Read The Legendary Rebuilding of a World by a Realist Demon King | 116 - - Heaven's punishment for a wicked merchant

116 - - Heaven's punishment for a wicked merchant

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　We have completed the dungeon search that Ryoma requested us to do.

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　We must also go to the maritime city of Bernese, which we promised her, and save Bernese from a crisis there.

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　It was a promise I made to Sakamoto Ryoma and his wife, and also a vow I made to Ryoma.

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　But I am the Demon King.

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　I am the ruler of several cities.

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　I couldn't be away from the castle forever.

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　So we split up.

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　Eve and I will return to the castle of Ashtaroth first, and then we will travel to Bernese after we have removed all the internal troubles from the castle.

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　Meanwhile, Ryoma was to return to Bernese with Jeanne to gather information.

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　The crisis in Bernese is caused by a ghost ship blocking the route, but it also seems to be related to a factional conflict in the council in Bernese.

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　Ryoma assures us that there will be no peace in the city unless this is resolved at the same time.

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"The thugs who came here before we went into the dungeon were sent by our political enemies, weren't they?

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　Eve summarizes the situation.

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　Ryoma nods.

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"Then it's a good idea to have Jeanne as a guard. With Jeanne by her side, assassins will be kept at bay.

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"That's right!

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　Jeanne is so proud of herself, but I tell her that I'll go with Ryoma.

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"-Jeanne is strong, but she is defenseless when she eats. Be careful."

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　Ryoma smiled and got into his carriage.

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　Jeanne is sitting in the back of the carriage, waving to us.

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　She kept waving at us until we were out of sight.

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　We parted from Ryoma and the others and hurried back to the castle of Ashtaroth.

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　Kotaro Fuuma said that there was no sign of an enemy invasion, but while I was gone, Ashtaroth Castle had a lot of problems.

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　First of all, there is the problem of food.

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　It has been several months since the people of the castle of Sabnak came to the castle of Ashtaroth, and not only they but also the people of the surrounding area have been gathering here in this castle town.

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　Hearing that the Dwarves of the soil are living happily, other sub-humans have begun to gather here as well.

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　This naturally led to a tightening of agricultural productivity.

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　Of course, they are raising the production level through four-rotation agriculture and cultivation of farmland, but it will be six months at the earliest before they see the results in figures.

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　In this case, food will have to be imported, and the price of food will skyrocket.

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　The inhabitants of the old Ashtaroth Castle are not happy about this.

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　Some of them have even started an anti-newcomer movement.

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　I didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable with such a trivial matter when they had gathered skilled workers from all over the country.

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　After receiving the report in the office, Godreve the Dwarf asked me, "Now, what do you have to say about this?

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"Well, my Lord, I would like you to solve this problem before you go to Bernese.

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"Yes, I know.

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　I understand," he replied.

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"But this problem can be solved if we can go to Bernese and import abundant food from the south, right?

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"That may be so, but what the people want is tomorrow's bread. The meat for the day after tomorrow is important, but what they need now is tomorrow."

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"I guess so. In the meantime, as a stopgap measure, we will arrest the unscrupulous merchants who are illegally stockpiling food and manipulating prices.

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I see... So this sharp rise in prices is not only due to population problems but also human greed...

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"Something like that. Everywhere in the world, merchants are stockpiling large quantities of food while crying loudly about food shortages.

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　Hearing this, Eve bows her head in gratitude.

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Hanzo, the Kobold ninja, gave me a list of these unscrupulous merchants.

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　She prepares the documents for us.

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　That's Eve. He has prepared what I want in advance.

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　Godreve is surprised to see the list.

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When did you get a list like this?

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"I had expected that the rapid growth of the population would lead to an increase in the number of merchants like this. I had asked Hanzo to look into it before I left for Sabnak Castle.

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That's great, that's some crazy plan."

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"Not that great.

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　He then calls Hijikata Toshizo to him.

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　This kind of corrupt merchant hires thugs to arm themselves. The investigation and seizure were bound to be rough.

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　When I told this to Hijikata Toshizo, he was not afraid.

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　On the contrary, he was excited.

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"While my husband was away, I was always running around to maintain security. I was arrested for drunkenness, for urinating standing up, for snatching people, and to be honest, none of it was very exciting."

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"You had more fun when you were in the Shinsengumi?"

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"Yes, every day was exciting at that time. The thought that tomorrow we might be cut down made every day's sake that much better. The women I knew were new to me."

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"I'm sure you'll get the same thrill out of this investigation and seizure."

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Reminds me of Ikedaya.

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"Ikedaya?"

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　Ikedaya?" Eve nodded her head. Her knowledge of Japan is limited.

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"Ikedaya is the name of a Japanese inn in Kyoto at the end of the Edo period. It is probably more famous for the incident that took place there than for the inn itself."

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Incident?

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Yes, an incident. At the end of the Edo period, a group of outlaws who were plotting to overthrow the shogunate were planning to set fire to the capital. Isamu Kondo, the chief of the Shinsengumi, found out and rode into Ikedaya with a small force, killing nine of the outlaws and capturing four.

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That's amazing.

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Isn't that amazing? There were more than 20 outlaws, but Isamu Kondo went in with only four men and subdued them.

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"Well, it's like a story."

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　The calm Eve was unusually excited.

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　She looks at Hijikata with respect, but he seems a little annoyed.

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　When she wonders why, Hijikata looks embarrassed and blurts out, "I'm Ikeda.

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"...... I didn't get into Ikedaya, did I?"

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　He said.

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　This reminds me of something.

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　The Ikedaya Incident was famous for the fact that the Shinsengumi bureau chief rode into the Ikedaya with only four men and defeated the outlaws.

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　Hijikata was then leading a detachment and dancing around disinformation.

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　As a man who was born to slay people, he must have felt frustrated not to be able to participate in such a spectacular capture as the one at Ikedaya.

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　I can easily imagine that by looking at his expression here and now.

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　I felt sorry for them and decided not to mention Ikedaya any more.

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　It was my fate that I could not participate in Ikedaya.

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　Instead, I clapped Toshizo on the shoulder and told him that he should be more active in this other world than Kondo had been during the Ikedaya Incident.

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　He must have understood my intention.

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　Toshizo regained a confident look on his face and called his subordinates.

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　There are about twenty of them, and they are all masters of the sword, he says.

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They may not be as good as those in the Shinsengumi, but they have been trained to a certain degree," he boasts.

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　He boasted.

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　Since Toshizo was mainly in charge of the demon tribe, there were many goblins and orcs among the sword fighters.

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　All of them looked like they had fought many battles in the past.

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　Toshizo selected three more strong men from among them and appointed them as his cut-throat captains, and the four of them rode to the evil merchant.

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　As they rode in, Toshizo said

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"This is for you!

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　in a tone similar to that of the Shinsengumi.

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　He was the same as the deputy chief of the demon squad of the old days,

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　As soon as they saw him, the corrupt merchants started to tremble.

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"This is no time for me to get involved.

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　Thinking this, I went back to my office by myself and waited for Hijikata to put all the corrupt merchants to death while playing chess with Godreve.

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