episode_0181

Dyke and Freakt return.

The guards who had come to meet them stood up and drew their attention to where the footsteps were heard.

However, fellow guards have already vaguely guessed the outcome.

working in the same occupation. They meet in various places in the same territory. After work is done, you go to your lodgings and there is no need to mention where to eat.

Bitterly, the sound of footsteps is not bright.

Their trudging steps clearly pointed to an obvious failure this time too.

Dyke, who noticed the atmosphere, opened his mouth.

“Don’t worry. This year isn’t over yet, right?”

“That’s right. There’s no need to be like this just because it’s been a few days, right? Let’s wait a little longer.”

Thanks to Dyke’s efforts to create a sagging atmosphere, Freakt also agrees.

But they couldn’t be too optimistic.

“It’s been like this for several months already. Waiting here any longer… How long are you telling me to wait?”

“Hey.”

“I never imagined that it would be this difficult to get one of those damn grapes. Has any of you ever seen at least one of them properly? Strawberries! The same goes for strawberries. You probably haven’t even seen strawberry leaves!”

As the person who could not stand it shouted, silence came again.

Even among them, I have never seen one. Two specialties of Chatelaine.

“We are also people who only saw that. Coming this far and staying for such a long time. These are people who are just waiting desperately. If it’s going to be like this… I’d rather… I’d rather…!”

-Whoosh!

As if there was nothing he could do, Dyke stepped forward and grabbed the arm of the man overcome by impulse.

“If you commit theft, those people will have nothing but distrust towards you. What if the nobles made a reservation? All you have to do is get inside the bars, right?”

“Freakt. But…!”

“Just like Frikt said, calm down. You couldn’t even get it in the off-season. Because the harvest is so low.”

“When the peak season comes, production will increase. At that time, there will be items for sale. I know you’re in a hurry, but calm down.”

“…Okay.”

An excited colleague calms down his excitement.

The two of them knew well why their fellow guards were anxious. Because we are in the same situation.

However, if it is discovered that you have been stealing, you will be kicked out of the village, and the Shatrene specialty you were trying to save will be taken away again. In a word, there is no turning back.

The two decided to report the conclusion of the conversation they had while walking here to their colleagues one more time.

“Don’t be too hasty. As I said before, when the peak season comes, production will increase significantly. However, this time the production volume will increase further.”

“Will it increase further?”

“Are you sure?”

“Okay. They said that the Chatelaine estate has increased the land for planting grapes and strawberries. They said they would purchase existing crops from outside.”

“Oh…!”

For the gloomy guards, sweet rain fell amid the drought.

If the number of planted lands increases, production will naturally increase. Since it coincided with the peak season, there really could have been more crops left this time.

“So everyone, don’t be too hasty. Got it?”

“Let’s go back!”

The two people who calmed down the dangerous atmosphere.

So the guards went back with some hope.

next day.

A letter arrived from Dyke.

However, the contents of the letter are unusual.

『Dike. Your sister─────』

The news from my hometown was that my younger sister’s illness had worsened.

Dyke had reassured his colleagues that there was no need to be in a hurry, but from this moment on, he became the most urgent person.

After finishing his work, he went to the place where the residents of the territory were gathered without anyone noticing.

“Huh? You are our territory guard─”

“Strawberry. How can you not make a reservation?”

-Charak.

He spoke sharply and held out his money bag.

All the money I had saved up poured out on the wooden desk.

However, Youngjimin shakes his head.

“Sorry, but the value is not enough. You know that pre-ordering strawberries costs more.”

The price of Chatelaine’s specialty products, whose demand has risen like crazy, has also risen.

If you want to purchase something for sure, you have to make a reservation, and even that reservation has to be made in advance, so it is often handled by nobles.

For that reason, the prices of already expensive strawberries and grapes were doubling.

“…”

“Wait a little longer. If I have any left over, I will be the first to sell them to you.”

Bitterly, Dyke had to walk out of the trading floor empty-handed again today.

As busy as my mind was, my hands felt infinitely light.

“No. The price is going to go down little by little anyway. Yes.”

The peak season is coming anyway. There was also news that the field has been expanded, so the price will definitely go down by then. If you do well, there will be strawberries left even if you don’t make a reservation.

Clenching his fists, he tried to calm his nerves.

Right then.

A man walks out nearby.

“Did you say the name of your sister’s disease was Helqueta I?”

“…!”

“It was a special disease that was not well known. There is no way to recover except by gathering various ingredients to make a special medicine and drinking it. It is not a disease that can lead to death in the early stages, but if left untreated, the fatality rate increases over time.”

All my hair stood on end.

Because the disease is a rare disease, not many people know about it.

However, that man was accurately pointing out the characteristics of the disease that Dyke knew about.

“Who are you? Who is it…!”

“Strawberry prices will not go down as you think.”

“What…?”

***

Why did you need chatelaine strawberries?

That’s because it is used to make medicine for my younger sister who is suffering from a disease in my hometown.

