Safekeeping of Valuables (1)
In the capital of the Shah Zar Kingdom, Parvata, one building stood out above all the rest.
The moment you stepped onto Parvata’s streets, the first thing that caught your eye was a towering structure of pure white marble, built in perfect symmetry. This was the palace where the Shah Zar royal family resided—the Sheet Mahal.
True to its name as the Winter Palace, it was composed entirely of buildings as white as freshly fallen snow. The kings of Shah Zar had always taken pride in this beautiful palace.
The Sheet Mahal was a vast complex that encompassed numerous secondary palaces, each serving as a residence for the king’s children. There were many reasons why family members did not live together, but the greatest of them was to deliberately foster rivalry among the siblings.
Once born into the direct royal line, brothers and sisters were nothing more than political rivals. It was a somewhat cruel and cold-hearted notion, yet this was the tradition and core value of the Shah Zar royal family.
Unlike the main palace where the king himself resided, the secondary palaces were simply referred to by number—the Second Palace, the Third Palace, and so on. In other words, the lower the number of the palace a royal occupied, the closer they stood to the line of succession.
At the very forefront of these stood the Second Palace of the Sheet Mahal. There lived the prince of the Shah Zar Kingdom and current crown prince, Shah Bahadur.
“…Tin Tara has been dismantled?”
“That is correct, Your Highness.”
He was currently receiving rather startling news. One of the royal family’s shadow organizations, Tin Tara, had been wiped out overnight.
The royal shadow organizations handled every dirty deed on the royal family’s behalf. If a king who represented an entire nation were to command them directly, it could easily become a liability, so they were instead managed by the crown prince or whichever royal stood closest to the throne.
At present, that responsibility fell to Crown Prince Shah Bahadur. From his perspective, the sudden and complete destruction of an entire organization was hardly welcome news.
Moreover…
“The Dragon Jade they seized has also vanished.”
Even the Dragon Jade they had stolen from the principality was gone. Bahadur’s brow furrowed slightly as he spoke.
“Father was so eager to get his hands on it.”
“His Majesty never issued a direct order, so he will not hold it against you.”
That much was true. The king had never commanded this operation himself. When the king merely revealed his greed for the Dragon Jade, Bahadur had moved early in an attempt to score points. Now that the plan had failed, the fact that it had never been a royal order was a relief.
“Where are Barman and Babur?”
“Even their whereabouts remain unknown, Your Highness.”
“…Did those bastards take the Dragon Jade and run?”
“That possibility seems low. Both brothers appear to have been killed. Their final traces cut off along the escape route, and bloodstains were discovered there.”
Shah Bahadur was mildly surprised. The brothers Barman and Babur had been men of considerable skill. If they had lacked ability, they never would have been appointed as royal shadows in the first place.
“Not a single member of the organization survived either.”
Their entire organization had been crushed without even a chance to resist. Bahadur narrowed his eyes slightly.
“The bodies?”
“There were none.”
“Traces?”
“An enormous amount of mana residue remained. Beyond that, not a single fingerprint or strand of hair was left behind.”
An extremely clean cleanup. That required not only excellent aftercare skills but overwhelming force as a foundation. And the deliberately left massive mana residue was clearly meant as a kind of warning.
There was only one group bold enough to leave such a warning while fully aware that Tin Tara was a royal shadow organization.
“…The Hero’s Party’s doing?”
If it was the Hero’s Party that had delivered the Dragon Jade to the Bastien Principality, it was more than possible. He had heard they were led by the Hero of the Holy Sword.
“The circumstances point that way… but upon investigation, there is no record of them leaving the principality or entering the kingdom.”
“They may have entered in secret. Investigate whether any suspicious individuals were spotted in Mahendra. Gather testimony and bring it to me.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
After dismissing his aide, Bahadur clicked his tongue and rose from his seat. He gazed out at the king’s palace, visible directly from his own chambers.
“…I thought I could get one step ahead.”
Bahadur narrowed his eyes and muttered.
“A bunch of janitors who should be busy cleaning up monsters are blocking my path.”
He lightly raised a hand and stroked his chin.
Aside from the mana residue, they had left nothing behind, so he could not openly reprimand them. And even if he tried something unofficial… their combat strength was not something he could casually handle.
After a moment of thought, Bahadur murmured to himself once more.
“I suppose the only way to deal with a Hero’s Party is with another Hero’s Party.”
“…As you command.”
