Chapter 21 – Days of Quiet Reprieve (6)

  [Deilos, Son of Demon Lord Dantalion, Young Lord]

  [Demon Territory, De Gracia—Guest Mansion]

  “Would 10 gold coins be enough?”

  “15.”

  “A regular fee for a tutor is 5.”

  “15!”

  The little witch in front of me demanded.

  “All I’m saying is, isn’t that a bit too much?”

  “Didn’t this little witch already warn the young lord about being costly? Though you already have a bag of gold coins. Aren’t you a bit of a cheapskate, young lord?”

  “Being financially fine is different from being cheap. I have something to use this money for. So, for that reason, it’s not illogical for me to hoard it. Aren’t you the one being greedy here?”

  “I’m not being greedy! That simply is the payment I’m only willing to accept!”

  She demanded again.

  Let’s think about this for a moment. While her teaching is quite clear, and an easy one to grasp at that, isn’t 15 gold a bit too much? To put it into perspective, a peasant farmer’s daily salary would be around 10 small copper coins. It takes that amount of small copper coins to be made into a regular copper coin, 10 copper coins to make a silver coin, and 10 silver coins to make 1 gold coin.

  Now, since the context of the transaction is clear, a regular tutor’s fee is around 5 gold coins, in contrast to a lecture in an academy’s fee of 1 gold, meaning that the average tutor makes around a year and a half’s work of a peasant farmer. This might be the sole reason tutoring isn’t a viable option for learning general knowledge, though with tutoring, a person does gain personalized instructions that aren’t present in a normal academic setting.

  Despite the already absurd price of 5 gold coins, this witch is telling me that she wants 15 gold coins as a payment—triple the standard rate and equivalent to around five years of a peasant farmer’s earnings.

  “Hahhh...... Although I did accept your terms, aren’t I already doubling the payment? To ask for more is a bit too much, Pelica.”

  “Hmmp......”

  Pelica made a sulking face.

  “I won’t give in even if you act like that, you know.”

  “Hmmmmp......”

  She pouted.

  “Pelica.”

  “Hmmmmmmmmmmmmp......”

  She continued to pout.

  This continued for a while, with Pelica’s cheeks starting to bulge like a squirrel gathering nuts in its mouth, preparing to burrow for the winter.

  Am I working with a toddler?

  No, from the words that came out of Pelica’s mouth, she is, presumably, a 300-year-old witch. Yet, that same witch is pouting non-stop after not getting the self-assured paycheck she made up herself. While I respect the ‘subtle’ effort of not getting to your knees and begging, this is not far from that.

  I sighed as I leaned back in my seat, trying to contemplate what I was supposed to do in this situation.

  There were two outcomes that I could hypothesize.

  Firstly, if I do give in, then it’s a simple notion of being tricked by the devil in disguise as a little witch. In the way she’s been acting—her pouting, her squirrel-like face, and her voice of persuasion—there’s no doubt that I’m being faced by the devil. Comparing this to an experience of a child wanting a snack in a mall and, when rejected by that privilege, they would start throwing a tantrum, making all the surrounding people look at the parent for being neglectful. All responsibility was placed on me.

  That idea gave me a cold sweat. Responsibility...... my greatest enemy. My mind was trying to reject that possibility, it being the worst of the worst, a fate worse than death, and move on to my next hypothetical.

  Secondly, if I don’t give in, then I’m the one to blame. Going back to the child analogy, when the child’s want is fully rejected and is now starting to throw fits because of it, all the eyes would be back on the parent again. Whispers would start to go around.

  Is that motherfucker that incompetent of a parent?

  Hah. Letting his child cry like that. Who made such an idiot conceive a child?

  Pathetic. He should hang himself in the capitol.

  Upon realizing that all my options were genuinely dead ends, a feeling of fear came over me. What should I do? If I give in to her petty crying, then I’m essentially declaring that such simple acts can easily sway me. On the other side of the coin, if I don’t give her what she wants, then I’m declaring that I’m a neglectful person, worse than a pig going through muck.

  I, Deilos, son of Demon Lord Dantalion, am cornered at this instant.

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  Instinctively, I looked around the room for something, something to help me. The books, bed, chairs, and the table where the bag of gold sat. There was no way out—only me and the witch of greed. The silence washed over the room as Pelica looked at me with eyes that were screaming her money’s worth. I gulped and reluctantly grabbed the bag of gold coins with shaking hands. Pelica’s face started to light up, and she extended her hands for payment.

  Then, just as I was about to give in, a voice broke through that silence.

  “While it is not my concern, nor the matter of fact that I have a say in the manner. Wouldn’t it be logical for the young lord and Madame Pelica to meet in the middle of the negotiation?”

  Scylla, who was standing by my side, who watched the negotiation from the very beginning, spoke her thoughts.

  “Does 12 gold and 5 silver coins sound enough, Madame Pelica?”

  She said in a calm voice.

  Pelica curled her hands back as Scylla took 12 gold coins from the bag I was holding. Since there were no silver coins in it, Scylla took the liberty of providing the 5 silver coins by replacing 1 gold with 10 silver coins of her own money.

