by Ryota Hori
Qwiltantian tea again, though... I should look into it later.
Nobles had a preference for Qwiltantian tea, it seemed. And indeed, Ryoma could tell the leaves were of exquisite quality. Ryoma was hoping to make his country thrive on trade in the future, and something like this may very well become a source of funds one day.
Oh, but we’re in the middle of negotiations right now... Almost slipped my mind.
What mattered at the moment was not dreams of the distant future, but the conversation at hand.
“It tastes wonderful. The smell is amazing, of course, but the flavor is simply remarkable. I hope you don’t take offense to this, Lady Yulia, but I never expected you to be knowledgeable about serving tea.”
Ryoma openly praised the tea, and there was no falsehood to those words. Even regardless of the leaves, there is such a thing as a correct way of pouring and serving tea. And in that regard, Lady Yulia’s tea was perfect. She used soft water at the right temperature, heated up the cup before pouring the water into it, used a circular teapot meant to prevent convection, minded the time it took the tea to be prepared...
If nothing else, Ryoma doubted he’d taste tea of this quality anywhere outside of a special coffee shop that specialized in tea brewing.
“My, you flatter me... Now, you try it too, beloved.” Lady Yulia urged Count Salzberg to try it, too.
“Hmm, my apologies...” Count Salzberg tipped his cup and heaved a deep sigh. “Her Majesty has sent quite a few emissaries, you see... It’s done a bit of a number on my nerves. Do forgive me.”
Count Salzberg lowered his head and stroked down his hair. They truly were husband and wife — they seemed to be perfectly in sync.
“Oh, I don’t mind,” Ryoma said. “But you mentioned emissaries from the queen?”
“Yes. Put frankly, they were sent to check on how you were doing, Lord Mikoshiba.”
“They came to check on me...?” Ryoma tilted his head in surprise.
Of course, Ryoma understood Lupis’s doubts regarding him. But what truly surprised him was that the emissaries openly admitted this. While they both saw each other as enemies, Lupis Rhoadserians was lord of the country, and Ryoma was, at least as far as appearances go, one of her vassals.
“Yes, apparently Her Majesty is quite anxious about this affair. I suspect she’s quite concerned over letting you handle the frontier lands of the peninsula. Of course, Her Majesty made the choice to bestow it upon you out of consideration of your abilities, but she naturally has an interest in seeing how things unfold. I myself am quite interested in seeing where your endeavors will take things, as I’m sure any noble of Rhoadseria would be.”
Salzberg concluded his words and looked at Ryoma expectantly. Those words were, in a manner of speaking, honest. Even if it stemmed from the Count’s own personal necessities.
Now’s my chance...
Judging that this was the opportune moment he’d been waiting for, Ryoma finally encroached on the main topic.
“Right... Actually, I came here tonight at such short notice to discuss my future territory at the Wortenia peninsula... Sir.” Ryoma said, eyeing Count Salzberg with the most distressed expression he could fabricate.
“Oh, so you are in trouble, after all...” Count Salzberg said. “I assumed as much since I received your message yesterday. It’s about the slaves, isn’t it? You’ve bought too many young slaves and you’re not sure as to what to do with them, perhaps? I could put in a good word for you, if you need it. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get back the full sum, but I do believe I can convince the slavers to refund most of it.”
Count Salzberg regarded Ryoma with a bright smile. It seemed he really wanted to have Ryoma owe him a favor. He didn’t even ask for the details and simply assumed Ryoma came to him for help because he didn’t know how to put his slaves to use.
Child slaves must really be undesirable... I mean, even mature slaves aren’t sold for that much in this world... And between this and how they know about my talking to Simone, they must be keeping a tight watch on me... Only question is, are they doing it for their ends or under Lupis’s orders?
Ryoma didn’t come to Count Salzberg’s estate with the intent of having him take slaves off his hands, but to sell him something else. Count Salzberg’s attitude was simply too patronizing, though. He was probably desperate to have Ryoma in his favor.
