CH 187

“I understand the gist of what you’re saying, but ……, Ygrin-san, what is it you want us to do for you?”

“Oh, yes, of course. It’s about time we had that talk.”

By the way, although I said this, I’m not sure if it’s participation in the war or not.

Otherwise, he would not have approached me for my fighting skills, and I would not have told him about the skirmish between Arbalest and Gungel.

Then, as if she had timed it just right, the woman who had just left the room appeared with some kind of magic tool that I had never seen before.

No, it may be a little premature to say that I’ve never seen it before.

Although this was the first time I had confirmed its function as a magic tool, the collar… it had a sense of déjà vu about it.

“It’s …….”

When Shie sees the magic tool, she looks at the collar she’s wearing and snorts a little.

Oh, so that’s what the deja vu was all about.

“Ygrin-san, I have brought you something.”

“Thank you. You can step back now.”

“Awe, sir.”

The woman who brought the collar’s magic tool bowed, glanced at Shie, and left.

“Mr. Ygrin, this is …….”

“That’s right. As you may have noticed, this collar that your slaves are also wearing is one of the equipment that is worn by the executive level of the enemy Gungel army, …….”

Uh, it’s bad.

It’s as if I’m announcing that we’re related to Gungel.

But then, why did he, who knew this fact, invite us in like this?

“I know what you’re thinking, and I have every right to suspect, but I’d like you to think about it this way: an enemy leader who can penetrate our intelligence network and use it to his advantage wouldn’t go to the trouble of exposing himself to the Arbalest without a second thought.”

“Oh, I see.”

That’s true.

If I were a member of Gungel’s top brass, I wouldn’t be walking around with this information known to the top brass, and the collar that signifies my rank.

That’s probably why Ygrin, who was skeptical at first, let his guard down.

And now that we’ve come this far, we can almost understand why the enemy country has Shi’e’s countrymen – or so we can only assume – joining the small country.

As I recall, Shie also said that some people from his hometown had been sent as invaders, probably the ones who are in the dark about this.

As I was twisting my head around this thought, Shie pulled on my clothes and made contact with me.

Her eyes were swimming for some reason, and cold sweat was dripping down her face.

Hey, why are you so upset?

I don’t think Sie has made any particular mistake.

I have a bad feeling about this.

“…… Oh, um…”

“What is it? Don’t worry, I won’t get mad, just speak slowly.”

“Uh-huh.”

Then Shie begins to talk.

Actually, the invaders from her world are the fierce group consisting of the Demon God, Dragon God, God of Destruction, and other sub-gods.

And that the magic circle carved into the back of her collar allows her to communicate with her own world when her hometown invades this world.

She’s an excellent member of the team sent to stop them.

The last thing Ilshe wants to say is that she’s sorry for not telling me before.

…… I see, so that’s why Shie was so upset.

That’s because you’ll never be able to build trust with me if you keep quiet about it.

But to be frank, that was expected from the beginning.

If they didn’t know what was going on in the land and couldn’t give instructions to their crew, the mission of the organization to which Shie belonged wouldn’t be viable.

Regardless of her decision, I don’t think there’s anything to apologize for. It’s good that she wants to talk to me like this.

Rather, it’s a relief that I’m the only one who can understand what Shie is saying.

I don’t know what old Ygrin will do if he finds out about this.

“Well, that’s rather well said. Don’t worry, I’m not going to give up on Shie.”

“Thank you, …….”

Shie is relieved to hear my words, but from my point of view, I think it’s high praise that she’s not selling the organization’s information without permission.

In any case, if this is Momiji, she would be easily persuaded by onigiri and immediately opened her big mouth…

This youkai will be less cautious about people who are nice to her.

“Have you finished your discussion?”

“Oh, thank you for waiting for me, Ygrin. …… Now that she’s told me what happened, I have a rough idea of what’s going on. I’m not going to be personally involved in a war between countries, as I’m a casualty without a country, but it looks like I’m going to be helping the great country of Arbalest for personal reasons.

Our goals are aligned.

The information about Gungel’s executives that Ygrin would want.

The information I’m looking for about Gungel, and the collapse of this creation.

The quickest way to satisfy these needs is to join the great power of the Arbalest.

“Oh, oh. That’s fortuitous. That’s really wonderful. I was also thinking that it would be a little too much to force you to stay here, so yeah. It’s great to be able to talk things out like this.”

So said the great merchant, Rand Ygrin, wiping sweat off his face with a hand towel.

He’s a good warrior and a powerful royal merchant, and he won’t let us go so easily, but the fact is that we’re not as good as he is.

“At any rate, I look forward to working with you, Kenji Galhart. And the legendary knight, Mizzet Galhart.”

“……Ha?”

Then the great merchant dropped a bombshell at the end and gave an awkward wink.