Chapter 59 (1/2)

Volume 1

V3 Chapter 13

「Disturbance in Lanbaltic」 Part 3

A crowd had gathered at the harbor .

The slave trader ship with the broken mast was towed to the pier and quite a few people had been found locked up inside the cargo hold . The majority of the captured people were refugees, but there were also young women from the city mixed in with them . As for the captain and the crew, they were taken away by the guards .

“You’ll only cause trouble if you do this sort of thing without consulting with me first . ”

Ariane was staring at me when Gio admonished me by saying that line with a wry smile and a troubled look in his eyes . I could even see wrinkles forming on his forehead .

He was quite angry . Since arresting criminals is the duty of the territory’s knights and guards, it was only natural that outsiders like us would receive this rebuke .

However, for some reason Ariane was giving Gio a questioning look .

“They’re all criminals, right? What’s wrong with capturing them?”

“It’s the role of humans to police humans! ……No, for your assistance in capturing these criminals I thank you on behalf of the Knight corps . ”

After his outburst, Gio looked a little embarrassed and stopped speaking, then lowered his head and thanked us before walking off .

Ariane narrowed her eyes at this before moving closer to whisper into my ear without Gio noticing .

『Arc, something’s off about that man . When we split from him before, the number of trackers increased by one . He could have been following us in secret . 』

I immediately turned towards Gio .

That was weird, wasn’t it? Though he was appointed as the guide to an enigmatic duo, he was quick to separate from us and act on his own . It was possible that he had someone keeping an eye on us from the shadows .

However, if he had been tailing us, then a knight like him should have been able to rush in when we were attacked in the warehouse district . It might be reasonable to assume that the additional tracker had been a subordinate, but if that person was under Gio’s command it would mean that he knew about the attack beforehand .

However, this was mere speculation and it wouldn’t amount to anything if there was no definitive evidence .

I quickly looked away from Gio and looked over the slave trader crew that was being hauled away by the guards .

“Although the illegal slave traders have been captured, the person we’re searching for has yet to be found . ”

I spoke in a level tone while folding my arms, Ariane’s golden eyes squinted beneath her hood as she nodded and scouted the area .

“Arc, I found another suspicious ship . ”

Ariane pulls on my arm as she said and started to walk away, I followed along as my interest had peaked .

“Is there really a suspicious ship?”

“Yes, some men near it have been watching the situation unfold for a while now . ”

“However, we have no evidence or testimony this time, and I’m hesitant to draw as much attention as before……”

“There should be conclusive evidence from the people being held captive, right? It’ll be alright . ”

She was expressing a strange amount of confidence as we made our way through the harbor and approached a black ship at the end of the pier . The merchant ship was larger than the slave trader’s and I could see many sailors aboard the ship who all showed open wariness when they saw us approaching .

By the time we reached the merchant ship, a wall of ten crewmen was already blocking our path .

“Do you have any business on our ship?”

A half-naked, burly man made the mistake of demanding our purpose here . The man had a multitude of sword scars on his arms and snorted as he seemed to look down at us .

However, Ariane didn’t bother to answer him . Instead, she sighed before whispering something into her hand, creating a light that disappeared just as instantly as it had appeared . Only after that did Ariane turn towards the burly man and addressed him .

“This ship is suspicious, so we’re checking it out . We have no business with you . ”

“If you have no purpose, then get out of here! Don’t interfere with our work!! You too, Mr . Knight . ”

Faced with Ariane’s nonchalant behavior in the face of his intimidating manner, the burly man’s eyebrows rose and he was about to raise his voice for another threat when the sudden appearance of a flashily dressed merchant parted the human wall .

“Let’s see, let’s see… Is there anything this humble vessel of the Deoin Company can help you with?”

The flashy man’s smile and slimy glaze focused on us as he asked why we were here .

“We have no business yet . ”

Ariane’s comment from beneath her hood caused the merchant to narrow his eye in confusion and he gave us a questioning smile .

It was a familiar voice that broke the tension .

“Please wait a moment! Ariane-sama, Arc-dono . ”

Looking back, I saw a single man approaching us . It was none other than the Lanbaltic territory’s knight vice-captain Gio .

“Vitsio-dono, is something wrong?”

“Ah, Gio-sama, nothing’s wrong, it’s just that these two seem to have some business on our ship . ”

The merchant Gio called Vitsio, made a nonchalant gesture and shrugged his shoulders, now flaunting a vulgar smile .

“Ariane-sama, this ship belongs to the Deoin trading company, the firm headed by Earl Orunato  of the Nozan Kingdom . It’s impossible for this ship to be related to the case as it has already undergone proper inspection . ”

There was a hint of criticism in Gio’s voice, but Ariane paid him no mind as she focused in on something else .

Gio took that chance to step between her and Vitsio .

Apparently we wouldn’t be able to just meddle with this ship . If it was working under a foreign noble, then we couldn’t act without evidence .

While the two of them glared at one another, the light that had disappeared suddenly returned to Ariane’s side . While I had been directly staring at the light, the people around us suddenly grimaced and covered their eye as if it were brighter than I thought .

When the light vanished, Ariane ignored the flow of the previous conversation and called out to the merchant all of the sudden .

“Can you explain why there are people held captive on the ship?”

“What are you talking about? As it’s already been said, this ship belongs to Nozan Kingdom’s──”

The merchant gave us a wry smile at her question and tried to repeat the name of his backer, however, he was cut off when Ariane removed the hood hanging in front of her eyes .

Her lilac skin and pointy ears must have clued everyone in on her race as her reveal caused many of the people around us to stir .