—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Plans made by humans didn’t always go their way.
Usually about eighty percent of the time.
That’s what I always said, having lived a rather eventful life and experienced this acutely.
“I don’t know what to say. Truly… thank you.”
As Jonah bowed deeply, almost ninety degrees, I scratched the back of my head, feeling awkward.
I had helped her, yes, but I didn’t think I had done anything particularly remarkable.
Well, I had spent some money…
But since Jonah promised to reimburse me once she returned to the trading company, all I had really done was offer a little bit of my time.
It was a little embarrassing to receive such a deep bow of gratitude.
So, what happened was…
After knocking Foreman unconscious, I pondered what to do with the two of them.
Cleaning up Foreman, whose face was half-pulped, and Jonah, who was also in a disheveled state, was no easy task.
I couldn’t take Foreman anywhere in that condition because if the guards saw his battered face, things would definitely escalate.
But I couldn’t just leave them in the alley either.
The conclusion I reached… was to grab them and run.
After tying Foreman up tightly and stashing him in a corner of the alley, I rented a carriage and horse, quickly loaded the two of them in, and slipped out of the city.
I wanted to wake Foreman up and make him tell me where the luggage and carriage were, but if the guards caught me, it would only cause more trouble.
Fortunately, I had my most valuable bow and sword with me.
Weighing the options of a small amount of money versus peace of mind, I chose the latter.
So, I quickly left the city with the two of them in the carriage, somehow managed to get on the road to Las Pallas, and after a few days, finally arrived.
“…I just wanted to make a connection with the trading company owner’s daughter, but why did things get so complicated?”
When I went looking for Jonah and Foreman after getting tired of waiting at the plaza, I saw them confronting each other in the alley.
The scene seemed serious, so I hesitated to interrupt and listened in… and lo and behold, Foreman had betrayed Jonah.
I watched in surprise, thinking, “Seriously?”, and then Jonah started running away from Foreman.
When Foreman reached out to grab the fallen Jonah, I jumped in. That was the situation.
‘Since when? I thought I didn’t give you any openings.’
When Foreman asked that question, I really racked my brain for those few seconds.
If I hadn’t been wearing the cloth and my eyes had been open, he would have seen them rolling around in my head.
Was there really such an opening?
As I pondered, I suddenly remembered the first time I saw Foreman “unconscious” in the Tillasden Forest.
I had a feeling he wasn’t actually unconscious, and I had been puzzled by his seemingly unconscious state.
‘Since we first met in the Tillasden Forest. Mr. Foreman, I knew you weren’t actually unconscious.’
So, I quickly gave that answer, and after a bit of a scuffle with Foreman, I knocked him out.
Now, Foreman, his face unfortunately rearranged, was tied up and sprawled in the carriage’s cargo bed.
“What are you going to do now?”
“The trading company here has offered me a place to stay. I’ll stay here for a while, and once someone from our company arrives, I’ll finally be able to return home.”
“Until then…”
I was about to say, “Shall we stay together until then?”, but Jonah shook her head, stopping me.
With a smile, she waved her hands.
“I’ve already imposed on you more than enough. I can’t ask for any more favors. I’ll handle things from here on my own.”
“I see. I understand.”
Jonah no longer seemed as anxious as she had been before.
She was covered in bruises, but her expression was much more resolute than when I first met her.
Did it mean she had become mentally stronger?
“What are you going to do with Foreman?”
“…I’ve given that some thought. Fortunately, I think I’ve come to a suitable conclusion.”
“You’ve grown.”
“It’s thanks to you, Mr. Iyer.”
Had I really done anything that remarkable…?
All I remembered was giving her some sentimental advice during our campfire conversation.
Well, I couldn’t argue with her.
It wouldn’t be very gentlemanly to do so at our parting.
I took a step back and bowed my head slightly to Jonah.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“…Yes.”
I turned and started walking away.
After a few steps, I heard a voice calling out to me.
“Mr. Iyer!”
Jonah, still standing where I had left her, waved at me.
“When fate brings us together again someday… I’ll be looking forward to it.”
