[Side story] Two-arm scale (14)
“When do you think you will retire from being a merchant?”
I asked Bell the same question.
The reason they are suddenly talking about retirement and all that is because there was a good reason for it. If I could say that this was the moment when I had such a meaningful thought… it was decided.
“…yes? “Suddenly?”
“You’ve lived your whole life as a merchant, right? “When do you think you will want to quit the job you have devoted your whole life to?”
“…I don’t know the intention of the question, but… I’ve never thought about retirement or anything like that. “It’s still too early…”
The sea breeze blew gently. Is it a little after 4 o’clock?
Somewhere between late night and early morning.
It was soon morning to call it late at night, and at the borderline where it was still too dark to call it dawn, we passed by the dock while listening to the sound of the waves.
There are a lot of large sailing ships parked there. Soon, diligent workers will appear and begin loading today’s luggage.
There are many ships that depart early in the morning. Therefore, there were quite a few ships preparing in advance from dawn.
“And usually… the words of the colossi are not good.”
Lortel speaks while looking at the dockside, perhaps because it is a familiar sight.
“They are always stabbed in the back and betrayed to death, or they do something they can’t handle and fall into the gutter because they can’t handle it, or they are plotted by hostile forces and driven out… Most of them… end their lives in the mud.”
“…”
“Right now… I want to live with a greater purpose, but… yes, if I rush forward like this, there will definitely come a time when I collapse. People with the name “Colossus” have always been like that. “We get caught up in greed and try to pursue higher ideals and end up falling.”
It is not easy to give up your ambition and finish your life’s journey within an appropriate range.
Most people burn to death while chasing their desires, like a butterfly jumping into a fire. That is the life of the writers called Geosang.
Doesn’t Lortel himself think that he is an exception?
“well. “I always live dangerously, as if I’m walking on the edge of a sword, but I don’t think it’s time to retire yet.”
Lortel still has ambitions as a merchant. Above all, he is still too young.
Even if you decide to retire one day, you may not know how you will finish all the work you have done.
“I guess so…”
“It’s not easy for merchants to retire in the first place…”
Lortel said, looking down at the floor.
“When I come to my senses, I am already entangled in so many interests that I cannot escape. “You end up finding out too many important secrets, and if you retire carelessly, the situation in Old Deck will change a lot, so there are many cases where you can’t resign hastily.”
“okay. “That must be such a hardship.”
“Well, there are definitely cases where some big businessmen plan hard for several years and retire cleanly and soundly… People who succeed in siphoning off slush funds and completely wiping out their traces. “It really is something that happens like beans sprouting during a drought.”
“…”
“But most careers end with death, as you would expect, Mr. Ed.”
It’s sad, but death is the cleanest retirement.
Lortel spoke quietly like that.
We walked along the dock together, talking to each other.
The cool early morning air also became much colder. Summer is over. It’s fall now.
Lortel wrapped his arms around me and gave me a soft smile and raised his voice cheerfully.
People are asking what they can do by telling such a dark story.
“Well, it’s a special feeling to walk along Old Deck’s dockside with senior Ed. This place has always been at the forefront of business, but coming at a quiet time like this, the atmosphere is very different…”
“It won’t be long before a lot of diligent merchants will come out onto the streets.”
“Iknow, right. It’s a city that you can’t really relate to even if you try. Anyway, you suggested I go for a walk to change my mood, right? There is no need to be so considerate. “I’m really fine.”
The corners of Lortel’s mouth turned up. Then, for no reason at all, he put his head on my shoulder and let out words of happiness.
“Well, there’s a reason for that… but there was also something I had to check.”
“Is there something I need to check?”
“…Well, it’s not that big of a deal, but… I helped someone a little bit.”
“…yes?”
The moment Lortel questioned him, someone appeared from far away on the dockside street.
He has a tall body and is wearing a shabby robe, so you can’t see his face.
The gait is extremely slow. The figure walking along the dockside of the late Old Deck, shaking off the hem of his frayed robe here and there, looks like a ghost.
…just a passerby.
All we have to do is me and Lortel walk like this and go to the commercial building where Secretary Lienna is waiting.
