38. You are the culprit!
[Excluding the impossible, whatever remains is the truth no matter how hard it is to believe.]
We were just returning to the Ice Company’s mansion. On a quiet afternoon when most of the staff had left due to work, the lingering sunlight shone through Cream’s room.
However, unlike a bright sunny room, the current case was like a dark night without a ray of light. I thought about it for a while, then I cried out while tearing my hair.
[But all three are impossible!]
The slaves of the merchants are bound by a stigma, and those who are mere slave traders at most cannot deceive the senses of the warriors, and in fact, the family itself is close to forcing.
The mysterious strongman who roamed around the city had nothing to do with this incident. I really didn’t know, so I checked the slave contract…
[Aren’t you fine?]
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
The stigma on the bodies of the slaves was still clear, and the contract that made Cream the owner also retained that power.
Should I just give up? To be honest, this was enough. Even the other kids besides me don’t even try to participate properly, so I can’t really get motivated.
Cream just sitting there with a grumpy face, Seong-gum, who has been exercising her right to remain silent for a while, and Choco, who is rolling around in the dog house with a happy face.
[Ah, your business is mine! Why am I thinking about making my head hurt!]
“Haam… That’s why. It’s not that big of a damage, so why is it so unusual?”
Choco responded in a brusque tone to my seizure. Like that nasty guy. In fact, as Choco said, the method was embarrassing, but the damage itself was not that great.
But Cream is worried about that too. Above all, my pride as an adventurer does not allow me to give up. An adventurer’s mission is to uncover hidden secrets and mysteries!
Well, actually, this is more of a thief’s job than an adventurer’s. What kind of trick was there to manipulate the transaction without anyone noticing?
[······Wait.]
‘No one knows’? But, how many people know about this in the first place?
Looking back on memories of coffee. Except for the part related to the cream, most of it was blurry because it was skipped roughly, but there were still some recognizable parts.
Most of the members of the Ice Firm are slaves, so they are passive. In other words, most of Ice’s work is done in the hands of Coffee.
There is also a strict distinction between office workers and field workers. Even when dealing with other slave traders, the office worker who writes the transaction book and the field worker who actually goes out to receive slaves do not interact with each other.
So, if you match the head count and basic characteristics, the people who bring the slaves will not be able to tell whether they are the slaves they originally intended to receive, or whether they were subverted in the middle.
The only person who can know that fact is coffee, which oversees field and office work.
[Anyway, I think that grandpa is the culprit.]
It is difficult to deceive others, but it is not difficult to deceive oneself. However, the Holy Sword, who heard my reasoning, spoke in a sullen voice.
[It’s a pretty plausible reasoning. As long as you manage the ledger, it won’t be difficult to manipulate it.]
[That’s right! Then call that old man and get Chidogon…!]
[By the way, Mr. Coffee still has a stigma left on him?]
[Ugh.]
Yes, the stigma. That guy’s stigma is the problem.
It was because of that stigma that Coffee, the prime suspect, was not at all suspicious in the first place. As long as they are branded, slaves cannot do anything that harms their masters.
Even though Coffee had already had a chance to escape once, he was loyal enough to capture not only himself but also the other slaves.
From noble mtl dot com
[Aries.]
[Yes? Why suddenly in such a serious voice…]
However, at that moment, a flash of thought passed through my head.
[You are familiar with the mindset of nobles, right?]
[Yes? Yes. Why do you ask that all of a sudden?]
Yeah, I don’t know much about nobles. Those who had a desperate situation enough to hold the notorious demonic sword were mostly commoners or slaves.
But what about Aries? The holy sword, which would have assisted the walking extraterritorial warrior for hundreds of years, must have come into contact with just as many nobles. His political power is also very good.
[······That’s right! Oh wow, how boring that is. I hate change more than I who lived hundreds of years.]
[Grandma, you forgot a zero.]
[What?!]
[Cream rather than that.]
Ignoring the holy sword that was enraged by the fact, I spoke to Cream.
[Can I get you some coffee?]
“······The butler, the culprit, huh?”
[Well.]
Actually, I’m not sure. However, it is also true that coffee is the most likely culprit when judged by the elimination method.