I guess that makes sense, given he’s embezzling off an illegal mine...
Possessing an illegal mine in another noble’s territory was a severe violation of the law. That was true even when it was a lower ranking noble like Ryoma. Count Salzberg only had one thing in mind; to have Ryoma enter the Wortenia peninsula as quickly as possible. And he would lend his aid to some extent if it meant making that happen faster.
So far so good... My people do good work.
Holding back a sneer at how Count Salzberg jumped to the wrong conclusion, Ryoma detailed his request while still feigning distress.
“Yes... I’m actually in a spot of trouble...”
“Regarding the slaves?” Count Salzberg asked.
Ryoma shook his head wordlessly. He took his time since buying them off the slaver. The children had completed their stamina training and were about to begin basic combat training. Ryoma had no intention of selling the children off at this point.
“What could it be, then?” Lady Yulia asked upon seeing Ryoma’s denial. “House Salzberg was ordered by Her Majesty to provide you with aid, should you require it. Feel free to state what you need. I’m sure we’ll be able to be of assistance to you. Isn’t that right, beloved?”
Those words made a cold shiver of fright slither down Ryoma’s spine. She said it casually, but Lady Yulia’s words implied a certain fact.
Ordered to provide me with aid, huh...? So they were told to keep an eye on me... That rotten bitch... She wasn’t going to leave me out of sight, and ordered Salzberg to do it... Whatever. That affords me some flexibility in its own way...
Lupis was wary of Ryoma and wouldn’t leave him unattended. Indeed, she had Count Salzberg watch his movements. Ryoma wasn’t gullible enough to believe she only told them to lend Ryoma their aid.
“I see...”
Perhaps their lavish welcome the other day was influenced by the Queen’s orders, too. But still, the two of them weren’t Lupis’s lapdogs. They claimed to be faithful on one hand, while embezzling resources away from the royal house’s gaze with the other.
Yeah, they’d do anything if it’ll profit them... That means there’s room to negotiate... I could sell them the rights to the deposit in exchange for them to falsify my reports to Lupis... It all depends on my acting, though... If I end up rousing their suspicions, it’ll all be over.
He’d have to wait for the perfect timing to name his conditions...
“Yes, indeed. So feel free to consult us, Lord Mikoshiba... So, if it isn’t about the slaves, what is it you require?” Salzberg looked at him questioningly.
He seemed very interested in what Ryoma was trying to do.
Guess he really wants me to get out of his hair as soon as possible... He really doesn’t like me, huh.
Count Salzberg was convincingly feigning kindness, but Ryoma knew his true intentions and could only see it as comical.
“Actually, I wanted to consult you about a salt vein in the peninsula... I believe you know of it, Count Salzberg...”
The moment Ryoma said those words, the temperature in the room physically became several degrees lower.
“What are you saying? How do you know that? Did you look into it yourself?” The smile disappeared from Count Salzberg’s face, and he spoke with a suppressed voice that seemed to echo up from the bottoms of the earth.
He was glaring daggers at Ryoma. His gaze was full of suspicion, envy and bloodlust. Count Salzberg didn’t try to pretend he didn’t know what Ryoma was saying — likely because he knew he wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of this.
How does he know about t
he vein? The Mystel Company should be keeping a tight hold on the place... Did he understand something during the dinner party after all? Should I kill him? No, even if I do end up killing him, I’ll have to confirm a few things first...
Inexplicable bloodlust surged up in Count Salzberg’s heart. He felt as if a starved insect was running amok in his garden. But despite this, his intellect suppressed that anger. At worst he’d simply have to kill Ryoma. They were Baron and Count — both were nobles, but their ranks differed.
And most of all, they were in Count Salzberg’s estate — far and away from the capital’s gaze. He could concoct whatever excuse to kill Ryoma. But before he made that choice, he needed to get some information out of Ryoma first.
And as if manipulating the Count’s judgment and emotions like a puppeteer, Ryoma presented the ace he’d prepared beforehand to the Salzbergs.
