NOVEL NEXT Chapter 79
Once upon a time, there was a story called the Prisoner’s Dilemma.
It involves two criminals locked up and led to confess.
If only one confesses, the one who remains silent takes the heat for both sentences.
If neither confesses, they can’t be proven guilty and face only light penalties. However, if both confess, they both get equally punished—a dilemma!
Theoretically, the best outcome is for both to stay quiet, but in real-life situations like this, it usually ends up with both confessing.
Why? Because, just like the officer in front of me, they can’t trust each other.
“Please, be specific about what you mean.”
The officer, our Spice Guild director, continued speaking as if he had a motor attached to his mouth.
“As Medici Young Baron knows very well, spice trade is done with pagan merchants, especially those with powerful merchant families, isn’t it?”
He mentioned a powerful merchant family, but the Alchini family that supplies us is in-laws with the governor of a major city.
Strictly speaking, the noble lady of the Alchini family became the governor’s concubine.
With a high-ranking relationship established, they can effectively be seen as nobles.
‘In short, even if they are pagans, they shouldn’t be underestimated.’
“This means we need to cater well to their esteemed individuals. Otherwise, we could lose our trading privileges any moment.”
In most cases, the buyers hold the upper hand while the sellers are at their mercy.
However, with spices, the Alchini family has effectively monopolized the supply, and buying them is a guaranteed money-making venture.
Thus, the Alchini family, selling spices, becomes the boss.
If they simply refuse to sell, it doesn’t matter to them, but the merchants who buy spices would lose credibility and money if the trade gets cut off.
‘That’s why I went nuts when my sugar trade was cut off.’
“Just like we prefer our brown-skinned pagan sex slaves, they have a strong preference for fair-skinned beauties. So, each time we trade, we supply a predetermined number of women.”
When I was trading, I never resorted to that.
Yet, the reason I could build good relations with the Alchini family might be because that honorable fellow recognized my potential or because he thought I was a direct descendant of the Medici Baron Clan.
‘What a dirty and cruel world this is.’
In the Albania Continent, human rights don’t exist, but isn’t this a bit too much?
“Of course, we don’t usually exchange sex slaves only for spice trades. However, if we skip it continuously, they become hesitant.”
“Is it because you skipped a money-making transaction?”
“Yes, indeed. We buy the serf women from the Toscan Empire or impoverished ones, feed them well, and teach them, but they earn nearly 30 times the money we invest. Conversely, the same profit margin comes when we sell sultanic sex slaves.”
I truly feel the significance of why the Deus Knights’ leader wanted to give me such gifts.
The nobles flaunt all sorts of rare items, and among those, flaunting an Arab-style beautiful sex slave dressed in maid attire before guests could be quite the show.
It’s as though one possesses an object of equivalent value to the infamous red stallion of a warrior or Excalibur.
‘And fulfilling conquest desires through actual use? The pleasures must be immense.’
Because of the memories from before the possession, I find it emotionally disgusting, but logically, I can grasp why this trade cannot help but thrive.
Humans are the type of species that will wage wars knowing it would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, all for the sake of money.
“The profits I speak of are the minimum. Selling an ugly one yields 30 times, while a moderately good-looking one goes for 100 times. The highest-priced girl was traded for an amount enough to buy a young baron title.”
“So they earn interest from loan sharking, and deliberately impose ‘unpayable interest’ on beautiful towns?”
The officer showed no sign of guilt.
“Yes, because it’s profitable.”
Had I not purchased Chloe, she would’ve likely been sold into a sultanic realm with this tactic.
And they would’ve probably updated the pricing with the maximum price that she would have traded for.
It’s not just because I have a crush on her; even the Duke Visconti, who housed a level of beauties akin to an idol group, was taken aback by her appearance.
Seriously, that duke collects beauties that could be called a level of idol groups.
“How large was the scale?”
“We’re not the only ones doing this slave trade, but our guild alone sells about 2,000 individuals to them each year. They buy and sell on a similar scale.”
Since we’re not the only ones, with other routes included, it could go up to the tens of thousands in transactions.
‘About 7 million Africans were sold into slavery, right?’
That’s the number officially accounted for, but if you consider the unofficial trades, it might be four to five times that.
That’s probably similar to how trades were happening.
