Hero or Villain, Both

A chill ran down the spines of not just the middle aged man, but his entire group.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but I just slapped him in the face to stop him from talking.

The driver didn't seem worried at all about leaving me in the middle of the forest like this as he suddenly drove off.

Once he was gone, I just looked at them with a cold smile and said, "Well, it's time to have a little talk. I hope that you'll be honest with me. If you are honest, then I'll promise that I'll make this painless."

Once again, another chill ran down their spines.

…

"Young master, where did you leave them?" The driver asked when he came back with some of the guards that we hired.

I looked at him and asked, "Where do you think I left them?"

The driver just said with a sigh, "It would have been useful having some of them as hostages. They would have been useful to use in our case against the Dire Bear Company."

I understood where he was coming from, but I said with a shake of my head, "With the things that I've found, there's no need for those people anymore. Rather, it's better if they disappear completely since they would have just caused trouble for the things that we're about to do."

The driver didn't answer right away as he narrowed his eyes to look at me.

After a moment of silence, he finally asked, "Then they really are one of the targets?"

I gave a simple nod in response.

Seeing this, the driver didn't ask anything else as he simply said, "Then I'll take care of this matter. I'll make sure that everything is taken care of for when the time comes."

Once again, I gave another simple nod in response.

Instead, I changed the topic by saying, "How's the store doing? Is it ready to open?"

"All that's left is to hold the opening ceremony." The driver said in a casual tone as he started driving the carriage after I got in.

The guards didn't say anything from beginning to end.

They knew what they were doing and headed off into the forest without a word.

They would take care of the scene that I had left behind.

With a nod, I said, "Good, then let's hold it as soon as possible. We need to open the store before we can start the second part of the plan."

"Yes, young master." The driver said without any complaints.

While looking out the carriage, there was a faint smile that appeared on my face.

Though I told the driver that it was for the plan that I took care of those people, it wasn't the complete truth. There was a part of me that had been a bit annoyed because of the things that the main body said.

So it would have been a lie if I said that I didn't take my anger out on those people that had come to attack us.

Still, it was the truth that it was best for us to take care of them.

After all, they would have made the second part of the plan much more complicated if they were still alive.

"Now, let's see how this store does."

…

"Welcome to the grand opening of the Grand Shopping Mall!"

Everyone in the crowd looked confused when they heard this.

After all, the term 'mall' was not one that they had heard before.

Seeing this, the person who was on the stage went on to explain what the mall was.

When they heard this explanation, the people in the crowd slowly started to understand what a 'mall' was and it was clear that they were excited about seeing what was in stock.

At the same time…

"For the first hundred customers, we will be offering discounts. At the same time, those that reach the milestones of thousand, ten thousand, and hundred thousand customers will receive large prizes. We will also be holding a bingo event that will offer big prizes for everyone if they shop with us today, so I hope that everyone will take advantage of this."

The people in the crowd didn't seem as excited about this at first, but that soon changed when they heard about the prizes that would be offered.

It didn't take long before everyone seemed like they wanted to bust down the doors.

Seeing this from afar, a faint smile appeared on my face.

To the side though, one of my assistants couldn't help asking, "Young master, isn't it a bit too much to offer all of these as prizes? After all, there's no telling how much each person will spend and our profit margins are low. If we do something like this, we might not even be able to make a profit."

I looked at him and said, "Why do you think that?"

The assistant looked surprised to hear this, but then he said, "Well, it's simply because the customers that we are appealing to are commoners. They don't have much money in the first place, so it isn't as if they will buy much."

I gave a nod to show that I understood where he was coming from before saying, "Why do you look down on the commoners that much? Just because they don't have as much money as the nobles, why do you think that they have no money at all?"

The assistant was caught off guard and didn't know how to respond to this.

I didn't care that he had this expression as I turned back and said, "Just wait until the end of the day. You'll be surprised by how much money these commoners that you speak of really have."

There were looks of doubt that were cast in my direction, but I didn't say anything as I continued watching the crowd enter the mall that I had opened.

It was as if I already knew how much we would be making with the look that was in my eyes.