Chapter 393

*Buzzing—*

Sure enough, after seeing the demonstration, the merchants also realized this wasn’t right, and they conversed with flustered expressions.

A golem that prayed on one’s behalf, of all things.

Wasn’t prayer originally supposed to be done by the person themselves with a sincere heart?

*Step—*

One of the merchants, who looked the oldest, stepped forward on their behalf.

Roan was honestly curious about how Uli would react if the merchants boycotted that golem.

“Um… Professor.”

“Yes?”

The merchant looked highly conflicted about whether he should say this.

Then, gathering his courage, he spoke up.

“This is a truly artistic golem! We could not help but be filled with admiration!!!!”

“Is it truly alright to sell such a masterpiece to mere merchants like us?”

“Yes. As long as you pay well.”

“???”

Roan looked around, wondering if he was dreaming.

“Roan, what kind of bullshit is that?”

Hearing such harsh words come from the mouth of the gentle Rafia, it really did feel like a dream.

“Is it possible they are making things up because he is the professor?! My ‘Invincible Conscience Interrogation Tool Using a Scale’ would rather be better.”

“Interrogate your own conscience first, Hector. And it’s ‘Invincible Conscience Interrogation Device Using a Scale’.”

“Ah, so it was.”

“Pathetic.”

“You actually memorized that, Roan…?”

He couldn’t even properly memorize the name of the holy relic he made himself, so what was he talking about.

Roan asked Sion, who was silent.

“What do you think, Sion?”

“Hmm…”

Sion pouted and pondered.

“Honestly, I don’t really know. At a glance, one could call it blasphemy, but…”

“You mean there is another way to look at it?”

Roan also nodded.

Indeed, interpretations of art could vary greatly.

If it were a golem that prayed to a god instead of a person, it would definitely fall under the category of blasphemy.

‘But what if it’s just a golem that prays to a god?’

Especially since it was a golem infused with Uli’s artificial intelligence.

“In truth, not only humans but all things were created by Lord Hiloa and the gods! Why should only humans offer prayers? By granting an inanimate golem the ability to pray, hasn’t the professor further expanded Lord Hiloa’s domain! Why haven’t other artisans thought of this yet!”

The merchant who stood as their representative cried out, shedding tears of deep emotion.

“Is, is that so?”

“Hearing it now, it does make sense.”

The students were also gradually being convinced by his words.

Rather than simply outputting inputted values, if it could pray according to the time and situation using AI, it was certainly a grand invention.

However.

“No? I just made it because praying is a hassle.”

…Since the creator’s intention was in that sorry state, rather than creation or expansion of domains, it had to be viewed simply as blasphemy.

*Dumbfounded—*

Hearing Uli’s words, the merchant’s jaw dropped.

Roan nodded.

‘Yes, please report him.’

If one did not report him even after hearing that, they couldn’t be called a devout believer…

“Th-this is a revolution that transcends art!”

“?????”

But seeing the merchant like it even more, even the great Roan didn’t know how to react.

A revolution?

‘Ah, does he mean raising a revolution against Hiloa?’

If so, it made perfect sense.

‘They should all just receive divine punishment.’

*Hum—*

Although it seemed the proper order would be for him to receive it first.

What did it matter if a golem did some praying on their behalf?

There was even a black mage openly attending Acherandir.

‘Though I am at least trying to live diligently…’

Roan shook his head.

“It prays on my behalf? I must buy that!”

“Does that mean we can do business even during prayer times now?”

Seeing people who claimed to be citizens of the Holy Empire say such things, even a black mage couldn’t help but feel pathetic.

Pathetic at himself, for having to live suppressed under such bastards!

Just then, Demona called Roan.

“Hey, Roan.”

“What.”

“Isn’t prayer originally something you do yourself? Why are they so happy?”

“…”

Roan looked at Demona, lost for words.

Then, he briefly stated his opinion.

“I see why you are from the family of sages.”

“Hehe, oh stop it.”

The Wycronon family definitely deserved the nickname of the family of sages.

At the very least, they seemed much wiser than those people who rejoiced at not having to pray themselves.

* * *

“Ten thousand gold! Ten thousand gold has been bid! Any more bids?”

“Kh, frustrating.”

“If only I had eight thousand gold more…”

Regretful voices echoed from here and there,

and in the end, it was the ‘Gab Merchant Group’ that claimed Uli’s prayer golem.

“Hahaha! This is the financial power of Gab!”

The representative of the Gab Merchant Group stepped forward, spreading his arms wide as if to show off to the other merchants.

The Gab Merchant Group was a massive merchant group ranked in the top five in the vicinity.

Even so, ten thousand gold must have been a bit of a burden, but it seemed he had intentionally overspent to demoralize the competing merchant groups.

The other merchants voiced their jealousy.

“Boo, down with mammonism!”

“You demon who sold your soul to money!”

‘…Are those words fit for a merchant to say?’

It was a bit strange that they said such things as if it were natural, when they were in the same position anyway.

In any case, the representative of the Gab Merchant Group greeted Uli.

“We will make good use of this fine item, Professor.”

“Yes. You won’t have to pray anymore.”

“Indeed! Hahaha!”

A merchant and an artisan claiming to be followers of the Hiloa Order, yet openly rejoicing at having no reason to pray!

“Roan, what are you thinking about?”

“Wondering why people like that don’t receive divine punishment.”

Honestly, shouldn’t people like that be prioritized over a quietly living black mage?

“Ah…”

Sion nodded slightly as if she sympathized.

