Chapter 21
Dybun couldn’t stop marveling about why he hadn’t thought of such a brilliant idea before, and Loyar also seemed to consider my suggestion a good idea.
I had only ridden the magical train once, but it hadn’t seemed like there were any security guards on board, at least at the moment. So, although complaints about the peddlers might pile up and measures might be taken in the future, it was still a long way off.
And that wasn’t the end of my plan.
This group was essentially my only source of financial support. Therefore, they had to earn more money and become more successful than before, since it was almost impossible to expect support from Sarkegar and Eleris.
Not only were Sarkegar and Eleris depending on Loyar’s crew, but now, so was I.
“Just selling candy like we’ve done so far won’t be enough. We’re going to need something that can attract more attention.”
“Something that attracts attention?”
The magical trains were a space where numerous people gathered, overflowing with potential consumers. Naturally, a single candy wasn’t going to capture any valuable attention. It had to be a product that was targeted at many consumers.
“Hmm... We don’t have the financial ability to start selling proper goods, right?”
“Unfortunately, no...”
Of course, it would have been great if we could offer high-quality items that everyone would be interested in, but if that were possible, we could have just started a business ourselves.
The best we could do was offer simple, affordable items that could easily attract consumer attention, rather than focus on quality and function.
“Considering the current situation, I think something simple like toys is our best bet.”
“Toys? I’m not sure what kind of toys you’re talking about, but do you really think that’s gonna sell?”
Loyar seemed uncertain, but I grinned in response.
“The person who demands the toys and the ones who end up paying for them are different.”
“...Huh?”
“What do you mean?”
Dybun would probably understand what I was trying to say, but Loyar seemed a bit slow on the uptake. Loyar was a typical side character you would see in isekai stories, so it was expected.
In many isekai stories, the main character often rattles off a rather complex idea in front of a seemingly foolish side character. However, the main character’s sophisticated idea is usually nothing special, and it’s only used as a means to boast about their “intelligence” to the side character. Usually, you can tell the level of intelligence of the author based on this.
For example: an author might write, “Ah, this thing right here is called soap. Thanks to the surface-active agent inside it, you can wash your hands cleanly.”
There is a 100% chance that the author felt proud of himself for using the term “surface-active agent”, and a 98.235% chance that they think “I actually might very well be a genius!”
Anyway, in this case, it was a toy.
“Think about it. It’s kids who throw tantrums and demand toys, but it’s the parents who have to buy it for them.”
Children supplied the demand for toys, but the actual payment was carried out by their parents.
“Imagine a kid on a magical train begging for a toy.”
They all stared at me, wondering what I was about to say.
“Well, more times than not, parents would buy those toys, whether they are defective or not, just to shut their kids up.”
Those around me might ask how I knew such information when I’d already told them I had amnesia, but for now, I didn’t care. I was willing to let them think whatever they wanted. If they kept on suspecting me, I was fine with telling them the truth eventually. I wouldn't tell them everything—like the fact that I was the author of this world—but when the time came, I was confident that I would be able to come up with another plausible excuse or some nonsense to cover it up.
I was not going to act all clueless and give up on a good opportunity like this.
Anyway, Loyar and Dybun were looking at me as if I were the devil’s son. I mean, I guess they weren’t completely wrong...?
“You greedy prick...!”
Loyar seemed surprised at her outburst. She seemed to have said something she was only supposed to think in her head.
‘Hey, come on. I did say that you could act comfortably and casually with me, but I didn’t mean that casually. It’s not like I’m doing this just to please myself. It’s for everyone’s good! I’m gonna need to talk to you later about your behavior.’
“Come on! Let’s get our act together. We can do this!”
I extended my hand to lead a chant.
—Pat!
Loyar reflexively placed her “paw” on top of my hand, and shock exploded across her face.
In conclusion, I was an author with an intelligence level just high enough to come up with nothing more than a toy as a “sophisticated” idea.
***
There were still many other aspects of our plan that needed changes. To sell any type of merchandise, we needed to first prepare clean outfits so that we could at the very least avoid being treated as unreliable.
Until now, the gang had taken a “whatever works” approach, but from now on, we needed to approach things in a more customer-friendly manner.
However, the most important thing was to make our minds up on what items we were going to sell.
Dybun was deeply moved by the plan I had presented. He said he was convinced about why Loyar was trying to send me to the Temple and praised me as being more than capable of becoming the “brain” of the gang. He also said that receiving advanced education from the Temple on top of my current knowledge was only going to make me even more successful.
