Chapter I’m Quitting Everything and Selling Cola Chapter 22
Chapter 22. Competition is Not Fair (5)
Nortaris, where adventurers from all over the world flocked in search of gold.
However, not all adventurers earned money through honest methods.
Adventurers had power, and gray companies like Polar Suns needed power.
“Kekeke, those idiots. Spend your whole lives swallowing dust in the Labyrinth like the small fry you are.”
Liam, the action captain working under Blyton, was one of those types.
Originally a 2nd Rank Alchemist.
Even if he had followed the normal adventurer route, he was talented enough to have received pretty good treatment.
But he wouldn’t have been able to earn money as easily as now.
“Did you guys see? This is how you do work.”
“As expected of big bro.”
“A man trembling just because he set fire to a shop, tsk tsk. We should’ve cut off his balls too.”
“Still, the coffee that guy gave us tasted pretty decent though.”
Take this job for example.
All they had to do was set fire to one small shop and threaten the shop owner to hand over the patent and trademark certificates.
Compared to the minor effort equivalent to a post-meal walk, the spoils were enormous.
“Wow, I can’t believe this is all Cola… It’s unbelievable.”
“50 bottles of Cola!”
The patent and trademark certificates that Blyton had told them to retrieve.
Plus a whopping 50 bottles of unopened Cola.
Without a doubt, no noble could have gotten their hands on this much Cola at once.
To Liam’s eyes, the Cola filling the wooden crates sparkled like a pile of jewels.
“Are we drinking Cola today too?”
“Are you crazy? You ignorant bastard.”
Liam struck Baldy’s head with his palm.
“Hey, you could just say it with words, why do you keep hitting someone’s complex…”
“Do you even know what this is?”
“It’s a beverage.”
“Haa… That’s why you’re living in a rental even though you got this good job. This is Cola, Cola. Even nobles rolling in money are making a fuss because they can’t get one bottle of this.”
Cola was distributed exclusively and extremely secretly at The Richfield Hotel.
Thanks to that, it was an extremely rare commodity even on the black market, which supposedly sold everything.
“If we put this on the black market, how much do you think we could get? At least 100 Gold Coins. 100 Crowns.”
“Th-that much?”
“Yeah, our fortunes have opened up wide. I’ll take half, so you guys divide the rest fairly among yourselves.”
“As expected of big bro! You’re so generous!”
“We’re rich!!!”
Now then, how should we shrewdly sell this…
Compared to his subordinates who were happy without thinking, Liam wasn’t completely at ease.
Polar Suns was a much scarier company than it appeared.
Though he was at the bottom of the organization, Liam felt Blyton’s scariness more than his subordinates.
Didn’t Blyton occupy one of the seven seats on the ‘Gray Council’ that mediated disputes between northern mafia organizations?
If the embezzlement was discovered, there would just be five corpses in a back alley with Cola bottles in their mouths.
To safely escape the north after siphoning off Cola, his subordinates needed to thoughtlessly sell Cola and act as bait.
Taking advantage of that gap, if he just crossed over to the Alcand Empire…
—Clatter!
“Who’s there!”
“Wh-what!”
Liam, who had been scheming sinisterly, suddenly pulled out a palette containing alchemy catalysts at the sign of a presence.
His subordinates also fumbled to pull out their respective weapons.
This was one of Polar Suns’s lemonade production factories.
At this hour, there shouldn’t be anyone here.
“So it was Polar Suns after all.”
Nevertheless, between the moonlight streaming through the skylight in the ceiling.
A man wearing a rabbit mask revealed himself.
“What the hell! How did he get in?”
“Where do you think you are, crawling in here!”
Liam examined the unexpected uninvited guest with extreme tension.
Tall with a slender build, a suspicious mask anyone could see.
Refined killing intent flowed from the previously noisy group.
“What should we do, big bro?”
He didn’t have a palette that any alchemist should naturally carry.
Nor did he have the characteristic heavy magic field that a Knight should show.
However, somehow an inexplicable anxiety was felt.
Liam made a decision as if driven by anxiety.
“Bury him.”
As soon as the order was given, the subordinates simultaneously rushed toward the rabbit mask.
Though they looked naive, these were Polar Suns’s action strike team.
The attacks came simultaneously from four directions each aimed at lethal vital points.
Even if these attacks were deflected, it was a clean combination where Liam, the main gun, would finish it off.
A clean move that even veteran adventurers would admire.
It should have been certain.
—Thud!
Liam blinked his eyes.
“What the…”
The last scene Liam confirmed was definitely the combination connecting.
The rabbit mask caught between them would have been no different from prey caught in a snare.
“Gurk…”
“Grrgh…”
But in just the blink of an eye.
Just when the rabbit-masked man’s body seemed to blur for a moment.
His subordinates were flying in all directions, groaning.
Whether arms or legs, something was broken and they were bleeding.
Did that man do this?
But with bare hands?
