Hellison, the Master of the Red Tower and a 7th circle archmage, was the big hitter who did not easily show his face, even when the emperor asked for him. He was acknowledged and respected by the other unfriendly wizard towers because he was one of the greatest mages in the continent. Yet, he took an interest in Davey. Davey was the prince of a kingdom, but this was still astonishing.
“Perhaps it might be good for our Red Tower’s future to maintain a friendly relationship with him.”
“I’ll be on my way!” Yulis hastily stood up with a somewhat excited expression, then he bowed to Hellison and hurried out.
Hellison laughed. Someone as advanced as Yulis was bound to become arrogant, but he was the only student of his who was still kind-hearted and cautious. Then, Hellison stopped smiling and squinted.
‘Sage, is it possible for a teenage boy, who seemingly has no mana, to slash a high-ranking vampire in one strike? He even used Caldeiras without a contract.’ Hellison remembered a question from a girl who had visited him not too long ago. She was also a fierce girl who had Hellison as her advisor. He told her that anything could have happened at that time, but…he didn’t think that was possible either. Hellison knew best that high-ranking vampires were very powerful. In addition to that, someone who wasn’t contracted with the divine sword, had woken up Caldeiras, which even the original contractor wasn’t able to wake.
“It is impossible, unless they are the student of the Sword Lord who inherited everything about him, or the Sword Lord himself.”
Since she wasn’t the kind of girl to make up a story about vampires, Hellison believed her story to be true. If he were to ask those who were training in swordsmanship, most of them would simply shake their heads and say that it was impossible, but…
“There must be a reason why these eccentric people are beginning to show up in the world…”
Hellison was mistaken.
* * *
“All the empty sections of the residential area have been sold.”
Since there were only a small number of residents in this vast territory, most of the land was empty. The land that had been given up and had no ownership were all returned to the seigneur, Davey still had land left over.
“How much did we bring in?”
“We will get the exact number once we sign the contracts, but the fierce competition to get good land made it as expensive as the capital city’s downtown area.”
As Davey heard Royal Attendant Bernile’s report, he nodded in satisfaction and cackled. “Whoo! Nice!”
Bernile’s expression grew cold. “Your Highness, even if we are not in the royal palace…”
“Okay. Can’t a person laugh?”
“You take this old man’s advice too lightly.” Bernile sighed deeply.
As Royal Attendant Bernile was related to Sir Bespard, the Royal Attendant of the entire royal palace, he also had a meticulous and strict personality. And that was actually why Davey trusted him.
Since Davey had left behind most of the servants hired by Queen Lynesse, most of the servants here were quite friendly.
“How is Amy doing in her studies?” Davey asked Bernile.
“She is such an intelligent girl. It is rare for a baron’s child to be this witty and open-minded, even if she is nobility.”
Women’s rights weren’t completely in the gutter here like the olden days. However, since it was still very much a patriarchal society, women seldom received education as compared to men. Women also preferred studies that related to being a wife, rather than demanding subjects like sociology or politics. And even so, Amy had the wit and judgment that even properly educated children of nobility didn’t possess.
“Honestly, it’s quite entertaining. It feels like I’m teaching my granddaughter.” Although he was the one who told Davey not to laugh, Bernile chuckled for the first time.
‘From what I can see, it seems like he’s just watching his granddaughter’s cute tricks rather than teaching her.’
“You know, Amy is about to die from the amount of work.”
“Well, that’s because you overwork her, Your Highness.”
“Do you know how to joke?”
Feeling a little uncomfortable, Bernile cleared his throat and stepped back. “Ahem!”
“I’m kidding.”
“To be honest, I don’t feel like I have the right to act all serious in front of you, Your Highness.”
“Why not?”
“Just a feeling.”
Davey didn’t ask what Bernile felt; Bernile didn’t look at him like he was a child whom he had to teach. ‘I guess this is a side effect.’
“Should we proceed with the auction of the moon grass leaves, according to the manual?”
“Could you please take care of it yourself? I think you should be able to gain the most profits from it without a problem. Anyway, I saw that the palace sent a letter.”
Royal Attendant Bernile nodded at Davey. “It seems like you already have an idea of what it’s about.”
“How could I not? Since they are fighting and locking horns with Marquis Peiltris, they probably needed time to take a breather.” It was obvious what they would do and what demands they would make, but Davey didn’t have a good enough excuse to deny them. He said, “What can we do? Let’s stop by. Please take care of most of the auction and the sales process until I come back. I don’t know if Amy can handle this yet.”
“Leave it to me.”
Davey usually wouldn’t leave such a task to someone else, but he didn’t have a problem with leaving things to Bernile.
