Sin (1)
Once the meeting with the Archbishop was over, I flagged down a northbound carriage and climbed aboard without delay.
Inside the rattling cabin, with a little time still left before we reached our destination, I settled against the window and let my thoughts drift back to the plot of the original story.
Most of the original's events had unfolded within the Empire, so the Holy Kingdom's grim internal affairs were only ever mentioned in passing — a stray word or two from the Saintess, and nothing more.
That current held throughout the original work. But once the war against the demonkin — the most recent arc I had read — came to an end and a new episode began, the story's axis shifted abruptly toward the Holy Kingdom. As humanity's corruption exceeded all bounds, the gods could no longer endure it. They flew into a rage and, in the end, withdrew every last drop of holy power from mankind — or so the characters within the story speculated. The priests' divine power vanished, and even the light of the Holy Sword went dark. That was how the last chapter I had read had ended.
Unlike the other incidents, which I could at least hope to handle with my knowledge of the original, I could not think of a single workable solution for this one. The Holy Kingdom arc had been the newest episode, and I had died right as I started reading it. That was a physical limitation no one could do anything about.
The problem was, I could not just sit back and let it happen, either. Without holy power, there would be no way to purify Magi. Cults and devil-worshippers would swell in number from every direction as time passed, and dealing with the demons they summoned would become a serious problem. On top of that, even though a ceasefire had been signed with the Demon King, a considerable number of demonkin were still causing trouble. The last chapter had even mentioned unrest stirring among the western kingdoms, directed at the Empire.
I would not have been able to recall such details originally, but after acquiring a tome of intelligence amplification in the Demon Realm, my memory had improved just enough to make a difference.
In any case, the future was shaping up to be an unmitigated disaster. For someone who just wanted a peaceful life, this was an obstacle I had no choice but to deal with.
The one silver lining was that the Holy Kingdom's affairs had almost nothing to do with the protagonist's party throughout the original story — which meant there was still plenty of room for me to intervene. It was a long way off, but since I had not read that far in the original anyway, I would have to play that part by ear to some degree. And if that was the case, why not prevent the Holy Kingdom's corruption from reaching the point where the gods would withdraw their holy power in the first place? That was the conclusion I had reached.
And the instrument I had chosen for that intervention was Archbishop Timothy of Westford.
As a vassal of both the Holy Kingdom and the Empire, the Archbishop had been mentioned from time to time in the original, and every time his name appeared, the narrative emphasized his upright, virtuous character. He also had no particular connection to any of the original's major characters, which made him the best card I could play for intervening in the Holy Kingdom.
I had worried, briefly, that he might be two-faced — that there was some side to him the original had never mentioned. But after meeting him in person, I was reasonably sure that was not the case. And honestly, even if he had turned out to be a villain, I would not have had much of a choice. I could not think of a better approach, so I would have just had to give up cleanly...
In any event, using the sacred relics as bait to bring the Archbishop over to my side had gone remarkably smoothly. In the end, it had succeeded. Of the three relics, I had stored the Staff of Purity in my estate's warehouse for later use. The other two were of little use to me anyway, so I had not really lost anything. As a bonus, I had also built a rapport with the Archbishop, which left the door open for me to intervene directly through him if the need arose.
All in all, I could fairly call this visit to Westford a success.
"Young master, we've arrived. This is Dracton."
The coachman's knock on the door pulled me out of my deep reverie. I opened the window and looked out. Beyond it stretched the view of a remarkably prosperous city, packed with ornate buildings. This was Dracton — the last stop I had planned before returning to the Academy.
Dracton sat roughly midway between Westford and the Academy. What set it apart from the typical fiefs of this era, ruled by local lords, was that it operated as a free city. That status had allowed commerce and industry to flourish, and the city had firmly established itself as a key hub on the trade route linking the western kingdoms with the Empire. Naturally, the reason I had come here was to make money.
After asking around among passersby, I arrived at a lavish multi-story building in the very heart of the city. I passed through the front entrance, and a red-haired woman in a neat dress who had been standing inside approached me.
"Welcome to the Baldwin & Malone Trade & Investment Alliance. I'm Irene, and I'll be assisting you today. May I ask the purpose of your visit?"
"I'm here to invest in dividends. Would it be possible to see a directory of the trading houses affiliated with this alliance?"
"Ah! A pleasure to meet you, sir. I'll show you to a private room. Right this way, please."
The moment I mentioned I was here to invest, the employee's face lit up with a bright smile. I followed her into an inner reception room.
After seating me, she returned a short while later, groaning under the weight of an enormous stack of documents. It seemed she had brought not only the directory I had requested, but also business plans, financial statements, and similar papers from various trading houses.
"I'll wait outside, then. If you need anything, just ring the bell beside you. Well then..."
The employee stepped out of the reception room, and I started digging through the pile for the directory. I felt a little bad for the woman who had hauled all those papers in, but I could not read a business plan or a financial statement to save my life. The family affairs were still handled entirely by Father and Hudson, and I had never studied anything related to that field. I had a bit of knowledge from my previous life, so I could probably manage simple documents, but anything serious was beyond me.
The reason I had come here was not to make professional investments, either. I was here to confirm the knowledge I had from the game.
I pulled out the directory, skipped past the product descriptions, and started searching the index of trading house names.
"H... H... ah, Horace. Found it. It's really here. And E... Esmond... here it is. Last one, V... Valenos? That's not it. Ah, Valentine. Got it. That's all of them!"
Confirming that the trading houses I had seen in the game were listed exactly as I remembered, a cheer slipped out of me on its own. I had found all three — there was no need to look at anything else. I rang the bell on the desk and called back the employee who had gone outside.
"Have you made a decision?"
"I've chosen my investments. A hundred gold in Horace. Another hundred in Esmond. And for Valentine... three hundred gold. Could you bring me the contracts?"
"Wait, wait a moment... Excuse me, but have you actually reviewed all the documents?"
It was only after seeing the employee's dubious expression that I realized I had made a mistake. When people were putting their own money on the line, they typically spent hours poring over every detail. The whole process usually took far longer than this.
I got excited seeing that everything I knew was still here, exactly as I remembered...
The employee took one look at my guilty expression and put on a face that said she had expected as much.
"Haa... Looking at you, I take it you're not very familiar with this sort of thing, young master. Investing is no game. If you're not careful, you won't just miss out on dividends — there are plenty of cases where people don't get a single coin of their principal back. So please, take the time to review the documents carefully."
"I've confirmed everything I needed to. This is a decision I made after careful consideration, so I'd like to proceed as is."
The milk was already spilled, and honestly, spending hours on a document review that meant nothing to me felt like a waste of time. When I dug in my heels, the employee named Irene shook her head and sighed.
"Haa... In that case, besides the investment contracts, I'll need you to fill out one additional document."
"What kind of document?"
"A waiver."
"A waiver?"
"Yes. A written pledge that even if the investment falls through and you fail to recover your principal, you will not hold us legally liable or demand any compensation."
"Is that all? I'll sign that too. Just bring me the investment contracts already."
When I readily agreed to sign the waiver, the employee seemed to give up on further persuasion. Irene soon returned with several documents, and after giving the contents a cursory look, I slammed my seal down on each one in turn.
"I take it you get a lot of customers who throw a fit when their investments fail?"
I tossed the question at the employee sitting across from me. She had been carefully double-checking the stamped documents, and the moment I asked, a look of weary disgust crossed her face.