The Academy’s Sashimi Sword Master

Everyone in the room was surprised.

Including me, Kang Geom-Ma.

This had been because Knox had asked me to organize this meeting.

I didn’t know the details, I only assumed it was a serious matter because of the somber look on his face.

And then.

“Money…?”

“…I have no face to ask for it.”

Who would have thought that someone from the Auditore family would come asking to borrow money? Am I dreaming?

‘Knox came to ask to borrow money…’

Zap.

A piercing look struck me across the cheek.

It was Ryozo’s glaring eyes, who had caught my internal old-man joke.

Ssshh.

***

Abel spoke in my place, moving her lips just barely.

“Ahem, Mr. Knox.”

Between Abel and Knox there was a certain awkwardness.

There wasn’t any particular reason. Simply from a lack of interaction.

Abel always moved in the light, and Knox in the shadows.

“But, being an Auditore, aren’t you one of the wealthiest hero families?”

“True.”

“Don’t tell me you got involved in gambling?”

“Absolutely not!”

It had been a long time since I saw Knox so unsettled.

Embarrassed, he coughed and sat down again.

“…Forgive me for raising my voice when I’m the one asking a favor. But I swear it’s not for something so vile.”

“Then how is it possible that the Auditore fortune has dried up? What exactly do you need the money for?”

“There’s something I must buy.”

Knox swept his gaze across us.

After hesitating a few seconds, he continued.

“Do you know what state Chloe is currently in?”

“Ah, that’s right! Is the little one’s health improving?”

Rachel asked anxiously.

Knox hesitated before answering.

“Since the Kali Yuga incident, her condition has improved greatly. In addition, doctors from Joaquin’s graduate school come regularly to check on her. But…”

His voice lowered into a grave tone.

“It seems it’s still only a way of buying time.”

“Buying time, you say?”

“Half a year at most. Within that time, it must be resolved.”

In other words, she had a terminal diagnosis.

I ran a hand down my face.

Conflicting feelings overwhelmed me.

Not just because a former companion was on the verge of death.

Thinking back, I had always looked at Chloe and Knox, the siblings, with a certain compassion.

‘…Siblings.’

Maybe that’s why, despite our terrible first encounter, Knox and I ended up getting along somewhat decently.

With my usual personality, I would have crushed him already.

Whatever the case, Knox was now asking for money to save his sister.

Kang Geom-Ma was not rich. As the Heavenly Sword, I received only a stipend to maintain a certain dignity.

But, even if I didn’t have much money, I had many rich friends.

‘If I can help, I must.’

I opened my mouth.

“What you need to buy, is it some kind of medicine to save Chloe?”

“For now I can only say it’s something similar.”

“In that case, it must be obtained at any price. Where is it sold?”

“It isn’t for sale.”

Knox let out a tired sigh.

“It has to be bid on…”

“An auction?”

An auction house.

The memories resurfaced in my mind.

Yes, on that occasion too, I had run into members of the Auditore family at the Pertinax auction.

Chloe unleashed chaos with her sword, and her brother Knox knocked her unconscious. A total disaster.

It seemed this time I would have to accompany Knox to a similar place.

“Before I lend you money…”

Ryozo, who had been sitting with her back turned, spun her chair.

When she intervened, the air turned cold.

Yes, whatever it was, it had to pass through the “Ryozo filter.” Without her approval, nothing moved forward.

Knox also sat up straighter, his nerves reflected in his face.

‘If something doesn’t sit right with Ryozo’s intuition…’

Then, it was better not to do anything.

Everyone trusted her insight, almost prophetic.

And since she had received “Yggdrasil” from Mesther, that intuition had grown even sharper.

With the memory of Mother Earth accumulated in the World Tree, history itself served as a springboard to glimpse the future.

She was, rightfully, the seer Saki Ryozo.

“Start by explaining why the Auditore fortune has dried up.”

“R-right, I forgot that.”

Knox steadied himself with a sip of cold water.

“As they say, the Auditore are among the richest even within the hero families.”

“As I understand it, when a corrupt faction is purged, the Auditore receive a percentage of the confiscated assets. Isn’t that so?”

“…That’s right.”

The one who clarified it was Abel.

As queen of aristocratic society, she knew well the inner workings.

“Correct. Among us, we call it bloodstained money. A reward for giving up honor, one could say.”

“Hmm.”

Ryozo rubbed the bridge of her nose.

With a few clues, she was making quick deductions by elimination.

Knox, despite asking for money, was a central member of the Auditore.

