Fran-san…?」
「Nn?」
Lovren was stunned by the sudden battle that took place in front of him. No, it was not a battle, but rather a one-sided fight.
『Fran, we need to explain it to him』
「There was an undead inside, so I defeated it」
「Undead?」
「Nn. And there’s no Scarlet Waterweed medicine inside」
Hearing Fran’s words, Lovren peeked inside the warehouse. In addition to the remnants of the undead and coffin that had been cut in half, he confirmed that there was indeed no medicine in the warehouse.
He then threw a glance at the guide.
「What’s the meaning of this!?」
「Did you know that there’s an undead inside?」
Lovren and Fran asked the question at the same time, and the guide trembled.
「N-no! I had no idea there’s something like that inside!」
『He’s lying』
「Did you also know that there is no Scarlet Waterweed medicine in there?」
「I didn’t know!」
『He’s lying again』
I guess that meant that this guide knew what was happening to some extent.
「Lovren, this guy knows something」
「Hou?」
The guide s.h.i.+vered at Fran’s words. I guess it was because he knew that his lie had been exposed. Then he blurted out the information he knew once we hurt him a little.
He was from this country, but it seemed that his deceased father was from the Raidos Kingdom. That country has been sending spies into hiding for a long time. This man’s father must have been one of them.
However, since he was not a native of the Raidos Kingdom, his loyalty was low. He was answering all of our questions without lying.
「What does the Raidos Kingdom plan to do in the lake?」
「I-I don’t know! I swear! It’s just that the alchemist under the Eastern Duke is giving orders to the merchant a.s.sociation!」
「Eastern Duke?」
「Y-you don’t know him?」
「You know him, Lovren?」
「Just the name. We don’t have much information on Raidos, so I only know that he is one of the four Dukes in the Raidos Kingdom」
There were no diplomatic relations between the country, and no adventurers came from and went there. Therefore, even Lovren was not familiar with the Raidos Kingdom’s domestic affairs.
According to the guide’s explanation, the current situation in the Raidos Kingdom was quite chaotic. First of all, it seemed that the King had died in an accident and no one had taken over the throne.
And among the children of the deceased King, no one had been chosen to be the next King.
Several factions were trying to push their own candidates to take the throne, but they seemed to be in a deadlock. The King’s oldest child was still 13 years old, and the fact that there was no better candidate who could take the crown seemed to further prolong the problem.
The main players behind the chaos in the Raidos Kingdom were the Four Great Dukes, who held positions and territories second only to the King.
In the past, Raidos Kingdom was just one of the many small nations that were scattered in the northern part of this continent. However, one day, a Supreme King with an overwhelmingly superior military talent took over the throne, and under his kings.h.i.+p, they conquered the surrounding nations and built the country that we know today.
At that time, four generals, who served as va.s.sals of the Supreme King, played an active role in the war. The four armies, led by the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern generals, launched their invasions of the surrounding nations at breakneck speed, and the Raidos Kingdom expanded rapidly.
At the end of the war, each general was appointed as a Duke by bonding their family with the Royal Family through marriage.
However, it seems that the Dukes still had some sort of hierarchy within them. The most powerful was said to be the Northern Duke, followed by the Western Duke. The Eastern and Southern Dukes were said to be almost equal in rank.
The reason for that was due to their war records. The Northern General had skillfully manipulated a small number of troops to achieve his goal of completely conquering the northern part of the Zilberd Continent. As a result, the Northern Duke was highly regarded by the people and n.o.bility.
The Western General is said to have almost conquered the western part of the continent in his hand but failed in the face of the Kingdom of Philias, who possessed a Divine Sword, the Diabolos. However, they were regarded as the most economically prosperous by their slave-trading practice, and the Western Duke was also said to be as strong as the Northern Duke.
On the other hand, the Eastern and Southern Dukes were said to have weakened in power. Although they were not going to fall, they were probably less than half as powerful as the Northern and Western Dukes.
That, too, was influenced by past battles. Weena Rhyn to the East and the Kranzel Kingdom to the south stood in the way and stopped the advance of both generals. Because of this, the two families had slightly smaller territories and less influence than the North and West.
Apparently, the two families were not happy with the current situation and continued to fight even after they were appointed as Dukes, and fell into a vicious cycle of continuous defeats that skyrocketed their war expenses that put pressure on their economy.
These days, they had stopped waging war head-on, but instead seemed to be working on various schemes under the surface.
It seemed that the Eastern Duke was the main culprit this time as well.
「But a lackey like me won’t even know the details! I just heard Gregory-san mutter something like that!」
All the guide knew was that the Mesther Merchant a.s.sociation was a front for the Raidos Kingdom, and its head was the Eastern Duke. Also, the alchemist who was sent by the Duke was currently giving them orders.
「Who is this alchemist?」
「I-I don’t know… But I heard that he was frequenting the Scarlet Waterweed medicine-making atelier…」
After we got some information out of him, we punched the guide and knocked him out, and then tied his limbs and rolled him over.
「What would you do now?」
「What about you?」
「Capture the top bra.s.s. Urus.h.i.+ is keeping an eye on them, so it won’t take long」
「Can I leave it to you then? I’ll return to report to the guild and then head straight for the atelier」
「Okay」
Certainly, there would be less chance for them to escape if we split up. Lovren picked up the guide and headed straight for the Adventurer’s Guild.
If the Raidos Kingdom was behind this, it meant that it was not a simple matter anymore.
『Let’s capture Gregory』
「Nn!」