  “There.”

  After dealing with the situation with utmost professionalism, she stood by my side again as if it was the natural thing to do and fixed her posture. I couldn’t help but sigh in relief as I rested back in the chair.

  My savior. My hero.

  An imaginary tear flowed down my cheek.

  Who knew she was also good at negotiations? Although I’ve taught her how to do wordplays, I have not taught her the way of scammi—I mean ‘dealing’ with people. It might be just the fact that we had only been together for a week at this point. Well, does it matter? A majority of her is still unknown, but does that stop me from admiring her thinking in near parallel to me? Non.

  They say a competent person can only truly be competent if other competent people teach them. While that is true to some extent, there are people who are truly competent, even without any prior knowledge of that craft.

  A newbie who suddenly outran a gold medalist athlete, a child prodigy solving a mathematical equation that professors can’t solve, or a random street person who could see a better position within 16 move lines in chess that even a chess grandmaster couldn’t see.

  The possibilities are endless now, since there is a person like that within my vicinity, a genius that can be molded into something greater.

  What do you think I’ll do? There is only one answer.

  I’ll mold her to the perfect scamme—ehem, the perfect negotiator—and rule over the markets, merchants, and lastly, the Demon Territory! None shall be able to outwit me now with Scylla by my side! The firms, the nobles, all of them will bow to us!

  Kuhah.

  Kuhahaha.

  KUHAHAHAHA!

  A small laugh escaped my lips.

  “Young lord......”

  Someone’s worried voice seeped through my ear as I was planning my excellent plan.

  “While it is fortunate to have solved the problem at hand with little compromise, please regard other people’s well-being when being in a state of excitement.”

  Well-being? Excitement? Huh?

  I looked at Scylla. She pointed in Pelica’s direction.

  When I turned my head at Pelica, who was fawning over the gold coins earlier, she looked at me with a disgusted face like she saw the most disgusting trash in her life.

  “Haha?”

  Scylla let out a breather and bowed slightly to Pelica.

  “Madame Pelica, my apologies for the young lord’s antics. While this one respects him, it has also come to my attention that he is somewhat of an oddball. To put it lightly, he is perverse in another sense.”

  “Uhk.”

  Perverse......

  Let me calm myself down. It’s not the end of the world. All I need to do is fix my face and act normally. I briefly composed myself and relaxed some more. Good.

  As I was molding my face to be publicly appropriate, Scylla looked at me unusually.

  “What is it? Do I need to apologize in a seiza position? If that’s the case, then let me at least clean the floor.”

  “Seiza? What’s that? No, never mind. Well, I was just wondering why the young lord isn’t properly preparing for the Eve of Walpurgis tomorrow.”

  “I’m preparing properly, you know.”

  “This one means his attire and partner for the ball.”

  “Do I really have to?”

  “The Eve of Walpurgis is known as the most important occasion of the Demon Territory, young lord. If one were to enter it without the appropriate measures, they could only expect to be scrutinized and ridiculed, or worse, be punished or executed for such inappropriate actions in the presence of the Demon Monarch. There was a time when the 32nd Demon Lord, Asmoday, of the Eastern Faction, arrived at the ball while only half-clothed and disheveled.”

  She looked at me seriously.

  “He was noted to have been drinking before the event and was harassing the other guests when he had entered. When the 8th Demon Lord, Barbatos, saw this, she ordered the exile and castration of Demon Lord Asmoday. Despite the protests of the 1st Demon Lord, Baal, the notion of Demon Lord Barbatos, being the leader of the Eastern Faction, was continued. Demon Lord Asmoday was last seen on the border of the Human City of Remula, in the Kingdom of Weilish, stoned and bled to death.”

  “......”

  “It is ill advised to follow his footsteps unless one wants to suffer the same fate.”

  I felt an itch on the corner of my eyelids.

  “So you’re saying that if I don’t have a partner, I might not even be able to enter?”

  “That is a possibility, but I doubt they would do that to a son of a Demon Lord without any suitable reasons.”

  By what she’s saying, if I entered the ball without a partner, I would get my name scorned and be thrown dirt at.

  Well, I don’t necessarily mind that idea, but if I were to go to the ball without a partner, then I’m just going to attract unnecessary attention. I’ve been keeping my profile low for a while now, merely interacting with people when necessary and keeping a fa?ade for them to look over me. Avoiding people was one of my ways of avoiding assassination attempts.

  However, this time it’s different. Even though my life is still dangling in the hands of the ‘spiteful one,’ I’ve already positioned myself as an important trash in their eyes by giving them something to chew on.

  Information about Demon Lord Dantalion.

  Just by this, their highest priority regarding me isn’t assassination now, but to uncover that non-existent information. It was my empty bait, and they took it without hesitation. Whether they would keep their end of the deal of keeping me safe until then is still up for debate. The only thing I can do at the moment is to prepare and set up my own traps.

  “Scylla.”

  I turned my head to her.

  Pelica looked at us with a confused expression.

  “We’ll go shopping tomorrow.”

  . . .

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