When the Tide Comes In, Row with Gold
Even though I’d said that, it really showed that she was the elite my father had personally selected and sent after careful vetting. Exactly three days after I asked Eleanor to look into construction guilds, she had succeeded in arranging a meeting with the guild master of the Red Castle Guild—a name that was quite well-known. In fact, even in the original story’s setting, they were said to compete for the continent’s top spot in architectural technology and reliability.
Hmm… But from what I remember, the master here was definitely…
Well, it didn’t really matter, did it? As long as they built the villa properly, that was enough.
“So the Red Castle Guild master is coming to the merchant guild in person?”
“Correct. They said that if the price is negotiated satisfactorily, the master themselves will participate directly at the site.”
“…How arrogant.”
“That is also correct.”
“…Anyway, they’ll arrive in two hours, right?”
I pushed the approval documents aside and stood up.
“Time to prepare for our guest. Could you call the maids to set up the reception room?”
“I’ll see to it immediately.”
Eleanor gave a crisp nod at my order and left the office.
In the Calydia Merchant Guild’s highest-grade reception room—reserved exclusively for VIPs—the man sitting across from me sipped his tea with refined elegance. His appearance was so flawless it inspired instant admiration. Tall and powerfully built, with proportions that looked sculpted from marble and features so sharp they could dominate any imperial salon, he was the very picture of an alpha male.
“You are Kaelen, guild master of the Red Castle?”
At my question the man set down his teacup, offered a gentle smile, and produced a single business card from his coat. It was one of the continent’s most trusted identity plaques, magically treated to make forgery impossible.
Of course, separate from its authenticity, the card he handed me was fake. As far as I remembered, the real guild master of the Red Castle was not a slick, handsome human male.
Wasn’t he an old dwarf who lost his wife, drowned his days in strong liquor, and lived like a recluse?
In the middle of the main story, amid the great catastrophe when monsters and the Beasts of the Beginning poured forth, he would be moved by the protagonist’s selfless sacrifice and finally pick up his hammer again. Until then, he refused to show himself to the world.
So who was this kindly smiling man in front of me? Family of that dwarf? Or a trusted subordinate who handled all practical affairs?
Well, that doesn’t really matter either.
Even if he wasn’t the true master, as long as the villa was built sturdy and expensive, it was fine. Whoever he was, the fact that the Red Castle Guild’s reputation had never once faltered proved their skill.
After a brief exchange of greetings, the real price negotiation began. Kaelen examined the wasteland terrain map and the scale of the villa I wanted, then spoke in a calm, measured voice.
“Considering ground preparation, procurement of the finest materials, and even barrier stones to repel monsters… approximately 5,000 gold coins seems appropriate.”
“……?”
At the absurdly low figure I frowned and answered.
“Only 5,000 gold coins? I’m disappointed that the Red Castle Guild would undervalue its outstanding artistry and technology at such a bargain price. Let’s make it 10,000 gold coins.”
“…Pardon?”
The first crack appeared in Kaelen’s perfect smile. He studied my face to see if I was joking, but my expression had never been more serious.
“Exceptional craftsmen deserve correspondingly enormous compensation. The Calydia ducal merchant guild has no intention of skimping on money for excellent work.”
“Lord Calydia. No—Guild Master. Even so, 10,000 gold coins completely collapses business ethics and market value. Our guild accepts only fair compensation for honest labor. That said, I understand your intention. In that case, 7,000 gold coins should suffice.”
“8,000 gold coins.”
“…We will accept 6,000 gold coins. No matter how I consider it, my guild’s conscience will not permit anything higher.”
It was a bizarre standoff: the customer stubbornly offering more money while the seller desperately tried to lower the price. At the end of this absurd tug-of-war I could no longer endure and delivered an ultimatum.
“I should have just taken 7,000 from the start. Fine. We’ll settle at exactly 6,500 gold coins. Nothing lower.”