And the long-awaited final order approached.

An unprecedented situation where a student was assigned an order later than even the professor, Uli.

*Rattle—*

Uldein pushed forward, placing Roan’s creation on a large cart.

“Oh…”

“Young Master Darc’s creation?”

In fact, the reason Roan came out later than Uli was simple.

“So what did they say that is?”

“Who knows?”

It was because no one had any idea how to use Roan’s item.

Only that it was roughly based on a calculator.

“Since I don’t have any information on what kind of holy relic it is either, student Darc, please demonstrate it immediately!”

“Yes.”

Hence, the demonstration of the holy relic, which was practically a formality, drew even more attention.

With everyone harboring curiosity since Roan hadn’t even told his friends,

“…Professor, please step back.”

*Sniff, sniff—*

Roan spoke to Uli, who was clinging close to the calculator he made and sniffing it.

As a hybrid of a spiritual beast, Uli’s senses were extremely sharp.

Not only the five senses but also danger detection, a sixth sense, and so on.

However, the most exceptional sense among them was—

“I definitely smell money, but…”

the sense for finding things that make money!

Roan gestured to him and said,

“Then please step aside over there and sniff. I have to demonstrate it first.”

“Yes. I want to watch too.”

Instead of sniffing, Uli plopped down next to Roan.

After briefly loosening his hands, Roan pressed the main ignition switch.

*Whirrrr— Click— Click— Click—*

A noise that was certainly hard to hear in this world came out.

Though some noise was mixed in due to using a primitive switch,

‘Just how long has it been since I last heard a booting sound?’

it was a nostalgic sound that brought a tear to Roan’s eye.

“Wh-what is it?”

“What’s happening?”

Both merchants and students stared at Roan’s machine with wide eyes.

And not long after,

*Ping! Clack-clack-clack-clack—*

numerous light bulbs on the keyboard began to glow.

However, it wasn’t just a matter of glowing.

“!!!”

“Th-that is!”

The merchants were astonished.

Calculators of this era were strictly mechanical.

The only things that could be inputted and outputted were numbers and arithmetic symbols.

However.

—Commercial Assistant Complete Calculator “D” v.0.1—

▶Start

Settings

Commercial Dictionary

Regional Dictionary—

“Wh-what is that?”

Countless light bulbs lit up, and when viewed from a distance, clear letters could be seen!

This was indeed a culture shock.

A revolution that would change the paradigm of commerce.

A giant footstep that would advance the technology of this era by a step!

Roan placed the cursor on ‘Start’ and hit enter.

At that,

—▶Inventory Management

Client Management

Sales Payment Calculation

Tax Rate Calculation

Mock Transaction

—

Menu options that were a literal dream for merchants were displayed on the screen.

“Che, tsk! What’s so great about that?!”

“I-it’s easier to just do it by hand!”

The students habitually tried to look down on Roan, but they couldn’t help their voices trembling.

Furthermore, even that was impossible this time.

*Plop— Plop—*

It was because the merchants, who were watching Roan’s demonstration with wide eyes, began to fall to their knees one by one.

Undeterred, Roan entered the submenus and conducted a full-scale demonstration.

Not only the function to database the items they handled by category, supplier, unit price, expiration date, and so on,

but also simple transaction amount calculations, estimated tax calculations, and even a mock transaction function that analyzed the strategy of the opposing merchant group!

“Of course, the information entered here may not be accurate. In that case, you can enter settings at any time to modify the information…”

Roan had naturally added a feature allowing whoever purchased this calculator to update the information.

The holy power switches that everyone had thought useless were prepared precisely for this!

Roan had confidence in the calculator he made.

In fact, when playing “God & Devil,” he had created it out of curiosity, wondering if such a thing was possible, and succeeded by something close to a fluke, but its power was truly formidable.

‘In “God & Devil,” if you had just this one thing, you could clear a merchant playthrough with your eyes closed.’

Roan’s life masterpiece, developed through countless challenges!

The single path that allowed one to surpass the prestige of even that Richmond family!

Absolute power on the merchant route!

…The game company section chief had even left a high praise, saying that if they had made the game this well instead of making something like this, they would have won GOTY already.

At any rate, though he originally crafted it in absolute secrecy and used it alone,

since there was no reason for him to do business in Roan’s body, and he could just make another one, he intended to sell it for a large sum of money.

After showing that there were no anomalies in the functions by inputting various complex formulas, Roan shut down the calculator and spoke.

“There are various other functions as well, but a manual is available in the settings for your reference.”

As Roan stood up, the merchants, still kneeling, raised both hands as if holding something up and shouted.

“Ohhh!”

“This is the God of Trade itself!”

“The God of Trade, the Complete Calculator!”

“Hmm?”

However, suspicious remarks were mixed in here and there, causing Roan’s eyebrow to twitch.

On Earth, such words were used merely as praise, but it was different here where gods actually existed.

There was even a God of Trade named Merchentir!

‘Even a guy like that doesn’t receive divine punishment…’

Just as Roan was about to complain about the absurdity of this world as usual,

*Rumble—!!!*

“???!?!”

Startled, Roan couldn’t immediately grasp what had just happened before his eyes.

“What, what is it?”

“Which tactless bastard used a holy spell?”

*Rumble—!!!*

But when a similar roar echoed once more, Roan could not help but be shocked.

‘It’s divine punishment!’

Though he had wondered why they didn’t receive divine punishment, he hadn’t actually wanted a real one to strike…