It is true that setting coffee as the culprit solves most of the questions neatly. How did you rig the deal? Because you’re an insider. Why did you try to harm the company? Because you are a slave
But even if coffee’s loyalist streak is aside, all those assumptions become meaningless as long as there is a stigma. There’s no way Coffee was suddenly released from restraint.
But maybe I misunderstood the premise.
*
Actually, there was a simple way to solve all of these problems. That is to use the sense of cream to interrogate coffee.
Because the moment you spout a lie, the warrior’s keen senses will catch it. But there was a reason I hadn’t used this method before.
Yeah, it’s not fun. Relying on cheat keys to solve problems is neither a gamer’s stance nor an adventurer’s stance.
[That’s why, just watch and tell me when you’re lying.]
“・・・・・・Okay.”
But no matter how hard I try, if there is no answer, what should I do? Cream nodded disapprovingly at my request.
Soon, the coffee that was called arrived. Perhaps it was a business meeting, but he was dressed much neater than usual.
“What are you doing? In such a hurry…”
[Sit down.]
Coffee didn’t obey me and gave Cream a quick glance. After Cream nodded, he sat down.
It is also a virtue of a slave to obey only the master’s orders and not others. Well, no one would see coffee as a slave if it wasn’t for the stigma on its forehead.
[I’m going to ask you a few questions. You just have to answer honestly. I took permission from the owner, so don’t worry.]
“Is it because of this illegal slavery case?”
As I set my mood, Cream suddenly stomped his foot. So what.
[Yes, I know it well. We’ve been thinking about it, but it seems like you’re the culprit in the case?]
Coffee reacted as expected. I was embarrassed with my eyes wide open, and soon I appealed for my injustice.
“I am a slave. Don’t you know that a slave cannot harm his master by stigma?”
There was no response from Cream. All true. However, even if it seems like an unfair protest, looking back, that is not an answer to the question.
It’s just a list of obvious facts. Still, the fact that Cream judged that statement to be true does not mean that Coffee broke the stigma with any special means.
The stigma that reveals a clear presence on the forehead of the coffee is still working its effect.
[Well, good. Actually, this is what I really wanted to ask.]
It’s just a very simple change of thinking, but I didn’t know this, so I came back a long way.
[Is selling illegal slaves really a loss to the merchant?]
Coffee was silent.
In the first place, Cream took this incident seriously because of the damage to the company’s image due to illegal slavery, but the fact that it intervened in the company’s internal ledger was more important.
However, what if that person was originally in charge of the business of the business? Actually there is no problem. Not touching illegal slaves is just an iron rule established by the previous owner.
[Do not answer?]
“······It may cause losses in the short term, but it will be profitable in the end.”
[That’s right. Considering the nature of the nobles, some might cut off the deal, but most would just keep the deal.]
In fact, if Coffee, who is in charge of the business, judged it that way, it is not an act that harms the business, but rather an act that benefits the business, and of course it is not bound by stigma.
Of course, most of the slaves were caught illegally, and the size of the market is incomparably larger than that of legal slaves. If you can embrace him, a little damage will be acceptable.
Yeah, that’s not what’s important. Important thing.
[It is true that a slave dared to deceive his master.]
What if Choco hadn’t said, ‘There are people who touch the master’s territory’? Coffee wouldn’t have said anything about it until the end.
Cream, of course, understood the expression ‘the master’s territory’ as Ice Company. And, Coffee, who received Cream’s question, went numb and exposed her tail to hold on to herself.
If it was really only for the benefit of the superior, would there be a need to hide it? Also, when Cream asked about the operation of Sanghoe, Coffee would not have brought up his work as an answer.
“That, that’s not it…!”
Coffee was taken aback by my chilly words, read his chest, and jumped to his feet. Cream slowly stroked the blade of my blade. According to the promised signal, its meaning is false.
[You don’t have to make excuses to me.]
The mystery is solved with this! In the first place, if it wasn’t for the perfect excuse called stigma, there wouldn’t have been such a drag.
However, coffee succeeded in deceiving the stigma through the rationalization of ‘an act that ultimately benefits the company’. However, I don’t know if that excuse will work for others.
[You should talk to my master, not me, right?]
While still holding me in one hand, Cream looked at the slave who raised me with an expressionless face.