Chapter 57. Rumors
A suspicious rumor claimed that monster meat was becoming widespread.
Isolde tilted her head in confusion, causing her platinum-blonde hair to sway from side to side.
“Monster meat?”
“That is correct.”
“How could that be possible?”
Isolde’s elegant eyebrows drew together slightly.
The Genetic Factor of madness embedded within monsters couldn’t be removed even by the Holy Power Isolde possessed as a Saintess.
Monsters were creatures of chaos that defied God’s order, and they possessed an inherent resistance to Holy Power—the power of God.
Even the mages who studied the truths of the world acknowledged that proposition.
There was a reason it was counted among the ‘Twenty-Three Conundrums of Arcanis’.
More precisely, hadn’t that conundrum been resolved with a verdict of ‘impossible’?
The attendant priest cautiously raised a suspicion.
“Could it perhaps be connected to the Dark Merchant Company, whose suspicious activities have recently been reported...?”
The Dark Merchant Company.
It was a shadowy organization that researched forbidden Black Magic and Blood Magic while carrying out inhumane and horrific experiments.
As the attendant priest had said, ominous activities related to the Dark Merchant Company had recently been reported within the Holy Kingdom.
“Who is distributing the monster meat?”
“It is an organization called the Predator Merchant Company. It is reportedly a newly established Merchant Company operated by White Wolf County in the Kingdom of Vatenberg.”
A newly established Merchant Company.
It certainly sounded suspicious.
“Do you know who owns the Merchant Company?”
“Its owner is reportedly Adrian White Wolf, the eldest legitimate son of House White Wolf.”
“Adrian White Wolf....”
It was a name she had never heard before.
Yet, for some reason, it sounded familiar.
“According to the rumors, he is the delinquent of the count’s household.”
Perhaps that was why.
“Then you’re saying this Merchant Company is operated by a delinquent?”
“That is correct. What makes it even stranger is that his behavior reportedly changed completely not long ago.”
“His behavior changed?”
“Well....”
The attendant priest explained everything he knew about Adrian in detail.
After hearing the story, Isolde immediately understood what he meant when he said Adrian’s behavior had changed.
Strictly speaking, his behavior hadn’t merely changed.
It was as though....
“He changed so suddenly that it appears another person may have taken control of Adrian’s body.”
It was almost as though another person’s soul had entered Adrian’s body.
People didn’t change.
They merely appeared to change.
A person’s fundamental nature never truly changed.
“I suspect that he may have been subjected to Black Magic such as Possession Magic.”
His personality had changed so dramatically that such a suspicion was entirely reasonable.
Possession Magic was also one of the vicious methods commonly employed by the Dark Merchant Company.
Isolde lowered her eyelashes as she sank into thought.
The impossibility known as monster meat.
The sudden emergence of a new Merchant Company.
And the strange case of a person seemingly becoming someone else entirely.
Could it truly be a coincidence that all these events had occurred at once?
The Predator Merchant Company.
White Wolf County.
‘Adrian White Wolf....’
The name of a man known as the delinquent of the count’s household.
Perhaps that was why it sounded strangely familiar.
“We will need to investigate him.”
For some reason, the name engraved itself deeply within Isolde’s mind.
* * *
“This is the last one!”
At the Merchant Company member’s shout, a large wooden chest landed on the floor with a heavy thud!
When its weighty wooden lid was opened, the gold filling it was revealed.
The brilliantly gleaming gold coins shimmered and clinked against one another.
It was the profit earned in a single ‘day’.
“431,560 gold.”
It was an astonishing profit of more than 430,000 gold.
“W-Wow...!!”
“I’ve never seen that much money in my life.”
The Merchant Company members and soldiers stared with widened eyes.
Honestly, earning this much from a single day of business should have been nearly impossible.
It would have been impossible to earn this much from an entire trading expedition, let alone a single day.
‘Rex meat sold even better than I expected.’
Word of mouth had truly begun spreading.
Rumors passed from one mouth to another.
There was a reason people said that silencing the public was more difficult than stopping a flooding river.
‘At this rate, I could establish a Freche branch.’
A branch of the Predator Merchant Company.
A Merchant Company branch served as a regional network hub.
It was a base responsible for regional trade, transactions, and resource procurement.
It could also lead regional commerce by interacting directly with other merchant companies.
Since it was practically an independent merchant company, it needed guards, transporters, administrators, accountants, and more.
Numerous personnel had to be hired and assigned.
The resulting labor expenses and initial investment costs would be enormous.
That was why I had thought it was still too early....
‘But this level of profit should be enough.’
This was also a form of investment.
Through the Freche branch, I could expand my influence across Freche and the other Free Cities, allowing me to keep the Dark Merchant Company in check.
