Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Investing Through the Status Window.

Episode 168: The Doll (1).

The fall of the Magic Tower.

It was undoubtedly the most shocking event that occurred within a century.

Who would have thought that the great Magic Tower, where hundreds of mages gathered, shaking the earth and echoing in the sky, would collapse to mere ghouls? The tower, thought to be a fortress of iron, turned out to be nothing more than a sandcastle.

The tall tower crumbled under the corpse giant, and the era of the great Magic Tower, which had lasted for centuries, vanished in an instant.

…However, though the Magic Tower collapsed, its relics still remained within the sands of the West.

The ruins of the fallen tower became a goldmine for grave robbers, and naturally, all the continent’s grave robbers flocked to this place.

And the Boton-Mercenary Group was one such excavation team.

They masqueraded as a mercenary group, but in truth, they were a band of grave robbers who made a living plundering others’ tombs. Having once enjoyed some success at the ruins of the Magic Tower, they sold off their loot and regrouped to arrive here once more.

Underneath the debris of the collapsed Magic Tower, a massive tunnel had already been carved out by numerous excavation teams. As soon as the Boton-Mercenary Group arrived at this dream site, they immediately entered the tunnel.

“Hey, Fang. Let’s dig a bit deeper this time. You heard about that secret chamber that was discovered recently, right? Damn, they say they hit the jackpot there.”

Fang, who was the best at digging among them, chuckled at the boss and assured him not to worry.

“When there’s a lot of rotten stuff, you always dig downwards. If we keep digging deeper, something’s bound to come up. Ah, those mages are such rotten bastards!”

“Alright, sounds good. Let’s dig like hell! Damn it, we gotta feed the kids, right?!”

“Yes, Boss.”

The leader in front checked the cave map and navigated through the winding tunnel.

Upon reaching the planned location, they quickly began expanding the surrounding area.

“Space! Make space!”

“Ensure the air hole!”

“Shit bucket, you bastard!”

With the extra space secured, they seriously started digging downward. The soil was moved outside through one of the several air holes…

“Damn, let’s endure even if it’s tough! Money doesn’t come easy, right?”

“Yes!”

Of course, since looting had to be done as quickly as possible, they took turns continuously digging down the tunnel.

How much time had passed like that?

The team that had been digging downward finally discovered a space.

“Boss!”

With just that voice, the boss understood the situation below.

When the boss handed down a torch, the person digging the tunnel slipped it through the hole they had opened. Fortunately, the height wasn’t too great.

“Lower the rope!”

After widening the hole, everyone except one person waiting above descended into the space.

“See, I knew there was something here! My gut feeling was spot on!”

The boss congratulated himself for his intuition hitting the mark in one go.

He held up the torch and scanned the rather spacious room. It was a place where various junk seemed to be piled up here and there.

“Damn, there’s a lot we can sell.”

“Isn’t it too much junk? These days, people say it’s all scams and won’t buy them.”

Fang furrowed his brows and expressed his concerns when he saw the abundance of common items.

“So just take the decent stuff. Leave the trash behind!”

The boss kicked away the clutter at his feet as he spoke. Then the looters began to gather items in earnest.

Strangely, the clutter was organized on shelves as if on display in a store. As the young looter rummaged through the room, something caught his eye.

“…Boss, come here for a sec.”

“What is it now, kid?”

“That…”

At the tip of the young man’s pointing finger was a doll encased in glass—the kind of doll that little girls might play with.

“Don’t mess with stuff like that. It’ll bring bad luck.”

The boss waved his hand dismissively, telling him not to pay it any attention. Only that thing was trapped in a glass case? It looked suspicious, no doubt. Moreover, this was the basement of the Magic Tower. Who knows what strange objects might be here?

He smacked the back of the young man who found the doll and scolded him to stop messing with weird stuff and do his job properly.

“Hey, why aren’t you moving faster?!”

“Ah, yes.”

However, the young man kept lingering around the doll and eventually lifted the glass case to pick up the doll—as if he absolutely had to.

