Chapter 604 – 604. Competition for Superiority (1)
The names Bit and Doge at the top of the coin were familiar to Eleanor and Lily.
It was because the Nestla Mafia, which tried to make a big profit by distributing drugs in the previous duke’s family, was the upper house behind it.
They tried to swindle the Armitas dukedom, thinking of Jis as a distribution method and trying to distribute drugs using his business, but along with his stubborn attitude, as Eun-hyeon discovered the act, they quickly went through the process of downfall. .
Eunhyun especially flinched when she heard the name of that corps, so Eleanor and Lily definitely remembered it.
It was because Eun-hyeon’s reaction, saying that she was quite embarrassed and strangely annoying, was very fresh.
Now, the coin top was a fallen top that was going through the process of decline as it could not receive the protection of the Nesla Mafia, the power behind it.
Why on earth did such an upper class come to him without an appointment?
Originally, there was no reason for Eleanor to meet the coin merchants who had been harassing them.
The rude behavior of coming to the mansion without even making a promise is a rude attitude that is tantamount to looking down on them.
However, Eleanor, after much thought, did not give the order to drive them out.
“… Let me in.”
“All right.”
After Eleanor’s permission was granted, the servant immediately greeted him and left the office.
Sooner or later, he will come here with the two men from the top of the coin who are waiting in front of the mansion.
“Lady… Are you okay? Those two…”
“It’s not okay.”
Although they allowed them to enter the mansion, Eleanor’s expression was not completely okay.
As the opponent was treated as a low-end even inside the mafia, he had almost no fighting ability.
However, allowing them to bring them inside the mansion, which had been playing tricks on the duke’s family, was a handshake that could scratch the prestige of their own family.
“… Still, it takes something. I need to hear what your business is.”
It’s never too late to deal with it.
At this time, I was very concerned about the reason for visiting the Duke’s family, which had a history of being manipulated by the weak and collapsing upper ranks due to the loss of power behind them.
“And… You know what happens, right?”
Eleanor looked at her Lily and winked at her.
“Sure. All right.”
Receiving the look in her deeply trusting Eleanor’s eyes, Lily smiled happily and nodded her head.
Smart
“I brought you.”
“Yes.”
After hearing Eleanor’s permission, the servant opened the door.
Glancing at the two merchants visiting as guests, he immediately gestured and guided them into the office.
“Come in.”
Doji and Bit, guided by the servant, hesitated to enter the room even though the door of Eleanor’s office was open.
The attitude is full of incongruity because it is not like those who used to be gangsters belonging to the mafia who are shrinking somewhere.
However, from Doji and Beat’s point of view, this was only natural.
It was because from the moment they entered the mansion, the knights who had been training had sent them hostile glances at them.
The hostile gaze of the Armitas Knights, who couldn’t just stand still and watch over those who had been playing tricks on their duke’s family, gave goosebumps all over and put such strong pressure on them that it made them short of breath.
Although it belonged to the mafia, it was not a pressure that a low-end scoundrel could handle.
“How long are you planning to stay? Come in.”
As Beat and Doge continued to hesitate in front of the door, Eleanor spoke in a sharp voice.
There was no voice of a princess who showed a gentle attitude of respect for the other person.
The two merchants flinched as they heard Eleanor’s voice full of hostility towards the one who once tried to draw a knife at her.
“I’m sorry!”
Doji hurriedly lowered his head and entered the office.
Eleanor’s body came in following Doji with a shrunken body, even to the bit that trembled at the voice of Eleanor.
“Sit down.”
“Yes yes.”
Bit and Doji nodded their heads at Eleanor’s recommendation in a cold voice.
Eleanor immediately asked the two of them as she moved her firm steps and sat down on her couch.
“Why did you come?”
“That is…”
“I had to tell you something urgent, so I had no choice but to visit you like this. Please forgive the rudeness.”
Soon, Doji, who was the first to make up his mind, bowed her head and apologized for their rudeness.
It was a polite and polite apology for a former gangster, but Eleanor accepted the apology with a sullen look on her face.
“I will accept your apology. More business than that.”
“… Yes.”
Do-ji, who took a breather for a moment, did not show the shrunken look she had shown until now.
As long as you’ve made up your mind, you’re going to come with the idea that it’s a judge.
“Have you ever heard of a place called Alteria Company among the merchant companies that recently entered the dukedom?”
