The Sea, Fishermen, and Sailors (7)

The people captured in the attack the other day consisted of five attackers who attacked me directly, and ten who came to rescue them from the sand only to get buried themselves.

Since all fifteen were sailors working for Laret Trading Company, handing them over to the guards left no room to deny that the company as a whole had tried to kill me.

When the guards investigated Laret Trading Company over the incident, it conveniently came to light that the company had subjected fishermen to all sorts of cruel harassment in order to expand its own interests, along with various business irregularities.

Laret Trading Company probably won't be shut down entirely, but several executives, including its president, will likely be held accountable for their crimes, and the company's operations will be scaled back.

In short, Laret Trading Company was cut loose by the Toritorine family after its attempt to kill me was exposed in a way that left no room for excuses.

Otherwise, there was no way all those other crimes would have come to light so conveniently.

Or perhaps the Toritorine family pinned some of those crimes on Laret Trading Company.

Of course, the fact that an entire trading company had tried to kill a traveler—and was exposed after suffering a crushing defeat—was an enormous scandal for the Toritorine family, whose business was built on commerce.

Naturally, that didn't mean the problem facing Saurote had been solved.

Though the Toritorine family certainly took some damage when one of the trading companies under its umbrella was forced to scale back, the Pasteri family wasn't about to seize the opportunity and move to crush its rival.

Even if Laret Trading Company and fishermen like Doryze hadn't understood it, the Toritorine and Pasteri families surely understood that both their presences were indispensable to the town.

The two families let the sailors and fishermen under their influence fight just enough to blow off steam, while engaging in a tug-of-war over their interests as they guided the town's development.

So, in the end, this incident would amount to nothing more than a one-sided defeat for the hardline Laret Trading Company, which had gone a little too far.

For all the abruptness of the turn of events, in the end, nothing had changed.

It was as though everything had happened according to a script.

In other words, had someone used me for their own convenience?

There was no end to the suspicions I could come up with, and the more deeply I thought about them, the more frightening it became, so I put a lid on my thoughts.

After that, I continued to eat and drink at Grand's establishment, ultimately staying in Saurote for nearly a month and thoroughly enjoying its seafood.

And today is the last night I'll spend in this town.

"Here you are, ten-legged one-night-dried squid. You like this, Eiser-san, don't you? But lately, there's been a huge increase in people ordering this and the eight-legged kind. Thanks to that, I'm so busy I can hardly stand it."

The person who brought the grilled one-night-dried squid to the table with a laugh was Karena, one of the servers.

Of course, her being busy wasn't due solely to the restaurant's success.

"If you're so busy, tell Grand to hire more people or give you a raise. He'll probably add even more dishes featuring those eight- and ten-legged creatures, so the customers will keep coming, too."

I smiled at Karena, who pursed her lips at that, and took a sip of dry cider.

There had been a few incidents, but this was a good town.

It was precisely because the town was trying to develop that conflicts arose over which direction it should take, and problems emerged.

That vitality, problems and all, was what made Saurote the town it was, or so it seemed to me.

I'd had my fill of both human interaction and seafood over the past month.

It was about time.

"Well, Karena looks busy with all sorts of things, but I'm planning to leave soon, so I suppose you'll have a little less work."

At my words, Karena briefly widened her eyes and looked at me.

Yes, the person who had been watching me all this time was none other than Karena.

But that didn't particularly matter.

Even after Laret Trading Company was forced to scale back and could no longer spare any attention for me, the surveillance never ceased.

That meant Karena had been assigned to keep an eye on me not by Laret Trading Company, but by the Toritorine family, the Pasteri family, or perhaps both.

In short, she was a spy embedded deep in the town.

I didn't know whether Grand was aware of it, or whether he himself was involved, so I couldn't say.

At the very least, I believe she was the one who set Laret Trading Company up.

I had no proof, but just as I'd thought on the first day, Karena was an unexpectedly tough woman.

"It's true, Eiser-san eats a lot, so my workload might decrease a little. But they'll miss you. Doryze will, Grand will... and of course, so will I."

I smiled at Karena as she said that.

Certainly, no one in town had watched me more closely than she had.

Regardless of the circumstances, I'd grown fond of her.

Would it be trying too hard to sound cool to call ours a secret relationship—one neither of us could speak of aloud?

"Yeah, thanks. But I'll probably come back before too long. I want to eat more fish and shellfish, and more octopus and squid, too."

Karena nodded at my words.

This wasn't a final farewell in this life.

Even if I'm completely satisfied with seafood for now, I might crave it again in six months or a year.

So until then, I hope this town will wait for me just as it is now—developing, but without changing too much.

Now then, where should I go next?

I feel like doing some smithing again, and I really ought to go learn magic already.

I'm also curious about what happened to the Kingdom of Rudoria and whether a half-elf will be born, so I need to settle somewhere and get in touch with Airena, the elf.

Yes, I'll do that for now.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll set out northeast. My destination is Odine, one of the eastern minor nations, known as the land of magic."

I deliberately told Karena, the spy, where I was headed.

There was no lie in what I had said.

By deliberately telling Karena where I was headed, I was sending a message to the employer she would presumably report to that I bore no hostility.

She would understand what I meant.

"Yes, I'm looking forward to the day we meet again. When that time comes, Eiser-san, let me give you a proper tour of the town."

When Karena said that, I raised my right hand, and she gave it a light slap, completing a high five.

And so I left Saurote behind.