Ch.1919. The Last Bus

Imperial Capital, Cordana Exchange.

Bingo, a short man with a round face, stepped into the exchange.

Judging by his attire alone, he hardly looked like someone who would frequent the Cordana Exchange. After all, most Cordana investors were nobles.

Indeed, as soon as Bingo entered the exchange, whispers erupted from all directions, but they weren’t voices suspicious of a shabbily dressed commoner setting foot inside.

“That shorty… what’s his name? He’s the agent who handles real estate for Erick Wellesley.”

“Not an agent, he’s an investor too. I heard he owns about nine.”

“Nine? Huh. Brave bastard. Where did he get the money to buy them? Did he take out a loan with his life as collateral?”

“He must have gotten in early.”

Bingo was freshly reminded of how impressive the Cordana investors’ intelligence network was.

‘They recognize me right away, not just Erick?’

Erick had always been somewhat famous in the Imperial Capital. He was among the top three skilled members of the Royal Order, and he had almost been part of the Hero’s party. Above all, he was a whale who held 108 Cordanas.

In contrast, Bingo was merely a commoner without any connections.

Not all commoners lived in poverty, but Bingo truly was the son of a low-wage worker scraping the bottom of the barrel.

He hadn’t even received affectionate love from those poor parents. One could tell just by the fact that they named their precious child “Bingo.”

Under parents who couldn’t even provide regular meals, he taught himself to read, earned his own money to attend public school, and passed a simple test to become a junior administrator in the Royal Order. From running dessert errands for the vice-captain to managing food supplies, there wasn’t a job he hadn’t done.

Cordana was the first opportunity he had ever encountered in his life.

‘It might also be my last chance.’

Bingo looked at the nine Cordanas in his hand with a wistful gaze.

After repaying the loan he had taken to purchase his first Cordana and deducting some fees, he was set to receive about 3.3 billion.

‘I wanted to sell at a slightly better price…’

But it seemed he couldn’t delay any longer. This was due to the strong recommendation from Erick, who had disposed of his Cordana before him.

In truth, Erick hadn’t revealed why they needed to sell right away. He had only mentioned meeting the Hero at the Imperial Palace.

But for Bingo, that was reason enough.

It wasn’t that he blindly trusted everything Erick said, but the fact that the Hero was secretly hiding in the Imperial Palace like a rat was telling in itself. After all, this was someone who boasted of his achievements after subjugating just one orc tribe.

‘Yes, I’ll sell.’

Bingo decided to boldly put his Cordana on the market.

“I’d like to sell at the current market price.”

“You’ll need to sign a non-withdrawal agreement…”

“I will. Please give it to me.”

With everyone being cautious, both buying and selling momentum had weakened.

Still, there seemed to be enough capacity to absorb his nine Cordanas.

While some might be surprised that a commoner was selling nine, Bingo judged that it wouldn’t be enough to affect the market price.

However, the situation unfolded differently than Bingo had anticipated.

After his volume was released into the market, no one rushed to buy. Everyone seemed to be watching and waiting.

“Tsk. First Erick, and now his acquaintance is putting out volume? Come to think of it, I heard they’re having a harder time than expected at the Lancarth border command.”

“They say the Canine tribe and Lizardmen have joined forces? That’s not so strange.”

“Originally, when one of the Tetrad, especially the Beast King, dies, their forces scatter…”

“Hey, the situation is different now. The Demon Lord will be captured soon anyway, and after that, won’t we enter an era where beast tribes are killed on sight? They must be desperate because they’re afraid of that. To us, they’re all just the same beasts anyway.”

“Is that so…?”

The exchange, which had quickly absorbed the volume from Erick, one of the capital’s prominent whales, was suddenly showing signs of hesitation.

Many of the nobles lingering in the exchange were standing with folded arms, observing. Some were even subtly pressuring the exchange staff, as if questioning why the price wasn’t being adjusted when there were no buyers.

‘This is a bit strange.’

Bingo tilted his head, standing far away from the nobles. It wasn’t yet at the point where he felt anxious, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to resubmit a sell order.

One of the observing individuals, a distant imperial relative about six times removed from the Emperor, seemed to gather courage and stood up.

“I don’t care. I’m getting in now.”

“Oh, are you proceeding?”

The imperial relative generously purchased 10 Cordanas, including the volume Bingo had put out. It was an hour before the market closed.

It was a moment when Bingo renewed his loyalty to the Imperial Family. He should probably show the highest respect right now, but—

Bingo didn’t have that luxury.

He had an uneasy feeling after hearing the nobles’ murmurs earlier.

‘If it hadn’t been for that gentleman…’

He might have had to sell at 3.7 or 3.6 billion.

It might have been nothing. It’s human nature to want a price adjustment of 100-200 million when the 3.8 billion price feels burdensome.

