I invited her to the office on the third floor. She spoke as soon as the door was closed.
“We found out who the mage was.”
“Already?”
“It wasn’t that hard. It’s not like there are that many goat women who are also rank 5 fire mages. She’s an underground mercenary from Thuk, the type that does all sorts of shady jobs.”
“What about the ones behind her?”
“You know we’re monitoring the three great merchant companies, right? Miwai’s the one who had the most suspicious movements related to this incident.”
“Miwai… No surprise, then. What are you going to do about them?”
She bit her lips, half annoyed and half embarrassed.
“We’re going to give them a strong warning.”
“That’s all? Are you serious?”
“It’s not like I’m happy about it either! We don’t have any strong evidence against them. It’s all circumstantial. We can’t condemn anyone with just that, even if we’re governing the city.”
It was my turn to look at her with cold eyes.
“…Useless.”
“Hey! Take that back!”
I sighed.
“Whatever. Thanks for the information, at least. Better than nothing, I guess.”
“I told you, I’m not happy about it either!”
“So what? Doesn’t that mean we’re just going to grind our teeth without doing anything concrete? It seems the law has no meaning if anyone can do whatever they want without getting punished.”
She didn’t answer me immediately, thinking about my words.
“Mom told me in the past. This world is one where the strong wins and can do anything they want. Law is only as powerful as the people who can enforce it. And then… It’s all nagging about how I should be grateful to be her daughter and whatnot.”
I stared at her for a moment. If the outer world truly were lawless, it meant I was also free to do anything I wanted. As long as I didn’t leave evidence, right? Instead of revealing my mind, I changed the subject.
“What about the bunnies’ village defenses?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. That sort of incident won’t repeat itself. I could feel Mom was furious about the attack, even though she stayed calm on the surface. We’re going to increase the village defenses multiple times, with night patrols and wide area alarms. It’s hard to defend a large place, but we’re going to do our best.”
I understood what she meant. This was an issue that existed both in this world and mine. With the existence of air mages and here flying species, walls were pretty much meaningless for defensive purposes. That’s why no one bothered to build any. Unless one built something like the domes, which left absolutely no entrance point, it was always harder to defend a position than to attack it, because attacks could come from anywhere. Even the ground wasn’t safe, with earth mages able to build tunnels in a matter of minutes.
“That’s reassuring.”
“I told you everything, so I’m leaving now. I’m busy.”
“With how much you wander around these days, do you even get your job done?”
“Quiet, you. It’s fine to take a break from time to time. See you later.”
She left as quickly as she came, leaving me with my thoughts. Her information was precious. Now, it was up to me to verify it. I left the store to the manager and made my way to Miwai’s headquarters.
The building wasn’t that far since it was also located in the same rich commercial area. It was a splendid construction, four stories tall, looking luxurious even from the exterior. We were in a rich district, but the building still stood out as one of the most magnificent ones, as if to prove how prosperous they were.
It was also heavily guarded. Two rank 6 fighters were at the front door, showing how important the place was. As I came closer, they stood in my path.
“Stop. This is Miwai’s headquarters. Who are you?”
“Greetings, great warriors. My name is Tila Urtek, a merchant under Miwai.”
“Never seen you before. You better not lie or you won’t get off easily.”
“Please feel free to check with your superiors.”
One of them called someone inside the building and told them to ask about me. It only took a minute before the person came back.
“He’s someone we’ve been waiting for.”
“Alright. You can go in.”
I entered the building, following the employee. The inside also had a lot of security personnel, even though only a few were rank 6 among them. Once we were in, he guided me to a specific office on the second floor. He knocked on the door, and a voice I recognized responded.
“Come in!”
It was the same one who came to ask me to join Miwai some time ago. He gave me a vicious smile as soon as he saw my face once we were in.
“You’re finally here. Took you long enough.”
“A good day to you, sir.”
“Right. Close the door. We have much to talk about.”
I did so and turned back toward him. He was sitting behind his desk, which had a chair in front of it, but he didn’t invite me to sit, clearly showing his superiority.
“Did you finally make up your mind to join us?”
“That has always been my intention.”
He grinned mockingly.
“Of course. Since that’s the case, you should prepare a meeting with your supplier. We want to meet them directly.”
“That’s not a problem, but first, I’d like to speak with the head of your company about this deal.”
His smile left his lips, and he frowned, looking at me like I was dirt.
“Do you think anyone can meet him if they ask? You should be happy to talk with me already.”
“Is that so? No deal, then.”
“What? Do you have a death wish?”
“Do you know? The supplier only trusts me. Even if you somehow find out who they are, they’ll never deal with you. Goodbye, then.”
I opened the door again and tried to leave.
“If you leave now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
I ignored him and went outside. Just before closing the door, I added a little something to spice things up.
“I’m leaving for another continent today. I hired a few rank 6 flying species to carry the supplier and me away as fast as possible, far from this shithole. We’ll rebuild ourselves over there. Farewell.”