After they arrived at the fief-run ostler, Ledgetak summoned a goblin slave and sent him on an errand.
About half an hour later, the man he had sent for appeared.
He worked for the merchants’ guild Fragruder and also owned a private shop inside the city walls, a man Rimas at least recognized by sight.
Rimas knew him to be around forty years old.
“I heard about your father,” the man said.
“I’d like to offer my condolences.”
“Thank you, sir,” Rimas replied.
“Ledgetak tells me you plan to clear out all of your goods today.
Is that really what you intend to do?”
As far as Rimas knew, Fragruder held a fairly high position in the merchants’ guild and was a wealthy man, but he was a commoner, not a noble who could address Ledgetak without honorifics.
Finding that a little strange, he glanced at Ledgetak.
“This rude merchant is my second brother,” Ledgetak said.
“What?
Really?”
“Yes.
I was simply born with a talent for MOW, but I’m a commoner by birth, from a merchant family.
My brother may be a trader, but he’s not the type to swindle you, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
“Worry about yourself,” the man snorted.
“You’re the one who blows through money.
Rimas grew up watching his traveling-merchant father, so even if I wanted to cheat him, he knows the going rates inside and out.
You’re the one who doesn’t know the value of money and spends it like a fool.
If Father and I hadn’t been backing you, you would’ve gone bankrupt on that salary of yours.”
“When do I ever ‘blow through’ money?” Ledgetak protested.
“You say that like you ever gave me enough to blow in the first place.
And honestly, the reason you and Father can trade so easily now is because I clawed my way up to this position.
No one ever gives me credit for that.
Unbelievable.”
“That’s why we make sure your cut is solid,” his brother shot back.
“When have we ever not taken care of you?”
“Be that as it may, I don’t want to serve under the viscount anymore.
No matter what anyone says, I’m quitting at the end of this year.”
“Do as you like.”
At that, Ledgetak dropped his joking tone and turned to look at his brother.
“Huh?
I really can do as I like?
I don’t have to worry about the viscount?”
“Our family’s grown a lot in the meantime,” his brother said.
“I’m sick of hearing you say the same thing every year.
And even if you do quit, the fact that you’re a MOW noble isn’t going anywhere.
The viscount might feel slighted, but there’s nothing he can actually do about it.
You’ve done enough, and so have we.
He won’t really be in a position to keep pressing you.”
“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
“For now, I’m focusing on business.
You can clear out.”
With that, Fragruder headed toward Rimas’s wagon, which had been left in the goblin slaves’ care.
When they reached it, he lit a lamp, climbed into the wagon, and told Rimas to follow.
Then he passed the lamp to Ledgetak and took out paper and pen, getting ready to start writing.
“Hold the lamp properly, you idiot little brother.”
“How am I supposed to hold it any better than this?”
“When I’m looking at the goods, you point it at the goods.
When I’m writing, you point it at the papers.
Got it, you thick-headed fool?”
“Fine, fine, you genius of a big brother.”
Grumbling like that, Ledgetak nonetheless moved with precise, practiced motions, shifting the light back and forth between the goods and the documents as he helped his brother work.
Fragruder lowered himself so even short Rimas could see what he was writing, bending over the page so the boy could look on and read the figures for himself.
“By the way,” Fragruder said, “if there’s anything you’d like to keep as a memento before we sell it, just say so at any time.”
“No,” Rimas said.
“There isn’t anything.”
“Things like that can turn up once you start sorting through everything, though…”
With that, Fragruder finally set to work.
“Let’s see,” he murmured.
“First, one full barrel of beer, 2,520 coins.
One small cask, that’s 648.
One worn awning, 150.
One axe, 100.
One frame-backed backpack, 270.”
“Leave that one out,” Ledgetak said.
“He’ll need it for traveling anyway.
Better to keep it than sell it and buy another.”
“This haversack looks to be in better condition,” Fragruder remarked.
“It’s too small.
The other one’s better.”
“All right.”
At Ledgetak’s words, Fragruder crossed out what he had just written and went on listing and pricing the goods.
Ledgetak glanced at Rimas.
“Don’t sell anything you’ll need for traveling,” he told him.
Rimas said he understood, and Fragruder went on with his work.
“These boots—oh!
Cowhide,” he said.
“I was going to give you 342 coins for them, but you’ll need boots if you’re traveling anyway, so I’ll leave them out.”
“Obviously,” Ledgetak said.
The two brothers worked together as if they shared the same hands.
Ledgetak swung the light exactly where it needed to be, while his brother glanced over each item and called out a price.
Rimas, who knew most of the prices his father used to sell at, was grateful that Fragruder wasn’t trying to undercut him.
