Volume 23 Sidestory 2, Pirates? (Part 1)

Schmidt was in his room at Crown headquarters, reviewing recent developments.

Business itself was going well.

Crown’s main sources of income were the materials sold by adventurers and the crafts made by the Ygrite tribe.

The Ygrite crafts were not only a specialty of Amamiya Tower, but were also requested by clients.

Originally, Ygrite crafts had the custom of having the maker’s name on them.

It seemed that those who noticed the names spread the custom.

Nearly a dozen craftspeople had already been commissioned from the Ygrite craftspeople based solely on their names.

The Ygrite Tribe was also able to meet requests for designated projects because they were good at responding to orders.

Some craftsmen refused requests because they find it boring just to make what their customers specify, but so far, none of the Ygrite craftsmen seem to have fallen into that category.

However, it was possible that the Vermilinia clan, who was the intermediary between the two parties, was making sure that everything was tightly coordinated.

As an intermediary, there was no problem because they finished the project within a tight time frame.

***

Materials from adventurers were procured from stores in the safety area, which was very different from other places.

Other merchant guilds besides Crown had already opened a business office in the safety area, but the cost of transportation was high.

On the other hand, Crown, which moved goods around using the transfer gate, had been able to reduce that cost significantly.

The other merchant guilds requested permission to use the transfer gate as a matter of course, but Crown would not budge on this matter.

Nominally, the gates to the stores in safety were not controlled by the government, but by Crown directly.

This would mean that the other merchant guilds would have no one to complain to.

The only recourse would be to complain to the Tower administrator and ask for permission to use the gates.

However, since the Tower administrators rarely came out in public, they were unable to do anything about it.

As a result, Crown’s merchant division enjoyed a huge advantage over other merchant guilds in the Tower.

Naturally, there were voices that said it was unfair, but since the person who raised such voices was required to get permission from the Tower administrators, the issue was always left unresolved.

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Schmidt received a piece of information.

The person who brought the information was the person in charge of the trade route from the city of Ryussen to the city to the north.

Rick alone would be responsible for observing all the trading routes, but of course, he could not watch them all by himself, so it was further divided into eight sections and assigned to different people.

It was the person in charge of one of them who brought the information.

“Pirate activity is becoming more and more active?”

“Yes.”

The content of the conversation was that pirate activity was becoming more active on the north and northeast side of the Central Continent, in other words, in the waters of the area this person was responsible for.

Crown fundamentally moved by land in large merchant convoys.

However, land transportation was still no match to sea transportation in terms of cost and speed, so as a matter of course, transportation by ship was also being conducted.

***

“So? How much damage has been done?”

“No. We do not have a large number of ships to begin with, so there is no damage that can be considered as casualties.”

Since they relied mainly on transportation by large overland merchant convoys, their numbers were low in numbers.

But indirect damage was starting to occur, such as merchant guild ships making a profit from Crown purchased goods being harmed.

“I see. So, that’s what’s going on.”

Schmidt listened and became sullen.

If Crown’s ship had been directly damaged, then he could have approached them about using Tower’s functions.

But if the damage was indirect, as it was this time, it would be difficult.

If they didn’t draw the line somewhere, there would be no limit to how much they would be asked to help.

That said, he was not inclined to offer help to a completely unrelated place.

“That said, if they go to the trouble of coming to you to report it, then there must be some damage that is beyond recognition, right?”

“Yes. Some places are already responding by carrying more adventurers instead of goods.”

Considering the damage pirates could do, it was better to deal with them by increasing the number of adventurers.

“It’s still okay for now, but rumors are starting to emerge that prices will be affected.”

“…There’s been some problems on that side, too.”

Inadvertently, the expense of dealing with pirates would naturally be diverted onto the price of the product.

It wouldn’t be as much of a change overall when it comes to price, but if the purchase price goes down across the board, the impact would naturally be felt by Crown.

“Alright, I understand. In the meantime, we will examine the situation here, so please keep a particularly close eye on the pirate’s information.”

“Yes, sir.”

The subordinate who had finished his report bowed and left.

Schmidt, who was left behind, let out a big sigh.

It was not something that could be handled by the merchant department alone, no matter how hard he thought about it, so he needed to talk to other departments.

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“So? What’s the actual damage?”

Gazeran asked after hearing Schmidt’s report.

Dulles, head of the crafts department, and Hewrick of the production department were also here.

The production department appointed a rotation among Kennelsen’s six marquises as department heads.

Hewrick was currently in charge.

“Well… Damage has been done, I’m certain, but…”

Schmidt’s expression was indescribable when asked.

“What? Is there something wrong?”

“The cargo that was stolen by those pirates, it was sold to the very place it was originally intended to be sold.”

“What? What do you mean?”

Gazeran questioned after hearing Schmidt’s words, but Hewrick immediately replied with a nod of his head.

“I see. I see, that’s what this is about.”

“Yes. The continent to the east is where all the items flow”

“Only one location?”

“No. No. There are several places where the goods are dropped, but not that many.”

Schmidt and Hewrick were the only two people who were talking quickly, leaving Gazeran and Dulles behind.

“Hey, hey. Could you please explain it to us, so we could understand?”

Gazeran’s question made them giggle.

“Sorry. I was just getting ahead of myself since we were talking about business.”

“The point is that the merchant guild that says they are being victimized might be in cahoots with the pirates.”

“Well, it’s not confirmed yet.”

“They’re in cahoots… you mean, they might be doing some backend deals?”

While they pretend to have been attacked by pirates, they actually deal with those pirates and sell the goods at a somewhat lower price.

The pirate would then sell the goods exactly as they were originally intended to be sold.

The merchant guild claiming to have been attacked would come up with an idea to make up for the low price by saying they were attacked by pirates and buying the goods at an even lower price.

Normally, the price of goods would go up when attacked by pirates, but since the merchant guild was the one being attacked, they thought they could negotiate by saying that they would make up the difference in the purchase price.

“Well, that won’t last long. Other guilds would shut them down soon enough.”

Hewrick said, but Schmidt shook his head.

“Well, I’m afraid that’s not going to be the case this time”

“What?”

“Though the group is acting as pirates, it seems that there is a country behind it.”

When the others heard the story, they immediately knew what was going on.

When a country was involved in the intervention, it was not merely a profit-making scheme, but also showed a different agenda.

“… Are they aiming at us?”

“It’s not that blatant, but well, I’m almost certain of it.”

Considering the ships that were being targeted, the majority of them were carrying goods that Crown was handling.

“Well, then again, things are starting to get messy, aren’t they?”

Hewrick said with a scowl, and everyone present was thinking the same way.