After finishing my business with the Graham Trading Company and uncovering the clerk's misconduct, this time I received a summons from the nobility.
When I returned to the inn, the innkeeper had a message for me.
It was from Count Julius, who held territories in the southern part of the kingdom.
The message said to come immediately, so I went.
I understood that, having grown up in a noble household myself, nobles naturally felt entitled to summon people at will.
And through [Divine Eye], I could see that the ornate ceremonial sword adorned with precious gemstones in my magic bag belonged to the Julius family.
It appeared to be a family heirloom, worth roughly two thousand gold coins.
At market price, I should be able to get around six hundred coins, but we'd see how it went.
◇◇◇
"Well met, young adventurer. The eradication of the 'Fierce Gem Corps' was most commendable. Among the items they stole, our family's ceremonial sword must surely be among them. I shall permit its return for ten gold coins."
After arriving at the Count Julius estate and being led inside, I found that the one handling negotiations on their end was the butler.
Naturally, the head of the house wouldn't show his face.
Even so, receiving this kind of treatment for a mere adventurer was extraordinary.
The family heirloom must have been that important to them.
Still, they were clearly looking down on me.
"Butler, ten gold coins? The value of this ceremonial sword is—"
Gold.
Coins.
Three.
Ten
coins
for
this
one,
shall
we
say?"
The soldiers behind the butler stirred.
Was it because they knew it was the family heirloom?
The butler, for his part, was visibly twitching at the temples as well.
"An adventurer like you... playing petty bargaining games with nobility will get you killed, you know?"
"Is that so? I single-handedly wiped out the Fierce Jewel Band all by myself — does that not register? You think the lot behind you can handle me?"
"You...!"
"Well, it doesn't matter either way. The Julius Count household hid the fact that their family heirloom was stolen, and only offered ten gold coins to the one who retrieved it. So all that'll happen is a rumor spreading through the taverns that it wasn't a family heirloom at all — just something worth about thirty gold coins that they falsely claimed as one."
For nobles, reputation is everything.
It is their very tool of the trade.
They must have concealed even the fact that the heirloom was stolen by a band of thieves.
If they buy back something they could not recover on their own for a cheap price, then to anyone who knows the market, it simply means it was only worth that much to begin with.
Now then — what happens when the other nobles get wind of this?
The thirty percent cut when taking something back—
h-u-
s-h-
m-o-
n-e-y
also doubles as.
That's why Graham had said, "If you let it slip, getting stabbed in the back would be no one's own fault but yours. But if it's a cheap buyback, you can't complain even if word gets out."
"Kill them."
Those were the worst possible words the butler could have chosen.
The five soldiers standing guard drew their swords and lunged.
I unleashed [Intimidation], stopping both the butler and the soldiers in their tracks.
The soldiers collapsed unconscious on the spot, and the butler dropped to his knees.
I figured that was lenient enough.
"If you pay twelve hundred gold coins, I'll give it back to you."
"Wh—?!"
The math was simple.
Six people in total—the butler plus five soldiers—had directed killing intent at me, so that was a hundred coins per head.
Added to the original market price of six hundred, that made twelve hundred.
For the price of their lives, that was pretty cheap, wouldn't you say?
"If you're willing to talk again, next time you'll be the ones coming to me."
1. Furthermore, there was the added humiliation of a noble house's member personally making their way to visit someone who looked like an adventurer.
2. And with that, I left the count's residence.
3. ◇◇◇◇◇◇
4. Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Gentleman Thief] [Dark Magic] [Rock Iron Magic] [Holy Magic]
5. Rank: Bronze
6. Thank you always for reading!