CHAPTER 30 - Why Am I Here?

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Security Branch Head, Dominik Fürstenberg, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 4, Day 20, Blohm Main Residence, Deutsche Empery

 “But I don’t understand, why would you go to such far lengths just to protect a girl that isn’t even blood-related to you?”

Dominik had been serving as Blohm’s head of security for many years now, though he knew that Blohm was a cunning man who liked lying so much, even considering the fact that he was a merchant, he had never seen him go back on a promise that he had made.

However it was just that, he would keep his promises, nothing more and nothing less, he would help the individual that helped him a single time based on how large of a help that individual gave him in the past, he would never go out of his way based on whatever generosity he had in his heart to go that extra mile.

Dominik understands that the father of this ‘Reichel Schwertspinne’ was a good friend to his master, but even so he thought that it would be enough to give Reichel a decent house on the outskirts of the country, and then help her find a job and then get over it, but his master even went the extra mile to let her do whatever she wanted, and even buy whatever she wanted, completely letting her disregard the fact that he was a duke and that the girl was no more than the commoner child of an apothecary owner that used to live on the most-farthest edges of the Empery.

*Sigh*

In response to Dominik’s confusion however Blohm only sighed and pointed to a space at the left side of the room, making Dominik’s gaze turn to a large white canvas in the wall.

The white canvas was hung up like a painting that was just looked almost untouched if not for the single horizontal line going across its mid-section.

“Do you know what this is?” Blohm asked with a straight face.

“It’s an empty canvas.” Dominik said with no hesitation, because even as he was getting old he knew that he could definitely tell that an empty canvas was an empty canvas when he sees it.

“Tsk tsk Dominik, how shallow-sighted of you.”

“Pardon?”

“This white background represents the fatal emptiness every Enlightened, no matter human, dwarf, elf, or beastman feel throughout their lives, and the black line going across the middle represents the dark path that the Enlightened have went through after defeating the Tainted during the Second World War." Theodor started making exaggerated gestures to signify the completely feigned feelings of sympathy that he was feeling when touched with the subject of the piece of 'art'.

"I don't know boss, it just looks like an empty canvas with a black line in the middle ..."

"An empty canvas worth a million Yuleas you mean!"

“What!?” Dominik almost jumped up in surprise.

Even though he had worked under Theodor for many years, he still couldn’t get used to the large quantities of Yuleas being thrown left and right for all kinds of reasons.

Sometimes useless rocks like gold or silver were sold for an exorbitant price, or sometimes even gems that weren’t useful for anything besides being shiny would get sold for hundreds of thousands of Yuleas, so he had seen his fair share of useless things going for money that could have been used for more useful expenses, however just the thought of selling a virtually blank canvas was just nothing more than insanity.

“It’s simple, we draw shit like this, call it something like ‘Modern Art’ according to Frau Reichel, and then sell it for millions as payment for shady things that we usually couldn’t list as an official transaction, basically being able to get away with any purchase scot-free!" Theodor explained with his eyes twinkling.

“I don’t quite understand …” dismissing the use of such vulgar language,  Dominik was only curious as to what Theodor exactly meant.

“A fucking genius method of money-laundering is what it fucking is! I mean like, who would ever think of such a thing? Selling shit like a literal blank canvas for millions as a cover for buying illegal shit, and then telling people that ‘they can’t understand the intricacies of modern art’ to make them seem like unsophisticated cavemen if they even so much as slightly question it!”

“… What?”

In the Deutsche Empery, strict regulations on transaction surveillance were enforced since the beginning of the war, making even people on the Unterwelt not be able to record their transactions in a record book for fear of being screwed over by rival gangs when they accidentally ‘stumble’ upon them during raids and then get reported to the authorities, and in turn just making everything hard in the Black Market.

Of course, one could just use ‘gifts’ in order to overrule the law, however as the Empery started getting as strict as it was, it was required that even gifts be listed as official transactions, and that the price of these gifts be equal to the price of the material it was made with, making the flow of illegal trade even in the Unterwelt extremely difficult.

