It was on the day that Komer had bought the Maroon from the 'Fake Original' Donni, the fourth member of the Triple D's. The royal knights placed the maroon into a special storage item and then led the young merchant, as well as the original owner of the Maroon, to the Lord's mansion.
"You will now speak to the first prince of the kingdom, Aaron James Lightheart. Understand this honor, and treat his highnessh with the respect he deserves." One of the Royal Guards explained when they stood inside of the mansion in front of a large door leading to a private room. Slowly, the door was opened, and Komer was let inside together with the stall owner as well as the Royal Guards. And inside of the room, Komer could see a quite attractive young blond man sitting in front of the window, currently taking a sip of his tea.
Swiftly, the Guards bowed down to the prince, which was what Komer was waiting for to confirm if he was really the right person, because he didn't want to embarrass himself by addressing the wrong person.
And after bowing down as well, the Prince stood up with a frown and stepped up to the four people that just entered the room, before looking at one of the guards. "You. I was told you would only be bringing one person along, the owner of the Maroon. Which one of these is that owner?" He asked in a dignified tone, before the Guard that was addressed spoke up.
"The situation is quite complicated, my prince. The owner is the red haired young man, but the one we made the deal with is the middle-aged merchant over there." The Guard explained, before the Prince looked at Komer and the Stall Owner confused.
"Alright. You two, take a seat over here, I think we should talk about this all." The prince explained before waving his hand over to one of the two couches, while he himself sat down on the one opposite to the one that he had pointed at. "Maid, get us some tea, if you please." The Prince commanded, and the Maid that stood next to the door nodded her head and bowed down, before hurrying out the door to get what Prince Aaron had asked for.
"Now tell me, what occurred with this situation? I was told that everything went smoothly. Apparently not so much." The Prince said as he crossed his legs and looked at Komer and the Stall owner with a deep frown, before the Stall Owner swiftly spoke up.
"Your Highness, th-this man stole the Maroon that I was supposed to sell to you!" He exclaimed, and immediately, the Prince glared over at Komer with a glare. "Is this true? If you did, that is quite impressive. This town has protection against common thievery, so anyone capable of stealing such a highly protected item must be incredibly skilled. Although I find it hard to believe that such a man would walk right into his doom with a bright smile such as yours. Would you tell me what occurred from your perspective?" Prince Aaron asked, and Komer slowly nodded his head.
"Of course, your highness. You see, I am a Merchant by nature. A rather young one, but nonetheless, a Merchant. So I of course have done my best to learn to take advantage of any situation, and have also meddled in Magic Contracts, to make large transactions safer. Today, as I was instructing a colleague of mine on something, I happened to come across a small stall, run by a rather incompetent young woman. I don't mean to be rude, but that is what it is. Using my appraisal skill, I then happened to be able to appraise the large mountain of maroon painted to look like a rock, while it was covered simply in a sheet of black cloth. There surely was protection magic cast upon it, but even then, it was quite careless to leave it alone like that under any circumstances." Komer swiftly explained, trying to present the situation in the most formal way that he could, before swiftly continuing speaking about how he actually bought it.
"As I am aware of the worth of Maroon, I of course attempted to purchase it, and the saleswoman at the stall sold it to me for a gold coin. To confirm that I had truly purchased that material, I created a Magic Contract, which was near-to immediately accepted by the gods." Komer explained, and the Prince slowly opened his mouth to ask more about this, but before he could make a tone, the Stall owner spoke up.
"And that is exactly what I can't believe! She had no right to sell the Maroon under any circumstances, so he must have done some shady business to get his hands on it!" The stall owner explained, and Komer simply looked over at him with a smirk, while the Prince leaned back to simply listen to this conversation happen.
"And that is exactly where you may be wrong. Did you create a work contract with the young woman working at your stall?" Komer asked, and the owner swiftly nodded his head in confusion. "And did you specify what exactly she was supposed to sell?" He then added, before the owner once more nodded.
"Yes, of course! I hired her to work at the stall, and at the stall exclusively! I didn't want her to be able to steal the items there, so as iis procedure, I specified anything on the grounds of the stall, excluding the actual stall, to be able to be sold by her." The Owner explained, before Komer simply looked at him with a smirk, before the Stall owner realized what he was getting at.
