The Douglas Count's knight order stormed into the Folcania magic stone mine under the pretense of resolving the incident there and simply occupied it.
Meanwhile, with the mine shut down and their income gone, the Gambard Trading Company would eventually have no choice but to sell off the mining business to...
s
o
m
e
o
t
h
...er trading company.
And once that happened, the Douglas Count would pull out of the mine immediately.
Something like that, anyway?
"Maybe they forced the adventurer recall to make the situation look like a major crisis. Grandle must have pressured the Elector into issuing the forced recall."
"The adventurers got screwed over, being used as pawns like that. If that was the plan, they should've just gone in with the knight order alone."
"Alan, if we can't extract magic stones from the Folcania mine, daily life will eventually stop functioning. That mine produces the majority of the magic stones in circulation. For the nobles, there won't be
a
n
y
immediate impact."
"So the commoners are the first ones who'll be in trouble, since the nobles get priority on the magic stones anyway."
"Ugh... guess we've gotta go."
"Well, if we don't go, we lose our adventurer licenses, right?"
"If that happens, maybe I'll get Charl to hire me at his real job."
"Harsh joke, dude."
"How about a rags-to-riches tale from a tiny dark guild? 'Leaving Pandemonium far behind, I'll make a name for myself in Maygrant's underworld!' What do you think? Wanna help me out?"
"Wait... am I still not forgiven?"
"Yep. Not until I get bored of it."
◇◇◇
The Gambard Trading Company, based in the royal capital.
Gambard, the company's president, was burying his head in his hands.
"I never thought our company's main mine would end up like this... Every investigation team we've sent has failed, and there've even been casualties. We have to compensate the families, but if the mine stays shut down, we won't have the money to do it..."
"Father..."
Meilen—a girl with golden drill-curl hair adorned with a large pink ribbon, and the president's daughter—felt her heart ache watching her father grow thinner by the day.
Over the past few years, one mishap after another had plagued the Gambard Trading Company's businesses, and each time, they'd been forced to sell off ventures to cover the costs.
Before they knew it, the title of the kingdom's top trading company had been snatched away by the Grandal Gem Company.
Knowing her stubbornly earnest father, he'd likely sell off the mining business himself rather than let the large number of employees lose their livelihoods over this mine disaster.
The only buyer for a business of this scale would be none other than the Grandal Gem Company.
"Father, no matter how you look at it, this is Grandal's doing."
"But... there's no proof."
Even from Meilen's perspective, helping her father, it was clear enough — but her father, who was no good at indirect tactics, couldn't hope to fight back.
The assistant who had been handling such matters had long since been poached by the Grandal Gem Company.
The trading house that had built itself up on a foundation of integrity might see the curtain fall in her father's generation.
Her honest father was someone she could genuinely respect as a person.
But Meilen felt that the world simply wasn't kind enough for that alone to carry someone through life.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
The Grandal Gem Company has its hands in a number of different businesses, but since it started out in gems, it has continued to go by "Gem Company" all this time.
Skills: [Reverse][Divine Eye][Sword God][Fist God][Spear God][Blazing Magic][Freezing Magic][Clear Gale Magic][Rock Iron Magic][Holy Magic][Dark Magic][Spacetime Magic][Thunder God Sword][Gentleman Thief][Ninja Master][Seeker of Truth][Monstrous Strength][Vayudanta][Pain Dulling][Complete Status Ailment Resistance][Dark Spirit's Protection][Ultra Intuition][Heaven's Gate][Abyssal Contractor][Magic Hand][Treasure Search][Seduction][Agitation][Eloquence][Great Luck][10× Growth Speed][Growth Limit Breakthrough]
Rank: Orichalcum
Thank you for reading!