Beautiful Greed

Two Months and Three Days since the Last Death (Three Deaths)

"... So, is that what you aspire to?" Subaru asked sardonically, pointing to the mansion that stretched behind the gate in front of which they stood.

"Heh! I don't aspire to anything like that. And if I did, that would be nothing more than a childhood dream." Leith replied, snorting. "No, I have my feet a little more planted on the ground. Also, that level of ostentation's far outside of the spectrum of my tastes. And what do you say, Subaru? Isn't it your dream to wake up every day in a mansion like that?"

Subaru and Leith were in the high-class area of Lugunica, in the upper part of the city, not far from where the castle was located. The gate next to them was black, with metal rods bent like a drill and had a plate that was placed right in the center of it. Behind the gate was a ceramic tile path, surrounded by a beautiful garden planted with all kinds of floral bushes, and at the end of the path was a multi-story mansion, about five or six floors, the distance making it difficult to determine by just counting the windows.

The mansion seemed to be divided into up to five wings, one in the center and two on each side. In front of the central or main wing, there was a huge fountain of several feet of diameter, and in its center were several statues reminiscent of the Greek art of Subaru's world. The mansion itself was painted white, a white as neat as the morning clouds, and multiple statues were distributed in front of the mansion, each separated by about fifteen or twenty feet. The mansion was large enough to comfortably accommodate about five hundred people, or so it appeared.

"Nah, I agree with you. There's a limit to how wasteful one can be. And my limit is far below that of the owner of the mansion. Seeing that, are you sure that woman, Anastasia, is really interested in our work? It's true that the last few weeks have been especially good for us, but we've only been working on our ideas for just over a month, I don't think it's time enough to attract bigwigs as a candidate for royalty..."

"They are your ideas, not ours. And I cannot deny that I also have doubts about it, but I think we lose nothing by accepting her invitation."

"You don't have to be so humble. Without your help, I wouldn't have been able to give life to five percent of the ideas. Mine is hardly a canvas without color, it's thanks to you that the canvas can finally become the products that we've been producing."

"I would never have thought of any of the ideas we have been working with, so the one who's being too humble is you. But anyway! Either way, the important thing is that we're here, and a very important person's about to meet with us. We should focus on taking advantage of this opportunity, even if we, after all, leave here empty-handed."

"At least we can say that Anastasia Hoshin took an interest in our work. That will suffice to make our products better known. Otto will be very pleased with that."

Subaru smiled, remembering the friendly merchant who served as the contact between him and Leith. If it hadn't been for Otto, he would never have met his partner, which would mean that Subaru would still be trying to survive with just the money obtained from the sale of his cell phone. Certainly, twenty-one sacred gold coins is not a little money, but without that money, bringing his ideas from his old world to life would have been impossible. So, avoiding spending as much as possible, had been one of his main goals from the start.

After serving as a bridge between Subaru and Leith, and hearing about their business idea, Otto asked to join the alliance. The alliance forged between Leith and Subaru wasn't particularly complex. Subaru contributes with the ideas, detailing as much as possible the future uses of the product resulting from them, while Leith's in charge of turning those ideas into that product. With this proposal, both decided to divide the profits in half. Using money from the sale of Subaru's cell phone, and part of Leith's savings, they were able to invest in the materials so they could start working immediately after they forged the business alliance.

Given that the profits were already divided, and Otto was not so abusive as to ask for part of them in exchange for joining the alliance without contributing with anything during the design or development stage, the three agreed that Otto could buy the products created by Subaru and Leith at a price twenty-five percent lower than the rest of the merchants.

In return, Otto would oversee promoting and selling their products, thus placing them on the market much more quickly than they would have done without his help. Firstly, it may not seem like a particularly good deal for Otto, considering that there was still no market for Subaru's ideas. But Otto himself spoke against that, stating that he could feel that he would eventually reap great benefits from such a business alliance.

"You could even say that any results we get from this meeting, will be beneficial to Otto. After all, he'll continue to buy our products at a twenty-five percent discount no matter what."

