The Great Merchant: Derick Walker
I entered Solari World for the first time in a while. While I was in the real world, not a single moment had passed here. Right now, Solari World stood at the moment just after the territorial war in Coulon Territory had ended.
After a Worldline Transfer, you have to get used to a new body and a new life. I thought once more about the situation I found myself in here in Solari World.
I had distinguished myself enormously in the territorial war, and Count Coulomb had granted me a number of privileges. The most extraordinary of them was, of course, the tax exemption. I no longer had to pay taxes in Coulon Territory. For a merchant like me, that was as good as a blank check.
It's the same in reality, but merchants in this world especially pay a lot of taxes.
I decided to start putting my wealth to work in earnest. Even though the territorial war had just ended, Coulon Territory was relatively peaceful. Moreover, since this war had been a victory for Coulon County, the entire territory was in an almost festive mood. That kind of atmosphere stimulates consumption. For a merchant like me, it was a good situation.
The territory was normally so well-policed that even with large numbers of troops away, no trouble had broken out. They had expended a lot of supplies and personnel in the war, but the victory had sent the territory's morale soaring.
Of course, the death of the lord's two sons was a tragedy. Count Coulomb's two sons had been model nobles trusted by every citizen of the territory. The people had believed without a doubt that whichever of them inherited Coulon Territory, a peaceful era would follow. But both had fallen in this war.
For two weeks after the funeral, it was a period of mourning. Officially it was a memorial period for the soldiers who died in the territorial war, but in reality it was a period of mourning for Count Coulomb's two sons. There were even commoners who had come from the farthest reaches of Coulon Territory to lay flowers on their graves. It showed just how upright the two of them had been.
During the funeral, Count Coulomb didn't say a single word, keeping his mouth shut. Their mother, Rienna, didn't even show her face.
The entire territory couldn't stay in mourning forever. After a few days, the territory recovered its vitality.
Count Coulomb could hardly be called young, but he wasn't too old to produce another heir. The people of the territory believed without a doubt that Count Coulomb would produce another wise and just successor. That was everyone's hope.
"Slurp…! Sluuurp!"
I was sitting in my office. From under my desk came an obscene sound. It might have been filthy to anyone else, but to me it was sweeter than Vivaldi.
Mason Elper, spoils of the last territorial war and my personal cock-sleeve, was diligently sucking my dick under the desk. Her workplace was under my desk.
"Haaah…! Sluuuurp!"
The way she did fellatio with her philtrum stretched long and a sloppy expression on her face really suited a secretary. I couldn't concentrate on the documents on the desk. Any man who could concentrate in this situation was definitely a eunuch. In fact, I'd put the documents out not to actually work, but because I wanted to play at being a noble receiving service during business hours.
"Took care of all the urgent stuff."
Arme said, rapping the desk with a thud. She was handling the work across from me in my place. With Arme's meticulous personality, there wouldn't be any mistakes. I tapped Elper's head twice. The signal that I was going to cum.
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!
Thick semen poured into Elper's mouth. She took every drop of the semen my cock buried in her throat was pumping out. By now it was a technique all my women knew how to do. After swallowing all the semen, Elper took her mouth off my cock and gave the glans a little peck of a kiss. It was like a French kiss to a beloved husband.
"Thank you for granting me your semen."
Elper politely bowed to my cock, then crawled out from under the desk. Arme looked at the thoroughly disheveled Elper with moist eyes. She sent me a silent signal that she wanted to go under the desk too. I deliberately ignored her and said what I had to say.
"I'm thinking of hiring someone. Someone who can handle administrative work and help with my business. I can't keep leaving the work to you forever."
Arme was too high-grade a talent to waste on administration. She needed to become my shadow and handle the secret work I wanted done.
"Hmm. Think you can find someone like that that easily? Even if you find them, they'd already be working under Count Coulomb."
"I have someone in mind."
The reason I was telling Arme this was so I could ask her to find the person I was thinking of.
"A woman named Grea. She operates as a gambler in Coulon's back alleys. Her nickname is the Black Wildcat."
"Black Wildcat? I've heard that name."
Arme was a thief who had operated in Coulon. It wasn't strange that she'd know the name of a famous gambler. I briefly described Grea's appearance to Arme. Since she was a famous gambler, if they searched Coulon's back alleys they should be able to pinpoint her location within two days.
"But you're going to leave administration to a gambler? What if she handles work with dice. They say people who gamble and do drugs aren't the kind you can reform."
Arme said it with a worried expression. Her words were true. The reason I was looking for Grea was because she had outstanding management ability — and because she wasn't a "real gambler."
"Don't worry about that. I have a plan. You just find her whereabouts as fast as possible and report to me."
As always, Arme nodded. She vanished like a ghost.
Arme would probably start the job immediately. I felt a little sorry for making her do another job right after finishing the administrative work, but I wanted to find Grea as soon as possible.
I already have a lot of wealth, but the more money the better.
Luna is strong. That's practically her identity. In the game Solari World, Luna is a character you absolutely need to take down the Moon Demon King. Without that strength, you can never face the Demon King.
Sera is efficient. As a beastkin, her strength and agility are well-balanced, and her base performance is excellent. Given the nature of Solari World's beastkin, they tend to fall off in the late game, but with my Power of Sex I can overcome that weakness.
Most importantly, she has cute cat ears and a tail. Just tickling her belly and pounding her pussy and ass is enough to send incredible satisfaction surging through me. Sera can find her reason for existing just by being my meat toilet.
Arme is convenient. She's a thief with a variety of skills. She's useful in all sorts of ways for dungeon crawling, and it's easy to assign her secret work. She's my shadow warrior. When she's not on a mission she's always stuck to me, so she's convenient to fuck too. I used Arme for all sorts of purposes.
