God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 181: Episode _Hand It Over (3)

6.

The Princess was pouting all day. It was a rare sight, one that the palace staff couldn’t help but sneak glances at. Having participated in politics since the age of twelve, the preternaturally mature princess rarely indulged in such open displays of displeasure.

“Oh my, she’s so beautiful even when she’s sulking.”

“Well, she’s the princess for a reason. No matter what anyone says, she’s the most beautiful woman on the continent.”

“Truly. I can see why His Majesty the Emperor dotes on her so.”

Their peeking was far from subtle, but thankfully, the Princess paid them no mind. Her sharp gaze was fixed on one person and one person only: the Emperor.

“Ahem. What is it?” he finally asked.

“Your Majesty, how could you be so cruel? I’m deeply upset.”

“It couldn’t be helped.”

“But still! He is your son-in-law and my husband. How could you be so heartless?”

“...I apologize.”

After a full day of her nagging, the Emperor finally threw in the towel. This was the same man who had erased an entire kingdom from the map in the name of continental unification without a single word of apology. Yet, before his daughter, he finally uttered the word.

An apology was another name for defeat.

Having secured her victory, the Princess’s pout softened slightly as she pressed her attack. “How could you sell a useless, abandoned mine with no monsters for double its price? My husband risks his life for you, and this is how you treat him? It’s terribly unfair.”

“Princess, you know as well as I do that as the ruler of this Empire, I cannot privately trade land with a mere viscount. This was already a considerable show of favor.”

But the Emperor was no pushover. His convictions were etched into his very bones. If it hadn’t been for Han Simin gradually wearing down his rigidity, no amount of deals, rewards, or requests would have ever gotten through. The Princess knew this as well.

“Even so, charging two gold for land that isn’t even worth one gold per square feet was wrong of you, Your Majesty.”

“Hmph.”

“Even one gold and fifty silver would have been enough to save face.”

“I understand. I am sorry.”

The fact that she knew was the problem. She wasn’t just appealing to emotion; she was calculating the political implications. The Emperor gave up trying to argue. It was said that no parent could win against their child, and he had never intended to win against the Princess in the first place.

If it hadn’t been for Han Simin, he would have granted her wish before she even had a chance to pout. The unspoken rules of the Empire he had upheld for so long? Who made those rules, anyway? He had only acknowledged and permitted them for the sake of stability, to prevent even the smallest crack from forming in the great dam of state. If he wished, he could change them at any time.

“I will compensate him appropriately when he returns.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Yay!”

The Princess’s expression finally brightened, but only after the Emperor had been thoroughly cast as the villain of the century—a scoundrel who not only took money from his son-in-law for a favor but also ripped him off for double the price.

A sigh escaped his lips. It wasn’t born from any sense of guilt or apology toward Han Simin. Considering the stress and material losses the man had inflicted upon him, guilt was the last thing he felt. Even taking back everything Simin owned wouldn’t have been satisfying. No, this was simply regret.

’I never should have allowed her to marry an adventurer.’

Who could have known it would come to this?

“Hah...”

Having admitted defeat, a headache began to throb in his temples. He wondered just how much that cockroach, that leech of a man, would demand back after being overcharged by double.

“You said he plans to sell that land, but will he be able to? Shouldn’t the imperial family offer some financial support so he can at least sell it for a fair price?”

“Don’t worry. That man will never sell at a loss.”

“But still... what sane person would buy that land after it’s already been marked up, only to take another loss on top of that?”

He fell silent.

’Indeed,’ the Emperor thought. ’I wonder if such a madman exists.’

Though he agreed with her, he strangely didn’t feel anxious. He had a feeling that Han Simin would find a way to sell it. Somehow.

’He must have gone into this knowing he could make at least double his investment back, which is why he took it despite the high price.’

At the same time, his interest was piqued. Stress was stress, but talent was talent. The land was technically a territory, and it came with the Emperor’s official permission, so there would be many potential buyers. Nobles of a rank that couldn’t normally own territory would be clamoring for it.

The problem, ultimately, was the price. There were plenty of nobles willing to pour money into acquiring the title of Lord of a Territory, but would any of them buy a useless plot of land for at least four times its value? A plot with no resources, no strategic value, and not even a single resident—a territory in name only. He even doubted if any noble could afford it.

’He said he had someone to punish.’

The Emperor was curious. Who was this target? And could even Han Simin pull off such a sale? In the end, he concluded that it was probably possible.

*

“One hundred gold per square feet?” Kenji asked, incredulous.

“It’s 1000 square feet, so that’s one hundred thousand gold. If you pay in cash, I can give you a clean deal for twelve million dollars. How about it? That’s a one-million-dollar discount,” Simin offered.

Kenji was speechless. Simin had just thrown out the number twelve million as if it were the name of a neighborhood dog.

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit shameless?” Kenji asked, his usual politeness slipping away in his disbelief. He was genuinely curious if Simin thought a thousand square feet of game land was actually worth that much.

If Simin had at least explained what kind of land it was, its potential uses, and its future prospects as a territory before naming his price, Kenji might have considered it, no matter how much he was being overcharged. After all, acquiring a territory right now would be a golden opportunity for the Kenji Guild, a chance to fast-track all their plans and bypass the immense time, effort, and investment required to deal with the nobility.