The man who appeared on the other side in the distance was slowly moving forward toward the dock, as if he was trying to catch a boat at the crack of dawn.
– Jump and jump.
Little by little we become closer, arm in arm.
“…”
Neither I nor Lortel… say anything.
However, the unidentified man wearing a robe trudged along like that… and stopped for a moment in front of me.
Then, just a little… he nodded and bowed his head, and then passed us by as if nothing had happened.
– Plop, plod.
– Sigh.
So we just diverged and headed towards our respective destinations.
We are our destination and the man is his destination.
As with most relationships in our lives.
Because of that passing relationship.
Lortel, who was wrapping his arms around me, suddenly opens his eyes wide.
Did you notice something?
Considering the random question I asked while walking along the dock, a girl as smart as Lortel would have figured it out to some extent.
There is no need to explain it further.
“hey.”
That’s why Lortel quietly called the man over.
The man had already passed us and was far away. It looked quite busy. It looks like the ship is leaving soon.
I don’t know why there was such a rush to board a ship that left early in the morning. A man has his own circumstances.
Without turning his body, he only slightly turned his head… Lortel looked towards the quiet man.
The man wearing a shabby robe also does not necessarily turn his body, but only slightly turns his head. Of course, the face is not visible. Even the physique is obscured by the robe that completely covers the body.
Although it was a situation where he couldn’t fully know who the other person was, Lortel was filled with a strange sense of confidence.
And then I burst out laughing.
“It’s the season change season, so the night air is very cold. “It will probably be colder if you go out to sea.”
Beneath the darkness of the hem of his robe, the man does not even move.
“Wear thicker clothes. “It’s very cold.”
When Lortel said that, there was silence for a while.
“…”
A moment of emptiness in the quiet streets of Old Deck.
“…under.”
The man was silent for quite a long time, perhaps thinking about what to say.
The sound of seagulls. The sound of waves. The sound of workers going to work can be heard from far away on the dock.
The sounds of dawn come together and fill the empty silence for a moment.
After staying there for a while, he opens his mouth briefly.
“─Yes, I will refer to it.”
All I get is a quick answer as if it’s no big deal.
One can only infer from the gruff tone of voice that he is an elderly person.
“Thank you for the advice.”
After exchanging only a short conversation, we turn back and go our separate ways.
This is the law of parting among merchants.
We meet as if in passing and part as if in passing. If there is a connection, we meet again and talk about a good deal, but if not, the relationship ends there.
So we drift away again.
Lortel went on his way and wrapped his arms around me tightly. So I just laughed.
The gentle beach breeze was blowing my hair.
“…They didn’t even provide me with severance pay.”
With that brief lament, Lortel buried his head on my shoulder and walked.
The crescent moon I looked up at was also smiling.
*The two arm scales of Elte Company are always horizontal.
Merchants belonging to the Elte Chamber of Commerce laughed at such proverbs, calling them deception. This is because mature merchants already knew well that there is no such thing as a perfectly horizontal two-arm scale in the world.
“Wow, you ran wild.”
Lortel was impressed as he entered the lobby of the Chamber of Commerce.
The exterior walls were broken here and there, and the interior was a mess. It was a situation where I had to be as flashy as possible, so there was nothing I could do.
Still, Secretary Rienna has completed some of the major organizing.
Secretary Rienna compiled a list of the merchants who were already attached to Slog. Now that Slog, the leader, has passed away, there will no longer be a place for him in the Elte Company.
“You did a really good job.”
“I’ve shown my unsightly side too many times, Rienna.”
“no. It was a situation that had no choice but to do so…”
Rienna, as expected, was very dependable.
Having served as Lortel’s chief secretary for such a long time, I had a lot of experience in my own right.
Rienna went through a lot of hardships, including being kidnapped and imprisoned by Slog, but in the end, it seems that Slog freed her with his own two hands.
In the first place, Secretary Rienna was the card that would complete the old merchant’s plan.
“I know your feelings are complicated, but it’s okay to rest a little more. I think I can clean up the half-destroyed commercial building on my own to some extent. “There are a lot of workers, so we’ll be able to handle at least some urgent work by daybreak.”
