"Yaaawn."

Frederick let out a big yawn as he basked in the sunlight. His eyes looked so sleepy, he seemed ready to doze off at any moment.

"If you're sleepy, just go inside and sleep."

"... If you really don't like it, you could at least let me know."

Frederick squinted and stared at Erich, who was rifling through some documents.

Erich had gotten up early in the morning and dragged Frederick around the village, comparing documents filled with letters and numbers Frederick couldn't understand.

"Hm, you'd learn this faster if you were reborn."

"I can tell for sure that's an insult."

As Frederick grumbled, Erich faintly lifted the corners of his mouth. It wasn't because he didn't want to explain it to Frederick.

'This is a sense only former nobles can possess.'

The documents Erich was looking through concerned the village's finances and tax payments. Although they weren't perfectly accurate, they were at least enough to get an idea of whether taxes were being properly paid and how much wealth the village held.

And as Erich closed the file, he confirmed that none of the numbers matched up.

"Frederick, do you remember how many mills, forges, and tanneries are in this village?"

"... Hmm, didn't we see three or four earlier? I think so."

"Right. This village has exactly three mills, three forges, and five tanneries."

"... So what about it?"

"In the place where you lived, how many such workshops were there?"

"Well, quite a few. I lived in a pretty big city, you know, and there were four forges! That blacksmith's daughter, Lucy, back then—"

"Frederick."

"Ahem, guess you're not into such stories."

"That's not it. Does it make sense that a big city where you lived would have about the same number of forges as this little village?"

"... Huh?"

Frederick's eyes widened. Now that he heard it, it was true. The size of Morris Village was—at best—barely as big as two city blocks in a major city.

And yet, there was almost no difference in the number of such workshops?

"If there are no raw materials, there's no need for workshops. But this village has a lot of facilities for its size. That means raw materials must be flowing in from somewhere."

"...!! Now that you mention it, that's true."

"That's what I've been checking all this time."

"But didn't they already investigate at the Black Fortress? Did those guys just let it slide?"

"On the surface, they're all registered as farms. If you disguise it well, it could look like household workshops only operating during the hunting season. But when I looked, the equipment there is way too professional. It makes no sense to equip such tools just to process things harvested once a year."

"... Geez. If you weren't a noble, you wouldn't have that uncanny sense for the peasants' wallets."

Erich curled his lips again. Strictly speaking, it wasn't because he was a former noble. Normally, this was more in the domain of a tax collector or steward.

All this was just knowledge Erich had acquired during his tenure as commander.

'But if he wants to misunderstand, that's convenient for me.'

Such misunderstandings meant less need for explanation, so there was no reason to clear them up.

At any rate—

Even if they had a hidden gold mine here, it would be impossible to bring in this scale of raw materials. Sometimes merchant caravans would pass through, but this was just a normal village where people could barely afford to get by day by day.

"And I bet everyone registered at those workshops are the village chief's people. I've only checked a few faces, but that was enough."

"... So you mean that bastard of a chief is making money through something?"

"Yeah. He's just having other people do the work for him. Using them like subordinates."

"But who would bother? And for what? It's not like there's much to trade in such a backwater."

"Oh, but there is. What stands tall behind this village?"

"... That, oh!"

Frederick's eyes turned toward the back of the village. And there stood the massive Great Wall. He let out a sound of realization.

He, too, knew about the long-standing practices at the Watch. The age-old tradition of smuggling practiced from south of the Great Wall to the north, and vice versa.

Most of that went on at the outposts, but in villages like this, as long as there was a suitable hole, there was nothing to stop it.

"But the Watch are in charge of maintaining weak points in the Wall, right? Are you saying they missed this?"

"As it happens, although that's impossible now, up until recently this area was within the Black Serpent Outpost's jurisdiction."

It seemed Frederick now understood. The Black Serpent Outpost's scale had been shrinking thanks to rumors, and as their numbers dropped, gaps in the local defenses appeared.

But most assumed the Black Serpent Outpost would soon reorganize, so everyone had been complacent about the gap.

As the outpost disappearances repeated, the border here must have grown lax for quite a while.

Frederick thought for a moment, then answered.

"In that case, what's being smuggled is likely Orca-roid... but there's still something that doesn't add up."

"What is it?"

"If it's Orca-roid, they were already bringing it in through the Black Serpent Outpost. Why would they pay to make another hole here?"