"I'm fine with it, if it weren't for Otto's great effort, we wouldn't have had such a successful start." Leith nodded at Subaru's comment, while smiling calmly. "If he didn't have such a low luck stat, it's possible that even his name would currently be widely recognized among all merchants, even at Anastasia Hoshin level."

"Luck… stat?" Leith asked, frowning in confusion, but Subaru simply ignored him. "Sometimes I just don't get what you're talking about... But it's true, Otto really is totally out of luck. If he wasn't that good at negotiating, he may be dead by now. I still can't believe the first shipment of lighters ended up in the hands of highway robbers..."

"Hey, you don't have to be that negative. At least that caused us to suddenly have a lot of clients."

"Half of them looked like they wanted to rob us, and the other half seemed interested in killing us. But I agree that a client's a client, no matter who he's. Although that can also be a very dangerous idea, I hope that doesn't come back to bite our asses one day."

"If it does, we'll find a way to get out of it." Subaru smiled as he scratched his head, as if to imply that all this was just a small talk. After a little while, his gaze returned to the mansion behind the gate. "That cocky-eyed boy's really taking a long time to come back, don't you think?"

"Well, first of all, he didn't seem to trust us to be the merchants Anastasia-sama wanted to meet." Looking at himself and then at Subaru, Leith commented that with a gesture of having been scorned.

"Let him believe what he wants to believe, when he returns, he will have to bow his head while begging for forgiveness for his actions." Subaru scoffed, downplaying at what they were wearing. Now, Subaru was wearing an orange shirt covered by a black jacket and long pants, also orange.

In short, the first set of clothes he came across after opening his closet. He could even have gone with his beloved tracksuit, the only clothes he brought from his world, but Leith pointed out that he had been wearing it too much and that it gave a bad image when negotiating with merchants or clients.

"Tch, be quiet! There he comes." Correcting his posture, Leith motioned for Subaru to shut up and behave accordingly. Subaru would have liked to banter to annoy him, but he himself was aware that the meeting he was about to have could completely change the course of their lives, so he restrained himself.

On the other side of the gate, about thirty feet away, they saw approaching the boy who received them. About fifteen minutes had passed since he said he was going to notify his mistress of their arrival, and they were beginning to grow impatient. The difference from the first time, is that this time he was accompanied by another man. At the sight, Subaru frowned.

"It won't be that they will beat us up, right?" Subaru asked, whispering. Leith shook his head, as if to imply that he wasn't sure why the boy came back accompanied by another man either.

The boy had a slim body, dressed in a visibly luxurious black suit. On his fine complexion face, he wore a monocle over his yellow left eye, and had his purple hair was tied up in a ponytail that went down to his neck. Beside him was a man with very similar features, implying that they had a blood relationship.

The man had a stronger but not stocky complexion, his yellow eyes had a calm expression, and his hair, also purple, was loose, falling over his shoulders. What had really concerned Subaru and Leith was his clothing, as he wore a thin white suit with a high collar that completely covered his neck: the costume of the royal knights. Nervously, both companions waited silently until the two young men finally reached the gate. Once there, without delay, the knight proceeded to open the gate.

"Welcome, Leith-sama, Subaru-sama." The gentleman greeted, bowing his head in respect. The young man at his side did the same in complete silence. Leith, seeing such a show of respect, reacted similarly to them. But for his part, Subaru remained static. Not because he doubted the two young men, but because it was the first time that someone had treated him that way since he came to that world.

"Thank you very much, ehmm…" Leith started to return the greeting, but was cut off when he realized that he didn't know the name of any of the men. Noticing this, the knight lowered his head again.

"I apologize, apparently my brother's lack of decorum has led to this situation. My name is Julius Juukulius, the best knight of Anastasia-sama." The knight, Julius, introduced himself after apologizing for his brother's behavior. Thus, confirming Subaru and Leith's suspicions that they were being discriminated against. Subaru had little time to meet him, but he was beginning to like this Julius.

"Julius-sama, nice to meet you!" Leith apparently recognized the name since he lowered his head hastily while he spoke.

"There's no need to add the sama, Leith-sama." Julius pointed out, with a kind look.

