episode_0048

When I arrived at Carbon, I first looked around the Smith Skeleton Carbon branch. This is because it arrived about a day earlier than originally promised.

“Warlock? What happened without any contact?”

“Oh, I came to Carbon because I had something to do, but I had some time left. How are you these days?”

“As you can see, it’s very good!”

In response to my question, the owner of my first franchise looked around with a bright smile as if he had no worries. Seeing that, I looked around and realized why he was smiling so brightly.

Dozens of customers were looking at the items, and several were picking up items one by one and paying for them. In addition, the skeletons rented for maintenance were being utilized properly, so much so that there was even a maintenance queue.

“Could you please sharpen this knife?”

“There are a lot of customers waiting right now so you have to wait. Is that okay?”

“Will it take long?”

“I think it will take about an hour. What do you want to do?”

“It only takes an hour? Then, I will leave it to you and go somewhere else for a while.”

“Yes, customer. You must pay in advance and come back one hour later!”

Even as I was looking around the first franchise, the first franchise was going smoothly to the point that people came to me to ask for maintenance.

“I’m glad things are going well.”

“It’s all thanks to the warlock.”

I had a brief conversation with the franchise owner who said it was all thanks to me, as if he were putting gold on my face. Although it was more of a question time, asking if there was anything needed or if there was anything you would like to change, we were able to talk about various things.

After spending some time taking additional orders for a few items, I stayed the night at a nearby lodging and headed straight to the Manor of Carbone. Of course, I was familiar with various information through conversations with the blacksmiths I brought in and the franchise owners.

Anyway, as I approached Carbone Lord’s mansion, the soldier guarding the entrance began to be wary of me.

“Please stop. This is Count Carbon’s mansion, and unauthorized persons cannot access it. Please tell us why you came to the mansion.”

“I think we probably have an appointment… … . Baron Andrew Steele.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. Baron. Please wait a moment.”

When I said I was a baron, the soldier quickly lowered his head. And immediately, a muttering sound was heard among the soldiers, and one soldier ran frantically towards the mansion.

While I was momentarily distracted by the sight of a soldier running like crazy, the soldiers guarding the main gate of the mansion opened the sturdy-looking iron gate wide.

“Baron Steele. Thank you for visiting Count Carbon’s mansion.”

One of the soldiers who opened the door greeted me politely again and began leading me into the mansion.

It must be said that it was a nobleman’s mansion. As I passed through the entrance of the mansion, the first thing I saw was a well-decorated garden. It was a typical aristocratic garden, with garden trees lined up like a fence, colorful flowers planted to divide the area, and even a pond filled with clean water.

As I was heading towards the main building of the mansion while taking a quick glance at the garden, the door to the mansion opened and a person appeared. He was a man between old and middle age, wearing neat and tidy clothes.

“Hello. Baron Steele. I am Ruttlebur, the butler who manages Count Carbone’s mansion. I will take you to the mansion.”

The man who introduced himself as a butler immediately switched places with the soldier and guided me to the mansion building. As I passed through the large door that could be considered an entrance, the interior was so well decorated that it reminded me of my grandmother’s house.

Suddenly, I remembered the time I spent with my grandmother, and for a moment, I was immersed in memories. While practicing black magic, I broke a flower pot and fell down the stairs while running away from the angry butler skeleton. Ah, I burned a railing like that once.

“Nice to meet you. Baron Steele. I am Count Dianan Carbon, the owner of this city.”

As I was immersed in memories for a moment, I came to my senses when I heard a voice calling me. The person who called me was a man who looked about ten years older than me, and he was Count Carbon.

I exchanged greetings with Count Carbone, trying hard to suppress the memories that came to mind.

“Nice to meet you. This is Baron Andrew Steele.”

After exchanging simple first names, we headed straight to the Count’s living room. Like any other living room, there was a table in the center and soft sofas on either side of it. After taking a seat appropriately opposite the Count, the conversation began immediately.

And, the beginning of the story was an apology for my mistake.

“I’m sorry about what happened last time. When we started operating the Carbon branch of Smith Skeleton, blacksmiths came to us in groups and complained about their livelihood problems, so we had no choice. Can’t we just make them all lose their jobs?”

“Unlike the greedy bastards of the noble faction who don’t care whether the territory’s residents die or not, you made a very good choice. Only when the people of the territory live well without any problems will our nobles also live well. However, I would say that the only flaw was that they did not contact me in advance.”

Count Carbon may have been thanks to Levs’ mediation, but he didn’t seem to care much. It was more like a grumble, as if he was sorry that he did that last time.

Rather, even in that situation, he seemed to be concentrating on cursing the vicious nobles of the noble faction. Of course, rather than saying that was sincere, it seemed like it was an attempt to give me, who had just joined the royalist faction, the image that the aristocratic faction was bad.

“I guess I have many shortcomings since I just joined the aristocratic society. Can you tell me a lot about what I still lack?”

“Haha! Everyone has a first time, and isn’t it bound to be awkward and full of mistakes? I completely understand, so you don’t have to be too sorry. And, if you don’t know something, feel free to ask anytime!”

Count Carbon, who burst out laughing heartily, graciously accepted my apology, saying he understood. Since the problem was due to my mistake, I felt my worries disappear when I saw Count Carbone smiling brightly.

“By the way, I heard the story from my Prince Lefs. They say he works as a blacksmith using a skeleton.”

