We headed to the shopping district on Beien Boulevard (south side), close to the slums.
This rchant dealt in general goods and so agricultural and marine products.
After accumulating so points, I had chosen to purchase a Searcher Scouter rather than add functions to the Manager Scouter. So the scouters I currently had were the Manager and the Searcher—just the two. And one of the Searcher’s functions, secret space detection, was proving very useful.
Just in case the rchants were hiding sothing, I carefully scanned them with the scouter every ti I visited. This general goods rchant was relatively cooperative. He handed over the amount the landlord requested and seed eager to usher us out.
I thought there wouldn’t be any issues, but I detected a secret space.
It was underground, and the entrance was concealed beneath the stall.
This... sothing didn’t add up. I didn’t know about other regions, but all buildings in the capital were managed administratively. They strictly regulated building expansion and structure, and you had to pay taxes to expand beyond the designated use. And in principle, digging basents was prohibited.
Naturally, this law only applied to commoners; nobles didn’t require such permits.
How did I know this? It was information I had picked up while talking with the landlord.
The landlord seed to need soone to talk to, so he explained things I didn’t know in great detail.
It was purely an excuse to show off his knowledge, but it was worth listening to quietly.
"Tax collector, sir. It looks like there’s a basent down here," I announced.
"What? A basent? A basent in a shop building. Hey, what’s going on?"
"Wh-what are you talking about? There’s no basent!" the rchant stamred.
When the landlord questioned the rchant, the flustered rchant stubbornly played dumb.
When I flipped over the stall and found the handle, the rchant’s face went white.
When I uncovered the hatch leading to the basent, the landlord was speechless.
"There’s nothing down there! Nothing, I tell you!" the rchant insisted desperately.
"Hans, shut him up."
"Leave it to !"
"Kyaaak!"
Leaving behind the rchant’s screams as Hans roughed him up, the landlord went down first. In a space of about ten square ters, various boxes and goods were neatly organized. The landlord seed at a loss for words. These were clearly expensive goods at a glance. It looked like stolen rchandise.
"Congratulations, tax collector, sir. You’ve got yourself a case," I remarked.
"...I don’t know if I should be grateful or consider myself unlucky."
What was that supposed to an?
The landlord had guard the rchant and hurried to the governnt office.
From the landlord’s reaction, it seed like quite a significant case.
So I tied the rchant firmly to a pillar.
He was making such a racket that I gagged him with cloth.
Hans, who had helped tie up the rchant, looked at the basent in amazent.
"How on earth did you find this? I never would have guessed," he marveled.
"Sothing felt off. So when I searched, I found it."
"That’s incredible. So what happens to this rchant?" Hans asked.
"Most likely he’s a fence. Maybe connected to the slums?"
"The slums again? Those bastards."
Whether it was the slums or not, I didn’t care. I’d made a contribution, so I’d simply collect the corresponding reward. The fence would be dealt with by the guards or the judiciary. While waiting, three guards ca running.
"We received a report and ca. Is that person the fence?"
"That’s right, but where’s the tax collector, sir?" I questioned.
"He’s currently filing a report. We’ll take that person into custody for now."
The guards dragged the rchant away. The rchant resisted fiercely, but after the guards struck him a few tis, he went limp. After waiting about another 15 minutes, the landlord ca running. With five guards.
"Huh? Where did that rchant go?"
"Guards ca and took him away," I answered.
"What are you talking about? I just brought the guards now."
The landlord and I exchanged bewildered looks.
And I instantly realized that those earlier guards had been impostors.
Damn it, I should have checked with the Manager Scouter first.
It seed those n were connected to the fence.
How brazen, to impersonate guards and spirit the rchant away.
I never imagined sothing like that would happen right under my nose.
[Savage Streets II]
[Track the fake guards who took the rchant.]
[Reward — 1,000 points, 10 silver coins (hazard pay)]
[Danger Rating ★☆☆☆☆]
A quest appeared.
Since the quest na was the sa, it seed to be a follow-up to Sabine’s quest.
