Chapter 67
“Tch.”
Kaiser finally clicked his tongue as he checked the online reaction.
“Honestly... what an unpleasant man.”
Ever since he’d risen to prominence, there had been almost nothing that didn’t go his way.
The last time things hadn’t gone his way was when he got caught up in an antitrust case.
Even that had ultimately gone as he wanted.
The president who had applied antitrust laws to Kaiser Corporation failed to win reelection, and every president who came after became a good partner of his.
By now, even presidents “respected” his opinions.
And yet, whenever he got involved with some Hunter from that little country, everything went wrong.
He was a very different sort from the necromancer hailed as the savior of Western Europe.
If that necromancer inspired fear through his unpredictable madness...
In Kim Segyun’s case, it was more like fear of the unknown.
He was a man whose limits were impossible to fathom.
Expect one, and you got ten; expect ten, and a hundred came flying out.
This time was no different.
The one saving grace was that keeping Kim Segyun in check had only ever been a secondary objective.
The primary goal was to solidify his standing and power within Kaiser Corporation, which had been wavering.
That operation was proceeding exactly as planned.
**
While the outside world felt none of the war’s impact, hell had broken loose in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Sunni powers, had sent its army pushing into North Yemen to drive out the Shiite Houthi forces. At first, the Houthis seemed hopelessly outmatched.
Naturally.
You couldn’t ignore the difference in their basic strength.
No matter how much Saudi Arabia had shrunk, there could be no doubt that it remained the richest and most powerful country in the Middle East.
With PHMC, hired from the United States, joining in, the war should have become even more one-sided... but.
The assassins, an asymmetric force, were as terrifying as ever.
The Hasashin, a Shiite order of assassins with a long history in the Middle East.
They were, after all, the origin of the word “assassin,” and every one of them was an Awakened with the Assassin class or a related class.
Through all sorts of outlandish assassination attempts, Saudi officials and royals, senior officers and generals on the battlefield, and even American mercenaries from PHMC were dying.
As a result, the war was by no means going Saudi Arabia’s way.
It was a major blow to the Saudi royal family, who had hoped to quickly crush the Houthis in North Yemen and end the war, uniting the people at home and showing the Middle East who held the reins of power.
No matter how much they benefited from the pacification effect and the income from new dungeons, thanks to Kim Segyun, Saudi Arabia’s economy was fundamentally in a slump.
They couldn’t afford to wage a long war, especially not one that required mercenaries.
But the war dragged on.
And what was the first thing to happen when that did?
History had proven that the mercenaries were the first to leave.
Mercenaries who’d joined the side they thought would win, hoping to claim the spoils of victory, weren’t going to sit around and watch the war drag on.
But they couldn’t simply leave.
They’d come to this war to make money. They couldn’t leave without earning anything or getting so much as a scrap, could they?
As the North Yemeni forces counterattacked and they retreated, PHMC left an item for the leader of the Hasashin.
And it was delivered to the leader of the Hasashin, the ‘Old Man of the Mountain.’
The item was none other than...
[Ansible Earring II]
It was the other earring in a pair commonly called communication earrings.
The Old Man of the Mountain put it on and spoke.
“I heard you were looking for me.”
─Old Man of the Mountain. No, Hassan al-Mutana.
At the voice from the other end, the Old Man of the Mountain’s body flinched.
“What are you talking about...”
─You needn’t deny it. We even went through dungeons together, didn’t we?
“... Kaiser.”
Surprisingly, the leader of the Hasashin, head of the assassin order, and Kaiser had once run dungeons together.
─I was surprised when a Hunter of your caliber suddenly disappeared. I was even more surprised when that Hunter founded an assassin order in the Middle East and started an assassination business.
The Assassin class might have been useful at first, but the higher the dungeon tier, the harder it became for them to contribute.
It was a class whose talents were better suited to work outside dungeons.
“... How did you know?”
─You’d be wise not to underestimate American intelligence.
“... We have no intention of making an enemy of America.”
─We’re of one mind. We have no intention of going after the Hasashin either.
“As an old comrade, I’ll give you some advice. Pull your mercenaries out while you still can.”
─I’ll need a pretext for that.
“A pretext?”
