The Gilenne Trading Company, one of the Empire’s famed Five Great Trading Companies, had established a branch in Blackout befitting its reputation.
Gilenne Chloe, the manager of its Black Forest Branch, sighed as she read the report that had been submitted to her.
“The goblin population within the Black Forest far exceeds our projections…….”
It was a follow-up report concerning the recently failed goblin subjugation.
Even now, Chloe felt a chill run down her spine whenever she thought back on it.
“I was planning to make a major investment because I thought they were only goblins…… That could have ended disastrously.”
Whenever a large-scale subjugation operation like this took place, the commander would usually accept investments from outside parties at his discretion.
If the subjugation ended successfully, the investors received a portion of the resulting rewards.
Conversely, if it failed, they lost everything they had invested.
“My recent performance hasn’t been particularly good, so I was going to take a gamble on it…… But it really turned out exactly as that man said, didn’t it?”
A black-haired Low-Rank Mercenary Mage.
The mage, with whom she had become acquainted through a certain incident, had predicted that the operation would fail when he joined the subjugation force.
Remembering how impressive his analytical ability had always been, Chloe had canceled her investment in the operation entirely.
Thanks to that decision, she had avoided a tremendous loss.
“Now the problem is figuring out how to turn this into a profit…….”
She had been fortunate enough to avoid getting caught in the rain, but that could not be the end of it.
A merchant had to know how to seize profit even from circumstances like these.
“Fortunately, the supplies we prepared in case the operation failed are selling well. But this alone isn’t enough.”
She had entered the succession race later than her other siblings.
Unless she produced overwhelmingly superior results, she would inevitably fall behind.
Fully aware of that fact, Chloe bit her lip and considered other possibilities.
“Lady Chloe. That mage has arrived.”
“What? Speak of the Black Tiger and it appears. Let him in at once…… No. Have him wait ten minutes before sending him in. I have something else to attend to.”
She might have been young, but she was still the manager of an entire branch.
Chloe knew perfectly well that she could not allow the other party to think she was desperate.
“Ahem! A merchant should always look presentable…….”
Standing in front of a mirror, Chloe hurriedly began brushing her hair.
“Welcome. I heard you made it back alive, but seeing you in person, you look perfectly fine.”
Jun entered the office to Chloe’s warm welcome and waved his hand dismissively.
“Do not even start. I nearly died more times than I care to count.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
Exaggerating?
She should try standing face-to-face with a golem before saying that.
“By the way, who’s the one beside you?”
At Chloe’s question, Aiden bowed his head.
“My name is Aiden. I am a member of the White Whale Mercenary Company.”
“Nice to meet you. But the White Whale Mercenary Company? I heard it was wiped out this time. Didn’t everyone except you die?”
“Correction. This guy and I survived. And I took over the mercenary company.”
“Oh?”
Chloe’s interest immediately sharpened.
She had known Jun for more than half a year.
Throughout that time, Jun had avoided putting himself in the spotlight whenever possible.
“Is it safe now?”
“Yeah. Enough time has passed since then. It’s about time I started acting directly.”
“……I see. So you’re finally going to make a move yourself, Jun.”
Chloe regarded him with interest for a moment before changing the subject.
“So, why did you come to see me?”
“Why else? I came to propose an investment.”
“An investment…… You want me to invest in a mercenary company that was only just reorganized?”
“No. Not in me. Invest in the person you originally intended to fund.”
“……What?”
Chloe fell silent for a moment at Jun’s words.
Then her eyes narrowed sharply.
“Was this what you were aiming for from the beginning?”
“No. I originally planned to recruit members gradually.”
Jun pointed toward Aiden.
“But I found myself a good Frontliner. That changes things. I can raise the mercenary company’s reputation first and recruit members afterward.”
“Hah. Unbelievable.”
The look Chloe gave him was anything but gentle, but Jun merely answered with his usual weary smile.
“This is what I like about you. You understand quickly.”
“You’re planning to use me as a Broker.”
“Is that so bad? What you made this time probably isn’t enough for you either. You need results, don’t you?”
Chloe found his infuriatingly calm manner—as though he knew everything about her circumstances—almost absurd.
Unfortunately, she could not deny his words.
“Tsk. This is why intelligent people are so irritating.”
“You do realize you’re insulting yourself too, right?”
“Enough. Go wait outside for now. I need to think this through.”
At the blatant order to leave, Jun shrugged once and stepped outside with Aiden.
“Um, Senior. What exactly is happening here?”
Aiden, who had remained silent throughout the conversation, finally asked.
Jun answered.
“It’s simple. I told her to invest in the commander who led the last subjugation.”
“……What?”
“Originally, Chloe planned to invest in the commander responsible for the last subjugation.”
