10

That suspicious merchant Arc mentioned is Tamagire Weapon, head of the Weapon Trading Company.

This company shows up a lot in the original story, selling weapons to the main characters and sometimes buying materials from them.

It's pretty important in the plot.

You see, in this era, there are a lot of monsters, so the demand for weapons rises day by day.

Soon, the demand will get even higher, and people will need magic stones more than ever.

For the Weapon Trading Company, finding a new mine is like finding a mountain of gold.

After hearing rumors, Weapon rushed to Arc and made a deal.

But Arc also benefited.

Because Weapon was in a hurry, the deal ended up favoring Arc.

Besides, even though Garm is better now, it still doesn't look profitable to many merchants.

They're not sure if chaos will return.

Most merchants weren't willing to negotiate with Arc because of that.

And the ones who did were usually scoundrels.

In truth, aside from Weapon, the others thought, "He's just a clueless kid. I'll squeeze him dry."

Such people pretend to be honest, but the truly bad ones often look harmless at first.

With all the bad options, Arc just happened to pick the perfect trading partner, the Weapon Company.

So, without realizing it, Arc made a great deal with an excellent partner.

Using that money, Garm will prosper even more.

◇　◇　◇

I'm bored.

I've crushed the bandits and figured out how to make money.

I want something fun to do.

I have power, so why not use it?

That's why I decided to form my own intelligence unit.

Why?

Because it sounds cool.

Isn't it awesome for a count to have his own spy network?

I just threw it together from random picks.

I took them from the army.

Heh!

I'm the count, after all!

Personnel decisions are all mine!

They'll entertain me.

But I couldn't take the good soldiers.

So I took the troublemakers instead.

And I put Camilla in charge as both leader and coordinator.

Honestly, this is just for my amusement, so Camilla will handle it fine.

Might as well throw Sinmara in there too—she's someone we picked up during the bandit hunts.

Now, since we're making a spy unit, we need a mission.

Really, it can be anything.

Oh right, I remember picking up some strange documents at the bandit base.

They said "Dark Hand Confidential Papers."

Perfect.

"Let's go after these Dark Hand people," I decided.

They can't be that strong; they'll be a great plaything for me.

Let's make it more dramatic:

We'll say the Dark Hand is planning to destroy the world.

A nice cliché story.

They'll at least keep me entertained.

Oh, and the spy group needs a name.

Let's call it "Finger," because they're my fingers, get it?

◇　◇　◇

Camilla started her job in Arc's new intelligence unit, "Finger."

She got a bunch of rough characters to follow her.

And that was easier than you'd think.

All she did was beat them into submission to prove she was the strongest.

Camilla's power came from the magic lessons she took with Arc under Charyx.

Arc was thinking, "If I'm studying, she can do some work," but Camilla didn't mind.

She was just happy to study magic.

She worked hard to live up to Arc's expectations.

Sadly, incantation-based magic wasn't her thing, but she was great at Physical Enhancement.

She trained her body, got an Artifact from Arc, and used her natural talent to become stronger than ordinary soldiers.

That's how she ended up leading the spy unit.

Now that she's the leader, Camilla is really motivated.

It means Arc trusts her a lot.

She wants to make him proud.

"The Dark Hand must be destroyed."

That's the spy unit's goal.

They've been in Garm for years, trying to take it over.

They even caused some of the chaos here.

If Arc hadn't become count, Garm might have fallen under their control.

Arc declared that the Dark Hand's ultimate plan was to destroy the world, a truly terrifying idea.

Camilla realized they were up against a serious threat.

But since her lord Arc had decided to fight them, of course she'd fight too.

She believed everything Arc said and dedicated herself to wiping out the Dark Hand.