"B-But I told her specifically not to sell the maroon while I was gone! And in the contract, I specified that I was allowed to verbally tell her what she was allowed to sell, and what she wasn't!" He exclaimed, so Komer simply looked at him and smiled again.
"I see… Let's just say that is truly the case. Did you truly tell her 'Do not sell the Maroon', or did you tell her 'Do not sell that Rock'?" Komer asked, and the Stall Owner opened his eyes wide, before falling into a panic.
"W-Wait, no, that-"
"'That' what, dear Sir? The young woman listened to what you told her. She didn't sell a rock, she sold the material specified in the contract I had her sign. Maroon. So, as approved by the gods, the material within the spacial storage of the ring one of these guards is carrying is mine, and now, it is up to me what to do with it." Komer said, the smile that he wore on his face immediately disappearing, while the Stall Owner could feel his stomach turn into a hole.
He had worked so much for this deal! The Stall owner was in reality an ex noble of another country, who was banished from there and now fleed back here, before trying to build up a business as a Merchant. And then, the Stall Owner managed to get his hands on a material from the mystical fairy forest, because a certain elven merchant gave him some hints here and there how to get it. The stall owner didn't know why, but he didn't care much either, as it would make him a rich man!
But now, all that he had done over the past few years was for nothing! He wouldn't be able to get a Noble title back, and he would still be a poor man at the end of the day. But then, the man that had caused that spoke up.
"Let's proceed with the regular plans, but I just want three or four things in return." Komer explained, and both the Prince and the Stall owner looked at him confused. "I want 10% of the Maroon, 5% of the total price you would pay this man for the rest of it, as well as a private deal with not only the lord of this town, but also you, your higness. This man here can have whatever else you promised him in return for the Maroon, but I won't budge about my part in this."
Immediately, the Prince formed a broad grin on his face before nodding his head. "If that's all you want, I don't mind. You, get out of this room, you can wait outside until we are done. And one of you guards, call the Lord of this town over immediately so that we can speak about this." Prince Aaron said immediately, sending the Stall owner away, before he stood up confused and did as he was commanded to, and for a little while, the Prince simply tried to figure out who this man in front of him was, and Komer could feel shivers overcome his body as a sign that he was being appraised.
But Komer just let him do so. It's not like he had anything to hide. And he had the contract to protect him as well. Although, even if he was killed, he would just end up being able to log in in a few hours again.
And soon, the Lord of the town entered the room, before bowing to the Prince and taking a seat next to Komer.
"Then let us start this, now. What do you want, Komer?" The Prince asked, confirming to the young merchant that he really was appraised by the Prince. With a smile, Komer spoke up.
"I am collaborating with a few quite powerful people, who are currently attempting to form their own country. When that happens, we wish to immediately sign something like a non-aggression, protection, and support treaty with this country." Komer explained, and not only the Prince, but the Lord and every Guard in the room was now looking at him confused, before Komer spoke up. "Oh, and do not misunderstand me. Only the 'Non-Agression' Treaty would be mutual, the Protection and Support ones would not. In any case that other countries try to attack us, which they will, you would need to protect our country. And the 'Support' treaty is just for shipment of proper construction materials, sources of food in case of shortcomings, as well as a workforce if necessary. That treaty would only be a thing for a short time, though, until we are able to properly establish ourselves."
With a deep frown, the prince crossed his arms and leaned forward, seemingly getting serious about this conversation all of a sudden. "A Country? You do realize that all the land of this continent belongs to a country already, don't you? That means that if you have land, no matter how small it is, to create your own country, that would already give you a deal with a country, and it surely is not with this one." The Prince exclaimed, and Komer leaned back and grabbed the cup of tea that he was handed by the Maid from before, sipping at it calmly.
"As far as my knowledge goes, the particular land that we will turn into our country has not been taken by any country yet." Komer explained, before the Lord of the town suddenly realized what he was talking about.
"You don't mean the Islands of the Gods, do you?"
"I do." Komer immediately answered him with a stern expression as he turned to the Lord of the Town. "And with that, we already get to what I want from you. This town will become the main hub of travel to our country, so a large amount of shipments of any kind will be coming through this town. I want a deal of complete protection for shipments directly approved by our country." Komer explained, before the Lord and the Prince looked at each other, both realizing what he was talking about.
"With your confidence, what kind of people are you working with? Nobody has even been able to set foot on those islands for hundreds of years." Prince Aaron told him, before Komer simply continued grinning.