After a brief silence,
a voice slowly came from the other end.
─For example, a few of Kaiser Corporation’s major shareholders could suddenly be killed by assassins.
“Your name isn’t among those shareholders, is it?”
─If you’re capable...
Capable? Even if the Old Man of the Mountain himself took action, the odds of successfully assassinating the person on the other end of this call wouldn’t even be 1%.
He was that kind of monster.
“I’ll pass.”
─Heh heh. If the major shareholders are killed... I’ll use that as grounds to pull out the PHMCs.
“... You’re not saying to kill just any major shareholder, are you?”
─I’ll give you a list.
In no time, more than five Wall Street hedge fund managers were murdered by some Middle Eastern assassination organization.
The common denominator was that they were major shareholders in Kaiser Corporation, and to be more specific...
They were a faction trying to overthrow Kaiser and seize control of the company.
Of course, Kaiser issued a statement feigning outrage right on cue.
At the same time, the PHMCs deployed to Saudi Arabia used the incident as an excuse to withdraw.
Naturally, the Saudi government tried to stop them.
If they let mercenaries withdraw from the battlefield, the army’s morale would collapse.
Their ability to wage war would also be cut in half, or worse.
But who were Kaiser Corporation’s PHMCs?
They were experts in all manner of black ops (unauthorized operations).
They immediately contacted the commander on the ground.
“You’ll be fired in a month or two anyway, and blamed for the defeat.”
Lieutenant General Abdulaziz al-Tuwaijri, commander-in-chief of the Saudi Arabian expeditionary forces, grimaced.
Because it was an undeniable fact.
Even now, calls for his dismissal were bubbling up over the setbacks in the North Yemen war.
“The Saudi military won’t be able to stop us from leaving, either.”
“... So you’re planning to announce your escape before you run?”
“No. Why should a capable general like you take responsibility for something you had no need to be responsible for? Weren’t the rotten royals in the royal family the ones at fault in the first place?”
Abdulaziz flinched, his eyes widening as he shouted.
“Watch your mouth! Do you know where you are?”
“Where are we? There are no royals here! It’s just you and us. That’s why you can make a decision.”
“What decision are you talking about?”
“If you decide to overthrow the rotten Saudi royal family, we, as great American citizens, are willing to cooperate as much as necessary to establish democracy.”
“!!”
It was the best move PHMC could make.
If they withdrew now, they wouldn’t even get the money or concessions they’d been promised.
This was the only way to end the war while securing their interests.
**
The string of assassinations of Wall Street hedge fund managers.
The entire United States was in an uproar over the shocking incident.
Every single victim happened to be a major shareholder in Kaiser Corporation.
The prevailing assessment was that it was retaliation against Kaiser Corporation for intervening in the Middle East war.
Kaiser stepped into the spotlight and announced it, radiating an aura rivaling his active days.
“The assassins will be caught soon. Those who dared to do this will regret it. My sword will show them no mercy.”
A solemn declaration from a crusader who appeared righteous by anyone’s standards.
In fact, the assassins were soon caught, and after fierce resistance during their arrest, Kaiser personally killed them.
Thanks to this incident...
Lieutenant General Abdulaziz’s coup did not become a major topic of discussion, at least in the United States.
Of course, internationally, the coup was far more shocking.
“Kill the royals!”
“Kill all those filthy royal parasites!”
“Beat to death the royal vermin who gorge themselves on the people’s blood and sweat!”
Even as the people starved under economic sanctions, the royal family had lost none of its splendor. The Saudi people, consumed by a sense of relative deprivation, had now even been drafted into a pointless war.
Their anger was directed squarely at the royal family.
The royal family’s forces were formidable, of course...
But they were no match for Kaiser Corporation’s PHMC.
As a result, Lieutenant General Abdulaziz overthrew the Saudi royal family and succeeded in his coup.
And behind it all was Kaiser Corporation.
**
I was watching the news when I let out a hollow laugh.
“This feels weirdly familiar.”
“What does?”
“Saudi Arabia.”
Was it Lieutenant General Abdul-gwang? Or the Ab-seong-gye faction’s retreat from North Yemen?
Zephyros shrugged and replied.
“All coups have more or less the same pattern.”
