How to Survive at the Academy Chapter 267

[Abduction] Double arm scales (8)

Upon revealing Ed Rosteyler’s power of attorney, government officials immediately ushered Belle Maia into a reception room for honored guests.

Belle sat in the drawing room, holding Lortel’s hand tightly, focusing her attention quietly on her surroundings.

When all the vassals he brought were sent to Elte Firm, Bell was the only one who would protect Lortel. Since an emergency can arise at any time, you should never let your guard down.

“I heard that there is a famous vassal who is solely responsible for the stability of the famous Roth Taylor estate. Rumors abound that she gained the trust of that demanding lord and rose to a position comparable to that of a hostess of an aristocratic mansion from the status of a commoner.”

At that time, an old gentleman who opened the door and entered spoke in a calm voice.

“It’s an honor to meet the rumor’s protagonist in person.”

A neat merchant’s hat, monocle, a tight-fitting shirt and pants. And even a royal blue coat. Her appearance is so refined that even her gray hair in places looks dignified.

It was Might, the head of the Oldeck government office, which is directly under the ecliptic.

“Rumors are always inflated. It’s an honor to meet you, Commissioner Might.”

Bell is not a vassal, but a hired status. And she is not even from a commoner, she is from the Planzel nobles.

It is unavoidable due to the nature of rumors that such details are out of sync.

“I am surprised that she is younger and more beautiful than I thought. As she is the herald of the Ross Taylor family, she should be treated with due respect. By the way, what about that cute kid next to you?”

Bell chewed on Ed’s instructions and spoke slowly in a low voice.

“This is Miss Lortel, a guest who is currently entrusting herself to the Ross Taylor family.”

It is Commissioner Might who reacts more sensitively than anyone else to the power structure within the Old Deck. He couldn’t have known the name.

However, at first, I thought it was a boring joke, so I just laughed awkwardly.

However, seeing that Bell’s expression doesn’t even move, he frowns a little.

Lortel, who was sitting next to Bell with one arm wrapped around her, only stared back and forth between Might and Bell, anxiously.

Might’s expression began to harden little by little.

“There are many things to explain. First of all, the Commissioner will need my help sooner or later.”

Bell calmly continued the story. Might showed her bewilderment at the sudden situation, but she slowly focused her attention on Bell’s words.

Bell glanced at his watch and spoke.

“Before you listen to my story, arrange the VIP band and ceremonial supplies quickly. It would be better to listen to the detailed story as you work.”

*- Bang!!

Roth Taylor family vassals break down the wooden doors of the store and pour into the lobby.

In the meantime, one more magic arrow shook Slog’s office again. The impact of each shot was like a huge bomb.

“This, Mr….!”

Slog suddenly screamed at the two colossi who were so shocked that they couldn’t keep their senses.

“I-I have to go downstairs first! If possible, go underground!”

“Slog Keldrux!”

Puelan, who had gained a lot of weight, was stuck on the floor, unable to move properly.

Even if it rots, it is said to be a colossus of six, and a factor in charge of mineral distribution in the southern part of the empire. Slog gritted his teeth and pulled Puelan’s arm up to raise him up.

On the other hand, Caldenheim, a thin-built bond dealer, quickly succeeded in building himself up.

“Isn’t that a different story! Ed Rosteyler will approach with caution…!”

“Let’s figure out what’s right and wrong later!”

Slog exclaimed, frowning.

I definitely feel uncomfortable.

I knew that Ed Rosteiler’s power and influence could not be ignored.

Nevertheless, the reason why Slog was able to make a bold move was because he already knew his ‘tendency’.

Bulldozing away in this way without thinking about the future is the opposite of Ed Rosteylor’s tendencies.

Even if you receive protection from the imperial family and the saints, whether or not there is a justification and justification for your actions is completely different.

Twisting the neck of a colossus that is just doing business without any evidence… It may be possible, but it will have a great adverse effect on your reputation.

It will be a great year for the name value of the Ross Taylor family, which has just been revived and is expanding its power.

In addition, if Ed Rosteiler, who holds the teaching position, is stigmatized, public opinion among students will deteriorate and his reputation will further collapse. The image of an idiot who goes wild when he is wrong is fatal to those who teach him.

Ed Rosteeler is a man with many achievements. That said, there is a lot to lose.

Those who have a lot to lose do not act recklessly. They try to move within the institutional sphere and within the bounds of discipline.

Because of that, it can be dragged into a battlefield where Slog is confident. A world of scheming and scheming.

Ed Rosteeler has always been that way, and he has never deviated from that rule. This is the reason that Slog could only be himself.

But this time… the eyes of the people around him come in like a madman.