“Well, you see... I recently came across this...”
“What?! Hand it over!”
Ryoma held out a letter. It was made of ordinary paper and ink bought from a shop in town, and was scribbled over haphazardly, which made it impossible to discern the handwriting. It looked very much like a common letter. Count Salzberg quickly skimmed over the letter before handing it over to Lady Yulia and falling silent.
Who wrote this unnecessary garbage...?
The letter’s contents were quite simple. It was an incriminating letter, speaking of how House Salzberg possessed an illegal halite vein. One could simply shrug it off as slander, but the problem was that the note detailed the vein’s exact location. Count Salzberg calmed his raging heart and mulled over Ryoma’s words carefully.
Damn it... What idiot informed him of this? Was it Christof’s girl...? Yes, it must be. She’s a shrewd little minx, so she probably has a handle on what we’re up to...
Few people would oppose Count Salzberg and Lady Yulia in Epirus. Among the few who would was the Christof Company, who had the position of union head stolen from them. It was currently led by Simone Christof — and Count Salzberg saw her as his most potentially dangerous rival.
Count Salzberg, as the governor, backed the Mystel Company. And thanks to that, Epirus’s economy was moving with the Mystel Company at its center. It was very much at the peak of its momentum at the moment. By comparison, the Christof Company was at the lowest it had ever been. Count Salzberg’s pressure made them lose many clients, reducing the scale of their business.
But the Christof Company had served as head of the trade union, and that long history gave them some breathing room. Count Salzberg knew they weren’t to be looked down upon even now.
It’s been three years since Mystel became the head of the union. In just a few more years we’d be able to squeeze the life out of Christof’s girl, but... No, that’s actually exactly why...
Up until now the Christof Company could only struggle to survive the Count’s pressure, but now they made an attempt to counterattack. That seemed like the most probable option.
So if the one to leak that information to him was the Christof girl... The question is why did he come to me about it? And what was she trying to achieve with this?
The fact Simone Christof was able to find out about the halite vein was understandable. She could have noticed something was wrong with House Salzberg’s revenue and the amount of their transactions and looked into it. It was possible given the girl’s business sense. She looked young, but was able to keep that crumbling business together. This proved how good her business sense was. But the real problem was with what she did with that information.
If she knew about the vein, why didn’t she do something about it? Why go to him?
The best way of using the information would be to report the fact Count Salzberg possessed an illegal halite vein on the Wortenia peninsula to the royal family. Right now the peninsula belonged to Ryoma, but things were different a few months ago.
While they did nothing in terms of actually governing the land, the royal family held the rights over Wortenia before it was granted to Ryoma. House Salzberg had been embezzling the salt for over five years. No excuse would lighten the fact they were misappropriating resources from territory that belonged to the royal family.
If that information were to be made public, Count Salzberg and his entire family would be finished. The crime of embezzling resources from the royal family would result in his entire clan and associates being executed. So why give that information to this upstart noble? Count Salzberg couldn’t see the meaning behind that choice.
But it’s fine... Everything’s fine... There’s no need to panic... I can just hear what this boy has to say... We’re in the middle of my territory, after all...
Count Salzberg’s gaze grew sharper and more vicious, glinting coldly. He was about to bare the fangs he’d kept hidden so far. The same fangs he once used to bite his own father dead...
Ever since the Kingdom of Rhoadseria was established, House Salzberg had dominion over the lands that bordered the Kingdom of Xarooda. It had been driven to near bankruptcy due to having to repeatedly increase its military funding.
They had to increase the number of soldiers. Acquire new equipment to arm those soldiers. Build fortresses. Once one began counting the expenses there seemed to be no end to how much money they had to squander over defending the border.
And yet, the royal family did nothing.
They left the matters of managing House Salzberg’s territory entirely up to the Counts’ discretion. And that was an implicit way of saying that while they wouldn’t interfere in his affairs, they wouldn’t aid him financially, either.
