Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 573: Development (2)

Stadak, the merchant lord who operated the massive trading company Coins Beneath the Water with the maritime city of Raksas as its base, had continued his trade journey for nearly two years without returning to headquarters.

And for Stadak, that was quite unusual.

It had already been over thirty years since he first began leading trade expeditions like this, and throughout all those years of running his company, he had never once continued a trading route for longer than a single year.

And yet, despite that, the reason he had been able to continue traveling this long without returning to the main branch was because of the branch office he had quickly established in Palantia.

Back when rumors first spread that an auction house would be built in Palantia, he had purchased land there purely through a merchant’s instinct.

Because of that, even amid this dangerous era, he had been able to safely accumulate capital through the branch while continuing his business.

Palantia, where the Magic King ruled as king, was itself no different from an impregnable fortress in the eyes of merchants.

Who in their right mind would dare raid the Magic King’s territory?

Of course, now and then there were always lunatics who attempted such impossible things.

But even those madmen had no choice but to avoid the Magic King’s territory entirely.

And the reason was not merely because of the Magic King himself, but because of Divine Land, which worshiped him as a god.

By now, a certain saying had even appeared in the underworld.

‘Do not go to Palantia.’

A proverb so simple it was almost absurd.

More accurately, though, the reason was Divine Land’s knights.

Even from the perspective of people in the underworld—

......Though saying it like this felt somewhat inappropriate, even to merchants who directly benefited from them—

those people seemed just slightly insane.

That became especially obvious in the way Divine Land handled its affairs.

Normally, if a bandit-related incident occurred in another territory, the matter ended once the bandit group responsible had been dealt with.

But Divine Land was entirely different.

If a bandit incident occurred anywhere near Palantia or Divine Land—

rather than focusing on the bandit group responsible, they focused on the bandits themselves.

And claiming they would eliminate the root cause—the “bandits”—they began sweeping away every bandit they could find afterward.

Rather than examining the process of the incident, they eliminated the cause itself.

Like some military force somewhere that, after a soldier struck another with a canteen, decided the solution was to abolish all canteens entirely.

......Anyway, because of that, virtually no incidents occurred around Palantia, Divine Land, or even Lartania, allowing Stadak to continue his trade relatively safely even during these chaotic times.

“Hey.”

“Yes, Merchant Lord.”

“Have all the contracts been finalized?”

“Yes, they have!”

Stadak intended to end this long journey today.

“How much are we receiving?”

“Five times the amount you originally paid when purchasing the branch land, Merchant Lord.”

At his secretary’s grinning reply, Stadak stroked his beard in satisfaction.

‘It’s time to sell.’

Currently returning to Palantia, Stadak had already sold off the land his company originally owned there to another merchant group several days earlier.

And not for double.

Not triple.

But for over five times the original value!

Of course, someone might ask why he would do something so wasteful and foolish.

Even at this very moment, the value of commercial district land in Palantia was rising explosively.

That remained true despite the absurd amount taken through taxes.

However, Stadak did not regret his decision.

In fact, he did not think it was wrong or foolish in the slightest.

‘The commercial district’s land prices will fall soon anyway.’

Naturally, someone hearing that might think he was speaking nonsense.

But Stadak genuinely believed it.

Because he had heard the rumors.

That other districts within Palantia had begun development.

‘The only reason Palantia’s land prices are remaining this high right now is because demand massively exceeds supply.’

But what if supply became capable of matching demand?

Then it was obvious the land prices would fall.

And because of that certainty, he had sold the property without hesitation at what he believed to be the peak.

And that was not all.

Other merchant groups equally quick-witted—and capable of matching him intellectually—had also already begun selling their properties.

Everyone understood it.

That this moment was the peak.

That once Palantia began proper large-scale development, the endlessly soaring land prices would gradually normalize.

Therefore—

“Reassuring.”

“Hahaha, truly.”

Stadak repeatedly smiled in satisfaction at himself for thoroughly sucking every drop of profit possible out of Palantia as he headed back toward the territory.

He intended to retrieve the final remaining trade goods before officially handing over the property.

And after a bit more time passed, when Stadak finally approached the outskirts of Palantia—

“......What is that?”

“Uh—it appears to be the Gamau Merchant Company.”

He saw the Gamau Merchant Company standing in the middle of the road.

The Gamau Merchant Company.

Like Coins Beneath the Water, it had entered the ranks of the great merchant companies.

And at the same time, it was led by the merchant lord Rows—the very same merchant who had cleverly purchased land in Palantia alongside him.

“......The Gamau Merchant Company?”

“Yes.”

“Hm—”

At his secretary’s words, Stadak frowned slightly.

The Rows he knew was a merchant lord who valued time like life itself.

In other words, he was not someone who would ever stop his carriages outside scheduled rest periods.

Thus, Stadak’s confusion only lasted briefly.

“You bastard! If you fail to retrieve the contract, I’ll tear you apart!”

“H-hiiik! B-But Merchant Lord, you were the one who—!”

“Shut up! Bring it back immediately!!”