“That’s right. Even now, the skeletons are working hard in my blacksmith shop.”

“Amazing.”

Like everyone else who heard the story about my blacksmith shop, Count Carbone seemed to imagine something amazing, saying it was amazing. It was obvious that he was imagining the skeletons moving around in the blacksmith shop.

Count Carbon, who had been imagining something for a while, cleared his throat loudly and came to his senses.

“Prince Levs said that you would provide me with goods equal to the share of the blacksmiths you brought in. Is that correct?”

“Yes. My motto is coexistence. I took the blacksmiths from the Count’s territory, so I should compensate them accordingly.”

I told the story about compensation in a little more detail.

They said that they would provide the same amount as the existing blacksmiths as tribute, but since there was a price difference between the products they made and the products I sold, they would take that into account as well.

“Huh… … . Then won’t you suffer a big loss?”

“Even if you don’t make a profit, you don’t have to worry too much because you don’t suffer a loss.”

Since I had properly confirmed the level of contributions I had made to the blacksmiths I had brought in, I was not suffering any loss. It was set in a way that would win the favor of the other party while not incurring any losses.

“I have no choice but to say that it is truly beneficial to me.”

“Please think of it as a gift to build friendship.”

Count Carbon nodded with a more relaxed expression. On the contrary, I felt good because I had gained unexpected benefits.

And, he seemed to be in a better mood and immediately told me that he needed something.

“I need something, can you make it for me?”

“What do you need?”

“Coal and charcoal are the main specialties of this carbonate. There is an open pit coal mine not far away, mining it is not difficult and the quality is good. Thanks to this, many of the territory’s residents work in coal mines. Additionally, there are many artisans who make charcoal. This is because there is a colony of trees nearby that are good for making charcoal, such as oak and Quercus.”

This time I nodded when I heard that Carbon’s main specialty was coal and charcoal.

I knew this well because the merchant who originally provided me with coal and charcoal for my blacksmith shop became my franchise owner. I was using the route he originally used to get coal and charcoal, and that was Carbon’s coal and charcoal.

“The number of residents has increased slightly this time, and many of them are looking for jobs. We are going to put them into coal mining and charcoal making. So, I need a pickaxe, a shovel, and a saw. How many can you make?”

“Hmm… … . Considering the things blacksmiths used to make as tribute… … .”

Recalling the story I heard from the blacksmiths, I quickly continued calculating in my head. The idea was to convert what they had paid in tribute into an amount, and then use that amount to calculate how much it would be if they purchased it at a slightly cheaper price from my blacksmith shop.

“I will give you 30 sacks each.”

“Do you think I collected a lot of taxes from blacksmiths before?”

I smiled lightly at Count Carbon’s gaze as if asking why I was giving him so much.

“In the past, the items made by blacksmiths as a tribute, like paying taxes, were converted into money and converted to the price sold at our store. Of course, we set it a little cheaper than the selling price.”

“Huh… … .”

When I told him that I wasn’t just giving it away, Count Carbon seemed to have a hard time believing it. But he didn’t refuse the offer either.

“Is it possible to purchase additional items? I will pay the right price.”

“Of course.”

There was nothing I couldn’t sell as long as I paid the price.

“Monsters are starting to appear near the coal mine these days, so I need some weapons to arm my soldiers. What kind of weapons can you make?”

“There are quite a few things I can make, so I prepared a catalog. Would you like to take a look?”

Since it was faster to look than to explain in words, I took out a catalog with information on the items I was selling and handed it to him. It was a book in which the appearance of various items was drawn with enough completeness to be able to distinguish them, even if they were not detailed, and the prices of the products were written down.

Because there weren’t that many items yet, the catalog was thin. Thanks to this, Count Carbone quickly checked the contents and pointed out several items.

“No leather armor?”

“Because it’s a blacksmith shop.”

“I asked a stupid question. In that case, I would like to ask for just the twenty pieces of armor and thirty arming swords I have here.”

“Those items would cost about 500,000 Med.”

“… … It’s really cheap. Sorry to ask this question, but are you sure there is no problem with the quality?”

“It is definitely superior to the items made by existing blacksmiths. This is my guarantee, so you can trust it.”

The reason the products I sell are cheap is because there are no labor costs, not because the quality is poor. Of course, it would be possible to make it cheaper if I took out what I had left over, but I didn’t intend to go that far.

Anyway, when I said I would guarantee the quality, Lord Carbonon seemed to have made up his mind.

“Then I’ll order twice as much! Double the pickaxe, shovel, and saw!”

Since it was so cheap and the quality was guaranteed, Lord Carbone doubled the order as if he would not miss this opportunity. Even additional orders for pickaxes, shovels, and saws were paid for, so a transaction worth more than a million meds was completed in an instant.

The deal was completed so quickly that it took less than an hour to write the contract and pay the deposit.

So, having concluded a deal that satisfied both me and Count Carbon, I returned straight to the village. Since we had to produce large quantities quickly, we had no choice but to move quickly.

I quickly arrived at the village, moving for several days without much sleep, and immediately started activating all the skeletons.

Even skeletons who had previously smelted iron in blacksmith shops were mobilized to become blacksmiths and began making items.

Nearly thirty skeletons each took charge of an anvil and a hammer, hitting the heated iron. Some skeletons made body armor, others made pickaxe heads, and so on, making the items assigned to them.