A black shadow that Bahadur had thought was merely talking to himself shifted above his head. It leapt swiftly out the window and vanished from sight. Only then did Bahadur allow a faintly satisfied smile to form on his lips.
The Dragon Jade we had gone through so much trouble to recover returned safely to the auction house. Grand Duke Robert, who had been waiting desperately for our return, along with all the guests who had come for the auction, repeatedly praised our efforts and called it a relief.
Until the Dragon Jade went up on the auction block, Erinn kept it on her person rather than handing it over to the principality’s warehouse, so there was no second theft.
“Twenty thousand gold coins! Sold!”
With the auctioneer’s cheerful cry, the Dragon Jade’s new owner was decided. In the final stretch, Agresia, Lord of the Red Magic Tower, and a wealthy magnate from some eastern nation had gone head-to-head, but the ultimate victor was the Red Magic Tower Lord, whose desire for the Dragon Jade ran deeper.
“Lady Agresia, Lord of the Red Magic Tower, is now the new owner of the Dragon Jade!”
Still, throwing down twenty thousand gold coins… being the master of the Red Magic Tower really did mean having deep pockets.
“The Tower Lord must be ridiculously rich.”
Letisia overheard my muttering and replied.
“I’ve heard that the annual budget of the six colored Magic Towers, including the Red Magic Tower, rivals that of a mid-sized nation.”
“That’s insane…”
No wonder she could bid like that. Anyway, half of those gold coins were ours, which meant… we were filthy rich!!
“Ten thousand gold coins are coming into our hands!”
“There were a lot of new items in the magic tool shop catalog this time… one piece should be fine, right?”
“Of course!”
“Who said it was fine~?”
Someone had to rain on our cheerful conversation.
“And it’s not ten thousand, dummy♡”
It was that damn bratty Hero, Erinn.
“It sold for twenty thousand. Why isn’t it ten thousand?”
“Who’s going to cover the fees for us~? And even though the Grand Duke’s side hosted the auction, the expenses for preparing it still have to be shared, so those come out too. After all that, we split the rest in half~.”
“…So how much is left?”
Were auction fees really that expensive? At my question, Erinn thought for a moment and then snorted.
“About eight thousand should come in~?”
“…What? That’s still a ton. We can buy plenty. Why make it sound like we can’t?”
“Pfft, because your flustered face is hilarious. You look like such a dummy♡”
This little…
“Eight thousand gold coins… we won’t have to worry about expenses for a while.”
Letisia spoke as if she still couldn’t quite believe it, and I nodded in agreement. With this much money, we could quit the Hero’s Party right now, hide somewhere, and live in quiet luxury.
“But even eight thousand won’t stay intact~.”
“What are you talking about now?”
Was there somewhere else they were going to nick our money?
“We have to pay taxes~?”
Taxes. I froze for a second.
Whether in reality or anywhere else, coming into a large sum of money all at once meant you had to pay income tax accordingly. That was only natural.
We had just gotten our hands on a considerable fortune, so as citizens of the Dern Empire we would of course have to pay taxes…
“…D-Doesn’t the Hero’s Party get some kind of tax exemption? They don’t slap income tax on the funds we get for normal activities, right?”
“There is one originally~.”
What? Then what was there to worry about?
“I just don’t know if that woman will leave us alone~?”
“Who?”
That woman?
While I looked puzzled, Letisia’s expression hardened slightly in understanding.
“…Now that we’ve obtained this much money, I don’t think she’ll just sit still.”
“She’ll invent every possible excuse to squeeze us dry~?”
“Who is she?”
Was she some tax office director or something?
“As Allen knows, we’re affiliated with the Dern Empire, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Naturally, there’s a higher organization that manages us.”
“Uh-huh.”
An organization that managed the Hero’s Party…
“It’s the Dern Empire’s military.”
Of course it was the military. Nothing short of the department that controlled the entire nation’s military power could manage a Hero’s Party.
“But the Minister of Military Affairs there is… problematic in various ways.”
“Problematic?”
“She keeps trying to pick pointless power struggles with me~.”
…Power struggles?
“So the Minister of Military Affairs is keeping you in check?”
“You’re quick on the uptake for a loser~♡”
“No, why?”
Whether they liked it or not, the Dern Empire was in a position where they had to treat Erinn’s party well. They couldn’t even coddle us properly, and now they were trying to keep us in check?
“Isn’t the Empire friendly toward us?”
“Of course it is.”
“…That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It means the Minister of Military Affairs is doing it on her own, dummy~♡”
“And she’s allowed to?”
