Ten chests stood in a row. Young Lissop and Fontel took their places on either side and opened them one by one.
Gold coins!
The chests were filled to the brim with gold coins, gleaming with gold's unmistakable luster.
Gasp!
The merchants sucked in sharp breaths at the sight.
They could not put a price on the books presented earlier, but the gold coins before them were tangible wealth whose value they knew perfectly well.
They stared at the coins, rapidly estimating their number.
Each chest held at least two thousand gold coins.
With ten chests, that meant...
Twenty thousand?!
At that realization, envy and jealousy flashed in many of the merchants' eyes.
But not greed.
Perhaps they felt it inside, but they would never let it show.
They had already heard of the Lady of the Long Night's methods. Now, they had learned firsthand that she also had a Medium from South Los behind her.
So those earlier rumors about her keeping him might actually be true!
Quite a few merchants thought this to themselves.
At the same time, they edged farther into the corner.
This was hardly an occasion for them to make themselves stand out.
Hadn't they seen Brewer huddling there like a frightened quail?
Seeing Brewer's state, some merchants immediately narrowed their eyes as other ideas began to take shape in their minds.
And Brewer?
Of course he noticed those looks.
But the wealthy merchant had no attention to spare for them now.
He wanted nothing more than to slap himself.
He wanted to demand why he had let success go to his head and been so shortsighted.
Just look at the situation before him!
The gulf between him and the Lady of the Long Night was as vast as that between heaven and earth. How