episode_0121

A rare, surprised voice is heard from the quiet emperor’s palace.

The white, sharp stone looked like an icicle, but its hardness was completely different.

Above all, the biggest difference is.

“This is a new magic stone?”

It was said to contain mana. It also has much higher purity mana than existing magic stones.

At a time when the amount of mined magic stones is decreasing exponentially, there is no item as eye-opening as this.

Especially if it is an emperor who always suffers from a lack of magical power.

“It is called ‘ether’, not magic stone, Your Majesty.”

“You’re giving it a new name, so you’re trying to avoid paying taxes on the magic stone.”

“That is so, Your Majesty.”

“Where is the mining site?”

“Well, that… I have no idea.”

The chamberlain looked carefully at the emperor and spoke carefully.

“Will they be arrested for using expedient means to avoid the law?”

“Are you sure you can capture it? We have to get our hands on the mine.”

“Well, that is…”

The chamberlain trailed off.

“He is a smart person. It doesn’t matter how much money it costs, so let’s say it’s okay to buy as much as possible.”

The corners of the emperor’s mouth quirked up.

“…That is actually.”

It had been a long time since the emperor was in such a good mood, so the chamberlain hesitated.

“What is it?”

“I’ve already talked about it, but even if you raise the price, it’s difficult to increase the volume.”

“Not a merchant? Say you can raise it 10 times or 20 times.”

“I understand, Your Majesty.”

I swallowed in my heart the words that I had managed to obtain for the emperor who wanted the magic stone.

“Of course, if we find out the mine, the story will be different. Did you say it was from another continent?”

The emperor’s eyes lit up. As soon as you find out the location, send the knights to steal it. He nodded, imagining happiness.

“Yes… I don’t know for sure, but it is presumed to be a new top company based in a foreign country. So I haven’t even guessed the route yet.”

The chamberlain continued to bow his head.

“What… ?”

“I apologize.”

“Do you think that makes sense? That is impossible unless the upper part makes all movements, even if it is warp. Let’s find out more.”

“Sorry, sorry. But the upward route really doesn’t make sense. Suddenly, on the other side of the sea, crossing a mountain range in one day, it really flashed from east to west.”

The emperor’s voice rose. As his eyebrows furrowed, the chamberlain trembled.

“… … Probably on purpose. This much treasure is being distributed without any taxes, and it is something that even I, the emperor of this empire, want so much that my eyes pop out.”

“… Yes.”

“Okay, then what kind of person is Sang Sang-ju?”

“Sorry. I did everything I could to find out, but I couldn’t figure it out.”

“Again?”

“Even those at the top seemed to not know much about the owner. I even found out that the vice leader was a tall man with gray hair.”

“Hmm.”

Knock, knock. The emperor’s fingers tapping on the throne indicated that he was anxious.

“If you go out of your way to investigate, in the worst case scenario, you might end up hiding. There are probably a lot of people who want this. If by chance I had to go to another continent. If you stop investigating and approach as friendly as possible… You can pay as much money as you want, so it doesn’t matter if it costs an astronomical amount of money, so let’s keep talking about whether we can get a little more quantity.”

“ㅡI understand, Your Majesty.”

After muttering for a while, the Emperor gave the order, and the Chamberlain bowed his head deeply.

* * *

Inside the Crown Prince’s Palace.

“Ether?”

“Yes, Your Highness. It seems that they chose that name in part to avoid the law.”

“It’s a shallow trick. I wonder if His Majesty will be angry.”

“Then not only will there be truth, but there will be no taxes.”

“Yes.”

I don’t know why, but Abamama really needs magic stones. However, the currently known magic stone mine was at a dry stage, and Esteban was lost in thought after hearing the words of his vassals.

“…and this is called the red sun.”

“Sun…?”

One of the retainers carefully placed a bright red stone.

“It’s like a ruby.”

“A mid-level magic stone with fire properties.”

“What…?!”

Esteban was astonished. A medium-grade magic stone that is barely the size of a fingernail. Then, even if it’s a little bigger, it’s upper class, or maybe even top class.

“Where does this come from?”

“Unknown. It’s just that I barely got this. The larger size is estimated to exceed the value of the citadel.”

“…”

“Perhaps His Majesty doesn’t know either.”

Esteban’s mouth dropped open at the vassals’ words. Since when did the price of magic stones skyrocket?

In the case of intermediate grades, the amount has increased more than 10 times compared to previous years, and the quantity of even lower grades, which were mined like scraps, has decreased drastically. The top grade and above are worth the price, and the top grade and above have not even been distributed on the market for more than the past few years.

“Will they be arrested for tax evasion?”

One of the retainers who was looking at the retainer who presented the red sun with a jealous face slowly raised his hand.

“That’s a good idea, the evidence is clear that they used a shortcut.”

“Ether and Red Sun, even if you get either one, the benefits are enormous.”

The rest of the vassals also agreed, as if it was an opportunity.

“Didn’t they say that they were both foreign merchants and couldn’t even figure out the distribution network?”

Esteban’s fingers tapped the table.

“Charge. That red sun is something that I managed to obtain through dire circumstances. If such a trick were to be used, the top itself would hide.”

“Viscount Brady! Aren’t you just too embarrassed by the merchant!?”

Even before he finished speaking, his retainers rushed in.

“That’s right. That’s right, I’m a merchant naburaengi. If we work together to control the gateway, won’t we get caught?”

“We will raise taxes on merchants and make inspections more thorough.”

As the vassals spoke in unison, Esteban’s heart gradually changed. In fact, if the lords join together to control the gateway, complete control is possible at least in the east and north. He, who initially covered the damage from the rebellion with his own funds, did not have the resources.