Revealing internal family secrets was a grave crime. In any situation, not even the patriarch was exempt from the rules of the Shadows.

‘What will become of Knox, then?’

The rules tied his hands. He couldn’t give detailed explanations.

That meant that, even if they were reliable, in situations of need the Auditore found themselves in a bind.

“The Auditore invest enormous sums in each one of their members, don’t they?”

Ryozo pointed this out, as if reading between the lines.

After that.

“…”

“Good. From now on, silence will mean affirmation. I’ll keep asking, so just stay like that.”

Ryozo freed him from the discomfort by replacing Knox’s explanations, using her brain to pick apart his weak points.

“The Auditore have accumulated wealth that way, but lately they’ve had less work. Right?”

“……”

Ryozo and Knox, as if they had agreed beforehand, both looked at Kang Geom-Ma.

“Me?”

“Yes. Because of your existence, Geom-Ma, the corrupt nobles have decreased tremendously in recent years.”

“So I was taking away the Auditore’s work.”

“Say it as it is.”

Knox corrected.

“The Auditore aren’t a bunch of money-crazed lunatics. Even if we starved, if the nobility became cleaner, we’d willingly accept starvation.”

“Well, fine. But even so, even if they’ve had less work lately, the Auditore should still have reserves of accumulated money. Whatever that object is, with your family’s fortune you could bid multiple times without issue.”

“That is…”

Knox faltered, and Ryozo picked up the words again.

“Everyone knows that the Auditore’s main business shifted to restaurants, right?”

“Yes! The franchise is everywhere in the U.S.!”

Rachel nodded enthusiastically.

“And that Korean restaurant we went to recently with Geom-Ma-ssi too—!”

Ah.

So that place was theirs? No wonder the food was good.

‘More importantly…’

I felt my heart sink.

Ryozo and Abel demanded more explanations with their eyes. It was like icy blades brushing my skin.

“……”

“……”

“B-but that’s not the important thing right now, is it?”

Thank you, Knox, savior.

“The current director is right. The Auditore have invested all available cash into the restaurant business.”

“Don’t tell me… they don’t have money because they failed?”

Abel let slip, almost unintentionally, a somewhat rude question.

I gently shook my head and added.

“It doesn’t matter if the business is doing well or badly. The fact is, they don’t have liquidity right now. They can’t withdraw what was invested.”

“Even if it’s their own money?”

My God, this girl is so naïve about the world — though that’s often what makes her adorable.

“Even if it’s personal wealth, once invested it becomes public funds. Taking it out would be embezzlement.”

“…Ah, I see.”

……

……

And why did everything suddenly go so quiet?

I looked around.

Everyone was staring at me with astonished eyes.

Did I say something wrong?

“Geom-Ma, you…”

Ryozo stepped forward as the spokesperson.

“I’ve always been curious, but you really are surprising. In unexpected things, you’re incredibly sharp. If you had truly studied, I think you would have easily surpassed Speedweapon.”

“No, this is…”

The truth was simply that in my past life my specialty was the restaurant business.

I had corrected a couple of times corrupt businessmen who wanted to embezzle funds — but of course I couldn’t say that here.

“Thanks to you, Geom-Ma, the answer is already clear.”

Ryozo stood and adjusted her clothes.

“The Auditore have no money because, aside from not having liquidity, several groups have been hindering their work as assassins.”

“……”

Several groups.

She used the pronoun in plural. And Ryozo would never make a mistake with something like that.

“The reason he couldn’t say it directly to you, Geom-Ma, and instead called Abel and Rachel, is because…”

An electric jolt ran through my temples.

Up until now, it seemed only Ryozo and I had picked up the hint.

“The one who put that object up for auction… was the Empire itself.”

Knox remained silent.

“And the intent behind auctioning it at this moment is…”

I frowned.

“A direct provocation towards me.”

No wonder everything had been so quiet lately.

The Empire took this moment to deliver the first strike.

***

I called the imperial secretary Ryu Garyeon.

— Yes, Heavenly Sword.

Speakerphone.

Ryozo insisted.

— It’s Garyeon, your eternal admirer~

“…Right now the entire core of Joaquin is listening.”

— Crash!

Damn it.

Why do you have to announce my inner collapse out loud?

— I am Ryu Garyeon, secretary of the Victoria Empire. I await your orders, Heavenly Sword.

It was all already lost.

Whatever will be, will be.

“It’s not an order, just some questions.”

— I’m listening.

“Has the Empire put any object up for auction recently?”

