episode_0561

The reason Lizzie visited the Blackwood Estate was not just to meet me. She was suggesting that the Auguste Trading Company establish a Blackwood branch in the estate, as I mentioned earlier.

The main reason was that there was still no proper branch office in the East and it was close to where the Barbaracus tribe lived.

“So, I originally came to speak to Duke Harold, but unfortunately, I guess he’s not here today.”

“You left for the academy three days ago. The new semester starts in March.”

“Oh, by the way, you were Professor Harold too, right? Even though Ethan and Lilith graduated, are you still a professor?”

“He said he would try for about a year. I don’t know why.”

Although it was assumed that he was looking for other things to do after retirement in order to pass on the position of ‘Duke of Blackwood’ to Ama Edan, it seemed that Edan had no intention of explaining it to an outsider, Lizzie.

Of course, just because the family is being passed down doesn’t mean the existing family head is suddenly kicked out of the territory. It’s just that Harold is preparing to leave on his own for some reason.

There are several reasons for this, but I think the biggest reason is probably because of me and Ethan.

He lost his wife a long time ago, and seeing Ethan and I flirting around the house makes me cautiously suspect that he might be avoiding the place on purpose because he’s afraid of getting lonely.

“I should have moved a little earlier. But I just took care of urgent matters and came as quickly as possible.”

“By the way, why are you trying to establish a branch in Blackwood? If you’re going to establish one anyway, wouldn’t it be better to establish it in the Barbarakus estate where your younger brother is staying?”

“There is active trading there, but it is not possible to cash out the resources. One of the goals is to distribute cash to other branches, but people there only trade goods.”

“Isn’t it near the Dorcrief territory?”

“Are you saying this because you don’t know what the relationship is like between the people there and the Barbaracus tribe? I’d be lucky if I didn’t get beaten up and kicked out when I visited that family. If it weren’t for Karaham, I wouldn’t have thought of dealing with the barbarians either. It’s just that we ended up doing business a little more often because we had no choice but to spend time with them. ”

In addition, the other eastern territories are too closed off, too close to other branches, and there is no point in establishing them, or they were involved in the recent academy attack and became ‘Blackwoods’.

At first, I thought he was just here to be friendly with me, but it turned out that he was seriously preparing a vision to establish a business plan for the Blackwood Estate.

“That sounds plausible. You’ve prepared many excuses to establish a branch on our territory, Young Lady Auguste.”

“I didn’t come here to make any shameless suggestions like asking for permission just by seeing her face, since she’s Lilith’s friend. I also brought a proper business negotiation proposal.”

“If you really came here to talk business seriously, then just tell me. I’ve been handing over all the business to Blackwood on behalf of my father for the past two months anyway.”

“Really? Oh, right. I guess it can’t be helped since you said you were a professor at the academy.”

“Okay. Then let’s talk about profits first. First, our proposal is to distribute 15% of the annual net profit from the operation of Auguste Trading Company to the Blackwood Dukes. However, for the first two years, we will adjust the ratio a little so that it can settle down stably… .”

Lizzy took out the business plan from her bag and explained it while saying such things.

It was an opportunity for Dietmeier to make the most of his knowledge of managerial economics.

“The branch manager will assign someone from our family, but we will give priority to hiring people from the Gongjakryeong area for the staff to work at the branch.”

“I want to ask what the priority criteria are.”

“At least 70% of the labor force, excluding executives. If a Gongjakryeong resident leaves the company before reaching retirement age, we will hire the next successor from among the Gongjakryeong residents. Of course, if there are no applicants, we will naturally have to bring in our own manpower.”

“Not a bad suggestion. Recently, thanks to the discovery of a new farming method, there are a lot of people playing in the Blackwood Estate. So, is that the end of the suggestion?”

