Diversification
The day after walking away from the knights, I found myself sitting across from Bingo. The rascal had resigned from the order at the exact same time as me.
"Looks like I dragged you into unemployment too," I said. "Sorry about that."
"Couldn't be helped," Bingo replied with a shrug. "The second you walked, it was only a matter of time before they came for my neck. Getting chewed out by skinny pencil-pushing clerks is one thing, but I had zero desire to be on the receiving end of the knights' wrath."
In truth, it wouldn't have ended with a simple chewing out. Everyone in the order knew Bingo and I were close friends. With me abruptly walking out, Bingo was naturally the first person they would have dragged in for interrogation.
Besides, while not quite on my level, Bingo was a bona fide Kodana tycoon in his own right. Even if he sold only the coins he held right now, he would walk away with well over three billion liras after deducting transaction fees. That alone was an astronomical fortune. A single million liras could keep a family of four afloat for a tight month in the notoriously expensive Imperial Capital; considering that, this bastard was hardly in any position to care about a bureaucrat's meager salary.
"Looking back, I'm just glad you're around," Bingo said. "If I were left all by my lonesome, who's to say someone wouldn't have slit my throat in the dead of night?"
It was a grim, undeniable truth. I at least possessed a high public profile and the martial prowess to defend myself, but Bingo was an ordinary commoner with no backing whatsoever. Left on his own, he might have had to bundle up his gold and flee into the night to some distant territory where no one knew him.
"It's far safer sticking right by your side," he added. "I'll handle your chores and run your errands, so in return..."
"You want me to keep you breathing. Done."
I casually raised my weapon to show him. It was a brand-new sword I had purchased the moment I walked away from the order.
Was it because I couldn't let go of my attachment to the blade? Part of it was, certainly. I was someone who had poured every waking hour into swordsmanship since the age of nine. Not out of any grandiose ambition to become an illustrious master, but because grueling twelve-hour daily training sessions were the only escape from grinding poverty. Fortunately, I was exceptionally gifted. My athletic prowess was natural, and my sensitivity to aura was keen, allowing me to attain the rank of Expert far more easily than others. That very talent had earned me a coveted spot in the Imperial Guard Knights.
I don't need to swing a sword to escape poverty anymore.
Now, I needed martial strength for a different reason: to protect my fortune.
The sword wasn't the only thing I had prepared. High-grade potions capable of knitting deep lacerations and puncture wounds in the blink of an eye, and an assortment of magic scrolls prepared for every conceivable contingency. Just stocking those had cost an obscene sum. High-grade potions and magic scrolls weren't items meant for casual self-defense in the first place; they were the sort of gear glory-crazed adventurers packed before plunging into lethal dungeons, where a single vial could literally mean the difference between life and death in a dire emergency.
Of course, for a man with my wealth, the expense barely made a dent. Well, sure, parting with any coin stung, but I could easily stomach it if it meant keeping myself alive. After all, this was an investment in dealing with the vultures circling my hard-earned fortune. With preparations like these, keeping Bingo safe would be child's play. And in turn, I wouldn't need to hire an outsider as an administrative clerk, making it a mutually beneficial arrangement.
"That works for me," Bingo replied nonchalantly before shifting gears to advise me on asset management. "First off, you should move to a safer neighborhood. We're way too close to the Imperial Guard's headquarters right now. You don't want to live cheek by jowl with people who make your blood boil, do you?"
"Where do you think we should go?"
The location Bingo suggested was District 3 of the Imperial Capital, an affluent residential sector predominantly inhabited by high-ranking bureaucrats and military officers. Because it was home to imperial officials, public security was practically airtight, and more importantly, with so many eyes watching, the Imperial Guard wouldn't dare throw their weight around carelessly.
"District 3... District 3, huh?"
"Naturally, if you want to lord over a sprawling estate with dozens of servants catering to your every whim, District 1 would be better. But that place is crawling with high nobles and cadet branches of the imperial family. Do you really want to rub shoulders with snobs breathing the rarefied air up there?"
"No thanks. District 3 is plenty."
"Actually, I already scouted a mansion with a garden in a prime location. You'll probably need to hire a few servants, though."
The next thing Bingo suggested was diversifying my assets. Currently, all I held was cold, hard cash. Following the recommendation from the Kodana Exchange, I had deposited half with the Imperial Bank and the other half into a credit union operated by the Merchant Union Headquarters. On hand, I kept only around five hundred million liras in gold coins and promissory notes. Even that pocket change was an enormous fortune in itself.
"Cash is king, sure, but you need to diversify to a sensible degree. Who knows what'll happen to Kodana once the Demon King's subjugation wraps up?"
"What do you suggest I buy?"
Bingo rattled off a few prospective investments without missing a beat. First was a vast forest two days' travel from the capital, responsible for supplying forty percent of the firewood consumed throughout the city. The profit margin wasn't stellar, but as a store of value, it was second to none.
"A timber forest. Not bad."
