When a madman suddenly became docile, it somehow made him even more frightening.
Looking at Isaac in front of me, that saying suddenly came to mind. When I handed Howard the necklace bearing the family seal, I had expected Isaac to roll his eyes back, draw his sword, and threaten me.
And yet, both that day and today, the following day, he had remained quiet.
If there was one thing different from usual, it was that he had taken a seat inside the shop and was scribbling something on a piece of paper.
― The Young Master is practically a commoner now.
― What am I supposed to do from now on? Will I even be able to make a living?
― More importantly, my mother is all alone back in the territory....
I glanced at the paper and saw that he seemed to be devising ways to secure his own livelihood. He was surprisingly innocent. It was not as though handing over the necklace would immediately turn me into a commoner.
‘So Isaac has a widowed mother.’
It was something I had not known, but I did not bother asking him about it. According to Isaac, we had grown up together since childhood, and asking as though I knew absolutely nothing seemed far too coldhearted.
“Where are you going all of a sudden?”
“Where else would I go? I have to work. Should we not start wrapping up the interior work? Sitting around like this is not going to solve anything....”
Isaac sprang to his feet, rolled up both sleeves, and started working on the construction. After thinking things through, it seemed he had concluded that the only way to secure his future was to help me make the business a success.
He truly was admirable.
He had every reason to be discouraged, yet instead, he worked even harder.
“By the time the academy opens, it will have been about a month since you started working at our shop. Payday will be on the fifth of every month. If payday falls on a weekend, I’ll pay you in advance on the preceding weekday.”
“What?”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“I already receive a salary from the Count’s household as a knight. But it sounds as though you mean to pay me separately on top of that.”
“That’s exactly what I mean. That is one thing, and this is another. So you don’t need to worry about your mother back in the territory. No matter how badly business goes, I’ll make sure you get your wages.”
As the owner, it was also my responsibility to encourage my employee.
And I believed there were few better forms of encouragement than money.
“But why are you looking at me like that again?”
“Something feels a little suspicious. I have never once seen you act this considerate before, Young Master, so I was wondering whether I had done something wrong. Or perhaps, conversely, you had done something terribly wrong to me....”
“You’re saying that because you don’t want the money, aren’t you?”
“Of course not. Give me any order you wish. I will carry it out at once.”
A laugh escaped me at Isaac’s immediate change in attitude.
I took out a sheet of paper and handed it to him.
“When you have time later, go to the general store and buy everything written there. I need all of it, so check carefully and make sure you don’t leave anything out.”
“Understood. But what do you intend to use these things for?”
“I have to get the family necklace back. I’m going to use them for that.”
After leaving the shop, I headed to a well-known smithy in the neighboring shopping district. A blacksmith with bulging muscles greeted me, and I set down the three hundred Glowstones I had received in exchange for the necklace.
“Could you make me a signboard with these Glowstones?”
***
The number of people attending the tasting event grew with each passing day.
Today, nearly twice as many people as on the first day had gathered in front of the shop, and by the time I finished frantically serving them, the sun was already beginning to set.
As the surroundings gradually darkened, the people waiting in line began to murmur. Everyone’s gaze turned toward the same place, and I accepted their reaction as though it were only natural.
“Look at that! The sign suddenly started sparkling!”
“Oh my goodness! A glowing sign!”
The cause was the signboard I had recently commissioned. From a distance, it looked no different from an ordinary signboard, but I had embedded all three hundred Glowstones around its entire border.
It looked somewhat like a neon sign.
Thanks to the Glowstones, it naturally began to shine once darkness fell, and the sight must have seemed quite extraordinary to people.
That was only natural. Glowstones required at least a small amount of mana to activate, so ordinary people who could not manipulate mana rarely had the chance to see such a sight.
‘Glowstones come in all sorts of colors, and they’re much more dazzling than simply using fire to light up the night. Of course they’re going to attract attention.’
Mine was the only shop with a Glowstone signboard.
There were plenty of businesses nearby that stayed open at night, but if anyone were asked which shop stood out the most, they would surely point to the one that sold coffee.
The murmuring grew louder.
And among the crowd, I noticed several people whose eyes were shining more brightly than the rest. They were merchants who operated businesses nearby and had joined the line for the tasting event.
“About that signboard. May I ask where you had it made?”
“Ah, that?”
One of the merchants approached me with the question. Just as I had expected, it was the sort of sign no merchant could resist. Anyone running a business naturally wanted their shop to stand out even a little more.
“It looks as though you embedded Glowstones into the signboard, but as far as I know, Glowstones cannot emit light unless mana is infused into them.”
“That’s correct. Glowstones cannot shine without mana.”
“Then how...?”
“House Edwell’s merchant company has a branch here in Fence. They sell Glowstones in large quantities. If you go there, they’ll kindly explain the method to you.”
.
.
.
.
.
.
After the tasting event ended, Isaac asked me with an uneasy expression.
“Young Master, there is something I don’t quite understand.”
“What?”
“Why did you give those merchants that information? Was the Glowstone sign not meant to make our shop stand out?”
“That wasn’t the purpose.”
“It wasn’t?”
“From what I’ve observed, the sun sets earlier here in the Duchy of Arnia than it does in other places. That means merchants here have little choice but to put more effort into nighttime business. But once the sun goes down, it becomes difficult to draw people outside.”
Naturally, fewer people walked the streets after sunset. No matter how much they illuminated the surroundings with fire, the streets were considerably dimmer and less lively than they were during the day.
