Chapter 255 – Merchants Land (5)
The search power of bio-drone has always been great.
After feeding stray kitties and street-dogs running around in time for the tumult of the festival, the location of the Zoids was known within an hour.
The reason why I found him so quickly was because I mainly visited bars, but there was another reason that was unexpected besides that.
“Ooooo! (I know who it is!)”
Dogs and cats without owners knew the face of the blonde tanned bully. It seems that he sometimes gives out rice. Not cats, only dogs.
“Nyaaaaa!!”
The cats, poisoned by the discrimination, found him in an instant and told me the location, unlike the dogs who worked slackly while paying attention to me.
A cat that eats food from me and sells it out for not giving food to the dogs and cats who have been loyal to Zoid.
Opinions would differ as to which one was more animal-like, but before I could think of an answer, I caught up with Zoid walking down the alleyway.
[Eheradiyah~. It’s so good~.]
Zoids stumbled along the road alone.
Our party looked down on him from the rooftops of the buildings that make up the alley, then landed in front of him, pointing forward and backward.
─Thump.
Even the heavy Lingling 3.5 had only that much of a landing sound. We are all mana users.
The puppet that Veronica had engraved runes on and made a robe out of the cloth she received from Mr. Hella looked like a huge human being, and the sense of intimidation was worth buying.
Zoid, who was tired as if he was drunk, took his hand to his waist while hardening his complexion.
【… Since when did the drunkards festival become such a sophisticated masquerade party?]
Zoids moaned while watching us wearing masks and robes.
Zoid’s hand went up to the sword at his waist. But he couldn’t pull out. As I thought, he had excellent skills, so he noticed our skills.
5 to 1 including mage in this narrow alley.
No, if you include the puppets, it would look like 6 to 1 to him.
When a battle breaks out, you die.
Perhaps he thought so.
【First of all, I apologize for meeting you in this form in the middle of the night. Mr. Zoid Tustas.]
Wearing Arthur Wayne’s costume for the first time in a while, I spoke as a representative.
It was the clothes I had worn when I went to the wizard guild before, so I made sure to bring them.
He wouldn’t be able to recognize me because I had a face mask on top of it.
Of course, even if you wear a mask, it is possible to determine the rough impression, so I left the window. In a country of short dwarves, spears are rare weapons. Carrying it makes it easier to get backtracked.
No problem though. Beast Regression’s claws are sharper than most swords.
【Please forgive me for hiding my face. I don’t mean to intimidate you.]
【… Oh, done. What are you doing for that?]
【Tonight, I came because I have something I want to ask you.】
As I said that, I put all my concentration on my eyes. It was to see how Zoid would react to the questions he would ask from now on.
【Did you know that your older brother, Jade Tustas, was distributing toxic substances to Hremar and Nidavellir through the merchants—-?】
I was thinking of seeing him as a suspect if his face froze at the question or if he tried to leave his seat. If you ask me back in embarrassment, I tried to check the authenticity of the reaction.
Zoid’s reaction was neither. He half-opened his eyes and glared at me.
【That’s another pretty boring joke. That my brother sold drugs?]
[It’s worse than that, depending on how you think. At least that’s how I look.]
【Cut out the nonsense. Even though my brother and I have a slightly different attitude toward money, he is not a man who would sell his conscience for a few gold coins. I’ve been seeing him for years.]
Zoid spat in the alley as if in anger. To my eyes, it seemed really infuriating.
At least when he wasn’t feeling well, he wasn’t like a person who was pointed out by the group he belonged to. Even though he was wary of this situation, he was so calm.
‘Above all, I don’t see any sign of avoiding the seat.’
If there was anything creeping, he would have tried to find a hole to escape. Because I have to inform a colleague who commits the same crime.
But instead, Zoids were staring at me while crossing their legs. Because he heard me and was furious.
—That bullshit, go ahead and talk about it.
It was a look that made me feel that way.
‘… You said it wrong.’