…Of course.
If we didn’t meet again, all the trouble I went through would be for nothing.
I fully intended to meet her again and be compensated for the expenses I incurred.
Hiding those thoughts, I simply replied with a light laugh and waved back.
Jonah, with a gentle smile, had definitely matured since I first met her.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Iyer left.
His gradually shrinking figure finally disappeared completely.
Though their encounter had been brief, less than ten days, Jonah had learned a lot during that time.
She believed this enlightenment was thanks to Iyer.
“Now I understand Father’s thinking.”
Why Benjamin had remained a passive observer, why he hadn’t warned her about the predictable failure.
Now she understood the meaning behind it all.
After staring for a long time at the path Iyer had taken, Jonah walked towards the carriage’s cargo hold and lifted the covering cloth.
Foreman, his face a mess, lay tied up inside.
Jonah knew he was already conscious.
“Foreman.”
“…”
“Answer me, Foreman.”
“…Yes, Miss.”
Foreman replied in a small voice.
His intelligent eyes, now listlessly closed, didn’t seem like the Foreman she knew.
If he returned to the Running Bear Trading Company like this, his true nature would be revealed, and he would be expelled for his treachery.
Of course, he would also lose the right to work in any territory influenced by the Running Bear Trading Company.
“Is this truly my end?”
“…”
“You know, don’t you? If you return like this, those who backed you will discard you like a worn-out shoe.”
Jonah had learned about Foreman’s past by chance.
He had grown up in an orphanage without parents, enduring a difficult childhood.
After leaving the orphanage, with nothing to his name, it must have taken tremendous effort for him to reach his current position in his twenties.
And that’s why he had betrayed Jonah, even at the cost of his own position, to climb higher.
Foreman had become Jonah’s pawn because a substantial reward awaited him if he completed his mission.
But that reward was contingent on him perfectly executing his assigned tasks.
Returning like this, he would gain nothing.
Both Jonah and Foreman knew this.
“After all that effort, have you ruined your life with a wrong choice?”
“…Haha.”
At Jonah’s piercing words, Foreman let out a laugh.
His narrowed eyes stared at Jonah.
A cold sneer.
Jonah realized that this was Foreman’s true nature.
“What would someone like you know…? Living a life guaranteed success, you presume to understand the life of someone like me?”
“Is that how you saw me?”
“Yes, it is. Even if you leave the management team, as long as your father, Benjamin Button, is alive, you’ll live a luxurious life. I truly envy you. A life that can’t be broken.”
So, that’s why he had betrayed her.
Because even if she failed now, a comfortable life awaited her.
Because she could afford to fail.
Had he done it with that thought in mind?
Jonah quietly looked down at Foreman.
“You said you hated living in poverty.”
“That’s right.”
“I hate living a failed life.”
She didn’t want a life where failure was acceptable, but a life that couldn’t fail.
No… for now, she wanted to be someone who succeeded in the end, even if she experienced failures along the way.
To do that, she had to become someone who could overcome any wall of failure that stood in her path.
Jonah keenly understood what she needed right now.
“Let me be blunt, Foreman.”
And she also knew what she needed to do to achieve it.
“Become my confidant, this time for real.”
Foreman’s eyes widened.
His swollen eyes, with their dilated pupils, reflected Jonah’s serious gaze.
“I’m young and inexperienced. There are people who follow my father, but no one follows me. That’s why I need you.”
“…”
“Work for me. If you do, I’ll guarantee you a life of success, no matter what.”
Not a one-sided transaction like the one between Foreman and those who had manipulated him, but a transaction based on mutual need.
Not a relationship based on loyalty, but a relationship truly befitting merchants.
Jonah offering Foreman success, and Foreman offering Jonah success.
She was determined to create someone who followed her, not just an employee assigned by the company.
Foreman let out a hollow laugh.
“You’re taking in a betrayed traitor?”
“Strictly speaking, you weren’t a traitor. You were never my confidant to begin with.”
“Hehehe…”
“If you come under me, you’ll have to do the same as before. I intend to use you as a double agent.”
