Garon, the slave merchant, did not open his purse easily.
It showed just how deep his greed for money ran.
"As you know, if I sponsor a mere hunter, the other merchant companies will surely catch the scent of money. They will say that Garon the great merchant found something in this village."
"I understand."
If I had been the village chief of Entiel Village, he would not have needed to voice such concerns, but I had yet to take possession of this village.
From Garon’s perspective, it would be safer to invest in the church or the village as a whole rather than in me.
But I knew Garon’s greed.
He would definitely want to monopolize the holy water trade rights, and to do that, he needed someone capable of mediating between the church and the village.
And there was no one more suited to that role than me.
"How about this? You can sponsor me through an auction item."
"An auction item?"
The reason Garon found it difficult to sponsor me directly was because of the other merchant companies’ scrutiny.
Then all I had to do was receive it under a pretext other than sponsorship.
"At the auction held on the final day of the Ceremony of Light, I will list an item as an honorary congregant. You can buy it at a high price then."
The four major holy days of the Church of the Sun had a unique event: the auctioning of holy water or sacred relics made directly by the church.
It was good for wealthy merchants and nobles, who could flaunt their devotion, and it was good for the church, which could make money.
"Are you suggesting we rig the auction?"
"That is correct."
"If we are caught, it will not end well for either of us."
"There is no need for you to worry. The item will benefit its buyer the higher its price goes, so nothing you fear will happen."
"Heh heh. Every object has its own value, yet you say its price can keep rising? I am dying to know what this item could possibly be. Could you perhaps give me a hint?"
"Wouldn’t it ruin the fun if I told you now? Think of it as a bit of entertainment and wait for it."
"That only makes me more curious. What sort of item could make a man like you speak with such confidence?"
And so, I succeeded in persuading Garon.
The item I had told him about was Daevon.
The crime of blasphemy for lying and hurling insults before the goddess Helia.
The sacrilege of violating a nun.
And lastly, the crime of abetting another’s violation of a nun.
Daevon had committed three crimes, any single one of which would not have made it strange for him to be stoned to death.
Naturally, for believers bordering on fanaticism, there could be no better auction item than this.
"Ten gold coins!"
"Only ten? Twenty gold coins!"
"T-then, twenty-one gold coins!"
"Why are you raising it one coin at a time like cheapskates? Thirty gold coins!"
Since the church in Entiel Village had no nobles to answer to, the merchants began calling out prices like madmen.
If they bought him at a high price and proved their devotion here, they could recoup the cost—and since the item was a slave, they could also sell him to a devout noble.
What noble would refuse a slave who had violated a nun?
Merely torturing him would be enough to prove one’s devotion.
"Fifty gold coins."
"Damn it, those Black Crow Company bastards are determined to drive up the price."
"Those lunatics are obsessed with money."
"For a merchant, that is a compliment."
"Is it? I did not know."
The merchants had begun with small sums, but once great merchants entered the fray, Daevon’s price gradually soared through the roof.
But there was one man who put a period to it.
"One hundred gold coins."
"One hundred gold coins?"
"Insane."
Garon, who had coordinated with me beforehand, named an absurd price.
It was a price high enough to make even the Black Crow Company, one of the great merchant companies of the east alongside Garon, recoil in shock.
"Garon, have you lost your mind? You intend to buy a mere criminal for that price?"
"Heh heh, it seems you have forgotten what my main line of business is."
"Ha. You think you can be so confident because you are a slave merchant?"
"Of course. But it seems the crow did not come today. If he had, he would not have brought a paltry fifty gold coins as payment. Well, thanks to that, I acquired an excellent item at a cheap price. Please convey my thanks to the crow later."
"Tch..."
The Twilight Company led by Garon and the Black Crow Company were rivals.
They competed as they divided the eastern market between them.
Thanks to that, the price had risen higher than I expected.
‘I had expected fifty gold coins at most.’
Just as I was delighting in my unexpected good fortune—
"One hundred gold coins! Is there anyone else who wishes to bid? At one hundred gold coins, Daevon, who violated a nun, is sold—"
"Two hundred gold coins."
Someone shattered my expectations once again.
"Did I hear that wrong? Not silver coins, but two hundred gold coins?"
"Even if he is a criminal who violated a nun, is that not far too much?"
