The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat - Volume 1 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13 | The Assassin Becomes a Merchant 

The first six months of my time with Tarte in the city of Milteu passed rather quickly.

I’d been living not as the son of the baron of the Tuatha Dé domain but as Illig of the Balor Company.

Hoping to further conceal my identity, I’d taken to wearing glasses in addition to dyeing my hair.

I’d also completely changed the way I dressed, my tone and voice, and my mannerisms and expressions. No one should’ve been able to tell that Illig and Lugh were the same person.

Truthfully, I did have some trouble adjusting to my new life at first. Tuatha Dé prospered thanks to its incredible medical capabilities, but that wealth really only extended to the head and branch families. Most of the region consisted of small villages that subsisted on agriculture.

The scale in Milteu was drastically different. Where goods gathered, all kinds of people converged.

Merchants, carpenters, alchemists, blacksmiths, and apothecaries all existed together in one place. With such a great variety of people came a great variety of goods, which rapidly grew the economy. That then led to more people moving to Milteu and continuing the cycle of constant economic growth.

After spending half a year in such a city, I’d come to like it. My hope was that such a place would one day become an asset for Lugh Tuatha Dé as well.

If I managed to open a store in this city and did business in one of the world’s largest markets, there was no doubt that the Tuatha Dé domain would enjoy greater wealth. Our cover as assassins could be blown at any point. If that ever happened, the family was going to need a new source of revenue.

I arrived at my destination, the office of the head of the Balor  Company.

“Sorry for getting here late, Father,” I said.

“No, no, that’s my fault for calling you so suddenly,” Balor replied.

“What kind of business do you have with me today?”

Illig was an illegitimate son who Balor put up for adoption to avoid upsetting his wife. Once Balor’s legitimate son fell ill, Illig was called to offer support and was now undergoing education to become a merchant. Such is the story devised to explain how I, as Illig, came to work at this company.

True to the tale, Balor was giving me thorough training on the fundamentals of being a merchant.

For the first three months of my time in Milteu, I worked as an employee at the company’s most successful store. The environment was so busy and hectic it may as well have been a battlefield.

I was yelled at often in the beginning, but I learned from my mistakes and got better at the job over time. I used knowledge from my previous life to improve my performance, and I came to be praised by my coworkers for my ability to smoothly handle any situation.

Once I got used to working in a store, I was transferred to headquarters.

The Balor Company owned a number of retail stores throughout Milteu, though the goods sold in all of them were largely the same.

It was the job of headquarters to judge demand and decide how much of each item each store should stock. Given the choice, I think I would’ve said that working at headquarters suited me better.

Predicting future product demand by using distribution and information networks spread across the world was extremely difficult work, but I found it very rewarding. Discovering attractive new products and negotiating with suppliers to procure them was exciting.

My improvement had been rapid because I enjoyed the work so much, and I’d even risen up in the company to work as Balor’s right-hand man.

It was a good position to be in. I could procure information from literally anywhere. The world became a much smaller place  when you looked at it from the perspective of the flow of commerce.

“I’ve been very impressed by you, Illig… So much so that I’ve found myself wanting to entrust the entire company to you,” Balor admitted.

“That’s out of the question. Beruid is heading toward recovery. My turn will surely never come,” I said.

“Even that I owe to you. I brought you in to repay my debt to Cian…but you’ve become so skilled as a merchant while treating my son’s illness. It seems I’ve only benefited further from this arrangement, and my debt has increased.”

Studying as a merchant wasn’t the only thing I’d been doing in Milteu. I’d also been treating the illness of Beruid, Balor’s son.

An examination had revealed that Beruid was suffering from cancer. Thankfully, it was still in the early stages, so I was able to remove the cancerous cells from his body. He was well on his way to a full recovery. This world’s level of medical treatment was rather primitive, and the Tuatha Dé were the only people capable of performing surgery. As a result, even something like appendicitis was regarded as an incurable death sentence.

Beyond the lack of proper medical technology, there was another reason why surgeries weren’t performed in this country. Namely, because the bishop called putting a sword to skin in the name of treatment repulsive. Despite that, the Tuatha Dé still often performed regular surgeries, and I doubted that Beruid would complain.

“Father, I assure you I’m getting plenty in return. I’ve learned a lot here.”

I’d seen many things here that I never would’ve been able to experience living as a noble in a remote region like Tuatha Dé.

I’d also been making use of merchant information and distribution networks to gather much-needed data and goods. If I had access to the distribution network of the world’s leading trading company, there’d be nothing beyond my grasp.

