After opening the shop, I found myself smiling with satisfaction every single day.
It was all thanks to the system messages that kept pouring in.
「The clothing situation of the capital’s commoners is improving.」
「Reputation is rising.」
「You have caused a major change in the local community.」
「A reward is granted.」
‘That’s right! Raising reputation is so easy. Making money is even easier.’
The linen cloth was selling like it had sprouted wings.
Linen was widely used throughout the empire.
Yet the quality of my goods never dropped.
I had ordered them to weave as tightly as possible and stationed ten full-time inspectors.
It was probably high-grade merchandise that would be hard to find anywhere else.
Perhaps that was why even nobles were sending their servants in droves to buy huge quantities.
“It looked as though they had mobilized every servant they owned. Some nobles bought more than thirty bolts.”
Butler Tobias Wilkin, who was managing the shop, reported with a worried face.
It was a natural reaction.
After all, what was the original reason I started the cloth business?
It was to raise the clothing standards of the common people.
Far too many adults wore the same clothes they had tailored upon reaching adulthood for over ten years.
It was unhygienic and unsightly.
In any case, I didn’t particularly mind the nobles securing linen.
“It’s fine. Just leave them be. They’ll lose interest soon enough.”
“What if they hoard all that stock and resell it?”
“We’ll keep producing endlessly anyway, so it won’t matter.”
All I needed was to positively change society and unlock more abilities.
I already had more money than I could ever spend; what would be the point of being greedier?
If I kept doing various businesses, the money would pile up on its own.
‘But what exactly unlocked this time?’
This damned system always forces me to check.
I carefully examined every corner of the status window.
But this time I couldn’t figure out what had been unlocked.
“What on earth is the reward?”
Last time it was easy to tell.
The skill had been displayed prominently in my information window.
I hadn’t even tested it yet.
Then suddenly, a strange sound reached my ears.
“…is this really the right way?”
“I think it needs to go a little more to the left. Should we just call the butler?”
“If we try it ourselves we’ll just waste our strength for nothing.”
“Then I’ll go fetch Steward Miller Xavierre right away.”
It was the maids discussing the interior decorations of the mansion.
I wondered if they really needed to go that far.
‘Still, it’s nice to see them working hard. I should praise whoever it is.’
And at that very moment—
A hologram window appeared, far larger than anything I had seen before.
Flash—!
Chief Steward: Miller Xavierre (calculating wages)
Butler: Tobias Wilkin (managing shop)
Factory Manager: Paul (studying)
Maid: Jaylin (arranging decorations)
Maid: Brianna (arranging decorations)
<Employee Management>
A table appeared that let me see everyone under my employ at a glance.
“Oh ho?”
Now I could instantly tell who was doing what.
It would also be easy to weed out anyone slacking off.
If someone seemed to be doing something odd?
I could simply open their character information.
I immediately looked at the name “Brianna.”
Sure enough, I could now pull up character information without even facing the person.
Of course, only for my own employees—but that was already amazing.
“As expected, everyone’s loyalty is excellent.”
Brianna’s overall ability was a mere E.
She mainly cleaned and did laundry, so high or low ability hardly mattered.
Yet her loyalty was an astonishing 90.
‘Now loyalty is even expressed in numbers.’
This was far clearer than the previous vague “high” or “low.”
I leaned against the balcony railing with a satisfied expression.
Then I casually said to Butler Tobias Wilkin,
“The direction of the decorations is fine as it is, so tell them to leave it. And give those two an extra 2 silons each.”
“Suddenly?”
“It’s a bonus because I like how hard they’re working. Didn’t you hear them just now?”
“Yes, well… I didn’t hear anything…”
How strange.
We were in the same space, yet some heard and some didn’t?
I wasn’t even using Beast’s Heart.
‘Come to think of it, my eyesight seems sharper too.’
It appeared this reward wasn’t just one thing.
All five senses had been enhanced overall.
That was extremely encouraging.
There was no downside to having keener senses.
“Handle it that way anyway.”
“Understood, Your Highness.”
After Butler Wilkin left, I enjoyed tea time while admiring the view of the mansion.
Then someone suddenly knocked on the office door.
Knock knock.
‘He can’t have finished already.’
It was too soon for Tobias, who had just left, to return.
Then who could it be?
I casually opened the employee management window.
Steward Xavierre’s status had changed from “calculating wages” to “waiting to report.”
“Come in. Steward Xavierre.”
“Ah, yes. How did you know it was me?”
“Just a lucky guess. How many people would come to my office in person?”
“Haha! I see.”
In truth, quite a few people came and went from my office.
Even the maids did from time to time.
But Steward Miller Xavierre didn’t seem to mind.
My acting was too natural for him to feel anything strange.
“Anyway, what brings you here?”
“A guest has come to the mansion, and I thought I absolutely had to report it.”
“Is it someone I need to meet?”
“Not exactly, but the matter is unusual.”
“What is it?”
“There has been a flood of requests asking whether we could sell or lease some land around the cloth shop.”
I nodded leisurely.
I had expected this much.
