Episode 253
“…Even if you spend money, there is only one way.”
Dwayne’s voice caught everyone’s attention.
“All we can do is buy food from outside. The food left in this country has long since been converted into military funds or jewels for nobles.”
Logan flinched at the words spat out with a stern expression, and the others also let out a long sigh.
Dwayne took a step forward and continued.
“We must ask other nobles for help. We must help the provinces that are experiencing food shortages, even if it means squeezing in what provinces can afford it.”
Although it was a reasonable opinion at first glance, it was ridiculously lacking in reality.
While everyone was shaking their heads, Damian took the lead and rebutted.
“The nobles will not be willing to step forward. Even if they do, they will do so in a condescending manner only after the problem has completely erupted. That is, after someone has starved to death in their territory. I don’t think His Majesty will want that.”
Logan nodded heavily at those words.
“Then it’s already too late. Antipathy toward the royal family will grow, and resources will be consumed many times over to deal with the aftermath after the incident. A disaster that will require the combined efforts of the entire nation will begin within a few years. So, let’s talk about a realistic plan.”
The idea was to keep the nobles’ cooperation out of mind.
Under the law, the royal family could not force the support of nobles. And even if you ask, ‘Why me?’ It was clear that something like that would come back.
‘Of course I’m going to use flowery language, but that’s what I mean.’
Those who know the habits of nobles can’t help but nod their heads.
Even Dwayne, who spoke for the first time, couldn’t help but bite his lip and lower his head.
“In the end, will we have to squeeze out the extra money from McLane Estate and Esperanza again, Your Majesty?”
“…Esperanza had extra support last winter, so we no longer have the capacity.”
The swordsman, who had been expressing active support since the coronation ceremony or just before, conveyed the unfavorable state of the territory with a heavy expression.
“The same goes for McLane. I didn’t dare report the public opinion of the residents, but the atmosphere is…”
“Not the town. There’s more room in Taren now.”
“Ah! That’s right. That damn magic water farming method or something and the dam construction has been completed. But are you trying to squeeze it out again right after that? It’s not like McLane is a baton, and you’re stealing all that expensive magic stone… Wow!”
Dwayne’s expression, which had been filled with self-awareness, resentment, and anger, suddenly became as hard as stone.
After recognizing the content of the words he had freely uttered, he hurriedly began to look at Logan and the swordsman.
The swordsman smiled bitterly at that, and Logan added with a small sigh.
“You don’t have to pay attention. I already told Master.”
“Hmm. Excuse me, Your Excellency. Anyway, what you mean is that your Majesty will sell magic stones to buy food from abroad? Then it should be possible, but…” “
But?”
In response to Logan’s question, Dwayne sighed with a depressed expression.
“…I don’t know much about commerce, but I can predict one thing.”
“what?”
“If large purchases continue at the kingdom level, merchants will think this is the time to raise prices. In that case, even if we keep the food supply to a minimum, we may run out of budget.”
“Please talk to Philip about that first. We will be able to find a way to bring a large amount of food into the country as cheaply and quickly as possible.”
“…I’ll tell you, but there’s no way that Philip can meet all of those requirements…”
“Let’s trust Philip.”
Logan sighed repeatedly as he spoke of conditions that seemed absurd even to him.
“If there are any other methods you can think of, please tell me.”
It was a situation where they were forcing their own citizens to sacrifice themselves in order to raise an army to fight the empire, but there was no way to do it now. We had to go ahead with it but somehow come up with a way to minimize the side effects.
‘We can never allow something like the plague to happen again.’
Logan’s head began to spin busily.
* * *
“…That’s a vague statement.”
[okay. The only one I can trust is you, Philip. I’ll try to find the next best solution, but…]
The gray-eyed young man could only sigh at that reckless cheering.
At most, one month until the busy farming season.
Even if we assume that the period when the people were most hungry was from spring to summer, it was only about three months.
If that’s a good thing.
“You mean you have a lot of capital?”
Although I was concerned that it was magic gemstone and not cash.
Even though it would take about a month for the actual item to arrive in one’s hands, that was not a big problem for the current top of the McLine.
The food market of the empire that has been developed so far is so large that it is difficult to cause price fluctuations with just the monthly production of one magicite mine.
Thanks to its transformation into a state-run merchant, its credit has soared to the highest level, so it will be able to easily conclude transactions lasting just one or two months.
However, there was another problem.
“We must buy enough food to sustain over 1 million people for 6 months at the lowest possible price at a time without being noticed and send it to the kingdom. And that too within a month.”
When I put the condition out in words, it was so absurd that I burst out laughing.
Enough food to survive. In other words, although there was a condition of not dying, the unit was too tight.
Estimate: 1 million. Isn’t that 1/20th of the entire population of the kingdom?
What on earth did the kingdom do to calculate that so many people could starve to death?
Could it be that the kingdom is in ruin without even realizing it?
“Fuck… How can I do this…” As
Philip tilted his head back in confusion, he felt the texture of leather gently wrapping around his neck.
A sofa made of the highest quality cowhide leather.
The feel of a high-end sofa that I had never seen before, let alone sat on in the kingdom, rekindled my previously waning motivation.
The luxury he enjoys now was possible because the McLane territory, or rather the kingdom, supported him.
You have to do it somehow, even for yourself.
Philip, who had made up his mind, first arranged the absolutely necessary conditions.
