Chapter 71 (2/2)
Isaac shrugged at Kunette.
“I just feel sorry for her. I’ve grown quite fond of her through our tenuous relations.h.i.+p.”
“… You feel sorry?”
Seeing Kunette tilt her head confusedly, Isaac explained to her as he patted her head.
“Someone capable with a just mind is the perfect candidate for manipulation. It’s always the white and the black who change the world, but it’s the grey who rules it at the end of the day. Whites and blacks need to let themselves be discoloured somewhat, otherwise they’ll simply disappear.”
“Did you ask of me?”
“… Are you having it hard recently?”
The look of Krent was so appalling that even Isaac, for the first time in his life, asked how he was doing. Krent’s eyes were void of life; a dark circle stretched all the way down to his upper lip, circling his deep, empty eyes. His cheeks had shrivelled completely, and a very jagged beard clung onto his face. His body even stunk of a faint odour. If someone who didn’t know of Krent looked at him, they’d a.s.sume that he was just another drunk on the streets.
Krent let out deep, grating laughter in response to Isaac’s question.
“Kukuku. It’s hard. Of course it’s been hard. I knew smuggling made ma.s.sive profits, but I never thought avoiding taxes could be so profitable. Did you know? The sum of money I touch in a single day, every day, is larger than that of the Rivolden Merchant Guilds. And with how sensitive the work is, I have no one to help me nor can I ask for a.s.sistance, so I’m doing it all alone. It would have been nice if the smuggling was run by just one organisation, but I have to distribute the profits between you, Central, and the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds! And if I get a single number wrong, I have to recalculate everything from the start. And I have to do it alone!”
“Sounds hard.”
“That’s not all! I could handle it if I just focused on the smuggling, but with the captain and vice-captain of what was supposed to be my cover playing around all day and neglecting their duties, I have to do their work instead! Please, sunbaenim, save me! Please!”
Krent, who laid out a trail of complaints, looked at Reisha and Kunette vengefully. But the two didn’t even react to Krent’s wailing and focused on their game of stacking the mana crystals to make a tower. Seeing their apathy, Krent grabbed Isaac’s legs and pleaded for mercy in between his explanations for what happened. Seeing Krent’s pitiful appearance, Isaac gave him a pitiful look and stepped away from Krent’s hands.
“Are you really a student of College?”
“Huh? Is there a way?”
“How could you just sit idly by when there are so many capable highly educated personnel all around? Go and use them.”
Krennt seemed dumbfounded by Isaac’s words, then screamed back.
“What do you mean capable manpower? Who are you talking about? Them?”
At the end of Krent’s fingertip sat Kunette and Reisha, who flinched when Krent made his outburst before continuing to focus entirely on stacking the mana crystals. They even managed to stack five stones on top of another – an impressive feat considering the jagged nature of mana crystals.
Seeing the two show just how much they don’t want to work, Isaac smirked. He wondered why they were so uneasy when he called for Krent and why they quietly relegated themselves into a corner. It seemed that at the end of the day, they were sorry about how the situation had turned out for Krent.
“Do you want to die from overworking?”
The stack of mana crystals almost crumbled at Isaac’s merciless words.
“That’s why I’m trying to handle it all myself because I know how difficult it is! Who else am I supposed to use other than them?”
“There are the guys that came here after graduating from the Campus. Just take some of them.”
Krent let out a deep sigh in response.
“Sigh. Sunbaenim, are you seriously saying that when you know how sensitive of an issue smuggling is? If this ever leaks, neither you nor me will be alive!”
“That’s why I’m telling you to bring them in. What kind of a Campus graduate would have the courage to speak about it when even Central is involved, especially when they are of common birth? I know that some of them aren’t even doing any work right now. Tell them to make some extra cash while they’re here.”
“… This isn’t just a small bit of loose change they’re earning. And what if it does leak? And what if some of them refuse to work, saying they won’t set foot in this smuggling business?”
“Ask Central to take care of them. They seem like professionals when it comes to that kind of work. If asking Central is too difficult, you can always ask the syndicate bosses instead. They’ll make it happen nice and clean. They may not be as efficient as Central, but they have their own tricks in making people disappear.”
Seeing how casually Isaac spoke about such brutal and merciless methods, Krent simply gulped in silence. Krent then proclaimed with fierce determination.
“I could never do that! They are my sunbaes and your hubaes! I’d rather do it all alone!”
“Fine then.”
Isaac nodded apathetically at Krent’s declaration.
“By the way, I’d like to ask…”
“What is it?”
“How goes the price for mana crystals?”
“It changes from day to day, but the market announces the standards for pricing every month regarding the size and purity of crystals.”
“The prices are set by the market? Even the pures?”
“Yes. The prices for manufactured crystals are always practically set in stone, but the pures do go up and down somewhat. Normally, people trade them while following the standards set out by the market.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Are you talking about the pures? In the past, the price could differ in hundreds of magnitudes depending on its size even if the purity was the same, but that was way back in the past. After the invention of manufactured mana crystals, the processing technology for pures developed with it. The market has set the standards for trade for quite some time now. Of course, there is a little loss, but the price takes that into account. That also makes it easier to trade.”
“Can you make quite the amount of cash if you happened to run into one and sell it?”
“It’s gotten much worse ever since the manufactured mana crystals became available. On average, pures are much more efficient than manufactured, so their demand is much higher. Of course, the prices for pures are slightly inflated because of fools who only ask for pures, but it isn’t too significant. If you’ve reached the point where you’re asking for pures, it usually means you have the financial capabilities to overcome it.”
Isaac found Krent looking at the mana crystals on his coat to be irritating but decided to quietly overlook it, as he knew how hard of a time Krent would be having from now on. He was a merciful lord after all.
“Ah! You don’t know about this yet, do you?”
“Know what?”
“We found mana crystals in the mines. Central made it confidential and is going to mine it themselves in secret to take care of them.”
Krent’s body stiffened after hearing that. He was wondering why Isaac suddenly asked about the market price for mana crystals, only to hear that there was a mana crystal mine. What would happen if he were to take over work regarding mana crystals, when he was already struggling enough as it is with his current work? The small embers of justice in his eyes were extinguished, replaced by the cold realisation of the need for negotiation.
“How many should I hire?”
Seeing Krent immediately turn tail and a.s.sent, Isaac smirked and answered.
“The 3rd squad just so happens to be entirely made of commoners. Take them all in.”
“All of them?”
“You have no idea how quickly people notice secrets when they live and sleep together. It’ll be annoying if some of them decide to snoop around and force us to clean up later on. Just take them all to make it easy for yourself. You need a holiday too right? And there’s no need for you to reveal everything about smuggling. Tell them you’re just managing a secret method of funding Central.”
“But it’s much easier for the secret to leak if more people know about it.”
“Just ask me any time if you need to make an example or two.”
“… I’ll just hand over the work regarding mana crystal mines to them. It’ll be understandable for them since Central’s involved, and it isn’t as sensitive as smuggling.”
“I guess that’s fine. It won’t change the fact that Central will look for them if the secret leaks anyway.”
“…”
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