Ch.5151. Chulsu

This is insane.

That was what the succubus Iclit muttered after absorbing sell orders for just over an hour.

She was currently disguised as an elderly woman over sixty.

The disguise itself was nearly perfect. A succubus’s disguise was on a completely different level from humans’ clumsy disguises. Unlike other species confined to the Demonic Land, demons knew how to blend into human society.

Iclit was even “once” a high-ranking succubus.

Decades ago, she had run a fairly large brothel, sucking the vital energy from exceptional humans, and had even seduced and corrupted outstanding knights.

But now she was nothing more than an ordinary succubus. As the Demon Lord’s army’s will to fight weakened, interest and support for demons operating in human territories had diminished.

After the Demon Queen of Lust—the first of the Tetrad to be eliminated by the Hero’s party—was killed, succubi had reached the point of worrying about mere survival.

And then came this sabotage mission in such dire circumstances.

‘I thought my demon life would flourish if I just succeeded at this.’

Iclit’s wrinkled face twisted horribly.

If she had been human, her mind might have already broken, and she might have been in tears. After all, she was on the verge of losing all her money.

And the even more depressing fact was…

Iclit had already purchased nearly 440 Cordanas.

At first, she thought manipulating just three or four puppets would be enough to throw the Cordana market into chaos, but now she was short-handed. Some had become too famous to hide in crowds.

Of course, the puppets themselves weren’t valuable. She could just release them from her charm and dump them in any village later.

The problem was money.

More than 90% of the funds she had prepared had already evaporated.

This money hadn’t been provided by the Demon Lord’s castle.

Of course, the Demon Lord’s castle had vast assets.

But there were almost no assets stored in the form of currency that could be easily used in the Empire. They only had various forms of gold and jewels accumulated over the ages.

They could melt them down and recast them to the standard of common currency, but that wasn’t something that could be done quickly.

In the end, succubus Iclit had to pour the money she and other demons had earned through backbreaking work into the Cordana exchange.

Expecting the massive rewards she would receive after successfully throwing the imperial capital into chaos.

‘If I had succeeded… it would have been profitable.’

But it didn’t seem like she had succeeded at all.

Humans were selling like mad.

And she was endlessly buying it all.

That was all Iclit had experienced for an hour.

The selling pressure had barely stopped a little while ago, but by then, an enormous amount of money had already vanished into thin air. Even though she had lowered her support line to the 1,800 range on her own judgment.

One might say what use is money to demons, but the situation was different for succubi. Living in human territories required money.

The most important thing was vital energy, but money came second.

And now that precious money had evaporated in just an hour—a devastating situation.

It was hard to imagine how many long years it would take to recover today’s tremendous losses. Feeding on the energy of petty rural merchants or running brothels wouldn’t be enough to make up for it.

“My money, it’s all gone.”

The voice that came from Iclit’s mouth was filled with regret.

People around her gave her pitying looks. They seemed to misunderstand her as a poor old woman who had lost her life savings in her twilight years.

One young man even looked at her with sympathy and tried to show kindness.

“Grandmother, would you like some water? You haven’t lost everything, have you?”

“……”

“…Sigh. Actually, I almost got into big trouble too. Good thing I cut my losses at 20 million.”

Overwhelmed by despair, the succubus finally slumped her shoulders.

Despite decades of all sorts of harsh experiences in human countries, this emotion was new to Iclit. She had faced life-threatening situations before, but never had she completely lost her fortune like this.

‘I’m sorry, everyone.’

Iclit apologized in her heart to the demons whose assets she had squandered.

At the same time, she abruptly stopped purchasing Cordana.

She was arbitrarily abandoning the mission assigned from the Demon Lord’s castle.

However, she couldn’t ask for prior consent. She had the fleeting thought that people suspicious of her presence might be stationed around the exchange. Using magic power above a certain level would immediately give her away.

‘Fuck it, let them punish me for abandoning the mission if they want. It was wrong to order such insane actions in the first place.’

Just a few hours ago, Iclit had been praising the insight of the Demon Lord’s army’s staff, but now as the situation grew bleak, she could only curse.

Even in the midst of anger and despair, Iclit carefully implemented her withdrawal plan.

With just two hours left before the market closed, she needed to slip away while tens of thousands of people were gathered inside and outside the exchange. That way, she could at least salvage the Cordanas she had already purchased. As much as she wanted to abandon everything, she couldn’t.

