CHAPTER 87
The Pioneer's Guild Master, Evans.
He was staring at me with a look of utter disbelief. For him, there had probably never been anyone who didn't yield to his threats. It made sense, since most pioneers were people without connections. The profession of a pioneer, while lucrative, was a harsh one. Most people who chose this line of work were loners chasing a fortune. After all, those with connections would have already secured safe and profitable jobs.
Thus, they would have found it difficult to voice their opinions in front of Evans, the Guild Master. The moment they talked back to him, it meant they could no longer work as a pioneer in the capital.
Of course, Evans wouldn't act this way toward famous, established pioneers. For the Guild, a famous pioneer was a valuable asset just by being a member. He would have offered them a fair price without any haggling.
But I was not a famous pioneer. I was a porter until recently and hadn't done anything particularly noteworthy since. In the eyes of the Guild Master, I must have looked like an easy target.

"I'm a Holy Mage, you see. There are plenty of places that would hire me."
"Hah."
He let out a sound of disbelief. The profession of a Holy Mage was highly sought after. If I asked for a job, places would be lining up to hire me. This was a fact the Guild Master was well aware of.
Soon, a fierce light entered his eyes.
"You know one thing but not ten. To be precise, only you are a Holy Mage."
Ah, so you're going to use my team members against me?
"Have you considered what will happen to your teammates?"
"My teammates? Ah, are you referring to our Aransol, the disciple of the Sword Lord?"
"Wh-what?"
At my next words, he froze completely.
The Sword Lord. The name alone carried destructive power. Even a Guild Master was not immune to its influence. From the moment he started acting high and mighty, I had guessed that he knew nothing about us. He probably didn't even know Aransol was Soun's disciple.
"If you're talking about Babiyen, she's a noble of the House of Baron Asteria and an outstanding mage. The Mage Tower would hire her in a heartbeat. Would there be a problem?"
"A-a Baron's house?"
"Horizon is from Nox. If she gets kicked out of the pioneers, she'll probably just think, 'Oh well, I got fired,' and accept it. You should probably watch your back at night from now on."
"N-Nox?"
As one unexpected piece of information followed another, his face twisted further in bewilderment.
Are you even the Guild Master? Or just a figurehead? The fact that you didn't even investigate something so basic shows how incompetent you are. He had probably gotten the position through connections. And like most parachute appointments, he likely left all the actual work to his subordinates while he went out to play golf. Ah, this uncivilized world doesn't have golf, so what would it be? I don't care.

"How dare you... how dare you try to fool an adult with such lies!" Evans shouted, his face turning beet red. It seemed he had decided to simply not believe me.
"If you don't believe me, I can call a guarantor."
"Go ahead! Call whoever you want! Do you think I'll believe the words of a braggart!"
"Alright then. Should I call Lieutenant General Inferno, or the Divine Lord Aigis?" I asked with a smile, not a hint of falsehood in my voice.
Evans's lips moved, but no words came out.
I asked you, didn't I? Do you have powerful connections?
Perhaps it was because too many influential names were mentioned at once. Evans became like a broken doll.
"Y-you have to have a limit to your lies..."
He was treating me like a braggart. But if even one of these facts turned out to be true, the one who would be shattered was Evans. He must want to deny it. He must want to treat it all as a lie.
It was all the same to me. Whether he believed it or not, the truth would eventually be proven.
"Mr. Evans."
I placed a hand firmly on his shoulder.
"You don't quite believe what I've told you today, do you? I understand."
How could a mere pioneer he looked down on possibly associate with such powerful figures?
"But let me ask you this. Aren't you curious what would happen if even one of the people I mentioned were to petition the Imperial Family to conduct a thorough investigation of the capital's Guild?"
I was genuinely curious. Would the capital's Pioneer's Guild remain intact? At the very least, Evans, as the Guild Master, might have to take full responsibility.
Evans's face turned deathly pale.

He had dealt with people before. He must have realized that my expression was not that of a liar.
From within my clothes, Mi-Myeong fluttered out. At the sight of the familiar, Evans's body flinched violently. Mi-Myeong was a symbol of divine power itself. In other words, it meant I was directly connected to the Holy Church. Mi-Myeong's presence lent further weight to my words. A member of the Holy Church was unlikely to lie while invoking the name of the Divine Lord. The risk was simply too great.
"If you'd like, I can give you time to investigate for yourself. It's not like the Waterway Gems will rot. We can make the deal then."
I then removed my hand from his shoulder, as if an opportunity was slipping away.
"But next time, I think the price of Waterway Gems will be much higher. Don't you agree, Mr. Evans?"
It's going to go up a lot. Enough to deal a blow to the Guild Master's future.
Evans's thick cheeks trembled. His cursed mouth no longer moved so carelessly.
"...I'll buy them. I'll buy them all at the proper price. No, I'll give you more than the average."
In the end, Evans chose the path of no risk. It was a good decision, worthy of a Pioneer's Guild Master. I hoped he would remain the Guild Master for a long time to come. That way, I wouldn't have to go through this again.
"Yes, I'll be in your care then. And from now on, please make sure I don't hear of things like this happening again. I don't have a particularly strong sense of justice, but when I hear about someone in the same situation as me, I tend to get very angry."
There's nothing to be gained from making people angry, right? Right?
"...I understand."
After getting a firm commitment from the gloomy Evans, I walked outside. Aransol and Arshel were waiting by the counter.
"Harua, did the talk go well?"
"Yes, he was a very nice person. He said he'd buy everything for more than the standard price. Said the quality of the gems was good."
"Oh my, what's gotten into that old man?" Arshel marveled in surprise. Evans's lowballing tactics were already infamous among the pioneers.

