Published: August 10, 2026
And so, we became riders on horseback.
Since this was a private matter, the only carriage available was a small one normally used for errands around the neighborhood. To let Lady Mio rest her arm, I was the coachman the whole time, and when I got tired, we took breaks. It was a leisurely journey.
On the night of the second day after our departure.
We stayed at an inn along the highway for the night. It doubled as a tavern and dining hall, and while we waited after ordering fish dishes, we held a strategy meeting.
"Those soldiers are just hired private troops. They have no will or purpose of their own."
As she ate a stewed fish with the bones still in it, head and all, Lady Mio said that.
I was across from her, eating the same thing while carefully avoiding the bones, and I asked her, in the order they came to mind, the things I wanted to know.
"So there's a mastermind behind this, Lady Mio. Does your arm not hurt anymore?"
"It has already healed. However, it was clear that they were attacking with hostility toward the Granado Family."
"Normally, a human bone doesn't set in after just two days. In that case, someone who bears a grudge against master would be... Marquis Dario, maybe?"
"He is currently being detained for his previous crimes."
Lady Mio casually shot down my brilliant deduction in a single sentence. Oof.
"And besides, Dario no longer has the funds for that. It would take an enormous amount of money to move that many private soldiers, and it would also cost a fortune to buy up enough goods to affect the granado trading company. It's highly unlikely he is the mastermind."
"So that means it has to be a noble or a super-rich magnate on the same level as master, right?"
When I said that, Lady Mio nodded.
Hmm? Then I can't think of any other candidates.
The granado trading company was the nation's top trading house, and master was one of the greatest wealthy men even when including neighboring countries. There were not many people who could stand on equal footing with him.
Besides, if someone was a merchant, they'd be more likely to ingratiate themselves with the Granado Family and propose a partnership than pick a fight with them...
Then maybe it's a personal grudge against master...?
Even then, I couldn't think of anyone. Master did have a somewhat intimidating face, and he could be difficult at times. But at his core, he was very kind, broad-minded, and a genuinely good man. To me, he was not only my employer, but someone I respected as a person and looked up to. Did someone who hated that master really exist...?
As I tilted my head, Lady Mio gave a wry smile.
"Thomas may never understand that. You don't envy or resent other people, do you?"
"Uh... hmm, I wonder. I don't think that's true... no, yeah, maybe it is..."
"At the very least, you would not cling to a grudge while dragging many others into it just to exact revenge. ...However, there are people in this world like that. People who turn simple envy and resentment into anger, then cast themselves as agents of justice and convince themselves that mere violence is righteous punishment."
"...Lady Mio, do you have anyone in mind? This 'mastermind,' I mean."
When I asked, Lady Mio was silent for a while before eventually shaking her head.
"Well, there is someone who comes to mind as a possibility, but... so long as I cannot be certain, there is no need to dwell on it. If it were 'that person,' they would not be much of a threat anyway."
"...Not much of a threat? That person?"
"Yes. I have already defeated them once. More importantly, there is another man we should be concerned about..."
She said that and reached for a second fish. It was a huge fish, maybe half the height of a person, and she sucked it in and devoured it like noodles. Watching that, I wondered what on earth Lady Mio's stomach was made of, but what concerned me more was what she had just said.
"A man we should be more concerned about than the mastermind... Lady Mio, does that mean... love—"
The instant I said that, something whooshed past beside my ear with a sharp cutting sound. What was that just now? I looked in the direction it had gone, and other people were making a racket.