It didn’t particularly seem like he was drawing up magic power either?
By what means exactly?
“This should be good.”
While Liam was confused with all sorts of questions.
The rabbit mask leisurely picked up a sword that had fallen on the floor.
“Tail Flame…!”
Liam urgently tried to complete and thrust in the magic.
However, just before the magic was completed.
—Screech!
The blade precisely pierced through the alchemy catalyst Liam was holding and lodged into a pillar.
It was thrown so strongly that the sword embedded in the pillar past his head trembled like a tuning fork.
“Shit…”
Got it. He understood clearly.
This was ‘executive’ level.
Among those, the highest rank of the combat faction.
An opponent against whom fighting itself wasn’t established.
The rabbit mask who had stopped the alchemy with a throw kicked up another sword with his toes and caught it.
“It’s been a while since I’ve done this, so my shoulders are stiff.”
Walking toward Liam, who was frozen like a mouse before a snake, spinning the sword, the rabbit mask asked.
“Ah, come to think of it. Do you like bananas?”
“Bananas…? I don’t dislike them.”
“That’s good. You’ll be eating plenty of them from now on.”
Jurgen behind the rabbit mask grinned.
Liam and his subordinates’ treatment was decided.
Since they seemed confident in physical work, if he sent them to the Coca Tree farm in Soltera, they would become excellent laborers.
***
Penelope headed to the Polar Suns company building as soon as day broke.
“Bring out the boss here.”
It was to settle accounts with Edwin Blyton, who would have ordered this arson.
After being guided with ‘The president has a schedule, so please wait in the reception room for a moment if you don’t have a prior appointment.’
How much time had passed already?
She came in the morning and it became late at night, so she had waited at least over 12 hours.
Someone experiencing this for the first time might wonder what the hell this was about…
This was one of the elegant harassment skills of high society.
Also known as ‘flower arranging.’
There were various variations, but the basic framework was simple.
Stick the guest in the reception room and neglect them infinitely.
Even when the guest gets tired of waiting and asks ‘When can I see them?’, the answer ‘Soon’ comes back.
And even when asking 6 hours later, the answer ‘Really soon’ comes back.
In that process, the guest receives embarrassment, awkwardness, and shame.
If by any chance they return empty-handed dejectedly, that in itself invites mockery from the social circles—a simple but effective demonic attack.
If a naive person encounters this for the first time, they’ll vomit blood from all seven orifices—it’s such a wicked method.
‘Arrange her in the reception room.‘
‘Ehehe… I’ll do as ordered.‘
When the secretary first received Blyton’s instructions, she was happy.
She looked forward to seeing the pretty young lady run out crying.
However, it didn’t even take 3 minutes for that expectation to be disappointed.
“Is this all?”
“P-pardon?”
“You said you’d bring out good alcohol. I guess this looks like good alcohol to your eyes?”
Who was Penelope?
She had swallowed all kinds of harsh humiliation and insults to endure in the social circles.
‘I’m experiencing this again…‘ was the entirety of her impression.
She didn’t even snort at such transparent tricks.
“You bring out this weed-steeped water and call it tea? You drink it. Why? Can’t drink it?”
“The sofa seems too hard. Will you change it? Right now.”
“If you’ve made me wait this long, isn’t it proper etiquette to offer a meal too?”
“No, I’ll understand with generous magnanimity. How could a nouveau riche upstart of commoner origins have learned proper etiquette?”
“Look at that expression? You don’t like it? What are you going to do if you don’t like it?”
Penelope wasn’t intimidated in the slightest and was acting like a savage customer to her heart’s content, drying up the secretary.
“This alcohol is decent. But the glass is a bit lukewarm. Cool it again and bring it.”
Come to think of it, this might suit her temperament.
It even relieved a bit of stress.
“P-P-Penelope, the president says to bring you in.”
The secretary, whose white hairs increased by about 500 strands rather than satisfying sinister desires, could finally be freed from work.
Blyton, whose face she finally got to see after a long wait.
“Oh my, I’m so sorry. You were still waiting. My secretary didn’t tell me.”
“Thanks to the wonderful treatment, I was comfortable.”
“That puts my mind at ease at least. Still, it worked out well. I got to see the renowned Miss Penelope from the social circles intimately.”
He greeted Penelope wearing a shower robe, let alone a suit.
This behavior, which normally corresponds to rudeness, was also one of the childish tricks.
Late at night, alone with a man.
Both were conditions that could turn into a fatal scandal for a noble lady.
It was meant to seize the initiative from the start.
As if that wasn’t enough, Blyton looked up and down at Penelope with a sly smile, as if teasing.
Penelope smiled back brightly without even twitching an eyebrow at the blatant insult.
“Edwin Blyton, I’ve heard many rumors but this is the first time meeting you directly. I’m Penelope Rosemore.”
“Oh, I’m surprised that the lady of the Rosemore Family even knows such a lowly name.”