To turn the tables on those who had manipulated Foreman.
To hide the fact that Foreman’s betrayal had been exposed, and to hide what Jonah knew.
And to act as before, using it to her advantage.
That was Jonah’s aim.
Jonah’s eyes, as she looked at Foreman, burned with fierce intensity.
Meeting her gaze, Foreman quietly closed his eyes.
He suddenly remembered that no one had ever wanted him, Foreman, because he was just a disposable pawn.
He had been a chess piece, not Foreman.
‘Who do I want to be?’
That question surfaced in Foreman’s mind.
“It will take a long time to regain your trust, Miss.”
“If our relationship is based on necessity, I trust you.”
“…I wholeheartedly agree, Miss.”
Jonah untied the ropes binding Foreman.
Foreman, his hands numb from being tied for days, slowly sat up as Jonah freed them.
Aside from his swollen face from Iyer’s beating, he looked the same, but his gaze towards Jonah was clearly different.
And the same was true for Jonah.
For a moment, the two stared at each other.
Jonah extended her hand.
“…”
“…I look forward to working with you again.”
Foreman took her hand.
This was perhaps the story of a woman who might become a great merchant dominating the west in a few years.
And the story of a poor young man who came to serve her.
No one could predict their future now, but someday, this story would reach the distant city of Tillasden.
Iyer, driven by a small act of kindness and a large dose of self-interest, might have become deeply entangled in the fate of a future magnate.
None of the three… no, no one in the world knew this.
Not yet…
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
It wasn’t really my place to say, being so young, but I felt that the world has become so much more convenient.
These days, major cities have a “franchise” system, and there are services that allow these franchises to interact with each other.
For example, if you rent a horse in City A, you can return it to a franchise branch in nearby City B.
In the past, you would have had to ask a merchant passing through City A to transport the horse back, but now there was no need for such hassle.
That’s why I could return the horse I rode in Tillasden and withdraw money from the bank in Las Pallas.
After parting ways with Jonah, I delivered the letter I had been tasked with and went straight to the bank to withdraw money.
I had definitely deposited money right before leaving Tillasden… but when I checked my balance, all the money I had deposited was gone.
“Well, Jonah promised to pay me back…”
Don’t forget, Jonah.
Please. It might not be much to a rich girl like you, but it’s a lot of money to a commoner like me.
Since it was already past afternoon when I arrived in Las Pallas with Jonah, I had no choice but to stay the night and return to Tillasden the next day.
Having stayed in shared rooms throughout the week-long journey with Jonah and Foreman, I hadn’t been able to properly wash myself, except for my face.
Starting to smell a bit ripe, I rented a single room with a small bath.
“Ugh, the smell…”
I wrinkled my nose at the odor emanating from my body as I took off my shirt in the bathroom and quickly stripped completely naked.
The undeniable evidence of a ten-day journey.
Looking in the mirror, I saw that my beard had grown considerably.
I’d have to shave it clean when I got back to Tillasden.
Stroking my beard in front of the mirror, I reached behind my head and untied the knot of the cloth covering my eyes.
Slip.
The cloth fell away, revealing my face completely.
Black hair, slightly tanned skin.
The face of a young man in his twenties.
But his eyes were closed.
The multiple scars that crisscrossed the skin above my eyelids, also long hidden, were now visible.
Even I hadn’t even seen them in a while.
“The downside of being around other people is that I can’t bathe freely…”
It was a bit awkward to show the scars on my eyes.
And… it was difficult to open my eyes.
Thinking this, I forced my eyelids open.
Light, seen for the first time in a while.
Unlike the world I perceived through my other senses, this was a scene reflected in my eyes.
Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I saw my eyes for the first time in ten days.
Not white, but black sclera.
And conversely, not black pupils, but white.
Heterochromia, similar in form but completely different from ordinary human eyes.
No, it was hard to even consider them human eyes.
If others saw them, they would surely denounce me as a demon.
The reflection of myself with white pupils in the mirror smiled faintly.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
