How to Use the Lord’s Future Diary

Chapter 26

Albert McBane.

The eldest son of the Level Merchant Group’s master.

From the large farm near Hawrun Castle to the livestock ranches and even the shops inside the castle walls—

this man was the one managing everything.

He was deeply involved not only in external trade but also in the inner workings of the merchant group, and he oversaw the group’s network of connections as well as its large-scale business partners.

“Acting merchant master? Isn’t that a bit much?”

In particular, lately, as the merchant master’s illness had become quite apparent, Albert had been taking full charge of all major and minor affairs in his stead.

Most of his siblings also seemed to be siding with Albert.

The only direct descendant of the McBane family who did not actively cooperate with Albert was Yuria.

At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Albert McBane was the most likely successor to the position of merchant master.

“Even so, Yuria seemed awfully confident. Besides, when the tide has already turned this much, is there even a need to keep her in check?”

What was worse was that the method of keeping her in check was extremely petty—it even involved dragging in outsiders.

If Albert’s dominance was already this certain, then simply marrying Yuria off to another territory would have been a much more definite way of dealing with her.

It made me tilt my head. Was there something I didn’t know?

“It seems Yuria still has some people inside the merchant group. The leadership all supports Albert, but the working-level staff felt a little different.”

“Is that so? Well, she must have something she’s relying on.”

There were four non-combat members who had joined this trade caravan.

Dr. Nickel and three of the Rabbit Tribe.

The three rabbitfolk had been hastily brought in to manage the Three-Horned Mountain Goats.

For this caravan, there were even two freight wagons loaded with monster byproducts, and to pull those wagons, the aid of the Three-Horned Mountain Goats was absolutely necessary.

Though these goats would never allow anyone but the knight who had subdued them onto their backs, they half-considered the rabbitfolk, with whom they had once shared a home, as friends.

In particular, the females had gentle temperaments and got along well with the rabbitfolk, making them very suitable for pulling freight wagons.

So, in this case, rather than coachmen, were they goat-men? Whatever the term, that was the purpose for which they were brought along.

‘For all that, Tito still went ahead and struck the goat on the back of the head with a Paralysis Needle.’

-If you wanted to be precise, it was still a good thing for the goats too. After all, they had also found a safe place to live.

Considering that Tito, the leader of the so-called Johnson Bandits(?) who had once kidnapped me, was still recognized as a friend by the Three-Horned Mountain Goats, I had to admit, those goats probably had pretty good personalities.

‘And then there’s Dr. Nickel.’

The reason I had brought Dr. Nickel along on this caravan was for information gathering.

Meeting Yuria and obtaining information from her was the first step, but we still needed to collect at least some intel ourselves, and Dr. Nickel was the one I assigned to that task.

He looked a bit suspicious, but he was more resourceful than expected, and it was a job that neither our knights nor our soldiers could possibly handle—so I had entrusted him with it.

Even before our party entered the merchant group, Dr. Nickel had already slipped off to the taverns and, as if it were only natural, returned with a wealth of information.

It was also Dr. Nickel who discovered that the Level Merchant Group’s power balance had already tilted significantly in Albert’s favor.

“And by the way, I heard something surprising.”

“What did you hear?”

“There are Rabbit Tribe people in this territory.”

“Ah, yes. I was actually going to ask about that. I stopped by the livestock ranch earlier, and I saw rabbitfolk there.”

“Yes, that’s right. They were being used as workers at the large livestock ranch and farms operated by the Level Merchant Group.”

Naturally, among that information was also data concerning the Rabbit Tribe.

Since some of them were now residents of our territory, he had made sure to gather those details carefully.

“So, Albert’s the one managing them in the end?”

“That’s right. But the merchant group is doing something very strange.”

“Strange?”

“You know there’s no such thing as slavery in the Ribella Peninsula, right? So technically, they’re paying wages—but then they forcefully sell food and necessities to them at outrageous prices, piling up debts.”

“Ah, like that? That really is just the kind of trick humans would pull.”

On the surface, the rabbitfolk here were legitimate workers.

In this world, slavery was something only the Empire dealt in, and in the Ribella Peninsula, public opinion was strongly against it.

But exploiting labor didn’t require turning people into slaves.

Albert, the powerful figure in charge, not only blocked the rabbitfolk from trading with other groups but also monopolized all transactions with them, making obscene profits.

The powerless rabbitfolk were forced to buy Albert’s goods at high prices, and though they worked, their debts only kept increasing.

It was a bizarre situation.

And since corruption was commonplace in this territory, they had nowhere to appeal to. It was truly a dead end.

“On top of that, to prevent the workers from running away, they were keeping the rabbitfolk children under separate control.”

“Wow, he really was pulling every dirty trick in the book. No wonder people call him a bastard.”

At this point, it was enough to make me feel apologetic just for being human.

This wasn’t something I could just ignore.

‘But is there really a reason to treat the Rabbit Tribe that way?’

The rabbitfolk were the definition of diligent workers, perfectly suited to labor.

If you just fed them and gave them a place to sleep, they worked on their own—such admirable friends.

And yet, to think that Albert was wasting them so inefficiently while using the Rabbit Tribe as workers.

‘Besides, isn’t oppressing freedom the thing beastmen hate the most?’

No wonder their expressions looked so sour.

Even the gentle Rabbit Tribe wouldn’t react well to being treated like that.

“By the way, where did you get this information?”

“Poke around a little and it comes spilling out, as expected.”

“Is that so? Well, good work.”

He really was an amusing man.

Things like forcing sales onto the rabbitfolk, or separately managing the children—those were not the kind of details an outsider could easily know. And yet, he had picked them up neatly.

Perhaps this man was better suited to gathering intelligence in this way than to studying Otherworld Studies.