"The Knight among knights definitely deserves it, more so if he is someone from the great Juukulius family." Leith, refusing to accept Julius's words, continued the exchange of words that way. For his part, Subaru was able to notice the grimace of discomfort made by Julius' brother when he heard about his family. "Furthermore, I can say exactly the same, the use of sama on your part is completely unnecessary."

"I insist, Leith-sama. Right now, I am only Anastasia-sama's knight, so as such, I must treat her guests with due respect." Leith finally fell silent after the knight's firmness, so Julius continued the procedure. "This young man next to me, is Joshua Juukulius, my brother. I apologize for his attitude towards you upon receiving you earlier. Unfortunately, he still has trouble recognizing the value of people."

"As my brother says, I deeply regret receiving you two in such an unsightly way and keeping you waiting."

"Subaru and I fully understand it, no apology needed, Joshua-sama." At the young man's words, Leith replied meekly, causing Subaru to frown.

"Why should we apologize? He's the one who prejudiced us because of our way of dressing, walking, or speaking. I am not going to apologize for his mistake in judging us. Julius, I accept the apology, thank you." Ignoring the annoyed look he received from Joshua and Leith, Subaru looked at Julius as he said that. The knight lowered his head once more and then indicated to be followed. Just then, Subaru heard Joshua whisper something.

"It seems like I wasn't wrong with him." Noticing that the young man was looking over his shoulder at him, Subaru prepared to answer him, but Leith stopped him before he could.

"Could you not forget where we are?" His partner scolded him.

"Me? Since when're you so docile to someone? Don't tell me that you behave like this just because they're noble."

"No, that's not why... My family owes the Juukulius family a lot, that's all. They may not remember it, but when my family and many others were close to bankruptcy due to the Demi-human Civil War, they saved us all by giving us a large donation. If it weren't for them, the Lugunica working class would have ended up worse than the lower class."

"Well, they didn't do much for the ghetto people, so it doesn't seem like something to suck on the soles of their shoes for." At Subaru's response, Leith frowned, but said nothing more about it. Out of the corner of his eye, Subaru could see that Julius was reprimanding his brother for his comment, which made him smile while ignoring Leith. "I like that Julius better and better."

After walking the ceramic path, the four men reached the entrance of the mansion, which led them directly to the hall of the mansion. The lobby was as large as could be expected considering the size of the mansion. It had several armchairs and tables where guests could sit. A huge chandelier hung in the center, and at the end of the hall, wide stairs, covered by an intricately patterned carpet, led to the second floor.

There they were met by multiple maids, dressed in a fine suit that was reminiscent of Subaru's world French maid suit, but demurer. Among the maids, Subaru noticed a being that stood out among all, it was a huge demi-human in the shape of a wolf or dog, he had a huge Mohican whose forelock protruded from his forehead, and his teeth-filled muzzle seemed to be smiling. His was bare chest, and he was barely covered with shoulder pads and wristbands, while his lower part was covered by leather pants.

"Julius, 're these the merchants the miss will be meetin' with?!" The werewolf, as Subaru decided to call him in his mind, asked Julius with a thunderous voice, as he approached them.

"Well, it would be more appropriate to call them craftsmen, but yes, it's them." Julius replied, while apologizing to Leith and Subaru through his gaze, for the werewolf's comment. To which both implied, with their gestures, that it was something of little importance. After all, if the situation called for it, as during Otto's absences, they would both carry out the tasks of a merchant.

"Terrific!" The werewolf smiled harder and turned to Subaru and Leith. "Name's Ricardo, and I'm kinda like the miss's chief of security. So, ya guys should be careful of what ya do around 'er."

Although his way of speaking did not indicate hostility, his words were another matter entirely. But Subaru couldn't help but pay attention to something completely different. It was Ricardo's accent. As someone who came to that world from Japan, and who never learned another language of his world, aside from a few words in English, it would be expected that he was naturalized with the accents that can be heard in his country.