It appeared to be connected to the slums. Last ti, the n who had attacked Sabine were also underlings of an organization called Rafel. The shops in this area near the slums were likely all tied to the slums.
"It seems the people connected to that rchant moved first, worried their ties would be exposed," I said.
"Connected people, you say. This area is close to the slums, so is it linked to a slum organization?" the landlord questioned.
"It might be. I’m thinking of tracking them down. Will you back up?"
"How do you plan to track them?"
I had my thods.
Just as I had found Sabine’s footprints with the Searcher Scouter, I located the footprints of the guards who had taken the rchant. Among countless footprints, only theirs glowed. Following them to the end, we wound through complicated alleyways and reached an open lot.
Before charging into the lot, I assessed the situation.
One person was standing watch, and the other two had the rchant pinned against a wall, threatening him. The rchant was desperately begging for his life.
"Because you went and made things worse, we got exposed!"
"I didn’t know he’d discover the basent! St-stop! Don’t stab !"
The landlord was stunned by the scene.
So were the other guards.
"How on earth did you track them?"
"The Streit family has its own thods."
"Well, that’s impressive."
Anyway, I tried to assess the situation further, but the fake guards didn’t seem particularly patient. They snarled at the trembling rchant with a knife to his throat.
"Lucky we were keeping tabs, or they would have had us by the tail."
"What should we do? Should we just bring the head to the boss?"
"That’d be best. Keeping him alive will just cause trouble later."
"Hiik! P-please spare ! Spare !" the rchant begged.
Oh no, if that rchant died, the witness would be gone.
There was no ti to wait. So I sent the guards in first.
"Beien Guard! Drop your weapons and surrender!"
"What? How did they...?"
The fake guards threatening the rchant were thrown into a panic when real guards appeared.
Better yet, there were more of us. I took advantage of their attention being drawn to the guards, drew my longsword, and rushed in at full speed for a surprise attack. Was this the benefit of being an F-Rank Knight?
I could engage enemies without fear or hesitation.
"Wh-what?"
Clang!
"Kyaak!"
The startled lookout drew his sword and instinctively swung down, but I deflected it to the side and drove my blade into his throat. After kicking aside the body, I charged at the remaining fake guards, who were too rattled to finish off the rchant.
"It’s that noble from earlier!"
"Damn it, how did they know we were here?!"
To take on two opponents at once, quick judgnt and nerve were essential. I angled left to isolate one in a one-on-one engagent. Before the other could close in, I deflected my opponent’s diagonal slash and cut his arm in the sa motion.
After sweeping the second opponent’s legs out from under him, I pressed close to the last opponent’s descending blade, redirected it with a rotation, and cut diagonally across his neck and chest. The natural follow-up technique of binding and winding. I managed to capture alive both the rchant—our key witness—and one fake guard.
I had killed two people, but unlike before, I didn’t feel much resistance.
And it had been considerably easier. That had to be thanks to F-Rank Knight (military power 20%, courage 20%).
Compared to my first encounter with the slum organization mbers, I had clearly grown stronger.
"Your sword skills are truly remarkable, Sir Knight."
The guards praised the swordsmanship I’d displayed in the surprise attack.
The landlord seed to feel the sa way. Hans’s chin was lifted high with pride.
The rchant who had kept his life and the captured fake guard were arrested without further resistance.
"I thought you were impressive from the mont you discovered the basent, but with tracking skills and swordsmanship like that, you’ll surely achieve great things. I’m certain your father is rejoicing in heaven," the landlord praised.
"Thank you, tax collector, sir."
"But this is turning into a bigger affair than expected, isn’t it?" he observed.
It certainly seed that way.
When I checked the fake guard with the Manager Scouter, these n turned out to be mbers of an organization called Rafel. A different group from the ones called Schlange who had targeted Sabine before. From what I had heard through rumors, this Rafel was a deeply dangerous outfit. Human trafficking, extortion, blackmail—there was no cri they wouldn’t touch.
But wouldn’t this incident cause an uproar?
Anyway, the landlord said he had received a reward for the case and gave 1 silver coin.
Since it was a fence tied to a slum organization, it was an undeniable achievent.
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