Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Wicked Business
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In this world, there are "vulgar deeds" and "noble deeds."
For example, counting money is vulgar.
Usury is the devil's work,
and a proper noble wouldn't stoop to calculating profits and losses just to save face.
For example, hunting is noble.
Falconry is a virtue of nobility,
and a proper noble should have the skill to butcher a beast they hunted themselves without getting blood on their hands.
But flip things around just a little, and the vulgar becomes noble,
and the noble becomes vulgar.
A merchant house is noble because it has money,
while a hunter setting traps all over the forest is vulgar because they lack it.
The important thing is,
without money, one cannot maintain dignity.
'With the money promised here, I can reclaim a small farm sold off due to debt. That's where it starts.'
Fallen noble Jerry knew this fact better than anyone.
After all, he himself had unwittingly shouldered his family's debt.
It was all because his parents had fallen for a con artist's scheme.
They heard rumors that factories in the capital were profitable and bought one, only to discover it came with debts too massive to handle.
Due to the contract, all that debt transferred to his family,
and they were stripped of every last asset by debt collectors even more ruthless than wicked nobles.
'Damn father. Think you can just rack up debt and flee to the afterlife, leaving me with this mess?'
In the end, all that remained to him was his noble name and a bit of debt.
That's why he accepted this suspicious invitation.
The amount promised by the merchant house was enormous enough to pay off all his debts and buy a small farm.
'...This is my chance. The last chance to straighten out my twisted life.'
He didn't know what they'd ask him to do,
but to pay off his debts, he'd do anything.
And so,
his desperate, worldly goal
was thrust into grave peril from the very start.
"I will read your secrets."
'...Such a blessing exists? Insane. Total scam.'
A blessing that steals glimpses of others' pasts.
He had a reason to avoid that blessing.
'We're screwed. Even if I don't have one.'
The truth was—he was a woman!
'They must think I'm a man and invited me. Should I run now?'
Her disguise as a man to stand here had a complicated backstory.
'Why did brother have to die so early? If he was going to die anyway, why not after Father? Everyone dies and leaves me suffering alone!'
In truth, the fastest way for a female noble to rebuild her house was to marry a wealthy, rootless nouveau riche.
But she couldn't choose that path.
She was the family's sole heir.
She had one older brother,
who died of plague.
If she were sold off as a marriage pawn, the house would pass intact to some bastard,
and she'd rather disband the family than suffer that humiliation.
'...Damn this house. I wish they'd just strike it from the registry.'
If she were an ordinary noble, she'd adopt an heir at this point—the standard choice.
But her parents were extraordinary.
In this turbulent era, "extraordinary" often meant "insane."
Her parents had an obsessive fixation on bloodlines.
At a level bordering on mental illness.
So, when her brother died,
she, the younger sister, disguised herself as a man and inherited his name.
'To begin with, my name is Micki, not Jerry! Why make me answer to someone else's name when mine is fine?'
If you can't understand the conclusion "Brother died, so turn the sister into the son,"
that's because you're sane—rest easy.
Understanding a madman's logic defies common sense.
Having both parents as lunatics was her misfortune.
And,
according to the great laws of genetics discovered by Darwin and Mendel—unknown to this world's barbaric inhabitants—
she herself had a high chance of being mad too.
'...Whatever. Just get the money and done.'
In fact, she had a minor mental defect.
A truly sane person would have taken the final chance to flee and quietly pocket the interview fee,
but instead of escaping,
she decided to focus on the money she'd receive.
When situations get complicated, fixating on one goal helps with decision-making.
The only lesson from her lunatic parents.
Some might call it a bad habit—hating complexity and having tunnel vision, which got them scammed—
but it helped in moments like this.
'To begin with, there was no condition saying women can't work, right?'
Having sorted her thoughts, she stayed for the interview.
Some nobles slipped out,
and the head of the merchant house, now gloveless, extended his right hand.
"Please extend your hand."
"Yes."
'His hand is so soft... warm...'
The warmth from his hand felt awkward.
She glanced at the head's face,
and he had his eyes closed peacefully, breathing softly as if asleep.
Frail.
His soft hand,
his delicate skin untouched by hardship,
proved he was fragile.
'Holding hands like this feels so awkward somehow...'
She'd never felt the texture of another person's hand so intimately before.
How long would they hold hands?
What was he thinking with his eyes closed?
If he was reading her past,
which moment was he seeing now?
When her father was scammed and the house fell?
When her brother died?
When she first disguised herself for high society?
When her father fled to the afterlife?
Through this hand,
along these palm lines,
via this warmth,
were her memories flowing in?
She was curious.
"...You can let go now."
"...Ah."
When she came to,
she was kneading the head's hand like dough.
Hm.
Somehow, she felt disappointed.
"Aren't you going to look more?"
"Pardon?"
"It seemed too brief..."
"..."
The head of the merchant house looked at her in disbelief.
The expressions of the other nobles waiting their turn were odd too.
Some looked repulsed,
others snickered in amusement.
"..."
"..."
'What the...'
I opened my eyes to find her fondling my hand with an intrigued look, which startled me a bit.
'...She into that? Her past I just saw didn't show anything like it.'
Who knows,
people sometimes discover unexpected tastes.
Not hard to understand.
Or maybe she was just purely curious about the texture.
'...If it'd been a real man doing that, I'd be grossed out.'
I already knew she was a woman before using the ability.
Originally,
her fate was to enter the Academy to rebuild her house.
The classic cross-dressing girl character.
I thought she was the heroine, naturally,
but turns out she was a villain who allied with demons for money.
Not a major one, though—
more like a fake final boss and info broker in the story.
Her end was expulsion from the Academy
and stripping of her noble title.
A mundane conclusion, if mundane.
'Well, considering the backstory... she probably died eventually.'
In this era, a noble title is one's final bastion for survival.
Life's tight without money,
but no one beats you to death on a whim.
Even if whipped unjustly,
a few coins "settles" it—that's commoner life.
You can't touch nobles with violence.
But a "fallen noble" stripped of title? Fair game.
Especially if stripped for colluding with demons?
No one can defend that.
Defend her, and suspicion falls on you too.
'If she stays here, it'll derail her original fate... Hope that's fine.'
A slight worry,
but it'll work out somehow.
Defeating the Demon King is the hero's destiny.
Possessors have their tasks,
villains theirs,
heroes theirs.
No need to fret over minor details.
What truly matters
is behaving so the hero doesn't kill me.
"All your weaknesses are now in my hands. Some of you were trustworthy enough as well."
"..."
"Now, I'll tell you what I want you to do."
Some nobles swallowed hard.
Worried about the task, it seemed.
Well.
Probably not too hard.
"Finance. Securities. Usury. Goldsmithing..."
"...Pardon?"
"You will steal 'wicked' businesses one by one from the infamous 'banking houses.'"
"..."
"And with the bonds, securities, and hard assets you secure, we will create a 'Talant' bank."
To survive in cold capitalism,
one needs to understand finance.
"...What is Talant?"
"You'll learn soon enough."
I plan to use these people
to run an economic experiment in this slave society.