If There's Money in It, I'm In. I Am a Merchant, After All

Education, huh.

A tall order, Yohane thought.

The duke had indeed promised Orleans a reward.

Most likely, nearly anything she could have thought to ask for would have been within reach.

The duke held a seat in the Imperial Senate, making him one of the most powerful men in the Empire—and fabulously wealthy.

Ironically, the manor estates played no small part in that wealth, but if she'd wished for it, she could have received enough gold to live comfortably for a lifetime.

Even citizenship—the thing her parents had wished for so she could live a normal life—would have been easy to obtain.

But what Orleans had asked for was education for her entire family on the estate.

Freedom was out of the question. Even she could understand that much.

If she'd arrived at education as the best way to improve things even a little, then she really was clever.

… Education meant learning things you didn't know before.

If the serfs became aware that they were serfs, what would follow?

Riots, or demands for better conditions.

Either way, it wouldn't please the duke.

Crush them by force and they'd lose their will to work. Grant one demand, and the next would follow.

From the perspective of those in charge, the less the serfs knew, the better.

Yet the duke had offered to grant it conditionally.

That itself could be considered Orleans' reward.

The duke was staring directly into Orleans' eyes.

Without averting his gaze, treating her neither as a child nor as a serf, but as someone he was negotiating with.

"What say you? Can you do it?"

Orleans said nothing.

If she said she couldn't, the conversation was over.

But she also knew she couldn't possibly do it alone.

The duke couldn't have a precise understanding of their group's dynamics, but perhaps he'd read the relationships in that brief span of time.

"Speaking of the monster wellspring—"

Yohane spoke in a measured tone.

The duke shifted his gaze ever so slightly toward him.

"I hear there's a bounty for adventurers who clear one out."

Monster wellsprings that led to labyrinths or spawned dangerous monsters needed to be dealt with whenever found—that was a lord's responsibility.

If it had been somewhere far away, that would be one thing, but this one was within the sphere of influence of this very city.

Most likely, if nothing else intervened, a request to handle the monster wellspring would have been posted at the Adventurer's Guild by tomorrow.

This was a booming city. People, goods, and money all flowed here.

There was no way adventurers wouldn't gather in a place like that.

Sheer numbers would deal with the monster wellspring.

Numbers couldn't match the brute force of a Dragon, but when numbers did apply, it was a different story entirely.

… If they could monopolize such a commission and resolve it themselves, if they could collect in one lump what would otherwise be spread thin as modest fees among many adventurers, that would be quite the lucrative job.

"Naturally. Work deserves compensation."

And this duke understood how the world worked—the bitter and the sweet alike.

The message had gotten through.

"We'll do it."

"Doing it isn't enough. See it through to success."

"If we succeed, you'll grant my wish?"

"On my family name, I swear it."

For a noble—especially a head of house—to swear on his family name meant he was deadly serious.

Far more so than swearing to a god.

"We will succeed."

"Then go."

The duke waved his right hand as if to say the discussion was over.

He would probably go to sleep after this.

They were practically shooed out of the ducal manor.

The sound of the gate closing echoed behind them.

So they'd gone from guests to hired hands. That was the implication.

Orleans stood before Yohane and bowed her head.

"Sir, I'm sorry for acting on my own."

"I'd like to say 'damn right,' but if there's money in it, that changes things."

One of the greatest pleasures in life was finding work that paid well.

Especially when you could get someone else to do it.

"You can handle this, right?"

Yohane said this while looking at his slaves.

Alexia wore her usual air of mild displeasure but didn't say no.

Elza nodded with that inscrutable smile of hers.

Azu gave an eager-sounding reply and nodded.

"Actually, I've been a little bored lately with nothing to do. Finally, some real work."

Brimming with motivation, that one.

Reassuring.

From there, the group set about preparing.

A monster wellspring meant a prolonged battle. They would have to fight through it with this lineup.

Knowing the duke, he'd probably factored in the possibility of failure.

They visited the blacksmith and requested maintenance on their equipment.

Rushing the job cost a bit extra.

They'd need potions too.

Better to be over-prepared than under.

They bought one thing after another.

Necessary expenses couldn't be skimped on, and wouldn't be.

This was something like an inviolable principle for Yohane.

He'd once met a merchant who'd pulled off a major deal, and the man had told him: Skimp on expenses and you'll bring bad luck on yourself.

And it was true—business ventures where he'd skimped on preparation never paid off well.

Cheap procurement that turned out to be shoddy goods, or outright scams.

That experience was part of why he'd invested in his slaves from the very beginning, and so far, it had been working out.

Even Alexia, who was probably the least loyal of the group, grumbled but still did her job properly.

He took great care with how he treated his slaves.

That was getting through to them, it seemed. Building a relationship of trust had been significant.

He gave a motivational slap on the rear to pump them up and, predictably, got glared at.

"Could you please not try to slap my behind every time you want to raise morale?"

In fairness, doing it to Azu would make him feel guilty, and Elza might actually enjoy it, making Alexia the easiest target—but he had a feeling saying that out loud would get him yelled at.

Women apparently didn't appreciate being someone's fallback option.

The next day, they retrieved the serviced weapons, and preparations were complete.

He had Azu run a final check for anything missing.

She went through the list, pointing at each item as she counted.

This was surprisingly effective, as it turned out.

Visual checks alone tended to let things slip through the cracks.

"All supplies confirmed, Master."

"Good. Let's move out."

He'd debated whether to go along, but Yohane decided to accompany them.

This was, if unofficial, still a commission from the duke. He needed to see it through to the end.

Clearing a monster wellspring would raise their standing as adventurers, and a written report would be needed as well.