Frieren stood quietly in place, falling silent for a moment, before finally deciding to accept the gift.
Just as Ronan had said, it was already bought—what else could she do?
The stall owner had long since vanished without a trace; even if she wanted to return the items, there’d be no way to now.
This was the first time in her entire life she’d ever received a gift this extravagant, and in all likelihood, it would be the last.
Because not everyone could afford to be as generous as Ronan.
Pit-pat.
Frieren took a few small, careful steps forward and quietly cast a spell, tucking everything away into the bag she carried with her.
Watching everything shrink down and vanish from sight, she let out a quiet sigh of relief, while also feeling something else stir within her—something she couldn’t quite place.
Before she could figure out exactly what that feeling was, Ronan’s cheerful voice called out to her again.
“Let’s go.
Buying those magic tools took a bit of time, but thankfully not too much.” “Let’s go buy the food.
Don’t forget the actual reason we came here.” Earlier, Ronan had considered picking up a bargain antique or two, as a way to explain the source of his wealth—but on second thought, he’d let the idea go.
Frieren was walking right beside him, so acting alone wasn’t really an option.
And besides, whether this city even had any real antiques worth finding was anyone’s guess.
If it turned out to be all magic tools and the like…
He might as well just make it obvious he was extremely wealthy, then let Frieren guess at the reason for herself.
Ronan vaguely remembered this kind of tactic from his past life—some kind of meme, started by some internet troll or another, if he recalled right.
Say nothing, and people will fill in the blanks themselves.
If they guessed wrong, well, that was their own problem—he hadn’t said a single word, after all.
At the thought, Ronan tilted his head slightly, glancing at Frieren out of the corner of his eye.
At that moment, Frieren wore a thoughtful expression, her brow lightly furrowed, as though lost in some deep consideration.
Perhaps, most likely, quite possibly, she too had fallen into exactly this kind of speculation.
“This works out fine, actually.
Staying mysterious is what matters most—it’s not like I can just go around announcing that I have Infinite Wealth.” “Frieren probably won’t give away the secret, but there’s no guarantee someone else won’t.” Even though he wasn’t afraid of others coveting his fortune, if he went around eliminating everyone who might covet it, what challenge would be left in life going forward?
Infinite Wealth reminded him a little of running a cracked copy of a game—once everything became free, nothing felt rewarding anymore, and the itch to quit always followed soon after.
Buying only what was actually needed, competing with others on a level playing field, and crushing them through sheer numbers when it counted—that was the smarter way to go about things.
A flurry of thoughts flashed through his mind, and before either of them quite noticed, the two of them had arrived at the grain market.
With plenty of funds on hand, they quickly bought all the grain they needed.
Frieren had never imagined solving a food crisis could be this simple.
Of course…
that was only true if you had more money than you could ever spend.
“Hard to believe.” Frieren stared at the golden wheat in front of them, taken aback by the price, unable to hold back a comment: “I’d heard human food prices kept rising, but I never expected it to get this bad—five hundred copper coins for a single medimnos (an ancient Greek unit, roughly equal to forty kilograms).” “According to what the chief told me before, five hundred copper coins is barely enough to feed a family of three for a single month…” “What exactly is the human empire’s ruler doing about this?” An ordinary laborer working a full day could only earn twenty to thirty copper coins.
Thankfully, this era wasn’t short on jobs, or else there would have been people starving to death everywhere.
“That’s normal enough.
Natural disasters and man-made calamities both drive down crop yields, and of course, certain circumstances could also be causing inflation.” Ronan shook his head lightly, gazing at the wheat alongside her, casually scooping up a handful.
Whoosh.
The fine golden grains slipped through his fingers like sand.
He thought for a moment before continuing: “Still, none of this really has anything to do with us.” “Whether prices are high or low all comes down to broader economic controls—clearly, this kingdom isn’t in the best shape right now.” He brushed the remaining grains off his hand and turned back to look at Frieren, “You elves are cut off from the outside world, so there’s no need for you to worry about any of this.” “Come out again in a hundred, a thousand years, and the ruling dynasty might have changed three times over by then.” Though she didn’t fully grasp the exact meaning of inflation, Frieren could piece together a general understanding just from the words themselves and the current situation.
And yet…
Frieren let out a soft sigh: “Even so, it still bothers me.
You’re the Hero, aren’t you?
Can’t you help them somehow?” “Help how?” Ronan arched an eyebrow, asking in return, “Buy up all the grain in this city with my own money and hand it out to the common folk for free?
Or sell it to them at a discount?” “That would help them for a while, sure, but what happens after that?” “After all, the grain will run out eventually.” “And once the merchants who smell opportunity come back around, selling grain again at the same high price as before…” “Do you think they’d still be able to afford it?” Ronan shook his head.
“No, they wouldn’t.
And once the merchants realize no one here can afford to buy from them anymore, they’ll simply pack up and leave.” “What do you think would happen then?” Frieren fell silent.
She didn’t even need to think it through—the outcome could only be starvation.
She didn’t ask why Ronan wouldn’t just stay and keep being generous…
Those kinds of questions were too naive.
Even the most virtuous of elves couldn’t pull off something like that—after all, the tale of the Buddha cutting off his own flesh to feed a hawk existed only in stories.
Seeing Frieren’s silence, Ronan paused for a moment before continuing: “Five hundred copper coins is admittedly a steep price, but at least it means no one’s starving to death.” “When it comes down to it, disrupting the market price would only make the whole market collapse that much faster.” “I know what you’re thinking.” “You’re still young, and you still hold onto some empathy for others—but even empathy has to know its place.” “Buying it all up and handing it out cheap definitely isn’t the answer.” Frieren raised her head, catching the implication behind his words, and asked, somewhat puzzled: “Then what is the answer?” Ronan smiled, his gaze flicking briefly, almost imperceptibly, over his shoulder, before turning back to face Frieren, keeping her guessing just a little longer: “The time isn’t right yet.
You’ll understand when it comes.
Besides, this isn’t something I should be the one handling anyway.” For one thing, he didn’t have nearly enough influence to control the price of grain at a macro level.
For another, even with Infinite Wealth at his disposal, he had no interest in playing the fool for anyone.
Doing a good deed here and there…
it wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried before.
But after being tricked by wealthy schemers back in his previous life, and learning the hard way just how far people would go once money got involved, he’d come to understand something.
Sometimes, in the face of profit, a life could be worth nothing at all.
There was no way he’d let scheming profiteers off easy.
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