8.
Looking back, Lancel considered how the Merchant Guilds of this world were vastly different from 21st-century corporations.
In a civilization where the concept of division of labor hadn’t yet taken root, a Merchant Guild was essentially a gathering of individuals driven by the principle of doing anything for profit.
In that sense, Mary’s Merchant Guild had been somewhat unique from the start.
“We deal in salt! Only salt! We’ll gather all the salt from across the continent, stockpile it here, and resell it when the price rises!”
“Won’t you trade in leather, oil, or spices?”
“We only buy salt!”
“What about beeswax or honey…?”
“Only salt!”
“Textiles…?”
“Salt!”
For the past few years, Marigold had become fixated on the keyword “salt,” stubbornly insisting on it above all else.
When asked why later, she replied, “I once ran out of salt while leading a caravan across the plains… ugh…”
Marigold shuddered violently, as if reliving a traumatic experience.
‘I figured it would be something like that,’ Lancel thought.
‘She never fails to meet my expectations.’
Of course, Lancel didn’t discourage Marigold’s decision. This life was supposed to be a vacation anyway, and he didn’t want to overstep.
Coincidentally, this was precisely the time when the value of salt was about to skyrocket.
The root cause was the increasingly heated war that lay ahead.
‘Salt is the most essential commodity in wartime,’ Lancel mused.
Where many humans gathered, a large supply of salt was essential. When a military’s salted provisions ran out, morale would plummet to the point where they could no longer fight.
Lancel knew all too well from his past experiences just how devastating the mere lack of the savory taste of salt could be for an army.
He remembered the dizzying sensation of blood rushing to the crown of his head, the overwhelming feeling of life surging through him, the moment a single pinch of salt touched his tongue.
In the blessed 21st century, he had never experienced anything remotely similar.
Perhaps his past obsession with the sea and seafood stemmed from spending most of his early lives on the battlefield.
‘It was because I couldn’t survive without eating salt.’
Salt.
In just three more years, a special tax would be levied on salt. The Imperial Court couldn’t possibly continue to tolerate commoners buying and selling this precious commodity.
==========
—Market Alert!!! The price of salt has surged 7.5 times! Rumors are spreading that the warehouses of Mary’s Merchant Guild are overflowing with salt!
※Suspicious individuals are offering up to 10 times the amount! Will you secretly sell and pocket the profits?
==========
It was as predicted—the price of salt skyrocketed.
There was no need to seek out buyers. Merchants, drawn by the rumors, flocked to the Viscounty of Dante in their carriages.
“Hahaha! From today onward, tell all our people to abandon farming! Have them come here immediately and start hammering at the rock salt!”
“Eeeek!”
Lancel watched his father, Viscount Dante, who had lost all composure in the face of so many gold coins, dance around with Marigold slung over his shoulder, and let out a silent, hollow laugh.
Marigold the merchant.
She had hit the jackpot.
“I will revive the Dante family!”
It was around this time that Marigold’s pride soared sky-high. This was also when her eccentric behavior began.
“Hey.”
Lancel discovered the 21-year-old Marigold hiding beneath the covers of his bed.
9.
A strange sensation prickled through Lancel as he lay casually on his bed. Sensing a clinging presence, he lifted the blanket.
Marigold was hiding in his bed with her eyes closed. She breathed rhythmically, as if asleep, and had stealthily snuggled up against him.
Lancel narrowed his eyes, feeling the heat radiating from her body.
“Are you asleep?”
“……”
‘Ah, so that’s the act she’s going for?’
Lancel reached towards the table, picked up a quill, and gently brushed the feather tip against Marigold’s ear.
“Hic! Eeek!”
She startled violently, shrinking back in surprise.
But it was only for a moment. Marigold quickly resumed her pretense of sleep.
“…Asleep?”
“……”
He tried it again.
“Giggig!”
The reaction was far too intense, but Marigold stubbornly maintained her act.
Lancel finally set down the quill and pinched her nose shut. As her mouth gaped open for air, he clamped his hand over her snout, sealing it shut.
“……”
‘She’s holding out longer than I expected.’
As the seconds ticked by—thirty seconds, fifty seconds, then sixty seconds—Marigold’s face flushed crimson, and she began to struggle.
“Puh-ah!” Gasping for air, Marigold sat up.
“Ah, um, benefactor, why are you here…?”
“Because it’s my room.”
“Ah, ah, ah! I must have mistaken this as my room!”
Her acting was awkward.
“It’s too much trouble to go back now. Can I just sleep next to you? Good night, benefactor.”
“It’s a short walk. What’s so troublesome about it?”
Marigold shamelessly remained laying down beside him.
Her strange behavior had been noticeable for some time.
Lancel already had his suspicions.
————————————
<Status of 21-year-old Marigold>
Charm: 75
Morality: 19
Dignity: 58
Emotions: 63
Allure: 152
Magic: 1
Strength: 38
Stamina: 33
Faith: 21
Condition: 77
————————————
‘Why on earth?’
Even Lancel couldn’t understand why the stats for Marigold’s allure had skyrocketed so high, especially during the merchant route of all other routes.
One thing was certain: this girl had become a beast. Yes, a beast that was eyeing something of his.
“You must be tired, benefactor. Please get some rest. I’ll sleep too.”
“Get your hand off me.”
“…There’s nowhere else for my hand to go…”
Her hand slithered toward his leg like a snake.
In the end, Lancel simply picked her up and carried her to her room.
* * *
What would be the biggest change when Marigold’s “allure status” increased?
From a gamer’s perspective, it meant that Marigold could wear a wider variety of outfits.