"That's exactly what bothers me most."

"... What bothers you?"

"There's no way they're getting this much support just for Orca-roid. That means they're smuggling something even more valuable."

But what could possibly be more valuable than Orca-roid? Erich couldn't deduce the answer to that.

It only sent a chill down his spine, thinking about what might be so important they'd go to such lengths to bring it inside the Great Wall.

'Still, at least now I have answers about Morris Village. All that's left is Barnes.'

Erich moved on with Frederick, intent on investigating Barnes next.

*

After discovering Morris Village's secret, Erich began focusing on Barnes's movements.

It was partly out of concern that he might try to escape with Max, but also out of hope that he might learn something about Max from him.

But as a full day passed, Barnes displayed no suspicious behavior.

On the contrary, Erich was forced to acknowledge that Barnes was an intriguing officer.

'He's a peculiar guy.'

A shepherd boy. That's just what Barnes felt like. When he first arrived—

The villagers had apparently followed his orders willingly. The previous Watch guard had acted so disgracefully that their expectations were rock bottom.

But every time the village bell rang, the villagers grew increasingly terrified, as if the sound itself triggered seizures.

And no wonder: whatever rule he had, he would shut the village gates, even when people were clearly working outside. It seemed totally absurd.

But when nothing happened after the bell, people's perception of Barnes steadily grew worse.

In the end, no one believed what he said—Barnes became the boy who cried wolf.

And yet—

'In the end, the entire village disappeared. So something definitely happened.'

For Erich, who knew how this village would turn out, there was no question that "the wolf" would show up. The only question was what kind of wolf.

Just then, the bell rang again.

― Tang! Tang! Tang!

Erich looked up at Barnes ringing the bell atop the stockade, and allowed himself a thin smile.

'That guy never gets tired?'

As soon as the temperature dropped, Barnes would ring the bell and lock the gates. Soon, people's shouts erupted.

"You damned bastard!"

"He's at it again, I swear!"

The villagers yelled out. Frederick lay his head back in the grass and murmured,

"Tch. At this rate, he's really gonna get stoned one of these days."

"... It does look like he might actually get hit this time."

"?"

To Erich's eyes, the villagers' anger looked different today, compared to before. Why was that? Rather than resigning themselves or accepting it, they seemed even more agitated than when Erich first arrived.

"You bastard! Today I'm really gonna end you!"

― KWANG!

The people took picks and smashed the stockade gate. Yet Barnes did not forcibly stop them, merely offering calm warnings.

"... Shouldn't we intervene?"

"Looks like we'd better."

Anyone could see that things had gone too far.

'... Maybe because of us?'

From the villagers' perspective, with Erich having declared he'd 'solve the issue', they might have taken it as a sign that Barnes, the current officer, would soon be replaced.

And now, seeing him ring the bell again... perhaps they decided he meant to torment them to the bitter end.

'But this won't do.'

Erich quickly walked up, opened the stockade gate, and faced the crowd.

"Everyone, please calm down."

"How are we supposed to calm down?! Someone else's face is going to get paralyzed, just like before, all the way until the very end! Out of the way! Today we really are going to finish him off!"

"I'm not just saying this."

Erich rested a hand on his sword and glared at the villagers. Their bravado wilted, and they began stealing nervous glances at each other.

"... No, I didn't really mean we'd kill him..."

"The gate is open. Go inside. But cross the line any further and it won't be good for anyone."

The villagers, crushed by Erich's imposing presence, avoided his gaze. Having quickly suppressed their unrest, Erich turned to Barnes.

There was a trickle of blood running down Barnes's forehead from where he'd been hit with a stone.

"Tch. Foolish idiot."

Erich tossed a small towel to Barnes, who took it and gave a slight nod.

'... I want to say something.'

Something was boiling up inside Erich. But with a slow exhale, he managed to restrain himself.

At that moment, a shadow appeared in the sky, circling above them and crying out.

― Kkyeeeeeee!

A huge pigeon was circling overhead. It was clearly the reply from the Black Fortress that Erich had been waiting for.

But Barnes's eyes, watching the bird, wavered. He, too, must have guessed what the message contained.

'... Now, how will he react?'

Erich and Barnes's eyes met. Slowly, Erich let a hint of a smile cross his lips.

Would Barnes, a man so obsessed with rules, be able to sell out his own brother for the sake of those rules?

A cold, tense air settled between them.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Thought so...【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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