“I’m glad to hear it. I’m a businessman through and through. I’d be ashamed if I had nothing to give you in return for saving my son’s life and for helping so much with my business. It puts me at ease to know that this has been a valuable experience for you, even if this isn’t exactly how I envisioned paying back that debt. All right, this preamble has gone on long enough. I’ve called you here today to  give you a new job. Take a look at these.” Balor handed me a map and the blueprint of a building. The location of the store wasn’t far from the thoroughfare, and it was about the size of a large convenience store. It took an enormous amount of money to secure a shop of this size in Milteu, to say nothing of such a good location.

“The spot and capacity are great. You could do anything with a place like that,” I assessed.

“That’s right. The store we had there went out of business, unfortunately. So far, you’ve only been involved with our stores that sell daily necessities and foodstuffs, but the Balor Company is also expanding into other fields such as restaurants, weapons, armor, pharmacies, and more. This place was a liquor store, but it ended up failing.”

The Balor Company had no other such alcohol specialty stores, which meant…

“This is a concept store. Did you use this to test breaking into the liquor business and try out experimental products not offered by existing competitors?” I inquired.

Aside from simply increasing their number of existing stores, the Balor Company was also attempting to pioneer new fields. This was probably one part of that effort.

If the entire focus of a business was simply to increase the number of locations without ever offering anything new, the growth of the company would eventually stall.

The concept store method allowed you to try your hand at new fields, and if the store failed, you could back out before there was any serious damage to your profit margins. If the experiment was a success, then more stores would be made based off that model.

“Yes, that’s right. Competition among stores selling groceries and daily necessities is fierce, which makes growth difficult, and weapons sales have been slow because there’s no war on. The same goes for medicine. Lately, monsters have been appearing more frequently, and if their numbers continue to increase, the demons will likely be reborn. Such an advent would produce a spike in weapon and medicine sales, but we can’t afford to simply rest our hopes on that and do nothing. The Balor Company needs to expand into a new field with high growth potential. That said, we’ve already tried and failed three times. Expansion is easier said than done.”

Balor’s words reminded me that I’d recently heard someone  in management had been demoted. The failed concept store probably had something to do with it.

“Can I assume you’re about to hand this concept store to me?” I asked.

“That’s right. I have a feeling you have what it takes to breathe fresh air into this company,” Balor confirmed.

“I’ve only been here for half a year.”

“Normally, I would never entrust something this important to someone so soon, but you’ve accomplished an extraordinary amount in your short time here. I’m going to share a valuable tip. While it’s important for a merchant to have the ability to read demand and market prices, know how to negotiate and deal with customers, and the like, the most important thing is your ability to evaluate other people. We are not gods. There is only so much any individual is capable of. However, if you have the ability to evaluate the talent of others and entrust them with work they can handle, you’ll find true success. Knowing you don’t have to do everything yourself is what makes a true merchant.”

They were meaningful words, especially so because Balor was the proof of that concept. If he’d been fixated on doing everything by himself, he probably never would’ve gotten beyond the success of one store. Instead, he’d picked other people to entrust businesses to, and now he managed dozens of shops and had amassed an enormous fortune.

“Thank you, Father. I’ll keep that in mind. How long will I have to prepare, how large will my budget be, and what kind of personnel will I have?”

“You’ll have one month for planning and one month for reconstruction. The budget can be as large as you like. I’ll prepare the necessary personnel. I have one condition, however. Do not damage the Balor name. Think you can handle it?”

I was very excited about this opportunity. I came to Milteu to gain tools helpful for my work as an assassin while growing my reputation as a merchant. Success with this opportunity Balor was offering would assist with both of my objectives.

“I can. I’ll do my best.”

“I wish you luck. As a side note, if this project succeeds, we’ll expand the concept store into a chain. Five percent of the profit from those stores will be paid to you in perpetuity. Don’t mistake  this for special treatment. Compensating employees responsible for breaking us into a new market is the Balor Company way.”

“Now I’m even more motivated.”

You could never have enough money, and I was going to need a lot of capital to assemble all the goods, personnel, and information I needed to kill the hero.

“Then I’ll pray for your success, O son I never knew,” Balor said.

“I won’t betray your confidence. I know this is going to work.”

“Oh-ho, it seems like you already have a plan.”

“Of course I do. No merchant could live here for half a year and not think about what kind of business they themselves would start. I’d been working on a proposal for you even before I was given this opportunity,” I admitted.

“… I really regret that I can’t make you my proper successor. You couldn’t be more gifted as a merchant,” Balor replied.

After exchanging our good-byes, I accepted the documents and my sizable budget, then departed.

My store would be an unquestionable success, and I was eager to seize this opportunity to grow my name not just as a member of the Balor Company, but as Illig Balor the individual.