[V15C23] Walker the Evil Merchant

The day after losing his vacation, Louis Miller was quietly processing paperwork in his office when two guests arrived.

Louis set down his quill and greeted the pair with a refined smile that lacked any hint of goodwill.

“Well, well… What can I do for the two idiots who ruined my vacation?”

The two idiots—aka Monica and Raul—each carried a large bag in their hands.

Raul was the first to set his bag on the table. Judging by the clattering sound, it seemed to be full of bottles.

“I brought this as an apology for yesterday,” Raul said. “These are fruit wines, and these are jam. For the wine, I wrote labels on when each is best for drinking.”

“Oh?” Louis muttered, intrigued. He didn’t expect them to bring apology gifts so quickly. Perhaps they had actually learned a thing or two over the past few years.

They all seemed freshly made, as the jam was still faintly warm. Since it was just before lunch and his stomach had started grumbling, Louis figured he’d try the jam right away.

As Louis started eyeing the jam jars, Monica thrust her bag forward, sending a cold air wafting over. Apparently, whatever was inside her bag had been chilled with ice magic.

“Um, t-this is amazing! My disciple made it, and it’s really, really delicious…!”

Disciple? Louis tilted his head.

Come to think of it, he vaguely recalled hearing that Monica took on a disciple… maybe? He’d been so busy lately that it might have slipped his mind.

At the very least, her disciple was not present at the strategic meeting following the major dragon disaster in the royal capital.

(So they must be at the apprentice level, not yet ready to join formal meetings.)

The current Seven Sages already had a few disciples: the Starseer Witch’s disciple, Clarence Hall; the Artillery Mage’s disciple, Hugo Galletti; and Louis’s own disciple, Glenn Dudley.

House Albright and the Abyss Shaman almost never took on outside disciples. On the other hand, House Roseberg had a few disciples, but they all served Raul’s grandmothers rather than Raul himself.

When did Monica get a disciple? Louis thought suspiciously as he accepted the bag from her.

What came out of the bag was a lidded container wrapped in cloth. He opened it to find a white substance similar in texture to fallen snow.

“Is this ice cream…?”

Louis grimaced. While he loved all manner of sweets, he had never been fond of frozen ones.

The reason was due to his impoverished childhood. He had once gotten hungry enough to eat snow, and he ended up with a terrible stomachache as a result.

Louis believed that ice cream was little more than a frozen beverage. In which case, he preferred to thaw it out and drink it warm.

As with many people from northern Ridill, Louis simply could not view cold food as a delicacy. If he was going to put something in his mouth, it better be piping hot.

“It’s absolutely delicious… I promise!”

Monica handed him a spoon, acting unusually assertive.

“If you insist…” Louis mumbled, scooping a bit of ice cream and bringing it to his mouth.

He grimaced at the cold sensation for a moment—then he froze with his eyes wide.

The texture was simply superb. The ice cream melted on his tongue, unlike even the softest of powder snow. It spread a rich sweetness across his palate before vanishing like a dream.

Thanks to the milk and something else Louis couldn’t quite place his finger on, it lacked the watery texture of frozen fruit. To put it bluntly, it was an incredibly luxurious taste.

Louis devoured it spoonful after spoonful. After finishing about half of the container, he finally snapped back to reality.

“What is this? Some unknown form of snow?”

“Um, i-it’s ice cream… not snow…”

Monica hesitantly corrected him.

Meanwhile, Raul leaned in as if to whisper a secret in his ear.

“You know, Louis-san… That goes great with jam.”

“I gratefully accept your gifts.”

Louis promptly hugged the ice cream and jam jar to his chest with a look of bliss.

Raul claimed that the ice cream went well with jam, but Louis was already convinced. It would surely go just as well with wine.

＊　＊　＊

Everyone was exhausted on the first night of the sleepover at Raul’s place, so they went to bed straight after dinner.

Then, they spent the morning of the second day harvesting various vegetables and fruits under Raul’s guidance. This was used to make jam, fruit wines, and other preserved foods.

Monica and Raul headed out to deliver a portion of this to Louis, and by the time they returned, it was time for lunch.

After cleaning up the dishes, their afternoon was dedicated to board games.

“Raul, where are the spare cups for guests?” Cyril asked.

“Uh… probably somewhere on that shelf!”

Cyril was trying to prepare tea, but Raul’s sloppy behavior as host was not helping. However, Isaac interjected before Cyril could scold Raul.

“Right side of that shelf, third drawer from the top.”

“…Ike,” Cyril muttered in a concerned tone. “Why do you know Raul’s house better than him?”

“Because I cleaned up yesterday.”

“Thanks!” Raul said with a smile. “You’re a lifesaver!”

