Chapter 17: The Power of Leverage!

His Blackstone stared at the information provided by the system, silent for a long while.

‘I’m actually lending usury to Feng Aotian now?’

‘This… this isn’t right.’

‘But on second thought, this doesn’t seem like a bad thing.’

‘At least now I can keep track of Feng Aotian’s whereabouts and financial situation through Molis.’

‘After all, when someone owes you a lot of money, you can always find them.’

‘Besides, lending five silver coins and getting ten back doesn’t seem too excessive, right?’

‘Okay, it’s still a bit excessive.’

His Blackstone sighed and called Li Nuo Er to the study.

“Go to town and tell Molis that a new mercenary should have borrowed five silver coins from the Merchant Association under his control today. Tell him that under no circumstances should that mercenary know that this loan is related to the Blackstone family.”

“Yes, Young Master His Blackstone.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Nuo Er vanished on the spot.

His Blackstone leaned back.

He didn’t want to have any involvement with this Feng Aotian.

Just then, the system popped up a new piece of information.

[Today’s Flash Report!]

The situation at the border of the Two Realms continues to escalate. The Northern Border garrison has begun large-scale procurement of military supplies.

P.S. This piece of information is free.

‘Here it comes, here it comes!’

His Blackstone sighed emotionally about the system actually being considerate for once, while starting to calculate in his mind.

‘According to the information the system provided before, once the Two Realms go to war, the goods I have stockpiled now could triple or quintuple in price!’

His Blackstone took a deep breath, suppressing his inner excitement.

“Florin, come here for a moment.”

A moment later, the housekeeper in a light purple dress appeared in the study.

“Contact the various merchant houses and prepare to release the goods!”

“All of it?”

Florin’s seductive eyes raised slightly.

“Release half for now. As for the rest… I’ll see how the market goes first.”

“Okay.”

After Florin left, His Blackstone could no longer suppress his joy.

He jumped up from his chair and paced quickly around the study twice.

‘Bingo! This time I’m really going to strike it rich!’

***

Sijina Kalundina sat on a bench in the corner of the Mercenary Guild, clutching a mission slip and reading it over and over.

It had been shoved into her hand by the captain of her mercenary company that morning.

After a long period of inactivity, her mercenary company was finally getting a job.

The job was to escort a merchant caravan for three days.

After completion, everyone in the company would get fifteen silver coins each.

That would be enough to pay off her loan and interest, and still have five silver coins left over!

Thinking this, Sijina’s lips curled up unconsciously.

‘Truly, heaven never seals off all exits.’

‘That merchant association that was willing to lend me money really provided timely help. I’ll have to thank them properly later!’

Because she was too excited, Sijina didn’t fall asleep until nearly dawn.

When she arrived at the meeting point, the caravan’s wagons were already parked there, and her mercenary company teammates were standing nearby, waiting to depart.

“Sijina, you almost came late, you know that?”

The captain’s expression was not happy.

“I’m sorry, I…”

“Alright, we’re all here. Let’s get ready to go.”

Sijina nodded.

Just as she was about to check her equipment, a bald man walked over from the front of the convoy.

“Everyone, I’m the steward of this caravan and also the employer for this job.”

The bald man caught his breath and continued, “There’s something I need to inform you about.”

For some reason, a bad feeling suddenly rose in Sijina’s heart.

“We just received notice that the buyer says they’ve started liquidating goods and don’t need as many, so they’ve lowered the purchase price even further. That’s the Blackstone family, and we don’t dare to offend them. But if we include the cost of hiring you all, our revenue from this trip might not even cover the cost of the goods. Now I’m giving you two choices. First, cancel this mission outright, and you can look for other work. Second, accept a lower hiring price, and the mission continues.”

“Hmm…”

Although the employer had directly slashed the price like a dragon-slaying knife before the mission even started, greatly annoying the captain of the mercenary company, he thought about how his company had been without work for quite a while.

If they missed this chance, who knew when the next job would come.

‘Better to swallow this anger!’

“Alright, so how much are you willing to offer?”

“Your mercenary company has ten people in total. The price we agreed on before was 150 silver coins. Now I’m only willing to pay 80 silver coins.”

“You… you’re cutting it in half?!”

A vein popped on the captain’s forehead.

“Then just cancel the mission. It’s not like I’m making much money anyway.”

The bald man shrugged indifferently.

“Fine! 80 it is!”

The captain hesitated for a long time, then gritted his teeth and agreed.

“Alright, then let’s get ready to go.”

Seeing that the captain had ultimately accepted the mission, Sijina breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Even though that way I’ll only get eight silver coins, not enough to repay the merchant association, it’s better than nothing.’

‘I can earn the rest later!’

“Sijina, you’re fired!”

“What?!”

The captain’s sudden words struck like a thunderbolt, exploding in Sijina’s mind.

‘She was still figuring out how to spend those eight silver coins, and now the captain wanted to fire her outright?’

‘Obviously, he wanted the remaining members to get a larger share!’

“Look at you, your gear is the worst in our company. And you’ve repeatedly disobeyed orders in previous missions. This morning you were almost late…”

“But…”

“No buts!”

The captain’s tone no longer held any friendliness.

“Go back! From today, we go our separate ways!”

***

The sound of wheels crunching over gravel gradually faded away.

Sijina stood rooted to the spot, clenching her fists.

‘Why?’

‘She just wanted to work hard and earn a little money to support herself.’

‘Why did things end up like this?’

Now that she no longer had the mercenary company, it meant she couldn’t take on team missions that paid reasonably well.

‘With the ten silver coins owed to the merchant association, could she really repay it by taking on those odd jobs that only one person could handle?’

Sijina bit her lip and walked toward the tavern with her head down.

Suddenly, she remembered what the bald employer had said earlier.

“That’s the Blackstone family, and we don’t dare to offend them.”

‘Blackstone family.’

‘That Blackstone family again!’

She raised her head and watched the caravan gradually disappearing into the dust in the distance.

A flame of anger ignited in her eyes.

***

“Young Master, the first batch of goods has all been sold!”

Florin rushed into the study excitedly, her seductive eyes full of excitement.

“After deducting the final payments and other expenses, the net profit is a full 4,300 gold coins!”

Hearing this number, His Blackstone nodded in satisfaction.

‘This is the power of Leverage!’

“Continue releasing the goods. Sell off the rest entirely.”

His Blackstone took a sip of tea.

“Also, keep an eye on the town for any small shops that are struggling due to this market fluctuation. If there are suitable ones, buy them up at low prices.”

“Yes, Young Master~”

Perhaps because she had seen the real money, Florin’s attitude toward His Blackstone seemed a bit more ambiguous than before.