More importantly, I couldn’t continue making trading expeditions exclusively to Freche forever.
I needed to move beyond the Free Cities and expand the Predator Merchant Company’s influence throughout the continent’s kingdoms.
Therefore, I needed to establish a branch that could manage and supervise trading expeditions in my place.
“Everyone, assemble.”
After organizing my thoughts, I gathered the Merchant Company members and soldiers.
There were eleven Merchant Company members and twenty-four soldiers.
The assembled group looked at me in confusion.
I took gold coins from the chest and spoke.
“Come forward one at a time and collect your share.”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
“Y-You mean us...?”
“Yes. Who else is here besides you?”
Even then, everyone hesitated, unable to move forward readily.
“You don’t want it?”
“Th-That isn’t it.”
“We simply weren’t sure whether we were allowed to accept it....”
“You are.”
It was said that anyone who starved for three days could become a thief.
An unwavering heart was born from secure wealth.
The greatest Merchant Company on the continent that I intended to create would invest not in immediate profits but in ‘people’.
“Hurry up and collect it. My arm is getting tired.”
I distributed one thousand gold to each Merchant Company member.
Each soldier received eight hundred gold.
The Merchant Company members received more because their work had been more demanding.
They had handled the general management of the monster meat, profit calculations, accounting, transportation, and more.
The heavy dark circles beneath the eyes of all eleven Merchant Company members made that obvious.
The soldiers also understood this, so none of them complained.
More importantly, eight hundred gold was by no means a small amount.
Soldiers in White Wolf County received a monthly salary of one hundred and fifty gold.
Eight hundred gold was more than five months of salary.
Their regular salaries would still be paid, while this money was a separate bonus.
There was no possible reason for them to complain.
“Hehehe...!”
“What am I supposed to do with all this?”
As expected, everyone who received the gold coins grinned broadly.
They bowed their heads to me with deeply moved expressions.
That resulted in a total expenditure of thirty thousand gold.
“You’re free until business begins tomorrow. Use the money you received to do whatever you want.”
“Whatever we want...?”
“Buy something you’ve always wanted, purchase a gift, gamble, save it, or waste it extravagantly. Do whatever you please.”
Everyone smiled from ear to ear.
However.
‘....Their Affinity didn’t increase.’
Unfortunately, the residents’ Affinity hadn’t risen.
Their current Affinity was in the [Friendliness] state.
To avoid losing Management Mode, I needed to clear the Territory Quest.
Only one stage remained before their Affinity reached the required [Trust] state.
I had hoped that I might be able to clear the quest here.
‘It seems the Affinity of such a small group wasn’t significant enough to affect the overall result.’
In any case, judging from their expressions, they looked ready to spend every coin within a single day.
But that probably wouldn’t happen.
Only those accustomed to luxury knew how to indulge in it.
These people had never possessed so much money. They would probably buy only an item they had always wanted or a gift they wished to give someone.
“Lepin, what are you going to do with this money?”
“I’m going to buy a gold ring.”
“A gold ring? Don’t tell me you’re planning to propose to Rena.”
“Yes! When we return to the County, I’m finally going to confess my feelings to her!”
Well, apparently that was his plan.
In any case, I left them to do as they pleased.
I had given them the money to use however they wanted.
More importantly, I wasn’t idle enough to concern myself with every minor detail.
I currently had approximately nine hundred thousand gold remaining.
It was an enormous fortune—enough for more than three generations of a family to live comfortably without working.
‘Should I throw some money around?’
Naturally, I had no intention of living idly.
Because Free Cities lacked absolute authorities such as Monarchs and territorial lords, numerous social groups and factions coexisted within them.
They included ordinary citizens, merchants, adventurers, mercenaries, mages, and others.
The absence of formal ranks allowed numerous social groups to exist.
Each group was entangled in a complicated web of interests.
The City Congress.
The City Congress was the central institution responsible for governing a Free City and mediating the complicated interests existing within and between Free Cities.
It handled the Free City’s general administration, legislation, and budget.
Put simply, it could be considered both the heart and brain of a Free City.
In other words, establishing a ‘Merchant Company branch’ within a Free City required permission from the City Congress.
Freche was a Free City distinguished by its highly developed ‘commerce’.
As a result, it maintained close networks with numerous kingdoms, cities, and organizations across the continent.
That was why countless Merchant Companies from across the continent wanted to establish branches in Freche.
However, as was often the case, its administrative procedures were extraordinarily demanding.
The territorialism of the Merchant Guild already established in Freche couldn’t be ignored either.
It was like plucking a star from the sky.
….Perhaps it wasn’t quite that difficult, but establishing a branch in Freche was still extremely challenging.
