Chapter 137. I Smiled Slightly So the Tears Wouldn’t Fall
For a moment, I was flustered by the unexpected question.
Then, with the corner of my mouth twitching, I threw out a question of my own.
“So you’re asking if we siphoned off Scarlet Flame? Us? Don’t tell me—in Lortel, they think what Deculan is looking for is Scarlet Flame?”
“That is so. Is it a difficult question to answer? Then it is fine if you do not answer.”
“Puh. No, it’s not difficult. It’s just kind of funny. Then you must’ve set the price for the Infinite Chain in line with ‘Scarlet Flame’ too, right?”
“…That is so, but?”
Had he sensed something strange?
A trace of suspicion swept across the young head of house’s face—up until just a moment ago, he’d been smiling leisurely like he was saying, I already know everything, punk.
Or maybe he just didn’t like me laughing. Either way.
But unfortunately for him, I had no way to hold back my laughter.
‘This is going in a really interesting direction. They stepped on a landmine hard.’
Well, from Lortel’s perspective, it was something I could understand.
Because the leakage of the Thousand Origin Art would be treated as top-class secrecy even within Deculan, so aside from a handful of top leadership, nobody would know that fact.
So the information Lortel could come into contact with would be… right. Something like: Hongok’s vice-captain attacked an Academy professor. His Subspace was lost.
That was probably it. So they misunderstood Deculan’s objective as “Scarlet Flame.”
And why was that funny?
Because the situation was turning overwhelmingly in my favor.
To be honest, no matter how much he was the young head of house, overturning a deal with Deculan that was only a few days away would come with quite a burden.
But in this situation, things were easier than expected.
So first—
“Soga-ju, let’s clear up a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
Even at the young head of house’s sharp question, I calmly nodded.
“You’re saying we siphoned off Scarlet Flame (赤火)? First of all, that’s true. But it seems Lortel’s side has gotten something wrong.”
“…What is it?”
“Would Deculan really have wanted the Infinite Chain just to chase Scarlet Flame (赤火)?”
“What are you—”
“Let’s think about it. Scarlet Flame? Sure. It’s an incredible secret art. It’s something Deculan would treat as important. But whether it’s something they’d move enough to obtain the Infinite Chain for… what do you think?”
“That is….”
“Let’s think about it the other way around.”
I gave an example for the young head of house, who couldn’t answer easily.
“If Lortel had a Scarlet-Flame-class secret art leaked, and we assume Deculan has the Infinite Chain—would Lortel propose an Infinite Chain trade to Deculan to retrieve that secret art?”
“…It’s ambiguous.”
Yeah. It would be ambiguous.
A Scarlet-Flame-class secret art is amazing, but whether it’s something to blow up this big—no, not quite.
It was right after that when the young head of house’s eyes lit.
“Then there is another reason?”
“There is. Of course there is. There’s a huge reason that doesn’t even compare to Scarlet Flame. So what do you think it is? Aren’t you curious?”
At my question, the young head of house gave a slight nod.
Yeah. He’d be curious. He couldn’t cling and ask outright because of pride, but he was probably fidgeting because he was curious.
But, well—what can you do.
“Hm. I might need to think about this a bit.”
“…Think about what.”
“Whether I can open this information up to soga-ju. I’m not certain yet.”
“…….”
At my words, the young head of house’s face froze cold.
He probably thought I was playing with him—which was mostly true.
I did want to tease him about half.
But the part about needing to think was also true.
The Thousand Origin Art.
The beginning and end of Deculan—the meaning carried by the root secret art was on a completely different level from Scarlet Flame.
Even if the young head of house was hostile to Deculan, for us it was still a matter that carried weight.
But the 고민 didn’t last long.
Like I said, the trade day wasn’t far off.
‘If the young head of house is going to move, handing him a card like this will make it easier.’
And on top of that—
After tapping a quick calculator in my head, opening this fact to Lortel was much better for making Deculan eat shit than keeping it hidden.
No—this wasn’t just “making them eat shit.”
‘If it were me, I could torment them like crazy.’
There were plenty of methods.
You could use the Infinite Chain as leverage to drag out time and dry them out, or you could leak false information related to the Thousand Origin Art and make them stumble around, panic, and suffer like dogs.
How is it that my creativity only fires in malicious areas? Even just the methods that came to mind immediately were too many to count on my fingers!
As I spread happy fantasies of tormenting Deculan, it was then that the young head of house’s anger-laced voice came through.
“Seems you need quite a bit of time to think. Shall we meet again tomorrow at this hour? I cannot guarantee it will be a peaceful conversation then, though.”
At the young head of house’s razor-sharp voice, I folded up my imagination and waved my hands.
“Hey, a soga-ju whose heart is as broad as the sea shouldn’t get angry over something like this.”
“Then you have not seen what it looks like when I am truly angry.”
“I don’t particularly want to.”
“…….”
Ah. Mistake.
Thinking about making Deculan eat shit got me too excited.
Swordsmen might be simple-minded, but if they get hung up on one thing, they tend to hold it for a long time.
Well, it’s fine.
Once he hears what I say next, the young head of house will forget this petty backtalk too.
‘Alright—how should I explain this.’
I thought for a moment.
Then I hopped up and crouched down in front of the young head of house.
“Here. Look here.”
“Is that to imprint my final sight upon my eyes?”
“No, not that.”
I wrapped mana around my finger, then smoothed out the bumpy dirt floor neatly.
Ssssk, sssk.
Letters written on the ground.
“Lortel probably priced the Infinite Chain like this.”
(Infinite Chain’s original value) + (Scarlet Flame’s value)
“…That is so, but?”
