第１４５８堀：どこが発端？ (Part1)
Chapter 1458: Where Does the Trail Begin?
Side: Yuki
The explanation with Lowell went much faster than I had anticipated.
Honestly, her instincts when it comes to work are razor-sharp. It’s a genuine mystery to me why people insist on calling her dim-witted.
At this point, I’m starting to suspect she’s just letting Higil and the others handle the administrative side of things on purpose.
As for the remaining topics...
"Understood. I’ll focus my efforts on the slave traders as well. Do you have any other leads? It would be helpful if we could narrow the scope a bit."
Naturally, she wants whatever information I have. Since I’m asking for her cooperation, I have no intention of holding back.
"I do have some information, yes."
"Some? Is there a problem with it?"
"Yeah, you could say that. The intelligence route leads to one trading company based in Litea, run by a high-ranking member of the Dark Guild. Aside from that, there are three other storefronts identified through the flow of funds from the recent vault-cracking incident."
"I see. So we don't know which one is actually connected to the slave trade."
"Exactly. I’ve been tracking all of them, but it becomes a question of how far down the rabbit hole we want to go."
If you try to investigate every single branch and leaf, there’s no end to it. We’re already stretched thin as it is.
"Hmm. In that case, it’s probably better if you leave the tracking of the high-ranking members to us, Yuki. I assume if we target the executives, the big fish will eventually surface?"
"I hope so. But the ones actually doing the legwork on the ground are usually just disposable pawns, aren't they?"
"Fair point. Still, it’s better than not tracking them at all."
"Right. That’s why I’m following them, but it’s hard to say if I can trace it all the way back to the source. All I know for sure right now are the trading companies linked to the executives."
"Send that information over to me. Include the details on the executives, too. We’ll look into it on our end."
With that settled, I shared the information I had on the trading companies, and passed along the suspicious trade partners that Ratz and Asu had flagged.
It wasn't like we had conducted a blatant investigation; it was more that we’d noticed discrepancies in supply volumes and started questioning where the goods were actually coming from. I also made sure to mention the countries that Eris had noted were acting suspiciously flush with cash.
"Once you find some leads that look particularly shady, let me know. We’ll run our own investigation."
"Don't go charging in on your own, okay?"
"I know, I know. I won't do anything reckless."
Lowell has always operated on her own discretion, so I was worried about that, but judging by her behavior so far, she seems reliable. Still, Seraria felt the need to nail that point home. I suppose that’s just what friends do.
As I was thinking that...
"I understand that much, but based on what you’ve just told me, I have a lead on something suspicious I’ve been investigating. Would you like to hear it?"
Oh? Lowell suddenly brought up something significant.
"Can you give me the details?"
"Sure. Though, I hadn't really been paying that much attention to it until now."
With that disclaimer, Lowell began her explanation.
"You know that I’ve been investigating the Dark Guild for a while now, right?"
"Since before we even started moving on this, right?"
"Correct. I started hearing rumors about the Dark Guild even before the incident in Lushi, near the border of Gartz and Roschur. The gist of the rumors was that there was a 'Jack-of-all-trades' who would take care of troublesome people for you."
"If that’s all it is, it just sounds like a regular handyman service."
"True. But when I actually put in a request, they literally took care of it. No killings—just a series of events that made the target back down and behave."
"What kind of yakuza is that?"
"Yakuza? Ah, you mean the dark side of Japan?"
"No, well... I suppose it’s close, but originally they were more like rogues who took on the role of maintaining order..."
"Like the bosses of a slum, then?"
"Well... I suppose?"
If anything, "mafia" might be more accurate given the Western setting, but they usually resort to murder, so it’s hard to say.
"I’ll set aside the question of why you’re doubtful, but that’s how they gained trust. Of course, they were a handyman service beloved by the locals, but at a certain point, robberies and murders targeting merchants, the wealthy, and those with political rights began to occur frequently in the surrounding towns and villages."
"That’s not within the handyman’s territory—or their control—is it?"
"No. The handyman only held sway in the town where they were based. However, the incidents increased quite blatantly. Well, if it were just one place, it could be a coincidence, but to my knowledge, it’s happened in six locations. Gartz, Roschur, Rumel, Litea... they’re all scattered."
"Hmm. That’s ambiguous. Could it be that after the Rumel Dark Guild headquarters was destroyed, another organization started moving in?"
"It’s possible. We lump them all together as the 'Dark Guild,' but you know that the Dark Guild itself is quite diverse, right?"
"Well, to an extent. There are specialists in assassination, specialists in theft, and the people who manage them—there are all sorts."
Exactly. While we call it "the" Dark Guild, the one in Rumel was simply the largest; it wasn't the entirety of the organization known by that name. It was just one of many, albeit a prominent one.
The definition of a "Dark Guild" is vague, but if you define it as any place that handles work you can't talk about in public, there are countless such entities. That is the collective term for such work.
That’s why there are freelancers who take on assassinations, and thieves who could be called members of a Dark Guild if you change the terminology. They’re just smaller in scale.
For that reason, even if you crush one location, it doesn't necessarily lead to the deterrence of crime because other Dark Guilds exist. However, those shady types maintain connections to avoid getting caught. The larger the scale, the stronger those connections.
That’s why when the so-called headquarters in Rumel was crushed, it triggered a chain reaction that exposed and destroyed many other Dark Guilds and their subcontractors.
It’s like saying "restaurants"—there are many shops, and their suppliers are diverse. It’s not just about one single Dark Guild.
"Exactly. I investigated along those lines and managed to crush three of their subordinate organizations."
"You crushed them?"
"Naturally. They were the ones who picked a fight with me. I believe it was in Rumel. I was operating in secret with a few subordinates, so they must not have realized who I was."
"You say 'they picked a fight' so casually..."
Seraria hesitated, but Lowell didn't seem to care in the slightest.
"Assassination. They decided I was a nuisance for sniffing around. Thanks to that, I was able to go and crush them legally."
Lowell laughed heartily.
I suppose she really is Seraria’s friend—her methods are just as bold.