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Chairman, Dieta (1)
There were things that needed taking care of while he was back on the continent.
His work as a Postman was done, but his duties as a Free Knight were not. Najin had obtained information on Quixote, the Star of Scorn, and needed to share it with Gerd.
'Star's Tomb, La Mancha.'
Najin's thoughts drifted to Quixote.
Apostle of the Carnival King. Court jester.
A Constellation who had held seven stars but lost one in their last battle, now down to six.
'That Constellation, Quixote the Star of Scorn. How strong would you say he actually is?'
-I've never seen his Authority, so I can't say for certain, but if I think in terms of the Transcendents you've encountered...
Merlin wriggled her fingers, working through some calculation, then nodded.
-Second, I'd say.
'...Second?'
-Yeah. The Lighthouse Keeper would be around third, and the Carnival King is obviously out of the picture entirely. So the Star of Scorn lands at second.
Running through all the Transcendents he'd met so far, Najin felt a flicker of doubt. Wasn't Quixote a Constellation with seven stars, six now? Just recently, Anton alone had carried eight.
-I keep telling you, star count doesn't automatically mean strength. There are quite a few exceptions. And Constellations of Quixote's particular type are a bit tricky on top of that.
'Tricky how?'
-They're unhinged.
Merlin tapped the side of her head with a finger.
-It sounds a bit ridiculous, but in this world, the more unhinged a Transcendent is, the more of an advantage they have. It's a structure that favors self-righteous, self-obsessed lunatics who live trapped entirely inside their own world.
'Why is that?'
-Because there's nothing for them to deny about themselves. Madmen who don't keep one foot on the ground, who believe the whole world revolves around them, have nothing that can shake them.
A confidence that went beyond being steadfast, one that had taken root in the world itself.
-Types like that are tricky to deal with. Transcendents are beings who define the world in their own terms, and one wrong step and you get swallowed into their reality.
Into their stage, Merlin said.
Najin thought he understood what she meant by that.
'The laughter that came from nowhere. The windmills, the absurd props, the jesters.'
The stage the Carnival King and Quixote had spread.
Even with dozens of Constellations crashing into the battlefield, their stage had held firm. Before the combined will of those dozens, those hundreds of stars, the jesters had not stopped playing, and the laughter had not ceased.
-It's a clash of momentum, in the end.
Merlin flicked a finger.
-Lose the momentum in a fight between Transcendents and winning becomes nearly impossible. So Quixote, with that overwhelming presence of his, ranks among the upper echelon even within Transcendents.
'Then what happens if you break that stage?'
-He'd drop a long way down, I'd imagine. From that point on, the one with more stars would have the advantage.
Quixote was a Constellation who depended on his stage.
The Carnival King likely the same.
Listening to Merlin murmur that, Najin fell into thought for a moment. He was beginning to understand why both the Carnival King and Quixote were so desperate to keep La Mancha hidden.
'Ah, then who's first?'
-Helmet Knight.
Merlin said it without hesitation.
-Not the weakened state where he'd lost all his stars when you crossed paths with him. His prime. By that measure, he's first.
First Horn of the Empire. Aldaran Vasaglia.
Even depleted, stripped of every last star, the knight had been terrifyingly strong, and Merlin placed him first.
-Honestly, it was something else. Even in my era, warriors like him were rare. He was more than capable of holding his own in Camlann.
'That strong?'
-Yeah. Good enough to sit at the Round Table.
Najin absently adjusted his pauldron.
The pauldron modeled after the golden-horned helmet.
Straightening the Free Knight attire he would someday have to show before his teacher, Najin let out a slow breath.
"......"
Watching the scenery blur past outside, he reached for the newspaper sitting on one side of the carriage. He had been curious what had been happening on the continent during the months he spent in the Outland.
Rustle.
Opening the paper, he found a familiar name on the front page. He read through it with a warm feeling, and a short, dry laugh slipped out before he knew it.
-Why? What is it? What does it say?
'Nothing major.'
Najin tapped the newspaper.
'It looks like someone's been working hard to catch up.'
Before Roselin Ascalo, there had been someone who once told Najin to climb to great heights together. One of the Empire's Pillars, rising high from its capital, the girl who had pointed at the stars in the sky and smiled at him.
「Century-old Rocktide Trading declares bankruptcy overnight as chairman Shagel Rocktide sells off the company...」
「Rocktide collapse sends the markets into turmoil.」
「Crisis for affiliated minor trading companies amid economic chaos...(excerpted)... Dieta Trading Company purchases all rights including management and business interests of Rocktide Trading, completing the acquisition.」
First, seize the merchants' district.
The girl who had said she would take every flag of the great trading companies flying at the highest peaks and make them her own.
「Rocktide Trading acquired and merged into Dieta Trading Company.」
Her voice sounded in his ears.
'I told you, didn't I?'
If you're going to place your star in the sky above, then I'll climb to the highest place I can reach on this earth.
"Honestly."
The image of a girl rolling a gold coin across her palm and smiling surfaced in his mind, and Najin smiled along with her.
Rocktide and Corneld.
Two trading houses known in this world, among merchants, simply as "giants." Centuries of history to their names, centuries spent enthroned at the top of the market. Undisputed titans.
One stamp of a giant's foot could shift the entire economy. A single flick of the hand controlling the flow of gold could send minor trading companies toppling one after another, and even storied noble houses could be brought low.
