Chapter 49
"...Bederman clan? I don't know what you're talking about."
As Regwin answered, Kain, who had been observing his eyes, nodded.
"It's a story you're hearing for the first time, but it seems like something rings a bell. Well, even if Bederman is an idiot, there's no way he'd directly hire people for something like this."
"I said I don't know what you're talking about."
Regwin's voice became slightly rougher.
Kain, unperturbed, took out a series of items from his pouch.
"......!"
It was the small box Regwin had used, and a glass bottle containing the stimulant pill.
"It's crude, but it's not an artifact you can get just anywhere. And someone wouldn't carry around this much Sense Tonic either. There's no way a normal bandit who just got lucky would have these things, right?"
"......"
"And, more than anything, if you were just a normal bandit group, the most skilled one among you, which is you, should be the leader. But when I listened to the others while you were unconscious, it seemed like it was a basically horizontal relationship. This implies that you were dispatched as part of some larger organization."
At that, Regwin gritted his teeth and glared fiercely at his companions.
"Ugh!"
"Ugh!"
The gagged fellow bandits shook their heads frantically, as if denying Regwin's glare.
Seeing that, Kain said,
"That reaction just confirmed it. In fact, those guys woke up similarly to you, and they were gagged from the start. The only thing I heard was that one phrase when they attacked me earlier."
-Regwin, nice one!
-Uwaaaaa!
-Haaaap!
-Dieeeeee!
"Regwin, nice one."
That one phrase had sown suspicion, and Regwin's reaction had brought certainty.
Realizing he had been tricked, Regwin shouted,
"You little piece of shit! Cough."
Blood flowed from his mouth.
"I only incapacitated your abdomen enough to keep you alive. If you strain yourself, you'll only hurt yourself."
"You son of a bitch..."
Regardless, Kain continued his questioning.
"You still have something to answer."
"Get lost."
"Do you know why monsters have been abnormally rampant in this swamp?"
"What?"
Regwin, who had resolved not to open his mouth no matter what question was asked, involuntarily raised one eyebrow at the completely unexpected question.
"Whether someone ordered you to set up here, or you thought it was a good spot, you must have realized it once you settled in. That the rate at which the monsters were increasing was abnormal. I'm asking if you know the reason for that."
At those words, Regwin pondered for a moment before opening his mouth.
"Well, I haven't checked, but there's probably something like a Black Luster Stone somewhere in the swamp. Why are you going to find it and break it too?"
Regwin scoffed.
"As if you could find it just by looki—"
"If it's a Black Luster Stone, I've already broken it."
"...Do you really think I'd believe such nonsense?"
"I don't think you would."
"......"
Regwin gave him a look as if he were crazy, but Kain stood up.
"...What are you planning to do with us?"
"Well, that depends on you guys."
Then he took out a map and placed it in front of the bandits.
Kain met the eyes of each bandit one by one before speaking.
"Your base of operations in this swamp. The first one to tell me its location lives and just so you know, only one person will be released."
* * *
The wagon slightly changed direction and stopped at the bandits' base first.
"Will there be any delay in the schedule?"
"Oh no, of course not! Thanks to Young Master Kain, we arrived here without any obstacles, so the schedule is very flexible."
"And even if it were tight, a deal of this magnitude would be worth pushing the trading schedule forward. Hey! Is there anything good over there?"
As the merchant asked a companion who happened to be over there, the companion waved his hand.
"Wow! This place is a goldmine! How much have these guys been ripping off all this time!"
The bandits' base was piled high not only with food and daily necessities but also with the money and goods they had looted so far, and even the spoils they had obtained from hunting monsters.
"The spoils can just be sold off... We need to be careful with valuables since they could be considered stolen goods."
"We can just explain it to the constabulary beforehand and report it."
"Anyway, all of this is now ours... no, Young Master Kain's, right?"
"Why bother correcting him? If our Young Master does well, it's good for us too, isn't it? Hahaha!"
The merchants already looked happy just at the thought of having more goods to sell.
The mercenaries took on the task of moving the goods, and their movements became quicker when they were promised a reward for their labor.
Kain searched for any hidden places nearby, just in case.
'Hmm. I don't see any particularly suspicious places. There were no traces of special orders either... So they were just low-level thugs after all.'
The suspicion that they might have been hired by the Bederman clan, or hired by those hired by the Bederman clan, or hired by... anyway, that suspicion had lingered since before they left the estate.
'Considering who benefits the most when people from our territory use detours after hearing rumors of monsters and bandits, the answer is obvious.'
Looking at Bederman's behavior of doubling the toll this time, the suspicion could only deepen.
'But there's no way they would have made such a request in Bederman's name...'
Whether they caught and interrogated them or not, there was almost no chance of ultimately holding Bederman accountable.
Besides, since they were despicable enough to target Alice, he could have annihilated them on the spot.
The only reason he had spared them was because Kain had discovered the Chaos Core in the swamp.
'There's now a possibility that Bederman knows about the Chaos Core, maybe even that he's involved with Desmond's followers.'