Taking advantage of the warmer weather after spring, Marigold’s indoor attire became increasingly revealing.
“My benefactor.”
At first, she wore clothes that only exposed her shoulders, but later she approached in outfits that bared her midriff, and even some that were almost see-through.
“I’m tired, my benefactor. I must have worked too hard today.”
“How shameless of you to be on auto-hunt at the guild all day. “
“Auto…?”
“Such a thing exists.”
Casually clinging to Lancel’s body soon became a common thing for Marigold to do.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Lancel was always in this state, except for when Madam Dante was watching.
Unlike Viscount Dante, who had little interest in bloodlines, Lancel’s mother held an unwavering belief that nobles should marry only nobles.
The next day…
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
Lancel stopped a guild member who had come to the mansion. The man was carrying something wrapped in silk.
He had been suspiciously glancing around for some time, as if checking to see if anyone was watching.
“Let me see what you’re carrying.”
“Ah, t-this is nothing, Young Master. It’s just… uh… well…”
“If it’s nothing, then you won’t mind showing me. Hand it over.”
“I-it’s really nothing…”
Lancel grabbed the guild member by the scruff of his neck as he tried to slink away, forcibly snatching the object from his hand.
“Ah, no! You can’t!”
“What is this?”
Inside the silk wrapping was a small wooden box. When Lancel opened it, a spherical object emitting a sweet fragrance lay inside, perfectly round and well-formed.
‘Medicine? Could it be poison?’
As this thought crossed his mind, Lancel glared sharply at the member. The man immediately prostrated himself on the floor.
“T-the guild master asked me to deliver this! He insisted—please, please keep it a secret! That’s why I was trying to sneak it to you. I never expected this to happen…!”
“What is it, then?”
“That… it’s the thing the noble ladies are said to be searching for, Young Master. The expensive medicine.”
‘Noble ladies?’
The guild member gestured silently, conveying something.
Lancel understood instantly and closed his eyes.
“…Bring it to me.”
“Yes… um… Young Master, please keep my involvement a secret…”
Lancel waved him away.
Even so, he didn’t want to pry into Marigold’s private life.
‘Is this another effect of that status increase?’
The next day, Marigold began trying to appeal to Lancel for some reason, puffing out her chest and striking a pose.
“My shoulders have been so stiff lately. Why do you think that is, benefactor? Could it be from working too hard? Haah, it’s strange. Do you have any idea what might be causing it?”
“……”
“Hmm, why are they so tense? That’s odd.”
Of course, Lancel, who knew the whole story, deliberately avoided reacting.
He understood that if he provoked her unnecessarily, she’d undoubtedly start buying those expensive medicines regularly.
Those things cost a fortune.
“I think I’ve been scammed.”
“What?”
“Something like that.”
Soon, a dejected Marigold was listlessly wandering around the mansion, her shoulders slumped.
“…It was an expensive item.”
Many other things happened during that time.
In any case, after a year or two in the Dante family’s Viscounty, Marigold finally turned twenty-three.
==========
Fame Event: Congratulations! Marigold has earned the reputation of being ‘Wealthy’! She will no longer have to check price tags when shopping! (Charm, Elegance, and Allure has gone UP!!)
==========
At last, Marigold had become known as a wealthy lady.
Considering how she had once been a swindler in a village, this was an extraordinary rise in status. However, she was still far from achieving her ultimate goal of becoming the wealthiest person on the continent.
.
.
.
Some time later, unsettling news began to circulate throughout the Empire.
10.
“It seems a war is brewing.”
That evening, Viscount Dante’s words hung in the air. All eyes at the dinner table turned to him.
“War is always taking place somewhere,” Lancel countered.
Viscount Dante shook his head. “That is true of wars with foreign enemies. But the war I’m talking about is different. It’s a war within the Empire itself.”
‘Ah.
That’s what he meant.’
Lancel felt memories from a distant past life flash through his mind like a fading dream.
A war within the Empire.
The very essence of the conflict he had once devoted so much time to.
“It seems His Majesty is no longer among the living.”
“What are you saying? You have ears everywhere!” Madam Dante exclaimed in shock.
Viscount Dante simply wiped a hand across his face.
“It’s fine, you’ll find out eventually anyway. A rebellion broke out on the Eastern Front due to supply issues, and it seems to have caused some trouble. Apparently, they ran out of salt.”
“Huh?” Marigold murmured, her face blank.
Viscount Dante waved his hand dismissively.
“Don’t worry. It’s not your fault Marigold, nor is it the Mary’s Merchant Guild. The salt we stockpiled is just a tiny fraction of the continent’s total. The real problem is that the other merchant guilds that followed our lead and hoarded salt. They went on a reckless buying spree.”
Still, since they had copied Marigold’s strategy, she was indeed the one who started it all. That was Lancel’s understanding.
“The Fifth Prince, who was stationed at the front, announced His Majesty’s absence and mobilized his troops. If that’s true, this war will now… determine the next ruler of the Empire.”
A civil war.
The Brothers’ Rebellion.
It was the signal flare announcing the prelude to a grand war that would engulf not just the Empire, but the entire continent, as the princes vied for the imperial throne.
This time however, it seems that the Fifth Prince was the spark that started the fire.
Though the timing and triggers varied, one thing was certain:
This Empire would no longer remain united.
Sooner or later, it would be torn apart by rival factions, ushering in a second period of warring states.
They would all be returning to the days before the Empire.
A familiar voice echoed in Lancel’s mind.
“Then…” Marigold suddenly spoke, her voice breaking the silence as her expression remained tense.
“Should we raise the price of salt again starting tomorrow?”
“……”
Mister Crabs mindset.