79 – When goodwill continues, I know it’s a right (3)
The next day.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I headed straight to the bedroom where the captain was staying.
Since the only thing left over is the Knights Headquarters, the knights were living in empty rooms at the Knights Headquarters rather than looking for a place to live outside the Count’s mansion.
Me too.
If there was an exception, it was the case of vice-captain Emain, who originally owned a house in the city.
Well, Emen doesn’t seem to go home often, though.
I knocked on the closed door, but no answer came from inside. When I gently pull the doorknob to check, I see blonde hair lying on the bed.
Normally, she would have finished getting ready to go out long ago, but today she overslept.
“Sianne.”
“Ugh… ….”
As I approached and shook her, she answered in a sleepy voice.
What is it, it’s unnecessarily cute.
Apart from being cute, however, I definitely needed Xianne’s help in order to truly educate the bad guys the tribune talked about yesterday.
“Luber is…… ?”
“There are some places I need to go now. If you’re tired, just hand over the key to the Templar’s safe.”
“The Vault of the Templars…… Key… ….”
She answered without even opening her eyes like a newborn puppy.
It must have been a storm after enjoying a five-day vacation. Yeah, we played a little too hard.
Originally, the Monday following the holiday is the most hellish thing in the world.
“Left…… A drawer… …. Second… ….”
Sian Ne raised her hand and pointed at her desk and fell asleep again. The image of him licking his lips and burrowing into the blanket is, without a doubt, the image of someone his age.
Not Cianne, the leader of the Snow Leopard Knights.
Sianne is still young at 23.
Honestly, how many times do I have to see Xianne talking in her sleep?
The happening in Nodarks was nothing more than an injection, and I fell asleep immediately after cleaning up, so I couldn’t see anything like sleeping habits.
I picked up a smile and opened the chest of drawers that Xianne pointed out.
The second chest of drawers seemed to be being used as a kind of key storage. A bundle of heavy keys tied together is the only storage item.
I picked out the key to the Templar’s safe from there and took it out.
I went straight into the safe and took out the wolf scabbard that was kept in the glass cabinet.
A kind of decoration you received the last time you arrived in Nodarks and had an audience with Harald, Duke of Hebron.
From noble mtl dot com.
There was nothing lacking in symbolism, design, or practicality to just put it in a warehouse.
Since the scabbard itself could be used as a proof that the Duke of Hebron directly ‘recognized’ it, the knights decided beforehand that they should keep it in the safe of the knights rather than wearing it normally.
-To be honest, as someone who has just received the title of baron, wouldn’t it be a bit daunting to wear the scabbard of the Duke of Hebron instead of the scabbard that symbolizes being a vassal of Count Rupel?
Even if the Duke of Hebron conferred it on the merits, the problem is that Count Dionaos Rupel or other vassals could take the scabbard as a ‘different meaning’.
It’s natural that it’s much more profitable to entrust it to a certain organization, rather than going up in rumors in any way.
It is perfect for both political and economic use.
Because there is a huge difference between an individual directly revealing such authority and putting a regular group like the Knights first.
Just like now.
“I’m really out of luck. To think that this happened right after returning from the Hebron territory.”
I changed the scabbard while muttering to myself.
A wolf pattern shining in the light from the magic lantern kept in the safe. It looked sideways and was ready to rush towards its prey at any moment.
“If you sold the name of the Duke of Hebron, you should be prepared for that much.”
To the youngsters who assert their absurd power.
It was time to show what a ‘honmono’ network is.
***
Same time.
The merchants of ‘Longston’, the upper part of the city that mainly handles stone materials to be used in road construction, were starting their day leisurely by enjoying a simple breakfast.
“Oh, it’s a country estate, but the taste is good.”
“That’s right.”
“There are definitely a lot of things lately. I have to suck it up quickly before it gets bigger later on.”
Iar, Longston’s trading manager, said, sipping warm milk.
Longston was a guild that mainly handled building materials used in the construction of cities and roads in the Duchy of Hebron.
As long as the top name, Longston, is named after the Longston quarry in the west of Hebron.
It was famous as a representative top supplier of stone materials of fairly good quality.
Of course, as long as it only handles one special resource, it’s a mid-tier upper class that can’t fit into a colossus like Marco Firenze or a large group that’s one weight class below it.
Since stone is an intractable material, the finances of the Longston Merchants always remained in the black.
As a result, naturally, in this field, it was common to be treated as a top-tier with quite a few kicks.
I don’t know anything else, but they were good at supplying, manufacturing, and trading road construction materials.
It was because of this background that the secret agreement in the deal with Count Rupel was made with ‘Longston’ as the main axis.
It’s hard to find a good guild like Longston in the North, which suffers from a chronic shortage of manpower, especially due to the barren terrain.
In effect, it means that it has reached a state of regional monopoly covering all of the territories.
And this kind of monopoly always gives birth to corruption and power.
Isn’t that illegal?
