Caught You, You Thieving Bastards!
I'd been riding hard for hours with Karl and a few knights.
Then, way off in the distance, I spotted Privia flying toward us.
"Halt!"
We stopped for a moment to wait, and in a flash, she swooped right up to us and puffed into her other form.
"I'm back."
"Found 'em?"
"Do you take this lady for some amateur? I completed the mission with flying colors."
"How'd you do it?"
"I melted the frozen road into a mud pit."
Whoa.
Our little mesugaki's tougher than she looks.
"So, how'd they react?"
"The moment they saw this lady, they panicked, ditched the carriage, and tried to run. So I walled them in with ice."
"Nice work! Good girl!"
Our Pokémon's more useful than I thought.
I grinned and ruffled Privia's hair before pulling a treat from my pocket and popping it in her mouth.
"Here, your reward."
"Mmmpf!"
What she was munching on so happily? A carrot.
Why a carrot? 'Cause Karina told me so.
- Young Master Edrick! I've compiled a list of Privia's favorite snacks!
- What the hell? She likes all this stuff? Does that brat even have standards?
- She seems to eat anything humans do... especially sweets.
- Sounds like a total glutton. Anything goes, then.
- Pardon?? That's not what I meant by the list...
With our budget stretched thin, no way I'm wasting sweets on that kid.
Carrots for horses are perfect for a mesugaki.
"Alright, let's move! Back on the road!"
A few more hours of riding brought us to the ice wall Privia had made—and the trapped carriages and culprits inside.
"M-Master Heinrich!! What do we do now?!"
"Argh!! Yelling at me won't help!!"
"But how did this happen so fast?!"
Heinrich, the guild master, was just as clueless. Everything had gone down in seconds.
Just a few hours earlier.
Their carriages, cruising smoothly, suddenly sank into a nightmarish swamp of thick mud.
They could only tremble like leaves as a massive blue bird plummeted from the sky.
"Th-the Frost Phoenix!"
"The real Frost Phoenix appeared!"
The mercenary guards didn't even draw their swords—they just collapsed in fear.
Puff!
Where the giant beast landed, white smoke billowed up.
From within emerged a tiny girl with blue hair.
"Making this lady handle such a hassle...!"
She scratched her mystical blue locks, grumbling. No one could believe this brat was the monster that had darkened the sky moments ago.
But the chilling mana and aura pouring from her screamed she was no ordinary kid.
Overwhelmed by the cold, Heinrich stumbled back, teeth chattering.
"Answer this lady's question. Are you the ones from that Lucian Merchant Guild?"
Arrogant words that no kid should utter.
But no one dared call her out.
One trembling executive beside Heinrich squeaked out a mosquito-like reply.
"Y-Yes... but why us...?"
"That's all I needed."
The girl flicked her finger lazily.
Then...
Krraaaack!
"Eek!!"
"Wh-what the hell?!"
Towering ice pillars erupted around the mud-trapped caravan.
A thick ice wall, meters high, sealed them in instantly.
They were trapped in a massive ice prison. As Heinrich's crew gaped in horror...
Puff!
The blue-haired girl shifted back to her giant bird form and soared mercilessly into the sky.
And now.
Hours later, still caged in ice.
"Master! The ice is melting a bit!"
Heinrich's head snapped up at the shout.
Sure enough, water dripped from the walls.
Even Frost Phoenix ice melted without its master—and the North's weather had warmed lately.
"Yes! Grab picks, swords, whatever—smash it! The border's just a bit farther!!"
Hope gleamed in Heinrich's eyes.
The carriages were stuck, but they could load the ledgers and valuables on horses.
Cross the Grand Duchy border, link up with allies, and escape safely.
"Just a little more! Keep digging!"
"Captain! Almost through! I see a gap!"
Crack!
The mercenaries hacked wildly at the ice, cracks spiderwebbing across it.
"Hahaha! We're saved! Saved! The heavens favor the Lucian Guild...!"
Heinrich clutched his money pouch, screaming in ecstasy—
When...
Clop clop clop!
Hoofbeats thundered from the narrowing gap.
"Huh...?"
As Heinrich dumbly muttered...
Knights on horseback appeared through the hole.