“… I have it in my memory.”
As for the Alteria Company, it is a fairly large company that regularly enters the Duchy of Armitas and distributes a large amount of goods.
As large as it was, the amount of tax paid to the dukedom was not small, and because it was a place that contributed greatly to the active distribution of goods in this territory, it was a business in Eleanor’s memory.
In fact, the reason why the economy of the Duchy of Armitas started to boom was also because large-scale merchants and merchants often came and went to the territory.
“But why is that place?”
“… In fact, among merchants and other guilds, the Alteria Corporation is quite notorious.”
“… Go on.”
A rough outline began to emerge, but Eleanor listened to Beat and Doge in silence.
“The Alteria Corporation is currently devouring the merchants and small-scale merchants operating within the Duchy of Armitas with enormous capital.”
The size of the Alteria Firm is a group that belongs to the top rank among the merchants currently in and out of the Duchy.
Having a lot of goods in circulation means that you have the ability to purchase and maintain those goods.
And the beginning of the story was that he was gradually growing in size by using his capital to enlist all the merchants stationed inside the dukedom.
Eleanor naturally expected the next development.
“And did you hear that story?”
“… I did come.”
Bit nodded in affirmation with a heavy face.
However, the way he spoke was meaningful.
Eleanor tilted her head at those words, which hinted at the current situation, as if it were not right now.
“But why does that look so unpleasant?”
Although the expression was bad, the strategy itself of Alteria Corporation, which increased in size by recruiting other merchants and merchants, was not so rare.
Although each person may have a different opinion, the recruitment proposal of Alteria Corporation itself is not such a bad proposal, even if there is a difference between individual merchants and the small and weak upper ranks.
Unlike individual or small-scale operations, you can get a chance to touch big money as long as you roll with a large amount of capital.
On the contrary, since the risk is great in case of failure, likes and dislikes are divided into styles that are not so preferred by those with income who do not like risk.
After hearing Eleanor’s question, Doge sighed and answered.
“We… I already have a business association that I belong to.”
“… Is that the first time you’ve heard of it?”
In the first place, Eleanor did not receive the report that the coin merchant itself was active within the dukedom.
Because Eleanor could not stand by and watch the mercenary, which tried to circulate drugs within the dukedom with the Nestla Mafia as her power behind it, openly operating.
It means that Bit and Doji have been secretly operating as merchants until now.
Eleanor’s voice became chilly at the words that she had been openly operating within the dukedom even after doing such a thing.
“I’m sorry!”
“I have committed a mortal sin! Please forgive me… !”
Exuding her terrifying charisma, Eleanor’s current appearance was that of a lord responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, rather than a gentle priest praying to the goddess to save many people.
Bit and Doji, who felt the cold atmosphere that could blow their throats right now, hurriedly got off the sofa and knelt on her floor, begging for forgiveness.
“Well, the store we belong to is the Ji’s store run by Mr. Ji’s!”
“… What?”
Eleanor’s eyes, which had a cold expression for the moment, widened.
Jis, the owner of the store, was a man with a close relationship with Eleanor and Eunhyeon.
A man who was a former swindler and adventurer who tried to scam Eun-hyeon in the past, but apologized to Eun-hyeon first and is now running a store after reforming himself.
I would never have thought that these two people and the coin top would have entered under him.
Eleanor had a rough idea of the situation.
“It seems that he was active as a merchant of Jis Firm, hiding his name and company.”
“No, that’s right…”
Doji nodded her head in affirmation.
Upon hearing his answer, Eleanor was lost in her thoughts.
Why did Jess accept these two?
‘Could it be betrayal?’
The flashing thought occurred to him that he might be trying to betray Eun-hyeon, who had given him a chance, but he immediately withdrew the possibility.
‘If he had intended to betray him, he wouldn’t have appeared in front of me now.’
He would have continued to hide his identity and seek the right time.
The moment when the opportunity to cause great damage to Eunhyeon, herself, and the dukedom came.
There was no need to come to surrender to the fact that he was doing business as a merchant in the duchy by lying about his name and the company.
Bit and Doge came to see Eleanor, meaning that they wanted to ask her for a favor, even confessing their mistakes.
“… Keep talking.”
“I-we… As her back ship, the Nestla Mafia, fell, her top quickly declined.”
