Okami Wa Nemuranai

8

The old tea vessel was lowered, and new tea was served in a new cup. The confectionery was served in front of Lecan when it was plated on a large plate. Lekan put it before Eda. Edda quickly took one confection, but then there was the kind of atmosphere she was thinking about.

(This guy. You're wondering if you can take this treat home.)

"Zach Zykers"

"Something, Lecan."

"Can I take this sweet home?"

"Hmm? No, let's make sure we have nothing for the takeaway. Don't hesitate to eat that sweet."

I'm sorry.

Zach made a hot cup of tea and sat back on the couch deeply, closing his eyes.

Eda gestured to worship Lekan and happily reached for the confectionery.

"Instead, the Zykers were lords of Coggles"

"Ho."

"Do you know that? Looks like he's from far away. From a very far away place."

"Right."

"But a man betrayed his lord, and fell, and slaughtered all his clan, and took his lord's seat. I stood around well, and the king acknowledged this."

"I see."

"The lord had several side chambers. One of them was returned to his parents' merchant house and secretly gave birth to a boy"

"Uhm."

"That's my grandfather."

"Ho."

"My grandfather had a talent for business. I became the owner of the store, made the store bigger, and empowered it."

"So."

"My grandfather went so far as to cow the economy of the town of Coggles. And finally, he trapped the usurper and his clan, and killed them all to regain their possessions and power."

Lekan thought that the usurper and the others might have had a reason to avenge the Zykers, but he did not say anything in his mouth.

"It was, then, nasty to make the king recognise the change of lord again. My grandfather also found that being in power as a lord has many constraints in many ways"

"I guess that's what happens"

"So my grandfather rebuilt the Zykers family and set my father in the forefront, and placed the shop from Mizumi under the umbrella of the Zykers family. And he set up a lord out of the house that was near unto the usurper, and turned his bellies from the midst unto him as lord's aides.

"Big deal."

"That's right. It's a big business. My grandfather made it in one generation."

I'm glad to hear that.

"The Zykers don't do business as a business"

"Hmm?"

"For the Zykers, business is war."

"I feel like there are a lot of merchants who think business is war."

"The Zykers' business is not confined to commercial practices and ethics"

"You mean you don't shy away from crime either?

"Once before the birth of the kingdom of Zaka, the monarchs of the city took their territories from each other in war"

"I guess so."

"Now that we have a country, we cannot subjugate, dominate, and take land from our opponents by force. Now we fight by things and money."

Lekan also knows what Zach is saying.

"Commerce" in a place called Zach is not a competition between shops and shops. It is not a juxtaposition of individual and individual forces or property acquisition. It's a meal between territories, a way to dominate and subjugate them. Use force in unseen areas. It's exactly the war itself.

It's a war of living or dying, so we'll use spies, and assassinations. He'll lie and break his word. If you look at weakness, it will strike you, and you will go poorly on the strong. Zach doesn't think it's bad at all.

"Hmm. I see how you think. But I don't see why you bothered to take the time to tell me that."

"My enemies hired an unknown and powerful adventurer whose power exceeded my preparation. In the next battle, I want to hire that adventurer. That's why I wanted to tell the adventurer that I had no grudges or hatred at all."

To this word, Rekan was poked at the impression. But this didn't seem like a lie.

Suppose it costs one gold to prepare one force, and one hundred gold to prepare one hundred forces.

It's a waste of money for the enemy to prepare five forces, while this one prepares a hundred.

But we should have prepared ten forces against the five forces of our enemies, but we lost.

It's because of all the different molecules.

So now I want to hire that foreign molecule on my side.

That's what Zach's saying.

"Understood"

"That's good. I wanted to meet you in person and talk to you. But I couldn't come up with a way to get him here. It was a shame for me that you took on Dobol's escort this time. I thought you probably would, but you're a muscled adventurer. He's a man who can see the damage done."

I know what Zach thinks. But for Lekan to be hired by Zach, there's a handicap. It's Dobol. Dobol won't be happy with Lecan. Lekan can't work safely where Dobol is either. I wonder what Zach thinks there. It must be something to do with having Dobol present in this seat. Definitely not a coincidence or anything.

Lecan decided to take a step in.

"Did a man named Malarkis have a son"

Malarkis is the real name of Eiffen, who was the owner of the Cheney store. A criminal nicknamed "Cold Blood," he was supposed to have been executed, but he survived, infiltrated the Cheney store and passed on information.

The faces of Dobol and the butler were frightened. Zach was slightly blinded, but no further emotional changes were on the table.

"It's a name I miss. How do you know that name when you're from far away?"

"That's what he called himself."

"Right. But let's just say I'm not listening. Otherwise it would have coincided with the same name. My knowledge of Malarkis was a faithful heart of mine. Loyalty was too thick, and he lay his hands upon those who sought to harm me. There were many witnesses, and they were not silly. I saw this man executed."

Of course, this is a lie. I don't know what kind of deception he did, but Zach let Malarkis survive and sent him in to Cheney under the name of Aven.

"It's called" Cold Blood. "I guess I've accidentally gotten my hands on it many times."

Zach did not respond to these words of Lekan.

There is a strange tension in the room. In it Edda is turning the empty plate upside down and collecting the confectionery powder over her hands.

"You haven't answered my question. Did Malarkis have a son?"

"... could have been there"

After all, Dobol seems to be the son of Malarkis. It is also believed that he drew that son in response to Malarkis loyalty, and that he was a hostage against Malarkis infiltrating enemy lands. Given the temperament of a man named Zach, it should be seen that they were both shackles to each other. I don't care.

What doesn't matter is Dobol's gaze on Lecan right now.

I'm sorry about this.

Zach spoke to Nike.

"I'm surprised the Comet Slasher is so young."

"Right."

"I heard it was Sheila's grandson, the pharmacist, is that right"

"Sort of."

"I've had many deals with Sheila the pharmacist, but I haven't gotten a good response."

"Sounds good."

"You may have a job to ask for, too. Please say hello then."

"Well, that's when it happened."

So the conversation was interrupted.