Chapter 322: She Still Thanks Me
Every play must end with its curtain fall. The Demon King's brief departure had bought Kazimierz the chance to continue its existence.
And yet, across the faces of most citizens of the Grand Knight Territory, only lingering fear remained.
That final voice of his still echoed in their ears. More terrifying than the voice itself was the lamp post that still stood tall amid the ruins of the K.G.C.C's headquarters—heavy with the corpses of those who had once been untouchable figures in their eyes.
Not a single soul dared even whisper about dismantling it. After all, who could guarantee that the terrifying knight wouldn't suddenly appear before them again?
This time, only the most heinous of the guilty had been hanged. But who could say that next time it wouldn't be them?
Still, no matter how deep the fear, life had to go on. Slowly, as the dread began to fade, the people returned to their routines. Work continued, daily life continued… though now, between person and person, there lingered an indescribable tension.
Especially the merchants who had escaped the Black Hole Knight's judgment—gone were their lofty airs. They treated their subordinates with suspicious kindness, as if desperate to prove they were different from those corpses left swaying in the sun.
After all, profit was important… but if chasing big money meant ending up on a lamp post, then perhaps it was better to be content with a little less. Surely life, even modest life, was far more comfortable than becoming dried meat on public display.
Had not every single body up there once been fabulously wealthy, impossibly powerful? And yet, in death, all they amounted to was jerky hanging in the wind.
As for Steven himself, he had already slipped back into the crowd under a new guise, busily taking care of "cleanup."
Well—"cleanup" might not be the right word. A more accurate term would be… loot collection.
The Grand Knight had been right in her worry: the sudden death of so many businessmen would definitely send shockwaves through Kazimierz's economy.
But only if he stayed uninvolved.
Because with them gone, his plan to acquire their enterprises had suddenly become laughably easy.
In a sense, wasn't this no different from slaying monsters and looting their gear?
And so, as he listened to the cheerful reports coming in from Czarny, his corporate agent, Steven's face curved into a relaxed, almost indulgent smile.
Ah~ So this is what being the boss feels like.
All the troublesome, bloody work could be delegated away.
And Czarny, with his particular talents, was thriving in the role, perhaps even enjoying it more than Steven himself.
After all, with the Black Hole Knight backing him with a fortune far beyond "wealthy" by any normal standard, Czarny had only one simple task: throw money at whichever company he wanted.
See a firm worth buying? Smash it with cash. See another? Smash that one too. The intoxicating freedom of buying whatever he pleased—Czarny hadn't experienced anything close, not even during his days as the K.G.C.C's spokesman.
Back then, he had only been a puppet, a mouthpiece. What he could or couldn't say, what he could or couldn't do—all decided by those perched above him. To the public, he might have looked like a great man. But to the board of directors, he had been nothing but a dog.
But now? Now he worked under the Black Hole Knight, who interfered in nothing beyond setting a single goal: acquire as much of the K.G.C.C as possible. Beyond that, Czarny was free to act—and he relished every moment of it.
Of course, the Black Hole Knight wasn't without conditions. What he asked for was simple: everything had to be done above board, without resorting to the dirty tricks that those in the K.G.C.C were so fond of.
That demand did make Czarny feel a little troubled at first, but when he thought about how much money the Black Hole Knight was paying him, he realized it wasn't really an issue. After all, what method could possibly be more effective than throwing money at the problem? Most people would be delighted if he threw even more at them.
So, in just a short amount of time, Czarny met the targets Steven had set for him, acquiring the majority of company shares within the Grand Knight Territory.
Adding that to the half of the K.G.C.C's shares he had wrangled from the Duck Lord, Steven had, at this point, truly become the man standing at the peak of Kazimierz's economy.
Not that he actually cared about money—or about being some tycoon who controlled a nation's economy. He simply enjoyed the feeling of being the boss.
As for managing subordinates or scheming in politics, that was something utterly impossible for him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to pull Czarny into the fold in the first place.
At the very least, Czarny—though not without his share of minor flaws and petty tricks—had a clean enough record. He'd never committed any great evils, and as a subordinate, he was more than suitable.
