The Retired [Armed Merchant]’s Laid-back Journey Across the Continent 1

Chapter 1: The Rip-off Artist Decides to Retire.

“What? My business license has been suspended?”

The man nodded at my words.

I had just returned to my home-slash-shop after five days in the dungeon, only to be met by a man claiming to be a messenger from the Merchant’s Guild. He thrust a sheet of parchment at me.

“The business license for the Vottark Trading Company was revoked four days ago. As you failed to report and continued to operate without authorization, the penalty clause has been applied. We are hereby demanding payment of five gold coins per day.”

“Hold on, hold on. I was in the dungeon until just now. How was I supposed to know about any of this?”

Besides, five gold coins a day… meaning I have to pay twenty gold coins right now? Isn’t that a bit too exorbitant?

Five gold coins is enough to feed a middle-class family for a month.

On top of that, I’ve never even heard of such a penalty clause.

This is just ridiculous, no matter how you look at it.

“It is your fault for being in a place where you could not be reached immediately. You are to report to the Merchant’s Guild at once and pay the fine.”

“On what grounds was it revoked?”

“I have neither the obligation nor the authority to answer that. You are to go and confirm it for yourself.”

The man’s words were purely businesslike, leaving no room for argument.

In reality, he was just a messenger. Complaining to him would be pointless.

“Hah, fine. I get it.”

“…Personally, I’m not convinced by this either,” the messenger muttered, his back still turned to me.

“Hm?”

“Just talking to myself. Four days ago, someone from the church came storming into the guild. They were roaring about how one of their pet adventurers got ripped off in the dungeon. Said some armed merchant in the labyrinth extorted an outrageous sum of money from them.”

“Ah… right. I understand now.”

Without another word, the man left.

He was a gruff fellow, but it seemed he wasn’t my enemy, at least.

I had no clue what the Merchant’s Guild’s decision was about, but thanks to that man, I now knew the cause.

Most likely, an adventurer I’d ripped off in the dungeon had snitched on me.

And that adventurer was connected to the church… which probably means some big shot was backing them.

That’s probably the gist of it.

Seriously, to revoke the business license of a member who pays his annual fees diligently over something like this… that new Guild Master of the Merchant’s Guild must not have much of a backbone.

Still, this might be a bit of a pain.

This is what happens from just one complaint pushed by someone with power.

The same thing could happen again, and it could happen to others, too.

“Hmmmm…”

Muttering to myself, I walked down the main street for about ten minutes.

Before I knew it, I had arrived in front of the Merchant’s Guild.

This was the Merchant’s Guild, the organization that oversaw all commerce in the Adventurer City of Alanis.

Its main purpose was to serve as the point of contact for anyone setting up shop in this city, handling the establishment and dissolution of companies, various applications, and the payment of annual fees.

Even an independent traveling merchant like me had to establish a company through this guild to do business here on a continuous basis.

In my case, since my name is Rody Vottark, I named my company the Vottark Trading Company.

“Hellooo!”

I walked through the main hall and called out casually to the woman at the reception desk.

The receptionist, about to reply, saw my face and her expression stiffened.

She must be new. I don’t recognize her.

“Ah, you’re… from the Vottark Trading Company, aren’t you?”

“That’s right. Sorry to bother you, but could you call someone in charge for me?”

“I-I’m afraid I can’t. I cannot let you through without an appointment.”

Well, that’s new.

After all, providing consultation to guild members was supposed to be part of the Merchant’s Guild’s job.

“I’m not asking you to call the Guild Master. I just want to talk to someone who can give me a straight answer.”

“I-I refuse!”

The receptionist’s shriek-like refusal silenced the surroundings for a moment… before a murmur began to spread.

“Hey, isn’t that… the guy from the ‘Rip-off Company’?”

“Yeah! The one who runs that shady business in the dungeon?”

“I hear he’s a real miser. Rumor has it he’ll leave even a seriously injured person to die if they don’t pay up.”

“He’s famous, all right. In a bad way.”

