Chapter 72 (1/2)

“… What’s this?”

Today was Isaac’s first payday since the secret mining began. Isaac asked Krent when he brought some mana crystals to the table.

“Central is giving you these as your share for this month.”

“Where’s the rest?”

“… This is all of it.”

“I admit that we didn’t agree on how we were going to split the profits, but isn’t this going too far? I thought there was a fair trade law in this world?”

“There’s nothing I can do even if you complain to me…”

“I heard they mined like crazy even though they just started?”

“They mined so much that if all of it was released into the market right now, it would destroy the pure mana crystal market.”

“And this is all I’m getting in return?”

“…”

Krent couldn’t say a word. Even he thought this was too harsh a treatment. He had full knowledge of how much had been mined, since the only options available for those crystals were to be sold in the market or transported elsewhere, and they needed to use his smuggling network. Through his calculations, he found out that Central excavated over ten thousand crystals in just a month’s time.

Even if only a fraction of the crystals was expected to be sold while the rest would be stored elsewhere in order to prevent the market from cras.h.i.+ng, a ma.s.sive profit was still expected. Yet all Isaac received for his share were ten or so crystals, all of which were the lowest of purity among what had been mined.

Krent could only stand anxiously facing Isaac’s stare, which grew colder and colder. Isaac took out a cigarette, rested his chin on one hand while tapping on the armrest with the other, and began to think.

What Central was doing was pure and unadulterated tyranny. Was he supposed to just take it? He could understand the reasons somewhat. Seeing how Central needed to control the market, they couldn’t hand over too large of a share to Isaac. There was the problem of explaining where the crystals came from and the added risk of rumours spreading. But this was still too much. If they couldn’t split the profit in mana crystals, they should have tried to compensate for it with goods or money or at the very least send a letter of apology explaining why his share was like this. Isaac was going to be understanding enough to let things pa.s.s if that was how Central treated him.

“I would have thought they’d have the courtesy to treat me properly after agreeing to their demands without a fuss. I didn’t think they’d treat me like a slave.”

There was nothing Isaac could do. He was the weaker of the two. Turning violent whenever things were unfair was the most foolish option. Retaliations should only be made when it was certain that he’d at least give them a flesh wound.

“I guess there’s no choice. It’s not like I don’t have money. Let it be. I can’t be bothered to get involved with Central.”

Isaac decided to let this pa.s.s. Doubting everything and the reasons behind it was the textbook way to go paranoid. There was no time for Isaac to waste on mana crystals.

Krent was about to let out a sigh of relief and quickly leave the rooftop, but his face turned pale when he saw Cordnell rus.h.i.+ng up the stairs with sweat dripping from his forehead.

“What happened here?”

“What?”

“How come the revenue we were supposed to receive disappeared?! Instead, there’s a deficit! Because of this, our funds suddenly evaporated!”

“I didn’t use anything. Maybe it was one of the employees who embezzled it. Why don’t you look for the man who ran away with it?”

Isaac responded annoyingly, frustrated that Cordnell’s first reaction whenever money disappeared was to visit him and complain.

“That person could have done it under your orders, Sir Isaac!”

Cordnell immediately refuted Isaac’s claim, learning well from past experiences working with Isaac. Isaac could only give a look of disappointment.

“It’s so sad to be treated like I’m not trustworthy. This is why it’s important to manage your credibility.”

“Now isn’t the time to joke around! I can guess why this happened, so I won’t ask. But you should have at least let me know if you were going to use the funds! Do you have any idea how baffled I was when the funds were spent without my knowledge? I can understand the costs for investing in the mines and restoring it, but do you see these receipts? It says a hundred Giga for a single pickaxe! A hundred Giga! All of the goods on the receipts have been sold to us at ludicrous prices! I don’t know which r.e.t.a.r.d tried to stuff the account books like this when they embezzled the funds, but not even an amateur would do such a shoddy job! What am I supposed to tell the tax department? I need to send a report for our taxes. If you just left it under my care, it would never have turned out like this!”

“…”

Isaac’s eyes flicked to Krent and Krent immediately confessed.

“I only found out about it after it happened. I a.s.sumed everyone just did as they were told, what with Central being involved and all.”

Basically, the hubaes who have been hired according to Isaac’s recommendation had caused this incident. To be fair, they were suddenly thrown into working with Central, and Isaac could see them doing as they were told by Central in a panic. But it still p.i.s.sed Isaac off.

“And they’re telling me to just take this and p.i.s.s off?”

“…”

Krent avoided Isaac’s eyes, while Cordnell began to step away silently when he heard Central’s name. He had not been aware of their involvement, and it was best if things remained that way.

“Well, whatever. What’s done is done. I know it’s hard, but the two of you are to try to fix the account books to the best of your abilities. And let him know about what’s going on since he’s taking care of the money.”

“Can’t I just remain oblivious?”

Cordnell had learnt through both body and mind that any work involving Isaac wasn’t good for his health. He tried to refuse but to no avail.

“Um… that’s not all.”

“Isn’t that most of the expenditures already?”

“You see… we’ll need to spend money to manage the waste byproducts of mining the mana crystals. Although they are mostly rocks and dirt, we need to dispose of it in secret. We’ll most likely have to disguise it as goods and take it somewhere far away before dumping it.”

“… Disguise it and dump it away from the city? So we need to waste money getting rid of some useless rocks now.”