Dyke’s younger sister, who started suffering about a year ago, has a special disease. As expected, special medicine was needed to solve this disease, and it could not be solved with general manufacturing methods.

The biggest challenge for Helqueta I was the chatelaine strawberry.

I gathered all the other things, but there was only one ingredient. Because those chatelaine strawberries were holding me back, I was unable to make medicine.

I went to the local area to get Chatelaine strawberries, which were in short supply due to a severe crop failure, and thinking that I had to get them quickly somehow, I quit my job as a guard at the existing estate and took on the job of guarding Chatelaine, whose evaluation was much lowered.

Even so, I had to save the chatelaine strawberries.

But, do you think prices will rise further in the future?

What is the price of the strawberries needed to cure my brother’s illness?

“What do you mean…”

“The demand for chatelaine strawberries is steadily rising. If you check the selling price statistically, you can see that it is going up even though the harvest amount has not changed much. This is a clear statistic, as purchase times and cycles are getting shorter and reservation times are getting shorter.”

“Ha, but…! This time, they said they would significantly increase the amount planted! Then, since the inventory has been replenished, there will be more left over, and won’t the price drop?!”

“It’s not like that.”

In the darkness, he answered firmly and quietly.

“Chatrene strawberries and chatelaine grapes. The main customer base for these two specialties is none other than the nobility.”

“…!”

“Even though prices are rising like crazy, quality is declining and supply is decreasing, the timing of purchases has not changed. That’s only those who can pay that much. It means that those strawberries have become a crop that commoners can no longer afford.”

“I can’t…”

Dyke sat down.

okay. In fact, you may already have known it.

As of this month, I have been in charge of Chatelaine’s security guard for over a year. Compared to the other guards, Dyke stayed in Chatlaine for the longest period of time, so he was able to vaguely point out strange things.

You can also purchase it only with a reservation.

That ridiculous price is also the reservation fee.

If it was because all the sellers were from the aristocratic class, all questions would be resolved.

Just as the man answering in the dark said.

Chatelaine’s specialty products ended up becoming premium products for the nobility.

-Kwaak.

“No. no! That can’t be possible!”

But I can’t admit that.

I know what it means to not be able to find the last ingredient for the medicine right in front of you.

Are you telling me to just accept my sister’s death?

“I am…! I know because I stayed in Chatelaine for a year. This means that the price will definitely fall this time…!”

That couldn’t be possible.

As the brother of a younger brother.

“What. I know it’s hard to accept. I don’t feel that way towards my family at all, so I can’t sympathize with them.”

-Sureuk.

When the man, whose face was completely revealed in the darkness, took off his hood, Dyke’s eyes widened.

“Da, you…!”

A man who was appointed as the current lord of Chatlaine after passing the test at the 21st Eastern Noble Council, and was a lord of Chatlaine in the past.

Karssein Bagland.

He was standing in front of me.

“I’ll give it a few days. You can check with your own eyes whether the price is rising or not. However.”

-Tuk!

“Wow!”

“If you change your mind, come to the place written there at any time.”

Carcein threw a small notebook at Dyke and left with those words.

The notebook contained a detailed statistical table detailing the price changes of chatelaine strawberries and chatelaine grapes, as well as a graph showing the rate of increase.

And there were particularly wide gaps between the notebooks.

When I slightly opened the gap, a piece of paper with a schematic diagram came out.

“Really… you investigated all of that?”

Dyke looks at the alley where Karssein disappeared with bewildered eyes.

This is Karssein.

Among the nobles, he is not a noble, but is called a Karsein and carries many labels.

It is Karssein who directly caused the Shame of Chatrene incident and caused a massive crop failure in this land.

I had no doubt that even if I did some research, I would end up with inaccurate, inadequate, and unreliable data.

The contents of this notebook were anything but.

***

-Tiring!

▶Sub episode. Agent: Dyke accepted.◀

▶Completely convince Dyke to accept you as an agent.◀

-Tiring!

▶It was confirmed that the preceding event was found and performed.◀

▶Dike’s intimacy increases.◀

[Current figure: -11%]

‘-11%?’

When I first took charge of the sub-episode in the game, the number was much lower than this.

‘…I can’t believe the huge gap of 10% was narrowed because of this one event that started with Ferdi’s ability.’

Originally, Dyke was an agent who spent the entire second week and could only be accepted until the third week was almost over.

Considering such time consumption, it takes a huge amount of time just to increase intimacy, and narrowing this gap means that the starting point has been moved much earlier.

“Should I go back first.”

Now that it’s clear that this is working, there’s a lot more to do.

In order to recruit Dyke as a second agent as soon as possible, you will need to prepare accordingly.

More thorough analysis and tighter statistics are needed.

In this era that lags behind modern times.

If you have to prepare them and prepare countermeasures to consume enemy entities by setting traps in advance, you will run out of time.

To do that, you’ll probably have to work late at night, so you’ll probably get nagged. My fiancee’s persistent nagging.

“But, if it leaks secretly, right?”

She must be back at her territory now because she needs a soil comparison group.

It’ll probably be okay. Secretly staying up all night.