Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 52

52

I can only offer carbonation, carbonation, and more carbonation.

In the end, only two people left the villa for the Heiness Merchant Guild.

It was Zion and Rishikda.

Lilith, seemingly exhausted from their passionate morning, waved her hand, telling them to go alone.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. Being tired was one thing, but more than anything, she didn’t want to face the elves, who were naturally inclined to follow celestials.

Even though she was a mixed-blood, she had her own preconceived notions. And as a race with senses far superior to humans, Lilith didn’t want her presence to be revealed.

‘Ah, but if you keep looking at other women, I’ll bite your thing off, got it?’

Lilith gave a warning that sent shivers down Zion’s spine.

Zion saluted as if promising absolute obedience and left the villa toward the Heiness Merchant Guild.

After the unprecedented incident, security within the royal palace became twice as strict.

Hoods and cloaks, which no one usually paid attention to, had now become perfect hiding places for identities or weapons, so those wearing such attire were subject to random inspections.

Thanks to this, wearing a hood now made one’s identity more obvious due to the guards conducting inspections, so Zion decided to walk around openly.

Men on the street admired Rishikda, and women admired Zion, which made Rishikda even more wary of the attention pouring in from all directions.

“Calm down, Rishi.”

“With eyes on us from all directions, there are more things to be concerned about. If someone were to target Master at a time like this, even I might not be able to stop them all.”

“Don’t worry.

Even if I don’t know anything else, I’m not a very attractive target for those guys.”

What is greater than a hero?

It’s a ‘dead hero.’

At this time of victory in the war against Nudia, if the hero who contributed to that victory were to be attacked, it was highly likely that public opinion would unite rather than divide.

It was a gamble, but Zion knew that the radical elves didn’t like such adventures.

Even if they were radicals, they were still elves.

They were beings who sought certainty and stability.

‘So even when they infiltrated the royal palace, they were satisfied with the nobles rather than targeting the royal family. If it were me, I would have gone crazy and targeted the royal family. If I had, they wouldn’t be able to continue holding parties as if nothing happened.’

The closer they got to the Heiness Merchant Guild, the more frequent the inspections became.

Although the royal family said they wouldn’t investigate the crime, they were blocking anyone from approaching recklessly, as the guild was expected to be one of the next targets of the unidentified forces that had betrayed them.

“Stop.”

Three or four soldiers blocked Zion’s path.

When they asked for identification, he nodded to Rishikda next to him.

Rishikda took out the token of the Count Klausen territory that Zion had given him from his chest.

“Oh, o-oh?”

The soldiers looked as if they were seeing things.

But soon, they recognized that the man in front of them was the ‘war hero’ who had contributed to the recent war against Nudia and hurriedly saluted.

“Ah, the greetings are fine. If it gets noisy, it’ll only attract attention.”

“Understood. More importantly, Young Master Zion Klausen, what is the purpose of your visit to the Heiness Merchant Guild?”

“Why?

Do you doubt me?”

“N-no, how could we ever. We are simply doing our duty…”

“Just kidding, just kidding. What other reason would I have to go to the guild? I was just going to request the guild’s assistance because we need to trade goods between the royal palace and the territory.”

The soldiers nodded at Zion’s answer and cleared the way to the guild.

“Master. May I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Wouldn’t it have been better to call the woman named Helen to the villa?”

“That won’t do. Helen Heiness is currently a whistleblower. If she goes outside and the radical elves go crazy and kill her, that would be a loss in its own right.”

“…I see.”

Of course, the probability of that happening was extremely low.

The space used as their hideout within the royal palace had been completely cut off.

It was certain that it would be difficult for them to create a loophole in the Hispaña royal palace for a while.

“Plus, if strange rumors spread, it’ll just make things complicated.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I go to Helen, some guys will think I’m really going for ‘commercial’ reasons, but if Helen comes to the villa to see me, they’ll interpret the story strangely. Ridiculous rumors will spread like wildfire. Like, the war hero is lusting after a woman, or some other nonsense.”

“That’s absurd. How could anyone say such ridiculous things…”

“There are more than a few nobles who have fallen for such ridiculous things. What a successful person should be most careful of is not another wall standing in front of them, but the audience clapping behind them.”

There’s a reason why the old sages said that cousins get stomachaches when they buy land [meaning people are often envious of the success of others].

Originally, when people see someone doing well, they feel more envy than congratulations.

Zion thought that even if there were people cursing him behind his back, it was proof of his success, but there was no need to listen to it.

Since he was going to do well anyway, he would take all the applause and praise, and thoroughly trample on those who cursed him, throwing them to those who wanted to get even a crumb.

Then they would bite each other to look good.

Zion and Rishikda entered the guild building.

The place, which had been quite lively until a few days ago, was now so quiet that it was almost desolate.

Even though Edgar IV had directly stated that they were innocent, the guild’s credibility was inevitably declining.

It was something they had to deal with.

“It’s desolate.”

Just as Zion said that after entering, Rishikda’s eyes sparkled, and he exuded a sharp aura, blocking Zion’s path.

He grabbed the sword hanging from his waist, ready to draw it at any moment.

“…”

An opponent skilled enough to make Rishikda act like this.

But someone who wasn’t attacking right away and was just hiding somewhere.

There was probably only one person like that in the guild.

“Helen Heiness.”

“…”

“Stop playing around and come out. Is this how your guild greets guests? Last time, the score was 100 out of 100.”

“That was when our guild was still intact.”

“And now?”

“Now it still looks ‘intact’ on the surface. However, our customers’ trust has been greatly reduced, and our sales are about to drop by 30 percent at once.”

