The Druid Who Devoured the Great Nature

“I’ve heard the rumors. Seeing as they’ve reached my ears, you must have been quite busy.”

Giselle Willow showed not a single sign of disarray, even after the long event. His hair was neatly styled as it had been set, and not only was there not a single wrinkle on his clothes, but there wasn’t even a speck of dust. This was despite the event having gone on for three hours.

「The World Tree stretches with a long yawn.」

I… had clear traces of struggling not to fall asleep. Claire, who was next to me, was also perfectly fine, just like Giselle, so was this a difference in familiarity? Seeing the event attendees subtly stretching, it seemed to be a difference in constitution.

“Now that you’ve raised your reputation, are you trying to enter the system? Not a bad choice. It’s more stable than a life at the bottom. It’s just a pity that the story didn’t come to me first.”

「High nature affinity grants a sense of closeness to the race of Mother Nature!」

Despite it being a long time since we had met, the pointy-eared noble, who was rumored to be prickly, was favorable to me. The way he expressed his disappointment even seemed to make his attitude softer than before.

“You have a misunderstanding.”

At my words, Giselle took a sip of his coffee. An outdoor banquet for socializing, held after the event. The councilor, who was drinking coffee alone among the people walking around with a drink in hand and talking, was extremely out of place.

“I haven’t gone under Sylvesta. I just requested their cooperation.”

“Is that so? Then it means that woman has been keeping an outsider by her side as if he were her own subordinate.”

Claire was at the center of the banquet. She scattered her brilliant beauty and cheerfully conversed with various entrepreneurs with a sweet tone. As if she had felt Giselle’s gaze, she turned her head this way and gave a light greeting.

“Tsk, what a cunning entrepreneur. She’s a master of pulling tricks.”

Giselle frowned instead of returning the greeting.

“Was she trying to get my attention? She dragged me, who had no intention of attending the banquet, here, so she must have gotten more than her money’s worth.”

Councilor Giselle, who was prickly and had no interest in socializing, had attended the banquet. There was no better proof to assert the strong bond between Sylvesta and the city government to the public. The inside story didn’t matter. In the end, what is seen is all that matters.

“At the same time, she naturally left you and me, Councilor, in one place, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone.”

“You seem to have guessed. Didn’t you think of interfering?”

“This was the most natural way.”

It was separate from the fact that Giselle instinctively held a favor towards me. He was a powerful person who had risen to the highest status in this city. He was not someone I could meet just because I wanted to. Especially considering his character, which thoroughly separated public and private matters.

If I wanted to meet him, I had no choice but to go through Sylvester. The fact that Claire had reaped a small profit in the process was her own skill.

“Anyway, you can’t let your guard down with entrepreneurs. If you’re looking for a place to rely on in the future, let me know. I’ll find you a better job than a corporation.”

I glossed it over with a bitter smile. It seemed his hatred for entrepreneurs remained the same, even while cooperating with Claire. It was a corporation that had orchestrated the negotiations with Persear, and it was also a corporation that had resolved the matter, so was it only natural?

“Yes, anyway, you said you had business with me. Speak.”

“I heard that you are the person in charge of this smuggling market crackdown, Councilor.”

“That’s right.”

Giselle wiped his lips with a handkerchief.

“It’s a job of eliminating the trash that parasitizes the city. The freeloaders in the council, as expected, seemed to have no intention of stepping up, just watching the situation. I half took it on, and half wanted it.”

Not friendly with corporations, strict, and old-fashioned. It was natural that Giselle was appointed as the person in charge of this smuggling market crackdown.

“Also, I haven’t been informed of the detailed circumstances, but I heard that it was triggered in connection with a corporation. It was good for motivation.”

A spoonful of revenge added to that. The reason the smuggling market was being smashed to the point where all sorts of riffraff were flocking to it was for that reason.

“Come to think of it, for a contractor like you, it must be a good time to make a killing. Did you perhaps think of asking me, the person in charge, about your future moves?”

