The Merchant's Greasy Trap
The creak of carriage wheels and the heavy thunk of its door cut through the peaceful mountain air. An opulent, gold-gilded carriage that looked entirely out of place rolled to a stop in front of the Black Mane Bandits’ stronghold toll gate. Its pristine condition made it hard to believe it had just climbed the rugged mountain path.
The man who stepped out was none other than Gareth, a middle-aged merchant wrapped in silk robes so glossy they practically oozed oil. He approached with a sly, serpent-like smile.
“Heh heh, so this is the infamous mountain stronghold I’ve only heard about in rumors?”
Dagan and Gil, who had been manning the toll booth, stared at him blankly. Gareth, acting like he belonged there, ordered his servants to unload several heavy crates.
“After you’ve gone to the trouble of clearing such a dangerous forest road and making it so safe and comfortable, how could I possibly arrive empty-handed? These are the finest liquors from the western empire and the sweetest sugar confections. Please consider them a token of goodwill—completely separate from the toll fee.”
“Whoa, sir! You only need to pay the toll, but you’re even bringing such expensive booze!” Dagan’s eyes practically rolled back in his head. Western imperial liquor was a luxury so rare that even mercenaries fought over it. Gil was already crouched beside the crates, wiping drool from his chin.
“Wow! This stuff looks crazy expensive! The boss is gonna love it! You’ve got real style, mister!”
Inside, Gareth sneered. These bandit fools really are simpletons. A few bottles of liquor and they’re ready to hand over their livers.
His goal was crystal clear. He had learned that the princess exiled from the imperial family was now managing the stronghold’s finances. If she was just a naive little girl who didn’t understand the world, he was certain he could dazzle her with flashy numbers and swallow this goldmine of a distribution network whole.
“I hear the chief administrator here is incredibly capable. I thought a businessman like myself might be able to speak the same language with her. Would you mind showing me in?”
“Our sister-in-law—I mean, our chief administrator—is pretty sharp, yeah! Right this way, big-spender!” Dagan took the lead, cheerfully guiding Gareth deeper into the stronghold.
A vile, triumphant smirk curled at the corners of Gareth’s mouth.
The atmosphere inside the stronghold’s main reception room was strangely tense.
On one side of the table sat Gareth, clutching a thick bundle of documents. Opposite him was Veronica, her expression utterly indifferent. Beside her, Rodin was lazily inspecting the roots of cabbage seedlings, occasionally shooting Gareth a sideways glance.
“If we proceed according to this contract, the stronghold’s profits will triple overnight. I control exclusive supply lines across the entire empire, you see.”
Gareth laid on the flowery rhetoric as he placed a thick ledger in front of Veronica. The pages were crammed with numbers that, at first glance, looked flawless.
“Triple the profit… That’s certainly an interesting offer. However, these commission fees seem rather inflated compared to the standard, don’t they?” Veronica scanned the ledger with cold eyes.
Gareth waved his hands with a fake laugh. “Ah, well, those include imperial customs duties and the knight order’s escort fees, so it can’t be helped. I barely make anything myself. If anything, I’m the one taking a loss when you consider the cost of promoting the stronghold’s goods.”
At that moment, Rodin, who had been quietly poking at the seedlings, spoke up.
“Hey. Your eyeballs keep twitching to the left every time you talk. What’s that about?”
“Pardon? Oh, no, it’s nothing. The sunlight is simply too bright…” Gareth wiped cold sweat from his brow, flustered.
Rodin’s voice was low, but it carried the heavy, oppressive aura that only a reaper of the battlefield could possess. He had instinctively sensed the unpleasant aura of a ‘liar’ swirling around the man.
“Really? I thought you were trying to scam me out of my fertilizer money. I don’t raise liars. I treat them the same as cabbage worms.”
Rodin’s gaze brushed across Gareth’s neck. The merchant shuddered as goosebumps erupted across his skin.
“Rodin, hold on a moment. Let me examine this ledger more closely. I happen to be rather fond of numbers.” Veronica picked up a quill. A sharper light than before began to gleam in her eyes.
Flip. Flip-flip—
The speed at which Veronica turned the pages grew faster and faster. Like a machine scanning data, her gaze precisely pinpointed every contradiction hidden among the complex figures.
Cold sweat beaded on Gareth’s forehead and dripped down his chin onto the ledger.
“Mister Gareth, the transportation costs on page four and the empty-return freight costs on page twelve have been double-counted. Furthermore, your accounting units don’t even follow imperial standards.”
“Ah, that must be a typo. With such high volume, the staff sometimes makes mistakes…”
“A typo? Yet the final figures line up perfectly with a neat difference of exactly one platinum coin. That’s not a mistake. That’s deliberate manipulation.” Veronica’s voice grew sharper with every word.
To survive the cutthroat power struggles of the imperial court, she hadn’t simply learned etiquette. The imperial-level administrative prowess she had honed while tracking national budgets and secret funds was now exploding across the rickety table of this mountain stronghold.
