21-40 · 025

Chapter 24: Tax Strategy

The morning after the frenzied auction.

I sank deep into the tower apartment’s premium leather sofa, bathed in the morning sunlight streaming through the windows, still savoring the afterglow of the previous night. In just a few hours, the online auction targeting the world’s wealthy and guild masters had racked up a staggering total sales figure—over fifty billion yen.

Back when I was in Goda’s party, I’d been scolded over a few hundred yen for the cheapest potions, and on rainy days I couldn’t even afford a half-price bento about to be thrown away. Those days now felt like a past life. I wouldn’t say money is everything, but the balance in my account was undeniably tied to a profound sense of ease.

However, Rin Sakai, sitting across from me, seemed off. She ignored the freshly brewed premium coffee, glaring at her tablet with bloodshot eyes and muttering something like a curse.

“…Unbelievable. No matter how you look at it, this is too much exploitation. This is theft…”

Bam! She slammed the glass table and stood up abruptly.

“What’s wrong? It’s early, don’t be so alarming.”

“It’s taxes, Toru-kun! Do you realize that right now you’re still registered as a sole proprietor and just made fifty billion yen in sales!? If we do nothing and tax season comes, do you know what will happen!?”

“I’m not that familiar with the details… but we’ll lose a good chunk, right?”

“‘A good chunk’ is an understatement! Under the highest progressive tax rate, combined income and residence taxes will take nearly half! That’s about twenty-five billion yen! Our blood, sweat, and tears will be automatically sucked into the pockets of bigwigs who don’t even set foot in the dungeon! I absolutely, absolutely will not accept that!”

Having twenty-five billion yen—the fruit of our blood, sweat, and tears—taken for nothing was too painful. Even I, who didn’t know much about the tax system, could see how serious the situation was from Rin’s pale face and ragged breathing. Her obsession with money was practically a talent.

“So what do we do? If we don’t pay, that’s tax evasion and we could go to prison.”

“Of course! So we protect it legally. We’ll incorporate and establish a company right now! Corporate tax rates are much lower than the highest individual rates, and we can write off various expenses as business costs. For the company name… how about ‘Antique Eye, Inc.’? You’ll be the representative director, and I’ll be the managing director!”

Rin furiously tapped her tablet, opened data files for ‘Articles of Incorporation’ and various ‘Application Forms’ she’d apparently prepared overnight, and shoved them in front of me.

“When did you prepare all this…?”

“Registering with the Legal Affairs Bureau and applying to the tax office will take a few weeks, but we’ll start the process today. Here, give me your electronic signature!”

Rin pressed the tablet against me, her breath fierce. If this were a while ago, I might have been swept away by her intensity and signed without question. But not now. I’d almost been deceived by the very person in front of me once. I couldn’t help but be wary.

“Wait.”

“Huh? If we don’t hurry, we might not make it in time for this year’s tax measures!”

“Even if we’re in a hurry, verifying the contents is part of my job as the one becoming president.”

I calmly took the tablet from Rin, focused on my right eye, and activated ‘True Appraisal.’

—Thrum.

My vision warped slightly, and a system window unfolded over the image of the electronic document.

====================
[Name] Antique Eye, Inc. – Incorporation Founder’s Consent Form & Articles of Incorporation
[Creator] Rin Sakai
[Condition] Normal. No legal defects or hidden traps.
[True Intent]
A document purely intended to protect the assets of Representative Director Toru Soma and to save on taxes.
(*Creator’s inner thoughts: ‘I will absolutely not let the state take away the assets of this goose that lays golden eggs (Toru). Even with a 2% margin, if Toru keeps earning, I’ll be set for life. I’ll make the perfect shield to let him work in the best environment.’)
[Risk Level] Zero
====================

(Her greed is showing, but… fine, it’s a clean document.)

The appraisal result displayed not only the document’s legal validity but even Rin’s true inner thoughts. It seemed that after the ‘10-billion-yen penalty contract’ incident, she had completely given up on exploiting me. Her true intention was to “establish a company and absolutely protect her own margin” (even at 2%, with 50 billion yen that’s 1 billion). Learning that this rested on her greed—and a strange trust in me—actually put me at ease. I could trust a businesslike relationship driven by mutual interest far more than someone pretending to be virtuous.

“Good. No problems.”

“O-Of course not! Why would I try to trick you again now!”

Rin shrugged slightly and protested as if making an excuse. Since she knew my skill could see through documents, playing tricks was too risky.

I smoothly signed the electronic signature on the tablet and handed it back.

“Take care of the procedures, Managing Director.”

“Leave it to me, President. …Now, there’s one more big issue with starting a company.”

Rin showed a relieved expression, then pointed to the space in the corner of the room where the ‘Divine Stele of Universal Transfer’ had been (though now it was in my item box).

“This is the 35th floor of a tower apartment, you know? Even if it’s a rental for explorers, moving a multi-ton stone pillar in and out would bring complaints. Besides, with the huge stock of Mythic Level items we’re going to have, a rental apartment is too insecure.”

“You think so? …Actually, you’re right.”

Right now, my item box kept the room tidy, but the inventory I held was at a level that could destabilize national military balance. If terrorists or dark guild assassins broke in through the window while I was sleeping, with zero combat ability, I wouldn’t stand a chance. No matter how strong Seira was, she couldn’t protect me 24/7/365.

“That’s why I found something good. There’s an ‘underground shelter site’ that the guild is looking to sell. It’s a former shelter that the government seriously built back in the day for anti-dungeon and anti-monster purposes. It can withstand a nuclear strike and comes complete with multi-layered physical and magical barriers.”

“A shelter? Can civilians buy something like that?”

“It’s been a non-performing asset because it costs over ten billion yen and has high maintenance costs, so there have been no buyers. But we can pay cash in full now. The price has dropped a lot. We can write it off as an expense, and it’d be the strongest office and residence combined. I’ll contact the guild’s real estate division right away and schedule a viewing!”

With the overwhelming funding of fifty billion yen, Rin’s drive was incredible. We immediately set off to inspect and purchase this ‘underground fortress’ that would become our future base of operations.