Chapter 41. The Smell of Money (1)
“Wait, Loracus… seriously?”
Caitlin asked, looking puzzled. She tried to figure out Isaac’s real angle real quick.
Deep down, she doubted Isaac had a ton of Loracus. Wandering Grail Knights weren’t exactly rolling in dough. Their vow of poverty was a big deal.
Maybe this Grail Knight, known for being all about that poverty life, was suddenly all about money.
‘Is he just not getting the market or what?’
It could be, Caitlin thought.
“Even though Grail Knights talk about being poor, it doesn’t mean their journeys come cheap. When faced with hunger and cold, it’s natural to want a more comfortable trip. Instead of just asking for money like mercenaries, they often sell items they pick up along the way.”
“Looks like this Grail Knight had the same idea.”
“‘If you bring it now, I can pay you the top market price…’”
“‘I don’t have it on me now. And the exact amount isn’t fixed.’”
“So, are you saying you’ll have it in a month?”
“Yeah. And fair warning, it might be a lot.”
“Caitlin couldn’t help but chuckle at Isaac’s words. Despite his efforts, even with ten carriages, his goods wouldn’t overwhelm the Golden Idol Merchant Group. The syndicate traded way more. And from what Caitlin saw, Isaac had only what he carried.”
“Why stick to the current price when Loracus might be worth more later?” Caitlin asked.
Isaac’s gentle smile said he was ready for that question. “I’m not in it for the money. I can’t sell now since I don’t have it, and I won’t jack up prices just ‘cause they rise.”
Caitlin wasn’t sure if he was sincere. She thought this innocent Grail Knight was trying to do business in his own clumsy way.
“Does he think Loracus prices will drop?” she wondered.
Caitlin did the math on potential losses for the syndicate. Even if prices plummeted, it wouldn’t break them. It might be a bigger worry for Isaac than an organization as massive as the Golden Idol Merchant Group.
Her original offer to Isaac seemed too low.
“I’ll have to give this naive Grail Knight a fair deal, even if he won’t make big gains,” she thought.
“For sure in a month?” she asked.
“Absolutely.”
“And the quantity will stay open?”
Isaac nodded. Caitlin told Vihik to draw up the contract.
[The Golden Idol Merchant Group will buy all the Loracus Isaac brings in a month at the current price.]
The contract also listed the current Loracus price. Caitlin hoped Isaac considered the costs of moving and storing the goods.
Isaac signed the contract smoothly, which impressed Caitlin, but she didn’t dwell on it.
“With this contract, we’re official, Mr. Isaac. The Golden Idol stands by it. Breach it and you’re in trouble.”
[You’ve been hired as a mercenary for the Golden Idol Merchant Group.]
[Luck slightly boosted.]
[Discernment gets a bit sharper!]
When Isaac got hired as a mercenary for the Golden Idol Merchant Group, he was pretty stoked. It was a special privilege for followers of the Golden Idol faith, not something you’d get from any other crew. But, since it wasn’t a top-tier gig, the perks weren’t exactly mind-blowing.
Once the contract was signed, Isaac wasted no time and headed straight to the slums of Sør.
In today’s cutthroat market, it’s all about winners and losers. When a certain item becomes a hot trend, you can bet there are folks who end up on the losing side of the deal.
The slums of Seor were crawling with such folks.
You had merchants who missed the boat on the latest trend, mercenaries hoping to strike it rich, and shady characters lurking in every dark corner.
Quite the opposite of the bustling flower market.
“This is where the Golden Idol Merchant Group’s informants met their end,” Isaac mused as he navigated the back alleys.
He wasn’t just wandering around aimlessly. He had intel from the Golden Idol Merchant Group pointing to shady capital movements not just in the legit markets, but also in the underground. The informants paid the price for digging a bit too deep.
With all these suspicious gazes around him, it was clear that the Loracus craze had stirred up a lot of trouble. Any wrong move could mean serious trouble.
While pondering the situation, Isaac remembered his chat with Caitlin.
“What happens after I track down the Loracus hoarder?” he asked himself.
“Excuse me?”
“Well, am I supposed to take them out or something?”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t expect a Grail Knight to do something so brutal. I’m more interested in why they’re hoarding all that Loracus.”
“If it’s just for show, they’re missing out on a fortune, aren’t they?”
“Aye, but they wouldn’t go after our people if it was just about looking fancy. That’s valuable info too.”
Loracus might be fancy, but aside from a slight magic resistance boost, they weren’t all that practical. Unless someone was planning to hunt down liches or dragons, hoarding them made little sense.
“There’s definitely more to this,” Isaac thought to himself. The Loracus frenzy wasn’t just about economic chaos; there was a deeper mystery waiting to be unraveled.
“I need to start by finding those informant killers.”
Looking all fresh and dapper, Isaac stood out like a sore thumb in the grim surroundings. Naturally, he attracted some unwanted attention.
“Sir, check out what I’ve got for sale!”
Kids swarmed around Isaac, trying to peddle all sorts of things – roasted rodents, random trinkets, you name it. But their real goal wasn’t what they were selling.
