The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 359 – Figuring out the Logistics

So Tom, Kay, Shiggy, Femm, and Moofy ate the sweets happily.

We ate as we walked, kind of bad manners, but oh well…

Cruz had finished it quickly and was looking around.

The people at the stores were a bit taken aback by the lion mask.

「It’s good, huh, guys?」

「Moo Moo」

「Wuff」

Kay asked them as she was riding on Moofy.

Femm sniffed Tom and Kay again.

While this was going on, Millia continued looking through all the stores.

She was talking with a store that sold firewood.

「I may have only gotten here today, but it looks like you have quite a bit of wood stacked up compared to others.」

「Whaa?」

A thug-looking storeman glared at Millia.

She didn’t seemed fazed, though,

「Where did you get all this wood from?」

「I ain’t gotta tell you nothing!」

He grabbed Millia’s arm and, as soon as he went to pull her closer, she said,

「Don’t be rude, just tell me.」

I stepped towards them, next to Millia.

「Eeep!」

The man quickly let go of her and stepped back.

「Whoa, um, this guy, is he with you?!」

「Yes. Do you have a problem with that?」

「No…no…not at all.」

He must have heard what I had done to Damian.

Or maybe the announcement that any thug that bothers with people would be dealt with.

The guy suddenly looked weak and said,

「W…well…I had no idea…I apologize to anyone that’s with this guy.」

「You should be more careful. There are violent people out there.」

「Y…yes, I’ll take it to heart.」

I said, just in case,

「And I’d also like you to tell Millia where you got that wood from.」

「Y…yes sir! I’ll tell you anything.」

So the guy talked. He got them from a wholesaler who had paid a lot of taxes to the so-called Demon Lord for the license to provide wood to everyone.

「So that guy got special treatment and was allowed to monopolize the wood supplying to everyone in Elkay.」

「Ah, so that’s why it’s so expensive.」

「Yes, that’s right. Now please, forgive my previous behavior.」

He was bowing and I could see cold sweat on his forehead.

Seems that not only was that guy monopolizing, but he was contracted by the so-called Demon Lord himself.

That’s why the fellow didn’t want to say anything, but threatened Millia.

Cruz finally came back from wandering around and said,

「Where’s that wood provider you’re walking about?」

The guy looked very puzzled at Cruz. He wondered who she was. She had a lion mask on after all.

He then looked over at me to see how I was reacting and after guessing she was with me, spoke openly,

「He brings the wood in periodically, so he may not be in Elkay…」

「When will he come next?」

「He told me tomorrow.」

「I see.」

So I asked him what system the guy used – I wanted to know the details.

Seems that all the stores but ones endorsed by the so-called Demon Lord were paying outrageous amounts.

「Were any of them killed or so on?」

「You may not believe me, but not really.」

The store owner told us that no one tried to get resources outside the town because of the threat of magic monsters attacking them.

Anyone who went out to do so would be attacked immediately.

Even so, no one was really badly injured by the attacks.

Cruz then asked,

「You have no guards?」

「Many of the richer shops that tried bringing in resources had them. Many of them ended up dead. None of the store owners ended up losing all of them, though.」

The plan was clear. That Demon Lord faker was using zombies to attack anyone that broke the rules.

「This was to frighten everyone inside and outside Elkay.」

Yureena said, nodding.

Any trader that came in here would tell about the fearful condition.

They’d then spread the rumors in their own towns, telling their story.

If it was just one time, it would just sound like bad luck.

But repeated over and over, it made Elkay sound like a cursed place.

At least that was easy to determine.

「With all the guards of other traders getting killed, the Demon Lord was able to get his own appointed traders?」

「Yes. Because…well…then we could only get wholesale from the appointed dealers.」

I understood. And this way the thugs got power over the whole system.

「Why is it so expensive though?」

「The wholesale to us is expensive.」

「How much are you talking?」

「Here.」

Apparently from his books, firewood was three times the price of the capital.

Seeing this, Yureena whispered into my ear,

「We’d make bank selling stuff here undercutting the others.」

「Yeah.」

「Wonder why my dad was so against selling here.」

「Probably because of all the bad rumors?」

As chief of Linmia trading, he had to know about the rumors.

The risks were high and the profit low, he thought.

「Maybe we should just go to your father and tell him the situation.」

「That might be difficult…」

The biggest problem is that there were no guards to be found to carry the goods.

The death rate for them was very high. Just the same as a quest with a chance of death.

In order for them to accept, you’d need massive amounts of hazard pay.

If you tried to defray the cost in the cost of merchandise, it pumps the price very high.

「But my father does know about the transport circles.」

「We could carry those ourselves. We need to keep them a secret.」

「Ok, sounds like a plan.」

Yureena understood what we were about to do.