第１４５１堀：退屈な日々は意味がある (Part1)
**Chapter 1451: The Meaning of Tedious Days**
**Side: Mikos**
I’d found the last few days of pointless discussions rather tedious, but as expected of Yuki-sensei, he’d been thinking about things behind the scenes all along and was finally ready to share the plan.
"Sorry for making you wait a few days. I needed to leave things be to observe the movements of Irinau and the Dark Guild."
Ahaha, so he was letting them swim, was he?
Well, when I’m taking photos for the model corner of a magazine, there are times I’ll intentionally step back and let the subject just walk around in their outfit to capture a more natural look. Sometimes, their true self—their genuine nature—comes out in those moments. Of course, there are times when I have to direct their poses, too.
Still, while I understand the logic of just wanting to get a good shot, I did wonder if a few days was really enough time to grasp the full intentions of an organization. But, well, Mikos-chan was...
"Hey, Yuki. I understand you needed time, but did you really figure out the details of Irinau and the Dark Guild in just a few days?"
Before I could voice it, Enora asked the question directly.
"Yeah. I haven't uncovered the whole picture, but remember when the messengers like you arrived? There was that incident where the Dark Guild thugs launched an assault, right?"
"Yes, I remember. I heard that half of them were replaced, we learned the details of their executives, and there was a plan to attack us and Irinau."
Right, I heard about that too. Honestly, it was absurd. Irinau aside, trying to attack us is the height of futility. What would that even accomplish? Even if they managed to stall us messengers, it wouldn't stop the military or the alliance. It’s obvious that if they caused a commotion elsewhere, it would just be suppressed in the same way.
"Exactly. So this time, we decided to intentionally let ourselves be attacked. We’ll track how the executives and the Dark Guild members hiding in this town react. It’s easy to catch them, but if we do that, we’ll lose the trail. In these situations, the ones on the ground are usually the expendable type."
I see. Well, people operating in the shadows like this wouldn't let themselves be caught so easily. So, they’re literally letting them have their way to follow the trail back to the source.
"I understand the situation, but what do you intend to do? Even if you’re going to be attacked, do you know the location? How much damage do you intend to allow? And what about the response as messengers afterward?"
Just as I was nodding in agreement, Menou-san asked those questions. She’s right—we need to know when and how this will happen. And how we’ll manage the fallout with Irinau after the damage is done.
"Yeah, that’s why I called this meeting. Monitoring is fine on our end, but is there anything out of place on the ground?"
"Hmm. I don't feel like I'm being watched by anything in particular. How about you, Kirika, on the back end?"
When Deryu-san asked that...
"Yes. The intelligence department is monitoring the surroundings, but there are no strange movements."
I hadn't even noticed, but Kirika-san was standing in the shadows of the room, giving her report. She really does appear out of nowhere, doesn't she? As a reporter, that seems like a useful skill—maybe I should ask her to teach me later? Though, knowing Kirika-san, it would probably be a grueling lesson...
While I was lost in thought, the conversation moved forward.
"Then let's proceed. First, the Dark Guild's plan to harm the messengers—you ladies—and the Irinau people is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. We’ll catch the enemy after they take the bait. The executives met yesterday... only two of the attackers were summoned and assigned their roles. And so..."
"Yuki-sama, please wait."
Show-san stopped Yuki-sensei in a panic. Was there a problem?
"You just said the attack would be in the afternoon. Does that mean in broad daylight?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Why in the daytime? Wouldn't it be safer to attack at night?"
Ah, she’s right. When you’re with Yuki-sensei, it feels like no amount of guards would matter, but from the Dark Guild's perspective, attacking high-ranking officials in the middle of the day when there’s heavy security should be incredibly difficult. And even if they’re trying to gauge our strength, I doubt they could even get close in broad daylight, right?
I realized the same doubt thanks to Show-san, but Yuki-san just said...
"According to the executives, they’re going to create a diversion. They’ll cause a ruckus in the castle town, drawing out most of the people stationed at the castle. That’s when they’ll strike. They also seem to have another plan; according to Kirika, they intend to skim some money."
"I see. I was wondering how they planned to compensate for the losses here, so that's it."
Agil seemed to be convinced on her own. Wait, what does she mean by that?
"Ah, I see. After the meeting in Irinau ends and we let our guard down, they’ll use a diversion to draw the attention of us, the King of Irinau, and the high-ranking officials away, then launch the attack while simultaneously targeting the treasures inside the castle."
Stasia concluded.
Wait? The attack itself is just a decoy? I was frozen in surprise, but Yuki-sensei continued his explanation.
"I didn't mention where they were skimming the money from, but you figured that out quickly."
"It’s not a difficult puzzle. If you ask who the wealthiest entity in Irinau is, there’s only one answer. And if the Dark Guild wants to compensate for the supplies and funds they’ve lost, raiding individual merchants won't be enough. Conversely, large merchant houses are also connections for the Dark Guild to deal with many countries. If they don't raid those, the answer naturally becomes the castle."
A very convincing explanation. There are many wealthy people, but no one has more funds than the state.
"That is indeed correct. So, Agil and the others just need to protect yourselves. Leave the castle treasures to be targeted. The enemy is after the funds, and we’ll follow that. The flow of money will definitely lead us to the other executives."
"I understand the plan, but if we do that, won't the responsibility fall on the Dark Guild?"
Yeah, just as Samantha said. I understand that harming the officials is to test our strength, but if they go as far as stealing money, there’s no way we—Mikos-chan and the others—could hide that. It would either be an internal job or an external one, and we’d be cleared of suspicion.