But there was a single type of product that was an exception to that rule.

Art.

The value of art was decided by the people and only by the people, with no other factors such as rarity and the time and effort it took to make the people.

If people said your art was shitty, your art was shitty and worth nothing, but if people said your art was great, it was worth millions.

Therefore the flow of the trade of art pieces like sculptures, artifacts, and paintings couldn’t be regulated by the government, and would instantly turn a blind eye if the product being bought was considered ‘art’.

And with the introduction of the ‘Modern Art’ scheme that Reichel introduced when she asked for multiple illegal poisons to experiment with, since even she knew that having multiple banned substances on your transactions' list is one of the fastest ways to get your head hanging from the gallows.

And with the 'Modern Art' scheme that Reichel 'invented' anonymously, drug dealers, thugs, bandits, and basically anybody could whip up an empty canvas, splatter paint on it, and then use it as a cover for market deals that would get you hanged, while also keeping it on record as a harmless transaction between idiots who like art.

Ever since the introduction of the 'Modern Art' scheme, paper has been on high demand for creating shitty 'artwork' and then buying and reselling them around with extra merchandise as if a new currency aside from the Yuleas had been invented inside the Unterwelt.

“You don’t need to, I knew you wouldn’t understand these kind of things anyways, I just wanted to let you know that there is more use for that girl than what anybody sees.”

“Pardon?” Dominik asked his master with a curious tone.

“My merchant instinct is tingling, it is telling me that the girl has much more to her than being the daughter of the man who helped me build up my fortune years ago, after all, if she were actually nothing but a normal girl then I wouldn’t mind letting her join the military out of her own volition!”

Had Reichel been nothing but an ordinary country bumpkin like what Blohm initially taught her to be, he would have done no more than just provide her with a fairly enough decent housing just to keep her promise with ‘Reichel’s’ father.

It wasn’t any of Blohm’s concerns as to whatever the girl would do afterward, should she gamble the money Blohm gave her until it fully depletes, should she freeload without any significant expenses, or should she choose to live through a hopeless career of fighting for the country and potentially dying in a ditch somewhere in a war theatre as a nameless piece of cannon fodder.

He would have even preferred for the girl to join the military, and then die in a random ditch since doing so would actually even save him money, no matter how small the amount was.

But instead of bringing nothing but uselessness like Blohm had expected her to, she brought innovative ideas that thoroughly made everything for money to circulate into his pockets, new devices that promised to revolutionize warfare, and even just simple ideas that seemed small, but were actually large enough to impact the way that society conducts itself as a whole.

“That girl is precious, just the mere thought of her fuels my greed, but unfortunately, as the conduct of equivalent exchange goes, I also have to listen to her demands …”

For some reason, the girl just kept asking for enough food and funding to keep an entire army operational, asking for goods that were only native to lands as far Asiya.

“But if you consider just how much company revenue has been rising, these requests are nothing but trivial in the end for the price of innovation!”

“That’s good and all Herr Blohm, but sorry for being rude, but you still haven’t told me the reason as to why I am here.”

“Ah right!” Theodor exclaimed as he suddenly perked up as he remembered something important.

And suddenly, he changed from a friendly face back to his serious demeanor in an instant, completely eliminating any traces of something like a father boasting about the achievements of their offspring.

“This unwelcome guest is continuing to tear through our stores in the lower parts of the Unterwelt, if this keeps going on then we might suffer terrible losses, I expect you to take care of it.” Theodor turned around with only those words, signaling a dismissal.

Though the actual necessary words were short and barely provided any instruction, the command had already reached Dominik.

‘Eliminate.’

“I will do my duty.” 

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Studentin (Second Lieutenant), Reichel Schwertspinne, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 4, Day 22, Schwertspinne Private Lab, Deutsche Empery

*Clak!*

The sound of a door opening loudly was immediately engulfed in the sounds of voices, familier ones belonging to Theodor, Adrian, and Olaf, and even unfamiliar ones.

