slums.

"... oh"

Betil gasped small. I know. I know. He said that the tragedy that spreads before him is also his responsibility.

I never tried to correct Alford's mistake before. The result was a pile of ruins and corpses spreading in front of us.

"... oh"

Betil finally bent her knees. Jiri, jiri and heat are coming from your knees.

"... I know, I know"

I've surrounded many mistresses so far. That's not because I wanted them.

I wanted the fact that I was surrounding my mistress.

The same reason we're looking for survivors.

I just want the fact that I'm not like Alfort.

I just want a pardon.

I wanted to think it was better than him.

That's when I heard something collapse.

When Betil looked up, there was a boy and a girl there. Probably brothers and sisters.

We both had our whole bodies painted on coal.

"Oh, you've been well."

"Stay away!

Betil stood up and tried to walk over. But the boy stood to shelter the girl and set up a weapon - a blade that he thought he had made by tapping a long nail.

"You throw that stuff away. I'll help you."

"Didn't you guys kill Mom and Dad!

The boy stuck out his weapon to intimidate him.

"Stop it."

Betil spread her arms to show she was unwilling to attack and slowly walked over. I can reach you in a few steps.

That way we can take the weapon.

"Brother."

"Stay away from my sister!

The boy screamed like he was furious and stabbed his weapon in Bettil's thick crotch. I didn't just poke him, I decide.

"… hehe, hehe"

The boy's smile was coloured with madness.

"Chancellor Betil!

"- Huh!"

Betil burned them aggressively. He hid them in the shadow of the remaining wall and pulled out the weapon that pierced his thigh.

"I'm gonna stay right here."

I think of it, and I pull out the dagger from each sheath from the sword belt and give it away.

"To the north, flee towards the Marquis of Elakis. But don't use this dagger. Sell it and make it an escape fund."

I didn't show the boy the bare gesture of taking the sword, so I put it on the ground.

"Chancellor Betil!

"I'm here!

"Please don't make me worry"

As Betil stepped out of the shadow of the wall, her men stroked their breasts down. But the expression of relief didn't last long.

"Betil Chancellor! Oh, my God, that wound!

"I just hooked it up to the pillar"

My men screamed pale in their faces. Despite this situation, Betil laughed bitterly.

"Calm down."

"But!

"Didn't you make a scene with this much injury before you became Chancellor"

"Well, that's true."

My men narrowed their shoulders like they were frightened. The ranks are absolute in the military, but you can change your attitude so far.

"I'm sorry, can I borrow your shoulder?

"Ha, gladly"

Betil borrowed his men's shoulders and started walking. Looking behind me over my shoulder, there was a boy running out of the girl's hand.

It is a silence similar to death that dominates the main tower of Alfilc Castle. Farna passes by the knights' side with a tray of dishes on her hands.

Responsible for the security of the main tower is under the authority of Military Secretary Ralph Libra - a member of the Seventh Kingsguard Knights.

Climb the stairs and stand in front of the last door. I don't check my belongings. It would be a pride gift to be able to handle even if one or two of the blades are brought in.

"Call me if you need anything"

"Yeah, I know."

After a determined exchange, the knight opens the door. Beyond that was a room with minimal furniture.

The lord of the room - former Chancellor of the Kepheus Empire, Alcor, had arrived at the table behaved well.

It's mealtime.

"Oh, I've waited. Whatever, it's only a pleasure to eat here."

Farna placed a tray on the table with a frown root. Alcor joyfully wrapped his hands around each other and stuck to the herb grill of the chicken.

"You're getting better blood."

"... it looks like the life here suits you sexually."

You're thick, and I have that feeling. Not to say there's a big window, but it's a closed body that doesn't know when it's going to be killed.

Farna would be heartbroken. Despite this, Alcor looks healthier than he was when he was Prime Minister.

With that said, the Empress Tilia was fine, and she sighs. Ramal V was heartbroken because of his caution, but the spirit of his daughter was stubborn enough to shudder.

That girl will survive wherever she goes, fat, successful and flustered. I don't have to wonder if she really is an empress.

"Count Ralph Libra seems to have swept away the slam."

"I'm the military commissioner now."

Alcor sips the soup with the zubi. I don't question it. That's all the smoke was going up. Unless you're an idiot, I know.

"Damn, is he the military commissioner? There's nothing unexpected about passing through expectations."

"It's not good if it's unexpected."

But vice versa.

I'm willing to ask you. If they don't think they know what they're going to do, they can unnecessarily tear apart their thoughts.

"How's the Imperial City?

"I don't know about that, but Alford sucks."

"You can't use the word" worst. "

"Why not?

"Um, this is what Non has learned throughout his life..."

Alcor punctuated the words there.

"There's still a bottom inside that I think sucks"

"I hope this is the bottom."

Farna sighed deeply.