Chapter 249 (1/2)
Translator: Pink Tea Editor: JackOFallTrades
Yes, this is the sound of it beginning to crumble.
Chasing after superficial things, he will keep piling up those coldly s.h.i.+ning things with the illusion of worth, wis.h.i.+ng to reach ever greater heights, he will keep looking above.
So I kept pulling out fragments of the tower, quietly, one after another so it would not be noticed. Slowly, so the tower would not shake.
The fall becomes more painful as the height grows.
I will make it crumble when he will try to add another layer to this tower, I will make him fall without even a chance to resist.
And this is the last piece.
This is the first loud sound of the tower that begins to collapse.
It is the sound of everything that he has so delightfully built up until now, crumbling beneath his feet.
I pick some of those fragments and let them spill back onto the ground with a rattling sound.
「Now, with this, preparations for the festival have been completed. I will let you experience the moment when your sense of values that you treasured so far gets shredded to pieces as well.」
The coldness that freezes everything over and the burning, molten depths will be your coffin.
「And in the end, I will drown you to death in your beloved sea of money, Grond.」
The racket of metal pieces upon their fall resonated very pleasantly to our ears.
「Fuh, with this, the negotiations on details are over. 」
After signing the last one of the piled up doc.u.ments, I breathe a sigh of relief on getting rid of that mountain.
Though I felt a pleasant sense of accomplishment upon finis.h.i.+ng my job, the course of events that defied my predictions invoked an unpleasant feeling.
「Really, each and every company has a worse set of ears than I expected. I guess my eyes were more clouded than I would imagine…」
The currency used in deals with our company disappears, there is a number of small and medium-sized companies that took such a rumor seriously.
As result, most of them decided to cut ties with our company and stop any dealings.
Among them were few that as I was thinking had some wits to them so I could not suppress my disappointment.
In the end, companies that didn't stop doing business with us were either big trading a.s.sociations that didn't receive any damage or firms that have some light weakness grasped by me.
「Hmpf, since it came to this, after obtaining special privilege with funds that I collected so far, I will squeeze them for profit with no remorse. 」
If I get special rights, tides will quickly turn in my favor.
A lot of trading companies will try to get closer to this Grond Trading a.s.sociation.
However, right now, they are trying to get out of our agreements. Were they to flip their att.i.tudes and try to make an arrangement with our company, it is only natural to make them pay a fitting compensation.
(The current situation is an aggravating one, but considering what is going to happen from now on, it will lead to even larger profits.)
The magic storm was calming down, monsters blocking the road will be eventually eliminated by the guild.
As a means for information exchange will recover, news about money recasting will spread right away.
If we release part of our trading records and summary of damage reports to counter that, this idiotic rumor will be eradicated.
There is no problem at all.
(We pulled out money from affiliated companies and ripped money off from the companies that we could somewhat push around. With us having that much of a lead, other big companies will not try to compete.)
Normally, money recasting is carried out swiftly upon making the decision.
Which means it is not strange if it has already started in other towns.
In this situation, there is just not enough time to overtake my company, which is supposed to make me a sole winner here.
「President, the Ochalea, Fugine and Munaito trading a.s.sociations are requesting for a conference.」
「What?」
Every name that was brought up belonged to an equally powerful town ruler.
Each of them was a business rival with whom our company competed ruthlessly on daily basis.
They are of an equal scale with our company… No, they actually have a bit more power.
They were in a position that would allow them to aim for the privilege of money recasting, those are a.s.sociations that our company should be cautious about.
「On subject?」
「That is… They want to make a special supplementary deal…」
(Extra deal? With this timing…?)
「What do they want to trade?」
「Eehm, it appears they intend to purchase an array of weapons and several types of potions in large quant.i.ties. The reason is said to be the expected demand on those goods due to the monster extermination that is scheduled in a few days. 」
「Is that so. I understand. Leave this room for a while. I have to contemplate on something.」
「Certainly!」
Bowing once, subordinate quietly leaves the room.
In the room that had turned silent, I stand up from the chair in a spinning motion and survey the town from a window in the back of the room.
「Hehehe, AHAHAHAHAHA!!!」
And break into a laugh after not being able to endure it anymore.
「Yes, yes, yes!!! With this, my company will definitely receive the privilege!!!」
If you take this for its face value, they want to profit from the current monster extermination, but there is no way they would come to us for supplies.
Surely, with the monster extermination, demand would rise, but there is no way that with their scale, they would not be able to cover that.
The purpose of this deal clearly lies in getting money off their hands.
(Information about money recasting likely reached those companies as well, so in order to reduce their losses they rushed in panic to bow their heads to me… Hehehe)
The privilege that can be earned in exchange for a large quant.i.ty of money.
It is a sweet fruit that can bring a huge fortune, but there is a certain risk a.s.sociated with it as well.
It lies in that the value of coinage that you possess will change.
And the more money you have, the more significant influence of such change will be.
In other words, other companies gave up on trying to attain that privilege.
Since big scale companies with proper information network will not be deceived by that rumor, there can be no other reason.
So to cut their losses they brought that deal to me, together, in order flatter me up.
「Until now they gave me a lot of hards.h.i.+ps. Hehehe, let us proceed with the deal while paying plenty of attention to details.」
Just imagining the faces of each trading a.s.sociation president warped in a humiliated grimace makes me want to laugh.
Soon, very soon, the town that can be seen from here will be mine.
I will be able to get my breath on all the money that comes in and out of this town.
I will have the very life of this town in my grasp.
The whole of this town will be mine to do as I please.
「Kukuku, Haa HA HA HA!!!」
And so once again, I, unable to restrain myself, started to laugh.
「Oh my, it appears we made you wait, such embarra.s.sment for our Grond trading a.s.sociation.」
Several days later, while taking my time leisurely on purpose, I entered the reception office where presidents of the Ochalea, Fugine, and Munaito trading a.s.sociations were waiting.
「No no, we weren't waiting for that long.」
「Tha, that is true.」
「…Being the head of the trading company is a busy job after all.」
All of their faces that simultaneously turned my way, had a mask of the professional merchant.
However, each and every one of them could not help but have their true face filled with humiliation showing through it.
「Well, time is money as they say. Let us begin negotiations right away.」
Thinking to myself how impudent I was, I began the talk.
「So what are the goods that you requesting?」
「……Yes, here is an order form from Ochalea Trading a.s.sociation.」
Splendidly hiding his annoyance, the Ochalea Trading a.s.sociation President handed me over a paper.
「This is an order form from Fugine Trading a.s.sociation.」
「…From Munaito Trading a.s.sociation.」
The other two also hand over their order forms to me in the same fas.h.i.+on.
「Hm, Hm.」