I'm back now.

You, my guest....

Who are you?

It's me.

Oh, it's Baron Stein.

'You're a lot better behaved when you got out of the military and became a hunter. Isn't it usually the other way around?

Commoners are used to humping noblemen.

'I'm sure there are a lot of noblemen who take it for granted that they will do so, though. We need to talk.



　A few days after Tallow left for Water City.
　I retired from the army as planned.
　I got to be a commoner and a major, so that's good.
　Normally, a captain is the limit of what you can do out of the military academy, and they only give you a major as a favor when you leave the military.
　If you finish active duty as a major, they make you a lieutenant colonel when you leave the service.
　So my retirement and pension will go up, and my retirement will be secure.

　However, I'm still in my early forties.
　I can still work, so I decided to start a hunting business.
　I immediately started looking for a companion, but my men retired with me, so I ended up making them my companions.
　I didn't think they needed to retire from the army to keep up with me, but apparently the idiot son of a nobleman who joined the army instead of me was a helpless fellow.

　I don't have the guts to fight a sand beast on my own, but I want you to raise your level.
　''Hurry up with that too!'' That's what I heard, and that's why they made such an absurd demand of my former employees.　
　I've heard that the five guys I'd been paying attention to, the ones who participated in Taro's training, have been hastily decommissioned, and five of the replacements have already died.

　For the sake of leveling, that rookie Major Connell made them do something reckless.
　And yet, since he was the son of a nobleman, he was not to be blamed.
　Well, he deserved to be decommissioned.

　It's really a problem for the children of noblemen who want to raise the bar even one level higher and take mountings against their own kind of idiots.

　Fortunately, they joined them, so the hunter business was good.
　I made more money than a military man on a fixed salary, and my days were full these days, but the only thing that depressed me was the death of Taro.
　He was traveling in a sand drift boat to a port that was shipping to Water City when a pack of sandworms attacked him and the ship sank, or rather was destroyed.
　The only survivors were the captain and a few sailors.

　It smells a bit fishy, but if I pursue it, I'll probably get killed too.
　If I were a single person, it would be fine, but I have a family, so I can't do anything reckless.
　I'm sorry to Taro, but in the end, I have no choice but to devote myself to the hunter business.

　And then, an unexpected person came to the house.
　What in the world could have happened?

I'm sorry, but I need to talk to you about something important, just you and me.

I understand.

　That was enough to give my wife an idea of what to expect.
　She led me and Baron Stein to the back room, served us only tea, and left the room immediately.

''She's a good wife,''

We've known each other a long time, you know. He knows.

It's great to be a considerate woman.

　She's plain in appearance, but I think my wife is a better woman.
　More than a fat, aristocratic girl who keeps getting fatter and fatter for the male population.

So, what's the matter with you?

Do you think he's still alive, Master Taro?　Do you think he's dead?

To be honest, I don't know.

　The sand drift ship they were on was attacked by a swarm of sandworms and the ship was completely destroyed.
　The passengers were wiped out, and the only survivors were the captain and a few sailors.
　It is impossible for the captain, the ship's chief executive, to have escaped, leaving his crew and passengers behind, but somehow they have gone unpunished and are soon back to their jobs.
　Normally, they would have been assessed as 'unfit to serve as captain' and would never be allowed on a ship again.

　And yet, the fact that he has returned to work without any particular criticism.......that's why I think that's so.
　That's why I hate the nobility too.
　Except for Baron Stein, though I'm not going to tell you this because I'm embarrassed to say it.

'From the standpoint of the situation, shouldn't Taro be a no-go?

　He didn't want to think so, but he didn't think Taro would survive the moment the captains abandoned him.

'By the way. It's not impossible for him to be alive.

Is that so?

"Formality only, but we're interviewing the captains privately. I have an appointment and I have the transcript of that meeting.

Hey, hey, you're playing with fire.

''Since the great nobles and royalty in the upper echelons of the kingdom don't care about the actions of a wooden baron like me.................When they escaped, Taro-dono was still fighting on the ship. However, the sandworm horde hadn't diminished at all, and the hunters who were fighting with him were also wiped out. I heard that none of the other passengers survived.

Is that a fact?

　It's possible that the captains are lying about it.
　Maybe Taro was already dead but that's odd.
　There's no necessity for such a lie.

''His Majesty tried to conspire to kill Taro-dono so that he could build up his magic power now and re-summon him five years later. I'd like to know the details of his final days. From the fact that the hearing, which was originally supposed to be open to the nobles, is now unofficial, I don't think the captains are lying.

　How could the captains, who were commoners, lie to the nobility?

The only thing that can be said for this is, "No one actually saw Lord Taro die, so there's a chance he's alive. So there's a chance he's alive.

But you won't be able to confirm that.

　Somehow, the point where the ship went into distress was a famous sandworm's nest.
　Why did the professional captains of the ship deviate from their original route and head there?

It's not that there's no way to confirm. All we have to do is ask the church.

Church?　Right!

　Taro earned money by selling the purple clothes he was wearing at the time of the summons to a nobleman.
　He had deposited it into the church's account.
　I remembered it because I went out with them too.
　But.....