It is a move that makes meaningless everything that Ed Rosteiler has been doing, analyzing and figuring out how he has behaved so far.

“Didn’t I tell you to trust me! Oops, crazy…!”

“It’s not like I didn’t expect the worst! There is a means to put out an urgent fire in the basement of the upper house!”

Slog threw off his coat and rolled up his arms.

“Puelan, Caldenheim. The two of you run down to the basement and get the supplies from warehouse B-3. It’s too valuable an item to leave in the hands of the merchant’s staff.”

“Oh, what’s there?”

In any case, Fuellan and Caldenheim are giants betting completely on the side of the slog.

Whether it be porridge or rice, they are the ones who have to stick to the slog.

“It is something that can overcome this situation. Ed Rosteyler’s goal is to catch me anyway, so I’ll try to escape and pass the time.”

Caldenheim swallowed dry saliva and looked towards the broken outer wall.

After breaking down the iron gate of the store and entering, Ed Rosteiler is seen jumping off the roof of the wagon.

You can even feel a kind of demonic spirit in the way he puts down his longbow, shakes off his arms, and walks into the branch.

There are mercenaries guarding the inside of the store, but I am sure that they alone will never be able to stop that man from entering.

“If you’re going to carry it, you’ll need at least two people. Anyway, we’re on the same boat now, so don’t think about anything else and come right away.”

Slog gritted his teeth and emphasized to the two of them.

Puellan and Caldenheim nodded in a cold sweat, then quickly ran out of the office.

There is no retreat anyway. If you make up your mind and start pursuing it, you won’t be able to take it off. You should see a solution here.

*When I entered the store lobby, I saw a lot of merchants who had already been suppressed and were lowering their posture on the floor.

Everyone looks like they don’t know if this is a dream or real life.

In the middle of Old Deck, the city that plays the role of the heart of the empire, it seems that they would not have thought that they would be caught up in a riot close to terrorism at the Elte store, the largest store building among them.

It is not difficult to subdue the merchants. As long as they keep their lives, they won’t offer much resistance.

The problem is the mercenaries who contract with the merchant and protect the head office and branches.

“What, what… that bastard…!”

“Everyone, come out! It’s an enemy!”

The mercenaries who were waiting on the outskirts of the site or on the upper floors began to gather in the lobby in amazement.

Daggers, long swords, crossbows, staffs… they gathered with a lot of weapons… but they couldn’t attack easily.

It was because the vassals felt unusual when they saw the duke’s family pattern on their chests.

“What, what are you doing!”

The merchant who was lying on his stomach trembled with fear and cried out.

“Ooh, shouldn’t we have to make room for our escape!”

In any case, trust is the life of a mercenary. If he signed a contract with Elte Co., it would be right to protect Elte Co., no matter who the opponent was.

The mercenaries shouted in unison and ran.

– Whoa!

While pushing away all the mercenaries with basic wind magic, I concentrated my magic in one hand.

I didn’t want to hurt my vassal more than necessary, so the fight was kept to a minimum. Catching the slog is the key anyway, so the rest of them try to get them to flee rather than subdue them.

As the raised magical power rises from within, it reconciles with the spirit formula and embroiders the air.

– Quaaaaaaagh!

The vassals who had heard the words in advance rushed into the hallway inside the store.

The size of the mana that filled the lobby grew bigger and bigger, and before long it started to break the ceiling and pillars.

Merchants and mercenaries open their eyes wide and fall out. I radiated the raised elemental response towards the outer site.

– Whoaaaaaagh!

The giant reptile’s pupils split vertically, looking inward from the outside of the front door.

All you can see in the lobby is those big eyes. This is because the size of the lizard is the size of a fairly modest house.

The scorching heat announces the manifestation of the fire spirit.

The sound of the burning flames eventually spread throughout the upper building.

Higher Fire Spirit Tarkan.

It was a high-ranking spirit that couldn’t even pierce its shell, even if it brought a bunch of middle-level wizards.

Not only the employees of the company inside the premises, but even the passers-by start running screaming.

It is like a bomb dropping in the middle of the city. The majesty of the high-ranking spirit makes the beholder fearful.

“Damn it…! Oops… Damn it…!”

The mercenaries all at once began to be seized with fear, such as kicking their buttocks or shaking their bodies.

Faced with an opponent they can never win, there is only one option available to them: flight.

“This, first… the back door… run towards the back door!”

Those who chose their lives rather than credit as mercenaries rush out toward the escape route.

The captive merchants were also staring at them dumbfounded, but they couldn’t bear to blame them. It’s because I instinctively realized that I would have made the same choice even if the position was opposite.

The mercenaries, who gave way completely without even thinking about stopping the vassals, gritted their teeth and ran out of the site.