Giselle’s face hardened like a statue.

“Even if that were the case, I have nothing to say. It’s not a mission I requested of you, so there’s nothing you need to know.”

Giselle placed his coffee cup on the saucer and prepared to leave. He had attended a banquet that was not originally scheduled and had a conversation. He was probably saying not to expect anything more. Even though the high nature affinity stat must have been functioning properly. He really had an old-fashioned personality.

“I heard that the Brotherhood will be making a big deal soon.”

“……”

At my words, Giselle stopped his steps, which were turning back.

“And I heard that the city government will not crack down on that matter.”

“Who did you hear that story from… no, that was a foolish question. You must have received it from Sylvesta. It wasn’t even something that was directly discussed, but you found out that much.”

It was no big deal. Just as the birds hear the words of the day and the rats hear the words of the night, that’s how the words of the high and mighty leak out. Giselle let out a small sigh, as if he should have been more careful with his words.

“So what about it?”

“Personally, I believe it was not your will, Councilor.”

That’s who Giselle was. Apart from external interference, the inter-city negotiations he led were not so smooth. His immense pride as an elf made him physiologically unable to stand the act of catering to the other party. He was not the type to plot for his own interests. If this case was the same, then it was more like…

“There must have been a difference of opinion. Pressure must have come from other council members.”

A big deal that the Brotherhood’s higher-ups were said to have planned. Someone among the dirty council members must have lent a hand to get a piece of it.

‘Or it could have been a deal that the councilor’s side regularly conducted.’

In any case, they must have been displeased with the city government’s crackdown on the smuggling market. They must have tried to interfere by directly expressing their will to Giselle, wanting to protect this deal at least. Even the stiff-necked Giselle couldn’t ignore it if a fellow council member desperately tried to stop it. Since they were not inferior to each other in status, it was ultimately a battle of public opinion and power. And the possibility of there being many of Councilor Giselle’s allies within the council… his usual behavior spoke for itself.

“Since you’ve brought the answer sheet, I should grade it. Yes, a hundred points.”

Indeed, Giselle did not deny my words.

“If you want praise, I’ll even give you a round of applause. But if you have business, get to the point. Before I start to feel unpleasant about this conversation.”

Although it was a plain fact without exaggeration, it was a remark that could hurt his pride. I continued without delay.

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“……”

Giselle closed his eyes and pondered. I waited for his mouth to open. The silence would not last long. With his upright character, it was an offer that couldn’t help but be tempting.

“You’re not trying to show loyalty to me, are you? What do you want?”

“For this matter only, please be my backer.”

Now that I knew that various interests were intertwined, this was not something to be planned with only the Brotherhood as the enemy. I needed a shield to prevent noise. Councilor Giselle was, without a doubt, the best.

“You want them to suspect that I am behind you?”

In addition, with his name attached to my back, it could raise alarm. The higher-ups of Brotherhood Branch 52. When they realized that the flames that had overturned the smuggling market would not pass them by, but would rather burn brightly with them as firewood, they would not be able to remain silent. I would use that chaos.

“Since there is no money exchanged between us, you, Councilor, can be upright even if they question you. On the contrary, you can raise your voice and give momentum to the crackdown.”

“……”

A chuckle seemed to escape from between Giselle’s lips. He took a step closer and patted my shoulder.

Success.

“Aide!”

“Yes!”

At Giselle’s call, the aide who had been waiting in the corner of the banquet hall came running over. It was a face I had seen during the inter-city negotiations.

‘Was his name… Holid?’

Seeing as he was still working properly, he seemed to be a talent that Giselle liked. Or maybe there was no other talent who could handle Councilor Giselle’s tantrums.

“I’ll lend him to you. If you have any questions, ask this one.”

And so, Councilor Giselle, with his thorough nature, did not forget to give a warning.

“However, if the sword is not sharp enough, I will wash my hands of it at any time, so don’t feel wronged.”