“We were originally suggesting that we promote local specialties to other territories, but Blackwood’s specialties are famous enough that we don’t need to promote them, so there’s no need for that. Instead, how about operating half of the security forces of the trading company in cooperation with Blackwood’s security force? While they are employed as security for the trading company, we will pay the security force’s personnel expenses. ”

“… That’s a pretty interesting suggestion. You must be making it because you can handle it, right? ”

“I can handle it. Are you sure the next Blackwood lord isn’t scared yet? ”

… Yeah. I don’t really understand what you’re talking about, because I gave up on understanding halfway through.

I get the feeling that Daegu Ridge is making concessions here and there in order to establish a branch office in Blackwood Estate, but I can’t quite figure out how meaningful those concessions are.

I couldn’t understand why hiring Blackwood’s security force as a security guard was such an interesting proposition, and why the question of whether I could handle it was suddenly raised.

“What do you think about the release?”

“… Yes, yes?! What, what do you mean, Ethan? ”

“A suggestion to allow the Auguste Trading Company branch to enter the Blackwood Estate. What do you think?”

“Well, wouldn’t it be good if there was a large merchant branch so that it could increase trade profits with the surrounding territories? Apart from the net profit that Auguste’s merchants talk about, if it’s a large merchant branch of that size, many merchants who aren’t affiliated with the merchant group will also visit.

If there are a lot of people coming and going to Blackwood Estate, they will spend money or buy things, so I think it is a pretty reasonable decision for the economy within the estate, but… .”

Ethan and Lizzie nodded with satisfied smiles as I carefully observed their mood and told them what I had learned from Dietmeyer. I didn’t know for sure, but I judged that I didn’t say anything wrong, so I nodded cautiously with a smile like them.

“How about proceeding with a temporary contract for about 5 years and then extending it if Auguste Trading Company is still fulfilling its role? I think that would be enough time for the trading company to stabilize and start full-scale transactions.”

“… Okay. However, since this is a temporary contract, I will exclude the last clause, ‘Donate the goods of the withdrawal meeting to the development fund of the territory.’ I doubt that Prince Blackwood would play around with the contract, but wouldn’t it be better to clearly state it so that there are no issues? ”

“Okay, do whatever you want.”

Ethan and Lizzy, who are on good terms or bad terms, still stamped their seals on the contract documents.

It was one spring day when the first large-scale trading company entered the Blackwood Estate.

⁎⁎⁎

If you spend almost the same day every day at Blackwood Estate, you will realize that time surprisingly passes quickly.

Four months have passed since I started taking classes for the noble lady to become a prospective duchess.

Compared to when I first started taking the class, quite a few things have changed. For example, Maid Jang Melissa only touches my body with a whip twice a day these days, and Dietmeier’s economics lectures are a little easier to understand than before.

It changed little by little as each day passed, so by the time I noticed the change, quite a few days had passed.

“The warrior party has broken through the Demon King’s second line of defense. Before advancing to the third line of defense, the warrior party has announced that they will take a break within the empire for a while… .”

… You guys are really doing well.

When I occasionally hear news of the warrior party in the Imperial Newspaper, it seems like the original warrior has already passed a long time ago.

If you’ve already broken through the second line of defense, it means you’ve already broken through half of the Demon Realm, so if you just break through one more line of defense, you’ll be in the Demon King’s Castle.

The warrior party probably started their full-scale activities last year, so this means that they achieved this level of results in just 1 year and 4 months. The statement that they were taking a break before the 3rd defense line battle mentioned here was obviously intended to adjust the pace by extending the attack period.

If you advance too quickly, there is a possibility that events that occurred in the original work will not occur, or you may have to fight an unexpected battle.

‘It must have been a big factor that he killed all the Four Heavenly Kings before entering the Demon Realm.’

Although we didn’t participate in the battle because we wanted to, Edan and I ended up getting involved in the suppression of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Even the guys in the warrior party didn’t really participate in the Battle of Bertus, so it could be said that they killed more Heavenly Kings than the warriors. At this point, I think the palace should at least give them the honorary warrior party title.

I don’t want to spend years wandering around the Demon Realm and fighting endless battles, but honestly, I secretly want the title of Honorary Comrade of the Warrior Party.