Chapter 600 – Asset Management

“Lord Tauro! Where on earth have you been this past year?! We instructed every branch across the kingdom to contact us if you appeared, but we never received a single report! Rumors even began spreading that you had died. I’ve been worried sick!”

Mardai Garfish, chairman of the Garfish Trading Company, launched into the complaint the moment he saw Tauro, barely pausing for breath.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Garfish. We were so caught up in our own affairs that we never thought that far ahead…”

“Ahhh… Still, I’m glad to see you safe. I did hear from the highly skilled adventurers operating under the Black-Gold Wings name that you were doing well, but they refused to provide any proof, so I was genuinely worried.”

Garfish gripped both of Tauro’s shoulders firmly, as though confirming with his own hands that Tauro was really there.

“Highly skilled adventurers operating as Black-Gold Wings? Oh! You mean the dragonfolk from the Dragonfolk Village?”

Tauro finally remembered that, in order to conquer Babylon, the dungeon near the Royal Capital, he had arranged for dragonfolk from the village to operate as members of Black-Gold Wings.

“The village? I’m not entirely sure what you mean, but they’ve been active in the Royal Capital this past year as members of Black-Gold Wings. Instead of rumors about your death, they’ve been raising the team’s reputation. I have something I need to discuss with you about that as well, so let’s move to the reception room.”

Garfish personally led Tauro there instead of leaving the task to a servant.

It seemed that Tauro and his companions’ standing in the Royal Capital had changed considerably over the past year.

Once they were seated, Garfish took a deep breath and began his explanation.

“A year ago, you asked me to make arrangements so that those people from the village could live comfortably in the Royal Capital, correct? You also asked me to handle the items they brought back.”

Garfish carefully checked that Tauro remembered the arrangement.

“Ah… Now that you mention it, I think I did.”

A year earlier, Tauro had arranged for the dungeon items obtained by the dragonfolk to be processed through the Garfish Trading Company. The Adventurers’ Guild would receive its commission, while Tauro would receive only a portion of the remaining proceeds.

At the same time, he had asked Garfish to support the dragonfolk during their stays in the Royal Capital.

Those expenses were to be deducted from the assets Tauro had entrusted to the Garfish Trading Company.

Could those expenses have become much larger than expected?

My assets at the Adventurers’ Guild had grown so large that I had completely stopped thinking about the separate funds managed by the Garfish Trading Company. Could I have caused them trouble without even realizing it?

“I followed your instructions and took care of everyone. That part was fine, but… the dungeon items they brought in were simply too valuable to handle normally. I auctioned some of them and converted them into cash, and… well, that led to another issue.”

Garfish glanced meaningfully at the servant standing behind him.

The servant quickly left and returned with what appeared to be a ledger, which was placed in front of Garfish.

“What’s that?”

Tauro asked in confusion as Garfish took another deep breath and opened the ledger.

“This records how the Garfish Trading Company has managed your assets over the past year.”

Garfish turned the ledger so Tauro could see it.

“…What’s this? There are properties listed all across the kingdom.”

Tauro stared at the densely written place names and the deeds attached to the records.

“Those are the results of managing the assets you entrusted to us.”

“Huh? So… all of these are mine?”

“…Yes. You wanted your holdings kept readily usable, but within only a few months the amount of cash became enormous. It became difficult to store it all safely, so we invested part of it in real estate and valuable magic tools that could be converted back into cash when necessary. The problem is… their value increased far more than we expected over the past year.”

Garfish gave a wry smile as he watched Tauro’s reaction.

“Increased? …Wait. Don’t tell me you mean the losses increased?”

Tauro briefly assumed that Garfish, whom he trusted, had somehow failed at managing the investments.

“No, the opposite. The real estate and other assets we bought largely to preserve the value of your money have all appreciated.”

“So… my assets increased? I don’t see why that’s such a problem…”

Tauro still couldn’t understand why Garfish was choosing his words so carefully.

“Well… I may have become a little overenthusiastic and purchased an entire territory that the royal family was willing to sell to Honorary Viscount Giro Sugar. It was inexpensive at first, but because of unforeseen circumstances its value is now rising rapidly. The difficult part is that we purchased the territory directly from the royal family, so it can’t simply be converted back into cash.”

“You bought a territory from the royal family!? But judging from this ledger, I still have plenty of other assets…”

“The royal family expects that territory to be governed properly. For now, one of my people is serving there as your proxy, but… I sincerely apologize for acting without consulting you!”

Garfish bowed deeply.

“…Where exactly is this territory? The ledger only shows its purchase price… Hm? It was surprisingly cheap. One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… Wait—are these figures in platinum coins!?”

“Yes. When the territory and your other tangible fixed assets are included, your total wealth has reached this amount!”

“Even a rough estimate puts this at dozens of times what I had a year ago!?”

Faced with a sum far beyond anything he had imagined, Tauro could only stare in stunned silence.