It was just a few words, but I felt like I was being showered with praise worth more than a thousand gold coins.
I decided to mingle with the gang of beggars, just so that I could at least familiarize myself with their faces. To be honest, I didn’t really want to, but avoiding them was only going to do me more harm than good.
Loyar mostly seemed to do nothing but sleep and mostly only took action when there was a need for a fistfight.
“Dybun sure as hell praised this young fella alright.”
While Loyar was the boss of the organization, it seemed that realistically, it was Dybun who managed it. Loyar told everyone that I was going to the Temple, and Dybun praised me, saying that I was a special kid. As a result, although the other members still felt quite suspicious toward me, I was able to leave a favorable impression on them.
“Hey kid, have a drink.”
They offered me alcohol without a second thought.
Even though I obviously looked underage, they didn’t seem to care.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
In reality, I was in my thirties, so I wasn't about to decline a good drink, and took the glass with gratitude.
"Hey! Are you giving alcohol to a kid?"
Despite what others may have said, I laughed and drank the shot in one big gulp without any hesitation.
“Ah yes! This is just what I needed!” I exclaimed as I drank the alcohol.
Everyone burst into laughter as if they had heard something unexpected.
The drink was a bit more bitter than I thought, but nonetheless, I still loved it.
A good drink was always a good drink!
The middle-aged man who poured me the drink laughed heartily. His breath didn’t exactly smell pleasant, but whatever.
“This young one already knows how to enjoy life! Haha!”
“Can there be a life without alcohol, folks?”
“Cheers!”
“This kid! He knows what he’s talking about, I like him!”
“I started drinking when I was your age, kid, but look at me now! Hehehe!”
“Well, the night is still young! Let’s go! Drink up!”
“Yeah!!”
“Drink and be merry!”
I would not be able to survive without them, so I couldn’t be picky, and could only be grateful.
I drank heavily with the beggars late into the night. Surprisingly, we had a lot in common, so we lost track of time and were having way too much fun. Well, I was technically a middle-aged man myself, so it was only natural that I got along well with other middle-aged men.
They asked me various questions, and since I wasn’t too drunk, I was able to answer them as per the pre-arranged story.
“Anyway, how did you end up here, kid?”
“I don’t even know when or how I was abandoned, sir. I was just wandering around here and there, and that’s how I ended up here.”
My story was that I was abandoned at a very young age and while roaming the streets, Loyar found me and took me to this place.
To them, I was just a kid whose origin was unknown and who was having a rough life at such a young age. They all sympathized with me and patted my back, telling me that I should become a great person at the Temple and not become like one of them. I received many similar pieces of emotional advice.
“By the way, I heard you guys call this group a ‘club’. What’s that all about?”
Loyar who was also known as the Hound of Irine. I’d also heard her refer to this organization as a “club” on numerous occasions. Usually, most organizations like these went with “such and such” crew or “so and so” crew as their name, so I wondered if there was a separate organization name that they’d come up with.
“Oh, right. It’s because of that big intersection up there.”
‘Intersection? What does that have to do with anything?’
The middle-aged man chuckled. “Come on, you’re joking, right? How can a rookie not even know the name of this club?”
“It’s the Rotary Club. Remember that.”
Ah, I see.
***
Eventually, Loyar came across our drunken midnight revelry and grew furious, demanding the identity of the one who had given alcohol to a teenage kid.
I initially suggested that she should also enjoy some alcohol with us, but ended up getting a stern lecture from her.
She nagged at me for a while, saying that although I was a different person than before, the fact that I was a nuisance had not changed a single bit. Maybe back then I’d been a nuisance who wasn’t into alcohol.
Nevertheless, it seemed like my reputation as a “pretty decent” guy had spread throughout the club because of how I livened up the welcome party.
The next day, as I nursed a severe hangover, I decided to get a handle on the situation within the Rotary Club.
Even though they were now on my side, I assumed that I didn’t know everything about them yet. I had drunk with them yesterday partly to get closer to the people, but also because I wanted to learn more about the Rotary Club.
The Rotary Club had around two hundred members. That was quite a substantial number.
I had no idea what their exact income was from begging, but if it was enough to support the life of a noble, it must have been substantial.
Considering they had to provide for their daily expenses, living costs, taxes, and then on top of that, support the lifestyle of a noble—their total expenditure had to be incredible.
How many candies do they have to sell each day to manage such expenses? Even if everyone sold a candy a day every day, that was equivalent to one thousand copper coins, which was equivalent to ten silver coins.
