Don’t Run Away My Lord

23 – Salt Delivery Commotion (10)

I decided to sort out the situation since the patrol officers were still pointing their weapons at me.

“Let’s start with the background explanation first.”

“Go ahead and explain. Of course, anything you say from now on can be used against you in court.”

Mera said coldly.

I explained the incident that had happened in the Tussenne Duchy, still enveloped by the confused Liana.

Hunting down Wyvern and going to the Baron’s castle to collect the bounty.

“Wait… Wait a minute. You hunted down a Wyvern?!”

She interrupted as soon as I started the story.

“Yes. I hunted down a Wyvern. It was mistaken for a dragon that appeared in the Tussenne Duchy. It had nested in a nearby valley.”

“That’s nonsense! How did you catch a Wyvern? Are you a magician?”

“No, I’m not a magician, but you won’t believe it until I say it.”

I rummaged through my bag and showed Mera the Wyvern’s claw and an egg.

“Hmm… What do you think?”

When Mera asked the patrol officers, they also hesitated and looked at each other.

“Well… We’ve never actually seen a Wyvern. But if it’s a creature with such large claws, it must be at least a Wyvern.”

“I see. Anyway, this isn’t important right now… Mr. Erga, please continue.”

“Yes, then.”

Meeting the Baron, being mistaken for a killer of a small Baron, clearing the misunderstanding, receiving a bounty for killing a Wyvern, and along with that, being offered a simple transportation job, which led me here.

“That’s all. I never even thought it could be drugs. I just thought I was distributing salt and flour.”

“That’s what they all say when they get caught.”

“Is that so? If we were really involved in drug trafficking, why would we have traveled with you and put drugs in the stew?”

“To make us addicted to drugs?”

“Then why would we have eaten that stew too? There’s no detoxification agent.”

Mera closed her mouth, realizing there was no room for rebuttal.

The patrolling officers, sensing the tension, slowly lowered their swords.

“But… just distributing drugs is already a crime. Even if you didn’t know,” Mera said.

I sighed at Mera’s words.

“How can it be a crime if we didn’t know?”

“That’s the law. I’m sorry, Mr. Erga. You’ll have to come with us.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

The patrol officers flinched and readjusted their swords.

Mera glared at me with a cold expression.

“You hunted a wyvern, but you can’t catch a few humans?”

“Mr. Erga! Are you threatening us right now?”

“You were the ones who threatened us. We clearly transported salt, and those who inserted drugs in between should be the ones punished.”

“Of course that’s what happened. But because Erga was also involved in the distribution…”

At that moment, Rihanna made a strange noise and slowly opened her eyes.

“Ugh… why is the sky spinning around…?”

“Rihanna. Are you awake?”

“Mr. Erga…? Where are we? It’s freezing… Oh, but my head hurts too… What’s going on…?”

Riana rambled on while using her divine power to wrap her head in her hand.

“T-The divine power…!”

The patrol officers, seeing this, looked back at Mera in extreme confusion.

Mera, also wide-eyed with astonishment, stared at the golden light in Riana’s hand.

“Well, I’m feeling a bit better now.”

Riana, who had healed herself with her divine power, stood up confidently and looked around.

“Huh? What are you all doing? Holding your swords?”

“Uh, maybe… Are you… the Saint…?”

Mera stammered and asked, and Riana turned to me.

After seeing my gaze, Riana answered Mera.

“That’s right.”

“Oh… I’m sorry…!”

Mera immediately dropped to her knees and apologized.

Following her lead, the other patrol officers also dropped their swords and knelt down.

I had heard that the position of the Church was powerful, but I never thought it would be to this extent.

Riana remained calm and composed despite the sudden situation, keeping her silence.

Her gesture implied that her role was over and she entrusted the rest to me.

Surprisingly, she’s quite clever.

“This person travels around the kingdom, learning, and I am guiding them. I assume it would be unfair to say that the Saint is involved in drug trafficking.”

“Of course… We have committed a great rudeness. Please forgive us, Saint!”

Clearly, even though I had belittled Rihanna and she had belittled me until evening, the moment divine power was manifested, they all forgot about such things and believed in Rihanna as a saint.

Divine power and the church receive tremendous treatment in the human world.

Rihanna, who didn’t know English, just alternated between me and them.

* * * * *

After clarifying the situation and resolving misunderstandings, we gathered around the campfire again.

Mera continued to apologize to Rihanna, and only after Rihanna assured her that she was really okay did Mera finally stop talking.

“By the way… What are you two going to do? I’m sorry, but we can’t keep transporting that.”

“Can’t we take out the drugs and go, detective?”

