An Eye for People

If you were asked to name the most renowned merchant in the Arken Empire, most people would give the name Herman Pascal.

Herman Pascal.

He had founded the Pascal Trading Company after his family name and was expanding it with the ambition of wielding influence not only throughout the empire but across the entire continent of Cerdes.

He had three children, two sons and a daughter, all of whom had grown up being called geniuses.

But the one who displayed the greatest genius among them was his second son, Stefan Pascal.

He was thinking this right now.

‘I’ll die for sure if this continues!’

The reason was that the battle for succession had begun in earnest.

He was a man with a merchant’s instincts no less keen than those of his father, Herman Pascal.

He had an aggressive nature: if he thought something would make money, he invested in it, and even if the investment failed, he never regretted it.

He wanted to prove his worth through pure merchant ability.

So Stefan focused solely on learning the instincts of a merchant under his father, Herman Pascal.

But when his father set the stage for a succession battle, Stefan realized that Herman had never taught him the things that mattered most.

‘Charisma to command people!’

Stefan lacked the decisive charisma a merchant needed.

His elder brother, Murchit Pascal, and his youngest sister, Tilda Pascal.

Compared to the influence and charisma those two wielded, Stefan was barely more than a peripheral member of the crowd1.

Since he had no presence, he could only fall farther and farther behind in the succession battle.

Then Murchit made Stefan a proposal.

-I will become the actual successor, but you are better at running the trading company, so you should take charge of it. I will only be responsible for the mercenaries in the company I run. That way, at least, I can prevent anything unfortunate from happening to our sister. What do you say?

Murchit Pascal had entered the mercenary business under the pretext of protecting the trading company and struck it rich.

He was not only brilliant, but had also properly mastered personal martial arts after hiring instructors who had once been knights.

Stefan might have lacked charisma, but he was no idiot.

‘Take the trading company’s mercenaries while I simply manage the trading company? What a joke.’

No matter how much money could move people, money was powerless before force.

He was steadily building up his military strength even now. What would happen if he were chosen as the successor?

‘A dog that catches the rabbit is always destined to be boiled and eaten.’

He could not join hands with Murchit Pascal.

‘Then should I join hands with my little sister?’

Stefan let out a hollow laugh, as though he found the idea ridiculous himself.

He would rather hang himself.

‘That bitch only thinks about seducing men, devouring another trading company, and then swallowing it whole.’

His younger sister, Tilda Pascal, was engaged to another major trading company in the empire.

She resembled her mother, who had been famous for her outstanding beauty, and had used that beauty as a weapon to build an extensive network of connections.

She acted like an innocent, dim-witted woman, but she always carried a blade inside her and possessed the sociopathic nature to be ready to stab anyone.

If the two of them shared one thing in their thinking, it was merely that two suns could not exist under the heavens.

‘If I want to survive, I have to defeat them both.’

But how?

Stefan had no connections.

Even the directors belonging to Pascal spoke only of Murchit and Tilda, those two.

As if Stefan were not even part of the discussion.

“Uuugh……”

Stefan groaned and collapsed facedown onto his desk.

He needed to work, but he could not focus on anything.

They said that even if the heavens fell, there was always a hole to escape through. Why would the heavens refuse to give him one?

As he groaned in resentment at that injustice,

“Er, Manager? Are you there?”

His secretary opened the door and entered.

Stefan quickly rose and smiled brightly as though nothing had happened.

“What is it?”

“This is urgent news that just came in. They say the same item is being requested throughout the empire, and that we need to secure a supply.”

“Supplies? Is this really the time for anyone to need something?”

“That is what makes it urgent news, isn’t it?”

“True enough. What is it?”

“Well…… apparently, the wandering knights are requesting monster corpses.”

“What? Monster corpses?”

It was such an unusual order that it qualified as urgent news among urgent news.

There was even a superstition that merely keeping them nearby brought bad luck, so there was no way monster corpses would normally be preserved intact.

“Don’t we have quite a lot of those in our warehouse?”

Of course, Stefan was a man whose common sense differed from that of ordinary people.

He was the type to hold on to something if it seemed like it might become profitable.

He had judged that monster corpses could serve as a kind of trophy.

“Yes. We confirmed that we have around 150.”

“Then sell those. What do you mean, we need more?”

“Well…… the amount currently being requested is several times that.”

“What? What do they plan to use that many for?”

Normally, wasn’t bringing in around ten monsters something worthy of praise?

Even if it was not enough to earn a medal, it was enough to make an impression.

