episode_0199

As the council concluded and talk of holding a banquet began to be discussed, Baron Divide quietly approached.

“Ah… … . I’m sorry, Viscount. I should have worked a little harder.”

The Baron approached me and immediately apologized. I wondered why that was, and it turned out that they should have worked harder in the process of making the law.

One of the people who loudly shouted at the center of the council was Baron Divide. It was a form of leading the council by agreeing with other cooperative families and acting as a speaker.

And, the reason why Baron Divide is apologizing is because there is a clause in the law that has been made now that states that people or organizations with a monopoly position cannot arbitrarily control the prices of goods they sell.

It was a part of controlling the market by supplying goods at low prices and then restricting profiteering. It was meant to be restricted because if anyone makes profit, the people who suffer the loss are the consumers who use the market.

If someone monopolizing the market made profit, people would resent that person, but it was only natural that a lot of resentment would be directed at the royal family.

Anyway, that clause was why Baron Divide apologized to me. They said they should have worked harder to prevent that clause from being included.

But I shook my head at Baron Divide’s words. To be honest, I didn’t suffer any harm due to that clause.

This is because there was no intention to profit from it in the first place.

My strategy was to maximize profits by selling as many items as possible, even if there was a little left over. No, making profit in the first place was close to impossible.

There was no way they could make profit when more than one person was freezing to death because they had no clothes to wear or blankets to cover. Since most people would not buy something if it was expensive, it was obvious that if the price was raised, it would not sell.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about it. Because I won’t suffer any harm. I had no intention of raising the price anyway.”

“But wouldn’t you have been able to benefit more without that clause?”

“At best, it won’t be much. Instead, it was a good decision to designate the premium product line as a separate luxury product so that there are no restrictions on price changes. That’s actually the big benefit.”

In fact, among the products I sell, the part that makes the most profit is the premium line. Looking at the sales volume alone, a lot of regular products were sold, but there were many premium lines that remained as net profit.

In that sense, Baron Divide was of great help to me. It would be a big deal to define the premium line as profiteering, but it has been excluded in the form of luxury goods.

Moreover, that was not the only help provided by Baron Divide and other collaborating families.

There was more than one thing that prevented the aristocratic faction from trying to make me collapse by putting a leash around my neck.

Measures such as making monopolies pay monopoly taxes if they were monopolizing or making them pay special taxes if they did not manufacture products with human resources were aborted due to fierce opposition from cooperating families.

Of course, since there was a crown prince, those provisions would not have actually been included in the law, but thanks to the nobles of the collaborating families who were fiercely opposed to it, the crown prince was able to pass without burden.

Of course, that wasn’t the only help from the cooperative family. Not only did I simply delete the clauses that were harmful to me, but I also added a few clauses that could offend the noble faction.

Provisions were included to prevent unfair profits through collusion and to prevent acts that unfairly interfere with those competing in the market.

The Marquis of Kurid’s raid on my blacksmith shop and his attempt to imitate my production methods were now clearly illegal.

Overall, although there are some disappointing provisions, the law itself was quite helpful to me. While the damage I would suffer was not that great, the damage the noble faction would suffer was very large.

It was an aristocratic faction that occupied a considerable portion of the market through a stronger force than the royalist faction. Of course, there were those who benefited through collusion among themselves, and there were also those who profited by intentionally interfering with royalist nobles.

But from now on, I can no longer do such things, so it was a good situation for me.

Even so, in a situation where my competitiveness was overwhelming, it could only be good because others would not be able to use shortcuts. It was as if the means for others to secure competitiveness had disappeared.

Anyway, a fairly satisfactory law was created, so I expressed my satisfaction and praised Baron Divide. Thanks to his most enthusiastic support of the aristocratic faction, a fairly good law was created.

“Hahaha! no. Isn’t it because the Viscount provides good products at a good price rather than my efforts?”

“Still, it is not without Baron Divide’s efforts.”

Haha, seeing Baron Divide bursting into laughter and showing humility again, I smiled and got up from my seat.

I sat down for a while to talk to Baron Divide, but I had to move slowly. A banquet led by the royal family was scheduled immediately after the parliament ended.

He moved toward the banquet hall with Baron Divide, who was taking one step ahead of him as if guiding him.

And while they were talking, the banquet had started, and the sound of musical instruments was coming out of the banquet hall. It was quite upbeat music.

“Sounds good.”

“From what I heard, it is said that the royal orchestra made string instruments using elastic fibers. I heard that stringed instruments with strings replaced with elastic fibers sound quite clear. Then, wasn’t this beautiful sound also created by you?”

I burst out laughing at the sight of Baron Divide spitting out various information while flattering me even with insignificant words. At the same time, for some reason, the image of the top leader of Sipmed overlapped with him.