“Of course, the slave trade gets tangled up with the law, so we’ve made it ‘non-existing transactions’ by offering proper gifts to those esteemed people.”
They didn’t leave any records and concealed it to the point where they paid less than 0.001% in taxes.
Considering this trade, it’s akin to putting the taxes of cocaine trading into the government treasury based on Korean standards.
‘It’s stranger for taxes to be paid.’
“In addition, we modified the dock to avoid customs for 30-40% of our imported goods. Plus, 70% of our guild’s profits were given to the Medici Baron Clan among other merchants.”
Albert, that punk, nearly became a little bird.
He should be thankful for having a good father and a good younger sibling.
I’ll let you go this time.
I don’t know if Albert will die alone, but what if this spillover lands on me?
It’s obvious he’ll be caught by Duke Visconti or the emperor and will end up being a lifelong or hereditary slave.
‘Both of them will probably despot me like King Sejong did to his opposition.’
“Also, we collaborated with the Redbeard Pirates to sink the ships of competitors hostile to our merchants, labeling it as ‘the act of pagans.’ While it might be written as purchasing one ton of pepper/salt in the documents, a particularly hefty bill was the time we cooperated with those pagan pirates.”
What a crafty trick, truly.
If they catch on to this, the merchants entangled in this will probably try to kill me.
Simply for the slave trade and customs fraud, I could easily dismantle this guild…
‘The Medici group as well as other merchants will view my stopping here as a debt owed to them.’
If I show the circumstances without outright threatening, there might be a treasure trove of gratitude gifts coming from those guys.
Perhaps with the support of the Medici group, who are left with no choice but to back me up, I might be able to break through the glass ceiling of merchants.
“Very interesting. Quite fascinating. At this point, this qualifies as the worst criminal organization in the empire.”
Clap, clap!
I wasn’t joking.
The Yakuza, Triads, and Mafia would want to learn a thing or two from them.
Is this why people say one should learn the old to grasp the new?
From the very beginning, I had no intention of sparing the Spice Guild directors and guild master, but these fellows can be eliminated easily.
“Indeed.”
The officer immediately bowed his head and began pleading.
“I have a bear-like wife and a rabbit-like child, please! Please, just protect my life and property! If you keep me alive, I’ll leave this country.”
… No, you’re going to die anyway.
But it’s better if more usable information comes out, right?
Plus, people tend to slip into a state of despair, thinking it’s possible for them to live, only to realize later that they’re indeed going to die, making it even more miserable.
‘You were prepared since you were aiming for a massive hit against my guild.’
“I’ll leave some paper, a pen, and ink for you—write down everything that springs to mind. I won’t free your handcuffs.”
What’s crucial now is offering fake hope.
Handing him a ‘lifeline’ he thinks he can grasp only to cut it is the ultimate revenge.
As I left the room, I casually mentioned as if it was a slip of the tongue.
“Judge Andante, I’d like to start investigating the other prisoners in the other room now. Yes, I need to cover everyone, including the guild master.”
With that, the door closed.
Then, as I went further away from that room, Andante asked back.
“Well, since Chief Justice Mancini and Duke have some backing, a few might be acquitted. Isn’t it a bit excessive? No matter how significant the investigation is…”
I shook my head.
“Once people think they’re already dead, they tend to give up and hold on to loyalty, hoping to protect their families.
That’s their thought process.”
Andante’s eyes widened in surprise at my words.
“But there isn’t anyone in this world who wants to die. So, if you throw a hope of survival in the face of impending death, they will even betray their comrades out of the will to live. Especially those filthy ones.”
While investigating, police are granted various authorities.
They have the right to pressure that if they don’t confess here, their sentences will be heightened.
Technically, it violates the law a bit, but they can also use the right of ‘good-natured lies’ for the progress of the investigation, and so on.
Using that to guide the investigation properly is their role, but in some police stations, they abuse these powers to bury a person’s life.
‘It happens relatively often.’
That’s why law firms say to hire a lawyer first if there’s a police investigation.
Even if you spend hundreds of dollars, it’s 100 billion times better than having your life ruined over a bad handling.
As for me, I’m just telling lies to those who deserve to die, so I have no fault.
“Truly, things will remain ugly until the end.”