Finally, a tracking permit for Santana, who had fallen away from the Archbishop.

Although there were no specific charges against him, within the church’s domain, the act of dragging a banished person away and killing them for no reason was implicitly allowed, making this situation quite problematic.

“Then let’s depart. There’s no need to say it, but Santana must be brought back.”

“Yes, Archbishop.”

“I will definitely do so.”

After politely greeting the Archbishop, the two left the office.

Watching them depart, Archbishop Maxim began to feel a strong sense of relief, thinking that she had successfully chased away those bothersome individuals.

‘The cost requested for security is a bit high, but… well, this much is within an acceptable range, so it shouldn’t matter much. If we can capture Santana, it would be great, and even if not, just them disappearing from this city will reduce my burden.’

Once the two strongest paladins from Milano left, the tension among the other paladins would likely ease a bit as well.

Now, all that remained was to slightly raise their salaries to soothe the paladins and put an end to this annoying cathedral occupation. Doing so would allow Archbishop Maxim to resolve the current situation at a low cost, just as she desired.

‘To be searching for Santana without realizing this situation… As expected, those two are just strong but have empty heads. Well then, let’s see how far they can go and how hard they work.’

Feeling lighthearted, Archbishop Maxim leaned back comfortably in her chair and started to wear a broad smile.

Proud of her ability to resolve the matter once again without incurring significant losses…

*

“Ha… Ha ha ha!”

“Puhahaha!”

While riding towards Benetsa, the two paladins, Nune and Tine, finally burst into laughter as soon as they arrived in the forest far from Milano.

“Hahaha! I expected something, but I never thought it would actually work!”

“Nune, you’re incredible! How did you even come up with this? Honestly, I never thought that Archbishop that easy would just throw money around like that!”

“It’s all thanks to my knowledge from experience. Remember how the bishops lied about going on a pilgrimage to Saint Rome and went to have fun in Benetsa instead? This was inspired by that.”

“That’s really amazing. I can’t believe she fell for it so perfectly.”

With voices filled with joy, Nune and Tine chatted among themselves, holding a heavy bag of money that the Archbishop had given them as ‘travel expenses.’

However, at this moment, the two had no intention of using this money to find Santana and drag her back to Milano.

Even if they had some cunning, they were not so clueless that they couldn’t gauge the situation.

They both understood that bringing Santana here would only serve as a means to vent their frustrations, and it wouldn’t lead to any positive change in their lives.

In the end, it was all due to that damn Archbishop Maxim’s conspiracy; they knew it wasn’t Santana’s fault.

Yet, the reason they volunteered to find Santana was solely to create a pretense to extract as much money as possible from Archbishop Maxim, which had effectively led to them holding quite a hefty sum of cash.

“Indeed, you have to use your head. That Archbishop just believed our words and handed over 8 talents without a second thought!”

“Haha, absolutely. With this amount, we can live comfortably for a while.”

Though it wasn’t an extraordinarily large sum, it was still a considerable amount.

They thought it was far more beneficial than enduring a situation where they were practically homeless on the cathedral floor without any prospects.

Moreover, having come out with the official order of tracking Santana, they could enjoy being treated as paladins and receive various benefits while traveling in other regions.

A far better situation than poorly attempting to escape.

Thus, having successfully achieved their ‘heist,’ Nune and Tine began heading north, not towards Benetsa but away from it.

“So, you said your relatives live in the Sacred Empire?”

“Yes, precisely in the Bohemia region of the Sacred Empire. My uncle runs a fairly large merchant guild there. If we go there, we won’t have to suffer like before, and since we’ve got this money, they won’t complain either.”

While they had come out under the pretense of being trackers, in reality, they were more like runaway fugitives. In such a situation, the only ones they could truly rely on were their blood relatives. Thus, the two began to ride toward the Bohemia region of the Sacred Empire.

They figured they needed to move diligently, as it would take quite a while to reach there directly.

*

After thoroughly refreshing themselves in Benetsa, I and Cazerose hit the road again at dawn when there were fewer eyes around.

“Well then, we shall take our leave.”

“Yes, do take care. I’ve contacted those with connections along the way, so if you mention your names, you’ll receive their help.”

“Thank you very much, Shylock.”

“Thank you for your kindness.”

We exchanged our final farewells before departing.

Although we couldn’t secure the passage we desired, we had received quite a bit of guidance from Shylock regarding our future journey.

As a merchant with networks spread across the continent, his connections would be beneficial, and moreover, we had even received an astonishing sum of 200 talents for travel expenses.

Of course, while it was given to us in the name of travel expenses, we all implicitly understood it was a reward for saving our lives — essentially, our life’s price.

‘As expected, the boss is generous. Helping this way means the incoming money is no joke. Truly, connections are the most important thing in the world.’

Feeling the joy of being able to enjoy such luck in this miserable situation, I began to drive the carriage away from Benetsa.

*

Watching Santana and her companion Cazerose leave from his vantage point, Shylock wore a worried expression.

‘I’ve done my best, but it’s certainly not going to be an easy road. The path leading from the Sacred Empire to the Dragona Empire…’

As a wealthy merchant in Benetsa with various connections, Shylock had a keen insight into international affairs.

And in those moments, he could see the situation on the continent escalating.

The religious conflicts worsened day by day, leading to signs of division within the empire.

Moreover, the continuous floods causing famine added to the turmoil, stirring the public sentiment to a concerning extent. In such a scenario, the individual most likely to become the next emperor was a dangerously ambitious and impulsive person, utterly unsuitable for the current situation.

‘When the current emperor, Matthis, dies, that’s when the entire Sacred Empire will be in turmoil… I hope such a thing doesn’t happen before they reach Dragona…’

With such thoughts and hopes for the emperor’s life to last a bit longer, it was at that moment.

“Milord! Look at this!”

“What is it?”

A butler rushed in with a letter, his urgency palpable.

With questions and a hint of unease, Shylock checked the letter’s contents…

“Ah…”

A heavy sigh escaped him involuntarily.

The contents revealed that… Emperor Matthis had passed away three days prior.