'The Church wouldn't tell me what to do.

　The churches use their worldwide network of churches to run their banking business.
　Its power is not to be underestimated, because even if the state tries to get information on its depositors, it refuses to protect their information under the guise of protecting them.

'I don't know how it works, but if Tullow is dead, the accounts will be frozen, I think.

And if there is a survivor who is eligible to inherit, they will distribute the estate according to the laws of that country.

　It's not just that they are refusing even inquiries from the state in the name of protecting depositor information, it's that they also take on the hassle of inheritance, which is why no country would want to exclude the church.

'Tallow has been summoned from another world and there is not a single surviving family member who can inherit the estate. In a case like this, the money in the account goes to the church.

　Without those perks, the church wouldn't be helping them with their troublesome inheritance.
　Priests can't live without money, either.

So, if Taro's account is still intact, he's not dead. I don't think the Church is going to tell us that very easily.

　The church's deposit system seems to know as soon as the depositor dies.
　From His Majesty's point of view, whether or not he has an account left or not will confirm that he's alive.
　That's why he'd love to know.

Do you think the Church will respond?

''Undoubtedly, His Majesty and the Church should be negotiating behind the scenes by now. The Church will refuse to accept it, but there are many children of noble families in the Kingdom of Bart who are priests. The Church can't keep them from leaking information.

　Oh, I see.
　A little more time and we'll find out.

I hope you're not too late.

Yeah.

　But no matter how well we escape from a ship in distress, the area around us is a nest of sandworms.
　We have to plan for the worst case scenario.




"Your Majesty, I have checked the account information.

Well, you've done well.

'We had a great deal of trouble keeping the account information of the church guys, the Bart Kingdomers, out of the hands of the priests who were from the Bart Kingdom.

'Don't ask me that the only churches in the Kingdom of Burt that have access to depositor information in the country are priests from other countries.

That's how they prevent leaks. So the priests are not leaking information between their country of origin and the church.

It's only possible because of the Church's global reach. So how did you get the information?

Thanks to that, it took me a long time, but...

I see.



　The defective "change agent" Kato Taro is a dead man under the circumstances, but the captains who escaped did not actually see him die.
　They wanted proof of his death for sure, but come to think of it, he had sold his purple clothes to a nobleman's idiot son and put the proceeds of the sale into an account.

　Church accounts can be created by anyone with money, and personal identification is easy when you hold your hand over a special crystal ball.
　Since countries were forced to take care of the highly technical churches of unknown origin, there was no way to know what kind of people held accounts and how much was being deposited in them.

　Even when the state forcefully asked for the information, the church refused to give it to them.
　If Katou Taro's account remained intact, he would be alive.
　This is because when a deposit account holder dies, the church will soon find out through mysterious technology.
　Many tax officials in various countries must be alienated from the church because of the amicable inheritance of dead depositors, which is one of the church's strengths.

　The church has a large cadre of laypeople, though, so that's probably part of it.

　That's why I couldn't confirm whether the accounts of the Kato Taro were still there, but the priest from our country who turned them over got them after exchanging information with priests from other countries who were thinking about the same thing.

　They're more useful than those captains.
　We'll get rid of those guys, but this one could be of a little more use.

"The Kato Taro account is gone. He's not on the list.

You mean he's dead?

　I'm told that when the person who deposited the money in the church dies, the account disappears and the money is treated as a church.
　So, that failed 'change agent' is dead.

'One more thing, if all the money is withdrawn and the balance reaches zero, the account disappears as well, but I also had them look for information on the withdrawal of the deposits just in case. The deposits were not withdrawn, so the church must have confiscated them due to the death of the depositor.

'I see. That makes a lot of sense.

　If the evidence is this good, that useless 'change agent' will be dead.
　If he dies, we can call the next 'change agent' in five years.

　I hope this time it will be my useful 'change maker'.

''Thank you for your hard work. I'll have you take your reward later.

Thank God for happiness.

　I promised the priest a reward and let him back down as it was.
　With that guy, I would have information on the church, which every country is struggling to get a hold of.

　I became a king at a young age and there are many nobles who underestimate me, but now is the time for me to be a hen.
　I should be able to accumulate strength and one day care for the big nobles and royalty and rebuild this country, which is hard to reform.

''Yes, I will be the reform king.

　The throne came around suddenly after the death of my brilliant brother, but I will do what I want with it.
　I, the king with great power, will take charge of this country and one day I will have complete control over the Great Desert.
　If the king is quick and makes the right decisions, he will be able to green the desert that makes up 80% of this world.

For that, we need a strong 'change agent'!

　Kato Taro.
　You're out of luck.
　You were inexplicably summoned as a 'changer' and punished for being useless to me in a world where I didn't know anyone.
　I know it sounds horrible, but it's also for the new Kingdom of Baat.
　I am the ruler of this kingdom.
　Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the small for the large.

　And you're not the only one who will be disposed of now.
　Those who changed their minds when they found out that I would be taking over the throne when my brother died suddenly, and those who think that I can be a good puppet for the king and take control of the country.

　I will take care of you.
　Then the other side won't be so lonely any time soon.
　Until then, wait a little longer, Taro Kato.