A Merchant With Zero Combat Power Who Was A Baggage Handler In A Hero Party (Me), Was Finally Banished And Wants To Be A Steady Merchant. - Chapter 114.2

“You were the one who initially seemed to be able to bid off for 2.52 million mana fot that Grill Series, but as a result, the price went up to 10 million mana … are you really okay with that?”

Right in front of me is the great noble Gilbert Warren.

I thought that if I said something like this. I was afraid that this nobleman might get angry with me…

But I couldn’t help but want to know, so I did.

“Things are worth…”

“Hmm?”

“The value of things fluctuates. It is better to be able to buy valuable goods at a discount, but it is not just about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you see? At that moment, the rainbow singer Amaranthia’s song transformed those items into even more luminous and supreme items.”

For the participants at the event, the value of the items was initially estimated at less than 2.52 million mana.

I myself was also expecting 3.5 million mana.

At first, everyone estimated it to be about that much, since the goods were related to a lesser-known chapter in Grill’s peddling story.

It was…

By the songs of Amaranthia the Bardess…

The nobles all raised the price, and the product became so exquisite that Gilbert Warren was willing to pay 10 million mana for it.

“If that’s what you mean about, …… understand.”

Yes, I do.

I’ve done that same thing many times in my own business.

The wooden dolls of Mitra, which did not sell at all at the wagon square. By selling them at the theater right after Amaranthia’s song, I sold them all at once at the same price.

Even at the theater, wooden dolls sell better after a performance than before.

When people’s hearts are moved, the value of the product moves along with it.

Wooden dolls that would have been worth 200 mana each are transformed into something that people would want even if they had to pay 800 mana for a set of four.

And then there is that mansion.

At first I thought there was no way I could afford even 6 million…

But after the expectations of Burgess and others and the transformation of the mansion itself into a “theater” as a means of earning money, it became “something I wanted even if I had to pay nearly 14 million mana”.

“That’s why I bought the relic of Grill Series for 10 million mana, because I found it worth it to me. I don’t regret it in the slightest.”

“I see.”

This man, Gilbert Warren, seemed to be that kind of man.

“And that mansion and Mitra, too.”

“What?”

“I thought that things that produce nothing should be quickly disposed of and converted into mana…But then, it became something like a theater, and I saw the wooden puppet things produced by Mitra being sold one after another and turned into mana. And the food and drink establishments were selling quite well.”

That one time he visited. It seems that Sir Warren had seen that much properly.

He probably watched the entire first performance, including the first customer buying the wooden dolls, as he entered.

“What I thought was worthless had turned into something interesting when I took my eyes off it for a moment. So…I was actually a little reluctant to let it go. If I were to lose 12 million mana by buying it back, I could probably get it back in a year or so if I was serious about running the business, right?”

That was pretty much in line with my projections.

So that’s how far you saw in that split-second visit…

“No way… So the reason you competed with me until the very last minute…”

“To get more mana of course. By keeping the mansion, I can continue to get Mitra under my control and take over the theater business.”

“Are you serious?”

A chill ran down my spine.

Sir Warren had estimated the value of the theater to that extent. He was even considering buying it back, and was bidding against me.

The reason he did not take the initiative to cancel the listing of the mansion was because he saw the value in being able to obtain a large amount of mana in one lump sum, without the hassle of managing the property himself.

If Sir Warren cancels the bidding of the mansion and declares that he will manage the theater as it is his own, I will no longer have any leverage over him. I would no longer be able to do anything about it.

At best, I would have been able to give a hand as a subcontractor’s hired caretaker.

In that case, though, Mitra and Clarice could have the protection of the Warren family. But in return I would have all my theater business snatched away from me.

“Twelve million mana.”

“What?”

“If the theater was bought for less than the 12 million mana I estimated it would earn in a year, I would offer to buy it back myself and let my hands run it.”

That was why Sir Warren had intervened to raise the price when the deal was about to be settled at 10.2 million.

“That mansion…I sold it to you in the end. And I got my fair share of mana for it. I got a little playful in the end… but I’m happy with the way it turned out.”

And as for after he had raised the price to his goal of 12 million mana…

Sir Warren was just playing at the game of ‘reading off the mana possessed by Albus and squeezing mana out of him until the very last minute’.

If he could read it off, he could squeeze a lot of money out of me, including the price increase for the Grill Series.

And if he got the reading wrong, he expected to recover that loss in about a year through theater management. And from the second year on, it would be a tree of golden manna that would continue to produce revenue.

The drawback was that it would be a waste of the Warren family’s limited human resources. Perhaps they are engaged in a number of more efficient businesses.

After all, even at that moment when I was on the edge. Sir Warren was just enjoying the game of reading my hand under the rule that no matter how it turned out, he would not lose money in the end.

“……”

…what a guy.

“But. You originally breathed new life into it. You took a house that I was about to discard as worthless and turned it into a theater that I was willing to part with, if only for a moment. …It is unmistakably yours, by your hand. The result is this. You got the theater, and I got a lump sum of over 12 million in mana, as originally planned. This wasn’t a bad business deal for either of us, was it?”

Gilbert, the man.

A man without blood and tears who would cut off even his own flesh and blood if he thought it was worthless and pointless.

He seemed to treat people and businesses that create value with a certain amount of respect.

To the game “read through the possession of Albus”, the goal was that if Sir Warren won with me, the result would be that the house would be sold off to me.

It was. I suppose it is the least respect that Sir Warren has paid to me for having created something of value, a theater.

I thought he was just a good-for-nothing aristocrat, basking in his privileges…

I was beginning to like Gilbert Warren a little.

“Oh, that means you too, Albus.”

“What?”

“A man’s worth also changes.”

“…What do you mean?”

Well, I know roughly what you mean.

“You are no longer a rock by the side of the road for me.”

I felt a little unpleasant that I was being noticed in a strange way.

“See you soon. I will send a messenger to your mansion.”

“…”

Finally, saying that.

Gilbert Warren walked away from me.