“Miss Sophie, are you really going to sell this?”
The merchant at the trading house put on his glasses and carefully examined the golden medal, which bore the insignia of the Holy Land’s imperial family.
“Yes, please give me an appraisal.”
Sophie nodded.
After fainting in the Hall of Heroes, she had been diagnosed with exhaustion and was granted a rare day off.
On this precious holiday, she visited a large trading house she often frequented and summoned the merchant who handled private sales.
“This looks like the medal the imperial family awarded you for your achievements in the recent Transcendent beast subjugation campaign?” The merchant pushed up his glasses.
“Mhm.”
“It’s only been a few days. You’re already planning to sell it?”
The merchant found it utterly baffling. This wasn’t the first or second time. Sophie kept secretly meeting him through back channels to sell all sorts of honorary medals.
“I need money,” Sophie answered.
“You, of all people, are short of money?”
The merchant still couldn’t understand.
As a saintess candidate, almost all of Sophie’s expenses were covered by the Holy Land. Occasionally, like during the last Transcendent beast campaign, she even received rewards.
There was no reason for her to be short on cash.
“There’s something I want to buy myself.” Sophie only intended to reveal that much; she didn’t want to talk further.
“Very well… Since you’re set on selling, we’ll take it.” The merchant agreed.
For the trading house, this deal was extremely profitable.
Anyone with eyes could see that Sophie had an overwhelming chance of becoming the next official saintess.
Items related to the previous generation’s saintess, Sylvia, already fetched absurd prices.
If they bought Sophie’s belongings now and sold them later when her status skyrocketed, they’d make an absolute fortune.
It was precisely because of this that the trading house had been quietly accepting private transactions with Sophie.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll appraise it for you.”
“About the thing I mentioned before, have you found it?” Sophie asked.
“Yes, here it is. Please take your time looking through it.”
The merchant handed her a booklet.
Sophie accepted it and began flipping through the pages.
“…Good, the price has dropped. One step closer to the goal.”
The red-haired girl looked at the contents and smiled faintly.
It was a real estate catalog containing land and house prices in the neighboring country, all collected according to the requirements she had given them.
Her and Via’s birthday was approaching. The moment they turned eighteen and became adults, she wanted to give Via a very special birthday present.
This was the surprise she had been secretly preparing for a long time.
She knew very well that her little sister wasn’t particularly gifted and was constantly looked down upon and treated coldly, both in the Holy Land and at Avalon Academy.
Even if she herself became the true saintess later and gained authority, pulling strings to let Via stay in the Holy Land as a cleric would most likely only invite gossip and exclusion.
So she had prepared a retreat for her sister.
In a relatively peaceful neighboring country, she would buy a small manor in a quiet rural town, so Via could spend the rest of her life peacefully there.
The little manor came with some income-producing land. As long as she hired help, Via would never have to worry about food or clothing. And being in the countryside of another nation, she could somewhat avoid the negative reputation and no longer needed to care about the Holy Land’s opinions.
Once Sophie became saintess, she could even use her influence to have the neighboring country secretly look after Via.
Of course, all of this required money. That was why Sophie had been preparing all this time, continuously selling the rewards she earned from various missions.
The goal was now very close. Once she bought the manor, she planned to hand the key to Via on their birthday.
“No matter what, I want Via to live the rest of her life safely and peacefully. Being ordinary is fine.”
Sophie decided this in her heart.
It had nothing to do with whether she had been the Silver Sword Princess in her previous life. She was Sylvia’s daughter and Via’s older sister. In place of their departed mother, she would take care of her little sister.
“I wonder what kind of face Via will make when she receives this gift on our birthday. She’ll definitely be super happy~”
…
…
“Boss Goren, do you take these?”
“Hm?”
Goren heard a familiar voice, raised his head, and saw a black-robed, masked figure standing in front of him.
“Mr. W?”
“Yes, it’s me,” Via replied.
“Mr. W! I thought you’d been caught and would never come back!”
Goren stood up, a bellyful of words ready to burst out.
“I was really worried about your safety! I was afraid something had happened to you. I haven’t slept well these past days!”
“Worried about my safety? I think you were worried I’d been arrested and would rat you out for selling me that abyss-tainted magic core.”
“Uh… hehe.” Goren smiled awkwardly.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t caught.”
“That’s good, that’s good!”
Only then did Goren finally relax and speak freely.
“Sigh, those enforcement guard lapdogs, I’m sick of them. Treating a chicken feather like an official arrow, turning the entire underground black market upside down. Who knows how many people got dragged away. Some were even beaten to death in the streets. That ice seller over there had it really rough. And those clerics who keep preaching about saving the world, how can they be so ruthless?”
“I thought the underground black market was finished after that day.”
“You’re not wrong. Monica really wanted to shut us down for good, but she was suddenly ordered to stop. After all, the big shots up top still need a black gloves. The underground black market isn’t something you can close just because you feel like it.”
Goren had experienced this kind of thing more than once.
Having operated in the underground black market for many years, he was long used to it.
The market had existed for decades; the web of interests behind it was extremely complex and deeply rooted in the Saint Luo Empire. It couldn’t be sealed just because some evidence surfaced.
Still, the near-fall demonized being last time had truly scared him senseless.
If the trail of the abyss-tainted magic core led back to him, his head would probably have to move house.
He didn’t dare touch that kind of business again anytime soon.
“By the way, Mr. W, you didn’t come just to chat, right? I think I heard you say you wanted to sell something?”
“That’s right, Boss Goren. I’ve got some good stuff here. I’m sure you’ll be interested.”
Via spoke in a deliberately mysterious tone, took out a pouch, untied it, and poured the contents onto the counter.
The moment Goren saw them, his spirit instantly lifted.
“Oh? What’s this?”