After Kyle’s group finished their meal, they used the water canal to reach the Marnico Business Group. They went ahead and borrowed one of the tourist boats, told the ferryman their destination, and enjoyed the ride.

“I see, it’s not just a tourist city for nothing.” Urza looked around at the buildings they passed in admiration.

“Bayone has always been in great reception as a trader city. It was easy to bring negotiations and people together, and this slowly turned it into a tourist city as well.” The ferryman explained with a smooth tone like he was used to this.

The boats were also the ones carrying the bigger luggage. As the River Chigtes reached through most of the humanfolk territory, this was the most efficient way.

“I see..Hey, isn’t that spire over there tilted?”

“Hmm, it looks this way through the work of a hallucination, but it actually is standing straight. It’s another famous sight here.”

Lieze seemed genuinely excited at seeing something rare like that, as Shildonia explained. They were all enjoying the sightseeing in their own way. At the same time, their boat was slowly moving down the canal. Just like their boat, there were others afloat, selling souvenirs or flowers, even accessories shown off by girls with bright smiles. Seran answered these smiles with one of his own, as he called out to Kyle.

“You realized?”

“Yeah, we’re being watched..Though I don’t know from where.”

Kyle had already realized that there were onlookers. However, these gazes weren’t out of pure interest or curiosity, but something completely different from that.

“Definitely not amateurs. Just watching us from afar, not intervening. You got any idea?”

“No clue..I have many ideas, but as to who, I’m lost.” Kyle thought about it, but quickly realized that they could be from Galgan, Zilgus, or even the Mera Cult.

“I’m jealous about your popularity, you hear me.”

“I don’t mind letting you take over..This is fine, we’ll walk the rest.”

Seran was as nonchalant and indifferent as always. Kyle sighed and told the ferryman to stop the boat. After paying for everything, they got off the small boat earlier than planned. Even on the streets, there were stalls and so on lined up, making it quite crowded. As they still had time until Kyle’s meeting with Klaus, they looked around some more. Even after getting off the boat, the onlookers had been following them, so it was evident they were specifically aiming for Kyle’s group.

There doesn’t seem to be any hostility, so I guess they’re just watching over us..

Kyle considered luring them out and confronting them directly as an option, but he decided to leave them alone for now.

It’s almost time for the meeting. Can’t give off a bad impression by being late.

Kyle changed his train of thought, now drifting towards Klaus. Klaus may be your average trader, but he also holds immense influence over the world as a whole, regarded as the leader of this city. So before the [Great Invasion], Kyle had to win him over. During the war times, distribution of goods was pretty much completely halted, and only the Marnico Business Group network managed to somewhat survive—but that was also just life-support. In order to avoid that from happening again, Kyle wanted to thoroughly confirm the reserves of goods and state of circulation. That is why he needed the help of the Marnico Business Group.

The question is..how much I can tell him.

Calling it a money-making scheme would cause a trader like Klaus to surely get on board. However, when it comes to preparations for war, it’d take a lot more to prepare, and the entire plan Kyle would offer might be seen as suspicious. Kyle had made his predictions, but he wasn’t fully sure how to respond to some of Klaus’ possible questions. Kyle was thinking about all of this as he walked in the back of the group, when another shadow appeared, sticking close to behind him, but on a natural level. This was Minagi, disguising herself as a pilgrim of the Goddess Cairys.

“Don’t turn around..I don’t want them to spot me.”

Naturally, she wasn’t talking about the people passing them, but rather Kyle’s friends who walked up ahead, enjoying the various goods sold in the stalls. As of right now, they didn’t catch on to Minagi’s presence yet, so Kyle moved away from the stalls together with her. After it was just the two of them, Minagi spoke up with a quiet voice.

“Phew..Why is this girl so obsessed with me?” Minagi sighed and looked over at Lieze, who was laughing because of some folk craft article representing a monster with a fish in its mouth. “Can’t you do something about her?” Minagi complained, but Kyle had no way of dealing with that either.

“That’s just the kind of personality she has, so give up on it..Anyway, did you figure out something? Any suspicious stuff going on related to Klaus?”

Minagi’s goal this time around was to look into the Marnico Business Group, most of all Klaus, and find any material that could be used in Kyle’s negotiations for his advantage. Of course, the word material might sound fine and all, but it was basically any kind of weakness.

“Sadly, I couldn’t find anything..or rather, I couldn’t even properly look into it.” Minagi shook her head with a depressed expression, which left Kyle surprised.

Minagi was known to be skilled at intelligence gathering, so the answer that she didn’t find anything was a rarity.

“Anyway, their counterintelligence is strong. Even the lowest employee didn’t leak anything, and with their strong defenses and security, without any proper preparations, sneaking inside isn’t going to work..I know these are just excuses, but I didn’t have the time to do all of that.” Minagi came to Bayone three days ago, so the most she heard of were rumors. “However, that amount of security is a bit unusual. They might just be valuing their intel, but it feels like there might be something that would be troublesome if leaked.” Minagi sounded displeased.

