C14
Looking at him, I turned over the luxurious leather bag.
"Support. Can this explain it?"
Seeing my secret weapon fall out of the bag, the man laughed again.
"How is this?"
"It's definitely hard to come by unless it's the princess."
The object I pulled out is a high-grade mana stone that turns blue.
Because high-grade mana stones, which are mined in the Empire, are always in the highest classification in the Mage Association, the blue mana stone was like a symbol of my support; from my father, who is the Lord of the Association.
I'm glad I stole one just in case.
In addition to my financial power, I had a supporter called the Duke of Seymour.
"Now it's your turn to show your creativity."
Showing a hesitant expression for a moment, he pulled a crimson bag out of a drawer.
Interestingly, there were three small high-grade mana stones attached to the cord that tied the bag.
"I hope it pleases you, Princess."
"What is this bag?"
"It's a bag that combines spatial expansion magic, light magic, and summoning magic."
No matter how much I searched Deborah's memory, there was no item with such a wonderful function.
Is it a rare artifact that I've only heard of?
"It can store up to 50 large vaults of gold coins in this bag. There's no risk of loss. You can summon it by assigning the palm of your hand to coordinate values. It weighs around 1 pound when fully loaded with gold coins."
"Don't tell me, did you make it yourself?"
"Yes, exactly."
I admired the convenience of this bag.
With this one bag, it was like having a small bank.
"This bag. Give it to me."
I said sincerely.
"I'll make you one."
The Master began to draft a contract for the secret fund bag.
However, there was a clause in the contract not to disclose anything related to the bag to the outside world.
He didn't seem to want the idea of using magic to manage secret funds to spread to the outside world.
"Uh-huh. He's using this suitcase as a tax evasion portal."
The Master must be hiding the black money obtained from illegal transactions in this magic bag.
And so, he wants me to keep it a secret.
"But... is there any reason it's a bag?"
The Master tilted his head as I mumbled without thinking.
"Because convenience is good."
"It's good that it's convenient, but the amount of gold you can hide is limited, so it seems less efficient..."
The moment I spoke, the Master's mouth stiffened.
I felt frustrated as the cold atmosphere flowed, like when I first met him.
"Well, he told me to keep it a secret, so I gave him a hint that I knew he was a tax evader."
I should have pretended not to know, but it was already done, so I continued, barely managing to keep my expressionless face.
"If I had good knowledge of space magic like you, instead of a bag like this, I would have bought an island in a country with the lowest tax rate and set up a phantom business there."
I spoke as if my purpose in buying a secret fund bag was also tax evasion.
Acting as an accomplice can lower a man's guard.
"Since it's easy to come and go using teleportation, you can manage gold ingots on a remote island, and with the fake business you set up on the island, you can handle the flow of money. It wouldn't be easy to carry out a tax investigation on an island, isn't it a good business?"
If teleportation magic were added, even 21st-century chaebols would probably cry and create a tax haven.
The Master's eyes gleamed at my words.
He tapped the table for a moment, looking worried.
"It's an amazing idea, but currently, it's impossible to travel long distances, like crossing the ocean, with teleportation magic. It must be possible with a level 9 class."
"I see."
Even Duke Seymour, the greatest mage in the Empire, couldn't pass the class 7 barrier.
What does he mean by a class 9? It means it was impossible unless you were a legendary dragon.
"But it's creative. Much more than this bag I made."
Suddenly, the Master said he wouldn't accept money for making the secret fund bag.
In exchange for the "creativity" I showed.
"Oh yes. I got lucky."
He realized that the broad and shallow knowledge he had accumulated in his previous life while writing articles on all kinds of liberal arts topics could be a valuable item to exchange with Blanchia's Master.
The price of the magic bag, which sent shivers down his spine, was earned in an instant thanks to the idea of a "tax haven."
From the pink diamond that fell into his hands to the deal with Master Blanchia.
As luck continued to explode like hitting the jackpot, an unexpected confidence burst forth.
"It will be difficult to find a client like me who has money, power, and creativity."
He laughed at my deception.
"And even humor. You have all four elements. No... are they five elements...?"
He muttered something under his breath, so I tilted my head.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
The man, who placed the contracts for the three requests into an envelope, began to melt the black wax with the flame coming from the tip of his finger.
Then, he took one of the dozens of seals lined up on the table, placed it on top of the dripping wax, and removed it.
The image printed on the seal was a swan.
"What does this mean?"
I'm confused.
Not using the cat's tail seal means that he wasn't satisfied with my deal.
"I don't know if I should take it as a good sign or a bad one."
It could mean that I got more deals, or it could also mean that he wouldn't continue dealing with me.
If he cuts off the deal, I have no way to come here.
It's connected by teleportation, so I can't even guess the location of this place.
"Princess."
He called me as I started to feel impatient.
"...Huh?"
"When you're curious about the progress of the requests, don't go to the Atra district, go to the informant in the Yones district."
He noted the address of a shop located in the district where the high-ranking nobility resided.
That's Maisond.
I was surprised by the familiar commercial name.
Maisond was the most popular dessert shop in the Yones district, which Deborah enjoyed.
A place where servants of noble families lined up from 3 in the morning to buy top-quality desserts made by an Imperial Family master artisan.
Deborah felt satisfied when she ate 77 desserts from that shop during tea time.
Thanks to that, she got lucky.
But Diana, and even Maisond; I didn't expect them to be shops managed by Master Blanchia.
"I thought he was just an informant, but he's very wealthy."
His business skills were extraordinary.
I clicked my tongue and got up from my seat, holding an empty bag containing only the contracts.