“Hey, you idiot! What the hell are you doing not working? What? Why did you take that out? You damn fool, didn’t I tell you not to mess with stuff like that?”

“…It’s nothing. It’s fine. It’s okay.”

“Damn! Does my word mean nothing to you, you idiot?!”

“Hehe, I told you it’s fine, Boss. Look, it’s perfectly fine.”

The boss stared at him with a sullen expression for a long time before cautiously speaking.

“…Are you really okay?”

“Yes, I’m really fine! Ah, things like this sell really well, don’t they? We could sell it like a cursed doll.”

“Damn, those things don’t sell well these days. They used to work back in the day, but now those damn bastards scam everyone, and only good people like us get hurt.”

“Then, I’ll give it to my daughter. Isn’t it proof that Daddy works really hard?”

“This isn’t something you give to kids. It brings bad luck, you fool. If you can’t sell it, it’s better to throw it away. Just keep it for now.”

Still, it looked quite fancy, and if he talked well, it seemed like it could be sold for a high price. Honestly, dolls like these were surprisingly popular. Especially with those spiteful concubines who loved killing others with curses.

“Is everything cleared out? Then let’s head up.”

With that, the excavation team took a final sweep of the room, gathering all the valuables, and left by climbing the rope.

The doll inside the glass case, too…

After several days of deliberation, Allen finally established a trading company. Of course, it wasn’t as grand as the Pomwell Trading Company run by his family, and it was still a small-scale company without even an office yet.

Naturally, Allen didn’t plan to travel from region to region, selling goods right away. The purpose of establishing the company was primarily to procure grains from cities in the Central and Southern regions.

However, creating a second unit just for such a task would be financially burdensome, so he decided to hire another mercenary group for the company’s escort team.

In fact, it wouldn’t have been easy to proceed if it weren’t for the fact that the toll in the small city of Amper was cut in half. However, with that benefit applied, there was no need to buy grain expensively from Vermandois; it could be supplied continuously at a cheaper price. Of course, while Group Leader Viola tends to sell grain to him cheaper than the average price, it wasn’t like she was giving it at a cost price.

Anyway, considering all these factors, if a supply chain were established in advance in this manner, it would certainly be beneficial for business later. Once a supply chain was established, it would be much easier to respond, even if the quantity was significantly increased next time.

Of course, a considerable amount of start-up capital was involved here, but fortunately, there were about three thousand gold coins in surplus, so it wasn’t too difficult to set up a small trading company.

…To expand the business, a trading company was essential. Especially for an inn, a lot of supplies were needed here and there. It was money that had to be spent anyway.

Honestly, Allen felt a bit stingy with the investment costs being higher than expected, but a trading company was an indispensable choice. It was money that had to be spent someday.

While looking into the necessary goods for the trading company, he also inquired about mercenary groups to use as guards. Not too cheap, but not too expensive either, a reasonably priced mercenary group.

The hiring cost was around two hundred gold coins for a round trip from Vermandois to the mid-city Malziel for grain trading. Of course, there were cheaper options, but hiring a too-cheap mercenary group might result in an unfortunate encounter with bandits.

Fortunately, thanks to the mercenaries coming over from the East, there was an oversupply, making the hiring costs of mercenary groups much cheaper compared to before.

Thus, after Allen met with the leaders of various mercenary groups, he picked a suitable individual. The chosen one was the leader of the Pampore Mercenary Group, who was leading a group of six. He had already been specializing in escort missions in Vermandois for five years now…

“Don’t worry. I’ll handle it cleanly without any issues.”

Due to his experience, the cost was somewhat elevated. The agreed employment fee was 240 gold coins.

With all preparations completed, the caravan made its monumental first departure with the Pampore Mercenary Group five days later.

More investment was poured in than expected, but everything went smoothly.

…Until a rumor was heard from the West.

-People have been possessed by evil spirits!

It seemed things that shouldn’t be touched were starting to emerge one by one from the ruined Magic Tower.

This continent never seems to have a quiet day…

Allen, having finished his thoughts, inexplicably felt a chill down his spine.

…It felt like there was something he was forgetting.