“Of course. A petty merchant who forgot his place just because he luckily made some money. How could I not know.”
Blyton’s lips twitched at Penelope’s fresh poison.
Well now?
Normally after being left for over ten hours, even after being openly insulted, one would rage furiously.
Yet she delivers a dignified sharp jab.
Still, blood can’t be deceived, is that it?
However, Blyton wasn’t particularly intimidated either.
Though the opponent was the Rosemore lady, Blyton had his own confidence.
He had money, and friends made with money.
Decisively, Clarisse was behind him.
An emotional attack from a lady who had just barely returned to the social circles.
“Uhahaha! You have a good way with words. It’s late, so let’s get straight to the point.”
“Let’s.”
“What amazing thing were you going to say that you waited 16 hours in the reception room? Ah, of course, if it’s related to Cola, you’re always welcome.”
“It’s not that.”
Penelope immediately thrust in the main point.
“It was your doing, wasn’t it?”
“What ‘doing’ would that be?”
“My business partner’s shop caught fire. It seems you pulled some tricks to steal the Cola patent and trademark…”
“Oh my, I’ve worked all my life with honesty and trust as my virtues. Slander is troublesome, young lady.”
“Honesty and trust. Even a passing dog would laugh at that.”
Blyton’s heart, which had been upset at first, had now regained composure.
Since she came out quite strongly, he wondered if she had something.
However, unlike Clarisse, she was just an immature young lady after all.
“If you have no other business, I think we can end it here.”
“Are you uncomfortable being alone with me?”
“Fundamentally I’m a businessman. I don’t talk with people who have no nutritional value.”
The series of arrogant words and actions was also a shallow trick to scratch Blyton emotionally and glimpse his true intentions.
In other words, it meant she had no evidence in her hands, no sharp moves.
“Let me teach you one thing. This world doesn’t run just on emotional exorcisms. Next time, bring at least one of these: justification or evidence.”
“Good advice. Fine. I’ll just tell you the main point too.”
Blyton, who had regained composure and was smiling broadly, felt an inexplicable chill.
The source of the chill was Penelope’s cool smile.
A coldness reminiscent of the merciless Clarisse was etched over her elegant beauty.
“I came here to give a warning.”
“A warning?”
“I don’t care if you pull tricks according to your station. That’s what you people always do, isn’t it?”
“I’ve been quite accommodating. If you want to play noble games…”
“I understand you thinking little of me. Like you said, I would have been a person with no nutritional value all along. But you know…”
The tone suddenly changed to informal speech toward the end.
“Try touching my people one more time.”
Yet there was no awkwardness whatsoever.
Rather, natural intimidation unpleasantly pressed down on the battle-hardened Blyton.
“Then you’ll also learn. How far a person with nothing to lose can go.”
After Penelope, who had finished her warning, left.
“Grrr…”
Blyton fell into thought.
He was quite a self-made person.
He started from the bottom and willingly dirtied his hands to get to this position.
For such a person to be pressed down by the intimidation of a young upstart was absurd.
However.
“What does she trust to be so confident?”
Penelope Rosemore.
The second daughter of the Rosemore Count Family.
Expelled from the social circles by Clarisse but returned using the Cola business as a foothold.
Could she have other cards?
Common sense said she shouldn’t.
The blade she wielded would absolutely never reach Blyton.
Didn’t she even say with her own mouth that she was ‘a person with nothing to lose’?
However, though he knew this in his head, he couldn’t think of it as a bluff because of the spirit, and Blyton felt uncomfortable as if his stomach was upset.
Did she really have nothing?
Had she solidified her position with Cola while he didn’t know?
Perhaps she had joined hands with another organization?
“She’s an extremely brazen young lady.”
“Look here. Did I miss something?”
“That can’t be. We did a thorough background check, didn’t we? It’s obviously just bravado anyway.”
“The possibility that she noticed the relationship between Clarisse and us?”
“Not at all.”
“True, if that were the case, she would have clung to something.”
“Don’t worry too much. We bought time well by keeping that young lady tied up here, so the action team members will bring the patent and trademark certificates soon, right?”
The lawyer was carefree.
That was actually correct.
That’s why Blyton had bought time by tying up Penelope with flower arranging too.
Only then did Blyton feel relieved.
“Who said what? Without Cola, she’s nothing and acts pathetic.”
However, the news that Blyton and the lawyer, who were waiting for the certificates, heard.
Was vastly beyond expectations.
“President! A fire broke out at the lemonade production factory!”
“What? How big is the fire!”
“Total loss! Total loss! Even the pillars burned down completely!”
“The strike team, is there any contact from those guys?”
“Th-that’s… The action team members who were supposed to bring the certificates… h-have all lost contact!”
At the secretary’s urgent report, Blyton glared at the lawyer.
“You said there was nothing.”
“Me? What?”
Blyton’s fist struck the lawyer’s nose.