Chapter 180

▶ The Memorial has ended. ◀

▶ Please select your next destination.

[1. Brem’s house]

[2. The second house on the right side of Shatren’s 7th street]

[3. Territory of Rusmaier]

[4. Carsein’s house]

[5. Plot 16]

[6. Ferdy’s secret base]

…

…

▶ Depending on your destination, the agent chosen for you will vary. ◀

To proceed with the next plan, I need the ability of the second agent, and by carefully spending time, I can bring Shatren’s problems to light completely.

In this process, I need to register an NPC as an agent. This NPC is Daike, the guard.

However, registering an agent isn’t easy.

While choosing the right ability for the agent is important, unlike Trisha who was easily turned into an ally, this one is not so easy.

Among them, Daike is quite a difficult type.

I have to visit him for days, triggering choices and progressing through sub episodes to raise affinity. Only after that do I get the choice to employ him as an agent.

But…

Now, through the Memorial, what did I see?

As the status window had foretold, this Memorial revealed the past of the guard Daike.

Back when playing the game, such settings were non-existent.

But now, I know what kind of person Daike is.

If I use this information from the Memorial…

Wouldn’t I be able to bring Daike in more quickly?

“Brother? Why are you suddenly stopping? Didn’t you say someone needs to pick him up?”

“…”

I stopped and asked Ferdy.

“Ferdy, compared to the past, how much has the quality of strawberries and grapes being harvested in Shatren now changed?”

“Hmm… Let me explain. Shatren strawberries and grapes are major specialty products, so they’re graded. They range from A+ to E-. In the old days, the main products were A+ to C-, but now they’re mostly D to E. And even D grade is rare.”

“How about the production volume?”

“It’s roughly… about 20% of its peak era.”

Both grades and quantities have fallen.

The Shatren strawberry and grape have become that hard to find.

‘But there’s been consistent demand, right?’

This means this Memorial gave me invaluable information.

“Ferdy, do you know the current price of Shatren strawberries and grapes?”

***

“Hey, it’s time to get to work!”

“I know, but can’t we stay a bit longer?”

“You brat, slacking off?”

“We need to fill our quotas. Otherwise, how will we eat?”

The residents laughed as they finished their snack break.

Standing up, they all wore new clothes distributed equally.

“Since we got these new clothes, we can’t just play around.”

“Yeah, we save money on medicine too.”

“It’s amazing. Just getting new clothes reduced injuries so much.”

“Come on. You should praise the people who made these clothes, not just the clothes themselves!”

They chattered as they returned to their jobs.

Previously, these were people injured all over from dangerous work. Clothes often got torn or worn out, but now it’s different.

Just a change in clothes.

Yet, it brought such a change.

“We’re lucky. We have to hide the Plisia Merchant Guild, but at least these people can receive the clothes made by the young lady…”

Mina said to Harnier with a smile, watching the scene.

Actually, Harnier was taking a huge risk.

Despite needing high scores at the Symposium, she couldn’t use the power of the Plisia Merchant Guild due to surveillance. It was a massive risk.

But somehow, things worked out.

“At first, I thought it was strange. The Plisia Merchant Guild supplying to the Rusmaier side, and then Rusmaier Merchant Guild selling in the territory… That would make it harder to investigate from the traffic hub of Rusmaier, so there’d be no worry about being discovered!”

The young lady is truly a genius!

Mina said with a big grin.

But she didn’t get any reaction despite making a fuss.

Checking Harnier’s expression, Mina felt a little uneasy.

‘She’s staring blankly again.’

Recently, Harnier spent more time spacing out.

Whether working, eating, or reading reports.

She always found herself spacing out whenever possible.

Deciding it couldn’t continue, Mina rolled up her sleeves.

‘That’s right! As a servant, if my lady has worries, I must solve them!’

That was Mina’s rule.

“Lady.”

“Huh?!”

Harnier jumped at the touch on her shoulder.

“J-Jumpy… How could you scare me like that.”

…Was that really scary, Lady?

She hadn’t reacted at all when talking for a while.

Feeling a bit disappointed, Mina wondered if she should comment, but decided against it. She felt something was off seeing Harnier so startled.

‘This reminds me of when she came back from Rusmaier.’

So, Harnier’s concern was about one person.

“Something wrong with young master Carsein?”