“By investment, you mean……?”
“Blackout is far too vast for the Empire to monopolize on its own. That’s why they’ve been working to conquer it for such a long time. Naturally, that also means their budget is limited. So the Imperial Family allows private individuals to invest in the missions it conducts.”
If a mission funded by an investor ended successfully, a portion of the resulting gains went to that investor.
That also meant a single investment could produce an enormous profit.
There was a reason so many merchants had flocked to Blackout.
Even at this very moment, merchants were fighting life-and-death battles beneath the surface, wielding swords forged from money.
“Most of the merchants, including Chloe, initially decided to invest in this goblin subjugation. Who would back out of something as simple as goblin extermination? They naturally assumed it would succeed.”
Had the operation succeeded, they would have gained the right to control the region at least until the end of the year.
In other words, they would have secured a degree of monopoly over it.
“……But the subjugation failed. If the Gilenne Trading Company had invested, the amount must have been considerable.”
The Gilenne Trading Company was one of the Empire’s Five Great Trading Companies.
Naturally, its investment would never have been small.
“Right. That’s why it would have been worse.”
“Worse?”
“I mean the operation wouldn’t have collapsed at the very beginning like it did last time. It would have progressed just far enough to become truly dangerous.”
Had Chloe invested, far more mercenaries would have participated in the previous subjugation.
Not only that, but the troops would have been equipped with much better gear.
There was a good chance they would have advanced much deeper into the forest.
“Wouldn’t that have been better?”
“No. Chloe’s investment alone still wouldn’t have been enough. That’s why I said it would have been worse. If things had gone wrong deeper inside the forest, you and I wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation.”
“……Are there really that many goblins?”
“The goblins themselves are a problem, but the real issue is that there’s a king in that forest.”
“A king……?”
“A Goblin Lord. That’s what I mean.”
In the end, Chloe accepted Jun’s proposal.
It took three days of meetings to reach that conclusion.
With an enormous amount of money at stake, Chloe bombarded Jun with questions so relentlessly that it bordered on obsession, while Jun managed to convince her by answering each one appropriately.
“I’m warning you. He may come from a fallen noble family, but noble blood still runs through his veins. And the Commanding General he serves is a noble who is directly involved in central imperial politics. Keep that in mind.”
“I feel as though I’ve heard that exact warning five times already.”
“Then I’ll tell you a sixth time. Be careful.”
“I understand. I understand.”
A carriage belonging to the Gilenne Trading Company traveled along a carefully maintained road.
At the end of the journey stood an enormous building at the heart of the Black Forest Fortress.
Whereas the Gilenne Trading Company’s building had given off an air of luxury, this one looked sturdy and imposing, almost like a pyramid.
“What brings you here?”
“I am Gilenne Chloe of the Gilenne Trading Company. I have an appointment with Commander Jinovan.”
“The Gilenne Trading Company…… Would you please wait a moment?”
Guided inside by a soldier, Jun and Chloe soon met the commander at the appointed time.
“Pleasure to meet you. I am Jinovan Edmiller.”
The young commander carried himself with the rigid discipline one would expect from someone who had only recently graduated from the Imperial Military Academy.
‘He looks exactly like a newly commissioned platoon leader back on Earth. If anything, he seems even more rigid.’
Perhaps because of the recent failure, a faint weariness lingered on his face.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Gilenne Chloe of the Gilenne Trading Company.”
“Hmm. So you are the granddaughter of the Golden Hand. You are as beautiful as the rumors say.”
“You flatter me.”
“And you are?”
“My name is Jun. I am the captain of the White Whale Mercenary Company.”
“A mercenary company…… Very well. Please, take a seat.”
Perhaps Jinovan did not remember the name of the White Whale Mercenary Company.
Or perhaps he simply assumed this was a different company that happened to share the same name.
Either way, he turned his attention to Chloe.
“I was told you wished to invest.”
“Yes. Just as I wrote in my letter.”
“Before that, there is something I would like to ask. As I understand it, the Gilenne Trading Company initially expressed an intention to invest in the previous operation before withdrawing. Why have you changed your mind now?”
On the surface, it sounded like a casual question.
But there were thorns beneath it.
Had the Gilenne Trading Company invested, the subjugation could have proceeded far more securely.
Chloe answered without the slightest change in expression.
“We determined that the expected return was insufficient compared to the investment. Even without our company, you had already secured considerable funding.”
In truth, she had withdrawn after Jun warned her that the operation would fail.
Even so, her answer was not exactly false.
Considering the amount she would have invested, the expected returns truly had not been particularly impressive.
“……That is true. I also believed the investments we had already secured would be sufficient.”