Unable to show any results, Minagi’s pride must have been hurt.

“I see..No, this is plenty. At the very least, I found out that he’s got a vigilant personality. With my meeting this time, it’s not about discussing what we want to do, but rather to bring our heads together and figure out what kind of person he is.”

Even that small piece of information was quite valuable to Kyle.

“Also, you probably already realized, but the people following you are also under the Marnico Business Group.”

“I see..Maybe this is him being careful, or there’s an entirely different reason?”

“Well, you do stand out. For better or worse.” Minagi teased Kyle as always.

“If push comes to shove, I can use my ace in the hole, the black—negotiation material, but it should be fine.”

“Were you just about to say blackmail material?” Minagi glared at Kyle who almost said something violent so nonchalantly.

According to Kyle’s memories, in roughly a year from now on, the Marnico Business Group will experience a great problem. In the Holy Kingdom Shura, the religious state, a high-ranking clergy would offer a great sum of money as a donation to the business group. Offering donations for better connections wasn’t rare by any means, but in the Holy Kingdom Shura, which professed itself as pure and unselfish, this act was strictly forbidden.

As the Holy Kingdom Shura was the holy ground with the most faith and servants of the Goddess of Earth Cairys, they held influence in the entire world for a different reason than the military nation of the Glagan Empire. This kind of dirty rumor quickly passed through the entirety of the humanfolk territory, even reaching the outskirts with Rimarze. As this practice had been happening in the shadows for years, Kyle judged that it was happening right about now, so if things went south, Kyle was thinking of using this as an advantage.

“..I keep thinking that, but where are you even getting all of this information from?” Minagi sounded dubious, as she asked Kyle.

“To not pry into your client more than necessary is the law of your shinobi group, right?”

“And you immediately change the topic like that..” Minagi pouted, but she took her work ethic quite seriously, so she had to drop it there. “One more thing. That Business Group has been acting up for a bit now.”

“Acting up? Did some trouble happen?”

“I don’t know the details, but it seemed like they ran into an unexpected problem.”

“..If so, then I might not be able to meet him today.” Kyle put his hand on his forehead and was forced to accept it.

They had promised to meet him and discuss things, but the other person must be incredibly busy. This trouble might just hold on for another two to three days.

“Well, I’ll go there just to see how things are.”

“I see..Be careful, okay? They’re clearly different from your average businessmen.” Minagi left behind these final words, as she moved away from Kyle, mixing in with the people walking on the street.

After these events, Kyle and his group went to the north of the town where the main office of the Marnico Business Group was located. Around them, the buildings that had clearly taken a toll from the passage of time started to lessen, as you would see more modern storage houses, which acted as the line between the tourism and the business district. Even the tourists walking down the street started to vanish, slowly turning into sailors or other workers carrying goods. And finally, the group could see a stone-paved five-floor building, most likely a building of utmost importance in the town.

“So that’s our destination? But, things do seem weird, no?” Shildonia tilted her head as she let that comment fly.

The main branch of the Marnico Business Group also acted as the city’s largest wharf, with many smaller ships anchoring. In front of the building was a larger open space for luggage, with the workers rushing to clean all of that up in a panic. Their effort was almost unsightly to watch.

“..Guess they got some important individuals stopping by today. Unplanned, that is.” Seran voiced his bad premonition, and that was most likely true.

“Woah, what a huge ship.” There, Lieze pointed out a large ship currently entering the wharf.

It was the size of a ship you would see traveling on the open ocean, and although the River Chigtes could fit it, it was a rare sight. Even the appearance looked like it was made purposefully flashy, with a golden statue of the Goddess of Navigation Agray, and every small detail was carefully crafted. What stood out the most was the symbol of a snake on a shield—the official crest of the Galgan Empire.

As a ladder connected the ship to the wharf, several knights of the Galgan Empire got off, carefully inspecting their surroundings. Following that came the only daughter of the current Emperor Benedix, Princess Angela. As always, the simple act of her walking made it seem like she was surrounded by a ring of roses, representing the perfect image of a princess.

“Urk..Are you serious?” The one who groaned out loud was Seran, who apparently had piqued the interest of the Princess the last time the group visited the Galgan Empire.

He immediately moved behind Kyle to hide. Despite being such a playboy, even Seran didn’t enjoy this much attention from such a high-ranking beauty. Any bad treatment towards her might end up with his death after all.

“..It’s too late, she’s already waving at you,” Urza commented on the situation, seeing Angela wave her hand towards them.

“Aren’t you popular, I’m quite jealous.”

“..Then switch with me.”

Kyle repeated the same words Seran just told him, making him despair.