"If I want to make a request, can I come at any time?"
I asked a bit timidly as I walked towards the door.
I was worried about the swan-shaped seal.
In response to my question, he squinted his eyes into a half-moon shape.
"A wealthy client is always welcome."
Only then did I feel relieved.
Figuring out the Crown Prince's general trick... No, intriguing.
As a stranger with no one to trust, the existence of the Master was meant to be reassuring.
The dignified expression I was struggling to maintain kept trying to fade away, so I quickly turned around and walked towards the exit at a brisk pace.
"If I want to make a request, can I come at any time?"
Isidor silently gazed into Deborah's beautiful ruby-like eyes and opened his mouth.
"A wealthy client is always welcome."
For a moment, it seemed that his red lips, which had been as firm as ice all along, had a faint smile.
However, he quickly turned around and walked towards the exit, as if to hide that fleeting expression, so I wasn't sure if he actually smiled.
Soon, the princess disappeared from view with the sharp sound of the hinges.
Isidor looked at the securely closed door and leaned back in his chair.
"Now, there are only my questions left."
He murmured, toying with the swan imprinted on the black seal, using his fingertips.
A black swan.
It was completely unexpected, but as she somehow appeared before him, he had no choice but to accept it.
The moment he faced the princess, who petted Cookie while looking at him with her bright red eyes, a part of him shuddered from the impact, as if he had seen a black swan.
"... She's different from the rumors I've heard."
Deborah Seymour has... a peculiar air?
From what Isidor understood through the information he gathered, the princess of Seymour was a violent, vain, and incompetent person.
Her sense of inferiority was so severe that her reputation was hitting rock bottom in social circles.
However, the Deborah in front of him felt completely different from the person he had envisioned in his head through rumors and information.
"It must be because of her presence. It's the first time Cookie has shown interest in someone other than me..."
However, the longer the conversation lasted, the more Isidor realized he had misjudged her.
Of course, as rumored, it couldn't be said that she had a good personality.
She had a cold-hearted, frosty expression, stared fiercely at him whenever she wasn't satisfied with the deal, and even sarcastically said she would tell him how she tamed Cookie for 99 gold with a 1 gold discount.
Suddenly, he let out a bewildered laugh.
He didn't expect to receive the wordplay he usually used with his clients.
That aspect made her intriguing.
He had no chance of getting bored because he couldn't predict where she would excel.
Above all, the final request caught him off guard.
Because it was like asking for one of his trade secrets.
In the moment of hesitation, a high-grade mana stone appeared from her bag.
Intelligence and wealth, creativity and power.
Isidor impulsively taught her how to manage secret funds, as the princess who skillfully retaliated was interesting.
However, that wasn't the end.
"Buying an island in a low-tax country and setting up a ghost business..."
Should I say she's one of the top villains in the Empire?
The tax evasion method she proposed was ingenious and ruthless.
Above all, the scope of the applications was vast.
Even if it wasn't an island, if dozens of ghost businesses were set up in the Helleia Domain, ruled by temples and self-governed, and the accounting books were manipulated in a way that generated profits, it would be difficult for the Emperor of Azutea to track taxes.
A much larger and smarter tax evasion method than using spatial magic to hide gold bars.
It was the first time he felt a strange sense of defeat in his business dealings.
Simultaneously, his curiosity about his client grew even more, as expected.
Meanwhile, Isidor's clients moved and reacted as he expected, like pieces on a chessboard.
However, Princess Deborah barged onto the board without warning and left, leaving only questions.
How did she find it? What was the secret to taming the cowardly Cookie in one go? Why was she trying to create a secret fund by selling the pink diamond? He was curious about many things.
Even if he was curious, he couldn't even ask questions because he was an informant...
"I can't bear the curiosity."
Isidor's murmurs cleared the fog that had spread thickly in the office, and a man who had been waiting in the shadows slowly stepped forward.
"Prince, should I go ahead and investigate Deborah Seymour?"
Isidor shook his head in response to Miguel Drein's question, one of the vassals of the Visconti family.
"I'm having fun for the first time in a while, why are you interfering?"
"... Are you telling me you're going to investigate it yourself?"
"The Academy will open soon. Even if we don't want to, we'll meet frequently."
Their Master, who had the habit of saying he had nothing to learn at the Academy, bribed them to turn a blind eye to his absence last semester.
"... Are you going to the Academy?"
"There won't be any harm in forming a connection with the famous daughter of Duke Seymour."
"Didn't you say you already had all the connections you needed? You said you would focus on your relationship with the Crown Prince for now..."
Isidor pretended not to hear and gently stroked Cookie's head.
"I'm going to find out how she tamed my cute Cookie without spending a single copper. It's a matter of informational pride."
Looking at Isidor, who seemed to hold a slight grudge, Miguel had to swallow his astonished feelings.
He didn't know why he suddenly wanted to get close to Princess Deborah, even though he had mysophobia and didn't want to be in contact with women due to his extreme aversion.
It's a bit suspicious, but anyway, she's just a princess.
She didn't seem important enough for his Master to act on his own and spend his precious time.
Sometimes he's quite unpredictable.
Although Isidor was terribly calculating, he was sometimes impulsive and behaved as he pleased. He was a human being who couldn't be understood.
Convinced that his Master might have a great goal that he didn't know about, Miguel spoke up.
"But how will you get close to her?"
Isidor shrugged once and removed the polymorphic magic bracelet.
Then, his grayish-brown hair turned blond, as if it had melted in the sun, and his wax-like face with a faint impression transformed into a handsome man with a beautiful appearance that was hard to forget once seen.
