C161: Dead man tell no tale
“Davis, explain yourself.”
Davis swallowed and steadied himself, forcing his breathing to even out despite the tightness in his chest.
“The Golden Trader’s contract explicitly states that we surrender a thirty percent cut of our earnings, in exchange for which they are to supply us with our necessities, commensurate with the limit of said earnings.”
He glanced over his shoulder toward his men and gave a nod.
“However,” Davis continued, “they also recommended the use of stimulants, Lunar Spirits, to increase our strength and essence. They provided us with free samples, claiming those very stimulants were crafted by the Baroness herself. And as we hold the Baroness in high esteem, we naturally extended our trust to the substances."
Danz’s brows rose slightly.
"You suggest the Baroness conspired with the Trader to deceive us? That does not accord with her character—"
“On the 21st of July. Yesterday. At nightfall,” Davis cut in. “Mr. Joseph used his two concealed coins and successfully bribed a certain maid, thereby acquiring the Lunar Spirits.”
“That maid!” someone among the gang shouted in realization.
“From the beginning, we have never dealt directly with the Baroness,” Davis continued. "Ten long years it has been, and the Baroness has not appeared before us even once!"
The whole barn began to murmur with renewed indignation, rough voices swelling beneath the wooden rafters. Men shifted their grips around knife handles and cudgels, their faces darkening as the pieces began to connect in their minds. But Danz waved his hand, and the noise died once more.
Davis pressed on.
“This is a most thorough stratagem, Boss. That maid, I warrant, must be an insider. There is no plausible way the Baroness would countenance such an act against us.”
He took a step forward, eyes locked on the Trader.
“They offered us a bargain we could not possibly resist. Then they cunningly introduced an addictive substance, presenting it as a stimulant to amplify our strength and essence, to hasten our ascent through the Stage.
“By consuming the Lunar Spirit, our compulsion grew with each passing day. To the point where we could no longer restrain ourselves, leading to drastic measures. Mr. Joseph, in his addicted state, could not contain his desperate craving and stole our communal coins to procure more for his immediate need.”
“That was merely a suggestion,” the Trader interjected, his voice edged with impatience. “It does not violate the terms of our agreement. The consumption of such items rests solely upon your own discretion."
“The contract explicitly states that both parties shall refrain from inflicting harm upon each other,” Davis countered. “That is the foundation of every agreement signed in the name of the Golden Land. But the fact that an addictive component was discovered within the very stimulants, which were recommended by yourselves, the Golden Trader, signifies that—”
Davis’s gaze swept upward, fixing upon the man whose face was now a mask of serious, affronted disapproval.
"Ya devils intended to harm us from the very start."
“...”
Davis recited calmly, his voice cutting through the barn. “Clause 8, Section 1. In the event that this covenant is violated by the Contractor, an additional investigation shall be initiated. If the Contractor is deemed to have breached the terms, the right to impose punitive measures shall rest at the sole discretion of the Contractee.”
He allowed a triumphant smirk to play upon his lips.
"Since both parties are now found to have violated the contract, I propose, both violations will be rendered null and void in its entirety."
“…”
“…”
“...”
The barn fell into a suffocating silence, broken only by the collective breathing of the assembled men.
Danz turned his head toward the Trader, his voice low and dangerous.
“Is that true?” he asked. “As a Golden Land Trader, I expect you wouldn’t stoop to such dissimulation.”
The Trader clenched his fist. For a moment, it seemed as if his composure had cracked.
Since the Tear Drop had violated the contract by concealing part of their earnings, while the Trader had also violated it by intentionally harming them through the introduction of an addictive stimulant, Davis had used their violations against one another and proposed canceling each other out.
“That is... impressive,” the Trader said, relaxing his hand. A smug smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
He glanced at Davis with renewed interest. “Mr. Davis, is it not? Might I propose that you consider joining our esteemed ranks and serving our interests? I give you my word, sir, you shall not regret it for the remainder of your days.”
Davis shook his head without hesitation.
“That would be quite out of the question, no. I prefer my countrymen over people who purposely bring harm to us behind our backs.”
Danz nodded. He sighed, then turned back to the Trader.
“Now listen carefully,” he said, his voice cold as iron. “I’ll give you two options.”
He leaned forward slightly, and the shadows of the barn’s rafters crawled across his scarred eye.
“Either you depart this instant, or you die.”
“...”
The Golden Trader sneered. He began pacing back and forth across the dusty barn floor, affecting an air of profound contemplation while stroking the polished golden square pendant hanging from his neck.
For a brief moment, he remained silent. Then he looked back at Danz and offered a small bow.
“Boss Danz, it was indeed an oversight on my part, a regrettable lapse in judgment, to have made such a recommendation.”
Danz exhaled, trying his best to stay calm. Tension bled into his shoulders, yet he fixed his gaze on the Golden Trader.
‘Just a little longer, [Distraction].’
They did not have the real strength to confront the Golden Land head-on. That organization was far too powerful in the underworld. Even the Smile Decree, the parent organization from which the Tear Drop had emerged, would never treat such a conflict lightly.
“Then—”
But the Trader raised a finger, cutting him off mid-word.
“Clause 8, Section 1. In the event that the clause is violated by the Contractor, an additional investigation shall be conducted. If the Contractor is deemed to have violated the term, then the punishment shall fall under the Contractee’s sole discretion.”
Davis’s eyes widened. His teeth clenched, and his breath caught in his throat.
