Once I finished changing, I left the inn with Zoe and Kate in tow.
Ducel was just as lively and prosperous by day as it was by night.
I hadn't noticed it last night in the dark, but compared to the imperial capital, the architecture, the way people dressed, and everything else seemed remarkably distinct.
It all had a flashy feel to it.
The entire city gave off the distinct vibe of the nouveau riche.
"It is quite an unsubtle city, isn't it?"
Zoe murmured, clearly sharing my impression.
Kate looked up at Zoe, her expression puzzled.
It seemed she didn't quite grasp that sort of nuance yet.
After walking for a bit, Zoe—who had been following behind me until then—picked up her pace and stepped out in front.
"This is the shop, Master."
She pointed to an establishment with a lavish storefront.
It was the very place Zoe had scouted out earlier, where Olcott's poetry was supposedly sold.
The shop occupied a prime piece of real estate right in the heart of Ducel, dead center in a bustling commercial district with heavy foot traffic.
The surrounding storefronts and the pedestrians passing by were all well-dressed.
When a beggar emerged from a back alley, a clerk from one of the neighboring shops immediately rushed out to drive him away.
"They certainly picked a prime location for their shop."
"Setting up a shop in a place like this... the deficit must be staggering..."
Kate muttered with a troubled look.
"Operating at a loss is fine."
"Huh?"
"All they need is the illusion that he's a poet popular enough to maintain a storefront in the best part of town. The deficit from a shop or two is pocket change compared to the gold being tossed around yesterday—or the bribes funneling into Olcott's pockets, wouldn't you say?"
"Th-that is true..."
Though taken aback, Kate nodded in agreement.
"Regular customers wouldn't step foot in there anyway, would they?"
I tossed the question to Zoe.
Zoe gave a quiet nod.
"As expected of you, Master. That was essentially the consensus when I asked around."
I figured as much.
☆
By evening, we made our way back to that same storefront.
We had taken a circuit around the city to observe the daily lives of the common folk.
The town's nouveau-riche atmosphere wasn't some contrived show; wealth and goods truly overflowed at every turn.
The claim that people weren't consuming salt due to a recession, or that tax revenues had fallen because sales plummeted, was an outright fabrication.
Having confirmed that, we returned intending to head inside the shop and stir the hornet's nest.
"Huh?!"
Kate was the first to cry out.
Startled, she scurried over toward the shop.
"Master?!"
Peering inside through the crack in the closed door, Kate called out to me, looking utterly bewildered.
Frowning, I approached the storefront.
It looked completely different from when we had visited this morning.
The sign was gone, and the doors were firmly shut.
I walked up beside Kate and peered through the gap just as she had, but the interior was stripped bare—completely empty.
I took a couple of steps back to take in the entire building.
"Zoe."
"Yes."
"This is definitely the place, right?"
"Without a doubt."
"What about inside? You actually went inside earlier, didn't you?"
"Yes. Framed copies of Olcott's poetry were hanging all over the walls, and there were tables, sofas for receiving guests, and various fine furnishings."
"Hmm... Excuse me, you there."
I called out to a passerby walking past.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Do you happen to know what happened to this shop?"
"What happened?"
The man turned to look at the closed storefront.
"What do you mean, 'what happened'? This place has been vacant for over a year."
"What?"
"No way?!"
Kate and Zoe gasped in unison from behind me.
"I see. Sorry to hold you up."
Once the man walked away, the two immediately spoke up.
"Master! This makes no sense."
"Over a year ago? But when we came by this morning, it was right there!"
"...You two, go ask around at the surrounding shops."
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
Zoe and Kate took off as instructed, hurrying over to the neighboring shops to gather information.
They questioned not only the clerks, but customers and passersby as well.
Before long, both of them returned, looking utterly baffled.
"Well? What did they say?"
"It's the same everywhere. They all claim there is no shop there."
"They said it's been so long since the last tenants moved out that they can't even remember what kind of shop it used to be."
"I see..."
"What on earth is going on, Master? This is clearly unnatural."
"Could we have been tricked by some sort of illusion?"
I fell into thought.
It definitely wasn't a mistake on our part.
I trusted Zoe's competence, and above all, all three of us—myself, Zoe, and Kate—had seen with our own eyes that the shop existed this morning.
Looking at it realistically... this was a massive, lightning-fast cleanup to destroy evidence and align their stories.
To expose the truth behind this...
"Zoe."
"Yes."
"Go buy some food. Something hearty and filling. Pick up some liquor too, if you can."
"...Understood."
Though curiosity was written all over her face, Zoe recognized that I had a plan. Setting her questions aside, she set off to make the purchases.
A short while later, she returned carrying more food and alcohol than she could hold in her arms.
"Thank you for waiting."
"Follow me."
Leading Zoe and Kate, I turned into a back alley.
Shortly after stepping into the alleyway, which was thick with stagnant air and a sour stench, I spotted a beggar slumped on the ground.
He looked up at us with dull, listless eyes.
"Zoe, hand it over to him."
"Yes—here you go."
"—Whoa! Bread, meat, and booze to boot?! You're givin' this to me?"
"That's right."
I gave a nod and addressed the beggar.
"You were kicked out of this area earlier this morning, weren't you?"
"Yeah, that's just the daily routine."
"And the fact that you came right back means you're always hanging around here?"
"Most of the time, yeah."
"I have a question for you. Do you know anything about that closed shop just outside this alley?"
"You mean the place sellin' those poems?"
"—!"
Zoe and Kate caught their breath, exchanging glances.
In a situation where they felt like they were chasing ghosts, finding someone they could actually get a straight answer from brought an immediate wave of relief over both of them.
"Yeah. What happened to it?"
"Around noon, I reckon. A huge crowd of blokes suddenly showed up, hauled everything out, and locked the place up tight. After that, they threatened the folks in the nearby shops, tellin' them to swear there was never anything there."
"I knew they were coordinating their stories!"
A flash of excitement crept into Kate's voice.
"Do you know who ordered them to do it?"
"Nah, can't help you there."
"I see. No, you've been a massive help. Here's a little token of my appreciation. Keep it."
With that, I handed the beggar roughly one hundred Rien in cash.
Then I led Zoe and Kate back out of the alley.
"Master."
"Hm?"
"How did you know that beggar would have the answers?"
"Because he's the 'strongest kind of person.'"
"The strongest person?"
"Threats and bribes work on people who have something to lose. But they don't work on someone who's hit rock bottom like a beggar, with nothing left to protect. That's why he gives you the honest truth."
"I see! That's brilliant, Master."
"Gwaaaaah!!"
A bloodcurdling scream shattered the air.
Zoe and Kate whipped around in an instant.
The scream had come from the very alley we had just stepped out of.
"Master?!"
"That was fast."
"Huh?"
"Heh..."
A faint smirk crossed my face as I turned on my heel.
Zoe and Kate hurried after me.
When we returned to the spot we had just left, the beggar was lying unconscious on the ground.
And right beside him lay a group of unfamiliar men, their entire bodies charred and smoking, sprawled completely motionless.
"Wh-what is this?"
"Silencing loose ends."
"What?"
Zoe looked on in disbelief.
"They're the kind of people who would scrub an entire shop clean to destroy evidence; it was completely foreseeable that they'd try to silence the beggar we spoke to. That's why I had Bahamut stay behind and ordered him to possess and strike if anything happened."
"Ohh..."
"Master, that's incredible..."
"I didn't expect them to move quite this quickly, but this makes one thing certain."
"And what would that be?"
"We're being watched. Otherwise, they never could have reacted so fast, right?"
"—! You're right!"
"As expected of you, Master!"