The women I've collected so far all have physically robust abilities. That's because my criterion for picking them was combat performance. But to expand Derick Walker's power, I need more than just strong soldiers.
From now on I'm going to grow even more. The wealth I hold will increase, the troops I command will increase, and the power I possess will grow stronger. To handle all of that properly, I need an outstanding strategist. Strong empires have always had strong chancellors.
The purpose of Solari World is fundamentally to defeat the Demon King, Halo Bluemoon. That's why intelligence-related stats are undervalued. In fact, the strategy guide didn't recommend methods of increasing wealth or power. To face the Demon King, ultimately you and your party members' martial power have to get stronger.
But what Derick Walker needs right now is a practical administrator who can handle complex administration and manage the business. I can gather the troops to take down the Demon King slowly. I already have the party members for the Demon King raid picked out in my mind.
I've got a few people marked for administrative talent too.
I calmly waited for Arme's report.
"I found her, Master. That Grea woman. She's at a tavern in the western entertainment district. Silver and Dice. Apparently she's been a regular fixture there for the past few months."
The capable thief Arme quickly brought me the information I wanted. I'd thought it would take at least two days, but she pinpointed Grea's location in half a day. I stroked Arme's head once, then headed for the tavern.
I've roughly planned how to recruit Grea, but I should do some reconnaissance first.
Grea is a clever and cunning woman. That's why I want her. If I don't set the trap carefully, she'll eat the cheese and run.
Silver and Dice was a tavern where a lot of gamblers gathered. They sold more light drinks than strong liquor. Gamblers surprisingly don't drink much. They're addicted to gambling, not alcohol.
When I opened the tavern door and stepped inside, everyone's eyes turned to me. With a physique easily one and a half times a normal person's, I attract attention. Some of the gamblers, apparently recognizing me, whistled.
"Looks like luck's on our side today. Who do we have here? Isn't this Derick Walker, the hero of Coulon Territory?"
"Heh heh. This isn't a slave auction. Well, I'm sure you already knew that."
Apparently I was quite famous. I'd been publicly commended by Count Coulomb in front of a lot of territory citizens, so it wasn't strange.
I sat down in front of a one-eyed gambler. Playing cards and dice were laid out on his table, and round wooden chips were piled high.
"Kishishi! Care to join a round? For us it's a game of life and death, but for a man like you, Walker, it's just entertainment, I'm sure."
"What's the stake?"
"One of these wooden chips is one silver."
One silver. It's hard to make a perfect one-to-one conversion with reality, but about a hundred bucks.
There were easily over a hundred chips piled on the table. So it was a big game with about ten thousand dollars on the line. Of course, I didn't know if that was big money to professional gamblers.
"Tell me the rules."
"Understood. Heh heh. We gamblers are kind to beginners. I'll explain everything from one to ten, slowly."
The tavern master brought wooden chips along with a drink I hadn't even ordered. Was the drink free if you gambled? Or had my reputation produced a free drink? I didn't know, but I accepted it and drank. It didn't taste like much.
"Now, please look at these cards."
The rules were simple. Almost the same as poker in reality. I played a few practice games to get a feel for it.
"We'll begin in earnest."
Naturally, I got cleaned out. I lost a hundred silver, but I didn't feel much. A hundred silver was enough to buy two adult male slaves. When you have a lot of money, your sense of spending really does collapse.
"I'm terribly sorry about that. They say there's such a thing as beginner's luck, but it seems the goddess of fortune is jealous of Walker's wealth."
"Well, that's fine. This gambling business. It's a pretty interesting game."
As I said that, I glanced toward the corner. A woman with ash-gray hair walked slowly this way. She was my target, Grea.
"Oh. A pretty handsome uncle has shown up in this den of cowards. Hi~ I'm Grea."
Grea greeted me in a lively tone that didn't sound like a gambler. But her eyes weren't on me — they were locked on my silver pouch. The greed in those black pupils was no less than any other gambler's.
"Kek! The Black Wildcat is finally stretching. Hey, Grea. Cut us some slack. We haven't eaten much yet either."
"Heh heh. Fine. I'll go easy. You can even take my money."
Grea sat down in the empty seat with a thick-skinned expression. Instantly the other gamblers next to me looked like they'd been had. Some even started quietly getting up from their seats.
"Vant. Where you going? You haven't even lost yet. Wasn't 'Sunset Killer Vant' supposed to keep running until the sun's completely down?"
"Kek! Today's the day I promised the wife. I'm gonna bow out."
"Kikik! Did the wife who ran away come back or something? Well, fine. Cleaning out a snot-nosed brat isn't my style either."
Even with Grea's insult, the guy named Vant tucked tail and ran.
Grea turned her head and looked at me. That expression was like looking at a melancholy library committee girl. But there was no one who didn't know that that innocent expression and those eyes were a perfect mask. The other gamblers here, and me as well.
"Handsome uncle. Your name was Derick Walker, right? I think I caught a glimpse of you at the Count's son's funeral last time."
I had laid flowers for Count Coulomb's two sons in front of countless territory citizens at the funeral. Laying flowers for people I killed. It wasn't even funny.
"Yeah. Derick Walker. No need for a long introduction at a gambling table. Let's start the next round."
I put another silver pouch I'd brought onto the table. At the clink of silver colliding, Grea's ears perked up.
"Uhoho! Nice sound. Good. Gamblers don't need small talk. Let's begin!"
Grea slapped the table. Cards were dealt and the gambling began. Of course, this wasn't gambling. Like an institution shearing the retail investors in a bear market, this was just a show of Grea sucking our pockets dry.
"Heh heh. Full house. I win."
Against me, who'd drawn three of a kind, Grea confidently completed a full house and took all my chips.