Chapter 71: Ganesha
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 71: Ganesha
The next day.
Aiden sat in his office, wearing a heavy expression. From beside him, Noel tilted her head and asked, “Is something troubling you?”
“…No.”
He said so, but in truth, he had a lot on his mind. Most of it stemmed from the system window that had popped up yesterday.
— System Log
▶ Target ‘Drakan’ harbors Affinity for you. You can copy 1 skill!
▶ Target ‘Ganesha Aldebaran’ has a favorable impression of you. You can copy 1 skill!
▶ Successful progress leads to an additional event. Increase Affinity even further!
Anyone would be left with a grim expression after reading a string of messages like that.
—Drakan?
It referred to a half-human, half-dragon hybrid. Dragons were entities possessing such divine authority that they were revered as Divine Beasts. Even as a hybrid, a Drakan inheriting half of that immense power would undoubtedly be a formidable being.
As for why he could only guess at their strength…
So they actually exist.
If Ganesha was a Special NPC who only appeared under specific conditions, then Drakans were outright ‘dummy data’—creatures that had existed solely in the game’s background lore. They were beings whose faces couldn’t even be glimpsed in the main game, and whose true identities even Aiden couldn’t fully grasp.
Although he possessed basic information about them, coming face-to-face with one was a variable he hadn’t prepared for. It was unnerving.
Still…
Isn’t this a massive win?
It would be one thing if such a being were hostile, but right now, they harbored goodwill toward him. There was no reason to complain. In fact, even if more unexpected variables popped up in the future, his stance would remain exactly the same.
Aren’t they all just walking skill mines?
Extreme optimism was a great boost to one’s mental health. Whatever the case, their existence meant there were plenty of new skills to copy. He might even score a massive haul of powerful abilities he hadn’t known existed. What an incredible opportunity. It felt like receiving a surprise gift…
“…”
Paradoxically, however, it seemed more and more people were growing highly skeptical of his mental health lately.
“…Aiden-ssi. Please refrain from making that kind of expression. It’s creeping me out.”
Indeed, those were the very first words out of Dame Stella’s mouth when she entered the office to give her report.
“A guest has arrived from the Free Merchants’ Union. They requested a private meeting.”
“The Free Merchants’ Union?” Hearing that name, Noel tilted her head.
They were, essentially, the central bank of the continent. It was no exaggeration to say they held the highest authority over anything related to money. For such an organization to suddenly visit military headquarters was completely out of the blue.
“Understood. I will prepare at once,” Noel said.
“No, Dame Noel. It’s not that…”
A conflicted look flickered across Dame Stella’s face, as if she didn’t know how to explain the situation. Considering her next words, her hesitation was entirely understandable.
“Rather than you, Dame Noel, they explicitly requested to see Aiden-ssi.”
“…”
That meant… in the eyes of the Union, Aiden was considered more important than Noel.
Noel and Aiden’s expressions contorted strangely at the exact same time.
* * *
Viscount Helmut rubbed his hands together, his expression tense.
As a criminal and a scammer to his very core, military headquarters was fundamentally an uncomfortable place for him. Though slightly better than a police station, it was still the natural enemy of people like him.
Spokesperson for the Free Merchants’ Union…
Recalling the ‘role’ he had been assigned today, Helmut let out an inward sigh. The individual known as the Merchant of Death, who had commissioned him, clearly held immense influence—even over the institution acting as the continent’s central bank.
The documents he had received, the official seals, the identification card—every single one was an undisputed, genuine item, verified multiple times over. Compared to such terrifying ‘preparations’, the job he had been commissioned to do was relatively simple.
Pull off a scam, no matter what…
With a reluctant grimace, he recalled his instructions. The client’s demand was simple: pull off a scam against Lionheart’s husband, regardless of the method. Whether the scale was big or small didn’t matter. The core of the commission was simply to ‘deceive’ the target.
Helmut couldn’t fathom what the client intended to achieve with this, but the promised reward was something he desperately needed. If told to jump, he would simply ask how high.
Before long, as he waited quietly in the reception room, the door opened and his target walked inside.
…Good thing he looks a bit dense.
