Behind the Scenes (1)
The preparations were already finished, so the execution moved swiftly.
"Move it—faster!"
"You there! Lock that tarp down tight so it doesn't slip!"
In the dead of night, Viscount Bjorn's soldiers—stationed in advance near Evergarden Territory—carefully guided a long train of carriages into the fiefdom.
From there, transferring the magically drugged beasts into the underground chambers once used by the criminal syndicates that had formerly occupied Evergarden Territory took less than four hours by rough estimate.
Before the morning sun had even risen, Viscount Bjorn had successfully smuggled the captured monsters into Evergarden Territory.
"Is that a magic beast? It looks awfully fierce…"
"Hmph. Big deal. A beast is still just a beast, right?"
"Quite right, my lord. In the end, those animal brutes pose no real threat to you, Count. Haha!"
"Damn right! Obviously!"
Watching the entire process with an air of pompous self-importance was Darian, while Freya giggled brightly beside him. And next to the couple, Viscount Bjorn stood wringing his hands with an oily smile.
Most of the magic beasts locked behind the iron bars were juveniles.
Adult magic beasts were far too violent and destructive, and their resistance to sedatives was strong enough that transporting or holding them for long periods was simply impractical.
So Bjorn had captured the more manageable young ones and kept them steeped in drugs, while the adults were hunted down and their byproducts sold off. (Trading and capturing live magic beasts was illegal—but hunting them and selling the remains was perfectly lawful.)
"So this really makes that much money?"
"Of course! Nobles from every region are already climbing over each other to buy these beasts!"
"And naturally, Count Darian—who so generously provided a secure venue for these transactions—stands to earn an even greater sum!"
"Really? Then I want a new pony this time! Big horses are scary~"
"Haha! Sure, sure! Buy as many as you want!"
"Oh my! You're the best, darling! Heehee!"
"Right? Wahaha!"
"…O-of course! Absolutely!"
I can't stand this. I'd love nothing more than to cut this bastard down right now… but I have no choice but to endure.
Augh…! My thighs are killing me…!
Forced to watch the couple's sickeningly sweet lovey-dovey act unfold right in front of him, Bjorn pinched his own thighs hard enough to bruise while clinging to a poker face.
"Still, is it fine just dumping them here like this? Don't they need food or anything?"
"No need to worry about that, my lord. My men will remain stationed here until the appointed transaction date and handle all the care themselves."
When Darian asked about managing the beasts, Bjorn waved the concern away and presented his subordinates.
They looked somewhat worn down by fatigue, but there was nothing slack about them—sharp and alert to a man.
"Hoh… is that so?"
Darian muttered as he cast a sidelong glance over the soldiers.
"Well then—now that the heavy lifting is more or less done, the rest can be left to the underlings. If it please you, shall we return to the manor for a drink?"
"Sounds good! Let's go already!"
"Heehee, I'm looking forward to it~"
With the magic beasts safely delivered into the territory, Darian and Freya returned to the manor alongside Bjorn.
"Ugh. Tch…"
His face faintly flushed, Darian scratched at his head as if exhausted and made his way back to the office.
"I'm back."
"You've worked hard. What became of him?"
"Passed out dead drunk. Tch. The whole time we were drinking, the booze tasted like nothing—entertaining him was a real pain."
Having spent the evening back at the manor drinking with Bjorn, Darian muttered wearily about the entire performance of playing along.
"You seemed to drink for quite a while. How's the alcohol treating you?"
"Ah, that? Easy fix."
Freya looked at him with concern—his eyes half-lidded, his face red—but Darian answered as if it were nothing, then briefly closed his eyes.
And then—
"…Hup!"
—Psssshhhhh
With a mighty shout, pure white steam of distilled alcohol billowed from his nose and ears.
"…Whew! Once I started learning mana, turns out I can do stuff like this too."
Having properly opened his eyes to mana, Darian had developed a technique for expelling the alcohol in his system through mana itself—purging every last trace of intoxication.
Even Gordon, who was something of a teacher to him, had never conceived of such a method. It was Darian's own original technique.
"Anyway, from now on I can drink as much as I want without ever worrying about getting drunk—"
"Even so, please drink in moderation. I'll be checking."
"……Tch."
The plan to use the technique as an excuse to dodge Freya's nagging whenever he drank was shut down in a single stroke, and Darian's expression turned faintly sullen.
"So, what do we do next?"
"Now that the magic beasts have been gathered on our land, it's time to thin out the people who intend to buy them."