Of course, the actual possibility of that was very slim.
'Although they didn't participate in the Battle of the Heren Plains, the Bederman clan also suffered considerable damage from Desmond's followers at the time.'
And no matter how corrupt the Bederman clan was, they wouldn't try to get involved with Desmond's followers and cause trouble when they were doing so well without any need for it.
If Desmond's followers were really active and they collaborated with them, the entire clan would be destroyed if that fact became known to the imperial clan.
No clan, at least not among the major ones, would take on such an enormous risk.
'More than anything, if they simply wanted to cause monsters to proliferate, there's no reason to even use a Chaos Core. A Black Luster Stone would have been enough.'
However.
'That doesn't mean the possibility is completely zero.'
If the organization that Bederman instigated knew about the Chaos Core.
If they were the ones who threw it into the swamp.
He figured they would have given these bandits some additional instructions or orders.
Even if they didn't directly tell them about the Chaos Core, it might have been something like, 'Monsters will soon proliferate and increase in number, so control the monster population in the central region while you secure the area,' or 'If an explosion or a strong storm occurs in the center of the swamp, report it immediately.'
That's why Kain had deliberately thrown leading questions at Regwin.
'But Regwin didn't seem to know anything at all.'
When Kain asked about the reason for the monster proliferation, Regwin's reaction was that it was a completely unexpected question.
Even when Kain deliberately said he had 'broken the Black Luster Stone,' Regwin didn't flinch or get angry, only wearing a dumbfounded expression.
'Are they really not involved? Or are their superiors more meticulous than I thought...? Once we arrive in Ashbone, I should take some time to find out more about these guys.'
With that thought, Kain turned back towards the wagon.
Just then, almost all the goods from the base had been loaded.
"Hey, I found one last big score here!"
"Nice!"
Even with a rough glance, it seemed like they would make a considerable profit just from raiding one bandit base.
'The finance minister will be happy again.'
The clan's disciples were required to give about half of the money they earned through requests or missions to the clan.
'They earned money by carrying out clan missions with magic they learned through the clan's teachings, so of course they have to pay.'
There were occasionally disciples who complained about this, but the answer was clear.
If they didn't like it, they could leave the clan, take on requests with their own strength and skills, and keep all the money they earned.
'The money given to the clan should be seen as including the cost of taking responsibility or handling things when a request fails or an unexpected accident occurs.'
And the people who entrusted the requests did so because they had faith in such a clan.
'Direct disciples don't have to give up half like the entry-level disciples, but... the current financial situation is difficult, so I should pay a bit more attention.'
He wanted to give it all to the finance officer if he could, but Kain also had personal expenses, so he planned to give only half to the finance office.
Of course, even half would be quite a help.
Because the Siers clan was in a situation where every penny counted right now.
'Honestly, the Siers clan can't function without me. Tsk.'
That was why Kain intended to nurture the clan and the disciples to the point where they could function even without him.
Kain moved towards the guard compartment.
'And... if there's a bounty on these guys, I should collect that too.'
The bounty could only be fully received if they were captured alive and handed over.
This was also a secondary reason for keeping them alive.
"Kain! You're back! That guy over there has been asking to be released quickly. What should we do? Should we only release the one who told us the location?"
As Kain returned, Edward pointed to the bandits still tied up inside the guard compartment and asked.
Fohn, looking anxious, was fidgeting next to a bandit who was wriggling violently while tied up, and Bolio and Anias were trying to calm Fohn down.
Seeing that, Kain said, sounding puzzled,
"Release them now? Why?"
"Ugh! Ugh!"
He seemed to be shouting that they were supposed to be released if the location of the base was correct.
"Yeah. We will release you. But I didn't say we'd release you here. We plan to stop by the constabulary as soon as we arrive in Ashbone, so we'll release you there."
"Ughhhhhh!!!!"
He seemed to be shouting, "You son of a bitch!"
Or perhaps it was an even more vulgar curse.
Watching that scene, Edward whispered to Bolio.
"You know, there are times when I'm really glad Kain is on our side."
"You too?"
Anias quietly shook her head from the side.
Meanwhile, the bandits who had unfortunately been just a hair too late in trying to be the first to reveal the base's location, after only one was promised release on a first-come, first-served basis...
"Ugh."
"Ugh ugh. Ugh."
See that?
Trying to escape alone, serves you right.
...They seemed to be saying.
"You're all the same, you bastards."
Regwin, the only one not gagged but who had been silent, couldn't stand it any longer and spoke in a pathetic voice.
Then, he turned his head to look at Kain.
Regwin spat out his words as if chewing them.
"Are you satisfied now? Taking everything, making us a laughingstock."
He spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.
"The only reason you didn't gag me was probably to enjoy watching my reaction like this. Isn't that right? You perverted little bastard."
Then Kain looked at Fohn.
"Fohn, why isn't this one gagged?"
"U-uh? You didn't tell me to gag him after earlier...?"
"Looks like you forgot. Gag him now."
"Ah, okay! Hiyah...!"
"Ughhhhh!!!"