Scanning the man’s demeanor at a glance, Helmut strapped on a bright, artificial smile like a mask. Hearing he was Lionheart’s husband, Helmut had been tense, expecting the man to exude an immense aura. But wasn’t this just an ordinary guy you could find anywhere on the street?
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Helmut. I heard you reached out regarding an investment opportunity.”
“Yes, Mr. Aiden Kellermain. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Even the way Aiden shook his hand with a good-natured smile made him look like innocent prey. He was such an unremarkable man that it was baffling how someone like him had secured the spot beside Lionheart.
“I have compiled all the relevant details in these documents. Please take your time reading through them before making a decision.”
Personal impressions aside, Helmut still had a job to do. As he delivered his pitch with a beaming smile, Aiden calmly scanned the document.
The most crucial element of any scam was the mark’s level of vigilance. No matter how elaborately crafted a lie might be, if the target was already convinced it was a lie, the trap would fail.
In that respect…
“Everything here seems verified. A liquor sales business for a prestigious winery…”
The banner of the ‘Free Merchants’ Union’ Helmut wielded today was the perfect tool to shatter that guard. The moment he heard Aiden’s murmured words, Helmut smiled triumphantly. There was nothing easier than a scam backed by authority.
“However, with an investment opportunity as lucrative as this, I don’t think you needed to come to me out of all people,” Aiden noted. “A person married to a soldier doesn’t exactly fit the image of high finance. Though, my wife does enjoy alcohol.”
…That was certainly true.
“Not at all. It is precisely because of who you are that I came.”
Hearing his own cue, Helmut cleared his throat and straightened his posture. This was the critical moment.
“We are offering this proposal because we see immense potential in your future, sir, and wish to partner with you. We came with the intention of growing together.”
“Aha.”
“Personally, I reached out because I am interested in you, sir, even more so than in Lionheart herself.”
“Hmm—”
“Now, to explain the details of the contract—”
Helmut continued pouring out honeyed words and detailed explanations, but as he spoke, Aiden’s expression steadily hardened. A normal person might have panicked at this reaction, but Helmut was cheering inwardly.
He’s probably thinking he’s got me figured out.
Who do you take for a fool? —or something along those lines. Though the contract was slickly packaged on the outside, anyone with half a brain could see through it and realize the risk ultimately fell on the investor, while the guaranteed returns funneled straight back to Helmut.
And that was precisely what Helmut wanted.
The core strategy was simple. Once you made the mark feel smart, pumping them full of confidence so they believed they had seen completely through your scheme, the rest was smooth sailing.
If a complete stranger suddenly offered a deal that sounded too good to be true, anyone would be suspicious. Such a foolish trick worked on no one. Therefore, the best method was to plant the illusion that the target had ‘seen through the scam.’
And usually… smart guys who realized an opponent was trying to exploit them would try to flip the scheme and use it to their own advantage. They would attempt to maximize their own share and screw Helmut over instead.
In fact, the deal he had brought today was perfectly optimized to make someone rack their brains in exactly that way. And the moment their train of thought veered in that direction…
They fall right into the trap.
It was a trap designed specifically to catch clever people. A stupid person wouldn’t fall for it, but this guy clearly had a sharper mind than he let on.
Too bad for him, though.
The problem was that his opponent happened to be Helmut himself—a seasoned veteran in this field. That was how the con was structured. No matter how much this fellow Aiden used his brain, the moment he signed the revised contract, dozens of hidden, secondary clauses were already prepared to ruin him.
The mark would sign the contract, confidently thinking they had outsmarted the scammer, only to take a devastating blow when they realized their opponent was playing a level above them. It was a method with a near-undefeated success rate. A multi-layered trap built on double and triple psychological warfare. Up until now, even seasoned veterans who crossed paths with Helmut had fallen prey to this exact game.
“…”
However, the target’s behavior began to deviate slightly from Helmut’s expectations. Instead of acting superior and moving to adjust the contract, Aiden calmly flipped back to the very first page of the documents.
Written there was Helmut’s own background—a fake identity meticulously prepared by the Free Merchants’ Union for this exact occasion.
