TMSTGH 09

Chapter 9

Pierce seemed completely oblivious to my horrified expression.

“Go on, tell us! What did you say you would do?”

His sparkling eyes were overwhelming, so I turned away. Only to find the one-eyed man staring at me next. Then Rashak. And then…

AAAAH! Why is EVERYONE looking at me?!

“Hiel?”

“W-well, you see…”

I wanted to run away so badly I could scream, but the damage had already been done.

I fixed my gaze on a random point in the air and forced myself to speak.

“If we… look at Sterling’s warehouse… we might be able to find some evidence…”

I had never felt so terrified in my entire life.

Even after we arrived at the Sterling Trading Company’s warehouse, I couldn’t stop trembling.

“Judging by how loudly you spoke up back there, you must be pretty confident, huh?”

The one-eyed man sneered at me.

“Just you wait if you fail to find anything. I won’t let you off the hook, and neither will that arrogant little brat.”

“Could you stop shoving your ugly face in front of me?”

Pierce suddenly stepped between the one-eyed man and me.

“Come on, shoulders back! Stand tall! Be confident!”

He was hardly one to talk, considering he was the reason I couldn’t stand tall in the first place.

Anyway, I entered the warehouse.

I took out a box of distilled liquor and set it on the floor. The one-eyed man immediately spoke up.

“This is your evidence? Its size and shape are completely different from the box that brat brought earlier.”

“That’s true, but…”

“What are you mumbling about? Speak clearly.”

“Could someone bring me some of the counterfeit liquor?”

Just as Pierce was about to move, Rashak suddenly stepped forward first and fetched the box himself.

He placed the box of counterfeit liquor directly in front of me and whispered,

“If things go south, we can just kill them all. Relax.”

Was that supposed to be reassuring?

As expected, his thought process is completely different from that of an ordinary person.

And I was the very definition of an ordinary person.

I was still trying desperately to steady my trembling hands when—

“Huh? Hiel Caveron?”

At the sound of my name, I turned toward the voice and spotted someone familiar.

Rashak frowned.

“Who are you?”

“Pardon? Oh, I’m an employee of the Sterling Trading Company.”

Patrick Rohan.

My former superior back when I worked at the trading company.

And the man who had stubbornly sided with a perverted sexual harasser right to the very end.

“I heard there was a problem with the distilled liquor, so I rushed over…”

“The problem isn’t with our liquor. It’s with their goods.”

The one-eyed man grinned.

“There’s no way anything we make would be defective. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeees. That’s right.”

Patrick nodded and smiled.

The somewhat bashful expression on his face made me instinctively realize something.

He was involved in making the counterfeit liquor, too.

“But why is Hiel here? Who would hire such an incompetent…”

“First, let’s look at the wood shavings.”

I deliberately ignored him and cut him off.

“As you can feel for yourself, the wood shavings in the counterfeit liquor box and those in Sterling’s liquor boxes have a similar texture. They’re stiff and coarse. That’s because they’re made from cheap, low-grade wood.”

Wood shavings were used as cushioning material, shaved from wood into thin, ribbon-like strips.

Unlike sawdust, they didn’t produce nearly as much dust, making them a much cleaner option.

“Hah. Wood shavings are wood shavings. What’s the difference?”

“There is a difference. The Bellen Trading Company uses high-quality wood even for its shavings. They’re much softer than these.”

The one-eyed man scoffed.

“Is that all? A few pieces of wood?”

“There’s one more thing.”

I took everything out of the counterfeit liquor box.

Then I held up the empty box for him to see.

“Look. There’s a scar on the inside corner, isn’t there? It was probably caused by the jig used to hold the box in place during assembly.”

“Such a tiny mark…”

“If the marks are identical, that’s a different story. Besides, I’ve never seen anything like this on a box from the Bellen Trading Company. Not once.”

“…”

“But the boxes coming from Sterling always have the exact same compression marks. They’ve had them for years.”

I turned toward Patrick.

“Distributing counterfeit liquor without even noticing these marks? I suppose the person in charge must be exceptionally incompetent.”

In fact, I’d once mentioned this to someone from Sterling.

I’d pointed out that only the boxes coming from Sterling had those marks.

From the appearance of the damage, it seemed that part of the jig used to assemble the boxes had broken. I had recommended that they inspect it, since someone could get hurt if it suddenly gave way.

But the response I’d received from the Sterling employee at the time had been—

“What’s the big deal about a faulty jig? How badly could someone possibly get hurt? Aren’t you being a little too sensitive?”

Right. Sensitive.

That word again.

I’d genuinely blamed myself back then.

I’d heard the same thing from my parents constantly at home, and now I was hearing it at work, too.

When I was training to become a knight, I’d worked hard to develop my powers of observation. But I had convinced myself that I needed to live differently now.

