Episode 317 Jace Company (4)
The smallest of the two men spoke in a low voice.
“Report.”
It’s a strange voice that sounds like scratching your vocal cords.
One word falls out of him and Jace hits his head on the ground.
“yes. So far, there has been no problem. Everything was done as instructed.”
“Good work. Your hard work will return to the success of the upper ranks.”
“Thank you!”
“I think we can move on to the next step now.”
“When you say next step… are you referring to war?”
Ray, who had been silently listening to the story, was startled.
What’s the next step? is it a war?
The man in the robe gave Jace a hard slap on the cheek.
On the surface, Jace, who seemed to have no power, flew in the sky with his hand jjigeom.
After flying a good 2 meters, his body fell powerlessly to the ground.
No matter how much mana he protected, the impact would be great.
Still, Jace rushed over and hit his head again.
The man spewed out a wish to live toward him.
“Always watch your mouth, even if no one is around. If you show rudeness next time, your neck will be blown off.”
“sorry!”
“Do what I commanded last time. Let go of the deals you have monopolized until now. Send a communication to the merchant to suspend all major transactions. The winds of war have begun to blow, so we should straighten the sails and go ahead.”
The order was given to throw away everything that had been accumulated so far.
Jace’s Merchant is a merchant’s guild that maintains its momentum with exclusive deals that no one can surpass.
If they were to let go of the exclusive deal now, it would collapse in no time.
Jace swallowed.
“Ha, but then it will be difficult to grow again. I’d rather use my current growth…”
The man cut off his words with a cold gaze.
“Do you dare to disobey?”
I don’t know if it’s a self-talk or a question.
Jace, unable to let go of his lingering feelings, gritted his teeth.
Shake your head vigorously with your head on the ground.
“…I will do as you command!”
“Don’t let me down.”
The little man backed away, and this time the tall man spoke up.
“…You shouldn’t get drunk watching a fight. What happened to the emotional wine?”
“That… that’s…”
Jace’s voice came back cold as Jace faltered.
“You’re not ready yet, are you?”
“Joe, give me a little more time! I will make sure to save you!”
“What a worthless bastard! You mean you haven’t been able to get a good drink at all?”
“No face!”
“I will give you a week. Get the appraiser in it. If I can’t save it… you will have to resent the cruelty of my sword.”
Nod— nod—
I nodded my head and the men disappeared suddenly after that.
Ray, who had overheard their conversation from afar, had a serious expression on his face.
‘It’s the wind of war… are you preparing for war? Looking at the current state divided into stages, it seems quite specific…’
Ray doesn’t know what that identity is yet.
However, the opponent is not enough to intentionally create a period of abundance, and now they are even trying to wage a war.
In the meantime, Proxia was the only force that had been able to play so grandly.
However, now that Proxia has collapsed, similar forces have appeared.
The anxious mind did not leave.
If war breaks out, thousands or tens of thousands of people die.
Ray knew that better than anyone else from his experience of war in the Holy Land.
‘If left alone, only useless people will die.’
Even if it’s a war, it’s an unspoken rule to not touch the common people as much as possible.
This is because it could be criticized by the neighboring kingdoms, and even the public sentiment could be shaken if it was wrong.
But even so, that tacit rule was not well followed.
Obviously, many people will die in war.
Ray frowned and murmured.
“Looking at the next step, it must be that there is not much time left before the war. At least within a fortnight, the situation will accelerate.”
A full moon is an urgent time to find out who is behind the Jace Merchant, let alone prevent a war.
In addition, there are things about appraisals.
It was still late enough.
If you interrogate Jace, you’ll find out who’s behind it. It’s not a big deal, but there’s a chance that they’ll find out first.
Currently, the priority is to completely distort the relationship between the mysterious force and Jace.
It’s best to dig up behind the scenes information later.
Looking at the wide backyard of Jace’s upper house, Ray laughed.
“After Proxia, are they another guys this time? The world is going well.”
I don’t know what the goddess is doing.
He quickly kicked the ground.
The destination was Kerven Old Man’s house.
* * *
Upon his arrival, Kerven greeted him.
“It was all right! I thought something had happened because he hadn’t come for days!”
“The welcome party will be held later, but listen to me first.”
Ray calmed him down for a moment before opening his mouth.
“The one who is aiming for the old man is a large troupe named Jace. We’ve cleared out the bandits, but there are still a few left. I’ll probably come back in a few days.”
When the bandits told him that they would visit him again, Old Kerven’s complexion suddenly darkened.
“Then maybe that would be nice.”
“Phew. My throat is a bit dry. Can I get you a glass of water?”
“Okay. wait a little bit.”
Kerven quickly brought water.