“What? No! Nothing like that!”

…Yeah, this is about him.

Thoughts of her fiancé.

It definitely had something to do with young master Carsein.

“Tell me what happened. What went wrong?”

“Nothing went wrong. That’s what he says.”

“But you seem worried. I can tell.”

“…”

Seeing Mina’s determination, Harnier blinked and avoided eye contact.

“If you keep going like this, I’ll ask young master Carsein directly.”

“Are you crazy? Why would you…!”

“Because it’s the Symposium. If you two have a collaboration agreement, why can’t servants exchange information?”

“Ugh…”

Harnier whispered.

“It’s because I feel like I’m receiving everything. I want to give something back, but I can’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“…The plan to have the Plisia Merchant Guild make clothes and supply them to Rusmaier to move to my territory, that was actually planned by young master Carsein.”

Mina’s eyes widened.

“It wasn’t me. This territory is managed by Carsein, not me.”

That was unexpected. Mina was speechless.

If what Harnier said was true, Carsein was managing two territories alone.

“So… I just receive everything, which feels odd… I want to repay, but I can’t…”

That makes sense.

It’s understandable.

Removing the eyes installed by the marquis is nearly impossible, and for a noble lady with no power in this territory, it’s similarly difficult.

So, the easiest way out would be a collaboration with the fiancé, but…

This was a one-sided deal where Carsein suffered losses.

And Harnier was struggling with this imbalance.

Understanding the cause-effect relationship, Mina could empathize with Harnier’s feelings.

Even though she had noticed it from the start, Carsein Bargrand was that straightforward.

‘Now I see, it’s clearly shown.’

Her slightly red cheeks and fidgeting eyes.

Her awkward finger-tapping.

She had always disliked such entanglements, but now it made sense. Quite naturally.

Our lady was innocent in this regard.

Her early symptoms were so clear, almost like a fresh scent.

Looking at her, Mina felt a bit playful.

“Lady, come to think of it, young master Carsein asked us to make pots for planting Shatren strawberries in our territory, right?”

“Oh? Yeah, that’s right.”

“About those pots. Thinking about it, there’s no real need to plant them here, right?”

Mina smirked.

“Why not just take the soil and plant them elsewhere? Then we can hear directly how to plant them nearby. And if we make a mistake, we can fix it quickly. Right?”

“…”

Harnier pondered again.

If she had no thoughts, she would have dismissed it earlier.

This response confirmed it. Mina exhaled sharply.

A slight push should do the trick here.

“Since Shatren’s situation is bad, there must be things you can help with. Remember, young master Carsein couldn’t sleep well before.”

“Oh… That. We need to enforce it. Did he sleep properly today?”

“Now’s the chance. Just give me orders from Shatren. It’s not hard with a proxy and the collaboration agreement.”

“Then… shall we just take the soil and plant them?”

“Yes! Lady, don’t you think it looks suspicious if an engaged couple lives apart?”

At that moment, Harnier’s face, as she pushed her hair aside, was the most beautiful she had ever seen.

The girl’s face, filled with unspoken excitement, was indeed beautiful.

“Yes, Mina seems right.”

Mina wiped the sweat from her forehead and silently congratulated herself on completing a crucial task.

***

One of the guards walked over, head bowed when he met eyes with Daike.

“…Again?”

“I guess so. Sigh.”

His colleague, Frict, sat down heavily beside him.

“Seriously, what’s the big deal with some berries? Even if they offered months’ worth of guard pay, it wouldn’t be worth it… Does that make sense?”

“…”

“Hey, Daike, say something. You’ve been here longer than me.”

“Shit. Same thing. What’s the point of saying anything?”

Daike was no different from Frict.

“Unreasonable or not, what can we do? Production is down, prices skyrocketed, and demand remains, so we’re the ones suffering.”

“…Sorry. I shouldn’t have vented on you.”

“There’s nothing to say. We’re both in the same boat.”

After the unprecedented poor harvest, the prices of Shatren strawberries and grapes skyrocketed.

Driven by the staggering price increase, Daike had no choice but to support the guards to appeal to the Shatren territory for even a small chance to obtain the precious strawberries.

But he still hasn’t managed to get them.

Just one strawberry.

But such a necessary one.

Now a premium product for the nobles, Shatren strawberries were not easy to obtain.