Chapter 20: The Empire That Cannot Be Bought
Three rivals remained.
They had no borders, no kings, no banners.
But each believed the world should kneel to them.
They underestimated one thing:
I don't fight for coins.
I fight to own the system that prints them.
I. Target One: House Merravin – The Crown's Banker
They thought they were untouchable — lenders to kings, keepers of royal debts. But even a gold vault cracks under the right pressure.
The Plan:
Expose a hidden debt-for-blackmail racket involving three nobles and a cathedral project
Reveal that Merravin owns more than 60% of the royal mint's future income — a violation of sovereign law
Leak documents anonymously to the royal treasury
[Spy Mission: SUCCESS]
Noble factions forced to vote
Result: Merravin excommunicated from all official royal lending
Crown declares their coin no longer legal tender
They begged to settle.
I bought their entire debt portfolio — for one copper coin.
[Merravin Holdings Absorbed – Goldbank Protocol Secured]
New Asset: Control of 3 national lending rates
Bonus: Unlock "Currency Influence" skill — nudge inflation in rival states
II. Target Two: The Sindurati Pact – Poison in Silk
Their assassin-traders and perfume guilds whispered death wherever they went. But I had already turned one of their master mixers — a poisoner named Solani.
She switched the scent used in the Pact's elite initiation ritual.
The Result:
At a ceremony attended by three of their regional heads…
The incense fog turned into a truth compound.
They confessed — under enchantment and full witness — to:
A plot to poison a queen
Assassination of a rival ambassador
Funding rebel slave-traders
The evidence was sent to four courts across the world.
By the end of the week, every noble house canceled trade with them.
Their wealth collapsed.
I bought their remaining spice ports through shell companies within two days.
[Sindurati Pact Dissolved – Luxury Vice Market Absorbed]
Bonus Unlocked: Exotic Goods Prestige Tier ↑
New Trait: "Scent of Power" — +20% persuasion in noble or black market negotiations
III. Target Three: The House of Ash and Song
They had no ledgers. No titles. Just songs.
Stories passed between traveling bards, encoded with destruction.
Cities fell because they sang the right words in the right tavern.
But stories have one weakness: the audience.
I hired every major bard guild in the known world — and rewrote the songs.
Songs of debt they couldn't pay
Ballads of betrayal they'd done to friendly nations
A musical mockery of their oldest myths, rewritten to blame them for every major crisis in the last decade
The people turned.
The mystique faded.
The last true agent of the Ash and Song fled the capital, muttering:
"He stole our tongue…"
[Ash and Song Network Broken – Cultural Control Achieved]
Trait Gained: "Master Narrative" — You now influence public sentiment across all territories
IV. And Then… Silence
The merchant courts fell still.
No more thefts.
No more sabotage.
No more whispers.
You weren't just a conglomerate now.
You were a continent-wide machine.
And they understood something vital:
This empire cannot be bought.
Because it already owns everything.