He couldn’t have imagined that he would encounter a high spirit in the middle of a city like this.

“Look for Rienna. I chase the slog.”

He instructed his servants to do so.

Lienna Clemson, Lortel’s chief secretary, must have been held captive by the slog.

The Rienna I knew was never a person who would betray Lortel.

But Slog said he had plucked information about Lortel from Rienna’s mouth. In short, it meant that Rienna was forced to open her mouth by some undesirable means, whether it was torture or giving her a confession.

To do so, he would have to keep Rienna within reach. If you search the head office of this store, you will surely find Rienna.

After the vassals responded loudly, they all scattered and began to search the merchant building.

I raised my mana once again and completely destroyed the half-destroyed ceiling of the lobby with Lieutenant Fire Magic ‘Single Point Explosion’.

I have no desire to prolong the time. It is in the middle of downtown.

The more time you drag, the worse it gets. It’s done in 20 minutes.

The hole in the aftermath of the explosion leads upstairs to the upper floor, giving way to Slog’s office.

The merchants were completely suppressed and lost their fighting spirit. The mercenaries all fled to save their lives.

There is some time left until the intervention of the government office in charge of urban order.

I gathered the magical power of the wind and leaped to the upper floors of the merchant building.

Slog is just a merchant without any fighting ability. If you are in a situation where you have to fight with force, you won’t even be an opponent.

When I jumped up and reached Slog’s office, I saw only the half-destroyed outer wall and the open door to the hallway.

After staying here, he quickly ran out into the hallway.

“…”

I strode straight through the open door and looked toward the hallway.

At the end of that hallway, I saw Slog’s back as he gnashed his teeth and ran away.

I gathered mana at the tip of my hand. This time, it was Aspect Magic, not normal Magic.

Aspect magic ‘forced assembly’.

Aspect magic is truly absurd magic. Once in sight, once activated, there are only skills that must be allowed.

As I let go of the raised Aspect Magic, the body of the slog that was running away is sucked back into me.

“Kheuheouk!”

I grabbed the slog by the collar and hit it against the outer wall of the opposite hallway.

– Kwadangtang!

– Bang!

“Cheak!”

The slog that hit the outer wall and rolled on the floor let out a groan of pain.

However, in that moment, Slog takes out a magical engineering item from his pocket. It was a shock absorber.

Colossi without fighting ability always stock up on magical engineering supplies for self-defense. I didn’t know that.

Unfortunately, magic engineering is my specialty. The shock absorber that Slog took out had already been made hundreds of times.

Just staring at the device with eyes wide open cut off the magic circuit inside. This is because the internal structure was clearly visible even with closed eyes.

– Click, click.

“This, this crazy… Why does this work…! How much does this… cost…!”

I just grabbed the shock absorber that Slog was holding and threw it away. The device, thrown into a corner, broke helplessly and rolled across the floor.

Slog looked up at me, then quickly pushed the floor back and tried to step backwards, but the brutal hallway wall blocked his back.

“Ha… uh… uh… ugh…”

Slog said with a laugh.

“Mister Ed… You’re misjudged.”

“…”

“It may seem that I am rushing my tongue to fix the situation, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart. You can get the job done right now. Take your vassals and retreat. Don’t you see that this isn’t helping Lortel Kecheln, it’s just driving her further in the long run?”

Slog gritted his teeth and raised his voice.

“Didn’t Lortel speak out of habit? The battle of merchants is a battle of cause and legitimacy.”

I was just listening, not saying anything.

“Do you think the merchants will follow her, even if you forcefully push me like this, break my neck, and put Lortel Kecheln at the top of the business? Unfortunately, the merchants do not follow Lortel, she fears you at any moment.”

Slog put his arm on the hallway wall and slowly raised himself. All that remains of him is his tongue.

However, the slog is a merchant who lives off his tongue.

“Merchants are, in the end, people who act based on efficiency and rationality. At first, you will bow your head as if you were obeying Lortel, but eventually you will realize that this is not a group founded on economic logic and rationality, but only a group founded by force and fear.”

Merchants act according to money, not power. The two often go together, but fundamentally they are completely different.

“How long do you think the merchants will follow Lortel, who only has the dignity of Ross Taylor on his back? It won’t take long for the core personnel supporting Sanghoe to feel skeptical and leave. They need a leader who is good at business, not a leader who only reigns through political power and force.”

The fact that Lortel tried so hard to open a deal with Seonghwangdo was also a move to get the merchants belonging to the Elte Company to sew.

Sanghoe is a place where merchants who want to make money gather. In the end, ‘business’ is the best justification if you want to catch them, put them on a leash, and use them as human beings under your command.

