Chapter 226.2
I would not lay hands on Duke Helton. It was Elena’s job to do something about him without affecting the surroundings. To achieve that, I sneaked into the headquarters of Herman Trading, which was Duke Helton’s source of funding, and looked for something that would connect it to Solhoss Kingdom.
But I think it would be difficult. I didn’t think they were stupid enough to hold on to something like that. But Herman Trading made a mistake here.
I think it was Herman Trading’s sole decision to sell the villagers. Even if they were acting on orders from their home country, they had been operating in Cleydale for twenty years and were looking for their own “profit”.
Human trafficking. If there was evidence of trade in Solhoss Kingdom, which was illegal in Cleydale, then it would become the fault of Duke Helton, who invited them.
The adventurers I defeated also had the mark of Solhoss Kingdom on their identification tags, so they must have been employed by the country. But they, too, were looking for profit and helped with human trafficking.
…That village couple asked me to save the village. But unless we cut off the source, even if we destroyed one branch of the barony, the village’s debt would not be cleared, their situation would not change, and there was nothing I could do about it.
“Nero, hide around there.”
[…]
“It’ll be fine.”
I gently stroked Nero’s neck as he stared at me while hiding in the darkness, and turned around to look at the huge mansion in the distance.