Previously
Emma, posing as Rosaline, arrives at the Tesis estate wearing a black veil and informs a devastated Glen Hill of the Baron and Baroness's deaths. She successfully manipulates Glen's sympathy to secure his loyalty and begins an intensive study of the estate's disastrous finances.
On the morning of my second day in Tesis, a man with a terrifying face came to see me.
Glen said the man looked suspicious and offered to drive him away, but I granted the request for a visit and had him brought to my study. I knew who he was.
At my question, the man snorted and replied.
I knew it.
The man was a ‘fixer’ I had contracted from a Herona employment agency. More commonly put, a mercenary.
I had spent almost all the savings I withdrew in Herona just to hire them. And that was only for the down payment.
However, I was certain that this job would allow me to collect funds far exceeding their labor costs.
There was no need for him to be so rhythmic about it.
Regardless, I nodded.
About two hours after he left, Glen returned from his errands and announced the next visitor.
And so, around five o'clock that evening, I sat face-to-face with the members of the Merchants’ Association in the baronial castle’s audience chamber.
News of the Baron and Baroness’s deaths had already spread throughout Tesis; they entered with solemn faces, offered their condolences, and took their seats.
But I could see right through the intentions they were trying so hard to hide.
‘You’re happy that a young girl has become the master of this territory, aren’t you? You want to pick me clean to the bone, don’t you?’
Not on my watch.
Sure enough, after a few words of mourning for the deceased, Baker, the president of the association, began to groan about their troubles.
Erandor was the nearest commercial city to Tesis. Grashico Forest was on the way to Erandor, and it was also the place I had passed through on my way fleeing from Viscount Turner’s territory.
For someone saying that, the clothes you’re wearing look far too nice, sir.
But they continued to pile on ridiculous lies, perhaps seeing me only as a child who knew nothing of the world.
They must not have expected me to dig in like that. They were busy exchanging glances with each other.
Oh, since when were you so worried about me?
I barely suppressed the urge to sneer and nodded.
They certainly took a long time to say they wanted to rip me off.
I stared at them silently, letting the moment hang. They seemed to grow anxious as the silence stretched, but they didn't back down. I suppose they thought manipulating a twenty-year-old girl would be a piece of cake.
I said, flipping through the ledgers I had received from Glen.
It was Glen who reacted. He couldn't stop me directly in front of the Merchants’ Association, so he just stood there with his mouth agape.
Conversely, smiles spread across the merchants’ faces.
Don’t worry, Glen. I’m going to teach these people a lesson they won’t forget.
I snapped the ledger shut.
They forced smiles, though they couldn't entirely hide their displeasure.
I wondered how long that arrogant attitude would last.
‘Trying to cheat me out of my money? Not a chance.’
As I walked out of the audience chamber, I tightened my lips to keep a smirk from escaping. The curtain had risen on the play I prepared for them.
The executives of the Merchants’ Association, having left Tesis Baronial Castle, congratulated themselves on another successful job.
Adam Tesis had been a lazy and gullible lord, which had been great for them, but now that an even stupider Rosaline had become the ruler, it was certain their profits would increase even further.
They headed down, their minds already working on how to increase their own shares of the free money.
They were going to Erandor to pick up goods in two days, but they weren't worried in the slightest. Bandits had never appeared in Grashico Forest, and they had never actually lost any goods.
At Baker’s question, the others shrugged and answered.
Everyone who answered laughed heartily, full of dreams of making a huge profit.
But their happy dreams were shattered on the way back from Erandor with their loads.
Before the shout from the front of the merchant caravan could even reach the tail, masked men surrounded the merchants.
There weren't many of them, but from the weapons they held, their builds, and the atmosphere they exuded, it was clear they were experts.
When Baker mustered the courage to shout, the leader of the bandit group snorted.
Gasps of terror erupted from all over the caravan.
As if hearing them, a man who looked like the second-in-command of the bandit troupe stepped forward and said smoothly.
He was telling them to pay a toll.
The caravan had guards, but they weren't professionally trained fighters. They were just local young men hired to double as laborers.
Their opponents were professional(?) bandits who were casually twirling sharp swords; if they fought here, it was obvious the merchants would be the ones losing their lives.
Baker pulled out his remaining travel funds with a heart that felt like it was bleeding tears of blood.
But the bandit leader, who took the money pouch from him, looked inside and then raised his head with an incredulous laugh.