After all, to have climbed his way to the position of spokesman for the K.G.C.C, he had to have some real ability. And ability was precisely what Steven needed in someone to manage his financial empire.
As for whether Czarny might betray him or play underhanded tricks behind his back—Steven wasn't worried. He was certain this man wouldn't. Just as he had no doubts about the loyalty of the Armorless Union.
If someone turned out to be disloyal, well, he would just replace them.
While Steven was busy making a killing, the Grand Knight's expression, on the other hand, was anything but pleasant.
Everything that had unfolded here had been witnessed directly by the people of the Grand Knight's territory. In just a few hours—long before the morning came—all of Kazimierz would know what had happened.
This disaster-like scene, where the Adeptus Sprawiedliwi failed to play any meaningful role, would spread like wildfire. And to make matters worse, that devil-like knight had left behind harsh words before leaving so casually. The old woman could already imagine what a headache the aftermath would be.
Even so, at the end of the day, the city that should have been destroyed was preserved. And perhaps, that knight's final warning wasn't entirely a bad thing for Kazimierz as a whole.
With a quiet sigh, having already braced herself for the troubles that awaited, her expression suddenly softened after hearing a report from one of her subordinates.
Spotting Steven among the crowd, her eyes gained a touch of gratitude.
Almost without hesitation, she walked toward him. And right there, before the knights who had yet to disperse, she bent at the waist in a formal gesture of thanks.
"Sir Steve, thank you for your aid to the Grand Knight Territory. Without your help, our land might have been plunged into long-lasting chaos."
When the old woman expressed the reason why she wanted to thank Steven, it made Steven—who had been a little confused at first—suddenly understand her reasoning.
Yes, he had been snatching up companies like picking up bargains. But precisely because of that, those companies whose employees didn't even know they had already been sold off by their bosses—or that their bosses had ended up hanging from street lamps overnight—now at least had somewhere stable to land.
If they joined the Block Consortium, at the very least, someone would still be paying them their wages, right? And as long as wages were still being issued regularly, the truth was that most workers didn't really care whether the person sitting in the boss's chair was human or a demon.
Because of this, the Grand Knight Territory's economy—which by all rights should have collapsed instantly—was actually able to hold together, maintaining a tenuous stability even after such a massive blow. Steven, this "local tycoon," had played no small role in making that possible.
Once he figured this out, Steven naturally accepted her gratitude.
See that? After everything he'd done, she had to thank him, didn't she? Wasn't that proof he'd been right all along? It's basically an encouragement for him to keep doing the same thing next time, isn't it?
With a slightly sinister smile, Steven cheerfully helped the elderly woman up. In truth, he held a fair bit of admiration for this woman who had dared to step forward in such a time of crisis. At the very least, the fact that she had the courage to stand up against him was already worthy of recognition.
As someone in a high position, she might wield authority, but she hadn't forgotten the honor she once upheld.
So, he didn't intend to make things too difficult for her.
"It's a mere lift of the hand, that's all. This was already my plan to begin with. Honestly, I should say I just happened to pick up a big bargain."
With a bright smile, Steven openly spoke his mind.
"No, how could you put it that way? You may be a merchant as well, but at the very least, you were willing to step forward. That already sets you apart from those whose minds have long since been corroded by the stench of copper. And as for acquiring those enterprises—that's your own capability. How could that possibly be called just picking up bargains?"
The Grand Knight looked at the young man before her—this peerless nouveau riche whose file couldn't even be found, whose origins were completely unknown—and quietly shook her head, refuting his's words.
She knew full well that acquiring the businesses abandoned by the K.G.C.C required an astronomical sum. Even the Adeptus Sprawiedliwi couldn't possibly pull together that kind of capital in such a short time.
So who exactly was this young man before her? Was his money not even money to him? To spend so casually and so freely—this had already gone far beyond her understanding of what even the top financial conglomerates could do.
This young man, so rich, so capable, and so willing to take responsibility—what kind of background could he possibly come from?
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
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