episode_0034

The World Tree sap that saved Killua’s life was placed on the table.

Tom Bolt and Rai faced each other, with the sap between them.

Tom Bolt, with his back perfectly straight, leisurely stroked his chin, alternating his gaze between Rai and the World Tree sap.

However, unlike Tom Bolt, Rai was in a hurry, every second counting. With sweat beading on her face, she bowed her back, looking up at him with pleading eyes as she asked,

“Please, I beg you. Isn’t there any way?”

As expected, Rai couldn’t hide her desperation and anguish. Gasping for breath from running without rest, she asked Tom Bolt how she could purchase the sap.

“The black liquid has already been agreed upon for 1 gold. The Merchant’s Iron Rule states that an agreed-upon transaction cannot be rescinded. You know this well, don’t you, Rai?”

Tom Bolt frowned, as if troubled by the Merchant’s Iron Rule that a completed transaction could not be reversed.

“The Merchant’s Iron Rule…”

This rule, that an once-completed transaction could not be rescinded, was a malicious logic merchants used to always force deals in their favor and ensure they were fulfilled no matter what.

However, faced with Rai’s plea, Tom Bolt also wore a serious expression, pondering how to resolve the situation.

“Out of consideration for you, Rai, I can hand over this potion for 5 gold.”

Tom Bolt offered to hand over the potion for 5 gold, as if making a great concession.

“Even if we gather all the village’s assets, we cannot raise that much money.”

But even if it was a cheap price, 5 gold was an enormous sum.

Eton Village, where the women had to resort to selling their bodies every month to acquire food for the village, certainly wouldn’t have such a huge amount of money.

“Then I have a proposition for you.”

Tom Bolt, who had been pressing his brow with his thumb and forefinger as if in deep thought, seemed to make up his mind and offered Rai a proposal in a low, serious voice.

“Would you consider selling me the magic stone on your necklace, Rai?”

“A magic stone?!”

Hearing Tom Bolt’s proposal in the video, I, just like Rai in the video, exclaimed in surprise.

The lowest-grade magic stone hanging around Rai’s neck.

It was the first magic stone transmuted by someone officially recognized as a wizard.

With unfiltered impurities and low mana content, its commercial value was almost zero.

More than its material worth, it was a magic stone with significant symbolic value, being the first one transmuted by a wizard.

“You mean… you want to buy this?”

At Tom Bolt’s proposal, Rai clutched the pendant containing the magic stone with one hand, as if to protect it from his gaze.

“Yes. The magic stone your fiancée Ariel created. It’s a token of love and her memento. I am very well aware of the meaning embedded within that magic stone.”

Tom Bolt calmly explained in a composed voice that he was well aware of the meaning behind the magic stone necklace around Rai’s neck.

Rai’s brow furrowed harshly, as if she couldn’t believe Tom Bolt, who, despite knowing its significance, demanded that magic stone as payment.

“While it may be an extremely precious item to you, it has no commercial value. So, how about you buy it back from me at the same price I purchased it for when I return next time?”

“……”

In short, it meant he would lend the money, and as collateral, Rai would entrust him with Ariel’s magic stone, which held memories of his fiancée.

As a merchant, he couldn’t engage in the loan shark business of lending money with items as collateral, so he was using a loophole by exchanging an item of no commercial value.

“Ariel’s magic stone as collateral…”

Rai slowly opened her trembling hand, looking at the lowest-grade magic stone, which held a murky light within her palm.

Even to me, it was a magic stone of such dismal quality that no one would buy it.

But to Rai, the meaning embedded in the magic stone, given by her beloved as a token of love, was never insignificant.

After gazing at the magic stone trembling along with her hand for a few seconds, Rai closed her eyes as if making up her mind.

And with still-trembling hands, she slowly began to unfasten the clasp that secured the magic stone to the necklace.

“Here… it is.”

As he handed the magic stone, now separated from the necklace, to Tom Bolt, his hand trembled like an aspen leaf, making me feel sorry for him just watching.

As if respecting Rai’s decision, Tom Bolt carefully received the magic stone she offered with both hands.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it well until we meet again, ensuring not a single scratch.”

Tom Bolt opened a jewelry box securely fixed on his shelf, as if to show it wasn’t just empty words of comfort.

He placed the lowest-grade magic stone, with its murky light, that Rai had handed him, in the softest and most cushioned spot among the various rare gems that shone splendidly as if flaunting their presence.

“Thank you very much.”

Rai bowed her head in gratitude for his consideration, sincerely thanking him.

Then Tom Bolt, still wearing a benevolent smile, gently pushed the supreme-grade potion on the table slightly toward him, as if indicating ownership.

“Then please hurry back. Isn’t there someone waiting for you?”