“There will be no disappointment.”

It was a battle I couldn’t back down from either. I had not considered failure.

***

“Sorbet Wagon, a councilor from an entrepreneurial background. He got to know the political world during the listing process of the venture company he founded, and he’s a resourceful man who even got a councilor’s badge after putting more effort into lobbying than running the company.”

Cromwell tapped the corkboard hanging on the wall. The corkboard was densely packed with articles he had scraped. They were articles that dealt with Sorbet’s activities as an entrepreneur before he entered politics.

“Although the company he founded was on a successful track at the time, it wasn’t at a level where he could provide enough kickbacks to satisfy the various council members. And to say that he scraped together the company’s past, present, and future to give kickbacks, the company he founded is still running fine to this day.”

The pockets he had filled on the side would not have been enough even if he had scraped together his soul. Nevertheless, he had consistently lobbied. In that case.

“He must have asked for help from all over the place.”

“A person doesn’t change just because they become a city government councilor. There are still not a few connections that are connected to him both publicly and privately. The prevailing opinion is that it was a connection he had made when he was looking for funds for his lobbying in the past.”

“He has a commoner-like demeanor, his packaging skills are quite something.”

Sorbet was one of the high-ranking officials in this city who often showed his face to the media and the public. He emphasized communication with the private sector and had a good image among the lower classes of this city. But when you peeled back a little of the wrapping on the outside, this was the result. A stench no different from others emanated.

“I can roughly guess the reason he got involved in this deal. He must have thought it was a routine crackdown, but it was more serious than he thought, so he got anxious.”

“Anxious?”

“He once talked about his ‘noble hobby’ in a private setting. The councilor’s office was late in keeping it under wraps, so those who know, know.”

“A hobby related to the smuggling market, I see.”

“That’s right.”

A city councilor’s ‘noble hobby’ and the smuggling market. What came to my mind was something like human trafficking. The answer was unexpected.

“He sponsors a zoo. I thought he was good at getting rare animals and displaying them. To think they were smuggled.”

“If you hand over animals captured by poachers to a zoo, you’re doing a good deed.”

“What are you talking about?”

Cromwell dug his ear and flicked it, as if he had heard all sorts of nonsense.

“It’s a place where they catch all sorts of ferocious beasts and predators and lock them in one cage. They say the blood never dries on the floor of the cage. It’s better than the Colosseum, the landmark of the southern barbarian city where they capture people as slaves and make them fight, but it’s not a very good hobby.”

“……”

「The World Tree trembles in fear at the barbaric act.」

The truth was far from my perception of a zoo. Well, the modern zoo I knew was a structure completed after going through all sorts of trial and error and discussions from all walks of society. In this world where even human rights were scarce, the concept of animal rights probably didn’t even exist.

“In any case, according to Jack’s investigation, there was no story that Councilor Sorbet had moved directly in this deal.”

“The information that Councilor Giselle gave me also said that there would be no intervention from the councilor’s office. I guess he wants to make it seem like he had no involvement in the crackdown on the surface.”

“Still, just in case, I’ll continue to gather information until the day of.”

“Thanks.”

“What for, it’s not like I’m working for free.”

It was a scheme aimed at a deal involving the Brotherhood and a city councilor. Since it wasn’t a request that had come in, Cromwell’s cooperation in my plan went against the professional ethics of a broker who was required to be neutral. So this was a deal.

“The date, time, place, and list of goods of the secretly planned deal. The price for selling the information alone is quite handsome.”

The Brotherhood’s deal was the one I had heard about from Claire. As it was a secret that was only circulating among the high and mighty, it was information that would be worth a lot of money if a price were put on it. I had handed it over to Cromwell for free. Instead, I had requested him to sell this information to as many people as possible. So that the hyenas who were not involved in the interests of the deal would drool.

“As you said, it will be a mess worth watching.”

“Of course.”

The rising flames would not be brought under control.

(End of Chapter)