“If I break my neck like this, I will be remembered as a pitiful hoeju who was unjustly put down as a victim of the Roth Taylor family’s violence. Lortel will push me away and become a human who has taken her place with strength.”

“…”

“Is this really the political structure of the Chamber you wished for? This much… I thought you could understand this much… Isn’t this completely basic?”

As I kept my mouth shut, Slog began to give more power to his words.

“I thought he was the one who knew better than anyone else that power built without cause and legitimacy would only slowly crumble in the end… I didn’t know that he would make the worst choice that would only harm each other. It’s not too late now…”

“Slog Keldlux.”

I raised my magic hand and put it in Slog’s face. Slog gulped his dry saliva.

“You must be the one without justification and justification.”

“Such… what… I took over the position of Elte, the Golden King, externally and fairly…”

“I told you with your own mouth that merchants’ eyes go to gold coins after all.”

There are quite a few parts of what Slog says are correct to some extent.

However, there’s no way I didn’t think about that part in advance.

“Do you think you would accept the person who is trying to bury an incredibly large project in the ground to keep your position?”

“…Are you talking about a successful transaction?”

Slog lowered his head, then let out a hollow laugh.

“Do you think you can push the current owner out of business plans that haven’t been established yet… and things that haven’t progressed properly in the name of that?”

The success and transaction that Lortel was pursuing had not yet seen the light of day.

No I didn’t see the light anyway before, there’s just nothing promoted. I just accepted the promise to connect the seonghwangdo and Lortel.

No one can guarantee that it will develop into a proper business plan.

“Even if a tangent is planned, it cannot have any political meaning. There is no fixed schedule, and above all, merchants speak in contracts. I don’t have a contract, so who will believe me?”

“Even if I guarantee it myself?”

“I am familiar with the majesty of the Roth-Taylor duchy, but that voice cannot move the whole of Carpea.”

No matter how powerful the son of a duke is, one voice cannot move the country.

There was no way Slog was unaware of that fact.

So the slog is now moving. Slug is not stupid either. By now, Lortel was well aware that there was no justification for pushing away Slog.

“I’m sorry, but Seonghwangdo and Elte have already concluded a logistics contract, and there is a contract. you burned it In order to protect your place, you burned the profits of the entire trading company and made it a thing that never happened. Even if it’s not really, that’s how it will be.”

“Slander and obscenity. That’s a great strategy… but not all merchants will believe it, even if Mister Ed, a stakeholder, tells it.”

“Yes, you are right. Slog Keldrux.”

Slog struggled in pain, but let out a small smile.

First of all, it was clear that there was no reason to do anything about the slog at this point.

“So, you should borrow the mouth of someone with much more authority than me.”

At my words that followed, Slog’s laughter burst into laughter.

Then slowly staggeringly lifted his head, and little by little the pupils widened.

When his thoughts were completely organized… his eyes were wide open, and his voice trembled slowly.

“You… what… did you…”

*- Bang!

An employee who burst through the door of the reception room at the Oldeck government office quickly apologized.

It was because there was an urgent need to visit the commissioner who was on duty.

The Commissioner, who was talking with Bell, listened to the quiet whisper of the staff member who strode forward.

And, the Commissioner’s eyes also widened.

While listening to the whispered words of the shopkeeper, he stared intently at Bell.

Belle still sits discreetly and closes her eyes.

Commissioner Might quickly got up from his seat and flipped through the various reports in the drawer of his work desk.

It was a list of official schedules of various influential figures within the empire that were reported every morning. He stared at one of the papers and swept his bangs in disbelief.

Bell, who had been watching the scene, spoke slowly before long.

“Looks like a guest is coming.”

Bell remembers.

The question that Ed had casually asked Tanya.

– ‘If I send a letter to Saint Carpea from now on, when do you think it will arrive?’

The schedule of the saintess is basically announced every month at the level of success.

As a saintess who receives all the respect of the Saint Carpeaa, all schedules are as announced… with strict escort.

That’s why, anyone with a certain level of knowledge could know Saint Clarisse’s schedule.

“This…”

—Merchants call Saint Clarisse the ‘Walking City’.

Where she goes, traffic is paralyzed by the crowds, and it is crowded with believers who ask for teachings to hear even a word. There are more than enough crowds to fill three or four large central plazas.

There is no human being in the world who can make a saintess with such influence come and go at will.

So, completely discarding all official schedules… the fact that the carriage with the saintess of that era was running through the commercial city of Oldek… I couldn’t believe it even after hearing it with my own two ears.

When he woke up one morning, it was as if a bomb had suddenly fallen on the city he was managing.

“…”

In the waiting room filled with silence, only young Lortel, unable to comprehend the situation, looked around with a bewildered face.