But no, Simin just threw a price at him, waving a single piece of parchment. Kenji had never heard of such a crude transaction.

“Yes,” Simin replied simply.

It was the first time in his life Kenji had heard such a blunt answer. Such conviction in a twelve-million-dollar deal... it was as if Simin was radiating a confidence that screamed, ’You’re going to buy this no matter what.’

It was utterly baffling. And yet, his mind began to race. ’Is there something I’m missing? Am I secretly afflicted with a disease that will give me a nervous tic if I don’t buy this land?’ No, that couldn’t be it. The thought of a territory had been buried deep in his subconscious—something he desperately wanted but hadn’t even begun to prepare for. Even his noble title would have been impossible if he hadn’t bought it from Simin.

“Hoo...” Kenji took a deep breath, regaining his composure before rejoining the conversation. “You seem certain that I will buy it.”

“Of course.”

“Why is that?”

“Looking at the amount of money you pour into Fantastic World, I figured the title of Baron who owns a territory is worth about that much to you.”

He was too stunned to speak.

“At the very least, you’d need to be a Count, or maybe a Viscount, to own land. But seeing as I’m already a Viscount after shamelessly sucking up to the Princess, you must have been planning this for years, right? I’m just saving you that time.”

“And that’s worth twelve million?”

“It’s not a huge sum, is it? Not compared to several years of your time.”

“It’s not a small sum, either,” Kenji retorted.

The verbal sparring between Simin and his new ‘customer’ was fierce. This wasn’t a negotiation between a seller and a buyer; it was a debate over the final price. If Kenji had no intention of buying, he would have drawn his weapon instead of talking. Simin knew this better than anyone, which allowed him to be even bolder.

“You should buy it. I didn’t come here to haggle.”

He was dumbstruck.

“This is an opportunity that will never come again. Even if you manage to raise your status and acquire a territory later, you’ll never get the premium option this one comes with.”

“...Premium option?”

“Tax exemption.”

He was too stunned to speak.

“It has absolutely no other benefits as a territory, but this is the premium I received in exchange. What do you think? Tempting, isn’t it?”

Behind his bravado, Simin always had a trump card. A card that made Kenji hesitate, that tipped the scales of his calculation. Kenji wasn’t a player who would just build a house and play lord for fun. No matter how much money he had, he knew that once he established a foundation and hired people, the money would start flowing back in. His cash investment in the game was meant to go that far—to build the foundation. After that, it was about self-sufficiency.

And for a self-sufficient territory, tax exemption was an enormous benefit. It was, as Simin said, an unbelievable privilege that money couldn’t buy. It was so good, it was hard to believe.

“The Emperor’s seal is right here, so you can stop doubting. So, how about it? Tempting, right?”

He was too stunned to speak.

Kenji could only nod. Of course, he was no fool. The Emperor wasn’t an idiot either; offering such a benefit meant the land in question was of incredibly low value. It probably couldn’t even be called land. It was likely a garbage plot, so worthless that the Empire would lose nothing by forgoing taxes on it, giving them a perfect excuse to avoid criticism from other nobles.

And he was about to buy it for twelve million dollars. He was undeniably being a sucker.

Yet, he thought about it. He considered it. And he made his decision.

“I’ll buy it.”

A smile was already on Simin’s face, as if he’d known all along. He immediately followed up, “Cash or gold?”

“I’d have to buy the gold anyway, so let’s do cash.”

“The price just went up to thirteen million. Please make the deposit.”

He was too stunned to speak.

“I don’t have to explain why, do I? Twelve million was the price for a quick deal.”

“Your business skills surpass those of most entrepreneurs,” Kenji said with a short, dry laugh.

He couldn’t help but chuckle. Even in a game, had he ever taken such a one-sided loss?

“You flatter me. I found that the more money I spent, the bolder I got.”

As Kenji’s resigned acceptance came through, the funds were transferred through the brokerage site. Only then did a genuine smile spread across Simin’s face as he started a more personal conversation. What he’d said was true. At the end of the day, he was just an ordinary man in his mid-twenties. How could he casually demand tens of millions in a deal like this?

But when it came to learning about money, he was a faster study than anyone. After buying the building and blowing through the seventeen million in his account, he had come to a certain realization about the nature of wealth.

’Money comes and goes. To someone who needs something, no price is too high. Value is determined by the one in power.’

It was a scoundrel’s mindset, but for a businessman, there was no greater enlightenment. Thanks to it, he had made a hefty profit.

Handing over the parchment and completing the transaction, Kenji finally asked, “How much did you originally pay the Emperor for this land?”

It was a basic question he should have asked from the start. But he knew Simin wouldn’t have answered, and if he was going to buy it anyway, knowing the exact amount he was losing would only wound his pride and make him back out. But now, the reason to hold back was gone. The deal was done. Simin wouldn’t reverse it, so he might as well hear the truth.

’Maybe double?’

In Kenji’s mind, that seemed plausible. Twelve million was a lot of money, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to his total assets. He could just think of it as buying a building for the future. A thousand square feet of imperial land... that seemed about right.

“Two gold.”

He was too stunned to speak.

“I bought it for two gold per square feet. Well, see you around.”

With an answer that completely shattered Kenji’s assumption, Han Simin vanished like the wind, adding another line to the legendary history of Fantastic World.