Before we get to the point, we had to talk about changing seats.
This confrontation was not good. It’s a back alley, but there will be passersby wandering around.
Wasn’t the Zoid we were surrounded passing by? He knew it would complicate things if someone found out.
I had to admit my mistake. It seems that I was unconsciously quite angry.
I was so preoccupied with how to defeat the upper house that I couldn’t concentrate on what was right in front of me. It was a mistake. If you sew the first button wrong, the next one won’t be smooth either.
And as I’ve said several times, it’s hard to convince an angry person.
【Why are you silent? Did you treat someone else’s family like an asshole without any solid basis? My brother is not such a person. I mean, I’m not the kind of person who does business with other people’s lives.]
Enraged Zoid growled. The party members kept quiet because they entrusted me with the negotiations, but there was someone who intervened in the uncomfortable atmosphere.
【──Do you really think so?】
It was a very restrained voice.
Even though the effect of impressing me wouldn’t work very well for me, who knows who everyone is, to the extent that I didn’t notice for a second who said what.
Zoid looked at Fran who asked the question.
【… What did you say just now?]
【I asked if you really think so.】
Frank asked without hesitation as if he was really curious.
【I heard that you have been separated from your older brother for over 10 years. Of course, you must have said hello after returning to Hremar.]
【That’s right. After wandering around outside my hometown for 10 years, I feel like reconciling.]
【Then why is Zoid-san serving as a security guard for the blacksmith guild, not your brother’s firm?】
Zoid’s pupils trembled. It was so small that even I would not have noticed it if I hadn’t been watching carefully.
【… Maybe it was because it didn’t make sense. Isn’t there a law that says you have to live together as a family? My older brother and I are both old now, and if you’re a man, you should take care of yourself.]
It was a counterargument that somehow sounded more like an excuse.
Fran did not find fault with that answer. It must be because Fran wanted to ask something else.
【Travelers want their hometown to stay the same. If you change your mindset every time you change your place of residence, you will get tired too quickly. I think that’s why I want my hometown to be the same as before.]
There was a sense of weight in the words of Fran, who lived as a stranger for 10 years.
Maybe it was because everyone in our party had the experience of wandering away from their hometowns, voluntarily or involuntarily.
【But the people left behind are different. 10 years is enough time for people to change. That’s why I’m asking.]
Fran asked. In the same atmosphere as before, when she was a timid iron class adventurer.
【──Are you really sure that that person is the older brother you remembered?】
Zoid pursed his lips.
I’ll repeat the same thing over and over again, but it’s hard to convince someone who gets angry.
In that sense, Frank has done a great job.
Because Zoid’s eyes, which were so fierce, drooped.
【… Rot. Somehow, I didn’t get a drink today.]
Zoid looked up at the clipped sky in his back alley and said.
【Follow me. Let’s hear what’s going on.]
【Is there a suitable place?】
【Go straight on this road, turn left once and turn right again, and you will see an inn. It is an inn that the old man who became lonely after his wife died misses people. Let’s talk there.]
To my question, Zoid calmed her anger and answered. I winked at the group. Fran and Lalilura led the way to the inn.
【As much as we forced you to believe, we will concede the location selection. However, it would be okay to ask the party sent earlier to scout whether it is a trap or not, right?]
[Hash, as you like. From the looks of it, you guys are lonely burning old people, and you don’t seem to be nobles taking hostages.]
【Thank you for your understanding.】
【Thubeol. It’s a bitch to be wide.]
Zoid spat in the alley again.
Then, looking at the alley where Frank disappeared, I mumbled her words.
【… Brother Can I ask you something?]
【Yes. You ask.]
【You want to ask about my older brother, because of a grudge?】
【… I hope you don’t have to ask your older brother for his sins.]
I looked back at Zoid.
【If there is someone behind this, and if Jade Tustars is not guilty, that would be the case.】
Zoid was no longer angry.
***
We made the inn room our private room, and we heard the circumstances from Zoid.
