112 – That Girl’s Sweet Trade 11

After finishing the errands in Chengdu, the upper part of Beden goes up north again.

Having delivered all the weapons and now loaded with talent and silver coins, they started moving towards the next target, Benessa.

“How much money do you make from this job?”

“Total sales are 6000 talents. After subtracting this and that, the top net profit is about 4,000 talents.”

Lee Sol-da answers Ophelia’s question without taking her eyes off the ledger.

About this

“It’s not a small amount, it seems that there is a little more profit left as the trading partner is the Holy Knights.”

“Yes, most of all, although the flames were barely extinguished, it must be that the dynamics of the Dragona Empire and the Turk Empire are still unusual.”

It’s a shame because the war between Sakiel and Hungary ended with a complete victory for Hungary.

At least with that incident, the peace agreement was blown away and the war almost recurred.

Of course, the fact that there was a White Dragon Princess of the Dragona Empire behind it was a fact that these two people, as well as everyone else who knew, knew, but no one bothered to point out that fact here.

It was because there was no reason to cause trouble by blaming the Drago Empire openly at this time when Hungary was barely reorganizing and reorganizing its internal affairs.

“But… even a peace treaty is just a stopgap. When the preparations of the Dragona Empire and the Turk Empire are over, the war will surely start again in one way or another. It’s a different level from the one before… a war on an enormous scale.”

“I guess so. And when that time comes, it will not be only Hungary that will be involved. Not only the Holy Empire, but maybe Benessa and Rom… In the worst case, even our Schwyz could be in danger.”

“If it’s really the worst situation… In fact, Bahamut gave me an order regarding this.”

“What is it?”

At Isolda’s words, Ophelia began to show strong curiosity.

They have a wide field of vision and know how to read the flow of the world.

As the previous crisis in Hungary had actually been overcome with his help, Ophelia once again began to put her hopes on her master’s move, and Isolda did the same.

“I can’t tell you the details yet… But roughly speaking, it’s related to the Emperor of the Holy Empire. You’ve heard of it at least once since you’re working on this floor, right? That the emperor hadn’t looked down upon the merchants all along.”

“Yeah, I heard the story roughly. He is a person who despises commerce and values war.”

“It’s not just about looking down on him, that guy… the other one is still quite capable, but he’s really bad at commerce and economy.”

“That… that much… is that?”

Seeing Isolda dissing the emperor without hesitation, Ophelia showed a slightly surprised expression.

Emperor Carol of the Holy Empire

His reputation, which she had heard of since her adventurer days, was by no means bad.

The emperor who has led countless wars to victory and rules the enormous territory that encompasses S-Ban and the mainland of the Holy Empire without much noise.

In fact, he was a great monarch who ruled over the entire mid-western part of the continent, except for the Franz kingdom, and was absolutely not an incompetent monarch as he also held the territory of the New Continent.

It is only natural that Lee Sol-da, who did not hesitate to criticize such a person, did not understand what he was saying.

And, watching Ophelia’s reaction, Isolda let out a small sigh and continued her explanation.

“Haa.. Of course, I’ll say it again, but he’s an emperor who definitely has the ability to acknowledge other things. However, just looking at the commercial war that took place not long ago, can’t you tell how strong he is in terms of economy?”

“Um…well. If you think about it, that’s it too.”

A commercial war that once rocked economies across the continent.

The root of it came from the conflict between Bertina, who was aggressively expanding her power, and the Merchant Alliance trying to stop it, but in fact, the emperor’s responsibility for not being able to mediate between them could also be said to be great.

As the lord of an imperious empire, he should have used the proper carrot and stick, or at least prevented it, even if it meant putting his authority first.

However, Emperor Charles, who was not interested in this in the first place, simply ignored the situation while confirming that the amount of tax paid by merchants had not decreased, and as a result, the empire as well as the continental economy in general suffered great losses.

Although, thanks to that, Bertina and the Uranus Merchants were able to almost completely control the commercial power of the empire as they are now, but in fact, the results were never good.

It’s a shame that Bahamut intervened and put the brakes on, otherwise no one would have stopped Bertina from running wild at that point.

And it is obvious that this would have resulted in a further fall in the economic power of the already battered empire.

