Normally, when a merchant caravan was robbed within the Candel Empire, or even wiped out entirely, the incident would be officially reported to the imperial authorities for further handling.
If the caravan belonged to a merchant guild under the Candel Empire's rule, the procedure was simple: file a report, then leave it to the authorities' mood to determine whether they would investigate, and how thoroughly.
If the caravan belonged to a merchant guild from outside the Candel Empire, things became a little more complicated.
If its merchant guild came from a country that was not particularly powerful and was itself relatively unknown, the attack would most likely go unresolved, leaving the guild to accept its bad luck.
If the merchant guild had powerful backing, however, the Candel Empire's authorities would decide how far to pursue the matter based on the severity of the incident and the attitude of the guild-or even the country-behind it.
For example, if the caravan came from the Malo Empire and belonged to one of its three largest merchant guilds, with official backing from the Malo Empire, then an incident like this within the Candel Empire would inevitably be thoroughly investigated. Even though relations between the two empires had never been particularly cordial, diplomatic considerations would require the Candel Empire to give the Malo Empire a full accounting.
Yet the situation involving this caravan from the Xinfei Merchant Guild was rather unusual.
The Xinfei Merchant Guild came from the Stantin Duchy, an utterly insignificant little country among all the nations of the Sains Continent. Its national backing naturally could not exert any pressure on the Candel Empire's authorities.
But this caravan happened to belong to the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
The Xinfei Merchant Guild was now a highly unusual merchant guild on the Sains Continent. Thanks to