TWMM 13

 Chapter 13

For a moment, I was so flustered I think I stopped breathing.

I could clearly feel the lingering touch of his fingers brushing past my ear.

Something about Shuvel—calmer than usual—made me swallow unconsciously.

Then, a voice broke the silence between us.

“My lady, what do you think? It’s truly excellent wheat, isn’t it?”

At the Elbanon merchant lord’s interruption, I quickly stepped back from Shuvel.

A strand of my golden hair, caught on his fingertips, fluttered down.

“Yes, it is.”

For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to look at his face, so I spoke only to the merchant lord.

I could feel a quiet gaze from behind me, but I pretended not to notice.

“Wheat is a staple food, after all. Our parents, our families, our children—everyone eats it. That’s why quality is so important.”

Mistaking my response for praise, the merchant lord puffed up and continued boasting enthusiastically.

It was rather ridiculous, but I played along with this foolish man lost in his pleasant delusion.

“So that’s why the Elbanon Trading Company only deals in Hessen wheat?”

“Huh? Ah, yes! Of course! We only handle southern Hessen whea—”

“And the wheat you supplied to Runein was 100% Hessen wheat as well, correct?”

I deliberately cut him off.

At that, the people who had been pretending not to listen all turned their attention toward us.

Gaining the upper hand over someone like the Elbanon merchant lord wasn’t difficult.

People like him were overly conscious of others’ attention and easily swept up in the atmosphere—flatter them just enough, and you could steer things exactly where you wanted.

Caught off guard by the sudden attention, the merchant lord’s eyes darted around.

Revealing details of a transaction publicly would normally be uncomfortable—especially when he had something to hide.

But you can’t back down now, can you?

He might be on the verge of achieving the highest profits of his life.

I smiled faintly.

After a moment of hesitation, he burst into a loud, forced laugh.

“That’s right! Our company values trust and credibility above all, which is why we only deal in high-quality Hessen wheat. We even supply to a ducal house!”

That’s it.

I turned my gaze away.

Now it was time for the next actor I had prepared for this absurd play to make his entrance.

“As for Hessen wheat, it has a long and distinguished history in the south—”

“What ‘long history’… hic!”

Someone cut him off mid-speech.

The merchant lord, who had been carried away by his own performance, frowned in irritation.

“Sir, what do you mean by that?”

“Hahaha, history… history… hm….”

Gulp, gulp.

The drunk man poured more liquor into his mouth, then lowered the bottle with a satisfied sigh and wiped his lips.

Straightening his unsteady stance, he looked directly at the merchant lord.

“You. Do you even know what kind of properties that wheat actually has before you start spouting nonsense?”

Beneath the worn hat, his eyes gleamed—cold and sharp, nothing like those of a drunkard.

The sudden shift in atmosphere made the merchant lord hesitate.

Unwilling to admit he had been intimidated by a mere drunk, he snapped back.

“Hessen wheat is the most famous in the south—”

“South, south, south. You sound like a parrot. Who here doesn’t know it comes from the south? I’m asking whether you understand the proper background of the product you’re selling.”

“……”

“Puhaha! Of course you don’t! That’s why you’re running your mouth without a clue!”

The drunk burst into loud laughter and suddenly hurled the liquor bottle.

The young man beside him simply tilted his head, effortlessly dodging it.

“A fool who doesn’t even know what he’s selling, calling himself a merchant…”

he muttered.

The merchant lord’s face flushed red and blue at the blatant insult.

“And who are you supposed to be?!”

“Me?”

The drunk tilted his head lazily.

“The one who sold that product to you.”

“What…?”

“Some call me Tyrontz. Others call me the master of Albio.”

Albio.

At that single word, shock spread across the crowd.

A century had passed since the Thousand-Year War, and immense wealth had begun to rise beyond traditional nobility, bringing the empire to its peak prosperity.

In this golden age, four great trading companies dominated the flow of wealth:

Seturn in the center, Albio in the south, Levian in the east, and Marcello in the west.

And among them—

The master of the southern giant that controlled the empire’s most fertile lands:

Tyrontz Albio.

“Well, I personally prefer just being called ‘uncle.’”

He winked at me.

I scoffed inwardly.

“Seventy percent of southern wheat exports go through Albio. And the wheat you purchased? It came from us.”

The merchant lord, who had looked unimpressed at first, suddenly turned pale as he realized what that meant—his purchase of Hekail wheat could be exposed.

“What nonsense! Our wheat was bought from Albio—”

“If you say otherwise, this will get very boring. Large-scale transactions are reported to the imperial court. And Albio’s records keep track of them as well.”

“…That just means you’re right, haha! But wait—how do we even know you’re really the master of Albio?!”

Just as the merchant lord tried to turn the tables and accuse him of being a fraud—

“I can vouch for that.”

The young man who had been standing silently behind Tyrontz stepped forward, adjusting his glasses.

“Greetings. I am Hayley Michel, a financial administrator from the Imperial Treasury. You may call me whatever you like—but please don’t call me ‘administrator.’ I’ll be resigning soon.”

Who is a merchant’s greatest enemy?

Naturally, the Imperial Treasury, which conducts quarterly audits.

And to merchants, its financial administrators are nothing less than devils who come to drain their wealth.

The faces of the gathered merchants all turned pale.

The Elbanon merchant lord, in particular, looked like a ghost.

Showing his official badge, Hayley spoke in a flat tone.

“We received a report that the Elbanon Trading Company has been falsifying and underreporting its finances.”

“Th-that’s ridiculous! I’ve never done such a thing!”

“We’ll find out once the audit begins. …Shall we proceed, informant?”

“Yes.”

I answered lightly.

Normally, informants are protected anonymously—but I had no need for that, so I requested an open investigation.

The merchant lord’s eyes rolled back in shock.

“Y-you reported me?!”

I looked at him as if to say, And?

Foam practically gathered at his mouth.

“You little—!”

He lunged forward like a pig about to charge.

For a moment, I considered switching Kaiseus to its magic gun form—

Then a cold voice sounded above me.

“That mouth.”

Someone stepped in front of me.

“Shut it.”

I looked up at Shuvel, slightly surprised.

It was the first time I had seen such a terrifying expression on his face—enough to make one’s blood run cold.

So he can make that kind of face too.

I found it oddly fascinating.

But when he noticed my gaze, he flinched and suddenly looked visibly flustered.

Shuvel forced on a pitiful expression.

“…I’ll behave. Please don’t send me away, my lady.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

While we stood like that, the merchant lord—still shaken by Shuvel—avoided looking at us and instead shouted at Hayley.

“I reported everything properly!”

“Whether it was proper or not remains to be seen. There are some… noticeable gaps we’ll need to verify.”

Hayley flipped through the copied ledger I had provided.

The merchant lord’s eyes nearly popped out.

“W-why is that there…?!”

“Did you forget? You handed it to me yourself.”

I said calmly.

He shrieked in protest.

“Don’t lie! When did I ever give you that?!”

When you live among nobles and swindler-like merchants, where words themselves are weapons, your acting naturally improves.

To complete the play, I have to be an actor too.

Now that all the key players had taken the stage—

It was my turn.

Suppressing a devilish smile, I opened my mouth.