"I thought you said you had accurate information indicating this place contained the mineral you needed."
I gulped. However, my voice was shaky as I questioned Francis, who looked ghastly.
The two dwarves didn't stay for long. It seemed as though they were genuinely trying to help a friend but were rejected. It was as though they said, "Well, if you're not going to accept our good will, we won't stick around." I knew there was the possibility of their claim being a hoax to deceive Francis into handing over the land, but I was no longer sure about that… Actually, I had a burgeoning suspicion the two weren't lying when I saw Francis' grave expression. Francis might've been tricked. I, in turn, would also have been tricked.
Because it was Francis, I actually had faith in the deal. For that reason, I wasn't worried about giving all of the gains of the land to him and trusted my investment in the land would rake in profits for me. If there were no profits to be made, though, Francis and I would both be in dire straits. Investing is a dangerous game. That was the consequence of investing in a business without a margin. Francis, at the very least, had land that he had the right to develop. It might be useless, but I wouldn't earn a dime; plus, I'd lose a block of land. That would be a horrific return on investment.
I had never experienced something so embarrassing ever since coming to this world. I wasn't a resident of this world. I was supposed to be ahead of the curve in business. I was a master of money subjects. I was confident I wouldn't be cheated. I wouldn't have invested if it wasn't for Francis; I thought it'd be fine since he was Veirya's good friend, but it appeared that I was mistaken. Francis was an idiot, a complete idiot!
"I thought…" Francis stroked his beard to distract himself. He touched the ground and trembled as he continued, "I… I'm not sure, either. I just knew they'd buy this block of land… Th-The money I used to purchase the land… was a loan I took…. I guaranteed the success of this deal, which was why I… I… They clearly said that there was a mineral here. I think they lied to me; they must've lied to me."
"Do you have a way to confirm it? Aren't you dwarves able to probe? Can't you test if there are minerals down there?"
Slowly but surely, I regathered myself. I needed to establish what the status quo was. I only had the story from one side. I, therefore, couldn't determine who was lying to Francis. They may very well have wanted set him up to trick him into handing over the land. We couldn't afford to be tricked. Thinking with clouded judgement wasn't going to help. What if Francis was tricked? If he was tricked from the outset, I'd lose the land and five hundred gold coins for nothing. While I didn't need the five hundred gold coins, being tricked would be a blow to my dignity as a businessman.
"Yes. Clam down. Calm down." Francis grabbed his beard then stood up: "I shall go and investigate now. I'll go see now. I'll check it out while it's night time. I don't believe it; I don't believe I was tricked. The child had actual wounds. I'm sure this isn't a hoax. No way; there's no way. We wouldn't bash a child. That's despicable; that's absolutely despicable!!"
"You can't trust a businessman. They have no such thing as a bottom line."
Every word that came out of Francis' mouth turned up my anxiety metre. I couldn't shake off the feeling it was a hoax. It was finally obvious they had planned it for a long time. Those dwarves were right; how they treated their pupils was their business. An outsider wouldn't know. They inflicted pain on themselves as a ruse, and Francis took the bait right away. Francis, a dwarf who never had his guard up against children, fell for it.
"Not only were you tricked, but you've gotten me involved, too. This dwarf is brain dead. I shouldn't have trusted him!!" I reprimanded myself in my mind.
Francis stood up and staggered off. I called out to him back and reached out to him: "Hand me the contract."
"What?"
Francis' spirit was wandering somewhere after he was fooled. He didn't quite keep up with what happened. I asserted, "I don't care what you want to do, but give me the contract now. Don't try to escape while it's dark. I, in fact, now suspect that this is all a scheme you came up with to con me out of this land."
"I'm not that sort of person!! I would never trick Veirya! Veirya is my friend!! You're insulting me now!"
I rubbed my temples. I demanded, "I told you: businessmen have no such thing as a bottom line. If they could use a child to trick you, you could trick me with your friendship, too. Hand me the contract. I'll give it back to you when you come back. Don't you dare run away. If a loss has to be suffered, we'll suffer together!"
I changed my attitude toward Francis significantly. I saw him as a dullard, throwaway garbage. I wanted to say, "It's natural to pursue profits when you see it, but you need to use your brain to do that. It's clear as day that there has to be something wrong with money dropping into your lap, yet you gambled everything you had for it! There's unquestionably something wrong with that!!"
"This guy isn't worthy of being a merchant. I can't believe I trusted him! Trusting him is the biggest mistake I've made all my life!" I thought to myself.
I yanked the contract off Francis and shoved it into my pocket. I lowered my head and didn't utter another word. My anger licked every vein in my body. I wanted to hit someone. I wanted to shout. I wanted to strangle the dwarf in front of me to death. All of my rationality was dedicated to calming myself down.
Normally, I could accept failures. I knew deception was inevitable when we were both trying to one up the other. This was different, though. I was an utter embarrassment in front of Veirya during the day. I was such a disgrace that I couldn't even dismount. At the time, I kept trying to console myself, telling myself that I was smarter than Veirya and could make money. Only to later find out a dwarf played me!!
I told myself, "If I can't even do this much, what right do I have to stay with Veirya?! What light would she see me in?! I'm a man, god damn it! I can't hide behind Veirya forever!! I can't fail! I absolutely can't fail! I need to go something for my Veirya! I must! Not! Fail!! I can't accept this! I want to be with Veirya! I don't want her to look down on me!"