kscans

Chapter 52 - Behind the Scenes and a Secret Order

"Master-waster, I'm back with the investigation report!"

Solfi brought me the report from the familiars who had been sent out to investigate.

"Good work."

"Hee hee~"

As a reward, I gently scratched her forehead, and Solfi narrowed her eyes in pleasure.

"...It seems these merchants were, as expected, from the underworld," Adolnel said as she took the report and read through the background check on the merchants who had visited. Since that first group, several more sets of merchants had come, all claiming they wanted to do business in our country.

"However, this particular group appears to have ties to a nation's clandestine operations."

"Clandestine ops, huh? So that stuff really exists."

But our country hasn't even had its Founding Ceremony yet, so it's not even technically a country. The fact that they're coming now, saying they want to do business... well, that tells you everything.

"Those connected to a nation, disguised government spies, those cleverly guided here by a nation... the vast majority have some government involvement. The rest are purely affiliated with underworld organizations. There are a few who obtained information through their own channels and came to get a jump on their business rivals, independent of any nation, but they're also deeply entangled with the underworld, so it's more or less the same thing."

So, we had our Vampire Bat familiars investigate the merchants who came. They followed them quietly, infiltrated the towns they returned to, and listened in on their conversations, waiting for the merchants to let something slip.

"Any deeper investigation would have risked the bats being discovered, so this was as far as we could go. But simply confirming their affiliations is a significant gain."

"You're right."

Vampire Bats are the lowest rank of monster. Their combat ability is low, and if a human with a keen sense for presence spots them, it's game over. Hmm, looking back, I'm surprised I managed to survive as such a weak little creature.

"What shall you do? Crush them? Or shall we make an example of a few as a warning?"

"Why is your first thought always something out of a gangster movie? They haven't done anything yet, so we'll do nothing. Besides, they're giving us tribute, so we can just leave them be for now."

"That is true. And establishing trade with other nations was the original purpose of our founding, after all."

"But be careful about the goods they handle. I want you to make absolutely sure they don't sell anything dangerous to our citizens."

"Understood."

Yeah, I'm fine with them using this place as a trading post for their shady dealings, but I absolutely want to avoid having dangerous goods spread among my people. I'll have to remind everyone to tell me immediately if they're given anything strange.

"Also, about the slaves they brought..."

Adolnel changed the subject.

"Ah, those humans. How are they doing?"

"They are still frightened of us, but they have calmed down considerably compared to when they first arrived."

Right, it turns out that the merchants who come here have a pretty high chance of bringing slaves as tribute. As my food. But you know, the slaves they bring, while cleaned up on the outside, don't really whet my appetite. I get this feeling that they're like animals raised in poor conditions that are only cleaned up right before being shipped out. It's probably some kind of sixth sense unique to vampires.

Still, it felt like a waste to just throw away something I was given, so I decided to use them as a labor force that possessed human sensibilities.

"Being given adequate food and their own rooms and beds seems to have put them greatly at ease. It appears they were kept in far worse conditions before."

"Well, they're slaves, after all."

"However, they are slaves. As long as they are bound by a magical contract, we do not know what kind of compulsory orders might be embedded within it."

Adolnel voiced her wariness of the slaves.

"What was it again? An order that forces them to obey once a certain condition is met?"

"Yes. Slaves are bound to absolute obedience to their master's commands by a magical contract. Normally, they are bound to the owner of the slave contract, but simplified contracts using forged documents also exist."

A forged contract works like this: first, a slave trader makes a contract with a captured slave, making himself the master. Then, he prepares a fake slave contract and transfers the slave to another person, while retaining his own command authority by having pre-emptively ordered the slave to obey the new 'master.'

Why would they do such a thing? To make them betray their new owner, of course. For assassination, stealing secrets, or theft... it's not a method used for anything decent.

"The forged documents themselves are magically crafted to avoid suspicion, so without an expert, it is impossible to verify their authenticity. That is the problem."

So that's why Adolnel suspected that the slaves might not have been truly transferred to us.

"Hmm, but in that case, couldn't we just break the slave contract? That way, we could force them to abandon any hidden orders, and even if they were set free, they wouldn't be able to escape with just the clothes on their backs."

After all, my "Wolf-chans" patrol this country like guards, so it would be impossible for a human to escape by running or hiding.

"However, breaking the contract also requires an expert. It is a different system of magic from that of the Dark Elves, and I have heard that a clumsy attempt at dispelling it can trigger anti-escape measures that do terrible things to the body."

Ah, I see. If there's a magic like that, of course they'd have measures to prevent it from being broken.

"But well, I think I can probably handle it. I'm a high-ranking vampire, after all."

"Eh? You can do that!?"

As it turned out, I could. I summoned one of the slaves for a test and examined her body. I found a stagnant mass of magic swirling inside her, so I just poured my own magic into her and bam, smashed it to pieces. She seemed to be in a bit of pain, but with that, the magic was completely gone.

"Alright, just to confirm, were you under any compulsory orders from your original master? If so, tell me."

To see if I'd really broken the magic contract, I asked her if she had been given any secret orders...

"I... I was ordered to act docile to make you let your guard down, and once I had gained your trust, to spread poison throughout this country to eliminate everyone but the undead in the event of a war... Huh? Wait..."

The command that came out was far more dangerous than I'd expected.

"What? I was able to say the order? Why?"

The slave was shocked that she had been able to speak of the secret command.

"Yep, I can definitely break magic contracts."

At this rate, I could break the contracts of the other slaves and eliminate any potential threats.

"Normally, that's not something one can simply do... My lady, I had always thought your power was more of the physical sort."

Are you trying to say I'm just a meathead who can only solve problems with brute force, Adolnel?