Chapter 223 Smuggling Rings

"So… Do you mind explaining what's going on?" I asked the Nekomata who was bent at the waist with her head bowed to me.

"Ummm… I'm sorry to have decided it before consulting Lady Aster but… I really have no choice in this matter. He's the only one I trust to be able to handle the Grey Powder we have on hand without double crossing us…"

"Ok… I'm assuming you had him agree to the three crates of sweets to make me help you do whatever you need? More specifically… My summons, right?"

She straightened herself and nodded quickly, "Yes! I think Lady Aster already figured out that we have to deal with some smugglers?"

I nodded, "I kind of guessed… Though it seems like your friend has some trouble with them?"

"Merrick is basically a smuggler and a fence, one of the best I know in fact. Normal smugglers will usually use ships to sneak in goods which means they will need to find a way to sneak things past the port authorities. But with Merrick… As long as you have a pool of water like this that is connected to the sea, you can smuggle in anything past them."

"Doesn't that mean the entire smuggling business is dominated by the Merfolk?"

"More like dominated by Merrick, he's actually the boss of the largest underwater smuggling ring."

I looked back at the pool of water, "I'm surprised he would personally come here then. And for him to fall on hard times… Doesn't that mean the group we're up against is a pretty troublesome group?"

Emilia huffed, "Of course he will come to me personally, that Merrick would still be some small time fence if it wasn't for me! I was the one who helped him get all the connections needed and even gave him the capital to start his little smuggling empire. Oh, and don't listen to his crap about not being able to pay. I can guarantee you he has more than enough money on hand to buy all this Grey Powder from us right now, he just wants me to help him get rid of a rival smuggling group."

"Eh? Couldn't he have… I dunno… Asked you normally? Or actually, if you didn't show up… What would he have done?"

"Hmph! If I had to guess, that group is too small for him to bother actually sending anyone after them but also annoying enough that he got irritated by them. So me showing up here was just convenient for him to have an excuse to wipe them out, especially since this was something I did for him in the past."

Ah… That guy became the leader because she went around wiping out other smuggling rings huh… Got it.

I stretched my arms, "Alright, so what do we do? Take the ship out to the island and do another massacre?"

Emilia waved her hand, "Oh no, no. Lady Aster can just fly us there and you can just use your summons to wipe everyone out. We should be back here in maybe half an hour after we grab everything and toss inside your Pack of Folding. We'll then leave fifty percent of it to Merrick and split the rest of it between ourselves, how about that?"

I'm honestly only interested in those three crates of chocolates you made him promise to bring actually… But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have some extra money saved up for my future use too.

To be honest, if we were also to get the money from this Grey Powder deal, I think I'll have enough money to fully outfit everyone and have a lot more leftover before I even set off.

…

Hold on… This entire trip really just had me increasing my savings exponentially and it's all because I stuck with Emilia. I even got to taste different kinds of sweets as well.

Could she actually be… A Maneki-neko? She is a cat after all and my fortune has just been going up all this while…

Actually, maybe I shouldn't think about it or I might trigger some unwanted flags.

After I agreed to her suggestion, the two of us climbed back out from the basement, only to see Odeta and Delmare waiting outside.

"Oh! Are you done with that friend or whatever?" Odeta asked.

Emilia shook her head, "He needed us to help him deal with some… Err… Bad guys first. Then he'll buy the Grey Powder from us."

Odeta cracked her knuckles, "Alright! A workout after a meal! I wouldn't say no to that! Where do we go?!"

"Umm… Lady Aster would be flying us there actually and it's only a few of them."

The Amrap puffed her cheeks, "That's not fair! I barely spent any time with sister Aster recently! Let me go with her this time!"

Emilia turned to me and I shrugged, showing that I don't really mind.

She sighed, "Alright… Umm… Just don't break anything, ok? Kill those bad guys, take everything of value and then come back right away."

Delmare turned to me with a sad look, "Does… Does that mean we aren't doing it tonight?"

Both Odeta and Emilia turned to look at me wondering what the Siren was asking about.

"Umm… As Emilia said, there should only be a few of them so it shouldn't take that long. I can still listen to you sing tonight."

The Amrap and the Nekomata groaned since they knew that meant they needed to put in earplugs again while Delmare's face lit up in joy.

"I'll wait for you!" She giggled before using her hands to pull herself out of the wrecked building.

Emilia also left with her, giving us one more warning not to destroy any merchandise they might have and also to remind me that it was the island directly to our north, going so far as to point at the direction too.

I looked at Odeta who was practically bouncing around in excitement, "Ready to go?"

"Yes, sister Aster!! I can't remember the last time I got to go on a hunt together with you!"

Not only that, it's been a while since the last time where it was only just Odeta and I huh?

I went ahead to pick her up and started flying in the direction of our target. Thankfully we already have a fire going at the beach so on our return trip, it should be easy to find our island.

When I ascended into the air with Odeta, I realised that they weren't kidding when they said the island was nearby. I could already see it from here and within five minutes we were already above the island.

I could see the light from several campfires dotted around what looks like a dock on the island. They even have a few small sailboats anchored there too, which I assume are the ships they use to smuggle their wares around.

"Drop me on top of them, sister Aster!!" Odeta shouted.

I looked at her, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Let's do this! I'll draw their attention to me and sister Aster can attack them while they're distracted!"

"Umm… The original plan was for me to call up my summons and wipe them out…"

"Eh? That's fine too! I'll distract them and draw them out, then sister Aster can hit them from the back too! Wahahaha! It would be the perfect teamwork!"

Hmm… Actually, that might not be a bad idea. This would save me trouble of hunting for them around the island anyway.

Agreeing to her request, I flew her towards the dock where several of the smugglers seem to be preparing some crates to be loaded on the ships before I dropped Odeta right on top of them.

​ I watched as the Amrap descended right on top of a poor smuggler, crushing him under her foot before she started beating up the guy next to him.

It took them a while before alarms were being shouted and the smugglers started rushing out of their hiding spots to attack Odeta.

In the meantime, I had already made my way towards where I found was the back of their base and called up around a hundred of my summons. I still had more but I don't think I need that many for this, since I estimate there to be only around a hundred smugglers as well.

Most of my summons would just be here to make sure none of them manages to escape anyway.

I immediately ordered my summons to attack the smugglers from behind, catching most of them off guard.

My summons had around the same stats as me so I doubt they would have any trouble cleaning this group of smugglers up.

The smugglers were obviously panicking at the sight of being surrounded by so many summons which made it easier for me to deal with them.

Just when I thought that this fight would be over in ten minutes, one of my summons suddenly flew past me to crash into the wall, disintegrating into nothingness which was a clear sign of it being killed.

I turned to look and there, standing at around Odeta's height, was a Wrunch who was easily holding two of my summons up by their necks and crushing their throats.

Ah… They have someone strong I see… Fuck.