“Thank you.”

Rai thanked Tom Bolt once more, then hugged the supreme-grade potion from the table to her chest and rushed out of the carriage with hurried steps.

“This is what happened.”

And with that, the video ended.

As the video ended, Tom Bolt lightly wiped the dust off the crystal ball with his sleeve and returned the video storage crystal ball to its original place.

Sitting at the table, I brought the already cold tea to my lips once more, simply waiting for him to finish tidying up.

It was a perfect transaction, one where not even a speck of fault could be found.

No, far from finding fault, I even felt like bowing my head in gratitude for his consideration and kindness.

“Why did you… let go of such a good opportunity?”

Setting down the teacup that had cooled my lips, I calmly asked Tom Bolt the reason for his consideration and kindness in a subdued voice.

“Hahahaha. Let go? I am already holding onto a good opportunity tightly.”

Tom Bolt, having returned the crystal ball to its original spot, seemed to find his hands idle and returned to the table holding a fox-shaped wooden doll he had been working on at his woodworking shelf.

“My Fox Wagon Merchant Group seeks coexistence. Wasn’t the old way, grasping and exploiting others’ weaknesses, too painful?”

Sitting in the chair, he gently rubbed the head of the fox doll he had brought with a small piece of sandpaper, as if caressing it.

“Rai will surely not forget today’s events. Thanks to her, we will be able to trade this village’s specialties at good prices and with preferential rights in the future.”

Every time he stroked the fox doll’s head with the sandpaper, a pleasant rasping sound echoed inside the carriage.

“……”

I could no longer speak to Tom Bolt about his transaction with Rai.

Thanks to Tom Bolt’s consideration, Rai had made a deal on excessively good terms, and there was no room for me to intervene in that transaction.

“May I touch it for a moment?”

Watching Tom Bolt refine the fox doll’s head, I asked to handle the fox doll he was putting the finishing touches on, hoping to somehow repay his kindness and consideration towards Rai.

“Have you ever carved wood before?”

Tom Bolt, surprised that a merchant like himself also had woodworking experience, handed me the fox doll he had been finishing.

I held the fox doll and sandpaper he handed me with my fingertips.

Unlike Tom Bolt, who simply stroked the doll’s head downwards to finish it, I slowly stroked the head diagonally, following the grain of the wood.

“It was a simple hobby I learned in my hometown. As you well know, it’s perfect for passing the time.”

It had been a long time since I’d done woodworking, so the sensation at my fingertips felt unfamiliar.

But my body, which had made fox dolls hundreds of times, remembered the movements of woodworking and and naturally moved before I even consciously thought about it.

Rasp, rasp…

With the soft rasping sound of wood being smoothed by sandpaper, as the sanding was repeated, the fox doll’s head began to take on a lifelike quality.

“Oh…”

Watching the fox doll being completed in my hands, Tom Bolt couldn’t hold back and let out a small gasp of admiration.

“Here it is. I hope you like it.”

Unlike the fox dolls he made, the head of the fox doll I finished boasted a subtle yet beautiful curvature to its nose, similar to a real fox.

Tom Bolt, receiving the fox doll I had finished, continuously let out small exclamations of admiration as he examined its head from all angles.

“It’s wonderful. It’s almost identical to the doll from my memory.”

He very carefully and delicately stroked the fox doll’s head with his thumb and forefinger.

Soon after, he turned back to me, wearing a bright smile full of satisfaction.

“Have you ever heard of the Fox Merchant who disappeared about ten years ago?”

“The Fox Merchant?”

It was a merchant I had never heard of in my life.

Typically, merchants would adopt names symbolizing their hometown, family, or patrons.

But to suddenly adopt the name ‘Fox’? No one would properly treat a merchant with such a playful name seriously.

“Hahaha. ‘The Fox Merchant’ isn’t the merchant’s original name. Since his records were erased, those who remember him simply call him the Fox Merchant, recalling the fox dolls he carried.”

“Ah… I see.”

Tom Bolt carefully placed the fox doll I had finished onto the woodworking table.

And as if still marveling at it, he once again stroked the fox doll’s head with his index finger and thumb.

“Even in my naive youth, I received great help from that person. Making fox dolls is also because I want to remember their kindness and consideration from that time.”

“Kindness and consideration…”

I subtly turned my head and looked at the numerous fox dolls hanging all over his room.

From crudely made ones that barely retained a fox’s shape, to dolls that depicted even the claws and fur textures with utmost care.

It was clear at a glance that as his woodworking skills improved, the fox dolls evolved to become almost identical to real foxes.

“I believe that the kindness and consideration I show will someday return to me. Those were their words.”

As if waiting for my gaze to return to him after looking around the room, Tom Bolt concluded his story with a significant smile.