Chapter 28 – 2. Marginal Reconstruction (8)
Three slips were placed side by side on the table in the office of the Marquis Marquis at Lemoang Castle. One was an investment pledge in the name of the Lucerne Chamber. The amount was 1,000 Rosengard gold coins, the most trusted in the continent, and the signs and seals of the head of the Northern Gaul branch were clearly visible.
“I can’t believe it.”
Both were guarantees of payment in the personal name of Marcel Poincaré. The amount was 300 and 50 respectively for the principal and interest in the same gold coin. The deadline was about two weeks, and there was also a clause stating that if there was a delay of even one day, the welfare benefits would be added again.
“To get this much money in just a few hours…”
The last three were large denomination bills. It was also a paper that could be paid for 10 gold coins of the same type anytime, anywhere. Usually, it was made for the purpose of trading between merchants organically connected on the continent, but in this case, it was safe to say that it was actually cash.
“Please keep the investment pledge and payment guarantee yourself.”
Rom picked up two slips from the table and handed them to Oriane. The total sum of money the two won was 1,360 Rosengart gold coins. It was possible to increase it to 1,500 by exchanging it for Gallic gold coins, the currency usually used in this country.
“Me?”
“Yes, the ruler of this place is your wife.”
Oriane, who let go of the fan before she knew it, looked at her knight with a blank expression. One thousand Rosengart gold coins is literally a thousand gold. It is an amount that can be spent living and playing luxuriously for the rest of my life. However, the knight did not pay much attention to gold as if it were a stone.
“So what about Sir Dior?”
“I just need one of these.”
Rom picked up the bill he had ripped from Marcel and shook it lightly. Seeing him stuffing it roughly into his pocket he made me feel strange. It wouldn’t be damaged by doing so, but since he handled paper that could be exchanged for 10 of the most expensive gold coins on the continent like that, it could have been.
“Are you okay with only 10 gold coins?”
“Because your wife will take care of the lodging.”
“That’s true, but usually when you have this much money in front of you, your eyes roll.”
Even though it is colorless compared to a thousand gold coins, 10 gold coins are also quite a lot of money. If it had been given to a family of frugal serfs, it would have been enough to live frugally for the rest of their lives.
“I know what you mean.”
The shabby clothes, but the knight who stood out even more, approached his wife his, whom he had devoted allegiance to. Contrary to the expectation of her that he would hug her and kiss her as boldly as he did when he first visited her citadel, she politely knelt down and brought the back of her hand her in front of her face her.
“But I have already received more than a few pennies of that money.”
A thin smile appeared on her scarred face. It was a truly charming smile. Rom looked up at Orianne, kissing the back of her hand her to pay her respects her. With her dignified eyes and stunning low-pitched voice, she dazzled, not seduced.
“So it’s fine. All I want at this moment is for the night to come as soon as possible.”
It was. The night of Madame Lemoyn, the Marquis, is exclusively for the knight Dior. It was an absolute, firm, unchanging truth between two people. That’s why she didn’t have to say thank you for the knight’s struggles. The knight, too, had no need to demand any other reward than the fief he had earlier received from his wife.
“Sir Dior…”
Oriane blushed in her face. She hates to admit it, but it was a response that stemmed from her love affair with her. After all, it was the devoted courtship of such a wonderful knight. Even more so, wasn’t he a hero who saved this frozen land?
It is also currently in progress.
“Hey, get up. I am uncomfortable with this kind of negligence.”
“If so.”
Eventually, the two stood facing each other and looked at each other without a word. They shared a thrilling sensation down their spine as if an electric current had flowed through them. The sun was still shining bright outside the window, but neither Rom nor Oriane were particularly regretful.
Because it was a valuable sympathy that I thought was enough.
“It’s always nice to have someone by your side to support you through a difficult time…”
“Of course.”
“Thank you, sincerely.”
I knew it was a cliché greeting. Still, I really wanted to tell Oriane. Because the process of uttering certain words is important in itself.
“This is the beginning. It is not too late to get emotional even after work is over. So, I’ll try to get my wife’s thanks later in another way.”
Margrave Baekryung’s homework was not simply to use the snowfield trade routes. It was to start pioneering from a snowy field and reach that foreign country across the ocean. Although the slips in hand were said to be a large amount of money, considering such a goal, the capital was far from insufficient.
“That’s right. If we follow Sir Dior’s method, what will be the total amount of money we can raise?”
“In this case, it would be right to calculate how much you need to save, not how much you can save.”
Simply trying to trade and pioneering it are different in terms of difficulty. If it succeeds, what else could be the reason that Marquis Baekryung could escape today’s poverty? That’s because this plan is difficult to achieve.
“Even if you can’t do it with Gallic gold coins, you should have 5,000. In fact, this is also tight considering the amount of money that can be earned by pioneering trade routes and ending up returning. It would be better to have 8,000 enough.”
“After hearing that, my confidence suddenly disappears…”
“Even during the lifetime of the Marquis, when the frozen land was relatively plentiful, it is an amount that is difficult to recklessly accept.”
The cost of the whole territory for a month was about 1,000 gold coins. Rome’s words were that the money needed to open trade routes should be enough to feed the Marquis for 5 to 8 months.
“Fortunately, the other two businesses will offer the same amount as Lucerne, on the pretext of reprinting Lemoyn silver coins. In particular, the Brulin Merchant Guild seems to be very good as the four barons often used it to siphon off property.”
“Then I was curious. How does Sir Dior know all that?”
