﹡ ⊹ ⊰ Chapter 14 ⊱ ⊹ ﹡
"Get yourselves ready!"
The carriage of the leader of Durac merchant guild stopped and, terrifyingly, Vieze sprung up and shouted to the servants.
Following behind Rulhac, Clerivan clicked his tongue a little.
While waiting for textile samples from Durac, he also investigated the leader of Durac merchant guild.
As a result, he was the Empress's person. To be precise, the current Angena's Family Head was his father.
In terms of his rank in the family, he was quite far from the top, but he was a person who has been close to the Empress since he was a child and has been watching over her as they grew up.
However, Vieze's behavior was excessive.
No matter how much pressure the Empress had on him, Vieze was the eldest son of Rulhac Lombardy.
It is not necessary to act subservient like this.
Even if it was the Angenas, who produced the current Empress, they're still not on a par with Lombardy.
There was no way that Rulhac, who was walking right next to him, couldn't hear Clerivan clicked his tongue
However, there was no sign of displeasure on Rulhac's face. He just stood silently and looked at his first son with more unknown eyes.
Eventually, after Vieze opened the door instead of the servant, the Durac merchant guild leader got off the carriage.
Then he bowed his head to Rulhac and relayed his greetings.
'At least the leader knows the proper hierarchy.'
Clerivan groaned inside.
“You've worked hard to come here from far away. I want to check things right before we go inside. Do you mind?”
“... No, I don't. You may do so."
The leader of the Durac merchant guild slightly frowned. He tried to bring in the textiles with them, but he didn't really know that would be a prerequisite for the business.
It was just a formal procedure, and Vieze, who reassured the leader over and over again, said, standing in front of Rulhac.
"Father, do you really need to do that?"
"Step aside." Rulhac said calmly but he turned to look at Vieze with angry eyes.
He wasn't frowning, nor he was staring intensely, but when Vieze saw his eyes, he instantly hardened.
"Have you been taught to get in the way of the Family Head?"
"Ah."
Only then did Vieze realize his mistake, and he hurriedly stepped aside.
"Remove the cover."
At Rulhac's command, the servants removed the cover of the wagon brought by the Durac merchant guild.
"Hmm."
After reaching out to touch and swept the surface of the fabrics, Rulhac expressed slight dissatisfaction.
The surface was irregular and rough.
"Clerivan."
When Rulhac called for him, Clerivan immediately approached as if he had been waiting for it.
Not surprisingly, his expression when he touched the fabric of the textile was not very good.
“What are its raw materials?” Clerivan asked Durac's leader.
"Oh, it's……."
The leader hesitated for a moment as if he couldn't remember.
'You can't even say what raw materials of the things you're trying to sell to someone who you're borrowing money with.'
It was a point that showed the Angenas family's ignorance and attitude toward commerce.
"It is woven from the leaves of the Coroy plant."
"... Coroy?"
Coroy was a kind of weed-like plant that grew widely throughout the Empire.
When Clerivan, a well-recognized figure in the Empire, heard for the first time about the textiles made from Coroy, Vieze scoffed.
"You deemed yourself as an established figure in society. I thought you know something when you asked the question but it seems you don't know all that much."
Annoyed, Clerivan gritted his teeth at Vieze's claim, but he couldn't come up with a rebuttal.
Textiles weren't a field he knew much about.
He has been in charge of successor education and when he was living in Lombardy he has done a lot of business, but it was his first time hearing the woven fabrics using Coroy.
"Since it is widely used only in the East and is not well known in other regions, it's understandable that anyone from the central region wouldn't recognize it." The leader said.
“Is that so?”
At first glance, it seemed like a positive answer, but at the same time, Rulhac knew from the moment he touched the rough cloth that was bundled up in the wagon that it was a failure.
They received a written report of the amount and labor required by the Durac merchant guild leader.
Certainly, if it were the other merchant guilds, it was already a huge sum that they couldn't afford. But it wasn't that burdensome for Lombardy.
Even if this textile business failed, Lombardy was able to make up for the damage in a month or two. It wasn't money that Rulhac was worried about.
The oldest son, Vieze, talking politely to the merchant guild leader, was captured in Rulhac's eyes.
The current Empress, Ravini Angenas, was narrow-minded and had an ambitious character at the same time.
To make her son the Crown Prince, she did not hesitate to oppress and extort others.
