All I can say is itās because of my mismanagement of my subordinates.
They seem to have done something and steal from a certain adventurer.
Itās a normal thing to do.
However, if you want someone to take responsibility, go to my subordinates and not to me.
What do you want me to do?
You want me to correct my menās mistake?
If weāre going to do it in our own way, Iāll just kick them out and weāre doneā¦..
Thatās notā¦.what you want.
I understand.
-0-
Subordinatesā¦.Iām so angry at you so Iāll just call you idiots.
These idiots seem to have sold the stolen things from the adventurers to a merchant.
Itās a normal thing to do. Weāre going to sell it to a merchant at a certain price but the merchant should not disclose that weāre the ones who sold it.
And the unidentified opponent wants us to steal it back.
Troublesome.
In addition, the merchant who they sold it to will sell it in an auction in a certain city.
The unidentified opponent ordered us to chase the merchant to recover the stolen thing.
Itās difficult but we have no choice but to do it.
If we donāt do it, we might just become a corpse in this place.
The strength of the unidentified opponent is overwhelming.
Believe this or not, the unidentified opponent annihilated my over one hundred subordinates.
However, if you want to recover what was stolen, shouldnāt you hold back a little bit?
By chance, is the unidentified opponent a muscle head?
This makes things more dangerous.
Letās do our best.
Our target is only a merchant.
We can take care of it.
Ehtoā¦..
There are aboutā¦.only 30 of us who can still move.
I left half of them to treat the others who couldnāt move and started to act.
-0-
The target merchant is heading to the place where the auction will be held but since heās still trading on the way, we canāt predict his route.
Since the number of my subordinates has decreased, it is also impossible to say choose randomly.
But we know where the auction will be held.
We just need to go there ahead of him.
Itās just a little far away.
The travel expenses will be no joke.
If our money runs out, we just need to do our usual banditry. But of course, I want to minimize our actions since weāre outside our territory.
If we do poorly, we will turn the bandits of that area into our enemies.
If that happens, weāll live a fugitive life and we canāt even sleep properly.
That would be a problem.
And so, we cut down our spending and even find temporary jobs while traveling.
It was a long journey that lasted two months.
When we arrived in the city, I was a little tearful feeling a strange sense of accomplishment.
However, our aim is not to arrive at the place where the auction will be held but to retrieve an item from a certain merchant.
First of all, negotiation.
If it is useless, we can only steal it.
If we do it grandly, we will offend the bandits of this place. However, we will only rob a merchant that lives in our territory.
They might be able to accept it.
Anyway, we waited for the merchant to arrive.
ā¦ā¦..
The auction is more than a month away.
We decided to look for a day job to earn our stay.
-0-
When we got used to the city, we got acquainted with laborers while doing our preliminary inspection of the auction venue and thinking about how weāre going to steal it.
But a shocking news came in.
The auction will be held in another city.
All the preparations weāve donāt so far have been wasted and my vision even darkenedā¦.but I regained my calm immediately.
If youāre working as a bandit, it is normal for targets to act unexpectedly.
I shouldnāt panic. Calm down and deal with it. I should be able to come up with something.
And I did.
ā¦..
After listening to the detailed story, the new auction venue is Village Five.
Itās just a day away from Shashaato City.
Itās nearby so there shouldnāt be any problem.
However, thereās also a change in the auction schedule.
The event will be held next week.
Thatās too short.
No, if we move now, we might be able to do something.
I thought the auction is still far ahead so I still have to work on my job for some time.
Even if Iām a bandit, I still keep my promises.
ā¦..
Letās be honest.
Itās because we donāt have money so we canāt move.
Damn it! Who made the food at Marla so delicious!
Me and my men canāt stop eating!
We canāt even save money!
Letās continue eating!
ā¦..
Today is our last day at Marla!
-0-
We managed to arrive at Village Five on the day of the auction.
The screening to enter the city is unexpectedly strict.
Not just our obvious weapons, even our hidden weapons were found and confiscated.
Whatās going on?
Maa, I donāt really care because I donāt need hidden weapons this time.
Rather than that, the auction venueā¦.
Is very obvious.
Thank goodness.
However, we canāt approach it carelessly.
First of all, information gathering.
Ramen street?
ā¦ā¦
Maa, eating is important.
I was surprised to see noble ladies on a seat nearby but I concentrated on eating.
I have to use chopsticks after all.
But this is no problem for us who were trained at Marla.
You have to eat there using chopsticks too unless youāre eating curry which you have to eat with a spoon.
A noble lady is teaching the other noble ladies how to use chopsticksā¦.donāt overdo it. You can try eating it using a fork.
I enjoyed ramen.
Itās delicious.
-0-
I would like to convince myself that it was already too late even before we came here and not because we took our time eating ramen.
We managed to contact our target merchant.
It is no longer possible to recover the target item by using negotiationsā¦ā¦
Itās because the merchant already sent the item to the auction so it is no longer with him.
Damn it!
If we managed to get that item by bidding, there shouldnāt be a problem in getting it back but if it falls into another rich personās hand, it will be impossible to get it.
It canāt be helped.
I threatened the merchant and instructed him to buy the thing back by using his own money.
The merchant knew me so he nodded obediently.
What a relief.
-0-
But thatās not possible.
If the seller can bid on the item, thereās a possibility of the seller raising prices.
So basically, it is prohibited for sellers to bid on their own items.
But thereās a way out.
Only the seller is prohibited to bid on the item.
Because of that, the merchant asked his merchant acquaintance to bid for the item up to the price of a gold coin.
However, if the bidder got the item and wasnāt able to pay it on time, the credibility of that bidder will fall.
During the auction, someone bids for an incredible amount which is something we canāt compete against.
Yeah.
It canāt be helped.
We donāt want to do this but we have no choice.
The guys guarding the auction are patrolling the venue.
We set up a camp at a place where the venue is visible.
Weāll attack at once, rob, and escape.
I wanted to eat ramen again butā¦.it canāt be helped.
I canāt turn that unidentified opponent into an enemy.
Iāll do my best.
And, merchant.
What kind of guy outbid you?
Tell me what he looks like and his clothes.
Even if you tell his name, I wonāt be able to recognize him.
Itās a group with a girl riding on a manās shoulder?
Is he carrying her like that all the time?
Everytime they move?
What a good father and daughter.
Maa, good.
Iāll try not to kill them.
However, forgive me for injuring you.
ā¦ā¦
We waited a little and found the group with a girl riding a manās shoulder.
There are a lot of them butā¦.half of them are women.
Itās good to go.
My subordinates also signaled that there wonāt be a problem.