"Who in the world is that old gentleman?"
While everyone was flustered by the absurd bid, I could not help but be startled when I saw who had placed it.
"Heh heh, I do not know who you are, but it is not wise to name a price you cannot pay at an auction watched over by the goddess."
"My introduction is late. I am Gordon, servant to Count Ardel."
"C-Count Ardel?!"
Count Ardel.
A man called the master of the east, one of the east’s most powerful figures and the greatest benefactor of Wendy, the protagonist of A Returnee Hero’s Circumstances.
‘Why is he here?’
I swiftly analyzed why the Count Ardel household’s steward was here.
And the answer was right before me.
‘It is because of the Inquisitor. Count Ardel must have been secretly keeping watch on the Inquisitor’s movements.’
Helia, Goddess of the Sun.
Luna, Goddess of the Moon.
Eos, Goddess of Dawn.
According to the setting, the three goddesses were the same being and separate beings at once.
But that was only from the goddesses’ perspective. The Church of the Sun, which worshipped the goddess Helia as its sole deity, did not tolerate religions that worshipped other goddesses.
And the Count Ardel household had served Eos, Goddess of Dawn, since ancient times.
‘When I put it all together, there is nothing strange about the count’s steward being in Entiel Village. And his attempt to buy Daevon must be to gauge the Inquisitor’s reaction.’
Having grasped the chain of cause and effect, I considered how to respond.
‘This is genuinely unexpected luck.’
Thanks to Count Ardel, I was about to make far more money than expected.
But too large a sum could become poison instead.
And there was nothing good about catching the eye of such a powerful figure this early.
‘Garon will handle it himself.’
In the end, I chose to stand by and watch.
After all, Garon was the one who would have to deal with the troublesome part.
There was no reason for me to get involved.
. . .
"Sold for two hundred and fifty gold coins."
In the end, Garon reached an agreement to resell Daevon to Count Ardel.
‘I made five times more than expected.’
One gold coin was the average annual income of a farmer, and according to the setting, one gold coin was worth roughly ten million won in modern terms.
In other words, Daevon had become a prized commodity who earned me the equivalent of 2.5 billion won.
‘A man worth 2.5 billion won. He will go down in history as a gigolo.’
Unlike my now-heavy purse, Garon’s belly began to shrink.
"That was a bigger expense than I expected. I had not intended to sponsor you quite this much."
"Still, is it not good that you gained the opportunity to do business with Count Ardel’s household?"
Garon had not suffered a major loss either. In fact, considering the opportunity cost, he had profited.
‘Because Garon was a believer who worshipped the Goddess of the Moon.’
The members of the Twilight Company led by Garon came from an ethnic minority that worshipped Luna, Goddess of the Moon.
However, perhaps because she was a goddess closely tied to death, they suffered more discrimination than other heretics.
‘You could call them the Jews of this world.’
If Garon learned that Count Ardel worshipped the goddess Eos, an alliance that neither side could ever betray might be formed between them.
Perhaps an anti-Church of the Sun force that had never appeared in the game might come into being.
‘Not yet.’
Of course, I did not tell him that information.
There were still things left for me to squeeze out of him.
The balance of power could not be allowed to change so easily.
"I certainly hope so."
"I am sure you will do well. You are a great merchant, after all."
"Heh heh, I cannot even speak weakly in front of you."
Laughing heartily, Garon tossed a small pouch to me.
"Take it."
"What is this?"
"A sponsorship payment. I think you are someone I can trust and entrust things to."
The pouch contained ten gold coins.
I could see through his intention.
‘As expected, he is not an easy opponent.’
The sponsorship I had received from him was clearly under-the-table money received through the auction.
Thanks to it, Garon could exert influence over Entiel Village without the other merchant companies interfering—but that only applied as long as I remained his man.
If I feigned ignorance of the sponsorship I had received from Garon, he would be the one to suffer a loss instead.
But by giving me those ten gold coins just now, Garon had preemptively prevented the possibility of my betrayal.
‘It would not have turned out this way if Count Ardel had not intervened, but it does not matter.’
After all, Garon acting this way was within my expectations.
Rather, it was fortunate that he moved exactly as I had thought he would.
‘Two hundred and sixty gold coins in total. With this, I will swallow Entiel Village whole.’
Taking the money, I went straight to find the village chief.
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