In the reception room, Calix received the gold Noah had prepared—and then refused it.
She was gripped by fear.
We prepared half of the profits we made in the Cron territory. Is even this not enough?
“My lord, are you displeased with the amount we prepared?”
“I did not summon you here to receive something like this.”
“Then why…”
It was a reaction completely unlike any noble or lord she had dealt with until now.
Any noble would have brightened at the sight of gold coins and reached out for them,
but the young lord of House Cron had instead refused them.
Calix sighed and got to the point.
“The reason I called you today is not to extort more taxes from you. Quite the opposite.”
“The opposite?”
“Yes. I intend to lower the tolls in the Cron territory from 30% to 10%.”
Noah could not hide her astonishment at Calix’s words.
What did this man just say?
A noble is going to reduce taxes?
Noah instinctively activated her Blessing.
-Vwoom-
Mana concentrated in her eyes, and the world was dyed in black and white.
In this place, only those who spoke the truth did not lose their color.
To confirm whether the man before her was telling the truth, Chloe looked at Calix—and could not help but be even more shocked.
‘He’s not… lying…’
The silver-haired young lord, shining in silver light, clearly retained his color.
For a moment, her mind went blank.
He had not lied. Every word he spoke was sincere.
“However, there is a condition.”
“Please tell me, my lord.”
In a certain sense, Noah felt relieved at Calix’s words.
Of course. That makes sense.
Instead of tariffs, this lord wanted something even greater from her.
What could he want?
If he wanted something from our merchant company in exchange for tariffs, then the likely answer would be exclusive distribution rights for one of our company’s core products, the “Blue Slime Magic Stones,” through House Cron.
I’ll have to discuss it with Father.
As Noah was thinking that, Calix opened his mouth.
“Since the merchant company will benefit from the tariff reduction, the benefits must also return to my subjects. Sell the goods distributed in House Cron’s domain at prices reduced by the amount of the tariff.”
Noah used her Blessing again.
And still, Calix did not lose his color.
He truly intended to revitalize commerce in his territory and implement a reform to lower tariffs for the sake of his subjects.
At that moment, Noah felt that emotion for the first time in her life.
The emotion called being moved.
“May I ask you one question?”
“What is it?”
“I am curious what you gain from doing this, my lord.”
Noah was truly curious.
She wanted to know so badly what this young lord hoped to gain by giving up such enormous profits for his subjects.
But the words that came from his mouth shocked Noah even more.
“The happiness of my subjects.”
“Truly… you are lowering the tariffs truly for that alone?”
“That is correct.”
“How could that be…”
“Why are you so surprised? Is it so astonishing for a lord to lower tariffs for the sake of his subjects?”
Noah was still using her Blessing.
And until now, Lord Calix had not lost his color even once.
In the black-and-white world, only that silver lord shone brilliantly, declaring that his words were the truth.
Since she was young, Noah had been taught by her father that humans were beings of endless greed.
As she herself did business, she had come to believe that was the truth of the world.
But the lord before her was clearly contradicting that teaching.
As she tried to make sense of this impossible situation, Noah’s thoughts reached that point.
‘Wait… could it be…’
The current state of the Empire was unstable.
The emperor had lost real power due to a long illness, and the princes, princesses, grand dukes, and countless other lords were all coveting the imperial throne like jackals.
And within that, everyone was preparing their own weapon.
Some recruited 『Mages』, some recruited 『Blessed Ones』, and others recruited the legendary 『Assassins』 as they prepared for the 『War for the Throne』.
But what if… in that war, a lord appeared who took the 『People』 as his weapon?
It was something so obvious that no one paid attention to it, but the largest component making up the Empire was none other than the 『People』.
If those 『People』, whom everyone thought of as a reward that came with victory, were to enthrone their own master—and if that person was Lord 『Calix』 before her eyes…
What would happen to the Empire?
She could not even imagine what kind of future would come, but she could be certain of one thing.
A future she could never have imagined would surely arrive.
Noah became interested in the lord before her, who was trying to create a future she could not imagine.
And she thought,
‘I want to see that sight from the closest seat.’
“So, do you feel like negotiating now?”
Noah recalled her father’s words.
He had said that if one lived as a merchant, there would come a moment when one had to stake one’s life.
Noah thought that moment was now.
“I will follow all the conditions you desire, my lord.”
“Yes. You have thought well.”
“In return, there is something I would like to ask of you.”
“Ask?”
Noah approached Lord Calix.
Then she knelt and kissed his hand.
It was the kiss a retainer gave to the lord they would serve.
“Please appoint me as your treasurer, my lord.”
After becoming disappointed in the world, Noah had always worn a mask.