Mera shook her head at Rihanna’s innocent question.

“They won’t pay for the salt in the first place at the address where they told us to bring it. It’s Karabka’s drug supply, after all.”

“Hmm… but that’s a complete waste of money…”

“Still, there’s no choice, Your Holiness. The amount of drugs carried in that carriage right now is enough to turn all the citizens of Karabka into addicts and still have some left. We can’t leave it as it is.”

“Erka, what should we do?”

But I wasn’t listening to their conversation.

I was more concerned about being deceived and used by Tussenu, who had tricked me so cunningly, than about losing the money we agreed to transport.

I have never seen humans as mere insects or treated them with contempt.

But once I realized that I had been deceived by a human, anger began to creep up from beneath my chest.

I hadn’t even thought about mixing drugs with salt and transporting them in the carriage.

No, I didn’t even know about the existence of drugs before.

I am learning yet another thing in the human world.

No one will ever believe.

“Lord Erga, what are you thinking?”

“Let’s go to Tusenne with a warrant.”

“What? Why all of a sudden?”

“We need to catch Jajang and that guy named Ijano.”

“What?!”

At that moment, Mera interjected into the conversation between Riana and me.

“Wait a minute! Did you just say Ijano?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Could it be the redhead with short hair?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I wondered where she had disappeared to… Turns out she was in Tusenne…”

Mera told us that the drug trafficking book we had been chasing all along was none other than Ijano.

“No wonder we couldn’t find her no matter how hard we looked. She was hiding in the territory. That’s why we couldn’t track her.”

“If she’s a redhead with short hair, she would have stood out. Can’t we just go into the territory and look for her?”

“I am an investigator from Wangseong. I can’t just enter the territory recklessly.”

With that, Riana gave us a complex explanation of the jurisdiction and the territory.

To put it simply, the jurisdiction belongs to the kingdom, so we can freely investigate, but the territory is private property, and government officials cannot enter it recklessly.

“But now that we have obtained evidence that they are distributing drugs, we should go in and investigate.”

“So in the end, we’re all going back to Tusenne with a warrant.”

“Does it always end up like this? But, Miss Elga, may I ask you one thing?”

Mera cautiously asked me, glancing at Liana.

“What is it?”

“What if you could help us, if possible?”

“You want me to help you with drug enforcement? Is that what you’re asking?”

“I heard that you also have something to discuss with Tussenu. Is that not true?”

That is true.

I am currently planning to capture him.

“So let’s go together. Even if we try to investigate, we can’t enter as long-distance patrol is armed personnel…”

I understood her intentions from Mera’s uncertain words.

She wants me and Liana to go with her because it would be dangerous for her to go alone, right? Since we have to go to Yeongjuseong anyway.

“If you go with us, I’ll pretend that there was no involvement in the drug transportation.”

“Wasn’t that already the case?”

Mera couldn’t say anything and kept her mouth shut.

Liana poked my arm next to me.

“Mr. Elga… let’s go together. If we want to at least get some compensation from Tussenu, we have to go, right?”

“Well…”

“And… if that person is a royal investigator in Wangseong, do you think they’ll help us if we assist them? Will they do something for us in Wangseong?”

I hadn’t thought about that… If they’re considering that as well, it’s not a bad suggestion.

As expected, Liana has the characteristics of a commoner.

“Very well. Let’s go.”

“Thank you, Sir Eurga. Your Grace!”

Mera’s face instantly turned pale.

“But Sir Eurga, are you feeling alright?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“That’s strange. We all had the same stew, so why is it that only Sir Eurga seems unaffected…”

Well, of course, because he’s a dragon.

* * * * *

The long-range patrol accompanied us to the border of the territory.

“We’ll stay nearby, Investigator. Have a safe journey.”

“Thank you, everyone. See you later.”

With the patrol members bidding us farewell, we rode towards the Lord’s Castle.

“But Investigator, if we expose the Lord’s involvement in drug trafficking, will we arrest him?”

“We have to. But not immediately. We need to gather solid evidence and report to the capital. That’s my job.”

“Why don’t we arrest him on the spot?”

“Well, because he’s a noble. If we arrest him recklessly, it will cause chaos in the Noble Council. So we need to investigate and make a decision in the capital.”

I see…

Nobles, huh… The more I learn, the more I realize how corrupt they are.

We rode hard and arrived at the front of the Lord’s Castle.

The soldiers in front of Yeongju Castle stared at us with stern expressions.

“What is it?”

“We came to meet the lord.”

“The lord? Did you make an appointment? If you didn’t, then you can’t…”

A soldier retorted at me and his words flew over the thick wall of Yeongju Castle.