She didn’t have to worry about soundproofing because Veronica had blocked her sound with a rune stone. Zoid talked about his past as if he was working in silence.
The two sons of the previous head of the company who were half dwarves.
It is said that Jade was born to a dwarf mother and Zoid was born to a human mother.
【I was not interested in the position of president of the company. When I was younger, I just lived like a idiot.]
Although their mothers are different, it is said that the siblings are close.
Jade, the president of Twostars at the time, dreamed of becoming a merchant.
In the small country of Nidavellir, the supply of weapons and clothing exceeded demand.
No matter how outstanding the Dwarf artisans put out, if distribution is not successful, they will wander in the domestic market and end up in warehouses.
The result of the country of Dwarf artisans becoming an export powerhouse had such a background.
Nidavellir was also a country of merchants.
[An older brother who wants to show off the masterpieces of artisans to the world, and a younger brother who wants to help such an older brother. His father died after knowing that.]
It was actually like that until he got older and had a fight, Zoid recalled.
【We fought fiercely because of the company’s management policy. There was no merchant who followed my will, which I used to be like. After leaving my hometown like that, I wandered for 10 years, and came back with the thought that I was also at fault.]
He is said to have sought out his older brother in an attempt to apologize.
Even if it’s not like before, it’s because it’s a family that meets again after 10 years.
【They told me to quit. He said he didn’t need my help.]
His older brother hadn’t changed much from ten years ago, but those eyes weren’t the only way he looked at his younger brother.
It seems like that’s how Zoids returned after putting down the high-end alcohol they bought together.
【I also had to live on my own, so I joined the blacksmith’s guild, but like that lady said, my hometown has changed a lot in the meantime.】
After returning to his hometown and settling in, he would ask his new colleagues and bar friends about the past.
But my father’s——no, my older brother’s company had only heard bad rumors in my hometown.
【Still, I trusted my brother. I thought that he would come back like his older brother after enduring all the flatland waves like growing pains.]
I didn’t have to listen to the reason I believed so much.
‘Because they’re family.’
I, too, couldn’t let go of the hope that if I was treated so ruthlessly by my family after I returned to Earth, someday I would be able to go back to the way things were before.
Zoid would have done the same.
【I did… They sold something like this 20 years ago?]
Saying that, in front of Zoid, who covered his face with his hand, was a field mouse that ate the charcoal powder I gave it and went berserk.
“Chi-Ik!! Squeak!!”
A field mouse that goes berserk at being caught in my grasp.
Because rodents are creatures with fast heartbeats, they received the effect of charcoal powder mixed with cheese directly.
I treated the guy I drugged to convince Zoid and put him on the table. – Hurry up! Wild mice were mesmerized by their unique stupidity, and then ran away into the mouse hole.
With that cowardly appearance, there was nowhere to be seen rushing at Zoid to eat cheese.
【… If it was 20 years ago, it would have been right after receiving a compliment from my father.]
Putting down the charcoal powdered cheese, Zoid sighed.
Several experiments led him to believe in the side effects of charcoal powder.
It was also great that all the impatient people I often saw while working in Nidavellir had something to do with this dye. Yesterday, too, he almost got hit by an ax by a Dwarf craftsman who protested over the price of dye.
【Then what are you talking about? Has my brother has already become a chew of the world since then? I didn’t know about the atrocities of my own blood, and I just ran around comfortably?]
【I can’t say for sure that I knew it 20 years ago.】
You may not have known it at the time, but at some point you noticed the side effects.
If there really exists a back boat trying to sprinkle kiln oak charcoal powder in Nidavellir, it could be that they told you about it.
【But at least now you know the side effects. You know, they sell it. It may have been related to a recent fire in a place where wal grass is grown.]
【… Fuck. I was an idiot who thought I would be sane even by looking at those eyes.]
After lowering his cheese onto the table, Zoid exhaled.
[So, bro. Why did you tell me this?]
