Roland raised his eyebrows at these words.

Confirming that the leader of the Merchant Guild before him was not joking, he gave a slight bow.

"Thank you, Mr. Derek."

"There’s no need for such formalities, Mr. Roland,"

Derek replied.

"I am merely fulfilling the promise Colin made."

Seeing that Roland did not show any signs of ecstasy upon hearing the news, Derek’s estimation of him quietly rose a little higher.

"Well then... please continue to enjoy the banquet."

Derek gave a slight nod and turned to leave.

Roland narrowed his eyes as he watched Derek’s back disappear into the crowd.

Before they had met, he’d assumed that a man with such power and status in the River Domain would be a stern and ruthless figure. He hadn’t expected him to be so approachable.

’Either way, I can finally put the matter of subduing the Wolf King behind me... The Knight’s Breathing Technique...’

The thought of the Secret Technique imbued with Extraordinary Power, soon to be in his grasp, made Roland take a deep breath, trying to suppress the excitement churning in his chest.

"Hey, Roland!"

Just then, a hand clapped him on the shoulder.

Roland turned his head and saw Galvis leaning in.

The Minstrel’s gaze followed the direction Derek had gone, and he asked in a low, curious voice,

"What did that big shot say to you just now?"

He then lowered his voice, his tone cautionary.

"Be careful. He’s not someone to be trifled with. What do the people of the River Domain call him again? A cunning old fox! Who knows what’s hiding behind that friendly face..."

"It was nothing important."

Roland took Galvis’s warning to heart and shook his head gently.

"Come on, it’s time for us to leave."

"Leave?"

Galvis looked surprised, glancing at the lavishly dressed guests.

"Don’t you need me to introduce you to a few lords and gather some information?"

"That won’t be necessary."

Now that he was getting the Knight’s Breathing Technique, there was no need to waste any more time among these nobles who only cared about balls and idle chatter.

"Huh? But..."

Galvis’s gaze drifted involuntarily toward the long table in the center of the hall, laden with delicacies.

Noticing his look, the corner of Roland’s mouth curled into a smile.

"Don’t worry, there’s no fish for dinner tonight."

"Really?"

Galvis’s eyes instantly lit up, and his face broke into a wide grin.

It wasn’t that he had a problem with Roland’s Culinary Skill.

On the contrary, he greatly admired Roland’s skill.

In most of the banquets the Minstrel had attended, the chefs’ skills couldn’t compare to Roland’s.

He was simply sick of eating fish.

"Well... how about we buy a few bottles of wine on the way?"

Galvis suggested enthusiastically.

"No problem."

With the matter of the Knight’s Breathing Technique settled, a great weight was lifted from Roland’s shoulders, so he had no reason to refuse.

"I want chicken and beef, too!"

Galvis’s eyes shone.

"The Elf Race has a few unique cooking methods. I’ll teach you..."

The two chatted and laughed as their figures gradually disappeared through the banquet hall’s entrance.

Watching Roland leave, Nelson, who had accompanied Derek, frowned deeply.

He leaned closer to Derek and spoke in a low voice. The friendly tone he had used when he first met Roland was gone, and his shrewd eyes glinted with the calculation and doubt peculiar to a Merchant.

"Mr. Derek..."

"Is it really wise to so easily bestow the Breathing Technique upon... such an unfamiliar young man?"

He paused, then added cautiously,

"Of course, I’m not questioning your decision, it’s just..."

Nelson tilted his head slightly, his voice even lower.

"After all, he hasn’t undergone any kind of assessment, and Mr. Colin’s judgment..."

He didn’t finish his sentence, but the hesitation in his eyes clearly showed his distrust of Colin’s ability to judge character.

"Nelson..."

Derek dealt with the fawning compliments from the surrounding Merchants while replying in a low voice to the old friend who had followed him for many years.

"You don’t just distrust Colin’s judgment..."

Derek turned his head, his sharp gaze catching the faint trace of arrogance in Nelson’s eyes.

"You don’t believe that such a young man could truly possess the kind of Power Colin described at his age, do you?"

Nelson met this with silence.

The head of the Merchant Faction took a small sip of the pale gold liquid in his cup and sighed helplessly.

"Setting aside whether Colin’s description was an exaggeration... didn’t you witness his ability for yourself at the Knight Academy that day?"

"A man who has never practiced the Knight’s Breathing Technique, yet he actually took a blow from Graham..."

Although Derek himself had not been there in person, recalling Nelson’s report from that time, the worldly Merchant still felt a hint of astonishment.

"Even if Graham wasn’t using his full strength, that’s enough to prove this young man’s value..."

"My apologies, Mr. Derek..."

Nelson’s voice was tinged with apology.

"I’m not blaming you, Nelson..."

Derek set down his wine glass, nodded to the nearby Merchants, and then led Nelson toward a corner of the banquet hall.

His gaze swept over Marston, who was forcing a smile in the crowd, then flickered to Graham, who stood silently by a table, focused only on downing his drink.

The Merchant leader sighed softly, a fleeting look of reminiscence in his eyes.

"I just want to remind you to think carefully about how far we’ve come..."

Derek’s voice was low and clear.

"When this land was still mired in the chaos of war, I was just a Fisherman, Graham was just a mercenary living on the edge of a blade, and as for Marston, hah..."

Derek let out a soft laugh. As he spoke of the past, the formulaic smile on his face softened for a rare moment.

"He was nothing more than a down-and-out young noble."

"But who would have thought..."

Derek’s voice held a strange, wistful tone.

"...that three nobodies like us would end up joining forces to create the River Domain? So..."

He clapped Nelson gently on the shoulder, his gaze turning sharp.

"Don’t pick up Marston’s bad habit. Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival. Arrogance is."

"When fortune smiles upon us, even ordinary people like ourselves can build a nation. So what of a young man who has already shown talent far beyond the ordinary at such a young age?"

"Even if he never becomes a subject of the River Domain in the future..."

Derek turned to leave, but his words carried clearly to Nelson’s ears.

"...he won’t forget that he received our goodwill when he was still a nobody. Compared to that..."

Derek’s steps never faltered, and his final words rang with conviction even against the boisterous backdrop of the banquet.

"...it’s just a mere copy of the Knight’s Breathing Technique. This deal... is an absolute bargain."