Ray quenched his thirst with it.
Gulp— Gulp—
Drink it cool and wipe your mouth.
“Hey, I’m going to live for a while now. I drank a lot of water.”
He doesn’t even know the frustrating feelings of others and is very peaceful.
Old Kerven asked without hiding his nervous expression.
“Then teach me now. What should I do?”
In response, Ray pulled out a pretty decent-looking bottle from his leather backpack.
For a while, I tilted my head at the strange behavior.
He began pouring the half-drinked water straight into the bottle.
Shriek—
Did he go crazy in just a few days?
After transferring the water to the bottle, Ray tore open the sachet this time and picked up the powder with her fingers and put it into the bottle.
Then, a sweet fragrance permeates the bottle.
It’s a sober yet enticing fragrance that makes you feel confused.
Kerven, who was almost intoxicated by the incense, came to his senses and asked.
“This……?”
“It’s homemade incense powder. Originally, I was going to use it for mental and physical stabilization, but since the situation is a situation, I can’t help it.”
It’s not a big deal, but if you smell the fragrance, it’s a heavenly fragrance.
Even just smelling the scent makes me want to brew alcohol.
There was no way that this kind of scent wouldn’t be a big deal.
‘You gave me a lot of things.’
In reality, it was nothing more than a spare part made roughly at home.
So, I had no hesitation in using it.
However, it seemed like a kind consideration not to burden Kerven.
Ray explained as he looked at him with tears in his eyes.
“As you can tell by smelling it, this is a simple scented powder. Just adding this doesn’t change the taste of the drink. So, seal the bottled water well and pass it to the bandit.”
“…Even though you’d know by looking at the contents?”
“I tell you never to open the seal unless you are drinking it right away because the scent is important. No one knows about emotional wine anyway, so even if you tell me that much, you will understand what I mean. Would a bandit or something like that break an order and secretly drink a glass of Sangsanju?”
At those words, Kerven smiled.
“You mean to deceive the bandits.”
“Exactly.”
“But even if you cheat, you can only escape their eyes for a few days at most. Then…”
Ray cut him off.
“After that, don’t worry.”
He confidently pats his chest and says.
“Because I’ll clean up the guys called the Jace Merchant.”
A cold smile crept under the white mask.
* * *
Another day passed, and this time the knights came to Old Kerven’s house.
As three knights approached, even equipped with plate armor, he hid his feelings and asked.
“I’m sure you haven’t lost your way… What are you doing to such a remote place?”
“Are you the brewer that made emotional wine?”
“Is that so…?”
The knights exchanged glances with each other and said.
“A bottle of emotional wine, please. I promise to pay for it.”
“We also don’t want to treat the elderly without power harshly. We would be obliged for your cooperation.”
“Whew… I’m sorry, but didn’t I tell you that emotional wine can no longer be made? I told you the truth, so why are you hurting me so much?”
“Are you telling us to believe that?”
The impatient knight put his hand on the sword soldier and threatened.
Another article dissuades him.
“Old man, please make me one bottle. Just one bottle is all you need. If that is the case, we will be satisfied and leave.”
They just don’t like rolling under the top bar that they couldn’t eat back.
I didn’t follow him because I had absolute loyalty.
Kerven, who sighed deeply, took out the bottle that Ray had given him the other day.
The half-drip bottle was tightly sealed with a stopper.
However, the scent seems to have remained around it, and the sweet scent is disturbed.
The knights’ eyes widened.
Saliva ran down their throats.
“Is that the emotional owner you’ve only heard of?”
“Even the scent is unusual… Rumor has it that once you drink it, you will cry until the end of the day, but this may not be an exaggeration.”
In reality, it was just fragrant water.
Kerben acted with his hands shaking.
“…the last remaining half-bottle. Please be satisfied with this.”
“Thank you, old man. There will be no more coming.”
“joy. Thank you for coming all the way to this corner.”
Three knights cherished the bottle.
However, Kerven did not hand it over.
Giving strength, he added.
“The scent that gives emotion is very important. Under no circumstances should the seal be opened before drinking. If the fragrance is gone, the taste will not be able to do its job.”
At his words, the knights gave more strength to their grip.
He even treasures an already sealed bottle of wine in his leather backpack.
Having safely handed over the emotional wine, they nodded.
“…things were clearly handed over. We’re not on good terms enough to stay here any longer, so let’s go.”
“Don’t come again.”
“I still think so.”
The knights turned their steps.
Contrary to what had come, their expressions looked bright.
Ray, who was watching from the back to see if the knights were going to act, grinned.
“I don’t know who it is, but when you taste the alcohol, your expression will be worth seeing.”
