Episode 43
“Okay. Have you expanded your knowledge in the capital?”
“Yes. It helped me a lot.”
“…Okay. That’s it. Is there anything else you want to say?”
Even in that short conversation, Logan could feel that his father’s perception of him had clearly changed.
Because I believe it. It means not asking or questioning anything.
But I had to say something for the future.
‘First of all, before we get to the point…’
Logan swallowed his dry saliva.
“I made some money by doing business for a while in the capital. The profits will continue to come in for a while.”
“…Money? No, before that. Business? What business?”
“The medicine I gave to my father as a gift. I started a business with that medicine. Fortunately, it worked out well and I made some money.”
“What what?”
The expression on my father’s face, which he had asked casually, suddenly hardened.
Then, I realized how crazy my thoughts were and my face turned red.
“Are you saying you went all the way to the capital and started selling aphrodisiacs?!”
His voice trembled slightly in a mixture of surprise and embarrassment.
“I guess… they used an agent?”
“I sold it to nobles for a high price. To do that, I have to take the initiative myself.”
“You sold it yourself?”
“yes.”
“…and identify yourself as McLane?”
“yes.”
“Hmm. Hmm. Huh. Huh…”
Padric’s astonishment quickly turned into a long sigh and sigh.
“Hmm, it’s a pleasure to meet my ancestors…”
A moan escaped from his hands covering his face.
He let out a series of long sighs when he raised his head again and saw Logan.
Logan was slightly nervous, anticipating an unpleasant voice.
“Haaah. Logan, I decided not to interfere with your actions anymore.”
However, contrary to his thoughts, a deep, serious voice followed with a long sigh.
“Next time you do something, won’t you at least consider the family’s honor and dignity?”
Despite his father looking at him with a complicated expression, Logan only smiled.
‘I thought I would have to use all kinds of phrases to persuade you.’
It seemed like his reputation had improved more than he expected.
‘If you do this well, persuasion will be easier.’
So Logan was able to answer courageously.
“yes!”
“…Are you thinking before answering?”
“of course!”
“Ugh…”
Logan’s answer, which came out so lightly, was not believable at all, and Padric, who was speechless, held his face again.
But Logan was truly confident.
In his opinion, he was already acting with the family’s honor and dignity in mind, not as a minimum but as a maximum.
However, in his mind, honor and dignity were just next in line to survival and profit.
Logan chuckled, thinking about what he would have done again if his father found out.
Now that I’ve given you a headache, it’s time to give you some good news.
That would definitely add persuasiveness to what I would say later.
“True! I happened to meet a swordsman in the capital and formed a good relationship with him.”
Fortunately, this time, Logan responded immediately, just as he expected.
“Duke? Are you talking about Duke Felix Esperanza?”
The shining eyes as if he had been thinking about it for a while.
Looking at those eyes, Logan smiled pleasantly.
“yes.”
“What do you do with Him?”
“I sold that drug to him. It was quite…”
“What?!”
As if something had accumulated had exploded, Padric suddenly shouted with a red face.
Not only did his son sell aphrodisiacs in the name of his family, he sold it to the best swordsman in the kingdom whom he respected the most.
For Patrick, it was shocking and his nose was stuffy.
“How much shit can you put on your family’s face…!”
“That’s why I gained a decent level of skill in intermediate swordsmanship.”
“…I have to do it…what?”
Somewhere between anger and embarrassment.
In that whirlpool of ambiguous emotions, Padric fixed his eyes on the book Logan took out from his pocket.
“Iron-blooded sword. It is proper intermediate swordsmanship. It is guaranteed by a swordsman. In addition, there is a technique that can be used as a secret weapon…”
Padric’s body was shot in front of Logan like lightning.
“Are you serious?! How? No, that’s not the problem. Just give it to me.”
Padrick had lived his entire life with a desire for proper force swordsmanship, that is, intermediate swordsmanship.
It’s already been ten years since I thought that swordsmanship was the reason why I couldn’t progress any further.
To him, the existence of the intermediate swordsmanship book guaranteed by the swordsman was like a drop of rain after a long drought.
fluttering. fluttering.
“Yes, that’s right. If you do that… huh.”
The look in Padrick’s eyes as he quickly turned the pages made it seem as if he was literally chewing the book.
It looked like he would immediately take out a knife and swing it if left alone, so Logan hurriedly said the words he had prepared.
“I think this will be of great help to the family. What do you think?”
At that moment, Padrick looked at Logan with devastated eyes.