Hearing the shouting from ahead, Stadak initially only felt puzzled.

But—

“I said retrieve the land contract immediately, now!!!!”

The moment he heard Rows’s next words, Stadak could not help becoming confused.

Because that alone was enough for him to understand exactly why Rows was furious.

But as far as Stadak knew, there was no reason to be angry over that.

And just as he tilted his head in confusion—

“Uh...... Merchant Lord?”

His secretary’s voice suddenly called out.

“What is it?”

Stadak turned toward him.

However, unlike usual, the secretary was standing there blankly with his mouth hanging open and his gaze fixed somewhere ahead.

“......D-do you see that?”

“What......?”

Stadak turned his head as well.

And then he saw it.

Something that had not been visible before.

A gigantic tree only now visible because they had reached the hilltop—

No, it was not only that.

“W-What is that?”

Beside the enormous tree stood a gigantic colosseum that somehow looked utterly incompatible with it.

And elsewhere, a castle was rising in real time.

At terrifying speed.

And that was not all.

The true reason Stadak was shocked was—

“E-Elves?”

The elves.

His secretary could not see them, but Stadak, who was also a third-tier mage, could see them clearly.

Elves busily moving about all over the gigantic tree.

The instant he saw that, Stadak’s thoughts began racing wildly.

And then—

“We haven’t accepted the contract payment yet, right?”

“Y-Yes......?“

“The land contract payment!!”

“W-we already received the advance payment....... Once we hand over the property, we’ll receive the remaining balance—”

“Cancel it—”

“—Pardon?”

“Cancel it!!”

“B-but the contract itself has already been finalized—”

“What kind of bullshit is that!? I don’t care how you do it, reverse it somehow! Turn it into a blank contract!!”

Stadak realized something.

It was not that he had sweetly drained all the profit out of Palantia—

“NOOO—!!!”

He had instead suffered an utterly absurd loss.

The screams of the two merchant lords echoed loudly.

####

Meanwhile, around the same time those quick-witted merchant lords were coughing up tears of blood after selling their land—

“S-so that’s what happened.”

“Well, more or less.”

Alon was currently greeting Penia, who had returned after roughly a month wearing a very obvious expression of 'What in the world is going on here right now?'

......Though more accurately than greeting her, the moment she arrived he had simply begun explaining how this entire situation had happened......

“Were you surprised?”

“Of course I was surprised! And it’s not just the tree—there are elves too!”

At Penia’s words, however, the one who answered was not Alon.

“Is that really the surprising part?”

It was Magrina, who had been there speaking with Alon.

“Uh...... Isn’t it obviously surprising......?”

Penia continued.

“Fundamentally, elves prefer living in forests, right? On top of that, they dislike artificial structures, and they’re hostile toward humans too.”

“Hm—”

At Penia’s words, Alon nodded.

In truth, when Magrina had brought over the World Tree sapling through an utterly incomprehensible method a few days earlier—with Rine’s assistance—and the elves had arrived alongside it, he himself had thought something similar.

However, at the time he had been too shocked by the fact they had brought over a WorldTree in the first place to ask about it.

And so, now curious as well, he looked toward Magrina.

She smiled before speaking.

“Elves disliking humans is an old story now.”

“......Well, Brother himself is human to begin with.”

“Uh.......”

Penia thought 'Alon is clearly a special case, and there aren’t any other examples like that among elves', but before she could say anything—

“Mm—she’s definitely right.”

Mu, Magrina’s secretary who had been attending beside her, nodded.

“Originally, the elderly elders and the council did dislike humans somewhat, but recently they all returned to the embrace of the World Tree.”

“......The embrace of the World Tree?”

“Yes. And since the descendants of the elder council also unfortunately returned to the embrace of the World Tree due to unavoidable accidents...... as Her Majesty said, there are almost no elves left who dislike humans.”

Mu nodded calmly.

“.......”

At those words, Penia suddenly had a strange thought.

Perhaps it was not that there were no elves who disliked humans.

Perhaps elves who disliked humans simply could no longer exist.

“.......”

“.......”

For some reason, Alon and Penia simultaneously looked toward Magrina.

Nod—

Without saying a single word, Magrina simply nodded.

Seeing that, Alon and Penia decided it would be wiser to stop asking foolish questions.

Anyway, after exchanging greetings for a while afterward—

“I’ll head out for a moment.”

Saying he had business near the colosseum where Seollang was, Alon turned and left.

And so, the only people remaining in the office were Magrina and Penia.

An awkward silence briefly settled between them.

Then Penia cautiously glanced around before—

“Ahem—then I suppose I should get back to work—”

—and very naturally sat down.

Watching Penia, Magrina—

“Oh my, are you planning to work?”

“Mm—well, I suppose I should?”

“Oh my, how unexpected.”

“? What is?”

“Well, you see, I assumed that the moment Brother left, you would immediately obtain one of his hairs and use that ‘affection level magic’~”

She spoke with a smile.

“Eh......?”

And cold sweat slowly began running down Penia’s back.