The payment came through quickly. Perhaps because the number of gems was so large, the price was astronomical. We were paid in platinum coins. A platinum coin was worth a thousand times a regular gold coin. In the past, merchants found that while gold coins were useful, they needed too many for large transactions, which led to the creation of this new currency. We received ten of those platinum coins, along with an equivalent amount in gold. It was the very definition of a windfall.

"Th-this is insane. Insane." Arshel jumped up and down on the spot, expressing her pure joy. Even for a veteran pioneer, she had never earned this much in a single day. She couldn't contain her happiness. She felt that all her suffering had been worth it. With this much money, she wouldn't have to go to the 2nd World for a while.
When we divided the money, Arshel excitedly took her share.
Watching her, I casually said, "Arshel, watch out for thieves."
She had that exact look about her right now. The look of someone about to get robbed by a money-crazed thief.
"Ah, of course. What do you take me for? I'm going to deposit this money at the Pioneer's Guild."
That was the safest option. Carrying around such a large sum of money was an insane thing to do.
"Heehee, what should I do with this? I wanted to buy a new bag recently. I should get that first."
Arshel was already lost in a fantasy of how she would spend her money. It was the joyous time of someone who had worked hard. I decided not to bother her.

"Harua."
Just then, Aransol, who had been staring at her share of the money, came up to me.
"Should we buy a house?"
"A house?"
"Yeah. We can't live in an inn forever."
A house. I had never once thought about it. That was because I was a Transferee, and this world was not the one I had lived in. So the concept of a house itself never occurred to me. Perhaps I'd always vaguely thought of this world as a place I could leave at any time. After all, the starting point of my life wasn't anywhere in this world.

If I had a house, would something change?
As I stared at Aransol, for some reason, the thought didn't seem so bad.
"I'll pitch in for the money. How about we buy one in the capital?"
"Aransol, you're from the Horned Tribe. Is it okay for you to buy a house in a human nation?"
"It's fine, since I plan on living with you anyway."
The reason Aransol stayed by my side was to protect me, because I was someone who couldn't take care of himself.

But somewhere along the line, I felt that meaning was slowly changing. More than protecting me, it was shifting in the direction of her simply liking to be by my side.
Aransol's eyes looked up at me. In them was the conviction that she would stay by my side forever. Why did Aransol look at me like that? And for some reason, I, too, was starting to take her presence for granted. To the point where I couldn't imagine her not being there.

"It's not a bad idea, but... is this enough money?"
"It's more than enough. Houses aren't that expensive."
Houses aren't expensive? That can't be right. Looking at the housing prices in Seoul, an ordinary citizen could work their entire life and still not afford a house.
But thinking about it, quite a few pioneers owned houses. People who lived day to day had houses. That meant the prices couldn't be prohibitively high.
Then I remembered that this world wasn't a democracy yet. The true owner of the empire's land was the Imperial Family. You paid a fee to the Imperial Family to lease the land. Therefore, housing prices naturally couldn't rise above a certain level. Because there was a price set by the Imperial Family, even those who bought land couldn't sell it for more than that.
...Maybe this world isn't so bad?
At least, achieving my dream of owning a home was much easier in this world.
But then, a thought popped into my head. The world was currently engulfed in terror by the Black Dawn. What's more, there was news that the Black Dawn would soon attack the Imperial Family. If we bought a house at this point, it might get blown up along with everything else. If that happened, we'd lose all our money.

After some deliberation, I came to a conclusion.
"Aransol, let's postpone buying a house."
"You're not going to buy one?"
"No, I plan to, but now's not the right time. A day will come when house prices will fall."
Sellers couldn't sell their land at a high price because of the Imperial Family. But conversely, it was possible to sell it at a lower price. The capital could be engulfed in war and terror. Would the land prices in such a capital remain normal? It was unfortunate for the current landowners, but the prices were bound to crash at least once. Everyone would be trying to sell off their land and get out.
This money was ammunition for that time.
In the flow of history, those who can read the times are the victors.
I smiled quietly.

The myth of the ever-rising real estate market that will one day descend upon the capital. That day is coming.