Chapter 21 - 21 Classic Approach
Viscount Karsh and his faction were unable to take physical delivery and ended up saddled with a massive debt. Regarding the copper, it was treated as a breach of contract; they were forced to pay the difference in the futures price, and the liquidation was processed with Aurora retaining possession of the physical goods. This tormented Viscount Karsh even further. Even when he tried to sell the copper he had on hand, the price of copper hit an all-time low because Aurora had released a massive amount of physical stock into the market.
Driven to the brink regarding his payments to Aurora, he tried to default on his payments to the Valier Trading Company, but the Valier Trading Company’s management rights had also been seized by Aurora due to their own financial difficulties. In the end, no matter which payment he tried to stop, he had to bow his head to Aurora, and defaulting was no longer an option.
The same applied to the nobles of Viscount Karsh's faction. They shamelessly tried to default on their payments to the merchants, but the merchants sold those debts to Aurora. As a result, they were placed in a situation where they would have to continue paying Aurora for the next 100 years, and the faction was dissolved.
When most of the processing was finished, Steve was summoned by Aurora.
When he teleported into the office as usual, Valier was there.
"It has been a long time, Your Excellency."
When Steve gave his greeting, Aurora gestured for him to sit. The conversation began once Steve settled onto the sofa.
"This matter is mostly settled. It's a good thing the split was 9:1; if it had been half-and-half, I would have been negotiating for a bit more in administrative fees. Besides, I hardly obtained any actual cash."
Aurora grumbled.
Since Viscount Karsh and Valier had been buying up stock with their available cash, they had no cash left when it came time to collect. The value of the seized physical copper had also become almost nonexistent due to the price collapse.
"Anticipating that hardship, I proposed the split at the beginning. Wait, is it alright to have this conversation?"
Steve glanced at Valier. Aurora gave a nod.
"He is the hidden key figure of this incident, so there is no problem with him hearing the conversation."
"To be called a key figure is more than I deserve. If Her Excellency had not called upon me, I would likely have thrown myself into a river by now."
Unable to grasp the context of the conversation between Aurora and Valier, Steve asked for an explanation.
"I don't quite follow the circumstances. Would you mind explaining?"
"When he could no longer support the physical buying, I invited Valier to our side. Your plan alone would have sufficiently damaged Viscount Karsh, but Valier suggested to the Viscount that he buy even more futures, and succeeded brilliantly in making him increase his position. Thanks to that, we were able to inflict more than double the damage of the original plan."
With that explanation, Steve understood what had happened.
Valier had accepted defeat the moment the physical cornering failed, but Aurora had reached out a helping hand so that only Valier would survive. However, the condition for salvation was to make Viscount Karsh buy more futures.
Valier had stood his ground at the edge of bankruptcy and chose to betray Viscount Karsh to join Aurora. At any rate, he knew that the nobles like Viscount Karsh intended to push the losses onto him and run away, so he felt no guilt in betraying them.
"Publicly, I am in the position of a chairman employed by Her Excellency, but she has forgiven my past opposition and granted me significant discretion in management. My losses were also covered by Her Excellency; I couldn't ask for better treatment."
"Without my backing, it's likely Viscount Karsh and the others would harass you. Publicly, I am the owner, but in reality, I just have you pay a portion of the profits, and as long as you're in the black, I don't intend to interfere. If I can crush Viscount Karsh's faction, it's a small price to pay. With this, my house's position in the West is secure for a hundred years."
Saying so, Aurora picked up her teacup and elegantly sipped her tea.
At this moment, Steve realized that in the world of politics, he was still a novice. The woman before him, Aurora, went even further than his own plans, and he thought that she didn't lead the Western faction for nothing.
"Oh, don't glare at me with such scary eyes. I'll cry."
Aurora said playfully. While Steve was thinking about how he had been outmaneuvered this time, he had unintentionally been looking at Aurora with a sharp gaze. Aurora had pointed that out.
"Ah, my apologies."
"It's not that I was dissatisfied with your plan. I just thought, 'if I do this, it'll be even better,' so I added a few small changes. It's like adding seasoning to a served dish to suit your own taste. If there wasn't someone making a delicious dish to begin with, there would be no turn for the seasoning."
Valier nodded at those words.
"I never imagined I would be played like this by such a young boy. If Viscount Karsh found out, he might die of indignation."
"I am often told I don't act my age."
Saying so, Steve drank the tea in front of him to calm his nerves.
"That's right. An ordinary ten-year-old wouldn't think of using His Majesty to harass a Viscount. I didn't think of it myself until I heard the results. I heard the Viscount was summoned to the Royal Capital and lectured personally by His Majesty for intentionally stopping the distribution of copper. Moreover, because he sold off his townhouse to raise cash, he had to spend many days in a cheap inn unsuitable for a noble's stay. It's only natural, since he has no cash, let alone a townhouse."
Aurora giggled.
To repay his debts, Viscount Karsh had sold his townhouse in the Royal Capital. The money from that sale vanished into debt repayment, and since he had almost no cash on hand, he had no choice but to stay at a cheap inn.