‘He accepted that surprisingly quickly.’
Someone who had committed a serious error would normally want to shift the blame onto someone else.
Jinovan did not.
That alone made Jun regard the commander before him more highly.
“But is it not already too late to invest?”
“Wouldn’t now be precisely the right time? The greater the risk, the greater the potential return.”
“Haha. I suppose this is what one should expect from the Golden Hand’s granddaughter. You certainly have courage.”
After his recent failure, Jinovan had lost not only the trust of the mercenaries but also his credibility among the merchants.
The failed subjugation had wiped out every investment they had made through him.
As a result, Chloe was probably the only merchant who would consider investing in him now.
If another subjugation funded by her succeeded, the returns would be enormous.
“Unfortunately, I believe you have come to the wrong person.”
“What do you mean?”
“Authority over the next subjugation operation has already been transferred to another commander. It was an order from Commanding General Dortagon.”
“I see…….”
For the briefest instant, Chloe glanced toward Jun.
There was less reproach than surprise in her gaze.
Jun had predicted this during their discussions beforehand.
“So that was indeed what happened.”
“Indeed?”
Displeasure entered Jinovan’s question, as though he were asking whether she had predicted his removal from command.
Chloe immediately acknowledged her poor choice of words.
“Ah, my apologies. I do not believe you lack ability, Commander. However, according to our own investigation, the current goblin population within the Black Forest far exceeds all previous estimates, does it not? I thought another large-scale subjugation operation would therefore be necessary.”
“Hmm…….”
“Yet there has still been no large-scale recruitment of mercenaries.”
“That is correct. I have been advising the Commanding General to act, but…….”
“Do you perhaps suspect the presence of a Goblin Lord?”
“……I see. You are indeed as perceptive as your family’s reputation suggests.”
Just as Chloe had said, Jinovan also suspected that a Goblin Lord existed.
The systematic movements displayed by the goblins in the Black Forest clearly indicated that they were operating beneath an established chain of command.
Had the goblins merely overwhelmed them with numbers, Jinovan would not have been defeated so helplessly.
“If you have considered matters that far, then I understand. You are correct. Fighting a Goblin Lord would require thorough preparation.”
One might wonder why they were making such a fuss over mere goblins.
But the power wielded by a Goblin Lord was not something that could be dismissed.
The existence of a clear command structure alone would dramatically increase the difficulty, while the goblin population itself would increase overwhelmingly.
‘It was the same in the game. The Goblin Lord was the newbie killer that mowed down players who underestimated goblins.’
Jun therefore understood Jinovan’s caution perfectly well.
“However, the Commanding General believes it is still too early to reach that conclusion.”
It was probably not because the Commanding General was incompetent.
He simply had sufficient reason to doubt it.
Chloe immediately identified that reason.
“Indeed. It is far too early for a Goblin Lord to appear.”
A Goblin Lord was classified as a Field Boss.
However, Field Bosses did not appear at arbitrary times.
They followed specific cycles.
Those cycles were tied to the appearance of an Area Lord.
An Area Lord.
It was essentially a regional Raid Monster, and Field Bosses would usually begin appearing shortly before an Area Lord emerged.
In the Black Forest, the Area Lord was the ‘Forest Guardian,’ a Stationary Spirit-Type monster in the form of an enormous tree.
But the Forest Guardian was not supposed to appear for several more months.
Naturally, it should have been far too early for a Field Boss like the Goblin Lord to emerge.
“That is why the Commanding General remains skeptical that a Goblin Lord has appeared.”
There was a good chance Jinovan’s suspicions had been dismissed as the alarmism of an inexperienced commander.
The other commanders had probably mocked his failure as well and rejected his claims.
“In any case, it was not only the mercenaries and merchants whose trust I lost.”
Jinovan gave a bitter smile, clearly implying that Chloe had chosen the wrong person to approach.
“If you could restore your damaged honor and obtain definitive evidence of the Goblin Lord’s existence, what would happen?”
Chloe’s clear voice struck Jinovan’s ears.
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. I am a merchant. Turning crises into opportunities is one of my specialties. You might call it one of the qualities an exceptional merchant ought to possess. Of course, I am not suggesting that we gamble. What I mean is this: if we restore your honor and obtain proper evidence…… would you be able to persuade the Commanding General?”
“……That goes without saying.”
“Then you are fortunate, Commander Jinovan. This mercenary here has brought us the solution.”
Chloe’s gaze shifted toward Jun.
Only then did Jinovan finally turn his attention toward Jun, who until now had been sitting there like an irrelevant piece of furniture.
Judging that the time had finally come, Jun spoke.
“First, as for evidence, I already have it.”
His voice was firm as he placed the box he had brought with him on the table.