The Human Emperor Chapter 871

Hey guys. I’m back. 🙂

Sorry about the long hiatus. Health problems made me stop for a while and only recently got back to TLing.

I’ll try to work on this in the free time between school work and hospital trips.

So yeah. This is a double release so enjoy!

Have a good day xD

「That went well, didn't it?」

「What do you mean?」

Those who disagree left without saying a word, while those who agree stayed behind and filled in a simple contract. Emily also helped those who were illiterate to fill in their details.

「To be honest, I didn't think that they would agree to this so easily. What magic did you use?」

Kouta, who was skimming through the contract and double checking the information on them, raised his head and looked at Emily.

「Magic? This is not magic. I simply used logic to convince them. In exchange for the land they are living on, we will provide them with new homes, new jobs and even training for those jobs. I will not try to sugarcoat this. This place is too rural. They may have fond memories of the land that their ancestors have passed down to them, but will these 『memories』 fill their stomachs?」

Emily shook her head in response. Emily came from the capital Rarkia herself. When she saw the poor condition of the coastal area, which normally would be the hive of activity, her thoughts of 「how dare they let Lady Erica stay in a place like this' far exceeds that of 「what should we do now?」.

「However, memories and being hungry are two different things… … No, perhaps they are not… …」

Emily could not wrap her head around it. She perfectly understood what Kouta meant. To be honest, compared to living in that rural place, there's no harm in moving into newly built houses next to the lord's mansion. However, humans are not organisms that are only controlled by logic.

「Although they can understand the pros and cons of this proposal, they are not able to accept this emotionally?」

「Yes, that's what I meant.」

「Of course, the decisions of humans are not only determined by 『logic』. As such, I also have some countermeasures for it.」

「Countermeasures?」

「Yes. Please remember what happened just now. When I mentioned 『new homes, new jobs and schools』, what was their reaction?」

Emily recalled the scene from earlier. Once they heard such an astronomically beneficial proposal, they seemed to be in high spirits.

「As far as I remember, almost all of them seem to be in favour of the proposal. If I did not add the condition of them evacuating their homes, perhaps the number of contracts in my hand right now would be 43 instead of 13.」

Emily once again nodded her head at Kouta's words. The proposal would have been accepted in record speed had there not been that condition to evacuate.

「In my world, there is a selling technique called 『lowballing』. I believe you also have it here… … Basically, it's a technique where you offer an attractive proposal, and after they accepted that proposal, you change the conditions of the original proposal.」

The basis of the lowballing technique is to exploit the unwillingness of people to back out on an agreement.

For example, you wish to buy a computer. After hearing a detailed explanation from the salesperson, you finally decide on model you wish to purchase. However, right when you are brought to the counter and you begin to daydream about what you plan to use the new computer for, the salesperson comes forward with a distraught expression and tells you the bad news.

「We are really sorry. The model you wish to buy is currently out of stock. Of course, we can place an order for the computer, but if we take into consideration that there may be some delays from the vendor's side, we estimate that it will take, at the very least, a week for it to reach… …」

Catastrophe. Your mind goes blank and you slowly fall into despair.

At this moment, that salesperson says, 「however, if you are willing to add on 10 thousand yen, you can purchase a newer, better model of computer from the same vendor… … What do you think?」. If the salesperson was competent, he would even add, 「the new model is the newest high-end device that is originally sold at a price 20 thousand yen more expensive than the old one」.

So? What would you do? You have already decided to buy a new computer. Since you'll still have to wait a week anyways, why not buy the better one instead? Furthermore, there's even a discount. Buying it wouldn't be too much of a loss, right? These things aren't cheap in the first place, so adding another 10 thousand yen wouldn't be too much, right? Hmm… … No, I'll take it.

Your flow of thought is somewhat similar to this, right?

Despite that, not all salespeople will want to trick you into paying more. Sometimes things really are out of stock, and they are only giving a discount out of the goodness of their hearts. This isn't saying that you should be suspicious of others when buying something, but you should just take this into consideration when making a purchase.

In short, even though you are unable to purchase the model that you originally wished for and that you paid more than you previously thought, you will still leave the store with the happily because you have 「Gotten something more expensive at a cheaper price」.

「In other words, you just used that selling technique to trick the residents into agreeing with you?」

「I did not trick them. I merely convinced them through logic and emotions. I did say I have countermeasures, didn't I?」

Kouta arranged the 13 sheets of contracts in his hand and passed them to Emily. Emily took them and inadvertently glanced at the name written on the top of the first contract.

「There is also something called the 『Consistency Theory』. Convincing someone to turn back on a decision they made is a very hard thing to do. Once we are able to successfully convince them that this proposal is worthy of consideration, then we have already succeeded. Next, it's just to let them choose between 『the pain of going back on an earlier decision』 and 『the pain of accepting disadvantageous conditions』.

Saying that, Kouta pointed towards the first contract on the stack of papers Emily was holding and smiled.

