Ch.8080. Contract

After the expectation of free gold from the Demonic Land was shattered, the small chapel in the Imperial Palace suddenly transformed into a futures trading house.

The finance officer of the Wellesley County, with notably short limbs, began handling practical matters accompanied by a legal professional. With an extremely tired expression.

“What is this nonsense! I clearly heard it would be free!”

Some left while protesting, but more than thirty lords were meeting with Erick Wellesley in order. Most were rural minor lords.

However, not everyone who remained was participating in the transactions with a pleasant mood.

‘This isn’t right. Supervising farming?’

This was the thought that crossed the mind of the ‘Viscount Widen,’ a nobleman in his mid-40s, as he waited for his turn.

The Widen viscounty was considered wealthy among provincial families.

The population of his territory was less than 30,000 and grain production was just average, but they had their own products to sell.

At the moment, they were groaning from paralyzed liquidity, but that didn’t mean their pride had completely disappeared.

Regardless of the viscount’s dissatisfaction, the transactions themselves were proceeding relatively smoothly.

For one thing, Erick Wellesley himself seemed to know the circumstances of individual territories to some extent.

He hadn’t studied separately, but it seemed he had picked up various information while traveling around territories for several years during his knight days. Being of commoner origin, he also seemed knowledgeable about farming.

Even now, a nobleman was trembling before Erick Wellesley.

“I’ll sell rye. Delivery in four months…”

“I’m sorry, but I know your territory’s people don’t have enough to eat. Your cultivated land isn’t extensive, and there’s not even a decent water source nearby. Above all, didn’t orcs sweep through the area a month ago?”

“…Then I have nothing to sell.”

“I know your territory produces three or four mandrake roots every year. Near the site of the former public execution ground of the fallen Kingdom of Ether. I’ll purchase about ten roots, so you can deliver them over several years.”

“No, but still, that’s…”

“Mandrake is useful as an ingredient for medicinal herbs or magic materials. You seem to think demand will increase because of the Demon Lord’s army, but for knights with mediocre talents, it’s just a nutritional supplement.”

“…If you pay the price I charged to the magic tower last year, I’ll agree. Actually, I’m barely managing to pay my guards’ wages.”

After reaching a general agreement with Erick Wellesley, they would move to another seat where they would work out details like delivery methods with the Wellesley County’s finance officer and write up a contract.

‘Does it have to be done this way?’

Even to Viscount Widen, it didn’t seem like Erick Wellesley was trying to exploit the lords.

The prices seemed fair. Considering they didn’t have to sell directly, it might even save costs.

And it was true that the money Erick Wellesley agreed to pay in advance would help individual territories.

There were several families who, despite being nobles, were struggling without even ten million Lyra. They might be called nobles, but in reality, they were debtors, bankrupts.

But even so.

Viscount Widen didn’t like this transaction.

The warhammer placed neatly on the table bothered him from the start. Was it a threat to smash heads if promises weren’t kept?

And using the Prince as a notary was also unpleasant. It felt like an implication that titles would be revoked if contracts weren’t fulfilled.

Viscount Widen’s grumbling came from having something reliable.

The jewelry workshop that had been steadily developed since his predecessor’s time.

It was a workshop that produced relatively high-quality products including earrings, necklaces, and rings.

Although it had become more of a burden as jewelry demand plummeted after the Cordana incident, they had still managed to prevent the outflow of skilled craftsmen.

Someday, when the Cordana incident was resolved, and the era of constant banquets and tea parties returned throughout the Empire including the capital, that demand would inevitably revive.

Because the desire for beauty doesn’t easily disappear.

Of course, funds had dried up after being thoroughly beaten by Cordana, but no matter how difficult the situation, he didn’t want to beg Erick Wellesley.

However, he did need to exchange words with him at least once. Since Wellesley seemed somewhat intelligent, there was a possibility he might appreciate the value of high-quality jewelry.

Yes. Instead of futures, let’s propose a partnership.

With this thought, Viscount Widen sat before Erick Wellesley.

And hoping Wellesley would show insight, he opened his mouth.

“Count Wellesley. The aftereffects of the Cordana incident will end soon.”

“Really?”

“Let me use the human body as an analogy. No matter how severe the flu, if you receive healing from a priest once and drink a cup of wine boiled with cinnamon and star anise, you recover in a few days. I think Cordana is not much different.”

At these words, Erick Wellesley looked at Viscount Widen with an extremely tired expression.

“Rather than flu, it’s more like perma…” he started to say before weakly shaking his head.

“I understand. Are you selling wine?”

“No. We possess an excellent jewelry workshop. Twenty experienced craftsmen are affiliated with that workshop. When the Cordana incident ends, the demand for jewelry will increase terrifyingly.”

“……”

“I have a proposal for you, Count. If you have gold that hasn’t been turned over to the mint yet, why not provide it to our territory’s workshop? We’ll return it to you as the highest quality jewelry in two months.”

It was a sincere proposal.

After saying this much, Viscount Widen waited for Erick Wellesley’s answer. Thinking that a wise person would agree.

Unfortunately, however, Erick Wellesley’s response was cynical.

“I find it difficult to agree with the expression that the Cordana incident will end, but yes, it may eventually stabilize.”

“Banquets will resume.”

“They will. Until now, even wealthy nobles have been restraining themselves out of consideration for Cordana investors, but eventually they won’t be able to hold back and will somehow hold banquets. I don’t necessarily see it negatively.”

“So…”

“But it won’t be the same scale as before. And Viscount Widen.”

“…?”

“From what I hear, these days wealthy family ladies are just paying a bit more to purchase accessories made by dwarves. It seems the desire to freely enjoy banquets and social gatherings is being expressed in that way.”