…But that was not the whole truth. The real reason Isaac memorized the exact location of the tableware was because he inspected them yesterday for tampering. It was a servant’s duty to ensure no harm befalls his master.

While Cyril prepared the tea, Isaac laid out some snacks onto plates. Then, he glanced at the table to see Monica teaching the rules of the board game to a pair of weasels.

“You roll this?”

“Like this?”

“That’s right. After you roll the dice, you move forward by the number that comes up. And these are the gold coins for representing money…”

The board game Monica brought was the latest entry in the series she had previously played with Isaac and Nero.

It was far bulkier than a deck of cards, so packing it must have been difficult. Apparently, Monica really wanted to bring it to the sleepover.

The white weasel threw the dice, but before it stopped rolling, the golden weasel suddenly pounced on it.

“Ah, no! We can’t see the number if you do that, so you have to roll again…”

(…Now then.)

Once the snacks were ready, Isaac removed his apron and placed the plates on the table. Then, he casually took the chair on Monica’s left and joined the conversation.

“Have you finished explaining the rules?”

“Yes, all done!”

Apparently, the weasels had realized they could get a better view of the board in human form, so they jumped down from the table and transformed into a young man and woman.

Cyril brought over the tea, Raul distributed it to everyone, and then they all took their seats.

Isaac observed the seating order and murmured internally.

(…Perfect.)

In this board game, players roll dice to move through a simulation of life. The latest edition had a few differences, such as adding the strategic components of choosing an occupation and purchasing land.

However, Isaac did not particularly care about the new features.

The only thing that mattered to him was a space on the board that had existed since the old version, though the wording had changed slightly.

——Seduce the player to your left and gain ten gold. Splurge on luxury.

Currently, the seating order was, going clockwise, Monica, Isaac, Thule, Pikeh, Cyril, Raul, and then back to Monica. In other words, there was zero chance of his rival seducing Monica or being seduced by Monica. The perfect arrangement.

All is fair in love and war.

Meanwhile, Nero sat on Monica’s lap in cat form, meowing as he batted the dice with his front paws. Apparently, he planned to roll the dice for her.

And sitting on top of Nero’s head was a small white lizard… Wildianu.

Wildianu had never shown interest in games like chess or cards, but he seemed slightly intrigued by this board game. Perhaps they should invite him to play later.

And so, the game began, and it did not take long for the competition to grow intense.

Pikeh became a real estate tycoon, while Thule got chased around by debt collectors.

Raul struck gold and took the lead, only to fall victim to a scam on his next turn, sending him plummeting straight into poverty. He and Thule fought over last place while laughing and saying, “We’re so close to each other!”

Monica progressed smoothly at first, but then Nero pushed her piece into the Adventurer Course. She ended up being chased by a wyvern while crying, “Why me…!?”

As for Cyril… he remained constantly broke, always teetering on the edge of debt.

Every time he landed on a good square, the very next turn would take it all away. This pattern repeated over and over again. Even now, he clutched his few coins and muttered, “Next time… next time for sure…” only to have his wallet pickpocketed.

At the halfway point, the obvious winner was the real estate tycoon, Pikeh. Second place was Isaac, who had earned a constant and steady income. Third and fourth were neck and neck. Monica had a high income offset by expensive medical bills, and Cyril was scraping by at the edge of poverty.

Raul and Thule were battling for last place with exorbitant amounts of debt. Yet for some reason, they seemed to be having the most fun.

“Awesome,” Raul said. “My debt’s big enough to buy a castle.”

“You can buy a castle?” Thule asked. “Then can I buy one too?”

“Sure you can.”

Somehow, the two at the bottom acted the most carefree of all.

Now that they had reached the latter half of the board, they were getting close to the square Isaac was after.

Well, everyone aside from Cyril, who had fallen behind the group with his consistently low rolls. The rest progressed at a decent pace.

Even now, Cyril rolled the dice while murmuring, “Six, six…” and the result was a one. The guy never failed to disappoint.

He grimaced and moved his piece a single square forward. But then, he furrowed his brow again as he read the square’s description.

“Twist of Fate. The player who lands here must roll the dice again and follow the Twist of Fate Chart…?”

To answer Cyril’s confusion, Monica pulled out a chart that she had set aside earlier.

“Yes, the Twist of Fate Chart is a new feature. Cyril-sama, please roll again.”

“I see.”

Cyril nodded and rolled the dice. Naturally, he got a six the second it no longer had anything to do with his progress. Just as you would expect from Cyril.

Cyril groaned in frustration as Monica read the chart.

“Let’s see. A six means… ‘Rearrange the turn order based on the money of each player, from richest to poorest.’”