“Moreover, this fertilizer import unit price is set twenty percent higher than the official quarterly rate from the southern merchant alliance. Do you take me for a fool?”
“T-that’s… the southern political situation has been unstable lately, so transportation costs…”
“If the situation is unstable, prices may rise, but volume should decrease. Yet your ledger shows increased volume. Supply overflowing while prices climb? That’s an insult to market economics.”
Veronica slammed the ledger shut with a sharp thud.
Gareth’s face had already turned deathly pale, like a sheet of paper.
Gareth’s lips twitched as he desperately tried to come up with an excuse. But before he could speak, Rodin rose from his seat.
Goooooo—
Just the act of Rodin moving caused the air in the room to grow oppressively heavy. He slowly approached Gareth. With every heavy footstep, Gareth’s shoulders jerked in fear.
“Hey. Your name’s Gareth, right?”
“Y-yes! Boss!”
“If our chief administrator says the numbers are wrong, they’re wrong. And why do you keep talking so much? My ears are a bit sensitive. When I hear bullshit, my hands tend to move first.”
Rodin casually drove his pickaxe into the floor right beside Gareth’s foot.
KWANG!
It was nothing more than setting down a tool, yet the solid marble floor cracked like a spiderweb and spat out dust. The tip of Gareth’s expensive shoe was caught in the fissure.
“Hiiik! I-I’m sorry! There was a mistake!”
“A mistake? When I dig a hole wrong while planting cabbages, that cabbage dies. You understand what’ll happen if you make another mistake, right?”
Rodin’s face came so close that Gareth could feel his breath. A terror more sickening than the stench of rotting corpses crushed the merchant.
“You should’ve picked someone else to mess with. You tried to scam me out of my precious cabbage fertilizer money? Get ready to empty your entire wallet today.”
Rodin gave Gareth’s shoulder a light pat. That single touch sent an agonizing pain through the man’s bones, and he collapsed to the floor.
Veronica smiled coldly and pointed at the inside of Gareth’s coat.
“There’s one more thing you’re hiding, isn’t there? Bring out the real ledger.”
Trembling in terror, Gareth pulled a thin notebook from his inner pocket with shaking hands. Inside were the true transaction records—completely different from the fake numbers he had reported to the stronghold—detailing massive discrepancies.
Dagan and Gil, who had been outside getting drunk on the free liquor, burst into the reception room after hearing the commotion.
“This bastard! He bought us drinks just so he could scam us out of our cabbage money behind our backs?!” Dagan grabbed Gareth by the collar in a fit of rage. All traces of his earlier hospitality had vanished.
“Boss! Let’s just use this guy as fertilizer! Look how plump and juicy he is. If we bury him in the field, the cabbages will grow like crazy!”
When Gil raised his pickaxe, Gareth slammed his forehead against the floor and wailed.
“Please spare me! I’ll talk to the imperial merchant alliance and come back with better terms—”
“Using you as fertilizer would be a waste of your net worth. Mister Gareth, I hereby confiscate your carriage, all its merchandise, and every gold coin you currently possess as a ‘fine.’”
Veronica elegantly crossed her legs as she made the declaration.
“Furthermore, as our stronghold’s exclusive debtor, you will work in the fields without pay for the next year. A merchant like you needs to learn what it means to sweat for a living.”
“F-fields?! How could someone like me possibly—”
Gareth looked at Rodin with a devastated expression. Rodin was already measuring the depth of a hole in the corner and muttered indifferently.
“What, you don’t like it? Then should I just bury you right here? I already dug the hole. Cabbage spots are always in short supply, you know.”
In the stronghold’s backyard at sunset, Gareth was swinging a pickaxe with tears streaming down his face. His once-luxurious silk robes were now covered in dirt.
Rodin tossed the confiscated bag of gold coins into the air and caught it again, savoring the heavy clinking sound.
“Hey, princess. You’re actually pretty scary. How the hell did you catch all that from such a thick book?” Rodin looked at Veronica with genuine curiosity.
Veronica hummed a cheerful tune as she organized the ledgers.
“In the imperial palace, I had to detect lies from a single breath or the slightest flutter of an eyelid. This was nothing more than eating cold porridge.”
“…Well, thanks to you, we’ve secured a year’s worth of fertilizer. Good job.”
Rodin roughly tousled Veronica’s hair. It was the same blunt gesture as always, but Veronica’s heart began to pound wildly out of control once again.
He said I did well… Rodin praised me.
As soon as Rodin walked away, Veronica’s face flushed bright red. She twisted a lock of her hair between her fingers, her eyes gleaming in the shadows.
That’s right, Rodin. I will protect your wealth and your peace. All you need to do is look at your cabbages with those pure eyes of yours.
A strange, obsessive smile curved her lips.
In return… you must stay by my side forever, planting cabbages. That immense power of yours, this peaceful daily life—everything must remain under my management. Never even think about running away.