“Still, who would’ve thought the mighty Saudi royal family would end up like that.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, the Saudi crown prince I’d been negotiating with until just recently had fled abroad.
The Saudi military government kept filing extradition requests, branding him a criminal and traitor to the nation.
“But seriously, is it okay for Kaiser to do something like this? Helping with a coup in another country?”
“It’s obvious. He was moved by General Abdul’s passion, swept up in the wave of democratization, and helped voluntarily... They’ll say they’ll discipline him internally, then give him a slap on the wrist and compensate him with huge incentives.”
Still... this was an enormous shock internationally.
A country as powerful as Saudi Arabia had practically fallen into the hands of a private company.
“Still, something’s strange.”
“...What is?”
“He’s not quite at his prime, but... he seems to have recovered to around that level, doesn’t he?”
Zephyros watched footage of Kaiser displaying his power several times, lost in thought.
“What the hell has that old man been eating to regain his youth?”
“Who knows? Maybe he drank some booze and got younger?”
I’d said it as a joke.
“...Come to think of it.”
The timing did seem to overlap, didn’t it?
The time he bought my liquor...
And the period when he started appearing in public and displaying his strength.
They were definitely similar.
And Kaiser was a Crusader who served God, while my liquor contained Nectar, the drink of the gods.
It wouldn’t be strange if he’d recovered his strength by drinking it.
Besides...
“You said Kaiser was the one who won that Château Petrus wine, right?”
“Huh? Oh, I think so.”
He’d paid a full 3 billion won for it, too.
Did he try it then, feel some kind of effect... and buy up all the stock in advance?
That was plausible.
“Kaiser wasn’t the type to like alcohol in the first place, was he?”
“He was closer to disliking it. For all his status, he’s an ascetic in his private life. I never saw him drink when he was active.”
“And yet he bought a thousand bottles...”
Zephyros, who knew the truth about Nectar because I’d told him, seemed to realize it then too. He let out a gasp.
“Could he really have bought it to get his hands on Nectar?”
I’d thought it was strange, but was that really it?
“But that’s odd... The liquor we’re selling now shouldn’t contain much.”
No way.
The standard Nectar content was 0.1%. We extracted 80% of it, leaving 20%, or 0.02%.
To get the amount he wanted by drinking liquor at 40% ABV containing 0.02% Nectar...
He’d probably have to drink dozens or hundreds of bottles.
He’d be an alcoholic for sure before then.
And extracting that 0.02% wouldn’t be easy, either.
Even an alchemist like Ms. Gyuseon couldn’t do it, which was why we gave up and shipped it as is.
Of course, we also left some in because it affected the flavor to some extent.
In any case, there was no need to let this nag at me.
“From now on, we should only sell Cheonsang domestically for tasting.”
“Huh? Then demand will drop a lot.”
“It wasn’t a hugely popular liquor to begin with. Some strange person came along and created some strange demand.”
“That’s true, but...”
“From now on, Cheonsang should only be available at high-end restaurants and bars in Korea. In exchange, we’ll lower the price a bit.”
300 million won was too much.
Since that price had been temporarily driven up by its scarcity, now that mass production was possible, it needed to come down.
“If we lower it to around 100 million won, a third of the current price, and let bars sell it by the glass, there’ll still be demand.”
“Even so, would people come all the way to Korea to drink it?”
“That’s rich coming from someone who travels all the way to local wineries in France to buy wine and bring it back.”
“...... I have no comeback.”
I chuckled and spoke with confidence.
“For a drink lover, borders don’t matter.”
“Then I’m curious about something.”
“Yes?”
“When Kaiser runs out of booze, will he come to Korea to drink?”
Imagining that spectacle,
Zephyros and I laughed until our sides hurt for quite a while.
As we were laughing like that for some time,
I checked my phone when it rang.
Ms. Gyuseon?
“Yes, hello?”
─Um... CEO.
“Yes, go ahead.”
─... I think I need your help.
My heart dropped.
What was this about now?
Fortunately, I hadn’t gotten a call from Senior Choi Kang yet.
Then it probably didn’t mean she was in danger.
─A Transcendence Quest has opened.
The moment I heard that,
my vision went hazy—more than it would have at the thought of danger.