On the way back from our successful capture of the White Tower of Trials, we stopped by the Trade City of Lanct.
I want to sell off the leather, old coins, and treasures we've acquired and this metropolis certainly has the greatest demand. We started to slowly sell them to secure funds.
And we also kept an eye on the market as we bought up all the preserved food and certain potions that could be used as rations.
I was prepared to pay premium but my merchant's blood was boiling. I buy as cheap as possible and sell as high as possible.
In the dungeon, I suppressed my desire to get more treasures but I won't suppress my desire to not lose money.
Perhaps this is a dangerous monster that nests in human's mind.
After I finished buying up all the items we needed, I checked the rising prices and found out that I made a serious problem. Even in Lanct, where supplies are plentiful, the prices of those items had nearly tripled and other food items had also risen.
I apologize to the citizens of Lanct who would be screaming in pain.
I hate that I have to do this but this is war, an economic one.
Once the war resumes, the citizen's antipathy will turn to the imperial army as a huge number of imperial forces will force this city to replenish their supply.
What a convenient way to go but I'm not sure if that will really happen.
I desperately suppressed my desire to make profit by selling off at a high price.
Making money is not our purpose this time.
In the first place, taking mercenaries here to damage the empire's logistics is not our original purpose too.
What Sherry really wants is short term data on the rising price of commodities. Maybe she wants to study the fluctuating market, which is fine since it's my souvenir for a hard worker like her.
While I was enjoying my trading game in the Trade City of Lanct, Kaara, quietly appeared behind a nearby tree.
「Takeru-sama, it seems like the "Hotbed of Corruption and Delusion" was opened again.」
Kaara knelt down and said that solemnly as if announcing an ominous prophecy.
Since Kaara has been with us long enough, I've known that her goal is to be a cadre of the demon king.
We are in the middle of the city so a demoness like here suddenly saying something like that would definitely stand out. Where is your initial setting of a behind the scene mage?
Anyway, that news is something I can't just shrug off.
I made an eye contact with Oracle-chan who's sucking dried red dragon meat nearby.
「Takeru, what Kaara was saying is true given the torrent of magical power flowing around. That playful boy Freed is using the power of chaos at will.」
「I see. Archbishop Nicholas said "Freed is busy" and it seems like he opened a miasma hole again.」
「I said it first but why did you only believe it when Oracle was the one who told you!」
If Kaara really wants to, I'll explain it to her why as much as she wants.
However, I don't want to waste my time now. What is Freed's purpose?
「Oracle, what is the demon king's core? And how many pieces it can a person embed on his body?」
「One should be enough but if you really want more, you can use two, one for each hand. However, if you embed the demon king's core on both of your hands, you'll lose the sword of light and can only use two swords of darkness. If you're a hero, that's nothing but self destruction.」
If he embeds two demon king's cores in his right hand, he will get twice the power! Is that his goal?
If not, then, what?
「I don't know. The demon king's core is evil that should be repelled by humans of this world and it's even dangerous enough for even demons to keep away from it. Freed is crazy enough to have the crazy idea of messing with the power of chaos which is difficult to control.」
According to the report of a spy that we received later, 50000 troops assembled in the imperial capital of Northmark to clear up the chaos caused by opening the "Hotbed of Corruption and Delusion" again.
Given the timing when it opened, there's no way that other demons opened it so Freed is just repeating his own performance.
「What the hell is he thinking?」
Not long after another city in the empire was destroyed, I heard rumors that it was sealed again.
What does he want to do by ravaging his own country….?