Gold is power.
Setting aside those pillars standing above the heavens, the chairmen of Rocktide and Corneld were figures even the nobility could not treat carelessly.
"......"
But here stood one merchant.
The merchant looked upon a giant.
That enormous frame, that mountain of history, and countless others had long given up even raising their eyes toward the top. She never did. She saw where the giant planted its feet, and where its gaze fell.
To her, the giants were not invincible.
Quite the opposite.
The larger the body, the greater the amount of food and water it must take in to sustain itself. That's just the way of things. And for a trading company, food and water come down to one thing.
Gold. Money.
The snake that swallows gold began slowly coiling around the giant's legs. The first target was the Platinum Tower, which held an exclusive contract with Rocktide Trading. Using rare dragon goods as bait, she approached the Platinum Tower's master, won her over, and secured the Platinum Tower as her ally.
Master of the Platinum Tower and one of the Empire's Pillars.
Eternal Radiance, Cipria Gachevskaya.
She became the snake's ally. The snake asked for nothing excessive. A small favor. A small gesture of goodwill.
「Platinum Tower signs exclusive contract with Dieta Trading Company.」
「First contract change in sixty years.」
That alone stripped Rocktide of its most vital source of income. The complacency of believing a fish once caught would stay there forever. The carelessness of assuming that what had held true for decades would remain unchanged tomorrow. Into those gaps, the snake bit down and didn't let go.
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One by one, but at a pace far too fast to counter.
Every move she had prepared in advance was released all at once.
She bit through the giant's ankles, poisoned the lake it drank from, set fire to its granaries, and softened the ground beneath its feet until it lost its balance and fell.
A giant that has toppled once does not easily stand again. Given enough time it might manage, but she knew that, and she had no intention of giving it any.
The businesses they'd stretched wide in confidence, the bonds and the debts wrapped around them, all of it tightened around the giant's throat. From there, there was little left to do.
One last snap.
Bite through the giant's neck. Done.
"......"
The chairman of Rocktide Trading, Shagel Rocktide, sat across from her in the office with the expression of someone chewing on something rotten. Watching him, the snake that swallows gold smiled. Even after signing the contract, the old man hadn't moved from his seat.
His face said he refused to accept that his entire life, his family's centuries of history, had been swept away in an instant.
Not a face that suited a merchant. A true merchant was someone who endured losses in exchange for even the smallest gain, someone who kept their true feelings hidden until the very end.
"I have another appointment."
Dieta smiled.
"Would you mind clearing the room? Chairman."
With a grinding of teeth, he shoved himself to his feet. The old man's hands trembled around his cane, his face desperate to fling one last parting shot, but Dieta had already looked away.
Her gaze had moved to the clock on the wall. A seasoned negotiator doesn't speak only with words, but with their eyes.
Shagel Rocktide was a merchant too. He knew exactly what the girl's gaze meant. Looking at the clock meant "I have no more time to spare for you," and that was nothing short of being shown the door.
The old man's expression darkened further.
But the moment Dieta lifted her eyes from the clock and looked at him directly, he couldn't find a single word to say.
"......"
Those golden eyes, watching him in silence.
Eyes the color of gold coins.
The world called them by all manner of extravagant names, golden-coin eyes, golden snake eyes. The moment he met that gaze, the fight drained right out of him.
Eyes gleaming with the yellowish luster of a beast's.
Driven back by the force behind that gaze, the chairman of Rocktide Trading left the office without managing a single parting word.
Tap. Clack.
The footsteps and the cane faded far into the distance. Dieta slipped to the door and pressed her ear against it. Then she glanced at the bodyguard standing beside her.
"He's gone?"
"It seems so, my lady."
"Good. Then."
Dieta let out a long breath, and,
"Why does he have to waste so much time? Just sign and get out already! What does glaring at me accomplish? We've lost too much time, what do we do?"
She stamped her feet.
Rocktide's chairman had taken Dieta's glance at the clock, and her remark about having another appointment, as a dismissal: I have no more time for you.
"I'm running out of time!"
Not even close.
There genuinely was another appointment. She genuinely was running short on time. It had been nothing more than an anxious, impatient glance, wishing he would just leave already.
"We have to start getting ready now. I'm busy, Pasion. First I need to bathe, then clothes... Right, clothes! I had an outfit set aside especially for today. Contact my secretary and have them bring it quickly... Oh, and some fine black tea as well. What else? Refreshments? Oh, and..."
Dieta rattled off one thing after another.
"I'll handle it. So please, calm down a little..."
"I'm counting on you, Pasion!"
Shouting that, she immediately gathered her things and sprinted toward her estate.
Who on earth could make her like this?
Not even the master of the Platinum Tower, one of the Empire's Pillars, could make her this frantic. As a merchant, Dieta was always composed, always flawless. But Dieta as just a young woman, not a merchant, that was a different story entirely.
"Hurry, hurry!"
She broke into a run.
There was no one else in the world who could reduce the infamous snake that swallows gold to simply a girl named Dieta.
The appointment set for two hours later was with Najin.
To prepare for her first meeting with him in months, back after his time in the Outland, Dieta practically sprinted down the corridors of the trading company. The employees who watched their usually poised, dignified, unflappable chairman running past all tilted their heads in bewilderment. That much was a given.
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