A misunderstanding

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“…Well, I used to know Deam when we were younger. He never trusted anyone, and only thought of using others… Though, I never imagined that he would become a boss of the slums.”
“I see… So you were friends?”
“No. I never did like the way that he did things, so we did not get along. We even fought sometimes. …And I always lost… Haha!”

Indeed, Nick had attacked me with a knife, which compared to Deam and his longsword… It was not surprising who was stronger.
And I had beaten Nick so easily… And then Sebastian and Leo threatened him.

“Well…what do you think will happen if Deam is arrested?”
“Deam. Arrested? That suspicious coward… It is difficult to imagine, since he sleeps in different buildings or changes towns when things get heated… But if it did happen, they might start looking for a traitor, or find out if information has been leaked.”
“Really? Will they try to get revenge? Will they attack the prison and try to rescue him?”
“Well, he does not trust others. So he will not be caught… But that also means his men do not trust him. At least, that was how it was when I was in the slums. Likely, someone else will just take his place.”
“I see.”

Deam had threatened me after I tied him up. Saying that there were others.
But if what Nick said was true, his men did not trust him either. And so they would likely not bother to rescue him.
He might just be bluffing…

“So…if… The duke was to arrest him, the others would…”
“The duke? Then the others would just run away. There may be a lot of them, but they are no match for real soldiers. There is no point in rebelling. Perhaps Deam could persuade them to…but he wouldn’t have the courage.”
“I see…”
“Wuff…”

Well, it looked like Mr. Ekenhart and Sebastian had been quite wrong about that.
If they had arrested Deam, then the others would have just run away.
There would be no insurrections…
I suppose making arrests would cause others to run away, which would be troublesome. But there was no worry of innocents getting hurt.
So there was no point of me…

Well, it wasn’t a total waste, but I suddenly felt quite tired.
And the weight of the raincoat suddenly felt much heavier.
Leo also let out a sigh.
I would probably complain to Mr. Ekenhart when I got back.

“What is it, brother? Did Deam do something?”
“Well, sort of. And I captured him a short while ago…”
“What!? Deam? You found… Oh, because of Leo…”
“Yes, it was with Leo’s help. In any case, I moved secretly, because I was told that there might be uprisings in the other slums. I wanted it to seem like I did it alone.”
“…So that’s why you are out here?”
“Well, yes.”
“While I’m surprised that Deam is caught, I suppose it makes sense, if it was done by you two. …Well, things should be rather frantic here for some time.”
“It seems that way. I guess they will suspect a traitor.”
“Indeed. And then they will start fighting each other in order to take his place. I will have to continue patrolling.. Maybe I should ask Mr. Kalis if someone could help me.”
“Yes, I will discuss it with Sebastian as well. Though, I’m sure things will settle down once the duke and the guards make a move.”
“These people only work in the shadows, so they will hide if the duke comes out. No one wants to antagonize him.”
“Indeed.”
“Wuff-wuff.”

Once I was finished talking to Nick, I headed to the western gate.
While my feet felt heavier than before, I continued to tell myself that this hadn’t been a waste.
Before leaving, Nick had said, ‘If there is anything else you want to know about the slums, just ask me! I will tell you what I know!’ Which made me wish I had just talked to him before searching for Deam.
I should know more about the person who I had hired.
All I had cared about was that he was doing his job…

If I had spoken with Nick first, I would not have taken on Deam with just Leo…
It was with such thoughts that I greeted the guards at the gate, and then climbed up on Leo and headed back to the mansion.
…Of course, I also thought about how I would protest to Mr. Ekenhart about how he had been wrong…

Next Chapter

My Beloved Dog is the Strongest in Another World