30 percent.

Other merchants would be clutching their chests and collapsing at that level of loss.

Even a 3 percent drop would feel like losing a piece of flesh, let alone 30 percent.

‘I wouldn’t be able to say anything even if I were measuring the temperature of the Han River [a Korean expression for considering suicide due to extreme circumstances].’

Zion already knew enough from the descriptions of merchants in novels that the loss of the guild’s credibility as a guild leader was a more terrible experience than any other failure.

The only fortunate thing was that Helen Heiness was operating the guild only to use it as part of her revenge.

If that weren’t the case and it was her real job, she would have been screaming in anger.

“Welcome, Young Master Zion Klausen.”

A elven woman with pointed ears appeared as if she had sprung out of the shadows.

Although she was a mixed-blood of human and elf, she was still half-elf, so she certainly had a talent for concealment.

‘Is she going to be the quartermaster’s destined partner?’

Zion muttered inwardly and waited for Helen to walk forward.

The woman with flowing green hair asked a question as soon as she stood in front of Zion.

“Sefer, what will happen to that man now?”

As expected, that was what she was most curious about.

Zion shrugged and opened his mouth as if it were obvious.

“He’ll die.”

“…”

“But the process will be neither smooth nor fast. No, to be honest, I don’t even know if he’ll be able to die.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Instead of answering, Zion looked at Helen and shrugged.

It was a silent question of how long they would stand and talk when they seemed to have a lot to say and hear.

Helen seemed to have noticed that as well, and said, “This way,” guiding Zion and Rishikda.

Soon, Zion entered the guild leader’s office, sat in the seat of honor without being asked, stretched out his arms, and yawned refreshingly.

Rishikda stood next to Zion in full protection mode.

“…I want to hear the rest of your answer.”

Helen was more concerned about the news of Count Sefer than about having her seat taken.

“I told you, don’t give detailed information, just say that Count Sefer seems to have some connection with them.”

“You certainly said that.”

“I heard that the elf who led the attackers was also captured. But everyone in the royal family knows that he’s not going to open his mouth easily. No matter how much you torture him, he won’t say a word.”

It was absurd to think that an elf full of pride would give in to human interrogation.

He would rather bite his tongue and die than reveal the information they wanted.

“Then the only one who can get information is Count Sefer.”

“But he has nothing to do with this, does he?”

“He’ll say that himself. But that doesn’t matter anymore. As I said before, this is just a huge show, not an investigation to uncover the truth. In this world, if there is no crime, you have to create one, and if there is one, you have to make it bigger and completely disable them before devouring them.”

“…”

“Most of the nobles have already turned their backs on the Kashgar family. But what if clear evidence doesn’t come out and he’s eventually released without charge? Then they will all have the powerful Kashgar family as their enemy. So they won’t want Sefer to be innocent.”

“That means…”

“In the end, even if Sefer himself says he’s not, no one will listen. Rather, all sorts of torture will be poured out to get a confession from him. From the moment he held a knife to the royal palace, it’s a capital crime that he can’t even complain about being executed for. The power he has built up will collapse like a sandcastle, all his assets will be confiscated, and his family will be dragged to prison. Those who have been attached to him, even a little, will bow their heads and tremble in front of the royal family’s gleaming eyes.”

Helen could see what kind of ending Zion was aiming for with this incident.

This wasn’t just about killing Sefer, but about completely dismantling the huge Kashgar noble family and burying them so they could never rise again.

Thoroughly break, thoroughly manipulate, and thoroughly trample.

She wondered if this was really the benevolent noble scion who risked his life to save soldiers.

She even doubted if he was the unfortunate Count Klausen scion who couldn’t use a single drop of mana.

“I offered you a deal, and you gave me what I wanted. So I’m giving you the revenge you wanted. Do you not like it?”

Of course not.

Helen shook her head.

Sefer’s terrible end was the sweet future she had always dreamed of.

The enemy who had taken everything from her and shattered all the hopes she had carefully cherished.

If that man died in the greatest pain he could receive, Helen had thought many times that she could sell her soul to the devil.

“In that sense, let me ask you one thing. Were you satisfied with this deal? Your cooperation with me and the end of Sefer Kashgar that I gave you.”

“…I think I’ll have to watch a little more, but it doesn’t seem bad.”

“That’s a relief. Actually, I came to make another deal.”

Another deal?

Helen tilted her head at Zion’s words, but focused on his next words.

The elf’s senses, the merchant’s intuition, and finally the woman’s intuition were all shouting at the same time.

This man in front of her was extremely dangerous, but he had something strangely captivating.

“You said you suffered a lot of damage this time, right? I think I can make up for that.”

“…Are you kidding me? The damage this time is not something that can be made up with a small amount of money.”

“Wouldn’t I be saying this so confidently because it’s not a small amount of money? Helen Heiness?”

It was neither empty words nor a joke.

Zion was sincerely offering to help her make up for the loss.

As a merchant, she was tempted, and as a woman, she was curious about what the man was thinking, so Helen perked up her pointed ears and gestured to focus on his next words.

“I’ve seen a lot of merchants. Among them, there’s a type of merchandise that sells the best and has the lowest risk of failing.”

“…What is it?”

At Helen’s question, Zion smiled and answered.

“Water business.”

―――――――Author’s Note―――――――

I’m a little late, but I’ve completed the weekend 4-part series.

Recommendation….

Surely….

You’re not going to leave without giving one….

I also wrote a yas novel.

I uploaded 2 more episodes and uploaded 4 episodes….

If you leave without giving one….