Not even one person, including her family, had ever seen her smile sincerely.
But at this moment, Noah was smiling from the heart.
* * *
A storm had passed.
No, maybe an avalanche would be more accurate.
At Noah’s sudden request to be appointed treasurer, not only I, but Hart and the other retainers as well, were flustered.
For the representative and heir of a merchant company to say she wanted to become the treasurer of a lord’s house was no ordinary matter.
It was not simply a business relationship, but a declaration that she would be getting into the same boat.
Just like Lu Su of Romance of the Three Kingdoms bet on the Sun family, and Mi Zhu bet on Liu Bei, it meant she was going to bet on me.
No, what the hell is this, suddenly doing this to someone who just wants to live quietly!
Refusing would have been awkward because of appearances, and accepting was burdensome, so I first asked her to help as an 『Advisor』.
She seemed satisfied with that for now and left.
‘But… she really is insanely beautiful.’
『Noah White』
An SSR-rank merchant + strategist aptitude character, a must-have character in World Archive; if you started as a lord in the southern region, she was a character you absolutely had to obtain before you began playing properly.
I had not pulled her myself and had only roughly heard information that such a character existed.
There was only one reason I remembered her.
She was insanely beautiful.
Should I say she looked like a goddess of pure white snow?
Especially when she bowed her head to greet me at the end, her chest was, whew…
I thought I was going to die maintaining a poker face while negotiating with Noah.
Anyway, her chest was big, she was beautiful, and her chest was big.
On top of that, I heard she had a unique Blessing, making her a broken character in the merchant part with a 99% negotiation success rate.
I wonder what kind of Blessing it is… Did she use it on me too?
Well… honestly, for someone like me who wanted to live quietly, her Blessing was not that important.
Rather, if I made a mistake and kept her as a retainer, ending up participating in the “game of thrones,” that would be even more troublesome. I should stop caring.
‘Come to think of it…’
Before she left, she said something I couldn’t understand.
It was definitely…
‘My lord’s plan will surely succeed. I will be waiting for 『that moment』 when you need me for your next plan.’
…or something like that.
What does that mean?
I don’t have any plan at all.
Until late that night, I pondered over her words as though solving a riddle, then fell asleep.
Seriously, what is 『that moment』?
* * *
I don’t know if this was 『that moment』 Noah spoke of,
but the moment I needed Noah came not long after.
“Get in line!!!!!!!”
“Ah! Please hurry up and pass through!!”
“Let us through too!!”
I was currently at the gates of House Cron.
Normally, almost no carriages passed through the gates of House Cron.
After wages were doubled, a somewhat larger number of carriages passed through,
and after the knight order cleared out the bandits, carriages began passing through frequently.
And now, with the tariffs lowered, the gates were bursting with carriages.
Like a highway during a holiday, dozens—no, if you included the ones visible far in the distance, hundreds—of carriages were waiting to pass through the gates.
“Hart… what is going on?”
“It is all according to your plan, my lord.”
Plan?
I never made a plan like this.
Hart smiled gently and continued speaking.
“The average tariff in the southern region is 35% of the value of the goods. In the case of the territory of House Lion, which has the best roads, one must pay up to 50%.”
Good heavens, they have to pay 50% of the value of the goods as tariff!?
At a figure that surpassed common sense, I felt like my face was going to cramp from trying to control my expression.
“But in such a situation, we lowered our tariff to 10%. No matter how long it takes, it has become far more profitable for merchants to deliver goods through our territory.”
“…………”
Suddenly, I remembered my past life, when I worked part-time as a delivery driver and had ridiculous fees gouged from me by delivery app companies.
Those DeliveryXX bastards really were absolute scum…
Just as I was finally beginning to understand this uproar a little, Hart spoke.
“On top of that, please look at this, my lord.”
“What is this?”
“These are the toll records kept by the gatekeepers until now. With the profits earned by today alone, we have already made over 130% more than before the tariff reduction.”
“What! 130%?!”
“Yes! That is correct. It is all exactly as you planned, my lord.”
The ledger Hart showed me was packed with toll records.
Even at a rough glance, it seemed to have doubled compared to last month, and I could see high-end goods like fine wine and magic tools as well.
“However, there is a problem.”
“What problem?”
“Because carriage traffic increased far too suddenly, it is difficult for our scribes alone to handle all the administrative work. I believe we will need more people, my lord.”
At Hart’s words, she came to mind.
With a sigh, I uttered the words I truly did not want to say.
“Hart… summon Noah.”
“Yes, understood, my lord.”
And so, I ended up obtaining an SSR merchant character I had not even wanted.
Truly, nothing in this world went the way I wanted.