I Became A Black Merchant In Another World-Chapter 244: Industrial City Abito (6)

The road to death is paved with good intentions.

I was deeply impressed when I first heard this saying.

As the saying goes, all the swindlers in this world speak only sweet words, as if their mouths are coated with honey.

Do you want to live comfortably in your old age? Invest just 100 million in a villa, and you'll receive 1.2 million in monthly rent!

This is confidential information secretly shared by an executive from LH! The land here will increase 20-fold in value!

People who believe such sweet words often fall victim to huge scams.

"Even if a person does such things, they should never scam others."

Therefore, I have never personally been involved in such scams in my life.

The tulip mania was a case where people made huge sums of money by buying and selling rare tulips, and many people voluntarily invested all their wealth into it.

In stocks, those who bought shares from Rothschild's firm became wealthy.

These days, there’s a baron I meet at balls who calls me "brother," and he made a fortune by mortgaging part of his land and taking an interest-free loan.

"What I did isn’t a scam, it’s more of a ‘misleading suggestion.’"

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So, once again, while this may not technically break any laws, I plan to bring a small gift that will drive the recipient crazy—nothing that would make them suspect it’s a scam.

Something that even Santa Claus, with his experience in both England and America, would marvel at.

As I waited in the meeting room, several merchants entered the room.

"I am Pierre Éclair, the one who hired you."

In order to incite a war between the Holy Empire and the Kingdom of Lyon, I need to pull off a "small trick," and to do that, the act needs to be convincing.

Even cartoons aimed at children spend hundreds of millions on professional voice actors and various CGI effects, putting their heart and soul into acting.

To play a prank well, I must also wear the proper costume and attire to make the performance convincing.

In this regard, I secured an undercover identity through Mayor Guillaume.

In a world with the internet and various media, my face would be everywhere, and I wouldn't be able to pull off such tricks, but here, that is not the case.

So, the Emperor would hardly be recognized even if he left Florence.

"Before we begin, let’s sign a confidentiality agreement."

I gestured, and a confidentiality agreement was placed in front of everyone in the room.

"Once you sign this document, we can start the real conversation."

All the merchants gathered here signed the document without hesitation.

They were all somewhat prepared for what was to come, and none of them had money to spare... No, many were in such debt that they were on the verge of selling their families into slavery.

If asked, they would likely sell their country like Lee Wan-yong did.

‘If they’ve been driven to the edge, what’s left that they can’t do?’

"What you need to do is very simple: Basel, Freiburg, and Arlon."

I traced a line on the map along the border between the Kingdom of Lyon and the Holy Empire as I continued explaining.

"All you have to do is sell the woolen and cotton fabrics I’ve made at half the market price in these regions. Through smuggling."

In a world where all transactions and personal financial data are computerized in the 21st century, there are still many opportunists who display signs saying "Cash only" in order to evade taxes.

The tax savings from these businesses likely amount to billions annually.

The reason this works is simple.

Anything that leaves a record—like card payments—is taxed by the national tax office, but as long as the money is not deposited into an account, it’s impossible to track unless the property is searched on-site.

Even in the medieval fantasy world of the Kingdom of Lyon and the Holy Empire, things aren’t much different.

"Using accountants and legal authority, we could go through the books and impose taxes, but otherwise, it’s impossible to fairly impose taxes like sales or income tax."

In fact, Japan, the most commercially developed country in East Asia, had merchants who enjoyed de facto tax exemptions up until the Meiji Restoration, mainly because the samurai mentality of only accepting rice as tax hadn’t changed.

Instead, taxes were taken in the form of bribes (interest-free loans, no repayment required).

I estimate that they probably didn’t even manage to take 20-30% of their net profits.

"May I ask a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Woolen and cotton fabrics are indeed items that sell easily, but isn’t the profit margin quite low? It requires a lot of labor, and the prices are too low in comparison."

If the production cost is 1 million, but the sale price is 1.2 million, it’s too cheap.

Considering the various middleman fees and transportation costs, the actual profit is almost negligible.

That’s why, excluding high-end fabrics made for the nobility and the rich, cotton and wool were not monopolized by guilds, but could be made by serfs.

‘That common sense is no longer valid, though.’

Since I drastically reduced the labor input, the margin skyrocketed.

However, the men gathered here were all failures in some way.

They were not as bad as gambling addicts, drug users, or those who had lost everything due to women, but ultimately, they were all failures.

There was no need to reveal the full details of our family’s secrets to these people.

As the old saying goes:

"The fewer people know the secret, the better."

"That’s none of your concern. The important thing is whether you sell it according to my instructions."

"Yes, understood."

"As long as you follow my instructions, no matter what happens, I’ll make sure you keep your promises. I swear this in the name of Pierre Éclair."

It’s a fake name, so I could swear it without any issue.

It’s like a hikikomori on an online forum who posts fake wage slips showing they earn 500-600 dollars a month and pretends to be a certified accountant at a firm.

These scammers won’t lose anything by writing such things.

It’s no different from my fake identity.

"I’ll keep supplying the goods, and once you receive them, dispose of them as instructed. If you do, I’ll repay all the debts you owe and even give you a substantial reward."

In Japan, there are often part-time jobs where you can make tens of thousands of yen just for transporting goods. If done daily, you could easily reach an annual income of 1 million dollars.

But those doing this in Japan are often treated as low-IQ individuals.

Of course, it’s illegal, and if caught, they will end up in prison.

Those people are willingly engaging in risky behavior for the rewards. What more could I expect?

"Hurry up and dispose of the goods as instructed."

The merchants, who were pretending to be leaders of the trading firms, rushed out.

Once they left, Tulip expert Orsini approached me and asked:

"Lord, what will you do if one of them betrays you or refuses to follow your instructions? Should we kill them?"

There’s one thing rich people have in common:

They tend to stubbornly save money on seemingly unnecessary things.

For example, a chairman driving a Mercedes Maybach might check the fuel price per liter at the gas station, making sure to buy the cheapest fuel, or they avoid eating expensive chicken privately.

They have this odd habit of reducing unnecessary expenses according to their own standards.

I think of their lives the same way.

Even if a traitor emerges, life is valuable, so I’d rather use it as effectively as possible.

"We won’t waste their lives as fish food. We’ll just finish the trade and hand them over to the local authorities."

Orsini looked at me, dumbfounded.

"Won’t those men realize this is all the work of Pierre Éclair, the merchant from the Kingdom of Lyon? Then the Holy Empire will surely think this..."

He scoffed and continued:

"Are these worthless, dog-like people from the Kingdom of Lyon really going to try and stab our Empire with a sword, despite suffering such enormous economic losses?"

While I can sell woolen and cotton fabrics at a price that still leaves a profit, from their perspective, it would seem like a game of chicken.

"Are we going to lose, or are they?"

They’re forcing me into a situation where they think they can get away with it.

"Then, we’ll profit and achieve our goals. As the scale of the war increases, our factories that produce muskets and military goods will sell well. This will be a win for us, right?"