Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Magic of Persuasion (2)
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Isabel's mansion parlor had a large wooden map hanging on one wall.
Pallas Continent.
That was the name of this world.
If this world was a spherical planet like Earth, then the Pallas Continent might be just a tiny fraction of it.
In that case, it wasn't out of the question to imagine crossing the vast western ocean to discover a new continent.
But for a bumpkin serf-born slave boy, even this continent felt like an overwhelmingly vast world.
‘I really lived buried in such a godforsaken corner...’
Lian jerked his head back sharply to gaze up at the map.
On the enormous map covering an entire wall, there was a place marked at the far northwest edge: Paula.
That was his hometown.
Naturally, the entire territory was crudely represented as a blob about half the size of a palm.
His mouse-dropping of a village wasn't even shown on the map.
And now, following the coastline down a good long way from there, a large island came into view.
Madella Island—this place.
‘The size of the island... gotta be a few times bigger than Jeju Island, roughly?’
On a round table in one corner of the parlor sat a model of Madella Island.
Two major cities had developed around the northern and southern ports.
Various villages connected them in between.
If the model wasn't exaggerated, some of the larger villages were honestly big enough to call cities.
At first glance, the lord ruling such a grand territory might seem impressive, but the reality was different.
Administratively, the lord governed the entire island, but in practice, the power structure was split between north and south.
And Isabel held one of those divided powers.
“Isabel! Aren't I begging like this? Please reconsider just once!”
“Lord Loper. I'm not a philanthropist. I have no choice but to drop unprofitable ventures.”
“Just one year! No—half a year! A few more months! Please!”
To Lian, it was a fairly bizarre sight.
Isabel's status was that of a commoner freeman, not nobility.
Yet here a noble was kneeling and pleading before her.
But in this mansion, such scenes happened quite frequently.
The noble guest was clinging to Isabel over his brewery.
More precisely, a winery that integrated grape farms and brewing facilities.
Some problem had arisen, leaving it on the brink of bankruptcy.
“Since you put it that way, what can I do? I'll keep watching for exactly one more year.”
“Th-thank you! As expected, only you...!”
“But since I'm bearing losses too, we'll need to revise the contract terms a little. Lian?”
Clap clap.
Isabel lightly clapped, summoning Lian who had been waiting in the back.
Lian handed the guest the documents prepared in advance.
The man gawked blankly at Lian's face before checking the new contract. His complexion turned deathly pale.
“What is this! This is practically handing my land over to you!”
“And? If you go bankrupt at this rate, selling it off is your only option anyway, isn't it?”
“Absurd! This land has been in our family since the Madella Kingdom era...!”
“Then forget it. Lian, just put that away.”
“W-wait...! I'll do it! I will! I'll sign!”
As Lian reached to retrieve the new contract, the guest hurriedly flung himself over it and scrawled his signature.
Better to take the investment and gamble on revival than face certain loss in bankruptcy, no doubt.
Lian's honest take on the matter...
‘That noble got his nose completely hooked.’
A textbook aggressive takeover tactic.
The brewery reaching the verge of bankruptcy was likely no accident—Isabel had probably pulled strings behind the scenes.
For nobles, land was like the root of their lineage.
From now on, the Loper family—holding that as collateral—would have no choice but to dance to Isabel's tune.
‘And I just need to conquer Isabel to claim it all.’
But to topple the final boss, the proper way was to grind mobs and level up first.
It had been ten days since he became a human calculator in the guise of Diego's assistant.
Still, he hadn't learned a thing from this damned goatee.
“I'll step out for some air.”
“Go ahead.”
And his indifference toward Lian remained utterly consistent.
That was truly a blessing.
Compared to the abusive boss from his previous life who piled on pointless overtime, this was saintly.
“Hello. Everyone worked hard today too!”
Mornings, he toiled conscientiously under Diego. Come afternoon, he made his own way to the annex office.
He sat in his usual spot and pulled out blank scrolls and quill pens.
“Why does that slave kid show up here every day and do that crap?”
“Maybe Isabel sent him to spy on us?”
“Nah, even so, not that far...”
“No, look! He's scribbling something again?”
As he repeated this routine, reactions to Lian split into two camps.
Those who found his presence irksome and vented their complaints.
“Hey, that info solid?”
“Straight from an Aslan merchant. If you don't stockpile before copper prices skyrocket, you'll regret it soon.”
“Damn, we're in trouble. Got it. I'll tip off the workshop and make a move.”
Or, conversely, those who had grown accustomed to him, treating him like a statue while focusing on their own work.