"Right? Steady as a rock. Nobles might use magic tools for cooking and heating, but the vast majority of ordinary folk still rely on good old firewood and coal, just like always. You could probably resell it at fair market value thirty years from now and not lose a copper. How about snapping up a half-share of the ownership?"
"And if I pass on that?"
"Word is, a villa belonging to Marquis Claudein just hit the market. It's about a day's carriage ride from the capital. Honestly, the villa itself isn't worth much, but on the grounds grows some sort of... what was it called again? Anyway, some fruit the high nobility goes crazy for. Apparently, the nearby villagers pay a fee just to forage there."
"Sounds like it'd easily cover its own upkeep and then some."
The real estate Bingo recommended seemed geared more toward preserving wealth than generating massive returns. I decided to buy at least one of the properties he pitched. The villa seemed like a solid choice.
"Beyond that, gemstones and gold bullion are always solid."
"What about treasures or relics?"
"Oh, that's a good angle too. Isn't it customary for imperial royals far down the succession line to receive an heirloom or two when they leave the imperial palace? Approaching cadet royals who moved out decades ago to discreetly gauge their interest in selling wouldn't be a bad idea. There are plenty of royals out there who are imperial in name only."
As we talked, a strange sense of detachment washed over me, as if the conversation belonged to an entirely different reality. A timber forest, a marquis's country villa, heirlooms held by cadet royals... These were assets I couldn't have dreamed of laying eyes on in a lifetime of drawing a knight's salary. Yet here I was, negotiating purchases simply to diversify my portfolio.
The world I live in really has changed.
I even handed Bingo a bottle of fine wine as a token of appreciation for his financial counsel. A vintage worth a whopping six hundred thousand liras. In a backwater rural estate, that was an entire month's wage for an armed guardsman. Truth be told, it was the caliber of wine I used to only sample at high-society banquets, but now I could casually toss it to a friend as a gift without batting an eye.
Bingo looked just as unperturbed as he took it. After all, this bastard was loaded too.
"Ah, speaking of which, when are you planning to sell?"
"I told you," Bingo said. "We're still nowhere near the crown of the head. Of course, I don't plan on waiting until it hits the absolute peak. I'll probably dump it somewhere between the eyes."
He spoke with the casual confidence of a man who actually knew when the market would reach between the eyes. It was pure bravado, but I didn't bother calling him out on it. Regardless of where he decided to cash out, the fact remained that he was sitting on a staggering sum. A sum of money that the comrades I left behind—currently spurring their warhorses like madmen across the plains to face the lizardman horde—could never hope to amass in their entire lifetimes.
Yeah. When you've raked in this kind of fortune, a little extra hassle is well worth enduring.
Of course, diversifying assets was only the beginning.
"What are you going to do about that training hall?" Bingo asked.
"Open it, of course."
I fully intended to establish a swordsmanship training hall before the month was out. Just as I had declared to Commander Wainwright, it was ostensibly to instruct refugee children.
A training hall... Usually, such dojos were opened by knights retiring with mediocre records to scratch out a living. After all, the Empire was teeming with parents desperate to break the vicious cycle of poverty by having their children learn armed martial arts. Of course, I wasn't opening a hall to nickel-and-dime tuition fees. It was closer to a calculated survival strategy, a living shield to protect both myself and my fortune.
A swordsmanship training hall run by a former Imperial Guard knight who had nearly joined the Hero's party—an Expert who hadn't retired due to crippling battle wounds, but was hale and sound in all four limbs—offering lessons completely free of charge.
The news wouldn't just turn the heads of refugees; it would drive half the commoners residing across the Imperial Capital mad with excitement.
"From snot-nosed brats to boys just sprouting peach fuzz, they'll all be trampling each other to learn from you, most likely."
I wasn't even planning to stop at swordsmanship lessons. I intended to feed them warm meals and ensure baseline hygiene. After all, spending day in and day out rubbing elbows with kids crawling with head lice would be pure torture for me as well. Besides, you couldn't very well thrust wooden swords into the hands of starving children without feeding them first.
Doing this would steadily elevate my public reputation—enough to ring loudly in Commander Wainwright's ears.
He's probably keeping a close eye on me even now anyway.
How would the Commander feel once word reached him that a knight bordering on peak Expert was personally teaching swordplay to grime-streaked street urchins? He would surely writhe in agonizing guilt, lamenting that his own blunder had ruined a peerless talent and driven him from the order. And that guilt would serve as an impenetrable shield for me.
"Nice. So far, the plan is airtight."
A quiet wave of satisfaction welled up inside me. But right then, Bingo pointed out a crucial blind spot I had completely overlooked.
"By the way, what are you going to do about your fiancée?"
"Fiancée...? Ah, right."
Amber Hyde. Come to think of it, that woman still existed.
Formally speaking, Amber was still my betrothed. Her father, the man who had stabbed me in the back with that disciplinary warning, was still serving as a high prosecutor. By all accounts, he had been running around frantically trying to salvage the situation, but his efforts were entirely in vain.
"Since you reminded me, I'd better clean that up too. That bitch."
Shopping and investing were fine and dandy, but business had to come first.