“But people aren’t suddenly going to flood the streets just because our shop has one flashy signboard. Do you really think people sitting at home late at night will come all the way outside just to drink a cup of coffee?”
“Probably not.”
“A commercial district only thrives through mutual interaction. People who come out to eat might stop by a tavern afterward. People who go drinking might get drunk and buy this and that. Even if neither happens, once people are already outside, they may decide to spend money on something else.”
“Ah!”
“It isn’t that nighttime business fails because people refuse to go outside late at night. They stay home because even if they do go out, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere worth going.”
“So you mean we need to brighten up the surrounding area so people can stay active even late at night. One shop alone isn’t enough, so we need the other merchants to do well too?”
“Exactly. Bees are drawn to flower gardens, aren’t they? If we want to attract the bees, we first have to turn this commercial district into a flower garden.”
“Then our shop will become the starting point of that flower-lined path.”
Compared to the modern world, nightlife here was far less developed.
The immediate effect would probably be small, but if I wanted to run a business for years to come, I needed to think further ahead. If the other merchants also lit up their shops with dazzling signboards, it would undoubtedly help.
The longer people stayed active at night, the better it was for me.
After all, coffee contained something called caffeine.
“Then why did you lie to the merchants?”
I immediately understood what Isaac meant. He was referring to my claim that the Edwell Merchant Company would tell them how to make Glowstones shine without mana.
Isaac had been the one who ran my errand to the general store. I had personally used the things he bought to finish treating the Glowstones and make them glow, so he knew better than anyone that what I had said was a lie.
“Young Master, you’re the only person who knows that method, aren’t you?”
“That’s right. For now, I’m the only one who knows it.”
It was a method I had learned from playing LotSH countless times.
Later, after the Magic Tower discovered that Glowstones were deadly to Magical Beasts, the method would be developed so that even soldiers incapable of manipulating mana could make use of them.
The formula involved combining the blood of seven types of monsters commonly sold at general stores. Since every monster possessed mana, the method used that property to draw out a small amount of magical power.
Eventually, it would become a commonly used way of activating Glowstones.
But for the time being, I was probably the only person who knew it.
“But will that still be true in the future?”
“It may be a lie for now, but it sounds as though you intend to teach Howard the method eventually. Once you do, what you told the merchants will become true.”
“Oh?”
“And in exchange, you intend to have Lord Howard return the necklace.”
This fellow was becoming sharper by the day.
Still, he seemed to be overlooking one thing.
“But you don’t think I’d settle for getting only the necklace back, do you?”
“...That is indeed the sort of idea one would expect from a scoundrel.”
***
Several more days passed. The merchants who had attended the tasting event continued asking me about the signboard, and every time they did, I simply told them to visit the Edwell Merchant Company.
Then, after several more days had passed, Howard came to see me.
“I already know that this was something you planned, Third Young Master. You must have guessed that no matter how many Glowstones I possessed, I would never be able to sell them as long as I did not know how to make them shine without mana.”
“And was my guess wrong?”
“No. You were correct. Not a single merchant bought any Glowstones. Even if they had, the stones would have been no better than useless if they had no way to make them shine.”
“Judging by the fact that you came all the way here to see me, you must have lost quite a few potential customers. One signboard uses roughly three hundred Glowstones, so the losses must have been considerable.”
“Would that not be because you sent so many merchants my way in the first place, Third Young Master? Since you went to the trouble of sending them, I would be very grateful if you would also take responsibility for what follows.”
“Responsibility carries a corresponding weight....”
Howard’s gaze was different from before. He no longer seemed to regard me as a mere scoundrel. He was looking at me as a merchant.
It seemed he had finally decided that I was worth doing business with.
“How much do you think that weight is worth, Lord Howard?”
“Hmm. What that weight is worth....”
Instead of answering, Howard conspicuously toyed with the necklace in his hand.
I certainly intended to take back the necklace bearing my family’s seal, but I had no intention whatsoever of becoming the dog of whoever happened to hold it.
“For the record, I don’t need that necklace.”
“It bears your family seal.”
“Yes, it does. And I sold it for three hundred Glowstones. But right now, I possess a method that can turn the Glowstones that have been nothing but a nuisance to the County of Edwell into gold and treasure. Trading that for a necklace valued at such a pittance would hardly be profitable.”
“...Ha ha.”
According to Isaac, Howard was a calculating man.
The fact that he had come to see me of his own accord despite having no faith in me meant that he, too, had already calculated just how valuable the method in my hands truly was.
A single signboard required roughly three hundred Glowstones.
If he could learn how to make Glowstones shine without mana, he could manufacture the signboards himself and sell them not only throughout the Duchy of Arnia, but across every territory in the empire.
And their uses would inevitably expand beyond signboards as well.
If he could empty the territory’s mines of Glowstones and sell every last one of them, the proceeds would amount to at least ten years’ worth of the territory’s budget.
There was no question that the method could bring staggering wealth.
“The Head of House has given you many things and many opportunities without asking for anything in return. This matter would benefit the Head of House, who is your father, as well as the County of Edwell and its people. And yet, how could you...?”
“You think I’m heartless?”
“I will speak frankly. As both a vassal and a resident of the County of Edwell, I cannot help but see it that way.”
“You’ve seen me correctly. This actually works out quite well. Now that you’ve spoken honestly, I feel much more at ease.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Have you forgotten? I’ve always been a heartless bastard.”
“...Ah! That’s true.”
“Then I’ll be honest about what I want as well.”
“......?”
“I’d like you to invest in our shop.”