Leaking from the buzz of conversation were negative rumors about me.

Well, I’ll admit to the price-gouging, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never done anything that wicked.

Still, this atmosphere isn’t great.

I should probably finish my business and get out of here quickly.

“Hah… fine. Then, take this.”

With a sigh, I placed a small pouch containing twenty gold coins on the counter.

Exorbitant or not, I had no intention of becoming a criminal over something so trivial.

“There’s your fine. Paid in full. And I take it this is the guild’s final word on the matter?”

“…”

Without even checking the contents of the pouch, the receptionist glared at me warily.

What did I ever do to you…?

“Please leave.”

“Yeah, I’ll do just that.”

After replying, it hit me.

If my business license was revoked, that probably means the Vottark Trading Company has been deregistered.

In other words, I’m not even a guild member anymore.

“Sorry to have bothered you.”

With another sigh, I turned my toes toward the exit.

Many of the gazes fixed on me were a mixture of curiosity and disgust.

Honestly, I’ve really become quite disliked.

And here I thought I’d been running a reasonably legitimate business.

Shrugging my shoulders in resignation, I slipped through the crowd of merchants and headed for the exit.

Some of them were openly laughing at me, but they’d be wise to feel a sense of crisis, thinking, “That could be me tomorrow.”

The fact that the Merchant’s Guild had caved to external pressure and failed to protect one of its own members was a serious problem.

Well, as long as they stay on their best behavior, they’ll probably be fine.

“…Right, time to go home.”

Leaving the Merchant’s Guild behind, I walked down the main street toward my home, reflecting on my life so far.

It’s true that I might be a person who could hardly be called a good man.

That’s why I can understand some of what those merchants were saying.

—Miser. Unscrupulous Merchant. Inhuman.

I suppose those words were a natural reaction.

I never gave a discount of even a single half-copper Racal, no matter how desperate the other person was, and I sold my goods at what could only be called outrageous prices in the depths of the underground labyrinth.

The nickname I earned for that was “Rody of the Rip-off Company.”

Even among the greedy armed merchants of the dungeon, I was known as a particularly heartless price-gouger.

That is my reputation in the Adventurer City of Alanis.

But I desperately needed the money.

An epidemic had sent my father and mother to the heavens, and to properly feed my orphaned younger sister and see her stand on her own two feet, I had to earn, no matter what.

I was fifteen when I dropped out of the magic academy I was attending and immediately became an adventurer.

Then, at eighteen, I apprenticed under a certain person and transitioned into an armed merchant, doing business in the dungeon.

For more than ten years since then… until now, at the age of thirty-two, I have remained the “Rip-off Company” in the depths of the dungeon.

The knowledge I gained from the magic academy and my master as an armed merchant translated directly into money inside the labyrinth.

Healing wounds and poisons, creating drinking water, crafting potions and magic scrolls, appraising magical artifacts, creating maps of the surrounding area using magic, generating safe areas with barriers… I did whatever I could and turned it into cash.

On the surface, in the adventurer city, the prices and rewards for such services were regulated by city ordinance, but inside the dungeon, you could name your price. The pricing was completely flexible, with no upper limit.

In the dim, dangerous underground labyrinth, risk and need were directly proportional, and that itself was a business opportunity.

That’s why I acquired the skills to delve deep into the dungeon and, in its deeper reaches… I became a “rip-off artist” as an armed merchant.

Thanks to all that, my sister has grown up to be a fine, independent woman.

My dear sister is now a top graduate of the Royal Academy Preparatory School and a respectable high-ranking civil servant working in the kingdom’s capital.

And so, with my duty fulfilled, I was left with a terrible reputation known throughout the adventurer city.

Fortunately, the connection between me, the “Rip-off Company,” and my sister isn’t widely known.

Therefore, I’ve decided to think of this as a very good opportunity.

“Alright, I’ve decided. I’m going to retire.”

My footsteps, after I muttered those words so very lightly… felt a little lighter.