Fortunately, the withdrawal was successful…

Or not entirely. Two of the humans she had been manipulating were ultimately caught.

It wasn’t a formal arrest; it seemed a skilled mage had dispelled her charm. The Cordanas they were holding had likely fallen into human hands.

‘This is really fucked up.’

More than 70 of the Cordanas she had secured were gone in an instant. It was bad enough to have bought garbage, but now even that garbage was gone.

Iclit escaped the imperial capital with tears in her eyes.

At this point, she had only about 600 million left.

Hiding in a merchant carriage headed for a small provincial territory, Iclit buried her face in her knees.

She resented the humans who created the cursed commodity called Cordana, and she also resented the upper echelons of the Demon Lord’s army who had assigned her this task.

No, she just hated the whole world.

***

The report that the manipulators had withdrawn came in an hour before the market closed.

“So it was the work of demons after all. Succubi, I’d guess.”

The Emperor’s intelligence agency reported that they had secured two young men who had been under charm magic and acting as the manipulators’ hands and feet.

Although they hadn’t caught everyone, it was better than missing them all. At least they now knew it was the work of demons.

They were all ordinary young men who had lived in small villages in provincial territories. They had been living peacefully until they were caught up in this outrageous operation.

“Poor fellows. Baron Wellesley, regarding their treatment…”

“I would suggest releasing them after questioning. As for the Cordanas they were holding, well, we can’t just confiscate them outright, so let’s find a solution.”

There was no intention to persecute the young men who had been used by succubi. Seeing that they were young males, they had probably fallen victim to a succubus, and their only fault was perhaps being susceptible to seduction.

‘So we’ve won against the manipulators after all.’

On the surface, it was a rather pleasant situation. Not only had they thwarted the manipulators’ plan, but they had also drained their money.

We sold around 100 Cordanas through short selling.

Although we couldn’t get rid of all 150 units held by the imperial family, our original goal wasn’t to make some cash at the end (though participants would take some profits in the middle), but to encourage investors to cut their losses and break the unfounded faith in Cordana.

The result was successful.

It was particularly positive that a significant number of commoner investors had cut their losses.

“According to observations at the trading windows, approximately 230 to 260 commoner investors seem to have escaped. It’s hard to count precisely given how chaotic it was.”

“Most of them probably held just one Cordana. Two at most.”

“Yes. The deputy commander of the Forest Knight Order reports that many people responded right after he initiated large-scale selling. That’s fortunate in a way. It means fewer people will lose all their spare money and fall into despair.”

It was definitely a positive development.

Those who sold did take losses. The price at which the manipulators bought Cordana was around 20 million, and toward the end, around 18 million. But most commoners had entered the market at prices of at least 24 million or higher.

“They all probably lost at least several million Lyra each.”

“Still much better than losing tens of millions. They’re no longer a concern.”

The problem was those who hadn’t escaped.

If the manipulators had held out until closing, the number of escapees would have increased, but unfortunately, the manipulators weren’t that stupid.

‘Sigh. If the Demon Lord’s army had recognized Cordana’s existence earlier and carried out this operation, the imperial capital might have gone up in flames.’

A considerable number of investors still remained at the exchange.

Their movements were being partially relayed through communication crystals and mages deployed in the exchange’s reception room.

– “There are people buying it up anyway. We can just hold out and sell tomorrow if things don’t look good. Those people aren’t fools; they must have a reason for buying.”

– “True, they must be buying because they know something… Huh? What’s that?”

– “What is it?”

– “There’s quite a backlog of sell orders building up. When did that happen?”

– “Let’s wait a bit… Oh no.”

Just from the conversation, one could tell how the situation was unfolding. It meant the manipulators’ withdrawal was being reflected in the market at the last minute.

There was no time for the imperial palace to take any measures now. The market would close shortly anyway.

Unlike during the first and second crashes, there were no screams or curses; everyone seemed puzzled.

It was natural for them to be confused, not knowing why buying power had suddenly evaporated or that no rescue was coming. Meanwhile, only those who panicked were belatedly placing sell orders.

– “Why isn’t anyone buying…?”

That was the last voice heard from the crystal.

After that, no words could be distinguished. Too many people had started making too much noise at once. That was when the price began to slide rapidly.

An hour later, the exchange closed.

The closing price was 8.1 million. And intelligence came in that some investors had attempted to make over-the-counter trades at prices below 7 million right after closing, but failed.