Chapter 33: Exitra’s Ruthless Negotiation

Exitra sat in the drawing room with the Merchant Representative and the Guild Master of the Architects’ Guild.

There was a subtle but tense atmosphere among the three of them.

It was time to begin price negotiations.

Each of them had the same goal: maximum profit.

But there was no world in which that goal could coexist for all three.

“As a token of gratitude, I’ll sell it to you at a discount,” said Charles, the merchant representative, making the first move.

He claimed it was a favor since Exitra was their savior.

Frankly, it was an obvious lie.

‘He has no intention of giving me a discount…’

“If you’re offering, I appreciate it. Right now, our territory is lacking basic clothing for the people, seeds to sow in the fields…”

Exitra began listing what was needed.

The list grew longer and longer as he continued.

They still couldn’t self-sustain, so stockpiling food and acquiring daily necessities was a must.

Charles listened carefully and took notes as Exitra spoke.

“I see. Then will this much suffice?”

“Yeah, that’ll do for now.”

With what they discussed, they could probably survive for a few months at least.

Exitra planned to make the territory self-sufficient during that time.

“Understood. Let me run the numbers real quick.”

Charles pulled out an abacus.

— [Wow! That’s nostalgic!]

— [Did not expect to see an abacus here…]

— [Well, there’s no way calculators exist in this world.]

Since Molgahub was set in a fantasy world, modern scientific tools like calculators didn’t exist.

So it wasn’t strange at all to see an analog tool like the abacus being used.

Click! Clack clack clack!

With skillful fingers, Charles worked the abacus at a dazzling speed.

It wasn’t long before he nodded and put it down.

“With that amount, it would normally cost 3 million gold. But since you saved us, I’ll make it 2.99 million.”

“2.99 million gold?”

“Yes.”

Exitra was left speechless.

— [Seriously? Shouldn’t it be half off if you’re grateful? If not for Exitra, you’d all be dead!]

— [He gave a discount of just 10,000 gold…]

— [This is like home shopping selling for 299,990 won and saying ‘Not over 300,000 won!’ What a joke.]

— [Wait, am I the only one hearing BS right now? No way, that’s definitely BS.]

— [Hey!! Cut the dog noise, damn it!!]

The viewers perfectly expressed Exitra’s thoughts.

A measly 10,000 gold discount?

“Don’t you think it’s a bit much to treat your savior this way?”

“Haha, sorry. But I’ve got a lot of mouths to feed…”

“And I’m pretty sure I’m the one who saved those mouths.”

“Which is why I gave you a discount.”

He was firm.

So firm that Exitra could feel Charles had no intention of going any lower.

This was going to be a tough negotiation.

Exitra’s eyes turned sharp.

If Charles wanted to play hardball, that made things easier.

‘Let’s see who comes out on top.’

Exitra activated the Weakness Detection skill.

[Name: Charles]

[Weaknesses: Diabetes, Hair loss]

[Feels stressed by hair falling out every morning]

[Worried about his growing belly and thinking of exercising]

[Poor eyesight]

[Penny-pincher]

[Cheapskate]

[Married but having an affair with a fellow merchant named Angelie. His wife is starting to suspect, so he’s constantly on edge.]

‘Bingo.’

The Weakness Detection skill was extremely useful.

With it, he could steer negotiations in his favor.

That woman from earlier—Angelie—was likely the one Charles had been chatting with.

No wonder their vibe was a little off.

He was cheating on his wife.

‘Alright then. Let’s get serious.’

***

“So that’s your final offer?”

“Yes. I really would love to give you more, but I just can’t with all the mouths to feed.”

Though he claimed to feel bad, he didn’t seem remorseful at all.

It was just lip service.

Exitra decided it was time to go on the offensive.

He looked at Charles’ hand and said:

“By the way…”

“Yes?”

“You’re not wearing your wedding ring, are you?”

There was a clear mark on Charles’ ring finger showing where a ring had once been.

Proof he normally wore a wedding ring.

Charles rubbed his finger and replied, “Ah… Haha, since I work a lot with my hands, I usually take it off. Rings can slip off while I’m working, so I remove it for safety.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yes.”

His response sounded rehearsed.

Like he’d practiced it in advance, just in case.

— [Now that you mention it, wasn’t there something weird about him and that female merchant earlier?]

— [Yeah, I noticed too!]

— [Sniff sniff… anyone else smell that? Something’s fishy!]

“But you seem quite close with a merchant named Angelie.”

The moment Exitra mentioned her name, Charles’ face stiffened.

He’d heard a name that should never have come up in this conversation.

“What kind of relationship do you two have, if I may ask?”

“That’s irrelevant to our deal, isn’t it?”

“You’re right… But I’m the curious type. So if it’s unrelated, I’ll just look into it myself later.”

Charles looked flustered.

“What? Why would you do that…?”

“Because I’m curious. What, is there a reason I shouldn’t know?”

“Of course there is! That’s my and Angelie’s private business! You can’t just investigate that!”

His panic was obvious.

— [Hmm? Hmm?]

— [Ohhh, something’s up!]

— [He’s totally panicking~]

Gotcha!

The viewers had picked up on it too.

If you lived in South Korea, you’d know it instinctively.

It was always the same old story with the same old plan.

Just by watching the dramas churned out in Korea, you could more or less guess what was happening now.

And they would know too.

How this was going to end…

— [Exitra-nim! You’ve gotta dig deeper!!]

— [Yeah! I’ve got a feeling there’s more to this!!]

— [I watched Love is War from Season 1 to 7. Trust me, I can feel it!!]

Even without the viewers telling him, Exitra had already planned to dig deeper.

He intended to corner the man completely.