And right now, that werewolf was speaking with the accent from the Kansai region. A rather curious detail. He wondered if he would find more accents from his country there, or even other languages of his world. If that were the case, he would definitely have to start wondering again about the connection between that world and his; which meant thinking of unpleasant things, like the last thing he said, or rather didn't say, to his mother. Or the fact that he could never see them again...

"Is something wrong, Subaru-sama?" Being pulled out of his thoughts by Julius, Subaru immediately shook his head.

"Nothing, it's just that the werewolf comment made me a little nervous." Wanting to hide the reason behind the expression he was surely making, Subaru excused himself saying that.

"Werewolf? Well, I'm a demi-human wolf, so I guess that name isn't too bad, boy. Still, I'd rather be called by my name." Ricardo scratched his forehead, completely ignoring the rest of what Subaru said outside of his nickname.

"Yes. Sorry, Ricardo..." Subaru decided to change the subject apologizing, because in first place, he said werewolf because he didn't think very well what he was saying.

"Can we meet Anastasia-sama, Julius-sa... Julius, at once?" Leith, understanding Subaru's objective, asked Julius if they could finally meet the woman they went to meet; narrowly succeeding in fulfilling Julius's wish not to be called with the sama treatment. The knight nodded, and still accompanied by Joshua, indicated that they should follow him again.

After going through a series of hallways, they reached the end of the last wing of the mansion located on the left, at the bottom of it. After crossing through a double door, they finally reached the office where the woman who invited them to meet with was. She was sitting at the back of the room, behind a considerably large wooden desk, especially considering the girl's size. Above the desk were multiple file heaps and other office supplies. A scene that Subaru had seen in more than one of the manga or anime that he saw throughout his otaku life.

In front of the desk was a shorter, elongated table, and in front of the table were multiple chairs. The entire room was covered in a rug that made it easy to just take a step. Behind the large piece of furniture was Anastasia Hoshin. A small woman, not more than five feet tall, wrapped in a white dress.

On her lilac hair, which was tied to her forehead with a star-shaped brooch, she wore a fur hat that was reminiscent of the hats seen in one of the countries of Subaru's world, called Russia, a very wintery place. Two furry pom-pom-like ball hung from the fur hat.

The woman gave a totally wintery air, at least what she was wearing, since she also had a plush fox-shaped white scarf around her neck. In addition to the whiteness of her clothes, the girl's innocent smile gave the sensation of seeing a small animal that you want to pamper. Completing her beautiful figure, her skin was snow white and her eyes were large and round, like turquoise gems. The innocent beauty of the woman was such that Subaru could not but compare her to that of "Satella".

"It's a pleasure to finally meet ya, Leith Hendar and..." The girl paused briefly, an instant that felt like hours to Subaru, who was being scrutinized by Anastasia's beautiful gaze. "... Subaru Natsuki."

"The pleasure is all ours, Anastasia-sama. That you have taken the time to meet with us, pleased us significantly." Leith ducked his head in respect, but this time Subaru did not forget to imitate him.

"Terrific. Now, please take seat." The girl pointed to the two chairs placed right in front of her desk, chairs that Subaru had not noticed before. Apparently, while lost in Anastasia's gaze, Julius or Joshua arranged two of the chairs previously placed in front of the smaller table. Subaru and Leith immediately obeyed. "Thanks, Julius, Joshua. Ya can wait outside the room."

Heeding their mistress's orders, the two young men ducked their heads in unison and left the room. After that, only Subaru, Leith and Anastasia remained in that place. Considering that they were never checked, Subaru began to doubt the security protocols in that place. Then, out of nowhere, something jumped on his legs.

"Onii-san, don't you think you've been lookin' at my lady too much? If you plan to do somethin' bad, Mimi will take care of avoidin' it."

Subaru, bewildered, looked down, to found two big eyes like Anastasia's. Subaru would have thought he was before the girl's daughter or little sister, if it hadn't been because there stopped the similarities. The kid had two hairy cat ears on her head, her hair was orange and was combed in two little pigtails. She was dressed in a white robe or cloak with orange stripes on the edges. Also, she carried a small cane on her hands, with which she was aiming at Subaru.