As one daring kid reached for Isaac’s coin pouch, trying to nick a few coins, Isaac swiftly caught his wrist.
“Ouch!”
Without even making the kid flinch, a loud scream burst out. The other kids, surprised by the cry, backed off. The scream caught the street’s attention and all eyes turned to Isaac.
“Hey, what’s going on? Why pick on the kid?” prompted a bystander.
Startled by the uproar, a group of men gathered around like they had been waiting for a show. They were rough-looking, lounging around a big pot over a fire, seeming more interested in stirring up trouble than in fairness.
Spotting a large knife that could feed a village, Isaac released the kid’s hand, now dripping with blood.
“You, you hurt this kid’s hand…”
“It’s just a scratch, chill out.”
In truth, it was an accidental nick from Isaac’s left hand. The men quickly saw the wound wasn’t serious, but the tension hung in the air.
Taking in his surroundings, Isaac noted the dark alley, with hardly any witnesses and no one likely to intervene even if things turned rough.
“Hey, handsome. Empty your pockets…”
“Let’s skip the drama and cut to the chase.”
Drawing his sword casually, Isaac invited the chaos, waiting for the men to gather—every move calculated.
“If any of you are believers, speak up now.”
***
Isaac’s sword skills were lethal.
In a brawl with multiple foes, ending things without casualties was tough. With low stamina without his special abilities, taking out enemies one by one seemed more strategic.
Though he expected resistance, as soon as he unveiled his sword, the men dropped their weapons and surrendered.
“What? Are all of you believers?”
“Yes… These two follow the Codex of Light, that one worships Elil, and the rest of us go gaga for the Golden Idol.”
After subduing the runners, Isaac started questioning them. Surprisingly, they weren’t really rowdy. Well, except for one guy who bailed on his cult to avoid the fiery pits of hell for breaking a loan pact.
“Why the tough guy act?”
The men glanced nervously around before confessing.
“It’s scarier, you know?”
Isaac sighed. Their antics didn’t fit the profile of the killers of the Golden Idol Merchant Guild’s informer.
“There was a murder here recently. A snitch from the Golden Idol Merchant Guild. Any leads?”
“We…”
“Save the innocent act. Just spill it.”
Grudgingly, the men started talking.
“We might’ve seen the person you’re yapping about. The Guild folks have a distinctive jabber. They seemed keen on our hustle, so we chatted.”
“What were you selling?”
“We aren’t crooks, despite what you think…”
“Threatening people with knives?”
“We were just trying to pitch some top-notch goods. That’s how street folks bond, right?”
“So, it’s aggressive marketing then.”
Isaac totally saw through their scam. The shady vibes they were throwing out, followed by a sudden “let’s make peace” pitch and pushing overpriced stuff on their so-called “new friends” – it was all too obvious. This way, they could dodge getting busted for straight-up robbery, and no danger of things getting messy or violent.
In a twisted sense, they were kind of clueless crooks.
“Why? You guys planning on hawking roasted rat meat too? Did the snitch look like he needed a snack?” Isaac asked, eyes narrowing at the men, who shared a look before one of them piped up finally.
“Hey, man, you know how well those Loracus are doing these days, right?” the guy said.
“Loracus?” Isaac was caught off guard by the random switch to Loracus talk.
“Yeah, but you see, folks like us – the ones scraping by or with barely anything – we can’t afford squat in this market. It’s tough buying just one Loracus and still putting food on the table.”
Being a small-time investor sucked, whether in this world or any other. Isaac found himself nodding without even realizing it.
“So?” he prompted.
“So, instead of starving ourselves to snag a few Loracus, we decided to pool our cash and start our own crew. If we sell the Loracus and make a profit, we split the dough,” one guy explained.
Isaac had to give it to them – they were trying out a makeshift investment setup. But his respect didn’t last long.
“Who put you on to this?” Isaac interrupted, eyebrows raised. “You don’t seem the sharpest tools in the shed to come up with a scheme like this. If you were, you wouldn’t be here trying to pull off schemes. Who’s behind all this, and what’s with the pushy sales tactics?”
The once confident man faltered, pulling out a wooden coin with a Loracus symbol roughly carved into it – a “Loracus coin”.
“Owning one of these gets you a cut whenever the group sells off the Loracus. We’ve already cashed out a few times,” the man revealed.
Isaac’s face twisted in mixed emotions.
“So, if I buy this Loracus coin?”
“You score a piece of the profits based on how many of these coins you have!”
“And why should I buy it from you?”
“With the profits, we can buy more coins…” The group was looking to flip the coins for a bit more than what they paid – aiming for that sweet profit.
“How many did you snag?” Isaac inquired.
Nervously, the men whipped out a hefty pile of Loracus coins. Seeing the worthless stash, Isaac felt a headache creeping in.
‘The Loracus craze wasn’t the only issue.’
Ponzi schemes, pyramid shenanigans, and even taking hostages.
The people of Seor were getting smacked in the face by greed.