I couldn’t even remember how many times I’d tried to talk myself into accepting that.

And Patrick had made my life even more miserable.

“Caveron, I heard you said something strange to Sterling yesterday. Didn’t I tell you to stop sticking your nose into things that aren’t your business and take care of yourself?”
“Who do you think you are, acting all high and mighty? Do you have nothing better to do than run your mouth?”

Those marks on the jig were the reason I’d had to endure that endless lecture.

How could I possibly forget them?

“It’s true. The marks are identical.”

Pierce approached and examined the boxes.

“Let’s check the other boxes, too.”

Soon, more boxes from Sterling were lined up in front of me. Rashak’s men opened them one by one and removed their contents.

Every single box had the same marks inside.

The exact same marks as those on the counterfeit liquor boxes, in precisely the same locations.

“Y-you’re seriously nitpicking over something this trivial? Does that make any sense?”

“Bring me a box from Bellen.”

At Rashak’s order, a box of genuine Bellen liquor was brought over as well.

Just as expected, its interior had no marks whatsoever.

Rashak ran his fingers over the wood shavings from Bellen’s box and curled his lips into a grin.

“There’s definitely a difference.”

He held the box out to the one-eyed man, as though inviting him to check for himself.

But the man stood frozen, not moving an inch.

Rashak rose to his feet and stared straight at him.

“Like I said, my conditions are very simple. Leave the capital immediately, and hand Sterling over to me.”

“…”

“I’m sparing your life because of the history we have together. You know what’ll happen if this gets out.”

There were no victims yet, but the liquor was unmistakably counterfeit.

Judging by the fact that the one-eyed man wouldn’t even touch it, the contents were almost certainly dangerous to human health.

If things had gone badly, countless people could have been harmed.

There was no way the guards would simply overlook a case this serious. Especially with physical evidence right in front of them.

It was practically a gift-wrapped opportunity for them to boost their record.

In other words, now that the evidence had been found, neither the one-eyed man nor Sterling had any way out.

But—

“And if I refuse?”

The one-eyed man glared viciously at Rashak.

The atmosphere grew even more murderous.

The only ones trembling were me…

And Kevin, the head of the Sterling Trading Company.

I turned to look at him.

His brown eyes were filled with fear. Mine probably looked the same.

Which meant he should understand what I was trying to tell him.

I widened my eyes and silently pleaded with him.

PLEASE, JUST SURRENDER!

I didn’t say a word aloud, but I trusted that a fellow coward would understand.

Even though we’d only just met today!

Even though we hadn’t exchanged a single word!

PLEASE!

At that very moment—

“I-I was wrong!”

Kevin dropped to his knees in front of Rashak, looking even more desperate and dramatic than I’d imagined.

GUYS!! SOB! OUR KEVIN HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!!

“I’ll accept whatever p-punishment you decide… Just please spare my life…”

“Shut your mouth!”

“I couldn’t refuse because our families have had a relationship going back to my grandfather’s generation. He threatened to kill my entire family if I refused, so I had no choice…”

“You little bastard…”

“If you want, I’ll hand over all the ledgers, too!”

That was when the one-eyed man suddenly charged at Rashak.

He didn’t get far.

Rashak immediately blocked his attack and threw him to the floor.

And I mean threw him. He slammed the man down so hard that he went sprawling across the floor.

Then, in the very next moment—

“AGH!”

Rashak drove a dagger into the back of the one-eyed man’s hand.

It was the very dagger the man had been holding when he charged at Rashak.

Somehow, Rashak had already snatched it away from him.

Rashak spoke in a low voice.

“Get everything settled by tonight. I’ve already sent people to your house, so don’t even think about trying anything funny. You wouldn’t want the contents of your safe exposed, either, would you?”

“…”

“I can’t hear you.”

“I-I’ll do it, you crazy bastard!”

At that, Rashak smiled in satisfaction and patted the one-eyed man’s cheek.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not letting you go because I can’t kill you. I simply hate dealing with unnecessary trouble. Don’t make me go out of my way to deal with you. Understand?”

Unnecessary trouble.

That phrase reminded me of what I knew about Rashak from the original story.

Well, letting the man live would probably mean less noise and fewer complications.

After all, Rashak was none other than the Duke’s—

“Let’s go back.”

At his gesture, the members of the Barsen Organization turned around in unison.

I hurried to move along with them.

Like someone afraid of being grabbed by the collar, I quickly attached myself to Pierce’s side.

“Thanks to you, Hiel, we wrapped things up in no time! Incredible! How did you figure all that out?”

“I… remembered seeing something similar when I worked at the trading company.”

Pierce was so excited that he kept chattering cheerfully even after we got into the carriage.

Rashak, who occasionally responded to him, also had a smile on his face.