[The Reason for Expanding the Board (1)]
They say that among the victims of voice phishing, there are surprisingly many highly educated people.
Ironically, strong self-confidence makes one prone to carelessness.
People who believe they are discerning, that they could never fall for a scam, and that no one could possibly deceive them are, in fact, the easiest prey for con artists.
Con artists dig into the gaps between reason and logic.
If a scenario is laid out that is logically plausible enough, the more rational a person is, the more they tend to believe it must be the truth.
It’s the assumption that if A happened, then B, and naturally, C must follow.
"Is it true that the Viscount of Lontes has gone to war with his own vassals?"
The rumor had evaporated into thin air, spread by someone.
The nearby Lontes territory had fallen into chaos.
As soon as Masang obtained information about the two situations, he inevitably deduced that there was a separate, true culprit.
Why?
Because it seemed logically sound.
A 21st-century human, a pro-consumer exposed to all sorts of media and stories, would have immediately suspected the extra who went around planting clues while pretending not to, thinking, "Huh. But these days, the real culprit usually has one more twist."
But unfortunately, the imagination of the people in this neck of the woods wasn't quite that advanced.
Watching Masang wear a grave expression, completely unaware that he was diving headfirst into an intentional trap, Jamie, who was standing beside Aiden, struggled to keep his face straight.
He felt like he might burst out laughing at any moment.
It was something his superior had said that he hadn't quite understood at the time.
But in the end,
'As expected of the Administrative Officer!'
His lord wasn't just excellent at administration.
"Why? Does the sound of war whet your appetite?"
Regardless, as Masang took the bait, Aiden tilted his head with a slightly annoyed look.
"First you suspected me of being a horse thief, and now you're treating me like an information broker."
"That’s not what I—"
"Ah, I need to get some sleep."
An outright dismissal.
Masang quickly knelt.
It hurt his pride to kneel before a mere administrator of a frontier territory—no, not even a lord, just a proxy manager—but it was necessary to obtain the information.
"I was impatient and committed a rudeness. Please, forgive me."
"So you did know it was rude."
"...I apologize."
Masang bowed his head low once more.
If he was going to bow anyway, it was better to lower his posture completely.
'I guess a merchant is a merchant after all.'
Seeing him discard his pride for a definite profit, Aiden's eyes darkened further.
Although he was a fool stepping on a trap and walking steadily toward the wrong answer, he didn't seem like a fundamentally stupid person.
"The vassals of Lontes tried to rob the lord's treasury."
"Did they lock the castle gates just because of something like that?"
"It wasn't just one or two of them."
Aiden shrugged and continued.
Little by little.
Teasingly.
"I heard half the vassals were involved?"
"I heard it was a plan to embezzle eighty percent of Lontes' annual tax revenue."
"That’s what they say."
"......"
As Aiden spoke, Jamie quickly added his own input, and Masang’s jaw dropped.
He had thought the miserly lord was just having a fit because a few vassals had colluded to skim a little off the top, but if they hadn't noticed it quickly, it was a scale that could have bankrupted the territory in just a few years.
Aiden, who had created this mess, still played dumb.
"I was bored, and then something interesting happened. I wish they’d open the gates so I could watch from up close. But they won't even let a single carriage in from the outside, for heaven's sake."
He sprinkled another trap.
"...Does that mean trade is blocked?"
"Official trade, yes. It's blocked."
Masang stealthily straightened his knees and pulled his chair closer.
"It seems there was a mistake in Masi. I will take responsibility and look into the missing invitation."
Then, he suddenly offered a deal.
It meant he wanted something.
"Suddenly?"
"Every castle wall has a dog hole, doesn't it?"
"To ask me, who is responsible for a region even if I'm not the official lord, to open a secret path... That's hilarious."
Aiden laughed even more arrogantly and shook his head.
"Horses are cash that moves on its own. Did you know that?"
"Are you boasting that your horses are expensive?"
"Those who wage war are always choked by their funding."
"······."
"The price of two hundred horses is enough money to end the kind of infighting happening within a territory in no time."
"Now you're suspecting Lontes of being the horse thieves. It’s a problem that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't lost the horses in the first place."
Aiden clicked his tongue.
To Masang, it was enough to make it look like "a guy who isn't even a noble has developed a taste for playing noble."
"The two hundred missing horses were intended to be sent to the Great Forest, where His Highness the Second Prince will be participating in the war."
Because of that, Masang finally revealed the secret.
He believed that if it was just a greenhorn obsessed with playing noble, he could be crushed with greater authority.
"...His Highness the Second Prince, you say."
Aiden's expression turned serious at once.
Masang cheered inwardly.
He thought that the negotiation, which had been dragged around until now, would finally proceed properly.
"They are horses that have finished all their adaptation training in the forest. It’s difficult to find such a herd again in a short period. He will be very angry. If you just tell us the dog hole, we will enter Lontes ourselves and catch the forces that dared to try and use His Highness the Prince's horses as a slush fund."
"Hmm."
"Is there a need to incur the wrath of a high-ranking person? You should avoid the rain."
Masang increased the pressure a little more.