Leading them: a white-haired youth casually holding the reins.
Edrick von Heiden smirked down into the ice prison, lip curled.
"What kinda bullshit did you pull to go fleeing in the night like this?"
Privia's work was flawless. Hours later, the fugitives were still nicely boxed in.
"Privia, clear it now."
At Karina's word, the kid riding with her snapped her fingers—tick!—and the ice began to melt.
Knights circled the carriages, blocking escape.
I strode forward confidently, and the guild master greeted me with a friendly smile.
"Oh my, if it isn't Young Master Edrick of House Heiden. What brings you and your knights all the way out here...?"
This guy's playing innocent?
I let out a disbelieving snort.
"Rough going with the frozen roads, eh, Guild Master Heinrich?"
"Haha... weather's been fickle. But what brings you near the border?"
What a natural actor.
No need to flex on this sly merchant.
I'm a Sword Master, after all.
Instead, I jerked my chin at the knights behind me.
"Open every cargo hold."
"Yes, young master!"
They moved in unison, yanking covers off several wagons.
"Y-young master! What is this?! You can't just rummage through another guild's goods...!"
Heinrich jumped to block, but knightly arms held him back.
The contents spilling out? A sight to behold.
"Young master! Dozens of chests stuffed with gold coins and imperial bank drafts!"
"This wagon's loaded with jewels and high-grade magic stones!"
"Found bundles of important documents and ledgers!"
They'd cleaned out everything, souls included.
Heinrich paled, then snarled with venom.
"What's our crime in taking our own goods south?! Guilds move assets all the time—legit business! Even as Deputy Grand Duke, this is overreach!"
Playing the victim to the end?
True, hauling your own cash isn't instant crime.
But the evidence speaks for itself.
This'll crack wide open.
"We'll find out after interrogation back home."
"Wh-what...?!"
"Our top guild bolts with all its wealth? As territory manager, a tax audit's in order, right? Tie 'em up."
Knights bound Heinrich and his execs tight.
"L-let go! I'll complain to the Imperial Court! Barbarian North bullying innocent merchants!"
"Sure you will. Take 'em away."
I ignored his shrieks, grabbing the ledger stacks from the carriage.
The next day, at Heiden Grand Duke's Castle in Eisenburg.
The Lucian Guild execs who'd tried to flee were all tossed in the underground cells.
My office's massive conference table groaned under piles of seized ledgers and documents.
"Your tea, young master."
"Thanks."
Lily, nailing her secretary look again, set down steaming black tea.
Sipping it, I skimmed the summary report while hearing from the finance managers.
"Here's the imperial relief fund ledger versus the serial numbers on the guild's bank drafts."
"So, proof they skimmed the crown's cash?"
"Exactly. Clever and bold scheme."
The more I read, the more I chuckled bitterly.
"Holy shit, check the scale. Spring wheat seeds, wall repairs, winter army rations—all siphoned?"
Per the docs: right after my father, the previous Grand Duke, died fighting frost giants...
The Empire, fearing a collapsed northern front, sent hefty consolation and relief funds.
But merchants sniffed out the state cash first.
And with heir Cedric young, lovesick, and absent...
Heinrich pounced on that.
"Bribed desk-jockeys in the capital. Fed fake receipts and inflated bills to clueless officials, pocketed the funds in secret accounts."
"Dad dies, Cedric bolts to the capital, they figure the bastard son knows zilch—so they go full throttle."
A chill settled in my veins.
If I hadn't tamed the Frost Phoenix for show?
If these rats hadn't spooked and fled?
This fortune would've vanished into their guts, laundered slow.
Northern serfs starve without seeds come spring, walls crumble, monster chow.
"Total skimmed?"
"Cash, drafts, jewels... three times a year's tax revenue. Plus their own hoard? More."
"Jackpot."
A real motherlode.
With this, we can seed every territory with spring wheat, no hitches.
Lots to handle with the guild fallout.
But I shoved that aside, summoning all managers.
"Buy spring wheat seeds from east and west, budgets be damned! Nail the start, and no more starving armies against monsters. Everyone, bust your asses!"
With the climate shift, the North's overhaul kicked into high gear.