But perhaps because of what he’d heard from Erick, the current situation felt like a harbinger of something.

Fortunately, Bingo’s worries didn’t last long. Soon after, the payment was made.

After deductions, it was over 3.3 billion. An amount that would take hundreds of years to save if he didn’t spend a penny of his administrator’s salary. This was no time to worry about vague uneasiness.

And even if something really did happen, it would be a disaster unrelated to Bingo. He had already successfully realized his profit.

He would need to keep an eye on market trends, but he planned to distance himself from it, even forcibly if necessary.

‘Now I just need to think about how to spend the money.’

Bingo deposited the payment at the Imperial Bank near the exchange and walked away with a floating feeling.

He thought about moving to the 3rd District where Erick lived as soon as a property became available. He planned to buy a house with a garden and furnish it nicely. Of course, he also planned to hire two servants.

It wouldn’t be difficult. He was now rich.

***

After the exchange closed, at the Imperial Palace.

“Huff. Erick, that useless bastard.”

The Hero kept muttering curses to calm his irritation.

Of course, the Hero had made a verbal mistake.

Erick seemed to have been wounded in his pride after being expelled from the Royal Order. It wasn’t strange that he suddenly got upset when the Hero said things that hurt his feelings, talking about keeping his mouth shut and such.

“But to kick away a money-making opportunity? There’s a limit to stupidity.”

“Hero. Strictly speaking, you weren’t offering him a money-making opportunity; rather, you were trying to push him into a fire pit. Speak correctly.”

The Prince’s sharp remark was something the Hero couldn’t really argue with, so he reluctantly nodded in agreement.

“…Anyway, I apologize, Your Highness.”

The Hero bowed to the Prince, though not very willingly.

His original plan was to gently lure the Papal State leadership and Erick into taking over the Prince’s Cordanas. He had planned to pass 150 to the Papal State and 70 to Erick. But with Erick’s defection, that plan was now ruined.

‘Maybe the Papal State would have refused too.’

Of course, they weren’t the only suckers in the world, but it was too late to find someone else now.

If the Papal State had refused as well, he would have had to release the Cordanas into the exchange as a last resort. It wouldn’t be easy since some sharp-eyed nobles had already become suspicious due to the battle situation at the Lancarth border command.

“Um, Your Highness? If it comes to it, I could spread a false rumor about my upcoming departure ceremony.”

The Hero offered what he considered a self-sacrificing card.

But strangely enough.

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

The Prince shook his head without showing much displeasure. This made the Hero tilt his head and look at the Prince in confusion. He couldn’t believe that the person who had been pressuring him until just now was being so generous.

“Your Highness? What’s the occasion?”

“Unlike Erick, the Papal State readily agreed. I passed them 150. …Of course, I had to give them a hefty discount. We agreed on 3.1 billion per unit. In exchange, I received a holy relic… specifically, the ‘Holy Grail.’ It’s an item His Majesty has been after.”

The Papal State had already taken the bomb, and even completed the payment through the Imperial Bank, he said. It was the largest transaction in Cordana history, conducted outside the market.

“That’s a relief at least.”

“They even subtly pressured me by threatening to withdraw some of the holy knights following you if I didn’t lower the price. I pretended to engage in a bit of a power struggle before accepting.”

At the Prince’s explanation, the Hero finally let out a sigh of relief.

To think they would hand over a holy relic older than the history of the Empire. He couldn’t even laugh at the part where they pressured the Prince by threatening to withdraw holy knights who had been dead for a long time. But thanks to that, the Prince was able to pull out.

“You’ve more or less recovered your investment. What about the remaining volume?”

“I’ll have to dispose of it in the market tomorrow. What else can I do?”

“Sigh. We’ll have to hold out until tomorrow.”

The Hero and the Prince exchanged glances and smacked their lips. Neither looked particularly happy. It wasn’t simply because they had failed to make a perfect escape, but because an indescribable unpleasantness weighed heavily on their shoulders.

***

That evening, the Imperial Court, which assisted the Emperor’s rule, received an unusual report from the Lancarth border command.

While the knights of the Royal Order and the Black Iron Knights were bombarding the beast army to annihilate them, a Lizardman covered in wounds appeared and single-handedly broke through the encirclement, opening an escape route for his kind.

All the beast tribes fled immediately afterward, so the result was technically a victory. The losses were significant, but the operation itself was successful.

However, no one smiled upon hearing this report.

There was only one Lizardman in the world strong enough to accomplish such a feat. Only the Beast King, whom the Hero had reported slaying not long ago. Unless it was an undead, there was only one possibility.

The Beast King’s survival, and the possibility of the Hero’s false report.

It didn’t take long for this news to spread throughout the Empire.