Besides, if you go elsewhere, there are a lot of companies that beat you even more, so a 10% raise is enough.
It was also true that expected demand actually increased. As the Duchy of Hebron announces additional road expansion plans, material prices naturally fluctuate.
No matter how good an administrator you are.
You will never be able to gain an advantage against such a tight-knit monopoly.
It was then.
Jjallang—!
A man hurriedly opens the door and runs toward the merchants’ tables.
It was another merchant who tried to come together in a 10% increase in stone prices.
“Anything?”
“Look at this…… I heard that the magistrate just returned from vacation.”
“What about that?”
“No, I was warned by the other merchants yesterday not to do anything stupid!”
His eyes were shaking like crazy. Iar, the top lord of Longston, couldn’t understand what the hell he was worried about.
“Isn’t it just to scare you? It must be heartbreaking that we proudly won the deal.”
“As you know, isn’t that Luvern Alroy! I’m a native of Hebron, so I don’t know, but I heard that he’s extremely famous among the big companies for being extremely picky when it comes to contracts.”
I was strict.
When we first reviewed and met face-to-face, Iar, who was going to take a big bite, had accepted the deal on much less terms than he thought without knowing it.
I don’t know what the reason is.
For some reason, I was speechless in front of him, and felt completely pierced by his piercing gaze.
But that’s all there is to it.
I heard that he was a formal domain aristocrat who was granted the title of baron, and if you go back further, he was a former administrator of the Knights of the Black Lion, and he made a pretty innovative major in the great expedition.
Anyway, the class was much lower than those Iar usually dealt with.
Right now, his junior was a well-to-do count in the Duchy of Hebron. Even if Luvern Alroy excels, the difference in birth status cannot be overcome.
Not even a month has passed since he received that title, and he was a county who had been walking on the road to ruin until recently.
Iar himself was also from a fallen aristocrat, so he was well aware that his status was no different from that of a commoner.
“There is no way to raise a problem from the other side anyway, so what are you worried about? If you can’t comply with the conditions, you can just unilaterally destroy it.”
In this area, the three companies currently colluding were all the companies that could meet the materials they wanted.
No, there is no need to go all the way.
Apart from the entire northern part, there is no company that can meet the schedule and amount of material required by Count Rupel.
The 10% was also calculated after thorough calculations.
Of course, the Blue Dragon Transcontinental Convoy, which is known to regularly enter and exit Rupell’s territory.
There is also a way to directly sign a contract with the Hispanian Merchant Guild, which forms a huge group of large and small guilds under its command.
However.
Not only do you have to pay a fee for relaying the territories and the upper tier, but everything from securing a quarry to opening a trade route costs money.
In the end, if you look at this and that, you will end up spending far more than the price they raised by 10%.
If you come back and cry and cry, the price of materials will only go up.
In fact, it is a business that the Longston Merchants have nothing to lose.
Of course, as it is a kind of depravity, the favorability of Count Rupel will be reduced, but…….
It’s over if you don’t set foot here again.
Recently, he has been taking on various business challenges, but to be honest, it was still unclear whether Rupel Mansion would be successful.
In order to invest in the future of the territory, which may or may not work, it is much wiser to pursue immediate profits.
Anyway, the economy of the upper ranks runs well enough with the demand for the Duchy of Hebron and nearby territories.
If Rupel is written successfully, then it is not too late to go and taste it.
“So don’t worry too much and just follow my words. In many ways, it would be better if it fell a little more, even if it was just Congo.”
At the persuasion pouring in like water, the anxious merchant’s expression relaxed little by little.
“That, right? I’ll just believe in you…….”
“Ah, believe me, well. This is why you guys are always worse than our Longstons. I saw it for a while, but it looked very different from the words praised by the public, such as being a black fox or a bookkeeper on the plains of Lechenberg.”
A novice wearing glasses and carefully examining documents.
It was a moment of humorous description of her memories of the time Arga encountered her at Peta Ronto’s City Hall.
Kagang, kang!!
Instead of a jingling sound, the door of the restaurant was violently thrown open and someone stepped inside.
A tall shadow advancing against the bright morning sun.
There was not an inch of hesitation in that step.
Soon after, the clerk who was quietly guarding the counter came rushing over in surprise.
I hear someone’s loud voice outside.
“Lord Alroy of Luvern has arrived!”
Iar and other merchants were overwhelmed at the sight, and Lubern slowly approached the table and sat down in an empty seat.
“If it was short, it was short, if it was long, it was a long vacation…… He made some pretty interesting terms while I was gone.”
A chilly voice.
“So I came here to listen to it myself.”
The meek Sannim I saw that day was nowhere to be found, and the administrator in front of Iar smiled coldly.
It was only then that Iar learned why he was called the ‘Black Fox’.
His eyebrows slightly curved as if looking down on him, and his confident attitude that no matter what he does, he is in the palm of his hand.
Because it was a statue of a fox.