“…”

Krent could only panic and avoid Isaac’s glare, which had begun to border on freezing. Cordnell, on the other hand, still seemed confused after hearing strange news that he definitely wasn’t aware of before. He asked the two, puzzled.

“Um… what do you mean by mana crystals? And what about the mines? Does it have something to do with the financing problem from before?”

Annoyed, Isaac responded to Cordnell’s question by speaking to Krent instead.

“Give him a brief explanation. You two will be handling this case anyway.”

With the order given, Krent took Cordnell to a corner and gave him a quick rundown on what had happened and what existed within the mines. The moment Krent finished his explanation finished, Cordnell ran over to Isaac with a pale face and howled for resistance.

“This is absolute tyranny!”

“I am well aware of that.”

“From what I hear, the share you were given was to pay for dealing with the removal of the rocks and dirt! And it’s meant to cover only a portion of the costs, not all of it!”

“Do you think it’ll take that much?”

“Considering the costs for the s.h.i.+ps to move the packages, forging doc.u.ments, and bribing the men who’ll be processing the entire thing, it may have been okay if this was a one-time procedure. But for us, we will need to do this regularly! As time goes by, our deficit will grow with it. If we get caught by the Empire for throwing away these rocks, we will be fined heavily; an average merchant guild would go bankrupt if it was fined that heavily. There’s no way that Central wasn’t aware of this fact, so I’d a.s.sume that this was deliberate on their part.”

“Hm. I did a.s.sume Central intended this, although I wasn’t aware of the part about the fines.”

Isaac had originally considered that s.h.i.+fting all of the costs to him was a simple warning from Central, but after hearing that they also pushed all responsibility of removing the wastes to him, Isaac was now convinced that this was an attempt at restraining him.

It likely meant not to get in Central’s way. Isaac’s a.s.sumptions now held far greater weight when he heard the part about the fines. There was little he could do by speaking against this decision, as Central would simply reply that there’s nothing to worry about when they are taking care of him. While that’s happening, Central would be readily gathering the evidence implicating Isaac, and if Isaac were to ever go against Central, they would release the evidence to finish him.

There was bound to be damage. Isaac could complain about why Central didn’t protect him, but fabricating the event to seem as if the evidence was leaked out by pure coincidence would be easier than taking candy from a baby for Central. They would simply apologise to buy time.

This was a textbook method of a major corporation shaking down a weaker opponent, and Isaac was baffled that he was the receiver of this treatment. What was the reason? He believed that he had been cooperative with Central all this time. Perhaps it was just to tame him as it first seems… or it was an attempt by Central to distract him from something else and buy some time.

Hundreds of hypotheses and scenarios floodswamped Isaac’s mind as he went over everything that had happened so far. With an incident like this added to the mix, his confusion about the truth only grew worse.

Many theories and a.s.sumptions came and went in Isaac’s mind as he began to doubt and theorise all that had happened. His doubt began to grow more and more after an incident like this had just occurred.

Isaac considered just closing the mine down out of annoyance, but this was the work of Central. They wouldn’t listen to Isaac’s claim that it was his land. They may even trip Isaac over by shamelessly claiming that Isaac was keeping the mana crystal mine his personal secret.

There was no choice. Isaac had to act as if he was following Central’s command for now. But living with a leash put around his neck wasn’t his style either. He had to use a method where he got rid of the waste material legally and made money at the same time.

“I guess there’s no choice. Cordnell.”

“Yes!”

“I’m asking you to make what I tell you. The object must be transparent, and it must constantly spin. There has to be a hole where we can pour the waste material in. But there must be some sort of mechanism where the exact same amount comes out from the bottom. That’s the most important part. Bring me an initial design taking these things into account.”

“Yes sir.”

Isaac was somewhat perplexed at Cordnell’s immediate compliance.

“Why aren’t you going against this?”

“Because Central is being tyrannical. As a man who calls himself a merchant, I will place my life on the line and agree with whatever you have to say if it will strike back at Central’s tyranny, which goes against the code of merchants in every aspect.”

“A, alright then.”

Seeing an enthusiastic and eager Cordnell was somewhat different.

“But may I know what its intended use is? I think it will help us come up with the initial design.”

Isaac pondered Cordnell’s request for a moment. He decided to tell Cordnell what his intentions were, and Cordnell could only let himself be impressed by Isaac’s idea.

‘With the casino and sports gambling out, all that’s left is a lotto. Isn’t this the completion of the gambling trinity?’

One day, within the plaza of Ceta District, the most populated area of the city, a mysterious object was being constructed. Naturally, it seized everyone’s interests, but not even the construction workers knew about what the object was. Cordnell, who oversaw the construction, kept his mouth sealed, which inflated everyone’s curiosity.

“I don’t like it.”

Isaac complained as he saw the completed object from atop his rooftop.

“There’s nothing we can do. We have to keep the costs as low as possible.”

Cordnell responded to Isaac coldly. What was in front of Isaac and Cordnell was a giant cube with a hole in the middle and a sphere that fit perfectly within the cube.

Perhaps the fact that it was entirely see through, three stories tall, and had what looked like a waterwheel connecting the cube and the sphere on one side was what made it so peculiar. Within the sphere were many chains which spun in different directions. Kunette and Reisha jumped into the sphere and jumped between each chain or rolled on them while laughing about, earning the envy of the many children who came to look at the object.

“I guess there’s nothing I can do, now that it’s complete.”

Isaac muttered after glaring at the object in displeasure. Cordnell’s shoulders seemed to relax after hearing those words.