After all, the reason why the empire’s economy is running fine now is because of Bahamut’s virtues, which meant that it wasn’t because the emperor was good at something.

“Of course, this only mentions one big thing. To name just a few examples, it is said that they are digging up a huge amount of gold in the new continent, but they are not able to refin it, so they pass it on at a bargain price. Every time a war is waged, money is extorted from merchants in the form of loans, and debt is accumulated in real time. If it’s only about what that person is doing wrong with money, maybe the story won’t end until he gets to Benessa?”

“… Umm… ”

Ophelia began to feel that Isolda had accumulated a lot of things related to her when she saw Isolda criticizing the emperor with a little emotion.

And, after this slightly lengthy time to express her dissatisfaction, Isolda recovered her emotions and went back to the main topic.

“By the way… our Emperor, who wasn’t that interested in commerce, contacted us this time. And that’s in the form of inviting Bahamut as an honored guest.”

“That means… Finally, the emperor has shown some interest in this area. Does that mean?”

“maybe? Although I’m not sure. At least it’s true that the atmosphere has changed a little compared to the past. Maybe it’s simply because money is tight.”

Isolda spoke with a slight mockery, and Ophelia nodded quietly as she listened to her words.

Excluding other parts, the emperor who controls the continent’s strongest country has begun to move.

Even if she didn’t know it, she could clearly recognize that the situation in the future would become more complicated and change in relation to this matter.

Everything surrounding her, Bahamut, and the Veden Merchant…

*

“… ..?”

She opens her eyes slowly.

At that moment, what she saw in front of her was the blue sky.

“… me… Are you alive?”

She speaks in a blank voice… Mergon.

Then, a familiar cry began to ring in her ears.

“Hey… uuu… Uhhhhh..”

“… Ah.. Nemea..”

“aaa!!! Mergooon!!!”

“Wook!”

The next moment, Nemea rushes into her friend’s arms.

At such a sudden physical attack, Mergon was unable to say anything for a moment, and Nemea hugged the friend’s body with all her might.

“Everything…it’s good…it’s good! Four.. I’m really… really glad I survived..”

“Ah.. Okay… Okay, so let’s talk about this! I… I’m really going to suffocate!”

Mergon barely calms his friend like that.

However, right after that, she still had questions about her current situation.

About how he survived when his life was clearly on the verge of death.

And, seeing Mergon like that, Nemea still shed tears and said,

“Ugh.. Um.. Really.. I could have been in big trouble.. Ma.. If that kid hadn’t bought this as he said.. That.. If that was the case… Mergon, you would be by now… Uhhhhh..”

“! Stand… no way…”

At those words, Mergon’s gaze turned to those scattered all over the floor.

The trade goods I had purchased earlier at the recommendation of the girl.

A new mark that has been consecrated.

Although it is weak, it contains divine power, so it can heal wounds such as light abrasions.

Read at noblemtl.com

Nemea, who remembered that fact, used all of them to save Mergon in the end.

Of course, in return, the divine power contained in the new ticket was completely exhausted, and those on the floor no longer had any value as a commodity.

“My… all my last possessions are so vain…”

Looking at the new signs with such a bewildered expression, Mergon begins to feel sick to his stomach.

Of course, it was fortunate that he saved his life thanks to that, but it was heartbreaking to see that the last asset he had saved until the end evaporated while he was starving.

‘Haa.. but… did it happen because I was able to live thanks to you? I’m in debt to that kid again…’

They shared knowledge about trade items and even saved their lives thanks to it.

As she recalled the cute girl’s face once again, Mergon vowed to repay this debt if the opportunity presented itself.

And, this is also true of Nemea, who was able to save her friend’s life by a narrow margin.

However, now they no longer had time to leisurely do this.

“Ah.. that… Come to think of it, what happened to the Beden Merchant?”

“I am already leaving. If you hurry, you might be able to make it on time..”

“Fortunately out of misfortune, then let’s start right away. As you know, if we don’t spread the news quickly, things will get serious.”

“Yeah, but… are you feeling okay? Even though the wound has healed, it won’t be perfect…”

“..you have to be as careful as possible.”

Although there were still parts that throbbed, there was no time to delay.

So they started hastily and started chasing after the top of Beden.