“I looked into it because I thought you would be curious. I found this.”

The secretary showed him a copied version of a poster.

“From what I heard, they’re recruiting an official in the Far East, and supposedly they’re selecting brave knights capable of fighting monsters. They say that anyone who offers thirty monster corpses will be given the territory and position once held by Tesalos Walcher, who was recently executed…… That’s why the wandering knights are making these requests.”

“That’s tempting.”

They were drifters desperate to establish even one achievement, so if they could receive a territory and title, they would rush in with their eyes blazing.

The location was in the Far East, adjacent to the Demon Lands, but so what?

“Hmm……”

Stefan scratched his chin.

His eyes never left the poster as he looked down at it.

‘This doesn’t seem to mean exactly what it says…….’

Stefan racked his brain to interpret the hidden meaning behind the announcement.

‘Asking those fellows to bring monsters…… Is it meant to gather, all at once, people who possess the ability to hunt monsters?’

They had set thirty monsters as the minimum requirement for screening purposes. Perhaps there was something else after that?

‘That’s one way to interpret it, but let’s look at it a little differently.’

Stefan examined it using his merchant’s instincts.

It said that anyone who brought back thirty or more monsters would be given a territory.

‘It’s an obviously lopsided trade.’

It would be difficult, but it was hardly a heroic feat worthy of being rewarded with an entire territory.

An excessively generous reward meant one of two things.

Either the person who had put up the poster was catastrophically stupid,

‘Or it’s bait to draw them in.’

Wandering knights from every corner would gather in hopes of acquiring a title.

Carrying what?

Their subordinates and monster corpses.

‘It means that the Valdrowa Grand Duchy needs monster corpses.’

Stefan came to a sudden stop at that point.

They wanted monsters in a place where monsters were everywhere?

That was like importing sand in the middle of a desert or fish to the coast.

‘Are they trying to manipulate the accounts? Use a black-market method? Manipulate stock prices through chaos?’

Among the countless possibilities, there was only one reason to demand a massive number of corpses and announce it publicly.

‘Research.’

They were conducting research that required a large number of corpses and using an official position as bait to draw people in.

‘Perhaps…….’

It might be profitable.

He was so excited that a light began to shine in the eyes that had been clouded by the succession struggle.

“Are they trading monster corpses right now?”

“Yes, that’s right. Wandering knights have flooded in, and they’re fighting among themselves.”

“All right. Tell every other trading company to purchase monster corpses as well. We will secure them before anyone else. Understood?”

“Uh…… is that really all right?”

“Do as I say.”

“Understood.”

“Then!”

Stefan sprang to his feet and grabbed his coat.

“Er, where are you going, Manager?”

“I’ll be away on a business trip for a few days. You said that wandering knight was downstairs, right?”

“Yes, that’s true, but, Manager……?”

As though every second were precious, he ran off.

* * *

“Hah-hah-hah! It is my honor to have you accompany this hero, Robellus.”

A wandering knight named Robellus said this with an oily laugh.

His words and manner were overflowing with narcissism.

Stefan smiled awkwardly.

“Ah, I’m honored. Haha……”

“As long as you are with this Robellus, you shall feel as safe as though the imperial walls surrounded you on all sides. As for this body of mine……”

As the story began, Stefan sighed inwardly.

‘I truly have no eye for people whatsoever.’

Of the ten wandering knights who had visited the trading company, this was the one he had thought was the best.

He had bragged about his achievements throughout the entire two-day journey to the duchy.

Whenever he ran out of things to say, he repeated himself, yet somehow changed parts of the story each time.

It meant that he did not even memorize the same story properly.

‘This is why I hate wandering knights.’

Wandering knights!

Eight out of ten stories that bards were required to memorize were tales of wandering knights’ exploits.

Their adventures and achievements made hearts race and offered catharsis to soothe the boredom of everyday life.

Of course, that was merely a fantasy held by children who listened to bards’ stories.

Stefan knew their true faces well.

‘They’re called wandering knights, but what the hell are they besides thieves and thugs……?’

They were armies trained beyond the ordinary level, yet had no affiliation because they did not even know whom they were supposed to follow.

They were armed groups that could turn into thieves or thugs at any moment without it being surprising.

‘In fact, several men who came asking to be sponsored showed up every week.’

There had been more than one shameless person who asked him to provide money and verify their identity without even proving their ability.

Sponsorship was useful for building connections, but he did not want to stain his network by taking in such delinquents.

‘And what good would it do to create one?’

