Chapter 130: Unyielding Merchant

“First, I want to thank you guys,”

Entering the village chief’s house, Gwen lowered his head after making Lutz and Claudia sit down. By the way, Ricardo had said he’d pass on any tedious discussions and was wandering around the village.

“Thanks to the execution sword ‘Renge’ that Lutz forged for me, Weneg-sama was able to pass away without pain,”

While it was impossible to tell whether there truly was no pain, the face of the executed third prince, Weneg, was peaceful, not contorted in agony.

How did Gwen feel about executing the beloved son of his respected lord? With such thoughts, Lutz’s heart constricted, and he couldn’t say anything. Common and meaningless words of comfort would actually be inappropriate in this situation. Lutz just lowered his head in silence.

“I owe you a debt of gratitude. I have a sense of obligation to you. I can’t repay you with my life dedicated to the country, but for anything else, I will assist as much as I can,”

“Gwen-san, you’re quite conscientious, aren’t you? I took on a request, forged a sword, and received payment. Isn’t that a fair and equal relationship between a blacksmith and a client?”

While there might be a slight snag about receiving payment, it might be too pedantic to bring it up at this point.

“I’m just feeling a sense of obligation on my own. Just think of it as a good deal for yourself,”

Now, with that said, Gwen switched the topic.

“The reason the trade isn’t going well is simple. The only tribe near the border participating in trade is a single one. Naturally, the goods they can offer are limited,”

“Is the royal family not participating?”

Claudia furrowed her elegant brows. Wasn’t trade based on agreements between kingdoms? It would be lacking in integrity if they pushed the responsibility onto local lords and turned a blind eye.

“Well, hold on. It’s not like King Arsames wouldn’t want to trade. In fact, any means of making money would be welcome. But…”

Gwen’s expression became even darker. From this point on, it would be a disgrace for the Allied nations, but he needed to explain for them to understand.

“…You know the situation in this country, right? It’s been a constant struggle between the royalists and anti-royalists since its founding. It’s gotten worse recently due to the assassination incidents,”

He didn’t want to touch on that matter too much, so Gwen moved forward.

“When they send a horse-drawn carriage for trade from the capital, it gets attacked for sure. They dress up as bandits to avoid direct conflict, but they can’t openly fight back,”

“Royal carriages are attacked?”

Claudia widened her eyes. While there had been an incident with the princess being attacked in the kingdom, that was more like the veteran soldiers making an impassioned plea, and they weren’t consistently attacked like this.

“The reason why a carriage bearing the royal emblem wouldn’t be attacked is that there is an absolute difference between the royal family and the other powers. The biggest of the hundreds of tribes here calls itself king and holds the country together. There is little awareness that the king is absolute or the object of loyalty. They think they can take over at any time. It’s as if that idiot has proved it. ……”

It was difficult for Gwen to hide his true feelings. It seemed that Lutz and the others also had the compassion to pretend they didn’t hear it. They simply nodded and let it go.

“Isn’t there some kind of map depicting the situation of various factions?”

Claudia asked, suggesting that if they could distinguish between enemies and allies and only travel through friendly territories, they could reach the border.

“Wait, don’t you get it?” Gwen laughed self-mockingly. 

“It’s chaos in this country. Making such a map would be a waste of time. It would end up being a messy, patchwork pattern. It’s not something that can be easily connected in a straight line from the capital,”

“We’ll have to persistently negotiate and increase our allies,”

“That’s right. The problem is that the anti-royalists are doing the same,”

What should they do? They didn’t know; it was becoming hopeless. Exhaustion seeped through Gwen’s words.

“I’ve been exposing my shame since earlier, but I wonder how our kingdom will fare against a country that’s only been fighting among themselves and has finally managed a draw?”

“Though we often talk about loyalty and patriotism, when it comes to actually paying, everyone hesitates.”

“Gold, Gold, Gold. So, which is more important to your masters, the king or Gold?”

“They need money to be masters, after all,”

While Claudia wasn’t completely detached from the issue, her answer came with a certain distance, as if saying, “There was a fire a few houses down.” She couldn’t truly grasp the feelings of royalty and nobles, and her understanding was quite vague.

“It’s hard to say anywhere is a paradise,”

Muttering this, Gwen looked into the distance.

“King Casander…”

He mentioned the former king’s name. He was his true master. Once, he was.

“Maybe he was too impatient to unify the country. But now that I’m in a position to hold the lives of people, even though there are fewer of them, I can understand his urgency,”

Perhaps he had a clear vision of the country’s ruin if things continued this way. And he couldn’t let the people get dragged into the country’s destruction. Just imagining the pressure from the king was suffocating Gwen.

The feelings of his own kin waiting behind the king were not visible to him. He had underestimated the resistance of the independent-minded nobles. If he had advised, “The Walsheid Kingdom is full of idiotic pigs,” could he have eased Casander’s impatience somewhat? But it was too late now.

“…Well, that’s how it is. Just give up on normalizing trade. I’ll guarantee your safety until you return to the kingdom. If you report that you couldn’t do it for such and such reasons, you’ll have fulfilled your responsibility, right?”

Claudia and the others weren’t diplomatic envoys and hadn’t been given any authority. They would only report the outcome of this incident to Marquis Eldenberger, and what to do next would be up to the Marquis to decide.

Is it possible to be convinced or not? Claudia didn’t care about the country or the marquis, but she had not achieved her goal of enriching the village of the princess whom she had come to know and love so well. She couldn’t just leave empty-handed.

“I understand that direct trading with the royal family is difficult. Can’t we negotiate by at least increasing the participants? For example, with the neighboring country responsible for the current trading.”

“That’s easier said than done. What kind of bait should we dangle to lure in the royalists? Even if we get favorable responses, they might turn against us tomorrow.”

“We don’t need to lure in the royalists. We just need to explain the benefits of the trade.”

In business, it’s not always necessary to have allies.

While Claudia hadn’t committed any fatal mistakes in relation to the Allied Nations, she had always felt a sense of not quite fitting in. All of this was due to a lack of information.

The foundation of business is human interaction. It can’t begin without meeting and talking first. Claudia returned to the basics and was burning with enthusiasm.

“Is it possible for you to cooperate as much as possible?”

“Y-Yes…”

Slightly overwhelmed by Claudia’s intensity, Gwen found himself in a somewhat pressured situation. This was the power of a merchant’s insight; if they had met on the battlefield, he might have mistaken her for someone who had just killed.

“Please help us facilitate communication with the surrounding tribes.”

Gwen mentioned that he dressed nicely to speak with important people. I wasn’t inclined to hear him say “I can’t do it now” at this point.

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