Isaac maintained his smile, but internally, he growled, Damn you, rival.

The current top was Pikeh the real estate tycoon, followed by Isaac, Monica, Cyril, Thule, and finally Raul the King of Debt. They had to rearrange their seats in this order and continue playing.

(This is bad. Monica will end up seducing Cyril if she lands on that square…)

Isaac clenched his sweaty palms as the game went on.

After three more turns, Pikeh ended up losing half of her fortune, so Isaac rose to first place.

Meanwhile, the man who triggered the Twist of Fate, Cyril Ashley, kept landing on squares that sent him backward. He was going to take forever to reach the goal.

Raul was still in last place. His debts had grown so massive they could buy an entire country.

(At this rate, my victory is practically assured.)

However, Isaac was not interested in getting first place.

The only thing that mattered to him was if his beloved master seduced his troublesome rival or vice versa.

Meanwhile, Cyril rolled the dice and let out a small gasp. Given his constant setbacks and minimal progression, perhaps it was unavoidable. He landed on the Twist of Fate square for a second time.

Cyril rolled the dice with a look of tension, and this time, he got a five.

Monica read the result from the chart.

“Um, a five is… ‘Swap the total assets of the player in first place and the one in last place.’”

The air in the room froze over.

Isaac placed a hand on his forehead, looked up at the ceiling, and let out a hollow chuckle.

——This blockhead has really gone and done it.

In an instant, he had plummeted from first place to the King of Debt.

Isaac flung his earlier thought of “Being first doesn’t really matter” into his mental trash bin. This was frustrating. Infuriating even.

He leaned back in his chair and glared at Cyril without turning his head.

Meanwhile, Cyril was shaking violently. He looked like he might croak over any second now.

“I-Ike, I… I am so terribly sorry…”

“Ike!”

Monica stood up slightly from her chair on Isaac’s left.

Perhaps she was going to scold him for intimidating Cyril? However, his beloved master only clenched her fists and reassured him.

“Don’t worry! If you end up on the streets, I’ll take care of you!”

“Monica, or rather, Master. Could you maybe reconsider your stance on the dignity of an adult man?”

“No,” Cyril interjected, his face twisted in agony. “I must take responsibility for my actions and support him. It may be tough, but I’ll make it work out… My next turn should bring in some income…”

“You’re the root cause, so you can shut up,” Isaac retorted.

Under the table, Nero tapped Isaac’s shoe with a paw as if to say, “Tough break, buddy”. However, the grin on his face betrayed his amusement.

Getting even more irritated, Isaac leaned forward in his chair and scanned every corner of the board before opening his mouth.

“Fine. I’ll take this as a challenge. By the time this game is over, I’ll turn the tables and have enough funds to buy a country.”

Meanwhile, Raul let out a shout as he rolled the dice for his turn.

“Ah, it says ‘Seduce the player to your left and gain ten gold. Splurge on luxury’! I have to seduce Pikeh?”

“You’re seducing me? Then it better be with ice cream.”

“Would a carrot work?”

“No.”

This was the only time the seduction event occurred during the game.

＊　＊　＊

As the game progressed further, the White Dragon went from beggar to actor and the Thorn Witch purchased a huge farm. The Ice Spirit got bored of being a real estate tycoon and set off on an adventure, and the Silent Witch discovered a hot spring while being chased by dragons.

As for the man who clawed his way up from the pits of debt…

“Now then, collection time.”

He collected gold coins from the other players with a cold and ruthless smile. Combined with his already intimidating face, he had become the very image of an evil merchant.

“No, please… please forgive me…”

Cyril, who had been barely scraping by since the beginning of the game, wept bitterly as his funds vanished.

Isaac casually rested his chin against his hand, poking at the mountain of gold coins in front of him.

“Rent payments continue until the last player reaches the goal. In other words, the longer you take to move forward, the longer I profit. Perhaps I should be thanking you.”

“Have mercy… at this rate, I won’t survive the winter…”

“If you need a loan, I’m always open for negotiation.”

“Ugh…!”

＊　＊　＊

Nero was watching the board game from atop a nearby shelf. He stifled a laugh at the bittersweet drama of the humans (and non-humans).

“This is my first time seeing this,” Wildianu muttered quietly from the same shelf.

“You mean a board game?” Nero asked.

“No.”

The white lizard gazed at his master with a reptilian face that could show no human emotion. However, his voice remained calm and gentle.

“I have never seen my master getting serious over a game.”

Meanwhile, another laugh could be heard from the table.

The man who changed jobs into ‘evil merchant’ stacked more gold coins onto the pile, twisting his lips into a smile as wicked as it was joyous.

“Now I’m the one who gets to take care of all of you.”

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