Ten silver coins were only a hundred thousand won. And if each person sold ten candies a day, that would still only be one million won.
And yet, that was not even considering the fact that everyone in the club was involved in candy selling.
Sustaining this group was an impossible task from the start.
Of course, besides selling candies, there were also those who begged outright, but that could not be enough to fulfill the financial needs of the entire group.
There must have been a different source of income within the Rotary Club, that much was clear. As far as I could imagine, Eleris and Sarkegar probably knew about this as well, and were deliberately withholding the information.
Loyar, Eleris, and Sarkegar seemed to be keeping some aspects of the Rotary Club’s income hidden from me.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to ask Loyar directly.
Loyar, for the most part, was off in the deep recesses of the sewers, in places no one would venture, tending to a small fire or dozing off.
It seemed like there might be other sources of income, and I asked her what it was.
“You don’t need to know that, Your Highness,” Loyar replied curtly, as if she had no intention of sharing the details.
“Alright, fine. Then just answer me this.”
“Sure.”
“Does it involve harming other people?”
“Not really, but it may indirectly result in that,” Loyar replied.
‘Hmm, it wasn’t something that involved harming people, but in some cases, it might end up like that.’
“I heard the club has around two hundred members.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“However, from what I can see, there are at most fifty people residing here.”
Fifty was still a significant number, but it was nowhere close to two hundred. My question was an indirect question. I was asking where the rest of the members were hiding.
Loyar let out a short sigh as if she knew I wouldn’t give up easily.
“I didn’t have any intention of deceiving you in any way. It’s simply better for you not to know much about this side of things, Your Highness,” she explained.
“Yeah, you probably thought that it might pose some unnecessary risk if I knew about it. It’s okay, I thought the same as well.”
“Selling candy is just an act.”
Begging was not their primary source of income.
“We receive support from the Gradium Thieves’ Guild,” Loyar explained.
Their purpose was to collect any information the guild needed, which explained why a gang this size could be sustained.
They were basically the typical group of beggars that appeared in fantasy medieval novels, working a side hustle to cover up their primary job.
The Rotary Club served as an outsourced information collection agency for the Gradium Thieves’ Guild. While it was common for beggars to be kicked out onto the streets, it was rare for beggars to be caught in many suspicious circumstances.
When I asked whether the approach that I proposed would then be of little significance, Loyar shook her head.
“While we do have an essential relationship with the Thieves’ Guild, the more dependent we become on them, the more they will try to control us. If the club can operate solely on its own profits, that will have enough meaning in itself.”
So, ultimately, the proposal I’d made the day before held great significance for Loyar and Dybun.
If the group had to rely on the Thieves’ Guild, the guild could exert even more control over the Rotary Club. However, if the club’s own profit margins grew, they could break free from the Thieves’ Guild’s interference once and for all.
That was the reason why Dybun seemed more excited than necessary.
It seemed like a messy issue, but in the end, it still all boiled down to money.
Why Loyar had said that it might ultimately harm other people also made sense now, since they didn’t know what the Thieves’ Guild was going to do with the information they got from them.
“There’s no need for you to know too much about this matter, Your Highness. You can forget about us after you enter the Temple with us as your guardians.”
Even though Loyar told the club members that the future of the club was tied to me, my true focus was on my own training at the Temple. Therefore, as Loyar said, I didn’t need to worry about the Rotary Club and its affairs.
Even if there were problems within the Rotary Club, Eleris had suggested that I simply cut ties with them as soon as I received tuition support from them and entered the Temple.
If I developed my talents, I would be exempted from having to pay tuition, which would allow me to live without any strings attached to the Rotary Club.
That’s why Loyar, Eleris, and Sarkegar hadn’t told me about the secret sources of income in the Rotary Club, because there was no real need for me to know the details.
“Your Highness, if you understand the situation now, please go with Dybun. You’ll need to get an identification card.”
Before officially saving up for the tuition fee, I needed to make an identification card.
The plan was slowly but surely progressing.
Damn it.
‘Do I simply wait for the ending while enjoying an easy life, or do I set my foot inside the main story of this world?’ This was the question I had asked myself all along, but I had now chosen the latter and was going to be enrolled in the Temple.
Taking the difficult path wasn’t necessarily making me shiver in dread. I’d find a way somehow, just as I rescued Charlotte back then.
It would be the real deal once I entered the Temple, so I had to step up my game.
The future now depended greatly on how strong I became.
And when the time comes, Sarkegar, Eleris, and Loyar will all realize that the Demon Realm was not the most important thing in their lives.
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