Of course, if it weren't for the situation where he had incurred the King's wrath, he might have been able to stay at the townhouse of a close noble, but the misdeeds Viscount Karsh committed spread through noble society faster than a spark on dry grass.
Though it was Aurora who had arranged for it to be so.
As a result, there were no longer any nobles who wanted to associate with Viscount Karsh. That was why a cheap inn was his only option.
Waiting for Aurora's laughter to subside, Steve brought up the matter of the reward.
"So, about the reward..."
"I know. First, one million gold coins in cash. Rounding up the fractions is fine, right? I'll keep it in your private room, so take it home whenever you like."
"If it's rounded up, I have no complaints."
"As for the migration, I will immediately permit relocation from the lands of the nobles who raised taxes to pay me. If they try to interfere with the relocation, I will take responsibility and stop them with force."
"Thank you very much."
Steve was satisfied that he had obtained the promised rewards: ten percent of the profits and permission for the residents to migrate. Taking it home whenever he liked meant teleporting to the room where the gold coins were placed, taking them, and teleporting back to his own house. As expected, even Steve couldn't carry one million gold coins at once, so Aurora had opened a room in her castle for Steve so that it wouldn't catch the eyes of others.
"However, I can't guarantee that the residents who wish to migrate will actually make it to your territory."
"I am aware of that."
"Do you have some kind of plan?"
"Yes. With the reward I obtained this time and the profits from my own trading, I will make the territory tax-free for five years."
"Oh my, then it seems everyone will want to migrate."
"Therefore, I intend to set a limit on the number of migrants. For the time being, I'm thinking of accepting about 100 people and trying to build a new village. Conflicts between the original residents and the new ones shouldn't be much of a problem if the villages are different."
Aurora felt relieved for the moment after hearing Steve's plan. If he made it tax-free and accepted unlimited migrants, there was no telling how many people wishing to migrate would gather from the West. If that happened, there was a high possibility that damage would extend to nobles other than those who had opposed them this time. Knowing that could be avoided was significant.
And he intended to give priority to the residents of Viscount Karsh's territory for migration. Rather than the repayment of debt from Viscount Karsh, it was more important to suppress him to the point where he could never defy them again. That also served as a warning to other nobles.
A stance of showing no mercy to those who defied her would serve as a deterrent to other nobles.
When the discussion with Aurora was over, Steve stopped by the Emmanuel Trading Company. This was to report that the final discussion with Aurora had concluded.
Emmanuel was waiting at the company. The two moved to the usual meeting room and discussed the conclusion of the matter there.
"I see, so the Valier Trading Company defecting to the Margravine is what led to that final massive position."
When Steve spoke of Valier, Emmanuel was surprised. It was unexpected for Emmanuel as well. Basically, purveyor merchants do not betray nobles until the very end. This is because they are partners who have decided to associate even while taking the risk of being defaulted on.
"Honestly, Her Excellency could have consulted me at least a little."
"Just between us, Her Excellency likely wanted to get one back at you, Steve-sama. If it were discovered later that everything proceeded exactly according to your expectations, her face would be completely lost."
Emmanuel speculated on Aurora's inner thoughts.
"Is that how it is? Well, thanks to that, Her Excellency was in a good mood and gave permission for the migration, so I'll call it a win. Emmanuel, I'm thinking of building a new village as we discussed before. I want you to start the construction of the houses."
"Understood. The problem will be when the applicants for migration come flooding in."
"True. Since people suffering under tyranny will be coming, I'd like to accept as many as possible, but our territory doesn't have the industries to support them even if the population increases. If it goes well with the first 100 people, I'll put out a second call."
"Since it is you, Steve-sama, I'm sure it will lead to a second call in no time."
"You overestimate me. It's rare for everything to go perfectly."
Thanks to Steve, Emmanuel had become a merchant with an asset scale second only to the Salieri Trading Company in Sowell Land. Regarding human resources, they were still just beginning, and they were losing to existing large-scale companies in terms of employee quality and quantity, but they had become famous for their activity in this market, and job seekers were flooding in.
Many of the job seekers were employees of bankrupt trading companies or servants of nobles whose debts had become unmanageable. He was currently busy with the task of selecting promising individuals from among them.
Emmanuel's rapid progress was, of course, thanks to Steve, and Emmanuel felt he could never repay his debt to him. That was exactly why he believed that whatever Steve did would surely succeed.
"Well then, I'm heading back to the territory."
"I look forward to seeing you again."
With his business in Sowell Land finished, Steve returned to his own home. Even though the market was over, everyone had been anxious about how the negotiations with Aurora would go. Brian and the rest of the family had been waiting for Steve's return at any moment.
"Father, the negotiations with Her Excellency are over, and I have successfully received the reward."
Steve, who had teleported back with the gold coins, reported the conclusion to Brian. They had also spoken on the delivery day, but Brian had been very angry with him then. In the end, Brian had reluctantly accepted it because Aurora had given the instructions, but he had warned Steve to consult him in advance next time.
However, people are fickle; even Brian broke into a smile when he saw the gold coins Steve brought back.
"How much did the reward amount to?"