Of course, the figures Fragruder gave were not the retail prices his father would charge, but something lower.
Still, even valuing everything at second-hand rates was generous.
“Three earthenware bowls,” Fragruder went on.
“Six copper ones.
This brazier ought to fetch a bit—let’s say 900.
One bundle of feathers, 54.”
“There’s a glass cup inside the feathers,” Rimas put in quickly.
“I see,” Fragruder replied.
“Packed like this so it won’t break.
In that case, there might be something tucked away in that wool as well.”
He checked where Rimas had pointed, then added those items and their prices to the list.
“A pile of leftover firewood… I’ll give you 4 coins for that.
And these wooden spoons… those are going into your travel kit… Quite a lot of raisins here, 28.
The sugar—small amount, so 120…”
They spent quite a while tallying up all the goods Rimas’s father had carried on the wagon.
At last, the three of them climbed back out.
Even outside, there was still more to deal with.
“Are you selling both mules?” Fragruder asked.
“Or taking one to ride?”
Ledgetak answered for him.
“It’s better not to ride.
Just sell them.
I know you’ve grown attached to them, but…”
When Rimas nodded, Fragruder added 3,700 coins to the list for the pair of mules.
Finally, he wrote down a price for his father’s old wagon and totaled all the amounts on the sheet, then handed it to Rimas.
“That comes to 52,240 copper coins,” he said.
“If there’s a mistake in the figures or anything else wrong, say so.”
There was no way there was.
Young as he was, Rimas had been traveling with his father since birth; he knew very well just how much Fragruder was doing for him.
Simply paying a fair second-hand price for the merchandise his father had been hauling around was already a tremendous favor.
In trade, goods you’ve bought don’t always sell quickly; it’s not unusual for them to end up sitting as dead stock.
What was more, under normal circumstances he would have had to seek out different merchants for each type of item—one for leather, another for liquor, another for cloth, and so on.
A vendor who travels from village to village has to carry everything, but when the time comes to liquidate those goods, you normally go around to each shop in turn and sell things off piece by piece.
If you want even a slightly better price, you might have to drag the same item from place to place, haggling at every door.
For a single man to buy everything at once, regardless of category, was an immense convenience.
As he added each item to the list, Fragruder wrote the running total beside it, so that by reading straight down from top to bottom, any errors would be obvious.
If one item was 100 coins and the next 122, then beside the 122 he would write the new total, 222.
Rimas went through the list slowly, confirmed that there were no mistakes in the arithmetic, and nodded his agreement.
Then Fragruder spoke again.
“I’ve already checked with the guild,” he said.
“No one there is owed money by your father, and as far as they know he didn’t owe anyone else either.
Do you know of any unrecorded debts—trades made without contracts, money lent or borrowed without a written note, anything that was only agreed to verbally?
Of course, if nothing is registered with the guild and there’s no documentation, then neither you nor anyone who owed your father money has any formal claim.
But if there were any tabs run on trust or anything of that sort, then for the sake of decency those should be settled, which is why I’m asking.”
“As far as I know, there’s nothing,” Rimas replied.
“Father was always very strict about handling money properly.”
“Indeed.
As far as I know, that’s true as well.
He was that kind of man.
For such a man to die like that…” He trailed off, then shook his head.
“Sorry.
That was unnecessary.
In any case, that matter is settled.
Because your father was a member of the merchants’ guild, the guild will be paying out a kind of compensation, or condolence money.
Including a bounty of 2,000 coins posted on anyone who harms a guild merchant, it comes to a total of 7,000.
I hear the judge has set a bounty of 10,000.
Adding another 2,000 on top of that seems pointless; it’s better to put it toward your schooling.
I’ll hand it over to you now, and you can decide what to do with it.
I’ve already spoken with the guild and gotten them to be flexible about it, so if you can, I’d like you to put it toward your tuition.”
The merchants’ guild collected mandatory dues from all its members each month, but it also practiced mutual aid—offering low-interest loans to those in difficulty and, in cases like this, providing compensation or relief payments.
Of course, it was best never to need such assistance.
The guild did have an obligation to pay Rimas, but strictly speaking, the cost of pursuing and punishing whoever had harmed one of their own was a separate matter, and there was no requirement to pass that money on to the bereaved.
The fact that they had chosen to give it to Rimas anyway was simply a discretionary decision on the guild’s part.
Ledgetak spoke to his older brother in a lightly reproachful tone.
“What do you mean, ‘special consideration’?
If father’s the guildmaster, he should at least do that much.”
“My father is your father too, you know,” Fragruder replied dryly.