The Durac merchant guild, which was made quite recently, lacked funds to bribe the aristocratic council, so they were making this deal to raise funds.
However, if for any reason this business went wrong and the Empress was not financially satisfied, it was clear to whom she would put the blame.
Vieze thinks if he does this, he can get closer to the Empress's faction, so he was acting in this humble way.
Rulhac finally made a decision.
This textile business will be a test not only from the Empress but also from Rulhac.
“Vieze.”
“Yes, Father!”
"This textile business……."
It was just before he could say the words 'I will leave it to you in the future.' that a small brown-colored head rises beyond the wheel of the wagon and let out a cheerful voice.
“Wow, there are so much cloth! Are you going to make clothes?!”
Four people standing with a hard atmosphere looked at her at the same time.
"Firentia?" Rulhac muttered in surprise.
At her grandfather's voice, Firentia smiled brightly and said in a louder voice.
“My dad knows this very well!”
* * *
Looking at the people who were surprised by my sudden appearance, I showed a more childlike, innocent smile.
"How did you come here so suddenly?" Grandpa asked me, lowering himself slightly.
"I went for a walk with Dad! But then I saw Grandpa so I came running here! I want to be with Grandpa!"
I abruptly came to meet my grandfather unannounced, but there was no irritation on his face after knowing his young granddaughter ran greatly to meet him.
Not surprisingly, I could see the tips of Grandpa's mouth rising upwards.
"Thank you, Firentia. But running around is dangerous, so be careful in the future."
"Yes, Grandpa."
My grandfather patted me on my head, but Vieze, who was displeased with being disrupted, said to me, waving his hand as if chasing away a fly.
“The adults are talking here, so go away and play elsewhere. Go!”
But I only ignored Vieze and asked my grandfather instead. “But what is all this? There are so many fabrics that look the same!”
“This is a cloth made from the grass called Coroy. I was talking with the adults here and wondering if we could make some profit by selling this to the people.”
"Ah, okay."
What do you mean by profit?
This business is already ruined. Not to mention there were too many problems.
With several problems arising in the future, as a result, this large-scale Coroy textile business collapsed and Lombardy had to endure financial difficulties.
Now I should step up and say, 'Don't even start, let's fold here'.
I might say that, but that wasn't my job.
“Oh, huff! Tia! What did you run alone like that?”
Because it's my father's job.
Looking back at my father with an innocent face, I said. "Dad! Grandpa is selling this fabric!"
"Huk, whoo! I'm sorry about this, Father. Tia, you shouldn't disturb the adults talking. Let's go over there and read a book."
My father, who didn't know my heart, tried to take me away.
"Look at this, Dad! This is a cloth made of grass called Coroy. It's amazing!"
"Huh? Coroy?"
I knew he showed interest.
My father turned to the wagon to see the fabrics weaved with plants that were nothing more than weeds.
“Hoh, this is a fabric made of Coroy. It's my first time seeing the real thing, and the first time I've ever touched this kind of cloth...…”
My father, who was talking with excitement without knowing it, realized the situation again and blushed.
"Come on, Tia. Let's go."
We can't just go like this!
At that time, I heard a voice piercing my burning heart in one shot.
"You should take a look, Gallahan."
It was my grandfather.
When his younger brother suddenly appeared and knew about the fabric, Vieze become anxious. His face was a spectacle since he couldn't just intervene.
“I don't know that much either. Other than that in the eastern part of the Empire, this Coroy plant was made to use as clothes for about a hundred years. The production is easy and the items are readily available from the mountainside, so it's a textile that commoners love.”
"Commoners?"
However, the reaction from the leader of Durac was a little strange.
When my father told them that the Coroy cloth was mainly used by the common people, his face flushed.
"Is this the cloth used by commoners?"
"Yes, it is. As you can see, it is rough and coarse, so it is not suitable for use in the clothing of the nobles."
"Huh, what..."
Grandfather asked when the shocked leader of Durac could not speak. "What is it?"
"The one who informed me said that this textile is a favorite by commoners and nobles alike and that they would make use of it often. So I tried to do business with the nobles as well.”
"Didn't you say you acquired it yourself a little while ago?
“It's... a person that I know very well, he said he's well-informed of this..."
“You seem to have been cheated by that well-informed person."
Embarrassed, the face of the Durac's leader turned red.
