I often forget since I don’t feel even a speck of loyalty to this country, but the name of this country is the Kingdom of Biltria.
The Kingdom of Biltria borders no less than seven countries.
To the northeast, the Adon Magic Nation.
To the northwest, the Wave Mech Nation.
To the west (an inland country), the Duchy of Regis.
To the east, the Domonia Empire.
To the southeast, the Binary Federation.
To the south, the Sword Holy Nation.
And to the southwest, beyond the Duchy of Regis, lies the Republic of Proxia…
Among these, the Kingdom of Biltria is at war (as usual) with the Domonia Empire and the Binary Federation. Relations with the Adon Magic Nation and the Wave Mech Nation are extremely hostile due to cultural differences.
The Duchy of Regis is a nuisance, always behaving like a bunch of scheming opportunists, like something out of Italy or the Sengoku period.
The Sword Holy Nation is the headquarters of the “Holy Faith” that the people in this region worship, so they officially claim neutrality in worldly conflicts (at least in name), maintaining some level of relations with everyone.
As for the Republic of Proxia, ruled by merchants through their parliament under a mercantilist system…
They’ve taken advantage of the large number of brash warriors in Biltria and are exploiting us with astounding speed…
“And so, regarding the sale of this ‘game console,’ would you consider entrusting it to our country?”
So, this is how they ended up coming to me as well.
The Republic of Proxia.
In this crappy medieval world, it’s the only country that shows the budding signs of modern mercantilism—it’s a nation of merchants.
This country has been draining the wealth of the Kingdom of Biltria through trade deals and contracts.
The Kingdom of Biltria, in its bid for continental dominance, frequently wages wars, and in the process has sold off many of its commercial rights to Proxia to cover war expenses.
I was shocked when I heard they’d even sold off the port rights. Are they insane?
But it can’t be helped. In this country, nobles value gaining glory (haha) in flashy battles more than anything else.
Well, there are countries where people say, “Oh, a chubby man looks wealthier and more attractive!” or, “If you drink and drive, they’ll confiscate your car on the spot!” That’s just the way this world works, and I’ve resigned myself to that.
Even so, I can’t help but be disgusted by it!
And now, back to the Republic of Proxia.
A man calling himself a merchant came to visit me.
If someone who claims to have an eye for people took a look at this guy, they’d probably describe him as, “Though he smiles pleasantly on the surface, his eyes aren’t smiling at all.”
That’s the impression he gave—he acted humble, but he was so overly deferential that it felt like he was mocking me.
He had a round, chubby face with two mustaches like a catfish—what you’d call a smiling face like the god Ebisu.
He was a plump man in a red vest.
His name was Pietro, a lower house representative of the Republic of Proxia…
“If you leave it to our country, this game console will be delivered to the entire world, bringing you immense wealth!”
Oh really.
“Sure, go ahead. Buy it from me for two silver coins and sell it for two silver coins yourself.”
“Oh no, we wouldn’t dream of it! Actually, we’re thinking of buying the production method itself, then selling it in our country and sharing the profits with you, Exus-sama…”
Oh, nice!
When they come at me so arrogantly from the get-go, it makes it so much easier to mock them in return!
“Hahaha, it’s impossible. You guys are too dumb—you couldn’t figure out anything even after opening up the inside of the console, could you? It’s just a 16-bit game console, after all.”
“W-what…?!”
“You opened it up but couldn’t understand a thing, so you came here asking for help, right? You can’t compete with us technologically, so you thought you could smooth-talk your way around it, didn’t you? That’s what you said in parliament.”
“W-w-what are you…?!”
Oh, right.
I’ve deployed magical probes across most of the countries in this world and have been eavesdropping on their conversations.
It’s a simple magic that picks up sound from a designated location in the world—like flying a virtual drone.
Well, the process of modulating the audio signal into a magic wave and then demodulating the received magic wave back into an audio signal was a bit of a hassle, but I picked up that knowledge when I was creating the game console…
“You’re pissed, right? The console is programmed to announce, ‘This console is sold for two silver coins! Games are one silver coin!’ upon first boot, and you couldn’t stand that, right? But when you tried to disassemble it to bypass that, it broke immediately, didn’t it? I know, I know.”
“I-I don’t k-know what you’re talking about! But the fact is, the distribution of the consoles has been stalled!”
“Yeah, because you guys are scheming to interfere with it.”
Beaks Trading Company, which distributes the consoles, has reported that they’ve been unnaturally attacked by bandits. And I already know it’s a plot by these guys.
“T-those are baseless accusations! Do you have any proof?!”
“Oh, right. This country also has laws where things like wiretapping or secret recordings don’t count as evidence, right? Well, whatever. I don’t care if the distribution stalls or not.”
“…Huh?”
I activate my magic of creation, Genereto Magic.
“Fresh fish from the north.”
“Tropical fruits from the south.”
“A pearl necklace.”
“Summer vegetables.”
“A cat.”
“A mythril treasure sword.”
With each declaration, I keep generating items one by one.
With each new item, the color drained from the merchant’s face, turning ashen.
“Unlike you people, I can get whatever I want. I don’t need to work tirelessly to gather money.”
“T-then why…?”
“Because I wanted to show you hard-working idiots just how superior I am in both technology and wealth! How does it feel? Are you frustrated that you couldn’t crack the console? Are you, the so-called great merchant, embarrassed to be poorer than me? Hahahahaha!!!”
Yep!
I just wanted to mock them!
That’s the whole reason I did this!
The merchant from the Republic left with a deeply distorted expression, without saying a word…
Afterward, some assassin came after me, but my homunculus maid caught him in three seconds. It was hilarious.
We tortured the captured assassin to death and sent him back to the merchant who hired him, with a video of the torture playing on a screen embedded in his chest on loop.
He was terrified beyond belief.
Absolutely hilarious.