“Little brother.”
He shot Ledgetak a brief look before continuing.
“So altogether, that comes to 59,240 coins.
Since you’re on your own, if you’re careful, that should cover about two years of living expenses.
But once you’re at school, your basic needs will likely be provided for, and I imagine your father has an account at the Imperial Bank with some funds in it as well. This story is hosted at novelping . com.
If so, your situation with tuition may turn out better than you expect.
Still, looking at our spendthrift little brother here, MOW warriors may earn well, but they spend just as much.
Good equipment, especially, is expensive, so you’ll need to change the way you think about money.
In the Empire, necessities and food are cheap, but most things a commoner doesn’t need tend to be quite costly.
You’re no longer just a merchant’s son—you should start thinking as a MOW warrior.”
He paused briefly, then continued.
“As for today’s fee for the fief-run ostler, you’ve already paid it, but I’m not counting that.
I’ll cover it starting tomorrow, though…”
“Wow, that’s pretty petty of you, brother.”
“Quiet.
Business is business,” Fragruder shot back.
“And I’ll show you I’m not stingy.
How about you come stay at my place for a while?” he said to Rimas.
“I’ll feed you, and I won’t charge you for lodging.
You’ll have to go to the grand fief to register as a warrior anyway, so you won’t be staying long.
No need to waste money on an inn.”
“I was planning to take him to our place anyway,” Ledgetak said.
“You talk as if the house were entirely yours.”
“Oh?
Then is it all yours?”
“If not for me, do you think you could’ve built a house that big?
My share’s the largest.”
“Right.
How impressive,” Fragruder replied dryly.
“I’m truly honored to be hosting such a distinguished younger brother.”
“Exactly.
If you’re grateful, you should treat your younger brother well.”
“Quiet.
If you weren’t a MOW, I’d give you a good hit.
Then again, since you are a MOW, someone like me couldn’t hurt you anyway… so maybe I can swing without worrying?”
“And who said I’d just stand there and take it?”
“If your elder brother hits you, you’re supposed to take it, aren’t you, little brother?”
“I’d rather not.”
“That’s enough.
Look at Rimas’s face,” Fragruder said.
“Let’s drop the nonsense and settle this.”
As he spoke, he opened his purse and took out several gold coins.
“I’ll make it six crowns.
Do you have any silver on you?”
Since Ledgetak had paid in silver when buying the bolts earlier, he did have silver on hand.
Fragruder handed over six gleaming gold coins stamped with the Imperial Crown—commonly called crowns—took silver in change, then added another forty in small coin to settle the account with Rimas.
Afterward, he had Rimas sign a document stating that the compensation for a guild-affiliated merchant who had been attacked had been received, and that the goods from the wagon had been properly sold.
With that done, he spoke as he took his leave.
“Little brother, don’t keep him out too long—bring him by before supper.
And Rimas, I’ll see you at the house later.”
Rimas rubbed the gold coin in his hand for a moment—it was the first time in his life he had ever handled one—then loosened his purse, placed it carefully inside, and tied it shut again.
Once Ledgetak saw that he had secured it properly, he spoke.
“Now that you’ve got some money, let’s stop by the jeweler.”
“The jeweler?”
“Yes.
When the domain mage fought that man, she used up all her spell points and had to draw on the spells stored in a spell gem.
On top of that, a gem must have been used to freeze your father’s head.
That makes at least two gems used.
As a matter of courtesy and propriety, it’s best to repay that.
Not that she seems the sort to demand it, but still.”
“I understand.
Of course we should repay it.
Thank you for telling me.”
“You could repay it in coin, but by custom, it’s better to present gemstones,” Ledgetak explained.
“Rather than handing over a thousand coins, it’s customary to give a jewel worth nine hundred instead, even if it’s somewhat cheaper.
Our small fief only has a single jeweler, so there may not be much worth buying—but on the other hand, if I press the matter, there’s a chance we can get a good price.
Let’s take a look first and decide.
If there’s nothing suitable, we’ll be heading to the grand fief anyway, so we can buy something there—or stop by jewelers in other towns along the way.”
“By the way… your father is the head of the merchants’ guild?”
“Hm.
That’s right.
You didn’t know?”
“No.
Commoners don’t use family names like nobles do, so we only know people by their given names.
There’s no way to tell.”
“I see.
That makes sense.
We’re not the sort to go around talking about that, anyway.
More importantly, you don’t know much about gemstones, do you?
And I doubt you’ve ever repaid a mage in jewels before, so I’ll choose for you.”
“Yes, please.
I’d rather leave it to you.”
As they spoke, the two of them set off for the only jeweler in the fief.