The Golden Trader glanced down at the parchment, his lips curling upward.
“Additional investigation has already been conducted. And the truth reveals: not guilty. What a surprise!” He laughed in a mocking tone, spread his hands wide, imitating the shape of an explosion.
Danz gazed back at Davis, his brow furrowing in confusion.
“What does this mean, Davis?”
Davis clenched his fists. His mouth opened and closed. The answer had already formed in his mind, but it refused to pass through his throat.
He knew the truth. His stratagem had been completely exposed.
The Trader’s amused gaze returned to him.
“An Apprentice stage Deceiver, if I am not mistaken. I must confess, your tactics are truly impressive, Mister Davis.”
The Trader chuckled. “You attempted to divert our attention toward the fundamental clause of the contract, hoping we would forget the true argument and lead ourselves into admitting wrongdoing.”
“But very well, I shall indulge your case,” he continued. He pushed his golden pince-nez glasses higher upon the bridge of his nose, then looked around the barn before speaking again.
“There are several points in your rebuttal that prove untenable, Mister Davis.”
“...” Davis gritted his teeth, sweat tracing a cold path down his neck.
“There is no concrete evidence, for instance, that we supplied the sample. As per your own words, we merely ‘presented’ the sample. We did not, in any way, involve ourselves in the trade, the making, or the distribution of the stimulants.”
“That—”
“It was a presentation, or, in your own words, a recommendation. The Golden Land does not concern itself with profit alone, Mister Davis. We also possess a reputation to preserve. We merely recommended an item that was not part of our own inventory as an act of goodwill. We possessed no intention of causing harm to any party.”
He raised one hand into the air, his expression turning solemn.
“I swear upon the Golden Land that every word I have spoken is the complete truth!”
“!”
Davis gripped his hands into tight fists, his eyes shaking violently.
“My point still stands. Ya presented us—”
The Trader continued, cutting him off without the slightest change in tone.
"Furthermore, there exists no concrete evidence that the sample in question contained any addictive substance whatsoever. Without a proper professional examination and a verifiable comparative example, that particular claim simply cannot hold."
"..."
He shrugged lightly, as though the entire matter were of no more consequence than a minor accounting discrepancy.
"The very nature of these stimulants is to heighten one's strength, and the decision to partake of them still rests solely in your own hands. What if your men were so immersed in the ecstasy of these incremental gains in power that they simply forgot their own surroundings and obligations? From our perspective, it certainly appears that way."
"W-what?"
In essence, the Trader was asserting that even in the hypothetical case where his organization was somehow involved without professional verification, it remained uncertain whether those stimulants actually contained any harmful, addictive substance.
That single uncertainty meant the entire case could potentially be placed on indefinite hold. However, the contract deadline was this very moment, and the Tear Drop still owed a debt of twenty Alan coins that must be repaid immediately before the deadline expired.
By that logic, the Golden Trader retained the absolute right to punish the other party first. Only after the Lunar Spirit had been formally confirmed to be a harmful substance by a recognized professional could the Tear Drop invoke it as counter-evidence. And since both parties were not equal in priority under the terms, the Golden Trader refused outright to accept the nullification that Davis had proposed.
"In that case, your claim cannot stand. Since your own men consumed these substances of their own volition and ignored the proper instruction and usage terms, their actions are classified as their own responsibility, on your side. Thus, this does not count as harm inflicted upon you by another party."
To summarize the essence of his argument: you fools drank those stimulants of your own accord, knowing full well they would produce such surges of strength and craving, and now you seek to shift the blame onto us?
All of it ultimately contributed upon one fact: without the involvement of a real authority and a recognized professional, they could not verify any of their claims.
And the damning truth that they had no one on their own side who possessed the expertise to point out the harmful effects of the substance!
Davis had intended to exploit a clause within the contract, attempting to shift the Trader's attention toward the involvement of the substance, hoping to maneuver him into admitting that the substance was truly harmful.
However, the Golden Trader was more cunning and more knowledgeable than he was. After all, this was the contract drafted by the Gold Trader himself; he knew his contract like the back of his hand.
Davis glared at the Trader, a wave of hesitation washing over him.
“Ya never intended to let us go,” he said through clenched teeth, his voice barely more than a hiss.
“...” The Golden Trader only stood in silence and said nothing.
Even if Davis found another logical way out, another clever interpretation of the contract, the Trader would simply produce another justification. The outcome would never change.
Davis's intention had been singular from the very start: to probe and discover where the Golden Trader truly stood.
If the man had feared Danz, he would have retreated after Davis proposed the nullification.
But it appeared this trader possessed a far larger measure of courage, and a far deeper reserve of cunning, than Davis had ever anticipated!
And as Arnold had said, they had missed one crucial detail, one small, insidious clause they had overlooked in their eagerness to secure what had seemed like a favorable bargain.
In the contract, they had never explicitly specified who would conduct the investigation in the event of a dispute.
Under normal circumstances, a designated agent from the Golden Land would conduct such an internal inquiry. Or, in cases of greater severity, an external, neutral judge would be hired to arbitrate the matter.
But in this isolated, backwater village, where hardly any reputable authority figure would ever come by, the one who would conduct the investigation would not be some neutral party, but…
It was the contractor themselves.
"By your own word," the Trader smiled, the expression finally reaching his cold eyes, transforming his face into something predatory.
"Dead men tell no tales."