“But why was all that grain going to another country? I thought it rather strange. After all, the Kingdom of Naris produces its own grain. By all rights, it shouldn’t have needed any of ours. On top of that, it wasn’t sold—it was taken. I’m presuming that is because the populace in Naris distrusts their own food sources due to the spreading disease?”
“Exactly. It spreads via food, so there’s a deep distrust of our country’s crops… As a result, no one wanted to consume our domestically grown products. But if we imported crops from other nations despite having an excess of our own, people would get suspicious and find out about the disease. Left with no other choice, the royals forced their own people to eat Narisian grain to hide the outbreaks. Even knowing that we might get infected, we had to consume potentially contaminated grain… It led to countless deaths. The men you have locked up down below all lost family members to the sickness. We were unable to stomach the way Naris was handling the issue, so we started to travel to other countries to acquire what little grain we could and distribute it back home.”
That must have been why they’d appeared on Count Swangan’s estate.
These were the thieves’ true motives.
“How did you know that we weren’t local?”
Gail fixed Byletta with a stare. She had no problem with being at the center of attention, but the strained atmosphere made her chest go a little tight.
“When we asked the villagers for information about the burglaries in the region, they had very little to say. But what we did sometimes hear were reports of a group of unknown men turning up in flood-damaged areas at Bardu’s instruction. Since those men hadn’t come from the estate, they had to have traveled from across the border. At first, I suspected they were deserters or those returning home from the war, but I also heard that their movements were very well-coordinated and the bridges were getting fixed in no time at all. I then had Arnald accompany me to observe them in person, and he was convinced that there was a commanding officer there.”
“But the presence of a commanding officer doesn’t mean they were from another land… And how did you know about Targitte’s disease?”
“You’re correct. But to let you in on a secret, I happen to have connections to the Highrain Association.”
“What?! The Highrain Association…!” Gail’s eyes opened wide in shock.
It looked like he’d heard of the Highrain Association before. That was unsurprising, as they had been providing the Kingdom of Naris with aid for the past six months. It was something her uncle had been very eager to do. Byletta had seen him just before he’d departed the capital, and he’d been in a very good mood after shifting a bunch of money around.
“Even though the association knew we were suffering from disease, they very kindly imported foreign foods for us to eat. I heard that made the people back home very happy.”
“The head of the association had been having various foodstuffs manufactured and was looking for a new market for them. It just so happens that one of their products mitigates the effects of the disease.”
“The one mentioned earlier?”
“The head of the association received a direct request from the king to look into any potential medicines. People who aren’t used to eating fish sauce can have an aversion to it, so he decided to turn the ingredient that grants immunity into a paste by grinding it into a powder and mixing it in with other food products. It can be used as a staple food as well, so hopefully, in time, its popularity will grow enough that the epidemic should die down.”
“So…he distributed it in anticipation that it would cure the illness…?”
“As a fellow businessperson, I can tell you it wasn’t just out of the goodness of his heart. That said, the king and the head of the association are apparently old acquaintances, so he decided to act after hearing that the kingdom was in trouble. I’m also well-versed on the conditions in Naris, so it was easy to figure out who you people were and where the grain was going.”
Truthfully, Byletta’s uncle was not so altruistic. He simply had a keen nose for making money. Still, she didn’t want to spread anything negative about him, as admitting his faults would only invite shame on her relatives. Nothing good would come of it.
“Thank you so much. I cannot tell you how grateful I am…!”
Gail pressed his hands together in thanks, tears in his eyes. Byletta could only send him a wry smile as he appeared to worship her.
Reputation was everything for businesspeople like her, and there was no one more revered than her Uncle Samus. Yet, because she knew he was two-faced and held ulterior motives, her feelings were complicated. Not to mention, all she had done was reveal the truth—she hadn’t been involved with the actual product at all. Gail was probably just a very good person. She knew that the disease had caused him much strife, but it would be better if he learned how to read between the lines.
Her uncle might have sold Naris the product they so desperately needed, but he had ways of making sure he got something back beyond the country’s good favor. He’d only acted as he had because he was getting a foothold out of it. It seemed that even though he’d only just returned to the empire, he was already making plans to go abroad again.
“It’s the head of the association you ought to be thanking, so if you’re that grateful, you can show it by working with them again. But, before that, how about you make a deal with us?”
“A…deal?”
“Yes. Father, do you have the documents I asked for?”
Count Swangan nodded and placed three sheets of paper that had been lying on the writing desk in front of Gail.
They were Byletta’s price for helping him falsify the grain reporting.
“These are the trends in grain yield over the past few years on the Swangan estate, while these figures are what was reported to the government. You can see that low yields were reported for a number of years, so we didn’t pay much tax. My father-in-law has been sending additional supplies, but there’s still a shortfall. Where has the grain gone?”
“Some of it has already been transported to Naris and consumed. The rest is still stored on the estate,” Gail explained.
“There’s an old fort along the eastern border,” Bardu added. “There are still a few soldiers stationed there, but we’ve been keeping the stolen grain in that storehouse. We said it was sandbags for the rainy season, so we’re the only ones who know it’s there.”