“It’s the real thing. It seems to be the highest level of intermediate swordsmanship. I don’t know how I can repay the swordsman for this favor… No, before that. You’re really great, Logan. You’re really bad!”
Where did the anger that was pouring out like a moment ago go?
My father smiled brighter than when he settled the family debt and patted his shoulder.
Looking at that excited look, Logan was reminded of the main point again.
“Is this worth teaching to the knights?”
“No problem! If we learn it properly, our knights’ strength will increase by at least 30%! I can guarantee that!”
“That’s good. Then, let me make a suggestion…”
“Okay. To do that, I have to learn it properly first.”
“Huh? No, that’s me…”
Logan tried to say something, but Padric, who seemed so excited, seemed to not even be able to hear what he was saying and was immersed in the book again.
“This really isn’t the time for me to be like this, Logan!”
“yes?”
“My priority is to learn this as quickly as possible. So please take a moment.”
“Yes? What do you mean?”
At that time, Logan was confused by the hectic situation.
thud.
Padric took out a heavy object the size of a fist from his chest.
“Now. I am the head of the family.”
“yes?”
“Please help Dwayne take care of the family’s affairs for the time being. I will have to focus on this swordsmanship.”
“Huh? What is that…”
“Discuss it with Dwayne and take care of it. Thank you so much, Logan!”
“No. Father, before that, I have something to tell you…”
Boom!
The door to the office closed with a loud sound, and my father disappeared like the wind.
Logan’s voice just bounced off as if it had hit an invisible wall.
“What on earth is this…?”
Padrick’s passionate reaction, which easily defied expectations, even blew Logan’s soul away.
A large seal left on the desk.
It was a day when the master seal of the McLane family, with its vivid blazing flame shape, as if showing the prestige of the old earl family, looked particularly bleak.
“I couldn’t even get to the point.”
I felt embarrassed, but when I thought about it differently, I thought it was better.
‘It means you don’t need permission.’
As I thought about that, the flame-shaped seal in my hand felt warm again.
“Good. I’ll commit it all before my father’s training is over.”
Logan makes a promise to himself like that, but he jumps.
“Confucius! I heard you came! You are here!”
Dwayne, a big man who rushed at me like a cat, was especially welcoming to him.
“Welcome. Welcome!”
After a brief formal greeting, Dwayne began to bring up the most important business without even having time to catch his breath.
“I heard everything Confucius has done in the capital! Please add some money to the family! It’s urgent!”
It was a desperate cry that felt desperate.
“What’s so urgent? You got money from the war, right?”
“That money is not enough to maintain two castles! And this year’s production is expected to drop significantly. The expected taxes will probably be in deficit…”
Because many of the adult men of Thethron Castle died in the war. The labor force became scarce and the finances of McLane Castle were originally poor.
And Kairos’ support had been cut off just before the war.
If we sum up what Dwayne said, which gave a long list of reasons and so on, there was only one conclusion.
“Give me the money! Money! I already know you made a lot of money! Don’t avert your eyes!”
but.
“sorry.”
“Sorry? Why are you sorry? No, no, you can’t be sorry. What are you trying to say? Don’t be sorry, just give me the money. Money!”
“I wrote it all down.”
“…Huh? Hey, you’re joking too. I heard you earned a few million gold, but if you do something, you’ll spend it all. Confucius’ territory is really difficult? It’s not the time to joke!”
“It’s not a joke.”
“Oh. It’s not fun. It’s really not fun.”
“…I really wrote it all down.”
“….”
Dwayne, who stared into Logan’s eyes for a moment, fell down helplessly.
“What did you use it for?”
“I spent 1.2 million gold on magic scrolls and wizards, bought food, and other construction materials, so there’s nothing left.”
In fact, even after buying everything, there was still close to 2 million gold left, but the minimum spending amount for the next 6 months is 2.2 million gold.
In the meantime, there was a possibility that Imporik’s sales might slow down, so the remaining money could not be used.
And there was another reason.
“1.2 million gold? Magic scroll? What on earth are you going to use that for?!”
This large magistrate with wide eyes seemed to be teasing me for some reason.
“Collapse. We’re going to do some major construction. We need to mobilize a lot of Youngjimin.”
“A little too much? How many people?”
“Well, at least a few thousand people…”
“How many thousands? Are you crazy?! What time of year is this?!”
‘I know it’s busy farming season. ‘You idiot.’
Logan swallowed the laughter that was about to escape.
“What kind of construction? Oh no, now is not the time to do any construction! Even the head of the house won’t allow it! Just give me a refund!”
