Chapter 26 – Showing Tail, Hiding Fangs (part 2)
"Stop right there!"
" Oya... Pardon me gentlemen. I'm looking for a girl who is slightly shorter than me in height, with shoulder-length brown hair. Have you seen her around here?"
"There is no such woman here, get out of here!"
"Hee... But my little dog smells the girl's traces around here. Hmm..."
"Go already!", the guard pushed my body hard. "If you still don't leave. Don't blame us for using force!"
The guard pointed the spear in his hand at me and after that he fell to the ground unconscious. His other colleagues were shocked to see that and tried to react seeing their friend who suddenly fell.
"If it's violent, I can do it too. "
I hit the next guard and made him lose consciousness. After that I took the key from their bodies and opened the gate in front of me.
As I opened the gate a few people were surprised to see me casually walk in, "Hi~ I'd like to meet a merchant named Dalmore. "
Unfortunately that person returned my friendly greeting with a scary face and tried to attack me. This time I dodged that person's punch, then I kicked that person's leg and made him fall down, picked up that person's leg and shifted his knee joint forcefully.
That person screamed quite loudly and brought his comrades to me. I smiled widely as I saw all of them trying to show their creepy faces.
The next person drew the sword at his waist, but before he could pull out the sword, I blocked his hand that was about to pull out the sword and hit the person's lower jaw from below.
The shock was enough to be felt all the way to the brain and made that person fall down instantly. Another person tried to attack me, but this time I caught his hand and pushed him into the villa and I kicked him hard in the stomach.
One by one they tried to attack me, but unfortunately this time I wasn't hiding my abilities and I made sure they would remember the pain they felt today.
"Stop it!", someone yelled in a loud voice to stop me from beating the crap out of the crooks. "What do you want? Do you know who you're dealing with?!!!"
"Merchants who kidnap women, violate agreements and are also stupid noble errand boys. "
" Impudent! Watch your mouth!"
As usual, it's always the subordinates who bark the loudest, while their employers are still trying to look calm.
"Grrrr!!!", Pochi suddenly appeared and stood next to me with his size slightly larger than a normal ombra dog, intimidating the person who was yelling at me earlier.
"They say that if you're going to bark, you should at least be stronger than him... "
That person, with a scared face, fell to his butt while looking at Pochi.
"We can talk about all of this, I'll bring you to my boss if it can be discussed. "
"Hmm! At least there's one person who understands how to negotiate!"
The person in front of me with his burly body nodded his head and directed me to a room. Not long after, a man entered the room with the burly man who had directed me earlier.
"I'm Dalmore, what do you want to talk about?"
This man in front of me looked different from when I saw him in the merchant guild a while ago, this time he looked calmer and it could be seen in his eyes that he was really a merchant.
His body is chubby, with a neat haircut. Clothes that show his class as a merchant that look simple but with good quality.
"Thank you for talking to me.", this time I spoke in a polite yet firm tone. "Straight to the point. I delivered 5 gold according to the agreement that was made, for the compensation fee. The deadline is still not over, so please take the compensation money. "
I showed the indemnity agreement on behalf of Niki, Joan and Luna. Of course I felt that the things they damaged weren't worth that much, but with that much value only a miracle could make them pay.
Unfortunately that miracle happened with the appearance of the dungeon, Fitz and Emon who made it back safely from the two dungeon conquering expeditions brought enough money to pay it off.
That's what made Dalmore dodge when they wanted to pay him and end up committing such a reckless act as a blatant kidnapping like this.
His face seemed to show an annoyed expression, but it was only visible for a split second and the man returned to trying to show his calm face.
He remained silent and did not respond to my words.
" I have also delivered a letter from the merchant guild. Please accept and read it. "
Dalmore took the letter and read it, this time he couldn't cover his expression. His face looked surprised and then reddened and looked at me with annoyance.
"As written there. The guild is aware of your actions that you carried out clandestinely and circumvented the official procedures approved by the guild and this kingdom. Your actions of trading slaves without reporting it to the merchant guild and that made the guild unable to report your activities to the kingdom clearly.
As you may know, over the past few years the issue of slavery in this nation has become less clear, but that doesn't mean you can exploit that loophole without accountability.
The guild has emphasized that this matter must still be reported and there are taxes that must be submitted to the guild and forwarded to the kingdom, more precisely the kingdom and the royal family.
Moreover, your actions this time are out of line and blatant. The guild will also convey its objection to Baron Audey Drelisbeth von Draga.
And with that the guild would like you to sign an agreement that you will pay all of your unpaid obligations and also be willing to abide by the code of conduct regarding the buying and selling of slaves that is currently in effect. "
I handed him two sheets of documents, and there were clearly the official seal and mark of the merchant guild on them.
For the code of conduct to be approved, Dalmore could only buy and sell legal slaves. He also had to report and pay tax fees on every transaction after this document was signed.
Regarding prohibited illegal slaves, the first point is that the slave must not be taken by force (kidnapped). And the second point that I added with the approval of the guild was that it was forbidden to trick or attempt to trick someone and make them unable to pay their debts.
In other words, the procedure would be much more complicated than before because it needed to be mediated by the guild, and those two points confirmed that Niki, Joan and Luna had to be released.
"You think you can do what you want!!!", Dalmore's anger seemed to have gotten the better of him. "You think it's that easy to deal with the nobles?!!! "
Several people were seen entering the room, this time their skills were above the crooks I beat up earlier.
"If the evidence is gone and you're gone too, you guys can't do anything!"
This person was smart enough to know that the document I submitted was the kind of transaction that was not open to the public, in other words, a behind-the-scenes agreement.
Pochi who was accompanying me got up from his seat and tried to protect me. I was still sitting there until another person entered and whispered to the burly man who was clearly the head of Dalmore's bodyguards.
The man's face was shocked and then he whispered something to Dalmore and that made him shocked as well. To add to the surprise I unleashed enough intimidation to subdue the killer bear on everyone in the room.
Only two or three people seemed to be able to restrain themselves, of course Dalmore was not one of those people.
"So... Which way do you want to take this conversation?", I pressed them a little more with more intimidation. "Get rid of me? Or can we go back to talking quietly and peacefully?"
Honestly, this is not a good way to discuss, and I don't really want to do it. Suppressing with fear can help you get what you want.
But a good business relationship is much more beneficial in my opinion. Because those who only seek profit and get everything they want at all costs will quickly lose focus.
I prefer a business that is more stable and long-lasting, rather than a quick profit no matter what the conditions are.
Because in my opinion, when something runs stably for a longer period of time, we can innovate more for other business opportunities.
And I dispelled the intimidation I exuded, "If it's like this, you won't be able to think clearly? You can rest first, drink some hot tea to calm down, and some of you quickly wash your bodies and change your clothes. I have a whole day to deal with all of you today. "