“Allowed.”

“Well, Your Highness…”

Viscount Brady’s face crumpled as he presented the red sun.

“Viscount, I will not forget your merits. Is there anything you want?”

“…My daughter loves you a lot. There is a father’s heart that just wants you to know.”

He spoke his true feelings without any hesitation.

“…You mean Lady Daria?”

Esteban thought of the brown-haired lady who followed him around every banquet.

It was pretty even.

“Yes.”

“I’ll think about it.”

I thought I could at least give him a concubine.

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

Viscount Brady smiled in remorse. Even if something goes wrong, there is no harm because you are the one who made the mistake. Those guys will turn over. If it succeeds, so be it.

As the Viscount bowed his head, the vassals looked at each other as if they were keeping each other in check.

‘My daughter too!’

‘-Isn’t your daughter older than Your Majesty?’

‘Don’t you know that older people are the trend these days?’

‘-My daughter is the same age as Your Highness.’

A small whisper.

But Esteban was listening to everything, so he secretly sighed.

‘Are you saying that your daughter will become His Majesty’s partner with that face?’

‘what?!’

A man who looked like an insulted toad trembled.

smart. With two knocks, the door suddenly opened.

“Your Majesty! A letter has arrived.”

“No! Don’t you know you’re in a meeting right now?”

No matter what the vassals said, the knight walked up to Esteban’s side.

‘-Princess, but I believe that a few more pieces have arrived besides these, and I believe the rest were all taken from the main palace.’

The driver carefully took out the letter and whispered so softly that only Esteban could hear it.

[Marian Arjane]

Esteban trembled with emotion when he saw the caller’s name.

‘What’s going on?’

She wrote first?

A smile appeared on Esteban’s lips.

He opened the letter without caring about the presence of his retainers.

[Your Highness, stop bothering me. I don’t like the crown princess, so why do you keep flirting with me?]

Esteban’s face hardened.

Crown Princess. It was a place I had set aside for her in my heart.

But it’s never been mentioned since.

‘–No way, Your Majesty?’

Just the crumpled letter was enough to tell how he was feeling.

“ether! No matter how much! Whatever you do, get it before His Majesty!”

The retainers flinched at Esteban’s sudden shout.

“ㅡYes, Your Highness.”

* * *

Nazar’s office.

I gaped at the accounting report at the top.

“Wow. It’s really awesome.”

–I lay down on the sofa, hugged Mea’s warm neck tightly and stamped my feet. There were quite a few good things about Mea being bigger than me. I even took off my shoes and started pounding on Mea.

“Ha. Good.”

It was not a money cushion, but a pet cushion. In reality, the money was not at the level of a cushion.

I heard reports from time to time, but I didn’t expect sales to be this high already. This is because the focus was on confidentiality rather than profit and sales volume was limited.

Still, it’s like this.

‘The uses for magic stones are endless, so it’s only natural…!’

Really, this is why large corporations have a monopoly. In fact, it was as if I was monopolizing the empire’s magic stone market.

In the original, the volcano erupted five years ago and the fire magic stone mine was unearthed, and the next thing to be unearthed was the glacier magic stone. However, since the volcano is suppressed with a barrier and only the magic stones are consumed, there is no way for it to be discovered. There is nothing to see about the mines in the north either, as Nazar himself covered them up.

“Are you focusing on hiding the path?”

“Yes, we only sell limited quantities no matter how much we ask, and our travel route also passes through warp gates at least 3 times each time.”

“Yes. Well done.”

At that rate, even if the emperor’s grandfather’s grandfather came, he wouldn’t be able to find it.

“But it still has a tail?”

“That’s right, the territory where I’ve been active so far is full of soldiers and even knights.”

How can you approach the emperor and crown prince? I have no intention of lying about my identity.

“Then let’s stop.”

I smiled evilly.

“Okay, if you don’t mind.”

We made plans to have one last bite.

“Really, you said you would pay the price of a castle for one piece of this?”

I threw a fist-sized glacier magic stone (ether) and tilted my head.

“That’s right, to be exact, the items the young lady is holding are of the highest quality and the items glimpsed at the top are of the upper class.”

As expected, it was a good decision to trade magic stones through the ghost merchant.

“So, are you going to sell it?”

In response to Nazar’s question, I grinned and threw the magic stone at Mea.

“No? Eat it!”

“Maa!”

Mea swallowed a fist-sized top-grade magic stone in one mouthful.

‘One castle.’

Nazar swallowed.

‘No, how much has that been eaten so far?’

Feeling dizzy just thinking about it, Nazar stopped thinking about it.

“This is really good. The ice magic stone is cool, and the fire magic stone is a hot pack in itself.”

“Maaa.”

I even threw the highest-grade fire magic stone at Mea, and she took it with ease.

“Is it delicious?”

“Ma-ah!”

Looking at Nazar, who looked dumbfounded, I chuckled and buried my face in Mea’s back.

“I don’t know why, but the emperor is in great need of magic stones. Is this it?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s buy all the magic stones on the market.”

I folded my fingers and grinned.

“Yes?”

“It’s okay, Mea can eat the excess anyway, and we have a monopoly on all mines above the advanced level.”

“Maaaa!”

Mea cried vigorously, as if begging to be left to her own devices.

I understand Nazar’s thoughts. Selling something at a high price when the other person needs it is business.

However, in this case, the other person can be said to be my enemy.

And when it comes to dealing with enemies.

Nazar gaped when he heard about my plan.

“Then shall we go right away?”