I Became A Black Merchant In Another World-Chapter 209: Agitation and Profit (4)

The Red Sunset Tavern, where many of the common folk of Vitelzbach gathered.

In front of it, a man was holding a newspaper and loudly reading the contents for everyone to hear.

“Listen up! It’s been reported that a horrific serial murder occurred in the Vitelzbach Barony, where a son killed his parents and siblings! Who would commit such a vile crime?!”

If the Vitelzbach Baron had heard this, it would have been a disgrace he would have desperately tried to conceal.

It would be enough to make anyone’s stomach churn, not to mention flip inside out.

No matter how impossible it was for the Baron to keep track of the actions of every single person in his territory, it would still be seen by the public as a failure of the Baron to properly manage his lands.

Those who had gathered around to hear the news reacted with enthusiasm.

“Did you hear that? What kind of twisted son would do such a thing?”

“Like a heathen! He kills his own parents? You must listen to your parents as if they were the words of Deus himself!”

Compared to the frenzied and extreme filial piety found in Joseon, where sometimes widowed daughters-in-law were encouraged by their father-in-laws to commit suicide (referred to as natural deaths), the culture on this continent was a little softer.

However, this world still placed great emphasis on patriarchy and filial duty.

If a parent had no money, it was permitted to sell their child, and in other worlds, someone who would be sentenced to ten years in prison for child abuse would simply be considered someone who ‘overdid it’ with their ‘discipline’.

Naturally, people’s anger toward the unfilial child’s crime was only heightened.

“The Vitelzbach Baron punished that wicked boy with the breaking wheel! The breaking wheel is a brutal execution, but isn’t it too lenient for such a vile child?”

Everyone cheered in approval, shouting their agreement.

Meanwhile, the street vendor (affiliated with the Thief Guild) continued reading loudly.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg! Did you hear the rumors about Count Berg and his young servant, Friedrich, engaging in... unspeakable acts?”

At these words, some immediately gagged.

Heathens might be forgiven a hundred, a thousand times, if they converted, but someone who practiced sodomy was considered less than an animal, a mere beast, which was common knowledge across the Albanian continent.

“Shooting game. Ah, my mouth!”

The street vendor smacked his own mouth.

“My mouth’s a little loose, it seems. Even if it’s true, I shouldn’t be saying this, so let’s pretend you didn’t hear it, alright?”

He couldn’t take back what he’d said, and even if he tried, it would be pointless—a fact known to even a three-year-old.

Just then, a guard officer passed by and overheard the conversation.

Everyone held their tongues, but their thoughts were clear.

‘That guy’s going to lose his head today.’

Logically speaking, how could a nobleman be a homosexual? It must have been a lie to gather people, and since it dishonored a nobleman’s reputation, the punishment would be severe...

However, the officer did not arrest the vendor but simply ignored him as he passed by.

This meant that the guards were aware of the rumor.

“Haha! I may be loose with my mouth, but I never lie! Do you think the tavern owner would give me money if I were lying? I’m just trying to make a living, you know?”

The vendor’s words continued.

Two young nobles passing by sighed heavily.

“Some crazy guy offered free information and handed us a piece of paper. At first, it sounded like nonsense, but it was so interesting that we kept reading and lost track of time...”

The parricide in the Vitelzbach Barony or the rumor of some count raping his maid with a fiancé were interesting topics, sure, but they didn’t pose a mortal threat to the high-ranking individuals involved.

They were the kinds of things that could happen anywhere.

But the story about Count Berg’s homosexuality...

“Don’t even mention it, Einz. Just in case, I looked into Count Berg. Turns out his wife has been running around trying to secure the succession rights for her ten-year-old son since last year. I wonder what could be the reason for that? I mean, Count Berg isn’t sick, so...”

There are two main reasons why a noble loses their title.

Treason or disobedience in battle.

But if the head of the family engages in something like homosexuality or apostasy—something utterly unforgivable by the standards of Deus—that noble would lose their title.

“This thief who brought the news actually got it right. I should go to him next time I need to mess with Baron Schwarz.”

“I agree with that.”

Fabio was, of course, using professional spies disguised as ordinary people from his family, but for typical nobles, using the Thief Guild or other trusted acquaintances—or even a servant in the know—was the best option.

Those who were devoted to their families might know their business well, but for everyone else, mixing a little ‘truth’ with ‘fake’ information made it too easy to be misled.

‘The news this thief brought us, though, was all true.’

“So, do you think that the claim that Archbishop Mainz and the clergy lords are blaming themselves for the defeat in the war is true?”

“Well, hasn’t everything the news guy brought been true so far?”

A rookie swindler and a professional swindler.

The difference between the two is how long they can wait.

The rookie swindler uses flashy words from the start, committing small cons to barely scrape by. But the professional targets bigger goals: a house, a car, hundreds of thousands of coins.

A true expert doesn’t hesitate to build trust over years, pretending to be the most reliable person, helping with hospital bills, attending funerals with fake tears, borrowing a few coins and paying them back promptly—before eventually asking for loans or guarantees and vanishing without a trace.

Fabio’s tactics were similar to those of a professional con artist.

He would tell only the truth, then mix in a single lie that made everything seem believable.

“Honestly, if we’re going to lose the territory, we should at least take the clergy lords’ lands. I participated in the war, and the Pope’s general kept making nonsense arguments, causing us to lose.”

The Pope’s general had opposed the idea of pushing for military success, while the Holy Empire’s general pursued his own country’s interests. With conflicting goals, their strategy had been a disaster.

Too many people at the helm, and the ship just went off course.

“How could we win a war with so many captains?”

“You must have seen the papers that the news guy spread, Your Majesty.”

Fabio’s newspaper was distributed in a thousand copies.

Four hundred copies were sent out for free to high-ranking figures in the capital, while the remaining six hundred were posted in busy taverns and gathering spots.

One paper per person might have been hard to achieve, but this was enough to make an impact.

The politics of the Holy Empire were already shaking at their roots.

And the clergy...

The Archbishop of Mainz, the highest-ranking of all the ecclesiastical lords, was pulling at his hair.

He had very little hair left to pull, but that didn’t stop him from making a scene.

“Who the hell is this crazy bastard?! Who would say something like we’re admitting our own mistakes?!”

If he knew who had said it, the Archbishop, with the power of his station and the might of the Church, would have dunked them into the river right away.

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But since the anonymous statement couldn’t be traced to anyone, he had no way to act.

“Archbishops Trier and Gallia. Those two bastards would never admit their own mistakes.”

Both were high-ranking lords, each perfectly capable of committing murder and then calmly claiming, “Oh, that person just died naturally.”

But to admit they were wrong in a war?

That was impossible unless someone had tortured them.

All three were clerics who also held political power, and it was clear that they wouldn’t acknowledge their mistakes.

“The clergy lords. That Priera bastard.”

He was particularly known for his focus on charity and the care of orphans, so it was likely that he was the one making this declaration.

“I’m losing my mind! We already have so few clergy lords in the Holy Empire, and they’re weak as it is.”

Eight percent of the nobles above the rank of Baron in the Holy Empire were clergy lords.

These were priests who had been appointed by the Pope to rule as lords.

“Public opinion has already tilted against us... there’s nothing we can do now.”

The Archbishop of Mainz made a decisive resolution.

“We’ll have to confiscate the territories of those we suspect are traitors.”

And with that, Fabio immediately sought an audience with the Emperor of the Holy Empire.