Targassia [2]

Void POV

I've been in Targassia for a few days now. It's quite different from what I'd heard. Although it may only be in the border city, the people here are less barbaric than I'd heard.

This may also be because this place used to be a neutral city, where Azkai and Targassia marked their expansion boundaries for a time.

But with the arrival of the six great clans, this agreement was broken in an instant. This was also one of the reasons why we managed to take Azkai's domain in a short period of time; most of the Imperial Knights came here to try to stop their advance.

"Even so, they only ended up dying..." I muttered, looking up at the golden ceiling of my enormous office.

And yes, the business headquarters of the person I'm impersonating was located in the border city.

It's comfortable; I enjoy luxurious meals and excellent service without having to do anything. I rarely have to do any accounting or deal with loans, which I know how to do from my time at the convenience store.

Life was peaceful. Even though the city I was staying in was in a dry desert with hard, uneven ground, it wasn't something I worried about since I never left the enormous mansion I lived in.

Although I did wonder how we went from the vast vegetation of the Azkai Empire to such a dry place with sparse vegetation. It wasn't a big deal in the situation I found myself in now.

It turns out that two of the six great clans are located in this border city. And on top of that, they have a close relationship with my trading headquarters.

'My headquarters?... You could say that, right?...'

No matter... The thing is, I'm going to meet the leader of one of the clans in a little while. What happens if they discover I'm not the person?

Even if I tried to escape, I couldn't. Not because of the difference in strength, though... but because I'm posing as someone else, I can't use my abilities because my disguise would disappear.

But what would that matter if they discover me? Well, it seems the disguise slowly disappears, over a period of ten minutes!

'Just what I needed,' I thought, annoyed by my dire situation. And as if that weren't enough, my butler had opened the door, offering someone to come in.

"Please come in," said the butler, bowing his head in respect and hiding a face of slight fear.

To the people of this world, humans are invading scum. They would rather humans disappear than the nightmares do.

'Please don't...' I thought, wishing a representative had come instead.

But my wishes weren't granted... 'Only the ones I don't want come true!'

A tall man walked through the door. He wasn't even two meters tall, but he was taller than me. He was also wearing an old-fashioned black aristocratic suit, and trailing behind him was a white cape.

His hair was black, short, and wavy, accompanied by light blue eyes. He looked young, probably under thirty, which is normal.

Slayers were in that age group, between twenty and thirty, where one reaches their greatest physical and mental peak. The younger ones usually lost their minds after entering the doors, and the older ones didn't have the physical capacity to endure.

The man approached me with a small smile.

"How are you feeling, my dear friend?" he said in a cheerful tone, offering me his hand.

I accepted the greeting with hesitation. "We're not that close..." Although I suppose the greeting isn't meant for me...

The man sat down confidently. Who would hold anything back from him? Richards." He changed his tone to a more serious one.

This was something new for me, in all the time I've been disguised as this person, and I've only just learned his name.

"What's happening in Azkai?" he asked.

I was silent for a moment; I had to think of something that would make him stop taking things so cautiously. I swallowed. It was normal to speak disrespectfully with subordinates, so it wasn't difficult to fake it, but how should I treat him?

"Not much..." I let out a nervous smile. "It seems that after losing so many people, they've given up on taking the city," I added in a nervous tone.

The man snorted, placing his fingers on his forehead. "They're finally stopping..."

It was a relief. It seemed I had to treat him with nervousness from now on.

"Well... That wasn't the main reason I came here." He placed one foot over the other. "Let's talk business," he emphasized.

"Shit..."

I have no idea how I should treat him in this business, harshly? Or should I leave everything at a ridiculous price?

"What business?" I stammered, hoping it wasn't something beyond my understanding.

The butler came up behind the man and placed a saucer with two cups of tea. The man promptly took his glass and took a sip.

"...It's simple. We'd like to bring another of the clans to the border, and for that, we'll need another one of the pavilions you manage." The man glared at me. "How much would you let us have it?" he asked, clearly intending to take it for free.

"Hey." I glared at him... at the butler, of course. "Come here," I ordered, waving my finger.

There was an awkward moment of silence; the only thing I could hear was the butler's nervous footsteps. He stood next to me.

"Excuse me," I said, trying to sound nervous. I leaned close to the butler's ear and asked, "How much is a pavilion?"

I could hear the butler gulping, the words seemingly unable to leave his mouth. "...Are you... sure?"

"Shit, just talk!" I whispered, somewhat annoyed.

He swallowed again. "About one hundred thousand gold targs..." he stammered.

I didn't know what the hell he was talking about, but just hearing "gold" was enough to tell it was expensive. I cleared my throat and turned my attention back to the man.

"Fifty thousand gold targs," I said confidently.

It still seemed like a lot, but I couldn't just give it up for free. After all, my goal is to make the most of it and then bring these coins back to Earth. "I'm going to be rich..." I drooled slightly, thinking about the luxurious life that could await me.

The man slammed the cup down on the table. "Isn't that much more than before?" he asked with a smile on his face, clearly hiding his anger.

I turned to the butler. "How much did you sell it for before?" I asked nervously.

"Thirty thousand..." A smile spread across my face. I could get more in the future. "Silver targos..." the butler added.

My face filled with confusion. How much was the difference? The butler seemed to notice somehow and cleared my doubts.

"That would be three thousand gold targos."

Something seemed to dawn on me. 'Only three thousand?' This shattered my hopes of getting rich. All the transactions I'd had so far weren't handled by me, nor were they large enough to even consider. I couldn't get rich off of that.

'Since when did I care about being rich?' I reconsidered my words, but how could I back out now? I'm a merchant.

"There's inflation." That was the only excuse I could come up with.

The man looked at me for a few seconds before letting out a small laugh. "Fine... I'll pay you your money; it's not how we'll use it anyway." He stood up and started to leave.

I felt fine. That man seemed to have taken it in stride. He probably had a good relationship with the person I'm pretending to be. But something seemed odd. Given the fear the butler had shown so far, I don't think they've maintained that kind of relationship.

"Oh, by the way." He paused before leaving the office. He glanced at me with a mocking smile. "English isn't spoken here yet."

He left laughing.

Yes, I'm an idiot. What good is a disguise if the language isn't the same? Besides, every time I've spoken to the butler, there's been a slight moment of delay in his words translating in my mind. But he must not have noticed while talking to me.

But why, even though he knows I'm an outsider, hasn't he done anything?

You might think he's kind; what I thought was that he didn't see me as a threat. But both thoughts were wrong when a single day passed.