However.
None of those matters posed a significant problem for me.
“Our Merchant Guild has unanimously approved the proposal to establish a branch of the Predator Merchant Company.”
Edlen was an executive of the Merchant Guild.
In other words, even the Merchant Guild responsible for the territorialism was friendly toward me.
It was only a matter of time before the proposal passed as an official item on the Congress’ agenda.
Furthermore.
“As you instructed, I sealed the Congress members’ mouths with gold!”
The powerful members of the City Congress.
I distributed money to them under the pretext of lobbying funds and slipped them some Rex meat as well.
“Authorization to establish the branch should be issued shortly!”
Everything proceeded at remarkable speed.
The expenditure was considerable, but I could simply earn more money.
With this, I could freely exert influence not only in Freche but throughout the Free Cities.
It was practically as though every Free City supported me.
There was only one exception.
The Lawless City of Violess.
“You’ve worked hard. You were a great help.”
“My goodness, it is an honor to know that this lowly one was able to assist you.”
Edlen bowed as though it had been nothing.
Having the Merchant Guild’s support certainly allowed everything to proceed without obstruction.
However, obtaining authorization for the branch wasn’t the end.
One could say it was only the beginning.
‘I need to choose the person who will assume overall responsibility for the branch—the branch manager.’
Since they would bear full responsibility for the branch, I needed to appoint someone reliable.
Ability was important, but trust mattered more than anything else.
‘I originally intended to appoint someone from the Special Task Force.’
They were agents who had carried out special warfare missions alongside me.
They had also participated in information and intelligence operations involving the creation, collection, and distribution of information.
I could safely entrust one of them with the position of branch manager.
However, Edlen was standing before me with his waist deeply bent.
As I silently observed him—
‘He handles his work better than I expected.’
A sudden curiosity arose within me.
When I activated Predatory Instincts[S] on Edlen, information about him appeared before my eyes in an organized format.
‘Sense?’
When I activated Predatory Instincts[S] once again, information about Sense[R] appeared before me.
==< Character Information >==
Name: Edlen
Classification: Kingdom Animalia, Class Mammalia, Family Hominidae, Human
Gender: Male
Age: 36
Trait: Sense[R]
◆Sense[R] : The user possesses an exceptional ability to quickly and accurately understand another person’s emotions and intentions, as well as the surrounding atmosphere and situation, and respond appropriately. The user can rapidly perceive subtle changes in the surrounding atmosphere, unspoken information, facial expressions, gestures, tones of voice, and other details. This allows the user to make immediate situational judgments and act accordingly.
He was considerably older than his appearance suggested.
He was almost twice my physical age, although we were roughly the same age if I included the years from my previous life.
And sure enough, he possessed a distinctive trait.
Judging from the description alone, it was an excellent ability.
Its measured rank was [R], which stood for Rare.
It was the rank directly below the Unique rank of [U].
It couldn’t possibly be considered low.
True to the word Rare, it was an uncommon ability.
Even if he wasn’t a genius, he could still be counted among the exceptionally gifted.
I had simply become accustomed to examining bizarre monsters such as Seraphia and Kai, who had plunged the continent into terror.
An [R]-rank talent wasn’t something one could encounter easily.
His decades of experience operating a Merchant Company in Freche couldn’t be ignored either.
If properly developed, he could grow into an extremely useful subordinate.
Most importantly, Edlen’s Affinity toward me was currently in the [Favor] state.
‘If I raise his Affinity a little more, wouldn’t he be perfect?’
If I could raise his Affinity to the [Trust] state, it would be safe to assume that Edlen would never betray me.
Just as I began seriously considering Edlen—
◆The Sub-Quest [I Object to This Marriage!] has arrived.
A translucent message suddenly appeared before my eyes.
As usual, the quest had appeared so abruptly that it seemed completely out of nowhere.
However, this wasn’t a ‘Sudden Quest’.
More importantly.
‘I Object to This Marriage?’
What kind of ridiculous quest title was that?
Why was it suddenly talking about marriage?
Whose marriage could it possibly mean?
Could it be Edlen, who was standing blankly in front of me?
“I’m only asking out of curiosity, but are you married?”
“....Pardon? Ah, no. I’ve always been so busy earning a living that I’ve never even been in a relationship....”
Edlen awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
In that case, the quest couldn’t be referring to Edlen’s marriage.
Fortunately, the quest information that would resolve my confusion appeared before me.
==< I Object to This Marriage! >==
[Objective] - Prevent Seraphia’s marriage.
[Reward] - Kai’s Affinity increases.
[Upon Failure] - <Monarch of Frost> awakens.
….What the hell was this now?
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