“It is impossible to expand the trading target to the central part of the empire. It takes one month just to travel from Enerhim, the western end of the east, to the kingdom. So, the trading target is limited to the eastern part. And all transactions must be completed within 15 days. That too at once. So, we shouldn’t let grain merchants exchange information with each other. They’ll definitely fix the price. If that’s the case… Oh, fuck…” The more I
talked, the more I felt at a loss.
‘no. It’s an illusion. can do. you can do it. Should be.’
After bracing himself again, Philip quickly left the office.
And from the beginning of this daunting task, he encountered unexpected obstacles.
“What did you say?”
As soon as he entered the upper level where he usually did business, Philip heard a strange sound.
“Well… the imperial family said there was a problem with the distribution of grains in the eastern part of the empire and issued a ban on trade for three months. I’m dying because of that!”
“yes!?”
The complaints of Atun, a merchant who had been doing business in Ruspelheim for a year and had built up trust, were too absurd to just listen to.
“Why in the imperial court? What is the problem?”
“I don’t know that either, so I’m going to be crazy.”
Arun is a merchant who supplies goods to the imperial family.
The fact that he didn’t know the reason meant that there was no need to ask any more.
Eventually, Philip turned to another powerful figure in Ruspelheim.
However, the ominous premonition that I had felt since Arun clearly revealed its true nature the moment I visited Dmitry Ryan, the mayor of Ruspelheim.
“The mayor is busy with official duties, so it will be difficult to meet with him for a while.”
A person who can’t even remember how much bribe he paid in a year unless he looks at the ledger.
So the person who always came out with a smile refused to meet me.
‘This stinks.’
It also had a very foul odor.
– One day, an empire will invade our kingdom. So I tell you….
The moment the words of my lord, who is now king, appear in my mind.
Philip had a premonition that this might be a ploy by the imperial family targeting McLane.
‘It would be better to ban transactions with our superiors. Oh, then, how many times should I ride someone and make a deal?’
Or maybe it was to avoid giving the impression that the imperial family was targeting McLane. Well, even now I’m like blindfolded, but there’s a big difference between mentioning it openly and not mentioning it.
‘So they stop food trade altogether…? This is a grandiose measure. Huh, indeed.’
I thought I could guess the reason for taking this measure.
A lament came out of his mouth, but at that moment, inspiration appeared in Philip’s head.
‘Oh my. If this happens just for a moment…’
Philip’s gray eyes lit up for a moment, and a grin soon spread across his lips.
“…I thought this was a possibility?”
A mission that already seemed difficult to accomplish through normal means.
However, the absurd variable of banning transactions in the imperial family completely distorted the market flow.
And Philip was able to find one possibility in that gap. The possibility of a miracle where an impossible mission becomes possible because of an obstacle.
People often compare the flow of commerce in a country to the flow of blood in the human body.
This is a metaphor that when commerce is blocked, a huge organism called a country dies because its blood stops flowing, but it also means that the essence of commerce is that transactions are constantly taking place and goods are moved.
What if such supplies are stopped due to variables outside the market rather than normal circumstances?
Of course, the huge market called the empire will not collapse due to a brief cessation of blood flow. However, it was also a fatal variable that could kill any drop of blood that was targeted, i.e. a merchant.
“What is the ban on trading? If I can’t dispose of the goods for three months, I won’t be able to pay for them next month! Do you know what that means? I’m going bankrupt!”
Grain merchant Quan shouted at the top of his lungs when he saw Ferrum, the owner of the Ferrum upper level with whom he had been doing business for a long time.
“What can I do? The imperial family has banned it. If you want to do business in this country, you have to follow the country’s laws.”
“Then what is our contract!?”
“If you want to argue, go to the royal family and argue. Is there any way for me to do this? It’s too bad, but go back.”
bang!
The door closed with a cold rejection.
dump.
Quan sat down helplessly on the spot.
“Oh my, oh my. How can I live…!”
The cries, which were almost like wailing, continued, but Ferum did not open the door again.
By the time Quan’s voice became hoarse.
Someone approached him.
“I think you need help…”
“What? Who are you…?”
“Are you Quan, the grain merchant?”
“That’s right, but…?”
The man who approached Quan’s suspicious expression lowered his voice even further.
“It came from the top of the horse.”
“…Is this a name you’ve never heard of?”
Quan straightened himself as he looked into the man’s gray eyes.
“Oh, I guess so. We are not at the top of the country. Just doing business once and becoming successful is enough. I think you can do business with us. What do you think?”
At those words, a flame bloomed in Quan’s eyes.
Imperial order?
Ban all transactions?
‘What good is that? I’m going to die right now! ‘Fuck it, let’s clean up everything and run this country.’
Snapping.
“How flexible can you be? Depending on the quantity, I will give you up to 80% of the original market price.”
Quan brought up his own discount that was rarely mentioned in the mouths of ordinary merchants.
Philip’s smile grew even deeper when he heard those words.
– A merchant is willing to deal with the devil if it is profitable. These are people you can join hands with.
A saying used when a country that despises commerce despises merchants.
In a sense, the saying was true.
‘It seems that the high-ranking people do not know the heart of a lowly merchant, but…’
He was a member of the imperial family. Thanks to this, I was able to breathe.
From that day on, the seven large cities in the eastern part of the empire began transporting grain to the Kingdom of McLane through different routes.
Of course, the places that bought the goods were merchants with different names.
