Chapter 6: All Their Emotions
IN Duke Jordan’s mansion in the capital of Ronaudia, the duke was scowling at the white-haired visitor he’d hastily summoned.
“You’re telling me that cleaner was over level 500? He stood no chance against Arius Gilberto, a student. What was the point of my putting three thousand gold on him?!”
“I promise you, Zack Trigger is truly powerful. Six thousand gold is the appropriate price for him. I’m going to have to ask you to pay the remaining amount, and without complaints.”
Altana, the Merchant of Death, was the white-haired visitor cloaked in a black robe. She sneered beneath the silver mask that covered the top half of her face.
The three thousand gold Duke Jordan had already paid was only the down payment. Altana had asked for six thousand.
“If I’m correct,” Altana continued, “Arius Gilberto is the son of former SS-rank adventurers, Darius and Rhea. Is it perhaps not simply the case that they trained him until he was equivalent to an SS-rank adventurer?”
Altana did know that Arius was, in fact, an SSS-rank adventurer when she accepted Duke Jordan’s request. She wasn’t going to let that information slip, however.
“He’s only, what, fifteen, sixteen? There’s no way he’s that powerful!”
“Age has nothing to do with it. The youngest SSS-rank adventurer in history is also named Arius. He apparently reached SSS rank when he was only twelve.” Altana let Duke Jordan’s anger wash off her with a cold smile. “If Arius Gilberto were in fact the SSS-rank adventurer Arius, it would be rather foolish to make an enemy of him. I’ve heard the SSS-rank adventurer Arius is in the Duchy of Crista to the east for a dungeon there, though. I suppose it’s not possible he could be the same person as Arius Gilberto, who is attending classes in the Academy.”
Altana poured herself a glass of the expensive wine sitting on the duke’s desk without permission and drank it down.
“Obviously not,” retorted the duke. “There is no way Arius Gilberto is an SSS-rank adventurer. If he were, he would be used for the political ambitions of his father, that ingrate Darius, who started life as a low-ranking noble and has let his position as chief minister go to his head. I didn’t summon you here so I could listen to such nonsense!”
There was not a single mote of suspicion in the duke’s head that Arius Gilberto was an SSS-rank adventurer. His fate may have been different if there had been.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Altana crooned. “I, of course, am no match for the insight of Your Grace, one of the Three Great Dukes of Ronaudia.”
Altana’s mask made it so Duke Jordan didn’t realize her smile was actually a sneer.
“It’s a waste of time continuing such pointless conversations,” the duke angrily continued. “You are the Merchant of Death, are you not? Gather all your powerful cleaners. I will pay whatever is necessary. If a level 500 cleaner can’t kill Eric, then get someone more powerful!”
“You’ll pay whatever is necessary? It will take quite an immense sum to hire anyone more powerful than Zack. Also, the more powerful cleaners tend to have…personality issues. If they don’t receive an additional payment to make them follow orders, there will be no guarantee that they’ll act in good faith.”
“What? Just… How much are you saying we’ll need?”
“Well, for this many people at a high enough level, it’ll be…along these lines,” Altana thought out loud as she wrote down the levels, number of cleaners, and the cost.
“Are you screwing with me? Who has that kind of money?”
“You said you’d pay whatever is necessary. If you don’t have enough, I can’t get you cleaners at this high a level. I can let you choose based on your budget, but you’ll only get so much with that. Would you really be able to defeat Arius Gilberto?”
After a moment’s thought, Duke Jordan nodded, his expression sour. “Fine. I’ll get the money. But you’d better swear they’ll be strong enough to justify the cost, you hear me?”
“On my pride as a merchant, I swear. Considering the forces I’m about to pull in, I would normally ask for the full price up front, but you and I have worked together for so long that I’ll only ask for half up front as usual.”
Altana knew that Prince Eric’s plan had resulted in nobles leaving Duke Jordan’s faction in droves, as well as the fact that the disrespect his son, Keith Jordan, showed to the prince meant the duke had lost his standing and any future prospects. She was well aware that she was very unlikely to receive the second half of the payment.
That’s why she calculated, based on the duke’s total assets, how much the duke would be just about able to scrape together and doubled it.
“Fine,” the duke caved. “I’ll get the money within five days.”
“Thank you very much, Your Grace. We have a deal.”
Altana’s goal for acting as a go-between for Duke Jordan and Zack Trigger had not only been money. She had also wanted to see just how powerful Arius was, and in that, she succeeded. Arius had been very close to learning of her existence, but Altana was cautious and had avoided danger thanks to the several plans she’d put in place in advance.
This time, Altana was going to be working with truly powerful cleaners she’d known for a long time. If they lost, Altana would lose nearly all of her “merchandise.”
I have no choice if it means being able to measure how strong Arius is using someone else’s money. Besides, they’re all criminals, and I’m in the hero’s party now. It’s probably time to cut ties with this business.
Altana, the Merchant of Death, was in fact the second-in-command of the hero’s party and Chief of Staff of the Ishtobal military, Alisa Kusunoki.
While she did hide half of her face with a mask, you might assume her appearance and particular way of speaking would have easily told people who she was. Still, no one had made the connection between Altana, the Merchant of Death, and Alisa of the hero’s party because she used an illusion spell called Actor when meeting with clients. This tier-six Illusion spell made others view you as a random, different person by changing your appearance and voice. The person she spoke to would be under the illusion that they were talking to someone completely different from Alisa.
Alisa used Actor so each client saw a different person. That’s why Altana’s true identity was unknown.
If Arius was able to easily overpower the cleaners in the coming fight, then he truly was quite powerful. Alisa was seriously considering weighing him against the hero, Abel.
Abel doesn’t have what it takes to rule the world. I already know he can’t beat the demon king. It’s all just a matter of timing, now.
Alisa left Duke Jordan’s mansion, her cunning smile floating in the darkness.