In the first place, the coin top was only a weak top that earned a small amount of profit by secretly smuggling drugs with the power behind the mafia on its back.
They had no fighting skills and almost no capital, so it would have been impossible for them to resist the Nestla Mafia, which had the greatest influence in the underworld of Fernias Kingdom.
Giving in to the power, Doji and Bit, who were sustaining their lives with falling congo, had no choice but to continue distributing drugs as the Nestla Mafia ordered them to do.
“It was self-employed.”
Eleanor nodded her head as if it were natural.
Although it was the force majeure of the weak and weak trader, it did not mean that the crime of distributing drugs disappeared.
“And… Sanghoe Lord gave us a chance at that time.”
When it was discovered that he was trying to distribute drugs and his activities as a merchant were on the verge of ending, Jis knew the circumstances of the two and recruited them.
Eleanor didn’t like it very much.
Shouldn’t she have at least given her words to Eun-hyeon or herself?
“And the current situation of Sanghoeju and Jiss is not so good.”
“Is Alteria Firm holding you in check?”
“You’re right.”
Although he received help from Eun-hyeon, he started as a small store with excellent business skills and has now grown into the largest business in the duchy.
However, that was a story until last month, and Bit and Doji explained that the current situation was that they had been taken away by Alteria Corporation, which had suddenly entered the duchy and settled down.
It wasn’t just that they were pushed out of the competition, but they were killing off competing merchants bit by bit by stealing all the customers around them who were supplying goods and selling them at cheap prices.
“Please. I want you to use some strength.”
“… Did Jis do it?”
Eleanor frowned.
She said that no matter how much she had connections with herself or her husband, Eun-hyeon, she was vague about her request in this way.
There is nothing she can’t do if she has the authority and power she has as her acting lord.
However, it was a problem that could not be taken hastily as it could get a big backlash from other merchants due to an excess of authority.
Most of the merchants and merchants in the Duchy of Armitas are foreigners, and it is ambiguous to be a resident of the Duchy.
“… No.”
“Sa, Sanghoe-nim just told me not to care.”
Although he was pushed out of the competition with Alteria Firm, Jess sold cheap potions to rookie adventurers who were only beginners in the first place, earning small profits and living while eating them, so the distribution was very small and overlooked.
It didn’t matter much if he was pushed out of the competition itself because he didn’t pay much attention to his desire for honor or authority, but what Jis worried about was the family members of the company under him.
Right now, it’s okay because we still have capital, but if we can’t buy goods and don’t sell them, it’s only a matter of time before the business becomes difficult to operate and we can’t pay salaries to our employees.
However, the funds are not enough to fight against Alteria Corporation with a strategy of buying at a high price and selling at a low price to dry up the opponent.
So, feeling impatient, Bit and Doji came to the dukedom, mentioning the name of the ‘coin top’ they had been a part of in the past.
Rather than snoring and getting beaten up, their gamble to attract interest so that they could at least hear the story by pulling aggro worked in a way.
“We… I am well aware of the crime I almost committed against the Duchy. I know very well that I am a piece of trash that has made my living with soybeans thrown by the mafia while smuggling drugs. But…”
“I came to Yeongju because I wanted to do something for Lord Sanghoe, who gave us a new opportunity. Please… Please help the lord of Sanghoe.”
“Please.”
Bit and Doji bowed their heads and made an earnest request.
“…”
Eleanor couldn’t answer right away.
The actions of the two people were based on a feeling of repaying the benefactor who saved them rather than their own comfort.
Just as Eun-hyeon showed mercy to the ridiculous potion swindler who tried to scam her, Jis showed mercy to others and gave them a new chance.
“Lady.”
Lily, who was next to her, smiled and called out to Eleanor.
She said nothing and she only showed her smile, but Eleanor well knew what her Lily smile meant.
‘… Okay. Know. Neither do I. No… The same goes for me, my brother, and the entire ducal family, including my father.’
The Duke Armitas family also had a history of committing great sins in the past.
Because there was an incident in which the entire ducal family was greatly humiliated by the arbitrary actions of Ashton, who was now imprisoned and imprisoned in the temple’s dungeon.
The reason why his family is safe and his land is able to enjoy the greatest prosperity is because of Eun-hyeon’s help and the opportunity he was given.
After her troubles, Eleanor finally opened her mouth.
“… Good. However, there are conditions.”