I was selling top-quality linen bolts for a mere 5 koren each.
And right next door, porcelain dishes and iron tools were being prepared for sale.
Those items would also be supplied at extremely low prices.
The reason such madness was possible was simple.
‘Because we still have mountains of stock left even after that.’
What happens when you sell daily necessities in massive quantities at cheap prices?
The area around the Midias shop would inevitably see enormous foot traffic.
And every single person was there to spend money.
An absolutely insane commercial district was being born.
Naturally, everyone would covet the prime locations.
But I had no intention of giving away that valuable land.
“Reject them all.”
“Even leasing it would bring in quite a lot of money.”
Rent was a factor that greatly affected market prices.
I was trying to improve the overall lives of commoners and reap rewards—how could I let prices rise?
I shook my head firmly.
“It’s fine.”
“Then I will convey that.”
After Steward Miller Xavierre withdrew, I fell into deep thought.
The leeches who smelled money were already trying to latch on.
This would disrupt my plans.
‘I’ll have to keep a close eye on things for a while.’
I immediately summoned the coachman and headed to the Midias shopping district.
***
As expected, the road from Midias all the way to the capital had turned into absolute chaos.
They couldn’t step onto my land, so they had set up stalls in the middle section.
The road was narrowing by the minute because of the merchants lined up on both sides.
“Why don’t they just open a proper market while they’re at it?”
I shook my head and looked out the carriage window.
An even more absurd sight unfolded.
The road to Midias itself was completely blocked.
Thanks to those damned stalls, passage had become nearly impossible.
‘No matter how you look at it, this is too much.’
I quickly drafted a document.
Since the carriage was stopped, writing was no problem.
I soon sent the letter with the coachman, then summoned all the merchants.
“His Highness Carius is calling for us?”
“Of course we have to go.”
“Heh heh! Looks like he’s finally changed his mind.”
They followed along eagerly, as if they had been waiting for this.
Every one of them wore expectant faces.
They probably thought some crumbs would fall their way.
“I knew it would end up like this. What can he do if we make a fuss out front?”
“He should have just given us a spot next to the shop from the beginning. Do you think we want to run stalls in a place like this?”
“Shh! Lower your voices. Someone might hear we belong to a trading company.”
“Ke ke ke! It’s so far away—who’s going to overhear us in all this noise?”
“Still, you never know.”
“Hey, you’re such a scaredy-cat. Hehehe!”
As we slowly walked toward the open ground, some extremely irritating chatter reached my ears.
They must have thought no one would hear their whispering.
But what could they do?
Thanks to the recent reward, my senses had become incredibly sharp.
‘So they’re noble-backed lackeys after all.’
Most large trading companies in the empire belonged to nobles.
There were very few commoners with enough capital to run a merchant group.
Small-scale peddlers were another story.
The picture was already forming in my mind.
Employees of noble-owned companies had disguised themselves as ordinary merchants, set up stalls, and staged what was essentially a protest.
It was an attempt to seize the golden land I had built without lifting a finger.
‘That won’t happen.’
I slowly turned and surveyed the surroundings.
About fifty merchants had responded to my call.
It seemed almost everyone blocking the road had gathered.
“Let me ask just one thing. Whose land is this?”
“Pardon?”
My sudden question threw them into confusion.
But I continued calmly.
“I asked whose land this is.”
“It’s just public road, so it belongs to the state.”
“Then whose is the state?”
“Well…”
The merchant at the front let his words trail off.
He had realized that whatever he answered would put him at a disadvantage.
‘This one’s quick-witted.’
It didn’t matter.
There were plenty of others to answer.
I glared at another merchant and said,
“Answer.”
“O-of course it belongs to His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Then this public road is His Majesty’s property. It was paved with funds from the state treasury. Do you acknowledge that?”
“Yes.”
“Yet why are you doing business on His Majesty’s land without permission?”
As expected, the ultimate trump card had appeared—the patented move of selling out His Majesty the Emperor.
I smiled triumphantly and looked around at them.
The merchants could say nothing; they only blinked in silence.
Of course they couldn’t answer.
What permission could they possibly have obtained to set up stalls?
‘Would anyone even grant such permission in the first place?’
Moreover, they had blocked the road to the point where passage was nearly impossible.
I hadn’t brought the legal code, so I wasn’t sure which exact laws they were violating.
But everything they were doing could be made illegal.
There would definitely be some clause I could twist to fit.
“B-but then what happens to us?”
One merchant bravely asked.
I answered with a wicked grin.
“What indeed? Nothing much… just demolition.”
“Pardon?”
“Everything will probably be confiscated. I already reported it to the capital guard.”
A report filed personally by a duke of the realm.
By now the demolition work had likely already begun.
Every merchant turned pale and began running around frantically.
Trying to salvage even a single item.
“They look like a swarm of locusts.”
I leisurely watched their desperate struggles.
“As expected, the ultimate trump card had appeared—the patented move of selling out His Majesty the Emperor.”
Asdfghjkl this is why the emperor took interest in you now, MC 🤣