His words hit like a thunderbolt.
“The Vick merchants’ favorite son?!”
“They say he’s the rising star of the next generation...”
“I didn’t know he was in the city!”
A great commotion broke out among the merchants. Apparently, they all knew his name. The tavern waiter fidgeted nervously—he’d thought Firth was just an ordinary young merchant.
“You’re that famous?” Emily muttered. Firth winked at her, then turned to the deputy manager who, released from Tien’s clutches, had been trying to make a quiet escape.
“Does that work for you, Deputy Manager?”
He flinched, then turned around. “Y-You... You have no authority to—”
That was when Astrid hit play on the recording device.
—That’d be the nail in the coffin for her and the Golding Merchant House. Then we Rondats will be free to snap up her meat business.
Even through the hubbub, the deputy manager’s voice was clearly audible.
“We may not have authority,” Nina said. “But we do have proof.”
The deputy manager crumpled to the ground.
It was a long night.
They first relocated to a meeting room at the Vick Merchant House to hold a business meeting. To cut a long story short, the Rondat Merchant House agreed to pay the Golding Merchant House not only for damages caused, but the same amount again on top of that.
It came to a considerable sum. Still, the deputy manager accepted it at once when Firth gave him one final push:
“If you accept these terms, we will keep this affair a secret from the manager and the Rondat family themselves.”
Then and there, they exchanged signatures. No sooner had the agreement been finalized than he scurried away.
“Was that good enough for you, Clare?” Astrid asked. “As someone who’s dealt with merchants myself, what he did was way beyond the pale. If you went public, he’d have to leave town. It’d be a major blow to the Rondat Merchant House too.”
But Clare shook her head with a sad smile. “You heard, didn’t you? What they were after.”
They’d wrung a full explanation out of the deputy manager. The Rondats had been coveting the Goldings’ meat business for themselves—so much so that they’d been willing to break the law to get their hands on it. Clare hadn’t realized how appealing her connections were to other merchant houses.
“In the end,” Clare said, “all this comes down to money. That’s all the merchant houses see. I’m no different. I started trading in magic items to try and improve my profits—I was in it for the money too. The way I see it, handing that deputy manager over to the guards won’t get me my lost profits back, so making him pay it all back is the most effective punishment for him.”
In this case, Clare was quite right. The deputy manager would be at his wit’s end trying to think of a way to pay the Golding Merchant House back. It wasn’t a sum one man could hope to procure, so no doubt he’d end up using the Rondat Merchant House.
Hearing her response, Astrid realized something.
Oh... So that’s what I was thinking.
The reason she’d gotten so annoyed at Firth and lashed out at him became clear to her.
She herself was the owner of the Mahogany Merchant House. As an inventor, it was a necessity in order to sell one’s inventions—but her merchant house was very different.
Astrid’s only goal was to invent. Firth’s Vick Merchant House, the Golding Merchant House, and the Rondat Merchant House—theirs was to do business. Of course, even among inventor merchant houses, there were plenty whose only goal was to make money, but all the same...
These were the people who had made Astrid’s life a misery. That was why she had, without realizing it, had such an intense negative reaction to Firth. Talking to Nina had cleared up her initial misgivings, but now that she fully understood the source of her feelings toward him, she felt completely satisfied at last.
“Now, what are we going to do with you, Kett?” said Firth. “Even if Clare demanded monetary damages, I doubt you have the means to pay her. If we hand you over to the guards, your crimes in the Yupiter Empire will come to light, and I expect you’ll go to jail for a long, long time.”
“Go ahead,” said Kett. His hands were clasped in his lap and his gaze fixed on a point on the table. “It’s no more than I deserve.”
“Just... Just a minute,” Clare cut in. “Could you give me and Kett some time? To talk?”
“I’d advise against that,” Firth said. “As you now know, this man is a con artist. He won’t think twice before trying to talk you around to his side.”
“He’s right, Clare,” Kett agreed. “You shouldn’t trust me.”
“No!” she insisted.
Kett sighed. “Clare, you sound like a child.”
“It’s just... It’s all been too much,” she said. “I couldn’t work out why I was the only one so conflicted. But when I really thought about it, it made sense... Kett, you were trying to protect me, weren’t you?”
Kett fell silent, while everyone else was left confused and wondering. Protect her?
“For a while, after I first found you dead drunk in that tavern,” Clare went on, “you genuinely worked hard to design magic items. There’s no way that was an act.”
These were memories none but Clare knew about.
“Do you remember your first invention? You know, the one for carpenters to maintain their tools. I thought it was a surefire flop, but the five you made sold out right away, and then we got orders for five more. The other merchant houses scrambled to put out their own versions, but by then, people had started to say that the Golding Merchant House’s magic items weren’t to be taken lightly. I was so proud.”
Kett listened but said nothing.
“But starting from the next product, we were forestalled by other merchant houses. It was mostly the Rondats, but sometimes the Nuuks too. It was after that first invention, right? That was when the Rondat Merchant House contacted you.”
“Yes,” Kett said heavily. “He said the Golding Merchant House was in a precarious position, but if it went down now, you could still avoid losses...and that if you sold off the business, you’d make enough to spend the rest of your life in comfort. He said I should help him.”
Nina and the others, even Firth, were all wide-eyed with shock. Only Clare didn’t seem surprised.
“I thought it was something like that. For a conman, you’re a real bumbler. Why didn’t you just talk to me?”
“He threatened you,” said Kett. “‘There’s no telling what might happen to a merchant woman on her own’ was what he said. If they’d resorted to violence...I wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“We should have charged him ten times as much,” Firth muttered in disgust.
“So what was the plan, Kett?” Clare asked. “What were you going to do after I sold off the Golding Merchant House for small change?”
“The Rondat Merchant House said they’d find me a job as an inventor,” said Kett. “I’m...not the sort of man fit to be around you.”
“You mean because you ran cons in the Yupiter Empire?”
“Yes.” Kett nodded.
“Stupid.” Clare laughed weakly. She sounded both sad and lonely. “You’re so stupid... Though I’m the stupidest one. Can you believe it? I actually think there must be some explanation for your past misdeeds.” Her eyes shining with tears, she turned to Firth. “Would you be willing to stay quiet about Kett?”
“It’s not a crime to stay silent about a crime committed in another country, so yes... But are you sure?”
“I am. Astrid? What about you and your friends?”
“No objections here,” Astrid replied. Nina and the others nodded.
“Lucky you, Kett. You’re free. You can go wherever you like. Just take care you don’t get taken advantage of. A conned conman’s a lost cause.”
“Clare, I—”
“Shall we wrap this up? Firth, you’ve been so helpful. I’ll call at the Vick Merchant House sometime soon.”
With that, Clare left the room. Nina and the others followed soon after. Astrid glanced back at Firth and Kett who remained in the meeting room—then the door closed behind them.