It was because the same thing happened in the past called the previous life. Unlike now, it was difficult to deal with the aftermath because I discovered it too late. Anyway, in the end, he explained the slave trade carried out by the vice-count and his party, the three merchants in the territory, and the reason why Temur of Camag raised an army.
“The Dior family knows nothing.”
Rom nodded lightly. It seemed that what he spat out in passing seemed quite effective. Because he didn’t have any doubts. As the saying goes, Dior, the best family in the center, had enlisted soldiers and informants worthy of its prestige.
“It is indeed a prestigious central house…”
“Compared to the other two, the Britannia Trading Company did not evade taxes or aid in embezzlement. However, in their home country, drug trafficking is prohibited, at least externally, so it would be okay to bring up drug trafficking.”
“You mean opium?”
“Yes, they were the source of the drugs used to tame the captured Camag tribesmen into conformity. Even if you didn’t use it directly, it’s a pretty big weakness.”
Oriane looked serious in disbelief. If I had to pick one of the deadliest things that eat away at the manor, it would be opium. It was opium that destroyed people so much that it would be difficult to enumerate the harms and nurtured the disabled.
“Drugs, including opium, are strictly prohibited in the border region! It is a serious crime that will never be forgiven not only in the laws of the kingdom of Gaul, but also in this frozen land! It is absurd that they kidnapped people from different ethnic groups and sold them as slaves, but I can’t just ignore them!”
“The right way to live in times troubled by war is not to be swayed by passion. It is pessimistic with reason, but optimistic with will.”
“You’re saying let’s take an extra penny out of our anger.”
Rom nodded. Oriane agreed, saying that it was the right theory. In this age of corruption, if we discuss morality, will they understand? The virtues of the possessing class are always more money and power.
“Like. Let’s tell them how scary punitive damages are.”
She was already a married woman who was full of thoughts of immersing herself in acting. Rom somehow thought she was like a child who had begun to learn her mischief of her. Even though she kept her super cute impression of her a secret.
“Then let’s wrap things up at this point.”
The knight and his wife gathered in front of the desk as if they had made an appointment. The plan Rom made in the process of swindling Marcel Poincaré of the Lucerne store had already been sketched out.
“Each store throws a rice cake to reissue the Lemoang silver coin. After emphasizing the coin minting profits that can be obtained from it, I receive about 1,000 gold coins as an investment.”
Pencils and paper were scattered randomly on the table. Among them, Rom chose the one that was particularly well-sharpened and began to take notes.
“The total profit from the Lucerne Chamber is 1360 Rosengard gold coins. Of these, 300 were recovered from the funds stolen by Vice-Count Kovin, so it would be correct to estimate that the actual profit is around 60.”
Judging from the various circumstances, the one who embezzled most of the taxes that should be returned to the estate was, of course, Vice-Count Kovin. However, in the case of the other barons, even if each individual did not reach that amount, it was more than enough to exceed the amount of four people in total.
“Therefore, it would be better to target a larger amount for the amount to be recovered from the Brullin Mercantile Association.”
“Even if the embezzlement money was taken back, the 500 gold coins you mentioned would be far over.”
“The Britannia Trading Company will have to extract less money than that. The fact that I benefited from her opium is a lump sum, but it is a waste to spend it.”
Rom, who drew the crest of a periodic reward and trading company, wrote those words next to it. In other words, it was about collecting reparations from them on a regular basis, just as the Marquis Decree formally collects taxes.
“It’s actually a bribe.”
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“Yeah, no matter how much, I don’t know how the world works.”
It is a law that a person in power must be flexible. An impression of integrity sometimes buys the hostility of those around you. In the same vein, Oriane was not an aristocrat who actively accepted or accepted bribes, but he was not hypocritical enough to hate them.
“A noble has a duty. Sometimes even being a villain is such an obligation. If I think of the people who are starving in the territory today, I can sell my conscience as much as I want.”
“You look like a wife.”
“But is it really okay? Trying to make such threats against a company in another country. Moreover, the original extortion becomes less effective the more it is repeated.”
“At that time, you just need to pick a suitable carrot and pass it on. Soon they will rationalize that it was a good deal on their part.”
The disclaimer of the right to tax collection mentioned earlier was to be used in that context.
“How about it? Judging from the results Sir Dior has produced so far, I think that’s really going to be the case…”
“It’s not like it’s going to happen, it’s definitely going to happen.”
“Wouldn’t the street go wild if he found out later that he had been tricked?”
The business of reissuing Lemoang silver coins is a blatant lie. I don’t know what it will be like right now, but someday the people in charge of the business will find out that they have been deceived. The real aftermath will blow from then on.
“They weren’t fooled.”
“… ?”
For a moment, Oriane looked at Rome with a fierce face.
“The royal family is really desperate for money. Coincidentally, I am the bastard son of Dior, a family of meritorious persons. If I deliver the business plan, starting with the Lemoyn silver coin, to the family, I will be able to hear a positive answer soon.”
“… !”
“I wouldn’t have any doubts. As a child of the family, I will be seen as wanting to increase my position as soon as possible, and the king will find it difficult to turn down the opportunity to touch such a large amount of money. In addition, we might be able to get permission by tying up the disposition of the vice-count and the four barons, as well as the alliance with the Camag tribal alliance.”
Only the order has changed. Dior’s article said so.
“From the point of view of my family, who is the messenger, it will also be considered an opportunity to bring Marquis Baekryeong into an ally.”
“It was a plan that couldn’t fail… !”
“Yes, so we should hurry up and extort money from the other two companies, too, right?”
Rom replied with an evil laugh.
‘… But aren’t we bad guys too?’
Oriane thought deep down that he was like a bully.