“Didn’t Deculan set the value higher than you expected in negotiations? I think that’s how it must’ve been. There probably wasn’t even any haggling.”
“I do not know the detailed process of the trade. However….”
The young head of house glanced toward the Third Sword.
The Third Sword, who’d been staring into the campfire, opened his mouth.
“Certainly, it did feel like Deculan’s side wrapped up the negotiation faster than expected.”
“…So it seems.”
“Then did you ever think about why?”
“Why? Because… to retrieve the secret art as quickly as possible, isn’t that it?”
“Right. That’s the natural way to think. But what if it’s not?”
“What?”
Swoosh.
I wiped away the part that said (Scarlet Flame’s value).
Then I stared straight at the young head of house and smiled.
“What if Deculan played Lortel for a sucker?”
“…….”
“And what if that’s why they wrapped up the haggling so quickly? What would you think then?”
“Stop dragging your words out and get to the point.”
I pushed out my lips and let out a long sigh.
Man—his personality. He’s dirty-fast and impatient.
But if I dragged it out any longer, it felt like the young head of house wouldn’t stay still.
“Hoo. Listen. I’ll tell you the reason now. Earlier you asked if we siphoned off ‘Scarlet Flame,’ right? That’s true. But we didn’t siphon off only Scarlet Flame. In a way, Scarlet Flame was an unexpected byproduct we got along the way. So—what did we siphon off?”
Keeping my gaze on the young head of house, I wrote letters on the ground.
And then—
Zzzzt, thuk.
When the finger that finished writing lifted off the ground, I opened my mouth with a small smile.
“The Thousand Origin Art.”
“…….”
“What we siphoned off isn’t some Scarlet Flame. Deculan’s root. Their beginning and end. The Thousand Origin Art. Then….”
My gaze shifted to the writing on the ground.
“Isn’t this the correct calculation?”
(Infinite Chain’s original value) + (Thousand Origin Art’s value)
Before and after.
There wasn’t much changed in the formula itself.
But the meaning contained inside had changed so enormously it couldn’t be compared to before.
And of course… the value as well.
“Do you understand now? Why I was laughing so much.”
When my words ended, the young head of house’s eyelids trembled in tiny shakes.
His shoulders hitched, and not long after, a deflated sound leaked out of his mouth.
“Huh… haha.”
The corner of his mouth curled upward.
Soon that chuckle grew into fuller sound, filling the space.
“Hahaha, hahahaha! This—this really…! Hah!”
Is it funny? It’s funny to me too.
No—more accurately, it felt good.
‘I am a good-hearted Troubleshooter.’
This was a good deed.
Saving Lortel, who was about to get played for a sucker by the immoral buyer named Deculan, you could say.
Well… even if the deal was going to fall apart anyway, it didn’t stop this from being a good deed.
Anyway, as I smiled at a good deed that would make today satisfying—
The young head of house, who’d been laughing for a while, suddenly stopped.
And when he opened his mouth, his words handed me a serious problem.
“My apologies.”
“…?”
“I thought, at most, you were cattle thieves. But now I see you were thieves who stole an entire castle.”
“…….”
Is that praise, or is it an insult?
I don’t know.
Of course, stealing a whole castle is more impressive than stealing a cow.
But if it’s theft either way… then—
Doesn’t the latter make you an overwhelmingly worse piece of human trash?
But that 고민 was brief.
“However, there is one thing I wish to ask.”
“…?”
“I admit we mispriced the Infinite Chain. But the fact that you told me this means….”
A deep smile spread across the young head of house’s lips.
“It means you can pay a price equivalent to the Infinite Chain’s new value, yes? I very much hope that is the case.”
“Seriously—”
I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t continue, when the young head of house drove in the nail.
“For reference, Deculan offered 10kg of 100% pure meteoric iron (隕鐵).”
“Meteoric iron….”
“As you know, meteoric iron is the finest material for forging swords. Ah—do you not know because you are a mage? Even in the main house, there is not a single sword made of solid meteoric iron. And they offered 10kg.”
I know. How could I not?
But—
‘…Ten kilograms of meteoric iron?’
Ten kilograms was enough material to forge one solid blade, depending on the type of sword. If you alloyed it here and there, you could pull out several blades.
But the true value of meteoric iron didn’t stop at simply making a “sturdy” sword.
A so-called masterpiece.
Material for forging a divine sword (神劍).
And with 10kg of meteoric iron—let’s see. How much is that… ten, a hundred, a thousand….
Numbers that kept climbing endlessly in my head.
When the calculation ended—
I had no choice but to mutter a quiet curse.
“…Damn it?”
Ten kilograms of meteoric iron was worth enough to buy a large castle.
Of course, it depends on the castle’s size and location… but anyway, for a miserable student punk like me, it was a sum too absurd to even imagine!
No—was money even the problem?
Even if you offered money, meteoric iron was something you couldn’t buy.
“So—does it seem a bit difficult?”
At the young head of house’s grin, I thought—
Who, exactly, was the sucker here. Deculan? Or Lortel?
No. Neither.
Deculan offered the meteoric iron, but this deal would fall through. Lortel wouldn’t get the meteoric iron, but they’d trade with me.
So the biggest sucker in this place wasn’t anyone else but—
‘Me.’
Why am I the sucker?
Because I let Lortel off the hook when I could’ve played them for a sucker—so I’m the sucker.
“Then shall we begin the trade now?”
The young head of house spoke with a relaxed smile.
“Ah, the information truly is appreciated.”
…Yeah. If you say you appreciate it, that’s enough.
I lifted my head and looked up at the sky. I smiled slightly so the tears wouldn’t fall.
Are you watching, wyvern?
It wasn’t watching.
