LMSAH – 10

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Shhhf—!

“You know… I think I’m going to need an explanation for this, Tania.”

I pushed the sack I’d dropped on the floor of the Merchant Guild Master’s office over toward him.

It was so heavy I couldn’t even lift it—just barely managed to drag it all the way here.

“Ageratum Merchant Guild Master, how about we strike a deal?”

“A deal?”

Mister Guild Master, who’d been blinking blankly a second ago, suddenly straightened up, a glint flashing in his eyes.

“So how much homework did you do before coming here, my dear customer?”

Even knowing I wasn’t your average kid, it couldn’t have been easy to show this kind of attitude to someone my age.

Guess Mister Guild Master really was a born businessman.

“It’s about buying up grain ahead of next year’s famine. I didn’t want to miss out on the chance either.”

“Well, if you’re willing to invest, that’ll only make my intel look more credible—no reason to turn it down. But the money… where exactly did you…?”

Mister Guild Master’s eyes basically said, ‘Don’t tell me you took it from the house you’re staying at.’

I just shrugged lightly and pointed at the sack on the floor.

“Go ahead and take a look. I spent the last few weeks combing the nearby mountains to gather this myself.”

“Oh? Now I’m curious what exactly you found that’s got you so confident.”

Mister Guild Master was chuckling, but the moment he undid the sack, his eyes flew wide open in disbelief.

“Mana stones? Holy—these are top-grade! How did you…?!”

“I’ve got all kinds of ways to put my ability to use.”

Seeing the satisfied shock on his face, I let out a small grin.

It had been three weeks since Mister Aiden left to handle that urgent job.

In that time, I went to future mana hotspots crawling with demonic beasts and hauled back high-purity mana stones.

The Empire would eventually stage a huge demonic beast purge there to secure these stones, so I’d made sure to remember exactly where it was.

And lucky for me, it was close enough to the capital that I could slip in and out fast.

Oh, and how did someone like me, with basically zero combat ability, mine mana stones in a forest full of monsters?

Simple. I spammed save points like crazy, dodging every spot where demonic beasts popped up.

I smiled breezily and opened my mouth.

“So, are you interested in doing business?”

Mister Guild Master’s eyes were already halfway rolled back in delight, but I asked just for the formality of it.

“Tania, I’m no idiot who kicks away gold that’s rolled right up to his door.”

“Oh, and just to be clear—I’m not here to sell these mana stones.”

“…What? Then?”

“That place where I dug these up is actually private land. But because it’s swarming with demonic beasts, the owner’s been tearing his hair out, totally stuck.”

It was like owning a patch of land full of wild predators back on Earth.

Meaning, for the owner, it was a worthless money pit that wouldn’t sell but still bled him dry with annual land taxes.

“If you show up talking about harvesting demonic beast byproducts and wanting to buy the land, he’ll probably welcome you with open arms.”

Sure, that might weaken our hand a bit for price negotiations, but at least it’d keep them from getting suspicious there was something more.

“I’ll tell you where it is. You can either resell the land after confirming there’s mana stones, or mine it yourself.”

“You… you know of land hiding mana stones this pure…?”

“Yep. In return, just make sure you use the profit to buy up grain—and give me my cut.”

Hook, line, and sinker!

That exact thought lit up plain as day on the Mister Guild Master’s face.

I didn’t waste the moment—flashed him a bright smile and slid the mana stones over to him.

“This one’s on the house.”

I’d brought these partly as proof that I knew where the mana stones were buried, and partly to grease the wheels with some goodwill with Mister Guild Master.

Sure enough, the Mister Guild Master’s eyes were practically dripping honey as he stared at them.

Which meant I needed to seal this deal before the charm wore off.

“So, Ageratum Merchant Guild Master, what kind of cut were you thinking?”

“I’ll have quite a bit on my plate, you know. Buying the land with mana stones, converting them into cash, purchasing the grain, storing it… and then there’s the cost of clearing out the demonic beasts…”

Getting long-winded, huh.

The more he rambled, the less likely it’d end in my favor. So I sliced in.

“So, the split?”

“Tania, this isn’t exactly something I can decide on the spot—”

“The split.”

“…Merciless, aren’t you. Then how about we each take fifty-fifty of the net profit, after expenses?”

See that? One or two prods and it just popped right out.

He’d probably had that number in mind the second he heard my offer.

I put on my most serious face and asked,

“Who gets the fifty?”

“…”

I raised my shoulders in a helpless shrug at the look on his face, like he’d forgotten how to speak.

“Wow. Can’t even joke around with you, Mister Guild Master.”

“…Anyone would’ve fallen for it, looking at that baby face of yours.”

“Hehe.”

Honestly, getting half the net profit was way more generous than I expected.

“I figured with full power of attorney, you’d start at seventy percent, minimum, Mister.”

Mister Guild Master let out a hearty laugh as he fondled the mana stones.

“Ha! I’m not stupid enough to gut the goose that lays the golden eggs.”

“Solid principle.”

To be honest, I’d been fully prepared to squeeze him for every coin I could… But seeing how willing Mister Guild Master was to compromise changed my mind.

“Alright. Let’s draw up the contract based on what we just discussed.”

“Wait! What if that land’s crawling with way too many demonic beasts and the cost of clearing them leaves us in the red?”

Fair point. It was going to be part of a future large-scale demonic beast purge, after all. Not impossible.

“Like I said before, you could always flip the land at a higher price. Plus…”

I curved my eyes into sweet little crescent moons.

“They say minimizing risk is a merchant’s virtue—but if you can’t handle that level of risk, you might want to reconsider calling yourself one.”

In other words, if you’re scared, back out now. I could easily find someone else to do this.

Reading the undercurrent in my smile, Mister Guild Master let out a smooth laugh and quickly jumped to secure the deal.

“Haha, you’re right. Let’s get that contract written up, shall we, my dear customer?”

With that genial grin of his, Mister Guild Master started scribbling out the contract in flowing strokes.

As we talked, we ironed out the fine print together. Thanks to how well we clicked, we wrapped up the paperwork in no time.

“That reminds me—Tania, you’ve gotten so much prettier since I last saw you.”

Well, obviously.

It had been nearly two months since I came up to the capital.

I’d finally put on some healthy weight after being skin and bones, and my once brittle hair shone thanks to daily strokes of an oil-brushed comb.

My long, pale pink hair fluttered around me like cherry blossoms with every step, and my clear eyes gleamed a vivid amber.

Pretty different from the scrappy street orphan I used to be.

I didn’t bother hiding how pleased I was and just beamed.

“Must be all the love I’ve been getting.”

“Heh, you sure talk a lot sweeter than someone else’s son I know…”

Mister Guild Master muttered something about how he really should’ve had a daughter too, then suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Oh, right! What exactly did you and Ron talk about the other day?”

“Uh… I don’t remember having any meaningful conversation with him. Why?”

He shook his head like he couldn’t believe it.

“Kid’s been out of his mind ever since. Keeps asking who you are, where you live.”

“Haha, then I better steer clear of Ron for a while till he calms down.”

“He’s not mad. Actually, it’s the exact opposite.”

“…Opposite?”

That’s when the office door burst open, and someone came barging in with an accusing look.

“Hey! If you’re here, you should’ve told me you were here!”

Oh crap. Busted by Ron.

Guess this wouldn’t blow over quietly. I turned around, bracing myself—

Only for Ron’s eyes to widen as he rubbed them, staring right at me.

“…Who’re you?”

Who…? What was that supposed to mean?

I blinked, a theory popping up in my head, and asked with a playful look,

“Hey pretty boy, did I change so much you didn’t recognize me?”