"Huh? Who's she?" The one who asked wasn't Subaru, who was still completely baffled, but Leith.

"I'm Mimi, Mimi! I'm in charge of seein' to it that nothin' happens to the lady while she negotiates." The kid smiled as she pointed to herself, proud.

"Mimi, ya know very well that ya cannot be disrespectful to the guests. Get off Natsuki-kun." Anastasia rebuked Mimi like she would a child, and the little girl obeyed without saying a word. Jumping up, she dropped off Subaru's knees, then placed herself on Anastasia's knees. "Sorry, it seems today my servants have been very disrespectful towards ya. I apologize on behalf of 'em, as their mistress." Anastasia made a complicated gesture while apologizing for Joshua's and Mimi's behavior. "I just want to point out that she's Mimi, the second in command of my security team, and she'll accompany us to make sure that no problem arises. Do ya've any problem with her keepin' us company during' the meetin'?"

"Of course not, Anastasia-sama!" Leith was quick to respond. "And I'm sure Subaru thinks the same despite—" Before he could finish answering instead of Subaru, who was silent, Leith was interrupted.

"Miss, Mimi only did it 'cause the black-haired Onii-san was lookin' at the lady suspiciously." Mimi defended herself, jumping on Anastasia's lap. Subaru, still in a trance, was unable to understand how that kid was called the second in command of Anastasia's security team, and nobody seemed to react to it. Even so, he couldn't point out that seemingly minor issue.

"Ehmm, I also apologize on behalf of my partner, if he bothered you, Anastasia-sama." Leith nudged Subaru in the side while responding like that. Subaru, who had been exchanging his gaze between Anastasia and Mimi, coughed, and proceeded to apologize as well.

"Sorry, Anastasia-sama... It's just that your accent sounds very familiar to me." Once again, Subaru took advantage of a peculiarity of his interlocutor to hide his shortcomings of attitude, as he did with Ricardo. In this case, Subaru took advantage of the fact that he could notice the same accent from the Kansai region that he heard before in Ricardo, also in Anastasia.

"Oh! Have ya already been to Kararagi, Natsuki-kun? Or have ya met someone from there? If that's the case, that must be why it sounds familiar to ya, as it's the accent we all speak there."

"No, excuse me. It must be that I got confused, because I've never been there, and I've never met anyone from Kararagi either." Subaru lowered his head while apologizing for his attitude, while storing in his mind the information he had just received; perhaps he could find a clue that would give him back hope that he could get back to his world, to his parents.

"Putting that aside... Could you tell us the reason why you called us to this meeting, Anastasia-sama?" Leith decided to take the opportunity to return to the reason why they were there. Not that he and Subaru were completely unaware of why Anastasia had called them to meet, they just had to make sure they were under no false illusions.

"Sure, that's why I called ya here." The girl smiled, but it was evident that her expression became more serious, leaving behind the innocent look of just a moment ago. It was time to negotiate. Ideally it would have been done in the company of Otto, their fellow merchant, but he was not in the capital, and Anastasia had already assigned the meeting date. "As I indicated in the letter, I'm considerably interested in your business project."

"I'm so glad to hear you say that. Thank you, Anastasia-sama." Visibly moved, Leith thanked Anastasia's evaluation.

"There's no need to thank. My opinion's what it's, due to the results ya've obtained thanks to your efforts. No... It goes further. Your business's a new one. Too new, in fact. Any merchant at my level, especially an owner of a large company such as mine, would avoid doin' business with a small company with such a short time of existence like yours. Since, before ya can talk about business, contracts or pacts, a business must be consolidated. By then, one can be sure that the foundations are firm enough and will not crumble and end up causing loss."

"Then why…?"

"Why're ya two 'ere?" The girl smiled sweetly, as she finished Subaru's question, while crossing her hands and placing her chin on them. Her eyes were shining with mesmerizing sagacity. "'Cause I'm a greedy gal who wants everything and who gets everything. If I want it, it will end up in mine hands. And after that, I'll make sure it grows, giving me even more. I plan to do exactly that with this kingdom, and now I wanna do it with this interesting business of yours..."