“But it would be better to be there. “We also need to check the damage.”
As the person who caused the damage, I couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed, but as I said repeatedly, it was force majeure.
If they didn’t cause such a fuss, there was no way the clever merchants of Elte Company would be fooled so easily.
“And it might be a bit of an early celebration, but…”
Secretary Rienna spoke while lowering her head.
“You will be officially appointed to the position of leader. Congratulations.”
“Like you said, it’s too early.”
With a gentle smile, Lortel received Rienna’s thank you.
The attention of nearby workers who are cleaning up the broken commercial building is focused. Yes. Lortel Kecheln, who is here now, becomes the ruler of the Elte Company.
On his back is the Rostaylor family ecliptic and Cloeron saint Carpea. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that we now have the trade routes of this continent in our hands.
“And now the name Elte Trading Company is slowly becoming outdated…”
The first thing to do once you take power is decided.
The era of the Golden King is over. Now it is the era of Lortel Kecheln. It is time for the name Elte to disappear beyond history.
“Now, the scale has grown too large to be called a single company. “It would be much better to just call ourselves one giant commercial association by combining the small merchant associations under our control.”
As Lortel said, it has been a long time since Elte Trading Company reached a size where it would no longer be able to exist as an independent trading company.
Therefore, it is time to take a step forward, not just as a place to do business, but as a group that unites the merchants under its command and makes their voices heard.
The president sitting at the top is Lortel Kecheln, who coordinates internal union regulations and has the authority to negotiate with external power groups as a representative.
It would be safe to say that she became the reigning queen among merchants who risked their lives for gold coins.
“The amount of paperwork to be processed at the government office will likely increase.”
Secretary Rienna answers those words with a soft smile.
“I will gather the documents to be processed in advance. “Chairman of the union.”
Now that the name of Elte Trading Company has been abandoned, it is time to create a new name as a commercial association.
There were all kinds of different combination names, but Lortel didn’t really worry about it.
The new name came out naturally, as if drawn to something.
Lienna, who heard those words, smiled and nodded.
*The room that used to be the head office was also completely destroyed.
When Ed and Lortel entered together, there was barely a place to sit because of the dust coming in from the broken exterior wall.
Lortel looked around, swept the dust off the tea table, and sat down on it.
Then, he motioned for Ed to sit next to him, buried his head in his shoulder, and smiled with the happiest expression on his face.
On the dockside outside the broken exterior wall, a sailboat can be seen about to set sail. Although there may not be many of these people who were planning to leave Old Deck early in the morning, they were steadily preparing for departure.
The ship is scheduled to head towards the ocean beyond the horizon.
Before the night of Oldeck ends and the dawn comes… that sailboat will leave Oldeck as if being chased.
The sun over the commercial city will rise again as if nothing had happened.
But it’s still night.
The crescent moon, shining warmly as if whispering, rises above the horizon.
While the soft moonlight illuminates the world, the people of the world fall asleep for a moment.
However, there are also diligent people who keep their eyes open even during these times.
This is true of Belle, who opens the window for a moment in the carriage heading to Ross Taylor’s estate and looks up at the stars in the bluish night sky.
The same goes for Tanya Rosstaylor, who is sitting by candlelight in a corner of her office and checking the Jeon Seo-gu that came from Old Deck.
The same goes for Secretary Rienna, who is giving various instructions to employees while repairing the half-destroyed commercial building.
It’s time for everyone to take a break after spending a bright day with the sun shining brightly.
The moon smiles at people who work hard even in a sleeping world.
“That can’t be possible…! The words are different…! They clearly said that the boarding fee was seven Telos silver coins…! Is this it…?!”
The dockside in the late morning.
A boy was arguing with a sailor.
He is a young boy who is about to go peddling for the first time in his life. He complained to the sailors with an expression of injustice, but the sailors did not even pretend to listen.
“Are you really like this?! Now, if you just look at it, the scales on both arms are tilted in this direction! “Seeing as the weight and the silver coin don’t match, do you think you brought counterfeit silver coins?”
