Chapter 142 - 142 All or Nothing
As soon as Jacob returned home, he smiled at Claire and said.
"It seems there's a big job in the Royal Capital. They've bought my skills."
Jacob was a carpenter. He was a playboy, but his skills were reliable. If he worked seriously, there was plenty of work. It seemed that because of his skills, a job offer from the Royal Capital had come to him.
According to what Jacob heard, the Royal Capital was currently booming with prosperity due to successive victories in war, and there was plenty of work for carpenters. Therefore, skilled carpenters were in high demand, and it seemed they were trying to call carpenters from outside the Royal Capital as well.
"If it takes too long, I won't make it for the end-of-month repayment."
Seeing Jacob in high spirits, Claire worried about the deadline for the monthly debt repayment at the end of every month. If he was even one day late, Jacob would be sent to the mines. Seeing Claire's worried face, Jacob took money out of his pocket.
"I have the advance payment. We can live for a while with this, and we can pay back the debt from here."
"That's quite a generous advance."
"It means they value my skills that much."
"Isn't there something behind it?"
"There's nothing like that. We don't have money even if we turn it upside down."
Saying that, ignoring Claire's worried look, Jacob prepared for his trip to the Royal Capital. And the next day, he departed.
Claire couldn't help but worry about Jacob. If she hadn't met Steve, she wouldn't have worried at all, but now her husband looked exactly like a legendary noble known even by the children of this country.
His skills might be good, but she could only think that if they wanted to call a skilled carpenter to the Royal Capital, they would just hire a skilled carpenter already in the Royal Capital.
In the end, unable to shake off her worries, Claire asked a soldier to contact Steve.
However, the soldier couldn't easily contact Steve, so it became a matter of reporting to his superior, and the superior reporting to Marquess Mackintosh.
Meanwhile, Jacob arrived in the Royal Capital and was welcomed by Lumoigne.
As soon as Jacob arrived, Lumoigne took him to a high-class brothel.
"Come, come, drink your fill."
"I don't have any money."
"It's on me."
"You're a very generous client."
Jacob, originally a playboy, couldn't refuse when alcohol was placed before him. Moreover, the woman pouring the drink was beautiful. He drank as he was poured, and eventually got drunk and fell asleep.
Seeing this, Lumoigne and the courtesan smiled broadly.
"You've had a hard time."
"It is always a pleasure to fulfill the request of Lord Lumoigne, who has always favored us."
"Well, now for the finishing touch."
When Jacob said that, the courtesan called for someone. A young man entered the room holding high-class clothes. The three of them then dressed Jacob in those clothes.
After a little more time passed, they woke Jacob up.
Lumoigne had an angry face towards the sleepy Jacob, who was still under the influence of alcohol.
"You've done something terrible."
"What is it?"
"Don't you remember? I told you to bring expensive clothes, and when you brought them, you said you were Lord Archibalt while wearing them. To make matters worse, you even told the staff who brought the wine that you were him, and now there's a big problem. You impersonated a noble. If you get caught, it's the death penalty."
"Did I do such a thing?"
"Yes."
Saying that, Lumoigne instructed Jacob to look at the clothes he was wearing. Jacob realized that he was indeed wearing expensive clothes. And he understood that he had claimed to be Archibalt.
Well, it was a fabrication by Lumoigne.
"Um, what should I do?"
Jacob's drunkenness vanished instantly, and he clung to Lumoigne.
Seeing Jacob like that, Lumoigne smiled gently.
"If you don't want to be exposed, you must do as I say."
"I understand. I'll do anything."
Jacob had no choice but to nod.
Thus, Lumoigne acquired Jacob as a pawn.
From then on, rumors spread that Steve was always seen at Lumoigne Trading Company in the Royal Capital. And samples of cotton began arriving at Lumoigne Trading Company from various places. Merchants who learned of this were abuzz with rumors that Lumoigne Trading Company was teaming up with Lord Archibalt to start a new business using cotton.
Naturally, the futures price of cotton rose.
The spot price didn't move much; only the futures rose, anticipating the expectations.
Naturally, Aurora also detected this movement and contacted Steve.
And as usual, Aurora and Steve held a secret meeting.
"It seems there has been movement in the cotton futures. Ah, here are the rivets you requested."
Steve handed the rivets for jeans to Aurora. Aurora intended to sew her own jeans and had asked Steve for the rivets. She was procuring the cotton fabric herself.
"I'm sorry. When I tried to have these made at my place, they refused, saying it was difficult to achieve the required precision."
"I should be glad that it's easy for others to imitate. Well, so Lumoigne Trading Company is manipulating the prices after all?"
"Yes. But it's a rather risky method."
"What kind of method?"
"Do you know the head of Lumoigne Trading Company?"
"No."
"I thought so. I suspected as much. However, in the Royal Capital, there are rumors that Lord Archibalt was seen together with Jesse Lumoigne, the head of Lumoigne Trading Company."
From what Aurora told him, Steve learned that his name was being used to manipulate the market.
"That must be someone else or a hallucination."
"Either way, impersonating a noble is a capital offense. They've taken quite a bold measure."
"If bankruptcy means death, the law is meaningless. In any case, if I'm going to die anyway, I'd bet on the possibility of surviving even by committing a crime. So, regarding the price for this information..."
