Volume 4 Chapter 9.3 (1/2)

Volume 4 Chapter 9.3

Editor: Weasalopes

『So from how you said it, I take it that it’s pretty much confirmed？』

「Nearly. People trying to get to the main temple, several of them have gone missing. Also, people who should be arriving there have yet to show up. They say things started feeling suspicious around Stiren Temple right around when I reported to you last time. They were busy with the search around town and preparations and were only able to send out search parties yesterday early morning. And then things got hectic this morning when they realized the search party had yet to return the periodic contact.」

『I see. It sounds like a troublesome situation.』

「Yeah. I will, just in case, be checking out a route tomorrow, but honestly, it will be difficult for me to search much further than that. It’s Aearis’ realm of expertise now, I say.」

『Yeah, it sure is. I’ll take care of this particular matter. Depending on the situation, Aries herself may very well head over there.』

「Understood」

The earth mother goddess, Elza, one of the three great goddess pillars. Not being able to contact her in her own temple was a very bad sign. For this particular case, Forre couldn’t really fuss about “interfering in domestic affairs”.

「So next is Earl Dident, marked for forging documents and arrested by the Forre house.」

『At last, I see』

「Mm. The opportunity directly came about when the delinquents tried to get in Deary’s way with a worthless certificate. The hoodlums got arrested and they got a lot of info out of them bit by bit. Until about yesterday they were making these really cringey excuses and yapping, but I think they will have fully surrendered by afternoon today.」

『I see. Rather specific there. Where’d that info come from？』

「From one of the dwarves near the country’s center. We became chummy in exchange for weight, one of woman’s greatest hurdles.」

Layotte quickly knew what she meant.

『Were you actually that close with Marquis David？』

「Yeah, close enough to where we drink twice a week since I got wrapped up in the banquet at the tavern I was inspecting？」

『Oh, he really must like you.』

「So now as of recent, I’ve been obsessive about my liver and my weight.」

『Yeah, we’re talking dwarves after all. Sorry, but I’d like you to quit that, temper your liver and work at losing weight.』

While surprised to hear what a bigshot Rainy had found, Layotte had to be a bit cold to get Rainy back on track, even if it wasn’t her fault.

「Yeah, it’s really difficult to hang with dwarves two times a week. Your Highness, would it be alright for me to consult Deary about my liquor/diet plan？」

『……Well, I’ll allow it as long as you’re okay with exposing your lazy body.』

「Ugh……」

Pinpointing it where it hurt the most, Layotte made up for it by giving Rainy permission. She had certainly appeared to have made many important connections by giving up on various things while Hiroshi’s group was ravaging Crest Cave.

『So that’s all for the report？』

「Nothing else all that special. At most, maybe the fact that they’re starting to receive magic steel goods made from Crest Cave’s new furnaces and that the price of steel products has begun to stabilize.」

『I see. They are involved after all, so I should expect as much, but that was rather quick.』

「Also, in the words of the mining guildmaster over here, they should be able to bring the exported amount of steel products back to normal not long from now.」

『That’s great to hear.』

Layotte’s face loosened up on the other end when he heard Rainy’s good news. Unlike Darl, in Farlane you could excavate enough ore with enough demand as long as you didn’t care too much about quality. But with the quality of iron ore being the quality it was, Farlane was about two steps behind Forre in terms of both iron manufacturing and processing, so the limitations on exports from Forre were a serious pain of a problem.