As Davey silently opened the envelope with a letter opener, he saw a neatly written letter on old-fashioned parchment. The contents of the letter were simple: it praised him for his new unprecedented achievements in the eastern region and asked him to come to the palace for a while, so that they could pay tribute to his hard work and great accomplishments. They told him to come as soon as he received the royal letter. Although their apparent purpose was to celebrate him, there were probably hidden intentions and thoughts. Davey wasn’t all too surprised, as the contents were obvious and predictable.
“They kicked me out and now they’re asking me to come back. Ordering me to come and go… They’re not going to be here for long…”
Royal Attendant Bernile looked surprised as Davey threw the letter into the fireplace in exasperation, but he soon put on a calm expression and sighed. “Your Highness.”
“I know.”
Bernile said nothing more; perhaps it was because he felt Davey fuming with irritation.
“It’s funny. They’re not even the king, and yet they shamelessly send the seal as if they were.”
“Is that so?”
“Let’s go.” Davey smiled as he tapped the wooden desk with his fingers.
‘I wonder if the dungeon that Surtr mentioned is located on the road to the palace.’ Davey remembered that Surtr’s homeland was near here. It probably wasn’t called the Rowane Kingdom then, but it was still the same land.
-Surtr? Are you talking about Surtr?
Perserque looked up at Davey in surprise after reading his thoughts. Surtr, the thousand-day blacksmith, was Sword Lord Ares’ friend and aide. As such, he was familiar to Perserque, who was Ares’ foster daughter. Above anything else, he was the craftsman who made the sword that killed her.
‘That grandpop’s legacy is still lying dormant around here. I’ll do him the favor; I need a new weapon anyways.’
-Hm… The final works of the blacksmith who crafted the divine sword… I’m curious.
Even as she expressed interest in his works, Perserque’s expression turned somewhat bitter, as if she was reminded of a bad memory.
“I have to go somewhere for a little bit. Tell the stable keeper to prepare a horse that can run for a long time.” Upon his request to Royal Attendant Bernile, Davey looked worried at what he was planning to do. After all, his actions after arriving here had been beyond reasonable bounds. If his plans were revealed, it was clear that it would cause a big fuss.
* * *
The bloody… No, the fierce auction went as expected.
“All ten thousand moon grass leaves up for auction were all sold. The highest bidder was the Alioui Merchant Company, who offered 150 gold for each case.”
It was 100 gold for four low-quality moon grass leaves imported from the west continent, and 150 gold for the leaves from the Heins Territory.
“So, how many were sold?”
“With their priority access, the Alioui Merchant Company bought five thousand leaves.”
It was huge. It must have been a pretty hefty sum for them, even if they were a major company that traveled all around the continent.
‘Or not.’
“And the rest?”
“The rest were sold to the remaining organizations at 130 gold each. Each organization was sold between five hundred to a thousand leaves.”
Five thousand leaves were sold at 150 gold each, and the other five thousand at 130 gold each. It seemed like the Alioui Merchant Company was suffering a huge loss, but securing the product was much more important than the price being paid. That was why all the organizations had competed so fiercely.
The sale was successful—no, it was a huge success. Davey had brought in 350 thousand gold, equivalent to seven thousand platinum coins. One hundred thousand more gold had been earned than the amount calculated with the market price of the low-quality leaves from the west continent.
The annual funds allocated for the royal palace’s management was about one hundred thousand gold. With other sources of procuring funds, a total of 150 thousand to 200 thousand gold were collected before being entirely used up.
‘But what if it was three hundred fifty thousand gold in four months?’
The cultivation of moon grass took about three to four months, and it could be harvested all year round since the ground conditions here were stable. If it took four months to harvest it, the annual income of the Heins Territory would be about a million and fifty thousand gold.
“Gasp… Wheeze…”
“What are you so surprised about?”
Amy’s breath seemed to stop when she checked the total profits. Even if the income was to drop to less than one hundred thousand gold, their business was undoubtedly a huge success. To be frank, it was impossible for almost any territory in this kingdom to earn this much money.
“We have drafted an invoice for the organizations that cannot transfer the funds right away.”
“Only allow that for the places I checked off on. Credit is the most important thing. It’s going to be a problem if they try to abuse that.”
Most of these people were willing to pay double the price to obtain the moon grass leaves, which were a scarce resource. Moon grass was extremely vital, and also very low in supply.
The price could go down from the current one, but it would always remain more expensive than the leaves from the western continent. Since there was a clear difference in quality, Davey couldn’t just sell it at a bargain price. He was clearly a prepared philanthropist. ‘A sponsoring organization also requires money.’
-Do you intend to make a sponsoring organization?
‘It’s a promise. Well, I had forgotten about it since it was made such a long time ago, but it’s not a bad idea when I have the means to.’
It was the condition for learning holy magic and curse-cracking magic from Saintess Daphne. Since there was no deadline to the condition, Davey had just kept it at the back of his mind.
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