“Don’t worry. I’m only curious about your relationship with that woman, Angelie. Once I know that, I’ll back off.”

“T-That’s… a private matter…”

“Is there a law in the nobility that says we have to respect a commoner’s privacy?”

This wasn’t reality—it was a fantasy world.

There were no laws here about invading someone’s personal life.

Here, nobility was absolute power.

“S-She and I are just coworkers, nothing more.”

“I see. Got it.”

Exitra smiled.

And Charles realized—too late.

He said he understood, but clearly had no intention of letting it go.

‘Dammit. I lost.’

He could feel the shift in momentum.

‘How did Exitra even know Angelie’s name?’

He’d underestimated him, thinking he was just some fallen noble heir.

But the price of that underestimation was steep.

‘So nobles really are something else… Insight like that…’

He let out a sigh.

Exitra clearly wasn’t going to back down.

If he thought something was a weakness, he’d dig relentlessly into it.

And Charles would do the same in a negotiation—if he found a weakness.

‘It was my first reaction that screwed me. I should’ve handled it better…’

But it was too late.

He no longer had control of the situation.

If Exitra kept pressing, and this somehow got to his wife…

It would be a full-blown disaster.

And if the guild found out?

His credibility would tank.

There was no point in upsetting Exitra now and ruining the deal.

‘So that’s why…?’

Mosquito had warned him to be careful when meeting this guy.

Honestly, at the time he’d thought, ‘Why bother?’

But now, he finally understood what that warning meant.

With a few keen observations, Exitra had pieced the situation together.

Of course, Exitra was actually using the [Weakness Detection] skill to fit the exact pieces into place but Charles had no way of knowing that.

He had no choice now but to raise the white flag.

“Hah… Fine. What do you want, Exitra-nim?”

He took a step back.

This was as good as admitting to an affair.

But he had no choice.

If Exitra started digging, Charles would be the one at a disadvantage.

And even if Exitra had lost his status, he was still a noble, while Charles was a commoner.

A noble’s word versus a commoner’s?

Everyone knew which one would carry more weight.

— [Wow! That guy really was cheating!]

— [So it was an affair with that Angelie merchant?!]

— [You mutt! What kind of man cheats?! If you’re married, stay loyal to your wife!!]

— [How did Exitra know though?! Damn!!]

As Charles admitted it, Exitra raised four fingers.

“Forty percent.”

“Forty percent?”

“Yeah.”

“……”

Charles hesitated.

A 40% discount.

Honestly, he’d already considered it.

He’d inflated the initial price, so even with a discount, he wouldn’t lose much.

“Alright. Then I’ll lower the price by about 40%—”

“What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, you give it to me for 40% of the price.”

Only then did Charles realize what Exitra meant.

It wasn’t a 40% discount—

It was a demand to sell it at 40% of the original price.

Highway robbery, plain and simple.

“You can’t be serious!!”

“Forty percent.”

“Do you think that’s even remotely reasonable?!”

“Forty percent.”

— [Wow, he’s so firm.]

— [Four dollars! He’s basically saying four bucks!!]

— [LOL]

— [Look at the merchant’s face LOL, it’s melting.]

— [Even Satan would flinch at that price!]

“Not happy?”

“That’s… haah…”

Charles let out a sigh.

There was no backing out now.

He was being forced into a brutal choice.

‘Do I protect my daily life? Or the money…?’

As a merchant, the obvious choice was to protect his money.

But thinking about the future, it was clear that preserving his day-to-day life was more important.

If word got out, it would permanently damage his reputation.

Charles was drowning in internal conflict.

His torment was written plainly on his face.

Seeing this, Exitra decided to kindly relieve him of the burden of making the decision.

“Not happy? Then… three…”

Exitra began folding down another finger.

Charles jumped up from his seat and grabbed Exitra’s hand.

“Forty percent! That’s fine!!”

“See? That’s better.”

“Y-Yes! N-Now that I think about it, it’s a very fair price.”

Charles was drenched in cold sweat.

One more second and he would’ve been stuck at 30%.

‘Dammit…’

“S-So, then… about this matter—”

“Don’t worry. My lips are sealed.”

Exitra smiled gently.

To others, that smile might’ve seemed kind.

But to Charles, it looked like the grin of a devil.

“Haa…”

“You should’ve handled it properly from the start. If you had, I wouldn’t have pushed this far.”

“H-Haa… I’m a merchant, you know. Haa…”

Charles sighed again.

Blinded by short-term gains, he’d done something no merchant should.

And now he was paying dearly for it.

He wouldn’t escape consequences when he returned.

‘Guess it’s time to end that relationship too…’

He felt bad for her, but it wasn’t worth leaving behind a weakness that could be used against him.

This negotiation had ended in Exitra’s complete and total victory.

And Exitra naturally turned his attention to the person sitting beside him—Carter, the representative of the Architects Guild.

A muscular man, Carter visibly trembled as Exitra looked his way.

He’d just witnessed what happened to Charles.

And he wasn’t stupid.

“I’ll offer a special deal. As a personal favor, I’ll do it for a hundred thousand gold.”

“I’ve already got the materials.”

“In that case, I can do it for fifty thousand.”

“Nice. You’re quick to negotiate—I like that.”

Exitra smiled.

There was no need for negotiation at all.

‘I can’t handle him.’

The merchant had already been crushed.

There was no way Carter could fare better.

He was good with physical labor, but when it came to business? Not his forte.

So he surrendered immediately.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Of course.”

“Understood.”

“And Charles—if any of the townsfolk want to buy something, just give it to them and charge me.”

“Got it.”

“Alright~ good work, everyone.”

Exitra smiled brightly.

Carter smiled awkwardly.

And Charles couldn’t smile at all.

Anyone could see who the winner was—Exitra.