A mere country administrator of the frontier could not defeat the authority of a prince competing for the imperial throne.
Isn't it the way of the world that even if a high-ranking person coughs once, a low-level servant's life is at risk?
"Well, that’s a shame."
"...Excuse me?"
"If news reaches my ears that the Prince's anger has fallen upon you, I will make a generous contribution to your funeral. Isn't it fate that we've seen each other's faces like this?"
But unfortunately, to Aiden, talk of princes and the imperial family had no sense of reality.
He didn't even bother to hide the look on his face that clearly said, 'What of it? You're the one who messed up, so you're the one who should be scared. Why should I be? Did I lose the horses? You lost them.'
It meant he was looking at the situation objectively and coolly.
'I should tell them to keep it well hidden.'
If anything, his greed for the horses only grew.
Horses capable of performing in specific terrains would be even more precious.
"We are the ones who lost the horses, but it happened in the North. If a guest's luggage is stolen at an inn, the innkeeper cannot fully escape responsibility either."
"Do you have any proof that they were lost in the North?"
"Well, that is—"
"There won't be any. To officially bring a merchant guild into the North, you need a trade permit, and I haven't read any such report. Adjutant!"
"Yes, Administrative Officer."
"Did this Masang sitting here apply for a trade permit in the North?"
"No. He has never done so. I only just found out that Masang was in the North."
"So you hear that?"
As Aiden smiled crookedly, Masang was momentarily speechless.
A trade permit? What was that?
The Great Plains of the North were a place he had naturally used as if they were his own. For all the long years past, he had never heard of or seen anything like a permit.
"Ah... I need one now. Because there are people who dare to try and do business in my land without paying a single cent in taxes."
"...We were unaware and didn't pay attention. But the fact that we lost horses in the North is a clear fact..."
"Are you sure?"
"Excuse me?"
"The Great Plains are not all part of our North. Even if it's ambiguous, it borders the Rilcoaster Duchy and the Hevina Kingdom. If you go further, it even spans across the Great Forest and the Holy Empire."
"······."
"But I asked if you were really sure that the horses were lost in our Northern Great Plains."
Before he knew it, Aiden's voice had become like that of a growling predator.
"No, more importantly. Is it true that the horses were even there in the first place?"
"What is that—!"
"I’m worried that you might have sold the Prince's horses elsewhere and are trying to pin it on us."
"Administrative Officer!"
"That's how the world works."
Aiden stood up from his chair as if he felt no need to continue the conversation, and tossed out his final words.
"If you have evidence, make your claim. If you don't have evidence, it's just baseless whining."
So, go find the evidence.
Late at night.
The three adjutants and the knight Biyan gathered quietly, not in the Lord's office, but in Aiden's bedroom.
"From now on, it's important."
He intended to properly expand this board.
The goals were three.
We will keep the two hundred horses already stolen.
Masang's suspicion will be directed toward the vassals of Lontes.
And the incompetence of the Viscount of Lontes will be spread far and wide in the capital.
"Is it possible?"
"Of course."
The four people who could now be called Aiden's 'vassals' answered in unison.
"I'm talking about the merchant guilds of the Lontes vassals, including Jefferson. There are still many cases where they are secretly procuring supplies in our North."
"They must be faking the items appropriately."
"Yes. It's something they're doing to get a few extra pennies on the side, but this time, we'll properly trip them up."
"Since the accounting books weren't straight from the beginning, once Masang gets their hands on the books, they'll notice something strange right away."
Masang was already convinced that the horse thieves were from the Lontes side.
He had to find evidence somehow, and since the dog hole had been mentioned, it was obvious he would be desperate to find the Lontes-affiliated merchant guilds operating secretly in the North.
The paper companies of the Lontes vassals who traded with the North were created with the intention of skimming off the top, so fake ledgers were rampant from the start; once they caught the tail, securing evidence would be instantaneous.
The moment they checked the books full of holes, Masang would surely suspect that these were definitely the ones trying to pick up their horses and sell them everywhere.
'Even if those liars try to deny that it wasn't them this time, there's no way anyone will believe them.'
That’s why the world teaches you to live honestly from the start.
"Give Masang a subtle hint. Without dragging it out."
"I will leak the information to the drunks at the inn."
"Good."
Masang would excitedly pick up the pieces of information that had been intentionally scattered.
"Once Masang secures the evidence, what’s the next step?"
"Wouldn't they report it directly to the Second Prince's side? That they found the ones who gobbled up the contracted horses."
"Will the Second Prince step in?"
"Eh, it's a bit much for a Prince to step in over two hundred horses."
Roland shrugged.
"Exactly. Even if he doesn't step in directly, he'd want to punish the ones who are bothering him, right?"
"Oh... Then... perhaps?"
"If we only get the permission of His Highness the First Prince..."
"If things go well, we might even be able to eat up Lontes, couldn't we?"
The eyes of the adjutants and Aiden locked in the air.
"······?"
Biyan, who was on the faster side of thinking for a knight, felt a sense of shame for not being able to keep up with the hole-ridden story in this office, so he kept his mouth shut without daring to ask for an explanation.