They wandered from place to place for the sake of receiving a title, loudly claiming that with a single rank, they would do anything, yet fleeing in nothing but their underwear whenever things did not go their way.

There was a reason they wandered.

Neigh!

“Huh? What’s wrong with these guys?”

The horses pulling the carriage began to run wild.

They had smelled a dragon.

The horses of the duchy were accustomed to that scent and were not frightened, but to outside horses, it was a dangerous smell comparable to leaping into a fire.

Stefan advised the coachman, who was struggling to bring them under control.

“Put the scented masks we prepared over their muzzles, and they’ll start moving again. There’s a pocket over there, so fit them over the horses’ mouths.”

“Ah, those things? Understood.”

They put masks packed with incense over the horses’ muzzles.

Only then did the horses stop struggling and stare quietly ahead.

The carriage, which had stopped, began moving again.

Stefan raised his head and looked obliquely up at the sky.

A lonely mountain called the final bastion of the Far East.

Valdrowa Castle stood atop it.

A castle built over the lair of a dragon that could not cast aside its savage nature.

‘The Red Dragon Valdrowa.’

He swallowed reflexively.

A ruthless tyrant capable of tearing even an imperial prince apart.

An evil dragon that sought to absorb all the demonic essence in the world and rule over it!

‘What kind of idiot got engaged to that dragon?’

At the same time, he thought:

What kind of person could that idiot become to me?

* * *

After entering Valdrowa Castle, Stefan looked around inside the castle walls.

Since the announcement had been made toward wandering knights, many of them had already gathered.

“Let’s not cut in line!”

“Hey, you there! You’re sneaking around touching our monsters. If you steal them, you’ll be dead!”

“You little bastard, were you just glaring at me!?”

The hot-blooded men stood around their carriages, engaged in a battle of wills.

Judging by their appearance, the sizes and styles of their armor were wildly inconsistent, and even their upkeep was poor.

‘These so-called subordinates are nothing but thieves…….’

Unlike them, the wandering knights were excessively flashy.

Some wore brand-new weapons and armor made by famous craftsmen to stand out, while one had even hired a bard to read out his profile.

One had cleverly left traces of his battles on his equipment to advertise himself as a veteran knight.

‘Isn’t that the man who bought corpses from our trading company?’

Stefan remembered that the man had bought thirty.

And thirty was all that had been loaded onto his carriage.

Every one of them walked down the corridor like a knight of refined and elegant bearing.

‘They’re all completely obsessed with appearances…….’

They never washed themselves but doused themselves in perfume, and the vile mixture of smells was so overpowering that Stefan felt he was going to vomit.

They finally arrived at the banquet hall.

With all the tables pushed aside and the center cleared, nearly fifty knights could stand there with plenty of room between them.

“Come to think of it.”

Robellus spoke to him.

“Have you ever seen the person who owns this castle?”

Asking about someone else instead of talking about himself was proof that he was nervous.

Stefan shook his head.

“I haven’t, but I heard that they are a member of the Rosnova family.”

“Ah! The Rosnova family! The sword that protects the empire. But why were they chosen as the Grand Duke’s fiancé?”

“I heard they were frail. And because they had blue eyes instead of the eyes characteristic of the Rosnova family, their illegitimacy was considered almost certain. They say the family seized on that as an excuse to drive them out…… But they accepted it, and now they are both the fiancé and the regent of the duchy.”

“Oh…… Is that so?”

Robellus scratched his chin after hearing that.

There was an ambition in his eyes far beyond his station.

“Hmm, if a halfwit driven from their family can play king as a fiancé…… Does that mean I might be able to seize that fiancé’s position if things go well?”

Words that should have come from the mouth of a thief came spilling effortlessly from a knight’s lips.

Even though they had entered the territory where that halfwit was present, they had no awareness of the danger.

‘To think this man is the scion of a knightly family once called the sword of the Arken Empire…….’

They said the knights of the Arken Empire were rotting away, but seeing depths lower than the bottom made Stefan want to sigh.

But Stefan was a merchant.

He knew that the sword was closer than the law, and he was a seasoned man who knew how to flatter people anywhere and at any time.

“Haha…… Th-that could be true.”

Even when Stefan had come here, he had not held particularly high expectations for Ferda.

There were rumors that he had executed Tesalos Walcher and cowed the lords of the Far East, but all rumors were bound to be exaggerated.

‘What could a man who was driven out for having nothing going for him possibly do……?’

With his expectations for Ferda set aside, he waited for him.

When the lady of the castle finally appeared, he realized once more:

He truly had no eye for people whatsoever.