“What is that…! This is nonsense! “It’s a silver coin exchanged directly from Hallam Bank…!”
“How can we believe that..! Adjust the weight properly and then speak! “Raise one more coin!”
Anyone could see that it was unreasonable.
However, the scale that the sailor placed on the table was not even at first glance.
The boy looked aggrieved, but there was no way the tough-looking sailors would fall for it.
“If you can’t pay the boarding fee, you can’t get on the boat! “You’re like that…”
– Tuk.
Just before the argument became more heated, a gold coin was thrown onto the scale.
Perhaps because the gold coin was quite heavy, the scales were completely tilted. It was the boarding fee for about five or six people.
The boy was startled and turned his head to see a man wearing a shabby robe who had grabbed his wallet and put it in his arms.
The sailors looked at each other in bewilderment and stammered as they led the way.
“Oh, you can board inside.”
“Thank you.”
After saying that, the man in the robe tapped the boy on the shoulder a few times and then disappeared into the boat.
– Kkukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.
Several industrious seagulls were sitting on a mat, looking at the distant horizon.
The man in the robe is also leaning on the ship’s railing, staring blankly at the distant sea.
“Ah, thank you for earlier. “I brought the silver coins exactly at the right time, but for some reason the weights didn’t match…”
“I should have checked the scale properly. It’s a trick that’s often used against people who seem like just a bunch of idiots. Next time, you better be careful not to fall for such an obvious trick.”
The boy was more surprised than expected by the man’s gruff voice.
This sailing ship, which leaves Old Deck early in the morning, is full of people with all kinds of circumstances aboard.
Among those people, there is someone whose circumstances seem to be more special.
“I never thought there would have been numbers written on that scale…”
“I should have known from the beginning that there is no such thing as a perfectly horizontal two-arm scale.”
He was a boy who dreamed of becoming a peddler traveling the world and having adventures.
I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t figure out such a basic trick that I couldn’t say anything more.
“Well… may I ask what you used to do?”
The man pondered what to answer, but then he smiled and let out a hollow laugh.
Looking at the boy reminds me of my own childhood, when I got stabbed in the back because I didn’t know how to read a scale.
I guess everyone has had a time like this.
Elte, the Golden King, and Lortel, the leader of the union. They were all immature and anxious beginners at first.
The man pushed down the hat of his robe. There is a lot of gray hair between the gray-brown hair.
Old colossus. An old tiger living in Old Deck.
The days of being called that way should now be a thing of the past.
“I used to make a lot of money, but now I’m a retired old man.”
In the boy’s eyes, the old colossus, who seemed to be full of stories, looked up to him for no reason.
I could only stare blankly at the moon beyond the horizon.
As I board the ship leaving Old Deck, I feel the sea breeze and look up at the commercial city I have spent my entire life with.
A half-ruined building comes into view in the distance.
After staring for a moment, the old merchant lowers his head and smiles.
“Let me tell you something good, boy.”
An old man who survived despite being hit by all the winds of the waves tells a story to a beginner who doesn’t even know how to read a scale.
“A two-arm scale is never completely level. But actually, it doesn’t really matter.”
“…yes?”
“That’s the way it is with all human relationships.”
When you give and take, the scale tips to one side. Some people may suffer losses.
We call people we don’t really care about our life partners.
If you think about it that way, it may be first to find a life partner before a business partner.
Because you can survive for a long time in this world if you know how to create your own people.
The sea breeze tugged at the hem of his robe.
The man shook off the hem of his clothes a few times and leaned against the railing again to survey the scenery.
There is still a long way for the ship to reach its destination.
There will be at least someone to talk to, so it won’t be that boring.
I think to myself as I look at the half-destroyed building in the distance.
The nights at Old Deck are long. Get enough rest.
Because these people probably still have a long way to go.
As the sea breeze blows, Lortel falls into a moment of rest.
The scales on both arms were tilting back and forth, but it didn’t matter.
Lortel Kecheln, head of Oldeck’s general commercial union ‘Three Gold Coins’.
Because before she was a cold-blooded colossus, she was just a girl.