The girl kept talking, but Subaru, who had decided to become humbler, had simply ceased to be able to understand what she was saying. How is it possible that someone so greedy exists in this world? That doubt didn't leave his mind. What the girl was saying was supposed to be disgusting to him... So why wasn't it? Maybe he admired her? He admired her determination to fulfill her wishes, her determination not to settle for less...

Subaru knew it. Anastasia was a girl who was born in poverty. Orphaned, and living on the streets, it was only time until hunger ended her, until she ended up dead in an alley, or ended up selling her body. But she used her head to get out of her situation, with her perseverance and her great vision for business, she started working for a company in Kararagi, and started to climb ranks thanks to her incredible performance. To finally become the owner at the age of twenty.

After that, she changed the name of the company to Hoshin Trading Company, as well as she took that last name for herself. Anastasia decided to have it all and started doing something about it. It is true that Subaru was unaware of all this until a few days ago, but after investigating her biography to prepare for the meeting, it was then that he understood who Anastasia Hoshin was.

Of course, even a moment before he saw her, he had doubts about her. Since all that information could have been exaggerated, or directly fabricated. But now that he had her face to face, he was sure. That woman was the one described in that biography, there was no doubt; that's what those turquoise eyes conveyed to him.

That woman who didn't accept the humility in which she was born and worked hard to improve her condition. Leith, the young man who struggles to honor his family's name, raise his social status, and ensure a future for his progeny, so that they do not suffer the cruelty of poverty. Those two people who were life fighters were facing each other. Making him, Subaru, the one who cowed and decided not to fulfill the promise he made with the girl who helped him, out of tune.

Subaru, who settled for who he was, and decided to leave everything in the hands of the Sword Saint, while he stepped aside and accepted his weakness. Is that humility? Or is it just cowardice? Subaru didn't know. What he did know is that he wanted to follow someone like Anastasia, he wanted to have someone like Leith as his partner, he wanted to do business with someone like Otto. Who, despite his bad luck, continues to struggle with the chances as the merchant who he's. So that's why he didn't dislike the girl's extreme greed, because he admired the determination that lay beneath all that desire; determination to complement one's greed.

The humility of knowing your own limitations, but still doing something about them; that's what Subaru wanted. Anastasia, who was born in the humblest cradle, and accepting her limitations, decided to exploit what she excelled at. Because a girl like her, who used what she had on hand to climb so high, would have to be very self-aware. That, that is what Natsuki Subaru wanted to do with his life, with his supposed humility.

"-Hendar-kun... Natsuki-kun... I pride myself on knowin' when a business has potential and when it doesn't, and though yours is just startin', I can see that it has enormous potential. Enough to call ya here, before another merchant has a chance to do so." The girl paused again, looking into the eyes of the two young men before her. "I want us to make a commercial pact, one in which we all benefit. Ya'll give me your conditions, and I'll give ya mine. But before that, I want to know if ya're really interested in takin' this great step. It can bring about a great change in your lives, so ya've the chance to think it over, just keep in mind that I'm an impatient gal... And consider this: if ya accept, ya'll achieve all that ya've been working so hard for."

With a last mesmerizing smile that declared that she knew everything about the content of their hearts and souls, the girl finally finished her monologue. Both Subaru and Leith were completely thoughtful. Deeply sunk in a sea of thoughts, desires, and doubts. The first to react of the two was Leith, who with a rough voice due to the dryness of his throat began to say.

"The proposal is indeed tempting, Anastasia-sama. But as you said, this's something that we must consider carefully. Furthermore, our business project isn't only made up of the two of us. A merchant, Otto Suwen, who unfortunately was unable to attend due for professional reasons, is also in league with us. So please give us a week and... "But before Leith could finish speaking, Subaru finally came out of his mental trance and cut him off.

"I accept…!" With a gasp, Subaru screamed in a muffled voice. After gulping down some air and standing up, Subaru spoke again, ignoring Anastasia's slightly shocked expression and Leith's surprised face. "We accept, Anastasia-sama! Just tell us your terms and we'll sign it!"