"--And you provided him with sponsorship."
Iver confirmed.
He stared into Grandet's eyes, as if he could see straight into his heart. "Because you are the one known as 'Hidden in the Horse's Belly'... right?"
In truth, Iver did not specifically remember Grandet's past.
He only vaguely remembered that Grandet had once suffered a serious illness. As a child, he had crawled into a horse's belly... and then recovered. The result was that he became hideously ugly.
"Yes, just like me."
But Grandet answered calmly, without the slightest hesitation over the matter. "Judging from that apprentice priestess named Niya, Hassan could very well have grown into a handsome man. Yet because fate tormented him, he became black, ugly, thin, and short. You've heard my story, haven't you?"
"Mm. You were forced to hide in a horse's belly, which deformed your appearance... something like that."
Iver answered vaguely.
"Exactly." Grandet slowly nodded. "My parents provoked an enemy—the goblins of the Gold Tooth family. They belonged to the Gold Flash Faction and tended to purchase and monopolize various mining industries within the guild, while the Dead Eye Family came from the Silver Tongue Faction... Our main businesses are investment and fraud."
At this point, he gave Iver a frank smile. "For major clients worth maintaining, we are the best investors. Other goblins wouldn't offer prices as favorable as ours. Because we understand what the future means—"
"And if they have no future, you switch straight to fraud and squeeze out their last penny, right?"
Iver chuckled.
He knew about this as well. Even though the game had not contained any relevant knowledge, the factions within the Goblin Merchant Guild were not secret. A casual investigation would reveal them.
Grandet did not argue. He merely smiled at Iver and continued, "We goblins have