“Well, there might be such ladies, but…”

“They’ve already become accustomed to dwarf-made products, so why would they buy expensive items from a workshop with poor quality control due to idleness from lack of work? They’d rather add a bit more and buy dwarf-made products.”

Add a bit more, what?

It was presumptuous lecturing. Disliking it, Viscount Widen stood up abruptly.

And he was about to say something, but…

He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Because the warhammer caught his eye.

That warhammer which had finely crushed Gwon Heejin’s remains while covered in aura. It seemed like Gwon Heejin’s bone powder might still be on it.

Moreover, it now had dark bloodstains on it. They seemed to be marks from beating up beastmen while infiltrating the border.

He had killed over 200 of them alone, hadn’t he? He even met the Beast King one-on-one and formed a pact. Indeed, a master was a master.

‘Right. This man was a knight. Not an official or a merchant.’

Viscount Widen remembered when Erick Wellesley worked as a regular member of the Royal Order.

About two years ago? Erick had rushed with several colleagues to exterminate a few variant trolls that appeared on the outskirts of Viscount Widen’s territory.

At that time, Erick was just an ordinary knight. A knight who wielded his sword during the day and enjoyed meat and alcohol at the small banquet hosted by Viscount Widen in the evening.

He even put his arm around the female knight Selin, reveling and competing to drink more.

Has such a person changed this much in just two years?

Until now he had just accepted it, but it was something that didn’t make sense. It seemed like someone was pulling strings behind Erick.

And that someone was almost certainly a member of the imperial family.

Having reached this realization, Viscount Widen laughed dejectedly.

‘I can’t fall for this trick.’

Even now, the Prince sat with an expression of not understanding what was happening. At a glance, he was just a blond youth with shadows under his eyes.

There was nothing strange about it. His superficial role was just to notarize the contracts.

However, the Prince, and the imperial family he represented, seemed to be trying to strengthen control over provincial lords through this opportunity.

Confirming his suspicion, Viscount Widen looked at Wellesley with a bitter smile.

Regardless, Erick Wellesley only delivered his message dryly.

“Stubbornly holding onto twenty skilled craftsmen will only increase your expenses. When the jewelry business was good, a few hundred million might have seemed trivial, but circumstances are different now. It’s better to liquidate.”

“Count Wellesley. I’m sorry, but I decline that proposal.”

There’s no room for further discussion.

Viscount Widen stated firmly.

By doing this, he naturally thought Erick Wellesley would say something like “Let’s think about it again” or “Aren’t you worried about your territory’s people?” and try to persuade him.

Or advise him to urgently create fields and cultivate spring barley if there was really nothing to sell.

But strangely, Erick Wellesley didn’t seem interested in persuading him.

“I understand. Then you can just leave.”

“Pardon?”

“I said you can leave.”

“No, you should find some other way…”

“There is no other way. There might be a clever solution if you think about it, but I can’t be responsible for dozens of territories.”

Erick Wellesley casually extended his hand to point toward the exit.

Is this really the end?

Viscount Widen hesitantly left the chapel.

Then one guard looked at him with an astonished expression.

“Um, Viscount Widen… no, never mind.”

What, that’s it?

Viscount Widen strode away.

It was only after some time had passed that he realized he hadn’t shown proper courtesy to the Prince before leaving.

For a moment he felt regretful, but it was too late to go back. Viscount Widen sighed, thinking this was all Erick Wellesley’s fault.

***

I spent a full day making contracts with individual lords.

Of course, not all lords agreed to the transactions. There was even a gentleman who proposed making gold jewelry in these times.

It was expected from the beginning. If all the lords had been eager, I would have been in trouble instead.

800 billion was, of course, an enormous sum, but it was insufficient to supply emergency funds to more than 30 families.

Even the lords who agreed to the transactions didn’t seem satisfied.

It was because everyone’s expectations had risen insanely due to Cordana. Even though Cordana was already over, those expectations refused to come down.

“…Honestly, this is only worth a few houses in the capital.”

“It would take 30 years to pay off debts by farming. No wonder I was looking for investment opportunities in the capital.”

Everyone was thinking only by capital standards.

In the capital, even poor workers living in honeycomb housing spend hundreds of thousands of Lyra a month, but the situation in small territory villages was completely different.

When I was young, the concept of currency was vague. I just thought it was fortunate to have something to eat each day. Not because the lord was particularly evil, but because for poor commoners, survival itself was a challenge.

‘It must seem trivial to return to a life of protecting such commoners.’

It wasn’t strange that they had the illusion they could easily earn 5 or 10 billion after experiencing Cordana.

But I didn’t have the talent to persuade lords who couldn’t face reality one by one. And honestly speaking…

‘I’ve done enough.’

The scale of futures transactions concluded with thirty-one lords today fell just short of 75 billion.

Considering I needed to reward the pursuit team and inject funds into the orphanage run by the Papal State, I had essentially spent everything.

In return, I had agreed to receive various products: grains, fruits, cooking oil, cotton textiles, woolen textiles, and so on.

And from territories that had no surplus production due to monster attacks, I inevitably agreed to receive gathered items.

The territory from which I would receive mandrake was one such place. There was no other way.

The money I would pay in advance would help run territories where gold had dried up.

‘At the very least, it will help reduce the number of people dying miserable deaths.’

It would reduce extreme situations like being robbed by knight-origin deserters who escaped from penal units, or not being able to contact the two knight orders in time when a high-level monster appears because there isn’t a single magician in the territory.

Of course, some lords might still cause problems. Some might deliver refugees instead of products.

Naturally, I had no intention of showing mercy to them.

In that case, I planned to appropriately utilize the warhammer, which was a means to prevent contract breaches.