By the tone of what they were discussing heatedly, Reichel could tell that it was a very important affair that concerned the Blohm Company.

Which is why she was confused.

‘Why am I here? It sounds like the Blohm Company’s problem, not mine.’

Reichel full well knew that the reason for her current income and well-being was none other than Theodor himself, but she didn’t really like involving herself with the company herself, which is why she rather preferred it if she wasn’t really officially affiliated with the Blohm Company.

Reichel closed in on Theodor who was discussing the problems of something like a counterattack or something but really didn’t care enough to let them continue, so she pulled him towards her to ask a question.

Funnily enough, despite the clearly rude action performed by a girl wearing peasant clothes, the ones that Theodor were talking to didn’t say anything like ‘A peasant girl like you dares!?’ which was contrary to her expectation, considering they quite looked haughty nobles themselves.

However that only showed that they knew who she was, and what exactly she has contributed to the exponentially rising revenue of the Blohm Company, which meant that these well-dressed people in the room were most likely the other higher-ups belonging to the Blohm Company.

“Hey old man, why am I here?” Reichel used a rude tone along with rude language, fully knowing her worth as an asset to the Blohm Company.

“Take a look.” Theodor pointed towards the middle of the room, where a single man sat on a bed.

The man of course, was Dominik, who was vastly different from the Dominik she expected because at the moment, he looked like a victim of domestic violence with all the bruises and multiple injuries he has on his body, as well as on his face, which she barely even recognized as human anymore.

“Who did this?” Reichel asked apathetically as she couldn’t care less about the conditions of someone who wasn’t important to her.

“The Monstertöter.” The injured Dominik gave his short answer.

 ‘This Monstertöter again? Why do problems keep popping up one after another!?’ Reichel grit her teeth silently as she realized that she really couldn’t just catch a break in this new world.

And eventually, as she grit her teeth in frustration while the other executives were discussing what to do next in response to Dominik’s falling out, her habit of thinking of more than one problem arose as suspicion also rose along her feelings of frustration.

“Hey.” Reichel interrupted the heated discussion between Blohm’s high command and himself, and interjected her words.

 “All this noise is useless, so I’m just going to cut to the chase, what I’m concerned about is …”

“Why the hell are you still alive?” Reichel asked as she pointed her finger towards the large injured man suspiciously.

Reichel knew for a fact after talking with Adrian that the Monstertöter killed those that he came across, but why was it that he didn’t kill Dominik? If he was actually aiming to cripple the Blohm Company then surely he would have no reason not to kill Dominik, who despite his petty condition now, is still a man who was an executive being one of the Blohm company’s pillars.

And so, that’s why, as soon as she saw Dominik alive, chills immediately went down her spine as she slowly realized that the Blohm Company wasn’t the real target of the Monstertöter, but rather he only harmed it because it was standing in the way of its real target.

To which Reichel just now realized, was her.

But even if Reichel was the target, then that still wouldn’t explain as to how the man in front of her is still alive, and as she speculated the reason for that, rage embroiled within her as the reason she suspected as to why Dominik was still alive was confirmed by none other than Dominik himself.

“I told him everything, your name, your address, and even your preferred beverage.”

With those words, the entire room became silent, and the betrayed look of the ones that used to trust in him slowly turned into anger as they started reprimanding him as they knew the value of having Reichel’s identity as the Rotkappchen as well as her address exposed.

“Most likely, judging by his eagerness to slam his fists into me, he is already likely there, fiddling through your items.”

Reichel herself, took one of the hidden knives in her clothes, and with a blinding speed, immediately went for his head.

However, contrary to the likely event of a blood fountain suddenly erupting in the room, a sentence from Theodor, who almost looked as sickly pale as Reichel herself, managed to make her immediately halt the course of action while it was still underway, make her run at full speed towards a specific destination.

Towards her house, or more specifically, towards Anny von Blohm, who picked such a wrong time to be visiting.