「As long as one of them agrees, then we have already succeeded. After that, the others will also follow them and agree one by one. Do not look down upon the power of group psychology, Miss Emily~'

Emily shrugged at Kouta's reply.

「Can I ask another question?」

「Go ahead.」

「About that thing you mentioned just now, the something technique… …」

「『Lowballing』, you mean?」

「… … Yes. I have pretty much understood how it works. The group psychology part I've also understood. However, if Mr. Thomas hadn't spoken out like that just now, what would you have done?」

Stepping into the lord's mansion for the first time and then immediately being seated in the drawing room, the chances of someone actually being to speak out when being asked, 「So you have any questions?」 under these stressful conditions were astronomically low. If Thomas hadn't raised his hand and posed a question back at Kouta, there was a chance that only person speaking the entire time would be Kouta himself.

「It is exactly as you said. In that situation, those who can speak up are very few and far between.」 Kouta nodded in agreement at Emily's question and continued 「However, the chances of no one daring to speak up is very low. As I have told you before, this is a very important event and that we have no room for failure. I would never bet our success on the off-chance that 『somebody might speak up』.  We bankers really hate having to depend on probability to determine whether we succeed or fail.」

Kouta shrugged again and a question mark appeared above Emily's head once more.

「Did you use another selling technique? A spell that can implant thoughts into others or something?」

「I am not a magician… … How many times do I have to repeat that… … I'm sorry say that I do not know of such spells. To be honest, the answer is simpler than that. Very much simpler, in fact.」

「Simpler?」

「Yes. The answer is-」

– a mole.

Kouta said so with a smile on his face. Emily took a while to process his words and when she finished, exclaimed loudly.

「a mole? You don't mean-」

「A mole. A spy. An undercover agent.」

「I wasn't asking for the meaning of the word! I can't believe that you actually used this fiendish method!」

Emily lunged forward at Kouta as if wanting to grab and lift him up by his collar. Kouta was originally shocked at the sudden advancement of a beautiful woman but was able to quickly maintain his composure and replied.

「Perhaps the word 『spy』 isn't suitable here. I only told the details of our proposal to Mr. Thomas beforehand, and then once he fully understood our intentions, requested his help when the time comes. The problem now only lies in whether Mr. Thomas can play his role effectively when the time comes. However… … Did you know? In the past, while he was staying in this country called Rhime, he was working hard to be a famous actor, you know? Judging from his performance today, I think he would have succeeded by now if he had continued his training. He is quite talented.」

Emily was stunned by Kouta's nonchalant tone of speech. After a few moments of silence, Emily broke out of her stupor.

「Y-you… … Do you even have a conscience?」

「A conscience? Why? 」

「Perhaps Mr. Thomas really did agree with our proposal, but what about the others? The land that they grew up on, that they loved, that holds so many of their happy and sad memories… … You lied to them, chased them out and took it from them!」

「I did not lie nor did I chase them out nor did I take away their land. I only negotiated with them through legal means to convince them to sell their land to us. Plus, terms of the agreement are also heavily tipped to their side. Perhaps they might even offer me gratitude for it.」

「They might have not thought through it properly and agreed on a whim. Being in the lord's manor and being subjected to this environment, maybe they were confused about the situation and accidentally signed the contract!」

「If their perseverance it the level where they could be influenced to sign a contract on a whim, then that's not my problem. I will not concern myself over people who will easily change their minds on a whim.」

Emily looked at Kouta as if he was her sworn nemesis. The overbearingly large room fell into silence while the two of them stared into each other's eyes.

「… … Fine… … Forget about it.」

Emily moved her gaze from Kouta onto the stack of papers once more. The 13 signed contracts obtained from over 40 people is not small number considering the contents of the contracts.

「Even so, we could only obtain 13 contracts. Only 13 contracts. This means that more than half of the population still does not want to move out despite the conditions of the agreement. So, what will you do now?」

Erica looked at Kouta with a smug look on her face. Kouta scratched his head awkwardly.

「Umm… Miss Emily? Which side are you on right now? I do recall Miss Erica telling you to help me in these matters though?」

「Please don't avert your gaze.」

Upon hearing Kouta's question, Emily quickly turned away and averted her gaze. Unfortunately, it seems that whistling is uncommon here.

「… … Nevermind. We'll ignore that for now. It is as you have said, we only have 13 people who signed this contract. If we can't get the rest to agree to this, we will not be able to proceed. I cannot deny that that is the truth… … Umm, can you please turn your head back this way? It's a little distracting.」

After a while, Emily unwillingly turned her head and her gaze lands on Kouta's face once more.

「What Mr. Kouta said is correct, that we still need more than half of the population to sign this contract. So? Will you use that 『technique』 again?」

「Incorrect. I mentioned that I have used 『logic』. So- …」

– maybe its about time we talk about the 『benefits』?

「Do you get what I mean, Miss Emily?」