Volume 2 Chapter 9 (2/2)
That's all he said
”Are you okay, Merchant-dono!? We heard an incredibly loud sound from the direction of the forest…”
After we followed the road to the country on the other side of the forest, the person who greeted us was not the gate guard, but a consul from the country As is often the case, the consul was also flustered and panicking
”Consul-sama—I'm extremely sorry”
After saying that, the man briefly explained what had happened to hirief when he heard the reason behind the sound of the explosion
”What… Such a thing… Merchant-dono, are you uninjured?”
”I was healed by this Witch-sa by… actually, my injuries do not matter More importantly, I lost the bomb that was supposed to be used to excavate the tunnel It happened because of my lack of ability There is no doubt that this incident is entirely my responsibility”
”Not at all! Please don't blame yourself This was just an unfortunate accident It is truly sad that some people lost their lives because of this…”
Hmm
”But those people were bandits, right? Wouldn’t you say that they brought this upon themselves?”
I interrupted their conversation with that colared at me
”Witch-dono I cannot approve of such a statement They were still people even if they were bad natured It's only natural to feel sad when people have lost their lives”
”………”
Did he actually just say that?
I touched the pocket where I had stashed the letter, but didn’t say anything more
The young ive an explanation
”In any case, I aive us another chance?”
”Hmm? A chance?”
”Could you please allow us to prepare another bomb for you? You need not pay for it In fact, we don't require payment for the first bomb either There will be a considerable delay until we can deliver it, so I will use my authority to coy”
The Consul showed an exaggerated look of surprise when he heard the man's proposal
”No way…! We can't have that! Actually, ere ready to offer you a token of our sympathy instead”
”Please, such a thing is not necessary I just want to fulfill my responsibility Please, won’t you allow me to deliver the bomb for your country's sake?”
”No, really, that's…”
”No, this is just the right thing to do”
”………”
That conversation where both of the transparent lies finally careement that the man would prepare another bomb and the Consul would pay a token of their sympathy
That token of their syold coins
The ainal price of the bomb, but would the man—no, the people from his country really be okay with this?
”………”
I just stayed silent the entire ti
”In that case, let's meet here after a week”
I looked at the retreating figure of the
○
One week later, I once again met that man on the road in the middle of the forest
”Hey, how are you? What a coincidence,in such a place”
I stopped in front of the wagon and waved to hion and,
”Hey, Witch-san Thank you for helpingmy injuries”
”You're welcome”
”Would you like to ride along on on? I'll treat you to some food, as thanks for last time”
”Ah, no thanks I'm in a hurry”
”That's a shauess we part ways here”
Saying that, he cracked his whip and got the wagon ain almost immediately
The horse staave an annoyed snort
I had stopped it fro the horse's head
”…? What are you doing?”
The ed with a little fear
I was standing in front of the wagon, and blocking its path
”Nothing, there's just so that I needed to let you know”
”…? What's that?”
”Actually…”
I spoke to him
”About that bomb, the country withdrew the purchase order”
”…What did you say?”
”Oh, my Were you not able to hear me at this distance?”
”I heard you just fine, I just don’t understand what you mean Why did they withdraw the purchase order? And why a this from you?”
”Who knows? Perhaps they realized what you were atte to do with that bomb?”
”………”
”It looks like your country was planning on doing so very insolent”
”………”
I continued to talk as I walked towards the wagon
”There's a boht? It is made similar to the last one?”
Saying that, I opened the back and looked inside
What I saw inside was definitely a bomb… or rather, it was a bunch of bomb components
Last tie, I had found a user manual that explained how to asses that said 『Caution: This bohtest mistake,』and 『Please asse it to the excavation site』
”You intended to have the bomb malfunction from the start, didn’t you?”
”No That was truly an unfortunate incident”
”What was unfortunate? The fact that it was bandits who died due to the explosion, and not people of that country?”
”…Just what have you been talking about since earlier?”
It was pretty simple
There were s about the bo
Despite his insistence that it was meant to be used for excavations, its lethality was absurdly high In addition, it was in an incomplete state that would cause it to malfunction easily
What's ood chance that the userinstructions that could cause an accidental malfunction All of this seems to indicate that the people who had built this bomb intended to have it ht from the start Perhaps they wanted to have it assembled inside the country, so that it would explode there and cause a great deal of confusion inside?
”I have a e from the Consul of that country Would you like to hear it?”
”………”
I took his silence as consent and continued to speak
Seeing as he lied to me, I'll lie to him in return
”'We will never order anything froain We never want to be involved with theain…' That's what he said So please take that boo back”
”…You've got to be joking Just howthis bomb—”
”Ah, that reive you as a token of sympathy It's not much, but please accept it”
I cut hi with one hundred gold coins in his wagon
It was unexpectedly heavy Ridiculously heavy, even
I continued to speak to hi my shoulders
”That should be enough, right? Now, go back to your own country”
And then I said,
”Why not use that bo?”
○
This happened about a week before I saw him for the second time
It was right after he and the Consul had finished their conversation full of transparent lies I pulled a certain letter out of my pocket
”Consul-san, does this look familiar?”
It was the letter that I had found ae
”…! That is…”
Seeing the letter, the Consul-san turned pale
”So you're familiar with this, after all”
I mean, of course he would be familiar with it
The Consul-san's signature ritten perfectly at the bottom of the letter, after all
I wondered what business the consul of a kingdom had with a bunch of bandits, so I carefully read the letter The er it seemed
『I want you you to steal the bo the tunnel If you succeed, I will pay you one hundred gold coins』
Su the contents of the letter, that was basically what it said
It's the sort of thing that makes you want to say, ”Oh, what's this?”
”It looks like that attack by the bandits wasn't just a coincidence”
Most likely, the aht that it would be ot the bo to, rather than spend ten thousand gold coins on purchasing the bomb from a country they were already on bad terms with
How stupid can soet?
”…What is it you wish for, Witch-sama?”
Is he trying to bribe me to stay silent?
”Are you saying you'll give ?”
”If you're willing to say nothing about this matter, then yes”
”I see”
And then, I decided to tell a lie
”In that case, you should prepare soive to the merchant as well For what it's worth, he saw the corpses of the bandits, and read this letter as well”
”What…? But, he promised to build a new bomb for us…”
”Oh? That new boainst your country, you know? I'd suggest that you refuse to accept anything that is brought over from that country”
”………”
I then said to the consul as silently thinking,
”Ah, that's right About the price for buying my silence…”
I put a hand on his shoulder, and said,
”How does one hundred gold coins sound?”
”Considering that it's for the sake of keeping this a secret from that country you hate so much, isn't it rather cheap?”
I said that to him as well
○
It's always sad to see people losing their lives, so I think I did
Even so, as a traveler, whatever became of those two countries in the end was not uess, I'd say they are still in a chilly relationshi+p where both sides want nothing to do with each other
The country anted to use bandits to bring misfortune upon the other country that they hated
And the country who set up a bomb in such a way that it would kill the people of the hated country that used it
Both of the a chilly relationshi+p with each other is probably better than having boh time, perhaps, both the bombs and the hatred they have for each other will be eroded
That is why, I sincerely hope that those two countries will keep waiting Until the day comes when their current relationshi+p ceases to exist