“So, originally, you worked on-site at a weapon manufacturing company,” Aiden read aloud. “Over a decade of experience under the Master Artisan of a prestigious workshop. Quite an impressive record.”
“…”
Something… felt off.
Usually, most people who made it this far would adjust a few terms in their favor and proceed straight to signing. Pushing his unease aside, Helmut spoke with his usual good-natured smile.
“…That is correct. My master taught me a great deal.”
“When was the last time you exchanged greetings with your master? It’s a workshop I’ve personally had some interest in for a while.”
“I exchange letters with him frequently, as a matter of fact.”
“Even up until now?”
“Yes. We share a very close relationship.”
“Aha.”
Saying so, Aiden lightly extended his hand across the table. Wondering what this meant, Helmut stared at it in confusion. Aiden just shrugged.
“It means I will consider your proposal favorably. Think of this as a preliminary handshake.”
“…”
…Was it just his imagination? Had this guy ultimately fallen for his trick after all?
Uncertain, Helmut reached out and took the offered hand. Instantly, Aiden’s grip clamped down tightly, like a predator snapping its jaws around its prey.
“…!”
Slightly tired-looking eyebrows. Yet, settling beneath them…
“Your hands are soft.”
…was a festering, abyssal blackness.
It was the characteristic look of someone who had crossed the line between life and death countless times. The look of someone utterly fed up with suffering through these exact kinds of tricks. As if he had dealt with people exactly like Helmut, inside and out, over and over again.
“On-site work wasn’t as tough as expected, was it?”
“…”
As the man leaned his head closer, Helmut’s breath caught in his throat involuntarily. The man’s outward aura hadn’t changed at all.
“And you said you frequently exchange greetings with the Master Artisan.”
Maintaining that exact same unremarkable atmosphere…
“That workshop’s Master Artisan died last year.”
He tore Helmut’s lie wide open. Helmut’s expression froze rock solid.
“Isn’t that an incredibly famous workshop? You picked a place far too famous to lie about.”
“…”
“Their goods have dropped in quality lately, too, sending their market prices into the abyss. Who came up with the item pitch for this? You need to learn the absolute basics of scamming.”
His words were correct. Strictly speaking. …Or they would be, if the workshop this man was talking about wasn’t located practically on the opposite side of the continent.
Physical distance directly correlated to the scarcity of information. No matter how prestigious or renowned a place was, news was bound to travel slowly. And yet… out of all the countless pieces of information scattered across the world, how on earth did he know the exact status of that one specific workshop? Just what kind of terrifying information network was this man running?
“…T-That’s—”
“Scammers who pitch by the manual are behind the times, Mr. Helmut. It’s fine to have know-how, but when your absolute basics are this broken, who on earth would fall for it? You shouldn’t neglect your information gathering.”
Aiden finished his critique with a bored yawn. His voice was still nonchalant, tired, and completely flat, devoid of any emotional highs or lows. But right now, Helmut felt as though he were standing stark naked.
Every single trick he had meticulously prepared today had been completely stripped away, all because of a single, minor flaw in his background lore.
“You need to study every day, research, and scrape together every single piece of info just to build a baseline of credibility. People nowadays are too smart.”
“…”
Watching him speak so nonchalantly, Helmut realized a terrifying truth. The client had told him this guy was just an ordinary person.
Ordinary person, my ass.
…This bastard is an absolute master player…!
He sensed the aura of a fellow scammer. And not just any scammer, but a veteran on a completely different tier—a predator who had clearly pulled off jobs like this countless times.
“And considering recent trends… only one person comes to mind who would pull a prank like this on me.” Saying so, Aiden wiped his face with a heavy sigh. “Merchant of Death. You’re listening in from somewhere, aren’t you?”
“…”
“You pulled a prank not long ago, too. What is this supposed to be? It’s honestly deflating.”
As Aiden tossed those words out toward the empty room…
[…Ha, hah.]
From somewhere…
[Hahahahah—!]
A burst of laughter mixed with metallic static broke out.
— System Message
▶ Successfully completed the ‘Bonus Quest’.
▶ Target Ganesha Aldebaran’s Affinity has increased. You can copy 2 skills!
…along with those very messages.