Chapter 20
Chapter 20
"Those are your standards. Here, we count strictly by head. Knight or old man, it's all the same."
The black mage responded smugly to my bargaining.
I narrowed my eyes and demanded.
"But there was no advance notice, was there? Four people for one sack is too much. It doesn't even divide evenly among the people we brought."
"Then two sacks for seven. No more than that."
When the black mage spoke firmly, Baron Hawin nodded.
"Fine, let's do that."
I glared at him in disbelief.
He was satisfied that easily, despite never having grown a single grain of wheat in his life.......
"Now then, I brought knights to carry the wheat sacks too....... Let's finish this quickly. Ugh, I feel sick and want to get out of here."
"Wait."
I cut off Baron Hawin and shot a look at the black mage.
"Show us the wheat first. Who makes a deal without even seeing the goods properly?"
"Hah."
The black mage gave a scoffing laugh. Then he asked Baron Hawin.
"Is this young lady your daughter? She's quite bold."
Before Baron Hawin could jump in to deny it, I beat him to it.
"I am Dalia Hawin."
There was nothing to gain from revealing my identity here. That was why I had worn the robe in the first place.
Fortunately, Baron Hawin hastily nodded as well.
"R-right."
He was worried that if they realized I had Liente blood, the deal with Sebon might fall apart.
"She's my daughter. Clever since she was little."
Even with the robe wrapped carefully, my eye color was visible.
Fortunately or unfortunately, we both had pale sky-blue eyes.
Baron Hawin preened.
"My child is smart and thorough."
"But she looks a bit arrogant."
"That's true. I'm disciplining her, but it hasn't been easy to correct."
At that, the black mage muttered in the language of Sebon.
"Asete kibana ayultakum... (That's what happens when discipline is done wrong...)"
I scoffed, then answered the black mage in Sebonian.
"Setene kibanata atom. Asiaki ataban. (I think so too. This man doesn't raise his child well.)"
The black mage's eyes widened.
He muttered in a daze.
"So the part about her being clever is true..."
"Show us the wheat already. You might have stuffed it full of rotten wheat, after all."
The black mage rolled his eyes for a moment.
"Suspicious, aren't you."
The black mage gestured to the person behind him. Soon, that person left for the warehouse to fetch a wheat sack.
'So the wheat is in that warehouse.'
That told me something important.
Warps were activating all over the port.
It seemed lords besides us were arriving even then to sell people; small boats were already being prepared in droves out at sea.
'The entire port has been taken over.'
I thought as I looked around.
Of course, Delpoven Port was a small, out-of-the-way place.
'They must have spent a long time bringing in outsiders and driving out the locals one by one.'
After preparing step by step like that, taking complete control the moment the Monster Wave isolated the place would have been easy.
'As far as I can see, there are no western locals here.'
People were gathered here and there, but the distinctive western accent could not be heard anywhere.
Baron Forman's expression was very dark as well, as if he had reached the same conclusion as me. After all, this was happening on his land.
In the meantime, one black mage came grunting, carrying a wheat sack on his shoulder.
"Here. Check it."
I opened the wheat sack myself and inspected the wheat.
'Wheat harvested last autumn. The variety is...'
That was when it happened.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"It's an attack! We're under attack!"
"It's the Nozen knights!"
I slowly raised my head.
Baron Forman's Tracking Scent must have reached the nearest knight order.
'Now's the time!'
I quickly signaled Wendy with my eyes.
Wendy, who had been tied up with the intruders, swiftly undid the knots at her wrists and the gag.
In one motion, she drew a dagger from her bosom and struck down the black mages who had been watching them.
"Aaaah!"
After dispatching the nearby guards in an instant, Wendy untied the intruders' bonds and shouted.
"Now, seize Baron Hawin's lot!"
After taking down the black mages, Wendy immediately went for Baron Hawin first and struck him on the head.
Baron Hawin collapsed unconscious on the spot.
"Over here!"
Naturally, the intruders followed Wendy and rushed at Baron Hawin's knights all at once.
That was because my knights were far too sturdy for them to attack me, and because they had been swept up by Wendy's command.
Besides, the one who had made the "decision" to sell them in the first place was Baron Hawin.
Of course, there was a reason we dealt with Baron Hawin and his knights first.
'In an unexpected situation, the enemy within is always the most troublesome.'
Before they could stab me in the back, I had to neutralize them first.
Wendy tied up the unconscious Baron Hawin and his knights, who had been captured without resistance.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Now... now..."
Her voice trembled with emotion.
"Now I can eat potatoes too..."
A few days earlier.
Wendy had begged me, saying she had done wrong and asking to be allowed to eat potatoes.
"You trained alone while everyone else was planting potatoes."
I spoke coldly.
"Only when you've earned your keep with your training time can I lift the potato ban."
So I had made Wendy serve as bait.
Because it seemed easiest for her to be among the hostages, eliminate the watchers from within, and help them escape.
Baron Forman was freed as well and hid behind Wendy in a fluster.
"Ack!"
Meanwhile, the black mage who had been dealing with me was flustered and panicking. He too looked completely out of his wits because of the western forces that had suddenly stormed in.
"What in the... Damn it. I'll have to withdraw for now."
After saying a few words to his nearby comrades, he rummaged through his pocket. Then he handed me a note.
"The baron has fallen, so I'll pass it to his daughter instead."
I took the note in a daze.
He lowered his voice and whispered.
"Bring Brisa Sears."
My eyes widened in an instant.
"The price will be fifty sacks of wheat. Understood? Here is the Warp address."
There was a reason he had been so flustered earlier when I said one sack of wheat for two people.
'In the original novel, my maids and I were worth fifty sacks of wheat too.'
So I had thought that was the going rate, but from what I heard, it wasn't even half a sack per person.
On top of that, he had said they counted by heads no matter what, whether they were old people or knights.
The price difference was far too great to be explained simply by being a high-ranking noble. That meant there was some other reason.
'They wanted to take me no matter what, even at that price.'
I hid my confusion and asked calmly.
"Why Brisa, of all people?"
"You don't need to know."
"She's innocent, you know?"
"I'm sure she is."
"Don't tell me you're planning to do something wicked with that child?"
"That's exactly what we always do—urk!"
The hushed conversation, kept quiet so no one would overhear, ended just like that. Philip, not knowing the black mage and I were talking, struck him hard on the head and knocked him down.
The other black mages couldn't come to help. The western knights had begun dealing with the white-masked ones first.
Before I knew it, the western knights had begun slaughtering the black mages, and the port was in utter chaos.
In the middle of it all, I clutched the note tightly, as if none of it felt real.
'Bring me? For fifty sacks of wheat?'