“I won’t. And I’m the one going now.”
Logan waved the flame seal in front of Dwayne’s eyes.
“This seal? What about the head of the family?”
“training.”
“This guy again!”
Dwayne jumped up as if his previous weak appearance was a lie.
“I’m going to go!”
A wild boar spewing flames from its eyes ran like crazy through the castle.
* * *
– Nothing is more important than this right now! The rest can be resolved through discussion between the two of you!
– The head of the family?! Head of house… hey! men and horses!
Dwayne, who went to the training room with such enthusiasm, ended up returning only to be bruised by Padrick, who had just started concentrating.
Dwayne looked at Logan earnestly with a resentful face, but Logan’s attitude was firm.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“It’s necessary.”
“It is the time when the residents of the territory are in full swing. What kind of construction are you going to do at this time?”
Even in this barren territory, farming was carried out.
Naturally, the production was low, but the residents of the territory managed to survive by hunting or digging up medicinal herbs.
And this summer season was nature’s produce. This was the most prosperous time.
In other words, it was the busiest time for the people of the territory.
“It sounds like a big problem is going to happen when public sentiment is already uneasy after the war. Please think again! A little!”
“Who says they just make you do work? Don’t worry.”
“…What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to give you food. There are a lot of people starving in our territory these days.”
“Yes?”
“They say they will give us food. Give it to the starving residents of the territory, and give more to the people who will be mobilized for construction.”
Dwayne’s expression darkened at those very idealistic words.
“If you keep doing that, in less than a month there won’t be any soup for the Prince to eat.”
“It’s okay. There is.”
“What’s okay! What’s there! “There isn’t one?!”
“You didn’t listen to what I said earlier, right? “I bought food too?”
“Yes? It’s called a magic scroll for construction…”
“Tsk, tsk. When people talk, you have to listen carefully. There’s that and there’s food. Then is it okay?”
“If I buy some food and give it to the residents of the territory…”
“1 million gold.”
“Yes?”
“And every month until this time next year.”
Dwayne, who had been looking at Logan with a blank expression for a moment, suddenly I picked my ears.
“Hmm. I’ve been overworking these days, so I’m hearing auditory hallucinations. Confucius, what did you just say?”
“I will buy food for a year at a rate of 1 million gold per month and distribute it to Young Ji-min.”
“Huh. “Isn’t this a hallucination… Confucius?”
“Yes. ” I
did something wrong?”
Logan smiled bitterly at that absurd look in his eyes.
‘I guess this is a natural reaction.’
Logan has not shown the slightest interest in the lives of the people of the territory until now.
Even though he has a reputation as a war hero, who would think that would lead to a change in ideology?
However, for the sake of the future, this was something that had to be done immediately.
“I’m fine. That would be possible, right?”
“There are 30,000 people in McLane Castle and 50,000 in Tethrone Castle. Even if we can’t feed everyone to their full stomach, if we do it in moderation… I think it’s possible.” “What if
we reduce it to the minimum and give twice as much to those participating in the construction?”
“Well, I think it’s quite possible. But Confucius. Is there really a need to do that?”
“What?”
“I’m still opposed to the construction, but apart from that, why are you spending that money to provide food to Yeongjimin? Even if you don’t have to solve it, it will survive on its own.”
“… There may be people in the territory starving to death.”
“There may be a few people out there. But it’s been like that every year. Now, if we say that we are distributing food for no reason, the village scum will continue to expect the same thing from now on. Rather do something else with that money. There are so many places that need money…”
‘Hmm. Yes. I guess everyone still thinks this way.’
It wasn’t that Dwayne didn’t have any sympathy.
It was just common sense at this point that the people of the territory should make a decent living and pay taxes to the extent that riots wouldn’t occur
. ‘It’s not common sense, it’s an illusion that is eroding the power of the territory.’
So now I had to force myself to make it right.
“It’s my money anyway. What’s the problem with using it as I please?”
“Confucius!”
“The authority of an acting lord. And the source of funds is my own money. You know there’s no reason to object, right?”
There was nothing wrong with what Logan said, and Dwayne, who had been racking his brains to find something to refute, ended up crumpling his face.
“Sigh… Even the head of the family will be against it.”
” He’s not there right now.”
“If you have to do it, the best way is to not have anyone starve to death…” ”
No. That’s not enough. In the end, this is all for the good of the family.”
So it had to be successful. Absolutely.
Dwayne was left speechless by Logan’s stern expression.
