By Zephyria In the temporary tent of the Council’s investigation headquarters set up in the central square of the territory, Delberg’s merchants were being gathered and interrogated and investigated in turn.
As time passed, the day turned to night, and as they dug up all the places in the mountains with traces of burning, the boxes containing the demon beast corpses that had been buried were stacked up endlessly.
The people of the Count’s family had already been taken to the Northern Branch, and the mansion was empty. The residents were confused after hearing the story that the lord had been involved in illegal activities in the quiet territory.
Frost territory was literally in a state of chaos.
Stabilizing and protecting the residents was also the Council’s job, so many members seemed quite busy doing their respective jobs, guiding and investigating the residents.
In the meantime, Flynn found something strange while looking at the list of Delberg’s merchants. Terzio’s name, who had talked with him and given him many clues, was not on it.
However, there were some cases where names were not listed among the low-ranking merchants that Delberg had urgently supplied, so Flynn thought that Terzio was one of those people as well.
“Investigator, has the location of everyone on the list been identified?”
“Ah, there’s a bit of a problem.”
“Yes? What kind of problem are you talking about?”
When Flynn asked the investigator in charge of the merchants, he said with a slightly troubled expression.
“We’ve almost completed it through matching the list with the actual people, but the most important merchant leader is currently missing.”
“Yes? Then did they already leave frost territory?”
“In preparation for that possibility, we requested investigative cooperation to control all the nearby gates connected to frost territory and arrested the leaders, but we have not yet found anyone who matches the merchant leader’s description.”
“Then… they must still be inside.”
“We’ve searched almost everywhere, but in the case of private houses, it will take some time as we have to ask for cooperation and search them one by one.”
“I see, I understand. Please do your best.”
At that time, the sound of men shouting was heard from around. When he turned his head in that direction, the leaders of the merchants who had been caught trying to escape were struggling and resisting.
“Where’s the merchant leader! Catch that woman first!”
“Don’t make a fuss and stay still!”
“You came in and ruined everything and ran away on your own!?”
It seemed to be a story referring to the merchant leader.
Flynn had been looking at the list of merchants since earlier, and he thought that the scale was quite small for Delberg’s merchants that he knew. In addition, if it was Delberg’s female merchant leader, her name should have been on the list that he roughly remembered, but the name written on the list was completely different.
Delberg was a fairly large merchant group, so there were several merchant leaders in each region, and among them was Filione Delberg, the first merchant leader who oversaw them all.
Filione Delberg’s main activity area is the south, the old Laina area. And most of the female merchant leaders of Delberg that Flynn knew had good business skills as they had survived the rough merchant work, so they had already been recognized for their abilities and had a firm grip on the major cities in the central and southern regions.
In other words, there was no need to take risks and come all the way to the north.
However, the Delberg merchants who came to frost territory this time were quite small in scale, and seeing that low-ranking merchants were urgently supplied and not even on the list, it seemed that they were organized in a short period of time and the system was not well established.
Presumably, this merchant leader seemed to be a different person from the female merchant leaders of Delberg that he knew.
‘To come in as a newcomer…. Did the merchant leader change? Or was this Delberg merchant group that came to the north hastily formed?’
While Flynn was lost in thought, the investigator seemed to think that he didn’t understand the situation and added.
“It seems that the merchant leader abandoned the leaders and ran away alone.”
“Ah, is the merchant leader a woman?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“If it’s Delberg’s female merchant leader, I should know most of them….”
“As a result of interrogating the merchants, they said that Delberg internally selected a new merchant leader for the distribution of demon beasts in the north. She was originally one of the merchants, but she was quick at handling work and stood out, gaining the trust of other merchant leaders and being selected as the new merchant leader this time.”
“Judging from the current situation and internal system, it generally feels like it was hastily organized, but in the meantime, they deliberately selected a new merchant leader and put her in place?”
“Yes. That’s why there were many inexperienced merchants and they didn’t work well together, so there were sloppy aspects.”
“Even if they were distributing illegal demon beasts, it wouldn’t be enough to send skilled merchants, but they selected people who had little experience and had never done merchant work and hastily sent them…. This is somehow unsettling.”
“It seems like you think so too, Lieutenant. It seems like a ‘tail cut’ after all.”
Tail cutting is, as the name suggests, an act like a lizard cutting off its tail and running away.
In general, it was a method of dividing a large institution, foundation, or organization into several parts and, when an unpleasant incident occurred, placing all the blame on one small place or silencing the relevant person in charge by kidnapping or killing them.
The central managers would deny knowing anything and use it as a way to launder their image. And these situations often occurred when large-scale merchants tried to do profitable work but things didn’t go well.
Flynn felt a headache coming on and suddenly thought of the low-ranking merchants who had been unexpectedly recruited in the middle without knowing these circumstances. He felt pity at the thought of them feeling guilty for being involved in illegal activities, and at the same time, he thought of Theo, who had helped him a lot.
“Ah, by the way, was there anyone named Terzio among the merchants who were investigated?”
“Terzio, you say? Hmm…. I don’t think there was such a name….”
“Yes? You said there wasn’t? He may be a low-ranking merchant, so his name may not be on the list, but he should have been investigated.”
The investigator tilted his head and said that he would check it out and went inside the temporary tent being used as the investigation headquarters. It was already night and dark, and the location of most of the merchants had been identified, but it was a little strange that Theo was still not visible.
‘Could it be related to the fact that the merchant leader is missing?’
Flynn had a fleeting suspicion. However, even when he was talking to Theo earlier, he didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives or be anxious about doing something wrong.
Rather, he told him a lot and indirectly hinted that the merchants seemed to be doing something suspicious, and said that wrong things should be corrected, didn’t he?
Flynn shook his head as he thought about Theo’s behavior.
Wasn’t it because he was in a hurry to deliver the news to the Commander that he only exchanged quick greetings and parted ways? So, Flynn desperately rationalized that Terzio might still not know the situation well. He wanted to believe in Theo even if it was like that.
‘Yes, that can’t be. He’s the one who helped me.’
But already many members had entered the territory, and it was possible that he didn’t know even though he had announced the situation to the entire territory with the voice amplifier?
If, if he was really related to the missing merchant leader….
Flynn unwittingly fleshed out a hypothesis he didn’t want to consider. As he wrestled between uncertain circumstances and his trust in Terzio, the signal from the tracker abruptly cut off with a ping.
Flynn immediately pulled the device from his inner pocket to check. However, the tracker was dark and silent, as if it had lost its target.
The sensor, which Theo had told him was near the Delberg Merchant Company’s underground storage, had either lost power or something was wrong.
Flynn stared at the signal-less device. As if cold water had been poured over his head, he calmed down, a chilling sensation settling around him, pressing down on his shoulders.
He then picked up the radio. Pressing the button on the left, he issued orders with a swift, calm voice, using the authority he had been granted.
“Tracking Squad 4, move immediately to frost territory coordinates 739, 278, 12. Search the area thoroughly, and if you find anyone, you must capture them alive.”