Was the Emperor of the Empire just watching that happen?
“That Minister of Military Affairs is the eldest daughter of the greatest family in the Empire.”
“Greatest family? Royalty?”
“Ah, Allen doesn’t know.”
Letisia explained so I could understand.
“The Aquilius family. They’re the sole ducal house of the Dern Empire. They rose with the founding of the Empire, and when the Dern Empire was actively expanding through conquest in the past, they stood at the forefront and achieved brilliant military merits. Thanks to that, their family’s power remains overwhelmingly strong even now, which is why they’re called a great house.”
A founding contributor family and a family of war heroes. Hearing that, I began to understand why the Emperor left her alone.
“…If they’re that powerful, even the Emperor would have trouble touching them.”
“Yes. As a result, His Majesty the Emperor can’t really say anything to the Minister of Military Affairs unless she crosses a line. Of course he could punish her if she did…”
“But this woman cleverly stays right on the line, slippery as a snake♡”
…She had political skill, then. People like that were the most annoying to deal with.
Hearing about the Minister’s background, I could see why she would try to keep Erinn’s party in check. The existence of a Hero’s Party could clearly affect the position of a war-hero family like theirs.
Even so, we’re the Empire’s only Hero’s Party…
In the face of power, patriotism and everything else seemed to go out the window.
“Then the time we went to the Estire Kingdom… the funds being so low was also…”
“That’s right. That was her doing.”
“She really is a pain in the ass~?”
Erinn giggled and looked at me, then put on a mischievous smile.
“Worse than a loser~♡”
“…Why are you suddenly hitting me with that?”
“Pfft♡”
Letisia spoke.
“This time as well, she’ll find all sorts of excuses and won’t leave the money we earned alone.”
“So what do we do? Just let her take it?”
“Well, if we want to avoid trouble, that is one way~?”
That would be far too wasteful.
After thinking it over carefully, I casually floated an idea.
“…Can’t we just hide it?”
“Hide it?”
“The fact that we cooperated with the principality to sell the Dragon Jade is something the Empire already knows~?”
“True. But…”
Even if they knew, what could they do if the money wasn’t there?
“In the end, they won’t know exactly how much we made. Not unless we return to the Empire and get investigated. The principality has no obligation to report the results of its own auction to the Empire.”
“That’s true.”
“Hmm, so you’re saying that if we don’t have the funds on us when they investigate, they won’t be able to levy taxes~?”
“How are they supposed to tax us if they don’t know how much we earned?”
I continued.
“We leave the money we received this time outside the Empire and just withdraw it when we’re operating abroad.”
“Mmm, it’s not a bad idea, but…”
“Who’s going to hold it for us~? And is there anyone we can trust with that much money~?”
Letisia and Erinn’s doubts were only natural.
The setting of Dungeon in Evil was not a modern society, so professional banks did not exist. To leave money in safekeeping, you either entrusted it to someone personally or left it with vault keepers—people who held items or money for others.
“A vault keeper.”
“…If we hand over that much gold, they’ll just take it and run.”
“Exactly~.”
As she said, vault keepers did operate on trust, but the amount of gold we would be depositing was so large that there was a real risk they would abandon that trust and flee.
In fact, Dungeon in Evil even implemented cases like that. If you deposited certain items or amounts above a threshold, the vault keeper NPC would simply grab everything and disappear.
“No.”
But I knew someone. Someone who would never run, someone who would choose death over losing their credit.
“There’s a guy who will absolutely never run.”
Even the players of Dungeon in Evil never found this NPC and so never used him, but those of us who did discover him always used this vault keeper without exception.
“…Who?”
“There’s a vault keeper in the country next to the principality who values his credit as much as his life.”
“The country next to the principality? The Shah Zar Kingdom?”
“No, the one next to that.”
Letisia asked in mild surprise.
“How does Allen know someone all the way over there?”
“…I heard about him while out buying supplies.”
Erinn asked,
“Is it just a rumor~?”
“No. He’s a vault keeper who only takes big clients. He might already be managing more wealth than what we’re planning to store.”
Since he already handled large sums, there was no risk of him running even if we entrusted him with a fortune. And there was one more safety measure.
“Besides, that person isn’t originally a vault keeper by profession. So the risk of him running is even lower.”
“…What?”
If he had been an ordinary vault keeper, there was no way so many players would have failed to use him as one. He wasn’t even a hidden NPC. The reason people still couldn’t use him as a vault keeper was because of one particular fact.
“He’s originally a merchant.”