Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: The Crown Prince Steps In
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Bamper set the teapot set back down on the stall with a soft clink.
"I'm not trying to reprimand you. A bustling market is a good thing."
His deep green eyes, infused with light, radiated a calm and weighty dignity.
It felt like the first time I'd seen him like this.
For some reason, I found myself holding my breath, just watching him quietly.
"But I do have a proposal for you."
"W-whatever you command..."
The merchant couldn't kneel, so he bowed his head as if it might fall off.
"Do you know who made this item?"
"...N-no, I don't."
Bamper didn't continue right away. Instead, he spun the rotating display rack once.
"Oh, dear. This is too tight. Lady Rudelriz has weak hands, so she can't pull it that snug at the end."
The merchant's head snapped up, and his trembling eyes fixed on me.
He seemed to remember that Bamper had called me "White Flame" when he appeared.
Bamper burst into clear laughter.
"To think of selling replicas to the original creator—your instincts as a merchant are truly outstanding."
A short murmur like an echo rippled through the street.
Cold sweat began to bead on my skin. I was truly glad I hadn't bought Mayches' fountain pen here.
The merchant, still in a squat, stared at me with a face gone pale as a ghost and stammered,
"M-my... m-my... I deserve... death..."
"No! No! It's not a crime deserving death at all!"
I waved my hands frantically at the merchant.
If I didn't shout along that it wasn't a crime deserving death, what was I doing? I glanced at Bamper, who was smiling faintly at the thread bracelet on my wrist.
"As I said, I'm not here to reprimand you. But this thread bracelet holds great meaning to me. It carries fond memories."
The way his eyes narrowed clearly asked, 'Doesn't it for you too?'
My face must have turned bright red.
"I'll pay generously, so dispose of all the items and stop selling them. And in the future, don't accept orders for this from the Gebenhouz Merchant House."
"Y-yes, of course!"
Bamper said he'd pay, but the thread bracelets probably cost next to nothing to make, so scrapping them wouldn't hurt much.
Even if it did hurt, from the merchant's perspective, would that matter? When the Crown Prince himself ordered disposal.
What I meant was, if the goal was just to halt sales of the thread bracelets, this was more than enough.
But Bamper didn't stop there.
Suddenly, in a perfectly natural tone, he turned to me and said,
"What was that, White Flame? Worried the Gebenhouz Merchant House might retaliate by refusing to supply other goods to small merchants like him?"
"...Yes?"
"Then we should make sure the Gebenhouz Merchant House knows selling this will only bring them losses. If we see these being sold anywhere after today, they'll face a lawsuit for intellectual property infringement."
"...Ah!"
I think I understood what Bamper was doing.
That's when I realized why he'd removed the hood of his perfectly fine robe before showing up.
He wasn't just speaking to the merchant in front of him—he was addressing every listening ear nearby.
He leaned toward me again.
His cocoa-brown hair swayed, carrying a fresh scent.
"What was that, White Flame? Worried that if Gebenhouz takes out their frustration on their merchants or unjustly fires them over this?"
"Th-that's right...?"
"Hm, you there."
Bamper suddenly pointed at Yan.
"I hear Baltan Catric is planning to start a new merchant house. That true?"
Yan, who had been chuckling, responded in his usual laid-back drawl.
"Ah... yeah. We'll need people with a strong sense of intellectual property and solid business ethics."
I shot him a wide-eyed glare that screamed, 'Why are you talking so casually?!' Yan seemed to realize his slip.
"Oh, just talking to myself."
Bamper shrugged.
"The one who just muttered that loudly has high authority at Baltan Catric, so you can trust it."
That was true—he was the vice-guildmaster, after all...
The merchant seemed to pick up on something irreverent in Yan's behavior but, seeing Bamper and the rest of my group (everyone but me) completely unbothered, just rolled his eyes frantically before bowing his head again.
Finally, Bamper placed a small leather pouch on the stall.
It jingled heavily, as if filled with hefty coins.
"This is for disposal costs. You look too shaken to keep selling today, so why not use it to buy a round for your fellow merchants and have some fun chatting? You can gripe about what just happened, if you like."
As Bamper wrapped things up and turned away, Calipan took hold of my wheelchair again.
We moved away from the stall, parting the crowd like a wave.
"Th-thank you, Your Highness! Thank you, Lady! I'll never forget this grace my whole life!"
The merchant's distant voice faintly pulled me back to reality.
...Goodness, what had just happened? It felt like lightning had struck.
We waited in a quiet alley of Denpider for the outside commotion to die down.
Bamper deftly fielded his friends' teasing about what time it was when he finally showed up.
"Sorry! Bandahen wasn't feeling well this morning, so I stayed with him and got delayed."
"Oh... I see..."
"Don't worry about it. You didn't know the situation, and I showed up late to our meetup without explaining, so it's natural."
"You're way too good at making us look like trash, bro..."
I gazed up at the refreshingly smiling Bamper with curious eyes.
My own eyes were probably sparkling a bit.
To be honest, Bamper's demeanor just now was so much like the Bandahen I'd imagined from the original story—it felt surreal...!
Especially surprising was how he didn't just leave any potential retaliation from the Gebenhouz Merchant House for this daily-wage merchant to handle alone.
By pretending to talk to me, he'd shielded me from looking like the oppressor while also paving a way out for the merchants.
It was thoughtful in a way that made it hard to see him as someone at the pinnacle of power. Acting like that toward the weak isn't easy.
Didn't Onjameri say something similar in the novel? That it's easy for the strong to laugh alone, but hard to laugh alongside the weak.
Bandahen's unique way of resolving issues must have truly been influenced by Bamper.
What a cool guy... The tip of my nose tingled. If he took a personality test, he'd probably score as the ideal leader of this era.
"...Aiel."
But as I thought that far, a question suddenly struck me. So, what was Bandahen like originally? Before the shock of Bamper's corruption and death—right now, in other words. Before meeting Florang, the events were mostly from Florang's perspective, so all I knew of Bandahen's childhood was that he was a "frail but lovable prince."
"Aiel."
"Y-yes?"
Daluh's voice snapped me out of my reverie. Daluh tilted his head but didn't pry into what I was thinking.
"It's too hard to wander around like this, so we should all buy robes. There's a clothing shop across the alley—perfect."
"Ah... yes! I'll go!"
After Bamper's appearance, people were on such high alert that even perception-blocking magic couldn't cover us. Just seeing blue hair made them yelp, "Lord Jedkaizer?!" and light purple hair got, "Saint?!"
These guys couldn't even enter a shop freely right now. At Daluh's words, I nodded, figuring he was asking me to go since I could blend in. My appearance wasn't well-known, and leaving the wheelchair behind meant no one would recognize me.
"...What are you talking about? Bamper, the one with the robe, will go buy them. I was just explaining the plan as your companion... hold on."
Daluh paused mid-sentence and slowly raised his palm. As our eyes gathered on him, Daluh peered down at me steadily and asked, "Aiel, have you ever personally paid money and bought something yourself?"
Why ask that out of nowhere? Of course...
"...Uh, no."
Not here.