"One million gold coins and permission for the migration of residents. Regarding the migration, I have informed her that we will first accept 100 people."
"O-One million gold coins. Is this it?"
Brian pointed to the gold coins around Steve.
"No, because I couldn't bring everything at once, this is only a small portion of it."
"Only a small portion..."
Not only Brian, but Abigail and Sherry also gasped at the amount of gold coins. Christina was also surprised, but she had received an education to not show it on her face, so to an onlooker, she appeared composed.
Sherry, who ran up and touched the gold coins, asked Abigail a question.
"Mother, would a noble who has one million gold coins have a rank around a Viscount?"
"At that level, even the Earl class would be doubtful. They have more if you add the value of buildings and territory, but if it's just gold coins... Wait, Sherry, don't sleep on top of the gold coins. It's unrefined."
Abigail rebuked her daughter, who was rolling around on the gold coins.
"Since the profits from the trading I asked Emmanuel to do will be added to this, why don't we all go to the Royal Capital once and do some shopping?"
The women agreed with Steve's proposal. Brian's opinion that wasting money was not good was voted down by a majority.
This proposal came from Steve's desire to provide Christina, who had come to House Archibalt from a Marquess house, with the standard of living she had before, but since treating only Christina specially would likely draw complaints from his mother and sister, he decided to make it for everyone.
Later, the sight of Steve and Christina in a harmonious relationship would be witnessed in the Royal Capital.
And Steve also showed his face at Cyril's place, whom he hadn't been able to talk to much while involved in the market.
"Thank you for your hard work on the big job."
Since Cyril said that, Steve expressed his gratitude for the cooperation. With Cyril's help, the matter of Viscount Karsh damming up the copper had come with the bonus of a punishment from His Majesty the King.
"I'd like to thank you for your cooperation, Cyril-san."
"Don't mention thanks. I am the one who is always receiving new knowledge; even returning a favor of this level is not enough."
"Is that so? But then I'd feel bad. Ah, then I'll tell Father to have your wedding with Aila held using the territory's budget."
When Steve said that, Cyril's face turned red. He had no resistance to such talk. Incidentally, his relationship with Aila was going well. Or rather, he was already so dominated by Aila that he felt he didn't want to eat any food other than her home cooking.
"Is work going smoothly?"
Steve changed the subject from the talk about Aila.
"With copper becoming cheaper, it will likely reach a price that commoners can afford. The talk about supply and demand determining the price was an eye-opener. Thinking of the formula for it is difficult, but if this can be done, it will be possible to calculate a fair price."
"Thinking of such formulas is also the job of a technician; you're doubling as a mathematician as well. It would have been good if I knew the formula myself."
"No, no, there is no royal road (T/N: oudou) to learning. If one takes the easy way, it won't stick."
Cyril had been taught by Steve that theories could generally be expressed by formulas. That was something Steve could say because he had modern knowledge. At this level of civilization, empirical rules were stronger than formulas. In fields like astronomy and architecture, some formulas were taught, but most involved learning from the experiences of one's seniors.
"Speaking of oudou (T/N: royal road/yellow copper), since copper is circulating cheaply, I wonder if brass (T/N: ou-dou) will also become cheaper?"
"Steve-dono, brass is something produced from a portion of copper mines, so it must be a different thing from the copper we have now."
"A different thing? Isn't brass an alloy of copper and zinc?"
Steve knew that brass was an alloy of copper and zinc, but in the Kingdom of Cascade, there was no refining technology for zinc, and to begin with, it wasn't known that zinc was a standalone metal. Brass only circulated when copper ore contained a large amount of zinc.
Steve didn't know that and spoke with knowledge from his previous life, so his conversation was out of sync with Cyril's.
"What is this 'zinc' you speak of?"
"There is such a metal, but... hmm."
Steve thought for a moment, created a galvanized steel sheet with Steel Creation magic, and showed it to Cyril.
"This is a steel plate with zinc plating applied. Zinc doesn't rust easily, so it's good to use as plating. Because they are both metals, you can plate them like this."
Steve explained it that way. However, saying that plating is possible because they are both metals is a mistake. There are many cases of plating on plastic, and Steve had simply forgotten that. It was a mistake due to the assumption that plating meant metal, as his previous life was in a small factory mainly focused on metalworking.
"And you see, by mixing this zinc with copper, it becomes brass. From the way you talk, it seems you can only make brass from copper ore with a high zinc ratio right now, but if you become able to refine zinc, you'll be able to produce much more brass."
"If that happens, it seems we'll be hated by the alchemists."
Because of its color, it was said that brass might contain gold, and alchemists were researching it; if it turned out to be a metal called zinc, their research budget would disappear.
"They are experts in metals, so we can just have them be active in establishing refining technology. They won't have to lose their jobs."
Thus, the existence of zinc was conveyed to the Royal Research Institute by Cyril, and a large budget was also set for the research of brass. This ended up helping the nobles who owned copper mines. This was because mine management had fallen into the red due to the price collapse from the massive circulation.
However, if copper ore containing zinc became necessary, copper mining could be done with the national budget. The copper mines that had been on the verge of closing were thus revitalized.