Steve looked at Aurora.
"I want you to investigate the true identity of your lookalike. I'd be happy if you told me before making it public."
"That's the perfect timing to sell. However, will I be able to take over all of Lumoigne Trading Company's assets with that?"
"Yes. They are pulling out all the stops to raise the price of cotton. It's not just that the unrealized losses have decreased slightly, giving them some leeway in their margin. It feels like they've touched money they shouldn't have touched."
At this time, Lumoigne, as Aurora predicted, had already touched the funds he should have paid to His Highness Alex as tribute. Furthermore, he had poured funds intended for other purchases and borrowed money from shady sources into the cotton market.
Thanks to that, the unrealized losses had decreased considerably.
Aurora did not know this, but judging from Lumoigne's original assets, she realized he had exceeded his limits. Therefore, she deduced that he wouldn't have any legitimate funds left to use.
The environment was sufficient to deliver the final blow, so this was the finishing touch.
And if Steve's fake was exposed, the cotton market supported by Lumoigne would come to an end.
"I hold no grudge, but it's perfect for flipping my brother-in-law's position and covering the losses."
"As for Lumoigne's physical features, I believe it's just the white hair and the scar on his cheek from being slashed with a blade. It seems to be a scar from when he was attacked by bandits when he was young."
"A scar is a distinctive feature. Thank you for the information."
Steve also saw that Baronet Parker's unrealized losses were decreasing, so he realized that if he flipped it well here, he could end with a profit.
While the two were plotting to deal with Lumoigne, Alex was doing the same thing as Count Cutter.
"Count Cutter, the merchant Lumoigne, of all things, prepared a fake of Lord Archibalt and manipulated the cotton market."
"Is that true? Recently, rumors have been flowing everywhere that Lumoigne was seen with Lord Archibalt, but it turns out it was a fake."
Count Cutter also felt suspicious, but since he thought it was better not to approach Steve, he deliberately did not investigate the truth.
"That is the case. Lumoigne is finished now. Cut him off."
Alex gave the order to Count Cutter without any particular emotion.
"Your Highness, shall we seize Lumoigne's assets?"
"If there are any. As far as I've investigated, he is in a state of loss in the cotton market. It would be good if he could sell them off successfully, but if not, nothing will remain. No, only the debt will remain."
"In that case, we will look for the next merchant."
"Next time, I'd prefer someone with less ambition."
"People like that don't try to become merchants."
"That's true."
Alex had no interest in Lumoigne Trading Company and had not considered seizing its assets. For him now, the issue was to expand the profits obtained from across the sea. The tribute paid in return for taking care of trouble, which he would have desperately wanted in the past, no longer moved his heart to such an extent.
"Yes, also tell the members of the faction not to touch the cotton market."
"Understood."
After giving instructions to Count Cutter, Alex did not mention Lumoigne any further.
Count Cutter thought it was a pity for His Highness Alex.
(I will short the cotton futures, Your Highness.)
He muttered in his heart.
Thus, Lumoigne lost His Highness Alex as a great backing.
Steve intended to investigate Lumoigne Trading Company based on the information from Aurora. He planned to go to the Royal Capital after finishing the factory work when a letter from Marquess Mackintosh arrived.
He read it.
Christina, who was calculating the factory sales with Barney next to him, also became curious about the letter from her family.
"What is it from Father?"
"It seems that Claire, his wife, reported that a man who looks exactly like me, Jacob, headed to the Royal Capital."
"Does that coincide with the time when rumors started that Lord Steve was visiting Lumoigne Trading Company?"
"It seems so."
Considering the date when Claire's report was made and the time when the rumors started, it seemed highly likely that the one visiting Lumoigne Trading Company was Jacob. In fact, that was exactly what happened.
"Well, if this is Jacob, it's a capital offense."
"What is he doing?"
Christina was exasperated. Steve was trying to reform him, yet instead of being sent to the mines, he was about to be sent to the execution ground.
She would never meet Claire again, but her heart ached at the thought of the father of the child she was carrying disappearing.
"I wonder. For now, the reason given is that he was hired for his skills and has carpentry work in the Royal Capital."
"Perhaps he couldn't tell his wife the truth."
"I want to confirm that part, and I want to secure him before he is eliminated, if it is indeed Jacob visiting Lumoigne Trading Company."
"Even if he is dead, isn't it possible to confirm the circumstances?"
"If a body can be found. But I'd like him to be alive. For the sake of his child."
Steve's necromancy could summon a soul to the extent of conversation if there was a corpse, but if a corpse to serve as a vessel for the soul could not be found, he could not do it. Moreover, Steve wished that he would not die if possible. Like Christina, he was worried about the child.
"Then it would be better to go to the Royal Capital soon."
Christina stopped calculating and looked at Steve.
"The work..."
Steve had not finished his work, so he intended to go to the Royal Capital after finishing it.
And before him was a mountain of documents.
"I'll handle this here."
"Sorry. Thank you."
Steve asked Christina to take care of the work and decided to teleport to the Royal Capital immediately.
At this time, he had no intention of making a profit in the cotton market; he was purely worried about Jacob.
Thank you always for your typo reports.