She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (WN)

『And if it’s the other way around, the corporation’s profit margins will take a hit, but they’ve grown to the point to sustain themselves without the help of a parent group. So in a way they might even take it as a chance to discard a black past, or if they possess Chimera’s know-how they might become the new parent.』

「So in other words, as soon as we identify the link between the two we have to destroy them at the same time.」

『Precisely.』

That was a plausible theory. If they were connected, then there was no point in destroying one side if the other remained untouched. They had to clip their roots and take out both Chimera Clauzen and the Melville Trading Corporation at the same time.

「Though hmm, how are we supposed to find that link?」

At first Mira thought of ways as well, but soon after she reclined her body back into the closet and covered her face with a soft blanket. Even before she finished asking Solomon she had already given up and left him alone to figure it out.

『I’d say infiltrating their offices would be best. You could search for all sorts of things there, registers of their deals with Chimera, or how they produce those spirit arms, you just have to search for anything like that and you should succeed.』

「Will it truly be so easy, I wonder.」

Holding the receiver to her ear, she replied while slowly cocooning in the blanket.

『Well, I can’t really know how easy it’ll be, but I’m sure it’ll be worthwhile to try.』

「Well, I guess that’s true.」

Mira’s head peeked out of the blanket as she nodded slightly. Other than that, her feet dangling freely were the only parts of Mira not covered, Arlon and the others watching her lazy disposition with warm smiles.

『Anyway, if you find any concrete proof, please share it with the Eabates Corporation. I’ll tell them to be ready for it.』

「So issues between trading corporations get solved by trading corporations, huh.」

『Pretty much. There’s no issue with you all fighting against Chimera Clauzen as an armed organization, but the Melville Corporation is still next in line for Roseline’s throne. If you handle it poorly, you could turn an entire country against you. I believe the best way to handle this, both considering their future and your social standing, will be to make their ties to Chimera clear and let the legal system handle it. That’s where Eabates, second in line for the throne, should help.』

As Solomon explained, even if it was for a righteous reason, attacking the next duke of a country was almost the same as declaring war on that country, which was prohibited by the Limited Armistice Treaty. Even if it was done under the name of the Fifty Bells, attacking the Melville corporation was still a violation of the treaty.

But if they provided concrete proof to the Eabates Corporation, they would be able to get rid of Melville without having to reach for arms, through the due legal process. At the same time, that would rid them of the competition for the throne, securing Eabates’ position as the next regning duke.

「And you’ll be in his debt that way, I see.」

Mira also understood Solomon’s ulterior motives, grinning inside the dark closet.

『Ah, was it that obvious? I’ve known him for a while, but I figured this was a good opportunity to do something.』

「I feel like you’re running your mouth a bit too much now. Did you forget there’s three others with me here?」

『Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’m merely your mysterious Patronager S. There’s no harm if they hear my blabbering.』

Solomon’s entertained voice rang through the wagon, while Mira sat up and looked at the others with a dubious stare from inside the closet.

「I’m a bit miffed that it sounds like we’re just being used, but we don’t really have any other option. If we want to take the Melville Trading corporation down, we’ll have to go along with that plan.」

Arlon nodded profoundly as he replied.

The Fifty Bells stood as an outside charity organization, while Eabates was a large corporation with much influence in Roseline. They were obviously the corporation with more power when handling whatever proof they could provide, and would have a stronger effect as well.

「And that’s about it. So we just have to find that proof, pass it on, and our mission will be complete, yes?」

After Arlon, Hebi also nodded in ascentment, which prompted Mira to relay their response, lying down in the closet again. Sasori still had a very confused face.

『As far as Chimera goes though, I can assure you you can fight to your heart’s content.』

Solomon declared, his voice full of confidence that could be felt even through the phone. In a way, that also showed a glimpse of the power he possessed as king.

「Alright. Then we’ll first go find that Melville Trading Corporation. And ah right, there was something else I forgot. K 6 18 2132 is their founder.」

As she spoke, Mira took out a piece of paper from her pouch and read what sounded like code from it. Those numbers and letters were the same she had obtained from Solomon before, which contained the the initial of each wiseman followed by the date when they appeared in that world. So Mira was telling Solomon that the founder of the Fifty Bells was Kagura.

『I see, that makes sense. Thanks for telling me.』

He seemed to understand what Mira meant, his voice sounding pleasantly surprised from the other side of the phone.

『I’ll look more into that myself, but feel free to keep investigating. Anyway, I’ll contact you again if something happens.』

With that new information, many ideas began pouring into his head, so he quickly finished the conversation and hung up without waiting for a response.

He was always like that, acting as soon as he had an idea.

「You all heard him. I hope you don’t mind that I agreed to that without consulting you more.」

Mira returned the receiver into the box and closed it, then peeked out from the closet again.

「It’s fine. Sounded like a good compromise.」

「Yeah, no complaints here. We can’t really ignore them without first confirming whether they’re connected to Chimera or not now.」

Hebi and Arlon were on board. And they sounded quite willing at that.

They felt that information came from a rather credible source. Not because of concrete evidence, but because they had a vague idea of who they had heard speak.

There were many clues for Patronager S’s identity. First the very existence of a communication device in the wagon, which was an extremely expensive item. Mira seemed unaware of its presence until it began ringing, which meant the caller had placed it sometime Mira was not around the wagon. That was enough to narrow down the possibilities of his identity a lot.

On top of all that, he was someone with the authority to trace transactions around a large trading corporation, knowing which items went to who. That was no easy feat even for nobles

Then the fact he would benefit from an amicable relationship with the potential new ruler of a country.

Lastly, when Mira arrived at the Fifty Bells’ headquarters she mentioned she had been sent to aid them under direct orders from Arkite Kingdom.

「Man, it feels like he was just toying with us pretending to be anonymous.」

Arlon muttered to himself. Solomon had never mentioned his true name, but the way he spoke with Mira sounded like he had no intention to really hide his identity, almost making it obvious on purpose.

In the end, that made Arlon and Hebi feel certain they knew who he was. Which meant that not only would the Eabates Trading Corporation be in Solomon’s debt, but the Fifty Bells’ as well.

Though that was still advantageous for them. Solomon had pretty much handed them the knife to slit their enemies’ throat, so as vexed as Arlon might feel, he had no reason to ignore his help.

「Though now we have two places to visit, Sentopolly and Roseline.」

Spoke as she jumped out of the closet, sliding back its door behind her. Trading favors and quantifying them was something she held very little interest for, so in her mind she only thought of it as having more places to investigate.

「Yeah, I guess we’ll have to split into two groups.」

Arlon smiled slightly seeing Mira’s nonchalant attitude and made a suggestion.

The four then gathered again and resumed their discussion, keeping the new information they had obtained in mind.