However, since it was a matter of national defense, the royal house couldn’t afford to not augment the military. But at the same time, augmenting the military didn’t mean House Salzberg could neglect the land’s internal affairs.
Their taxation was already much more severe than other territories’. They weren’t keen on coddling their commoners, but pressuring them so hard that open rebellion breaks out wasn’t wise. A rebellion could be quelled using military might, but the frustration would just build up and eventually erupt again. And so, to prevent that, they granted the commoners some preferential treatment that served as a venting device of sorts.
The former heads of House Salzberg tackled that issue by cutting down on their own personal convenience. They economized time and again, living off more frugal meals, cutting down on clothing and the management of their estate... They cut down costs wherever was possible. And of course, it was hard to express just how difficult of a road that was.
House Salzberg struggled to retain its appearance as a noble house until the day Thomas Salzberg became Count. They lived a life of such destitute poverty one could mistake them for commoners. They held no lavish dinner parties, and their estate wasn’t furnished by famous artisans from the capital.
They cut into their very living flesh in the name of the Kingdom of Rhoadseria. But despite giving everything they had to protect the country, the only emotion others regarded House Salzberg with was scorn. Many of the nobles living in the capital mocked House Salzberg, calling them country bumpkins. The only ones to show them sympathy were the other members of the ten houses of the north.
And despite this, House Salzberg had withstood that shame for generations out of loyalty for Rhoadseria. For years they grit their teeth in frustration, tolerating the shame. But those attempts would eventually fail.
The current governor, Thomas Salzberg, was different from his predecessors. He was a man who wouldn’t hesitate to use anything if it would satisfy his desires. Perhaps it was a matter of his very nature as a human being. Or perhaps some incident in his youth distorted his heart. Whichever it was, the end result was the same.
Thomas Salzberg learned of the existence of a halite vein in the lands of the Wortenia peninsula — which at the time belonged to the Rhoadserian royal house and now belonged to Ryoma — some five years ago. It existed on a mountain range to the northeast of Epirus, a mere day’s wa
lk away.
The Wortenia peninsula didn’t originally have any residents, as it was a land populated by dangerous monsters and savage demi-humans. But that didn’t mean that no one lived there at all. There may not have been any residents inhabiting the peninsula, but there were certainly people there. There were criminals, exiles and other undesirables sent out into that land, as well as people employed in a certain profession.
Adventurers and mercenaries. The kind of people that made combat their tool of the trade.
To them, Wortenia was a battlefield to hone their skills in true combat and a place that allowed them to earn money. After all, it was a breeding ground for powerful monsters whose fangs and furs sold for a pretty sum. So long as you had the skill, this land offered a chance to put one’s life on the line for a chance to make a small fortune quickly.
In truth, the halite vein was discovered in one corner of this land by coincidence. A group of adventurers entered Wortenia, their hearts full of ambition and hope, and they happened upon the deposit. But that wasn’t to say they could use the vein on their own. Salt was a necessity for life, there was no doubting that, but it didn’t make for much profit unless it was mined out in large amounts.
The adventures knew this, and didn’t see it as much of a chance to make money. But when they brought back their spoils from the peninsula to the guild, they accidentally let slip that they discovered a vein. Normally, that report wouldn’t elicit much attention, but Count Salzberg caught wind of it.
It was hard to tell if it was a good thing or not that he learned of it. But for House Salzberg, who had been tormented by needing to increase the military funding yet again, the whole affair was a godsend. At the very least, this was a golden chance for one young Thomas Salzberg.
At the time, Thomas was only the legitimate first son and heir of the family. He desperately implored his father, the then-Count, to go forward with this idea, claiming it was their family’s last chance to turn their financial troubles around.
They’d just learned there was treasure buried within arm’s reach of them, after all. No one would be able to restrain themselves in the face of such an opportunity. Of course, had the vein been deeper into the peninsula, Thomas would have hesitated. Only the highest ranking adventurers and mercenaries would brave the deeper areas of Wortenia, and even they weren’t guaranteed to return alive from that danger zone.