— Yes.

“Details?”

— Forgive me. By imperial law, I can’t give details about anything that isn’t strictly a material asset.

So it’s confidential.

With the Blessing of Mental Transmission I could’ve forced it out, but there were too many attentive ears.

“At least an approximate starting price?”

— Also, I’m sorry.

“I see you have many things to apologize for.”

— I regret apologizing so much.

I’ll have to press a little harder.

Yes, simply to annoy her.

“Do you remember the contract I made with the Empire some time ago? That they’d give me unlimited material support.”

— …Yes…

“You know what I mean, right?”

— If I didn’t mishear… are you saying you intend to bid on an Imperial object, but using the Empire’s own money? I must be going deaf, Heavenly Sword.

“You heard right.”

— Ah…

The temperature of her voice changed.

— I am honored, but may I say something, Heavenly Sword?

“If it’s an encouraging answer, go ahead.”

— Upon hearing your proposal of creative economics, I couldn’t help but smack my forehead in admiration.

“So you support me then?”

— Even if they poured dirt in my eyes, impossible.

“……”

— …

“Hmm.”

— Correction. Even if they poured dirt in my ears… What am I saying? Anyway, forgive me. I’ll present a separate apology for this disrespect. That’s all.

Click. She hung up first.

“Hmm, looks like theft won’t be an option.”

When I lifted my eyes from the phone, everyone was staring at me.

Though now their eyes were different.

As if they were looking at someone who had lost their mind.

“Geom-Ma, you… you said you were from the Seo-ri branch of the Kang family, right?”

How unnecessarily solemn.

“Yes.”

“And your father also belongs to the same family…?”

“Yes, of course.”

“……”

“But if the Emperor is provoking me head-on, how could I pay with my own money? That would be losing in advance.”

“But an auction is a legitimate transaction.”

“Transactions also have nuances.”

In the silence, everyone exchanged glances.

It was obvious the image of “father and son” we had was plummeting in real time.

“Don’t look at me weird. Listen carefully.”

As heir of the Kang family, I laid out my plan.

“If theft isn’t an option, what’s left?”

“Uh… well—”

How quick they understood.

I smiled with satisfaction.

“I have a plan.”

With sashimi in hand.

***

A gloomy street.

Next to a roof with peeling gold and an old signboard, a man was handing out flyers.

“Step right up! We sell wonders unique in the world!”

His name was Pertinax X.

Younger brother of the ninth, he had inherited the auction house after the death of his elder brother.

But passersby only threw mockery and spit at him.

“Pfft. ‘Unique wonders’? Pertinax now only hoards junk.”

“Exactly. Even smugglers have their standards. Pertinax was something back in the ninth’s time, but this tenth…”

“Yeah, the tenth is, ugh, no comment.”

“……”

Pertinax X dropped the flyers in his hand.

The papers scattered dirty on the ground.

He felt empty.

“Damn it.”

What the hell was he doing playing smuggler!

He had never cared about money.

He only wanted to enjoy life doing what he pleased.

But his brother had even trafficked “enslaved demons,” breaking the family taboo.

And in the end he died for it, leaving the auction house in ruins.

‘I wish I had disappeared with him, in history’s oblivion.’

But weakly, the tradition survived.

Someone had to inherit the business.

It was the “rule” every child of a noble family had to uphold.

“A business in ruins…”

Pertinax X lifted his gaze into the distance.

People were lining up to enter a building.

Jewels and luxurious clothes gleamed.

“That new auction house sure is thriving.”

It was said its patron was the Empire itself.

And of course, with that much capital, they could even create a lake in the middle of a desert.

Back to his own place.

A crumbling façade.

Just seeing it was depressing.

He was doomed to spend the rest of his life as a doorman of that broken-down auction house.

At least, if only he had money in his hands.

“Not a single deal today either…”

When Pertinax X turned to leave—

“Ohh~ Are you still open~?”

A melodious voice stopped his steps.

Turning, he saw a tall, beautiful woman.

“You still work here?”

“A-ah! Yes, yes, of course!”

“I see~”

The woman wore a rabbit mask.

If she knew the customs of the Pertinax Auction House, she had to be a regular customer.

He had to keep her.

But before he could say anything, the woman spoke first.

“Mister.”

“Yes, customer.”

“Do you want to get rich?”

“Rich?”

“Yes.”

Choi Seol-Ah curved her lips until the corners trembled in her eyes.

“Rich.”

With the cynical smile of someone who, in her youth, had been a supervillain feared for her vileness.