"When an opportunity like this presents itself, shouldn't we take the chance to clean house thoroughly?"
"Sounds good. But how?"
"Here—the list of magic beast traders I obtained from Viscount Bjorn."
At Darian's question, Freya casually produced a single document and held it out to him.
"These are the ones looking to buy magic beasts?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Hmm… Baron Crehan… Count Rege… Arsen, Vice Chairman of the Merchant Guild… Huh? It's not just nobles?"
"To be precise… one might call it a vulgar hobby of the wealthy?"
"…Ahh. So it's basically a way of saying, 'I've got money—jealous?'"
"Exactly."
The buyers of magic beasts were not limited to the nobility.
Some purchased them out of genuine fascination with a beast's wild allure—but most did so simply to feed their own vanity.
So even without a noble title, anyone with sufficient capital and the right connections eyeing a magic beast was hardly unusual.
"The New Year's Ball in the capital falls on the twenty-ninth of the thirteenth month. According to this, the buyers on the list will place their reservations at our territory beforehand, head to the capital, and then return here afterward to collect their respective beasts."
"Hah. Acting like our land is their own living room."
"For our plans, this arrangement is actually far more convenient."
"Insolent bastards."
"Still, everything is proceeding smoothly. For now, all we have to do is wait. Nothing more."
"I'd love nothing better than to thrash that passed-out bastard right now—but I'll hold back."
Darian muttered, cracking his knuckles as if his fists itched for action.
"For the moment, let's wait for those children. Would you care for a cup of tea?"
"Ah… tea? Yeah, that sounds good… mm…"
"……"
"Uh… I mean…"
"No."
"Aww, whyyyyy… just one glass. Hm? Just one~"
"You've already had quite enough today. Here—the milk tea has steeped beautifully."
"……Ugh."
At the very hour Darian and Freya were sharing tea in the office—
"Haaawn… mmph…"
In the hidden underground chambers of Evergarden Territory, a soldier standing guard over the temporary magic-beast holding pens cracked a massive yawn.
"When's the next shift?"
"Two hours left."
"Damn it… time crawls like hell."
They couldn't leave the entrance to the underground fully exposed, so it had been disguised as an ordinary warehouse. Standing out front with a long spear gripped in hand, the soldier blinked dully and muttered to himself.
"This is so goddamn boring I could die."
"Entrance duty's still the better deal. The guys watching the beast pens must be going out of their minds."
Orders had come down for round-the-clock, close-contact security while the beasts were being held, and the men were rotating shifts accordingly—but none of them truly understood the point of it.
There was only one entrance into the underground.
The magic beasts were so thoroughly drugged they would remain half-conscious for weeks at least.
All the job amounted to was tossing them meat on a schedule and standing around staring into space.
And even after a shift ended and they rotated out, they still had to remain buried underground.
The transport of the magic beasts had been conducted in such absolute secrecy that, officially, these men were not currently present in Evergarden Territory at all.
Which meant eating, sleeping, and washing all had to be handled down here.
Food supplies were passed along at regular intervals, true—but spending days on end sealed in a sunless basement, chewing on flavorless jerky, was pure misery.
The only time they could even taste outside air was when they drew entrance duty.
"Haa… one cold beer and I'd die happy…"
"Same… and a woman. I need a woman."
"…Want to sneak out for a bit right now?"
"Don't be an idiot. Get caught and we're finished. You know what that bastard's like? He'd throw us to the beasts as feed."
"Ugh…"
Just a short walk away lay streets overflowing with drink and food, yet here they stood in a dark alley, swallowing hard at the distant sounds of revelry—bored out of their minds and thoroughly miserable.
Then—
—Step. Step.
"…?! Who goes there!"
"What the—?!"
Far down the alley, a figure approached with deliberate footsteps, its dense shadow filling the passage. The soldiers immediately thrust their spearpoints forward and shouted.
"Um, uh… ah. Hello…?"
Even so, the footsteps did not stop. The figure came to a halt at the tips of their spears.
From beneath a cloth wrap that completely hid the face, a soft, refined woman's voice drifted out.
Rustle—
The wrap covering the entire face slipped free, and the mysterious figure's identity was revealed.
"I-I brought some food…? Hehe…"
Black hair that shimmered under the bright moonlight.
Tiny, toddling steps and an awkwardly forced smile.
A girl in a maid's uniform stood holding a basket, looking up at them with a stiff little grin.