“But there is one downside from Coroy. Once harvested, it will only last for a short amount of time. Ah, I knew it."
Dad lifted the bottom of the hem piled with layers of fabric and clicked his tongue.
The woven fabrics in the middle had a sour-smelling mold.
“The finished product from Coroy is vulnerable to moisture. It seems like this was the case during the rainy season a while ago.”
“Ha, my God!” The leader shouted, unable to hide his frustration.
Of course, it will be useless.
Because he found out that all the business plans he had been ambitiously prepared for, was bound for failure.
At that time, my father, who was thinking about something, said to the merchant guild leader.
"However, even in the territory near our direct jurisdiction, Coroy is growing tremendously, so if you procure materials without bringing it from a far distance, there will be no big problem."
"Oh-oh, is that so!"
"And if you're really going to do this business with nobles, try mixing with cotton when you're weaving."
"Cotton?"
"Yes. Actually, Coroy is not a very bad material. It is good since you can save a lot of costs. So, if you mix them with cotton, you can saved more from the raw materials by investing a little in the manufacturing, you will get a very cool and soft fabric."
"Hoh, is that how it is?!"
As if hearing the sound of heavenly string as an angel descending from the sky, the eyes of the Durac's leader toward my father shimmered.
"But blending cotton with other raw materials is a fairly advanced skill. Be sure to select the weavers with the right abilities."
"Ohh, weavers……….?"
The leader really stared blankly as if he didn't know anything about this field.
"Our Lombardy's Textile Worker's Guild will be able to do it well. Of course, that should increase Lombardy's distribution to the profits of the business." Clerivan intervened at a right time.
"How much do you think it is?"
"Considering the salaries of Lombardy craftsmen…."
When Clerivan and the leader of Durac started bargaining, my father took my hand.
He was trying to get out of here quietly.
"Gallahan, you are in charge of this business from now on."
Though my grandfather's tremendous order caught my father as he was trying to escape.
"Oh, Father!" Vieze screamed.
He could not let the business he had been nibbling hard at to be taken away by the youngest sibling.
But Grandpa's attitude was very firm.
"But I don't know much about business. It's out of my abilities, Father." Startled, my father said as he was going to refuse, but my grandfather asked the leader of Durac in a relaxed tone.
"It looks like you need an advisor who knows well in this field."
“It is indeed the case that I'm having trouble because I lacked knowledge on this kind of fabric. If Young Lord Lombardy could help, it'd be reassuring!”
The leader immediately pushed aside Vieze and changes his attitude to Gallahan who seems to be the pride of his father.
"If it's about business, I'll give you the strength you're lacking. Don't worry too much, Lord Gallahan." With his bad relationship with Vieze, Clerivan also offered to help my father.
My father, who hesitated for a moment, looked down at me holding his hand.
You can do it, Dad!
I gestured, cheering him on as much as possible.
"You will be able to help him! You're so cool, Dad!"
My words were the final blow.
My father, holding my hand tight, nodded firmly to Grandpa as he made up his mind.
"I'll try it just this once."
I barely put up with what I wanted to shout while jumping on the spot.
If it was my father, he can make this business successful.
As the underlying problems will disappear, both Lombardy and Angenas will be able to make tremendous money, and there will be no fools who can hinder the business of the two largest families in the Empire if they hold hands.
“Arghh!”
Except for an idiot like Vieze who was working hard on grinding his teeth.
But as long as my grandfather lives, there was nothing much he can do.
If he tries to ruin the family business because of jealousy, my grandfather won't stand it.
"Dad, you're so cool." I tiptoed, muttering these words so that only my father could hear them.
There is something I know for sure after living in the future.
As Lombardy is interested in the succession to the throne, the Empress is also someone who has a great interest in who will inherit Lombardy's household.
Until now, the eldest son was the most prominent candidate, but there was no aristocrat who did not know that Vieze was not brilliant.
Vieze and his family are attending the dinner held by the Empress and the Emperor every month in the Imperial Palace.
At least once on the attendance list, I'm sure it will be Gallahan Lombardy and his family.
And in the Imperial Palace, there were people who I must meet as soon as possible.
It was the person who was born from a maid was an illegitimate child of the Emperor. I have to keep him by my side to succeed the Family Head position.
Second Prince Perez Brivachau Durelli is in the Imperial Palace.
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January 10, 2021
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