I felt like I wanted to ask if they were relatives, but I didn’t open my mouth as it was rude to compare nobles and commoners.

Instead, I gently opened the door to the banquet hall where the sound of the instrument was coming from and went inside.

However, contrary to the lively sounds of musical instruments, the atmosphere inside the banquet hall was not very lively. No, to be exact, some of it was cheerful, and some of it felt like it was extremely irritating.

Naturally, the people in a cheerful mood were the royalists, and the people who were irritated were the aristocratic people.

It seemed that such a reaction was coming because the aristocratic faction was greatly undermined in this parliament. In particular, the atmosphere of the aristocratic faction could not be said to be good even with empty words, as the agenda that came out of the aristocratic faction’s tackle and fall was rather like drinking water to themselves.

And, the nobles who were in such a bad mood noticed me entering the banquet hall and immediately gave me a look full of hostility.

Emotions such as jealousy, envy, and anger towards me were sent without filtering through the eyes. Of course, I wasn’t weak enough to be intimidated by those looks. For a warlock who lived with the energy of death every day, such gazes were like the complaints of children.

However, among them, the one who showed the most intense hostility approached, leading several nobles.

It was the Marquis of Kurid, whose cheeks were so full that he purred and trembled with every step.

“Viscount Steel. How on earth did they roast and boil the crown prince?”

Marquis Kurid, who was leading the group, still gave a hostile look and immediately asked a question. Even though I belonged to the royalist faction, I could not understand the law that was finally decided.

In order to run state affairs, the cooperation of the aristocratic faction was absolutely necessary, but the laws that were actually made did not have much of what the aristocratic faction wanted.

The Marquis of Kurid believed that I was the cause. It was through the crown prince that I induced him to fill in only provisions that would not harm me.

Of course, I felt nothing but absurdity in Marquis Kurid’s words. It was a situation where he didn’t even talk to the crown prince, let alone coax him.

Although he wasn’t someone I wanted to talk to leisurely, I couldn’t ignore him because he was a person with a higher title than me, that of marquis. So, I tried to tell the story in moderation, but there was someone who came forward before me.

“Hehe, Marquis Kurid. Are you having a hard time speaking? It seems like you strangely look down on the royal family, but I hope I’m mistaken.”

“… … Count Shea.”

“Yes. Count, stock share. by the way… … . There is a misunderstanding, so let me explain. The agenda that became the subject of this parliament was not a request made by Viscount Steele to the Crown Prince, nor was it done in a favorable direction for him because he was a royalist.”

The person who came forward before me and even Baron Divide was Count Stock Share. As one of the cooperative families, he was the owner of an estate that supplied fairly high quality cotton.

And then, Count Shea began to deal with Marquis Kurid with a gentle smile on his face.

“As you know since you attended the National Assembly, monopoly is not necessarily full of harmful effects, right? With Viscount Steel monopolizing the textile market, wasn’t there a prediction that the company’s profits would plummet this winter?”

“If you raise the price when the demand for textiles surges before winter, nothing will change, right?”

“Hehehe, that too came from the National Assembly. Isn’t that why Viscount Steele can’t set prices as he pleases even though it is his own business?”

“It’s just that you can’t do what you want, but it’s not impossible to raise the price for various reasons. What if the price is raised because demand increases and production is disrupted? Even if you don’t look, the result is obvious.”

“Do you really look down on the royal family? The royal family’s permission is needed to determine the price, but do you think the royal family will pass over such an obvious trick?”

Perhaps because it could easily be considered an insult to the royal family, Marquis Kurid frowned, his cheeks fluttering. Even if he was the Marquis of Kurid, one of the most powerful figures in the aristocratic faction, he could not go so far as to insult the royal family.

But even after seeing that, Count Shea smiled leisurely and did not close his mouth.

“And, you keep talking about the negative effects. It’s been about ten years, right? The lords of the coastal regions colluded and raised the price of salt five times. Oh my, how difficult it was for our estate to find salt back then. Was it fortunate that there were at least a few lords among the royalists who collected rock salt?”

“… … .”

“Considering that almost half of the domestic salt market is in their hands… … . Yeah, whatever. I think it’s natural to be worried.”

The Marquis of Kurid could hardly show his expression at the words of Count Shea, who was smiling slyly. This is because the nobles of the coastal region mentioned by Count Shea were all aristocrats.

I kept falling for my monopoly on the market, but it was the aristocrats who actually created the harmful effects of the monopoly.

” His Majesty the Crown Prince did not lift anyone’s hand, but created such a law to prevent damages that may arise due to practically incorrect actions.”

Count Shea’s words were not the same as rejecting you because you are an aristocrat, but because you are wrong, you will be caught in the new law.

In response to Count Shea’s words, where he even pointed out their own mistakes, the Marquis Kurid could only shake his cheeks and say nothing.