The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 2 - Chapter 87

Chapter 87:

Confusion, Regret, Strategy?

“NINE?” The captain’s bewilderment bewildered me. Do I really not look like a nine-year-old at all?!

“Yes, I’m nine.”

“Oh, er, no. Age doesn’t have anything to do with it. Sorry. Umm, what was it? Right, you approve of what I’m doing here, right?”

Approve? What is he talking about…? I approve of looking for hidden rooms if that’s what he means. But who cares if I approve?

“Settle down, Captain,” Bolorda assured him. “Ivy can already tell you went off on your own to search for hidden rooms. I’d bet money he thinks you’ve found one.”

The captain gazed at me, so I nodded. “Really?” he asked in disbelief.

“Really. Ivy deduced that there was a mole in the guard, that there’s a hidden room in this residence, and that it contains valuable evidence. I’ll also add that Ivy told me all this without me saying a thing. I haven’t leaked any information.”

The captain stared fixedly at me. He looked mild mannered, but there was a sharpness in his eyes. I didn’t think he’d get mad at me, but he was still intimidating enough that I unconsciously took a few steps back.

“Captain, you’re scaring Ivy!” Rattloore patted the captain’s shoulder. The man gasped in realization and bent in an apologetic bow.

“Sorry for frightening you. Your mind really is something, though.”

“Oh, no, really. More importantly, did you find anything?” I urged.

Was there a hidden room or not? I wanted to know. And if there was one, was there damning evidence inside? The captain seemed caught off guard by my question, but his surprise was shortly replaced by a wicked grin.

“Yeah, we did. I only had a few moments to look, but I found some documents recording slave sales. There were promissory notes and assassination requests, too. We’ll be combing through them thoroughly to track down every name involved.”

He found that much from one quick search?! How much incriminating evidence did they leave in there? I can see why he sent the guards away—it’ll need a much closer look.

“Was there any money?”

“Well, I haven’t uncovered everything yet.”

“I see.”

Bolorda chimed in, “What’s the plan for the documents?”

“I’ll move them to a guard station and read through them myself,” the captain answered.

“Ah. Want me to call a subordinate? Ivy, you can come with me.”

It would probably be best if I went with Bolorda to make sure the other guards weren’t moles, but there was something else bothering me. Count Faltoria’s comments made me think individuals from the organization might be lurking around this building at this very moment.

“Um, I think it would be best not to move the documents,” I said.

“I agree.” Seizerk felt the same way, too.

“Why?” the captain demanded. “Keeping them here makes them vulnerable—they could be stolen back if they catch on. We need to act fast.”

“That’s true, but it’s likely that they’re watching this building as we speak,” Seizerk answered.

“What makes you think so?”

“Did you notice what Faltoria was doing? He might’ve made the dumbest mistake of his life.”

“Seizerk, you’d better watch your mouth. If someone passes that on to him, you’ll be in hot water.”

“Ah yeah,” Bolorda cut in. “I didn’t report this yet, did I? Faltoria’s a member of the kidnapping ring.”

The captain’s eyes went wide. “What? The magical item! Bolorda, did it react?!”

“Sure did, which means Faltoria’s one of them. Probably a kingpin, too. Was his name on any of those papers?”

“I-I don’t know,” the captain stammered. “I didn’t have a chance to look at them in detail…but him? Really?” As the idea sunk in, his look of befuddlement turned into one of anger. His eyes became so sharp that I trembled. “If Faltoria’s one of them, everything makes sense. The failed raid, our man being assassinated when he infiltrated them. If he’s the one directing the organization, then I…”

Deep regret overwhelmed the rage in the captain’s eyes. If his friend had died because Count Faltoria tipped off the kidnapping ring…

“Damn it!” he bellowed. “I fed him all that information! I may as well have killed our man with my own hands!”

I didn’t think so. Captain Barxby had trusted Count Faltoria, so he’d made the decisions he’d thought were right at the time. Unfortunately, those words would be cold comfort right now. Nobody spoke. For a long moment, the mansion’s foyer was unnaturally silent.

“Haaah… Sorry. I’m okay.” The captain took a few deep breaths and paced back toward the room he’d come from earlier. “The hidden room is this way. You say it’s possible their people are lurking around here?”

“Yeah. Got a plan?” Bolorda strode after the captain, and the three of us trailed after them.

“There are plenty of commonfolk around here, too. It’ll be hard to tell them apart.”

I watched the captain and Bolorda discuss strategy as if nothing were amiss. They were strong people. Despite the pain they were going through, they stood tall. They must’ve been through a lot in their life. Was this what it meant to have a courageous heart?

Bolorda turned to me. “Ivy, do you have any ideas?”

“Huh? No, um…”

Taking advantage of the patrols was an option, but it would be too dangerous. We still didn’t know how deep the organization’s influence went.

Seizerk squinted at my face and declared, “You do, too!”

“Please tell us,” the captain urged me. “I wanna put those bastards behind bars.”

“Umm, it’s risky…”

“That’s fine. As the town guard, we are prepared to put our lives on the line.”

“Understood. Well…what if we tricked them into ambushing this place?”

“Hm?”

Everyone slowed their pace. Huh? Did I not explain well enough? Umm, how do I say this…?

“We make a show of our patrols being short-staffed,” I explained. “If they think that they have the advantage in numbers, they’ll attack.”

“Aha. And that’s when we round ’em all up?” asked Seizerk.

The captain and Bolorda stopped and stared at me. Seizerk and Rattloore were a little surprised, too. I don’t think I said anything shocking. Did I make a mistake?

“Yes. What matters most is protecting our base here, followed by slowing down the organization. If we capture everyone they send in, they’ll realize we set them up. They may think twice before taking drastic action again. The problem on our side, though, is that we don’t know how much information they have.”

“You’re not really nine, are you?” everyone asked at once.

“I am!”

Why is the captain shaking his head? Rattloore’s laughing, too. You’re not hiding it! I can see your shoulders shaking!

“I can’t think of a convincing excuse to be short-staffed so suddenly,” Seizerk muttered. Bolorda nodded.

The captain walked a little farther down the hall and rested his hand on a particular door. Was this the one with the secret room? It was at the very back of the first floor.

“I think Mira and the others will take care of that for us,” I answered.

We entered the room and looked around. There were shelves on all the walls, so it seemed like a storage room of some sort.

“Mira and the others? Oh, yeah, they’ve been skulking around… It’s pretty clear they’re trying to instigate something. If we take advantage of that, it won’t seem strange if we leave this place unguarded.”

“Yes. But it depends on what they do…”

“It’s a backwards strategy, for sure.” Bolorda laughed. He was right. After all, it meant relying on the enemy.

“You got that right.” Seizerk had an odd look on his face.

The captain still looked severe. “Will this work? Even with Mira and the others as bait to draw off the patrol, I don’t see how this place could plausibly end up so weakly guarded.”

“Right. That’s why we’ll assign the enemy to guard it.”

The captain was right—there was a limit to how many guards we could convincingly send away. Thus, we would replace some of their numbers with traitors. It would look well guarded, so that ought to keep the trap from being obvious.

“Are we really relying on the enemy to make this work?” Seizerk grumbled.

Is that bad? I tilted my head.