Chapter 72: Deal
Less than twenty minutes later, everything had settled.
Roderic simply flicked his fingers and ordered his knights to drag Judas towards the local guards, leaving them to deal with his crimes.
Victor barely said a word throughout any of it.
Instead, he angrily made his way back towards Wayfarer, with Roderic and Edmund casually following behind him.
Once they arrived, Victor immediately headed inside.
Roderic stopped at the entrance, leaning against the doorframe.
’’So,’’ he suddenly spoke up. ’’What are you going to do now?’’
Victor stopped, his expression dark as ever.
For several seconds, he remained silent before slowly turning towards him.
’’Rebuild,’’ he replied. ’’Judas might’ve betrayed me, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up everything I’ve worked for.’’
Roderic didn’t seem particularly surprised at the reply.
Instead, he slowly began nodding with a smile on his face.
’’Good,’’ he said. ’’That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.’’
’’It’d be a waste to throw away an already set-up merchant guild after all.’’
Victor’s expression didn’t change one bit.
He already knew what topic Roderic wished to approach next.
’’I’ll keep it simple,’’ Victor started. ’’State the benefits and terms you’ll give me and the Wayfarer Merchant Guild for working under you.’’
Roderic’s smile widened immediately.
’Now we’re talking,’ he thought. ’Seems like he let go of his obsession with doing everything alone.’
He pushed himself off the doorframe and walked inside.
’’First, money,’’ he said, raising a finger. ’’I’ll provide you with a large amount of funding for our plans and to expand Wayfarer.’’
Victor nodded emotionlessly.
’’How much?’’ he asked immediately.
Roderic paused for a moment.
Wayfarer was still tiny right now. Throwing thousands of gold coins at Victor would probably do more harm than good when he didn’t even have the people or connections to properly use it.
After running a quick calculation of his assets, he looked back at Victor.
’’For now, I’ll give you five hundred gold coins,’’ he replied. ’’If you prove you can actually turn that into something useful, you’ll get more.’’
Victor’s expression finally changed.
His eyes widened as he stared at Roderic.
’’Five hundred?’’ he repeated.
’’Yes, but that’s only for now,’’ Roderic replied casually.
’’It could easily be more than a thousand in the future until you can stand on your own legs.’’
Victor fell completely silent.
Five hundred gold coins was already a completely absurd amount of capital for a small merchant guild like his.
Hell, it had taken him an entire year just to save up fifty gold coins!
And now this noble, whom he hadn’t even known for longer than a day, planned to give him ten times that amount?
’’Why?’’ Victor eventually asked. ’’Why are you willing to trust me with that much money?’’
Roderic didn’t even need to hesitate.
’’Because I think you’ll be worth it,’’ he replied. ’’Call it intuition.’’
Victor’s brows only furrowed further.
Clearly, he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the answer.
But after staring at Roderic for several seconds, he decided not to press any further.
’’Fine,’’ he said. ’’Then what are your terms?’’
’’First and foremost, the money belongs to Wayfarer,’’ Roderic said. ’’You can use it for trading, hiring people, opening new branches or whatever else you think will help the guild grow.’’
Victor nodded slowly.
That was exactly what he’d expected.
’’As for the profits, eighty percent goes to me and twenty percent goes to you.’’
Victor’s eyes narrowed immediately.
He remained silent for a few seconds before he opened his mouth again.
’’Make it seventy-five, twenty-five,’’ he replied. ’’Then we have a deal.’’
A wide smirk grew on Roderic’s face right away.
’’Deal.’’
They spent the next few minutes going over several smaller terms, but neither side raised any major objections.
Before long, everything had been settled.
Roderic pushed himself back onto his feet.
’’Well then, that’s about it,’’ he said. ’’I’ll help you establish a branch in Whitemane territory after the war.’’
Victor, who’d just picked up his side of the signed contract, paused right away.
’’War?’’ he repeated with a strange expression.
Roderic nodded without another thought.
’’Don’t worry about it,’’ he replied casually.
Victor just stared at him for a moment.
War wasn’t at all something to be so casual about.
Roderic ignored his reaction and continued walking towards the entrance.
Just before stepping outside, however, he suddenly stopped.
’’Oh, right. One more thing.’’
The casual expression faded from his face completely.
’’Do not engage in drugs, human trafficking or anything similar,’’ Roderic continued, his voice ice-cold. ’’I don’t care how profitable it is. If I find out, you’ll pay with your life.’’
Victor’s eyes widened slightly.
Even Edmund couldn’t help but look at Roderic in surprise.
The sudden change in tone was impossible to ignore for either of them.
’’Understood,’’ Victor said, swallowing hard.
Roderic nodded once.
A smile instantly reappeared on his face.
’’Good,’’ he said, waving at him. ’’Then it’s time we go now.’’
’’I’ll have a knight ride out with the gold as soon as possible. Until then, you can use the gold coins I already gave you.’’
Victor nodded behind him.
But Roderic didn’t wait to hear his response, already having stepped outside.
As the warm sunlight landed on his face, an even wider smile appeared on his face.
’One future monster secured,’ he thought, rubbing his hands together. ’Truly a beautiful day!’
With that, Roderic headed towards the carriage with Edmund following beside him.
There was nothing left for him in Ravenport.
Victor was secured, his second main quest was finished, and the Golden Appraisal Eye had already proven itself incredibly useful.
All things considered, the trip had been more than worth it.
Roderic climbed into the carriage and dropped into his seat.
’’Back to Aldermere,’’ he ordered right away.
’’Yes, young master.’’
The carriage soon began moving.
Roderic leaned his head back and closed his eyes, a wide grin still plastered across his face.
’My money problems have finally been solved,’ he thought. ’Or at least, they will be in the future.’
For a moment, he went completely silent.
That’s when he remembered the Noble Youth Gathering that’d happen in two days.
’Fuck,’ he cursed. ’Everything was so positive!’
’Why’d I have to ruin it by remembering those stuck-up losers!’