“So, what do you intend to do?”

“Well. I’d like to talk with that man Albert directly and pull the Rabbit Tribe out, but…”

“Is that going to be easy? He’s clearly set his mind on squeezing them dry.”

“Exactly. If it were me, I wouldn’t let them go either.”

Where else would you find workers who did their jobs so well, as long as you only solved their food and lodging?

Even if I said I would pay off all the Rabbit Tribe’s debts and take them away, he would refuse outright.

If he were willing to release them so easily, he wouldn’t be doing such despicable things in the first place.

I was still pondering what to do when Rudick suddenly spoke up with a ridiculous suggestion.

“Why make it so complicated? Why not just take them?”

“Just take them?”

“Honestly, if we just grab them and run off to Johnson Territory, what can he do? Is he going to march into our territory?”

“Well…”

“Wouldn’t that be difficult? We still have to consider trade with the Level Merchant Group.”

Dr. Nickel objected, thinking this wasn’t the right way.

He argued that we needed to choose a smoother approach, especially considering our trade relations with the Level Merchant Group.

But Rudick’s idea went one step further.

“As long as we don’t get caught, what’s the problem?”

“As long as we don’t get caught?”

“If we beat up the guards, grab the rabbitfolk, and run, who’s going to know it was us? If you don’t get caught, you’re innocent, right?”

“…What an insane thought.”

Robbery and escape.

Was this the standard mindset of a fantasy apocalypse?

I thought I was starting to adapt to this world, but true madness was clearly on another level.

As expected of Rudick, that crazy bastard. Now this—this was true lunacy.

“Fine. Let’s do it right away.”

“…My lord?”

Of course, I didn’t mean to act without thinking.

But come to think of it, it really wouldn’t be such a big deal.

Anyway, trading horned rabbits with the Levelium side had become realistically impossible.

What we were dealing in here were daily necessities and foodstuffs—grains, basically.

But if a large number of diligent Rabbit Tribe workers flowed into our territory?

This year would be hard, but by next year, we could harvest enough grain.

‘This year’s trade is already secured. If we sell the monster byproducts and potions we brought, we can get enough grain. And that grain will be safely delivered to our territory through the knights.’

That only left daily necessities or various magical goods as issues.

‘Since trade with the Level Merchant Group has already fallen through, we’ll have to open trade with Haken Territory. From there, we should be able to acquire everything we need.’

Given its location, surrounded by monsters, Haken Territory was stingy with selling food.

But when it came to magical goods, it was abundant—so much so that it was actually easier to trade for those things there.

Distance would be an obstacle, but that was something we could find a solution for.

-Indeed. Since we’ve already given up horned rabbit sales, it won’t be a big problem even if trade here gets cut off.

‘In the worst case, the only thing that happens is trade gets cut. If they really come marching into Johnson Territory, then we’ll show them how spicy Johnson’s bite can be.’

If it came to that, wouldn’t the enraged rabbitfolk even volunteer for military service?

No matter how meek, they were still beastmen.

Their basic capabilities were superior to humans.

“In that case, it’s better not to meet Albert at all.”

“Yes, if we don’t want to raise suspicion, that’s best.”

“We should also pull out the knights stationed at the merchant group.”

“Right. Albert is surely keeping subtle watch over us. We need to find a way to make him drop his guard.”

Once the decision was made, we moved quickly.

We withdrew all knights who were still at the merchant group back to an inn in the busy district, leaving only Rudick to wrap up the deal.

And I quietly sent Dr. Nickel to dig up more information on the Rabbit Tribe.

To suddenly swoop in, snatch them, and make a run for it—we needed more intel.

“…What? A merchant group employee? You’re saying he’s Yuria’s direct subordinate?”

It was the very next day after Dr. Nickel had begun his espionage activities.

One of the merchant group’s employees came looking for us.

More precisely, he had sought me out through Dr. Nickel.

And judging by his secretive entrance through the back door of the inn, avoiding people’s eyes and hiding his identity, this was a covert visit.

Something felt off.

This man claimed to be Yuria’s subordinate, but there was no reason for Yuria to seek me out at this time.

On top of that, Dr. Nickel, who was gathering intel in the red-light district, had been keeping his identity hidden.

He had been moving under a simple disguise to avoid drawing attention, yet this man had come straight to him from the start.

‘So, they’ve been watching us since the moment we entered the castle. They knew exactly that Dr. Nickel was with us.’

A woman with suspiciously sharp intelligence-gathering skills.

“My lady instructed me to deliver these documents.”

“What are these?”

“Lady Yuria said this is information Lord Iron would absolutely need.”

“Hm…”

The young man, who was supposedly Yuria’s employee, handed me a bundle of papers as soon as we met.

He added that it was information I absolutely needed.

And indeed, that was true.

The information Yuria sent was exactly what we had been wanting:

the Rabbit Tribe’s personal records, the locations of their residences, and even where their children were being kept.

It even included details of hideouts we had not anticipated.

“Ha, really. Why would I need something like this?”

But I couldn’t just accept it outright.

So I tested him a little, to see just how much they knew.

“The Rabbit Tribe’s hideout is in the area of the Forest of Illusions near Johnson Territory. Three rabbitfolk were hidden in the freight wagon. A sudden change in your movements after visiting the ranch. My lady said as much.”

“It could just be coincidence, no? No, never mind. This is getting pitiful. Just tell the young lady that I appreciate it greatly.”

If they knew this much, denying it any further would only make me look pathetic.

So I simply accepted the documents.

Judging by how thorough their investigation was, they seemed to be planning something as well.

Well, so long as we used each other appropriately, that was fine.

After all, this was the kind of information we could never have obtained on our own.