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Small Revenge ~Preparations~
“By the way, Your Highness,” Ludwig said, “I have no problem turning down Shalloak’s offer, but how do you want me to do it?”
“Hm? What do you mean ‘how’ you do it?” Mia said to Ludwig.
“Would you like to send a messenger?” Or tell him face-to-face?”
“Oh, I see,” she said. Then she thought about her choices. “Oho ho… Since he brought it up, let’s get him to come to us,” she said.
She had a lot to say to him. She had a sneaky smile on her face when she thought about doing that to his face. Since she had gone out of her way to visit him in the past, only to be turned away at the door, she was going to throw back at him what he had said to her then. It was her way of getting even a little bit of revenge.
“I also think that would be the best choice, especially since he may have ties to the Serpents.”
“The Serpents? Huh…” She nodded. She hadn’t thought about it, but it was possible. This whole thing might be another of their sneaky plans. However… “True. Well, I guess we should look into that possibility a little bit more.”
In reality, she wasn’t too worried about Shalloak being a Serpent. She didn’t know why, but the man didn’t seem like the kind of person who would break the rules. He seemed more like a money junkie. Or maybe a crazy cultist. After all, the way he worships money is kind of crazy. She had a feeling that he wasn’t a Serpent.
“I’ll send for him. I’ll stay here in Belluga while things are being set up.”
“That’s great. You’ll be a big help,” she said, folding her arms. “Hm… So, I should do a good background check on the man.”
So she did.
—
Shalloak’s business was based in the exclave port city of St. Baleine, but he wasn’t born there. His home was in the Kingdom of Miranada, west of St. Baleine. Miranada was a small kingdom that even Remno, let alone Tearmoon, was bigger than. Despite being small, it was rich for its size. Its wealth came from the trade that went on in busy St. Baleine. In Miranada, this meant that merchants were respected by most people.
“I was going to say some pretty mean things to his face, but I need to find out what ties he has first. Just to be safe.”
If it turned out that Shalloak was friends with important nobles from Miranada or other countries, it would be a problem in the future. Luckily, there were people from Miranada in Saint-Noel. She should just ask one of them.
“Hm, natives of Miranada, natives of Miranada… I think Ludwig mentioned someone before.”
Before Mia started school at Saint-Noel Academy, she did some networking. In particular, she was looking for possible people to get close to so that if she had to run away, she would have somewhere to go. The Kingdom of Miranada was one of the countries she looked into as a possible refuge. It looked good because it had a port. If she could use that to get out of Tearmoon, she wouldn’t have to face the flames of the revolution.
As a side note, after being told to see if anyone had connections with Miranada, Ludwig had whispered, “So at last, Her Highness seeks a port…” to himself in awe.
“If I remember right, there should be a few young nobles around here who fit the bill…”
Her thinking led her to an upper-years’ classroom, where one of the students said, “I think they went to one of the lower-years classrooms.”
Following the lead, she went to the lower years and saw some slightly familiar faces.
“My, aren’t you…”
“Eeep!”
Three boys looked at her and jumped when they saw her. A girl who looked like she didn’t want to be there stood between them. Mia couldn’t remember exactly where she had seen the boys, so she looked at the girl. Her hair was a dark gray color, and her eyes were a deep green color. Overall, she gave off the kind of “aww, that’s so cute” vibe that many small animals do. Mia wanted to pat her on the head. The boys around her looked even more nervous than she did. Mia looked at each of them in turn. “You boys… Don’t tell me you were bullying her?”
“No, not even close! There wasn’t any bullying at all!”
They were, in fact, the same boys she had just yelled at in the hallway a few days earlier. The girl they hurt was the same one.
“Really. What were you doing then?”
“W-We were protecting her because you told us to, President Mia!”
That made her remember that she had said something similar. She gave the girl a look. “And you? Were you not being picked on? Uh, what’s your name?”
“Tatiana, uh, President Mia. I really respect what you did for me before. Since you told them to, they’ve been protecting me in this way.”
“Ah. That’s good,” Mia said, though she felt a little sorry for the girl. It didn’t seem comfortable to be surrounded all day by three bigger boys.
“B-By the way, President Mia, why are you here today?”
Asked one of the boys. She clapped her hands to remind herself of what she was supposed to do.
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I’d like to ask you something. All of you were born there, right? Do you know a trader who lives in your kingdom? He is called Shalloak Cornrogue.”
“Shalloak Cornrogue? Oh, you mean Money-Grubber Shalloak,” one of the boys said with a disgusted look. Mia raised an eyebrow. That was a pretty bad name for the book. “I’ve heard he’s done a lot of things and made a lot of money from them. I’m sure he also knows a lot of nobles.”
After asking a few questions, she found out that Shalloak wasn’t completely cut off from the nobles, but that none of his connections were important enough for her to worry about. Whether it was good or bad, it seemed like most of his ties were only about making money. No one he knew seemed likely to help him if it meant getting in trouble with the empire.
It would be a problem if he was friends with important people in Sunkland or Belluga, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I think it’s safe for me to make fun of him as much as I want. And right in his face!
She was too busy putting on her best evil grin to notice that Tatiana’s face had changed.
“… Master Shalloak Cornrogue?” She also didn’t hear the little whisper the girl made.
Author’s Note: The other day, I said that the firl that was helped in the hallway was a mob character…. That was a lie.