“…Sigh. If you insist, I understand.”
Kaelen nodded reluctantly, his face saying he could not comprehend the situation at all. It was a staggering sum—precisely 1.3 times his original quote of 5,000 gold coins.
Whew… That was intense. Spending money wastefully is ridiculously difficult.
I let out a sigh of relief and finished signing the contract. Kaelen, who had also completed the paperwork with visible effort, rose from his seat. He had regained his professional smile and now offered a handshake.
I gladly took his hand. Yet the moment our palms met, something felt off. Despite his mountain-crushing physique, his hand bore no trace of labor or sword training. It was impossibly smooth and soft, without a single callus.
…What is this?
The brief doubt flickered through my mind and was quickly dismissed. After all, the heavy lifting and hammering would be done by the workers below. No need to worry about the spokesperson’s palms.
“Then we’ll meet again in two weeks.”
“Very well. And thank you for sincerely recognizing my fa— I mean, our Red Castle.”
“…Think nothing of it.”
He had almost said “father” just now. So he really was family?
Come to think of it, the northern region of the empire—the Marbas Margraviate—was indeed an exceptionally dangerous place, plagued by beasts, monsters, and all the other threats common in dark-fantasy worlds. Among those dangers, the most hazardous spot was precisely the troublesome land where Baron Luemien planned to settle.
It sat at the northern edge while touching the Derpan Duchy to the east. More importantly, it lay closest to the Forest of Disaster in the northeast of the continent. I remembered learning at the academy just how perilous that proximity made it.
“Mmm……”
I groaned as I stared down at the map of the wasteland’s terrain. No matter how sturdy the walls and villa the Red Castle Guild built, there would surely be a limit to stopping the monsters that would pour from the Forest of Disaster with mere bricks and basic defensive spells.
In that case, the only conclusion was that overwhelming firepower—beyond any physical barrier—was essential for perfect defense.
Then it’s simple. Let’s contact the Magic Kingdom.
I recalled the trade route my older brother had opened recently. The reclusive Magic Kingdom had apparently approached us first with a trade proposal. Whatever their motives, I could simply buy up every strategic weapon they boasted—magic-engineering cannons and every other top-grade magical armament I could get my hands on.
Whoa… This is going to let me burn through money in the best way possible.
I could barely contain the laughter bubbling up. The Magic Kingdom’s core weapons rarely saw the outside world and commanded astronomical prices. If I used the plausible justification of “territorial defense,” there could be no more perfect excuse to punch a massive hole in the guild’s surplus funds.
And since I was already making the board as crazy as possible, I decided to secretly slip one personal item into the weapon purchase list.
The Elemental Magic Stone. It was a core gimmick item that would be absolutely necessary to subjugate the Fallen Fairy King, one of the Beasts of the Beginning that would later threaten the continent.
At this point almost no one knew its proper use, so few would possess it… but somewhere in the Magic Kingdom’s warehouses, one was surely gathering dust. If a VIP customer buying thousands of gold worth of cannons asked for one difficult-to-obtain ore as a freebie, those picky mages would hand it over without suspicion. And if they hesitated, tossing in a few of the highest-grade magic stone fruits would make them fetch it immediately.
A perfect plan: establish justification by building firepower with the guild’s money, and in the process obtain for free the item that would extend my own lifeline. I immediately picked up my fountain pen and began drafting an enormous purchase order for the Magic Kingdom.
After investing up to half the net profit I had earned from the magic stone fruit venture, the documents were densely packed with the names of top-grade magic-engineering weapons totaling nearly 8,000 gold coins.
Twelve magic-engineering cannons, five hundred chain-explosion flame orbs, and magical traps carrying hallucination curses especially lethal to monsters. I swept up every premium item I could find.
Of course I had slipped the Elemental Magic Stone in naturally among them. The long purchase order was finally completed when I scrawled the Calydia Merchant Guild’s splendid seal and my signature across the final page.