Lian paid a bit more attention to the latter group's chatter.
Through such observations, he got a rough sense of how the merchant house operated.
‘Not much different from the trading firms I knew in my past life.’
They even used double-entry bookkeeping instead of single-entry.
Familiar elements dotted the operation here and there.
But compared to the modern world, many parts seemed less systematic—ripe for improvement.
Infrastructure gaps were a factor, sure, but some changes could be implemented without much hassle.
‘If only I could get some real hands-on experience...’
Camping out here did net him juicy high-level info, but it was all surface-level.
To dig deeper into the operations, he needed to get closer to the individual members.
‘But they all avoid even making eye contact with me.’
When Lian lifted his eyes from the scroll to glance around, they blatantly looked away.
The reason was simple.
They hated a mere slave nosing into their business.
And it wasn't just a matter of pride—it hit deeper sensitivities.
“Damn it! Screwed! Huge deal, and those desert bastards cut in!”
“Hey, your winter numbers looking good? Might be your head this time.”
“Sigh, it's dicey... but the bottom's padded by that guy, so I just gotta salvage it somehow.”
Lian followed the finger of the merchant griping to a colleague.
A haggard-faced man in the corner was tearing at his hair while furiously working the abacus.
‘Come to think of it, that guy's always by himself.’
The classic designated fall guy.
The man soon let out a long sigh and looked around.
The other merchants avoided his gaze, offering no glances.
Just like they did with Lian.
The dejected man kept scanning until his eyes met Lian's.
For a split second, hope lit his face—but spotting the collar around Lian's neck, disappointment crashed in, and he bowed his head.
“Oh? Hiding from a fellow in the same boat?”
Lian chuckled softly and rose from his seat.
That man was precisely the perfect prospect Lian had been seeking.
The man quietly clicking away at his abacus alone in the corner heaved sigh after sigh.
No matter how many times he ran the numbers, the result was the same.
He'd bowed his head and scraped together deals from several clients, but crucial revenue remained rock-bottom.
“Ugh, no way! At this rate, this winter it'll really...”
He'd barely survived the fall, purely by luck.
A colleague's cargo had been stuck at the port for nearly a month, tanking that guy's performance.
All because of one missing document.
Normally, he'd have been the seasonal loser and fired on the spot.
“Having trouble with the calculations? Want me to help?”
A boyish voice, not yet changed by puberty.
Only one person that age was around, so the man deliberately kept his head down.
“Sheesh, you too, uncle? Same outcast treatment?”
Same boat? What nonsense.
A pet slave who got fed just by fawning on the boss!
What did a kid like that know about a merchant racking his brains for the house's profits?
Ignoring him, rustling sounds came from beside as something was rummaged through.
“Whoa, what's this? No profit margin at all? Signing terms like these? No wonder you're struggling!”
“You slave punk! How dare you...!”
The man clenched his fist and glared at Isabel's pet slave.
“Finally gracing me with a look?”
“Grr...!”
The man just trembled, fist balled tight.
Hold it in.
Infuriating brat, but that face was worth three hundred gold coins.
“Hand it over! Like you could understand this!”
Swallowing his rage, the man snatched the order contract from Lian's hand.
“I get it. You were desperate for any deal, so you caved to every term they demanded, right?”
The man clamped his mouth shut and resumed flicking the abacus beads.
No time to waste on a slave brat showboating on his master's favor.
He had to figure out how to boost profits to survive in this merchant house.
“No matter how many times I calculate, it's the same. You set the delivery price with zero regard for market swings? Even a simple yearly average...”
“Damn it! Leave me alone!”
Bang!
“You think I don't know that? That was all I could manage!”
The man slammed the desk, unleashing his pent-up frustration.
“Damn it all! My third kid's due next spring! I can't get fired from here! I have to try something!”
For a moment, eyes from all around fixed on him—but only briefly.
No one working here lacked family or backstory to shoulder.
Harsh truth: the expendable got culled.
“So even if I leave you be, does that change anything?”
The man looked up at Lian through hollow, exhausted eyes.
Lian stared straight at the outcast, shunned by colleagues, and extended his hand.
“Grab it. You said you have to try something, right? When you're drowning, you clutch at straws.”
Infuriating.
Not a single wrong word from this slave kid, twisting his guts in rage.
But he loathed even more the colleagues who'd abandon a longtime partner to save their own skins.
And his past self, who'd clung on desperately the same way.
“So what changes if I team up with a slave like you?”
“Everything, of course.”
That was why the man resolved to grasp this three-hundred-gold-coin straw.