“Have you lost your mind?! Why on earth is a mere border barony’s relocation project spending 8,000 gold coins on weapons?!”
Upon checking the completed order, Eleanor threw away her usual cool mask and wailed with genuine despair. Or perhaps it was a scream. Either way, it was a little frightening.
“No matter how much profit the magic stone fruit brought in, this is over-investment that completely shatters the bounds of common sense! Just what is the Luemien barony to you that you would uproot the guild’s very foundations to shower them with this much?!”
Her hands trembled as she clutched the papers; her eyes blazed as though they would set the documents on fire.
“Ah, I don’t care. The approval is done, so send it via communication orb to the Magic Kingdom right away. I’m really busy, so I’ll be going now!”
“Guild Master? Guild Master!? Young Lord Calydia!!”
Before Eleanor could pour out any more scolding, I kicked open the door of the guild master’s office and fled.
Behind me her desperate cries for the guild master echoed down the corridor, but I pretended not to hear and quickened my steps.
Wow, scary. I’ll have to avoid her for a while.
I hurried around the corner of the hallway and spotted a familiar head of pink hair walking up from the first-floor lobby with an armful of documents.
It was Lillian, whom I hadn’t seen in some time.
“Ah…! Lord Ideon….”
She brightened when she saw me, then flinched at Eleanor’s loud voice ringing from upstairs.
“I-is something wrong? I thought I heard something about the Luemien barony…”
“It’s nothing… Just a small matter. Good timing, though.”
We moved to a quiet terrace in a secluded indoor garden to escape the commotion.
Once seated, Lillian could not hide her anxiety; she kept fidgeting with the handle of her teacup.
“Um, Guild Master… I overheard part of what the vice-guild master said earlier.”
She glanced at me cautiously, then spoke in a tiny voice.
“To be honest, I also feel it is extremely burdensome that so much capital is being poured into the cost of relocating to the new territory. Wouldn’t it be better to remove at least some of the magic cannons or expensive traps…?”
“Nonsense. Every single item is necessary.”
“But the amount is simply too—”
“Lillian. Have you already forgotten my foresight that the magic stone fruit cultivation would be a huge success?”
At my confident tone Lillian shook her head in a fluster.
“N-no, of course not! How could I possibly forget the grace you have shown us, Guild Master!”
“Investment should always be so excessive that your eyes nearly pop out of your head.”
I leaned an elbow on the armrest and continued as if preaching the world’s most profound truth.
“If you spend money half-heartedly, testing the waters, you only get results of equal measure. Only when you expand the board so massively that you need an entirely new set of eyeballs will unimaginable, overwhelming success follow.”
It was perfect nonsense philosophy, pure words spilling from my mouth.
Logically, what possible connection could there be between investment capital and replacing one’s eyeballs?
Yet Lillian’s reaction was far more fervent than I expected.
“Aah…”
She covered her mouth with both hands, eyes glistening with emotion as she gazed at me.
“As expected, your insight is beyond anything I could hope to fathom. That vision that never clings to petty sums but always looks toward a vast future… I will engrave it in my heart for the rest of my life!”
No, no. It’s not exactly petty. It’s a full 8,000 gold coins.
The “petty sum” I mentioned referred to previous ventures, but… there was no need to nitpick. After that we sipped our tea and exchanged light updates.
Lillian told me how excited the entire Luemien family was while packing for the move, and how the mages were progressing in their research on subdivision magic. I chimed in at appropriate moments, keeping the warm atmosphere alive.
Suddenly Lillian set down her teacup as if something had occurred to her. She glanced around, then lowered her voice.
“Ah, Guild Master. Have you heard the rumor that’s been circulating secretly among the eastern merchant guilds lately?”
“A rumor?”
“Yes. It concerns the atmosphere between the Iregos Principality, the Balta Principality, and finally the Den Barbier Principality… The word is that the mood among those three principalities has grown very strange.”