As soon as I returned to the mansion, Sebastian greeted me.
"Welcome back, my lord."
"Thank you. Have the supplies and manpower for Erikson been arranged?"
The small inflation I caused in the border region of the Lyon Kingdom was not for revenge against the kingdom.
I needed to procure manpower and supplies for the Dongindika Company within the Toscana Empire without stirring up any trouble.
I had released money earned from the gold mines I held in Ifriqiya to flood the Lyon Kingdom with currency, intending to supply them with materials and manpower.
The minor disruption caused in the post-war reconstruction areas was simply a side effect.
"The food includes wheat 500 tons, barley 200 tons, which were some of the investments made by Duke Visconti’s faction. I’ve also sent 500 matchlock guns, 1,000 spears, 400 sets of breastplates, and 400 helmets."
700 tons of food sounds like a lot, but...
Once ground into flour, its weight is reduced by nearly half.
And with more than 1,000 people now consuming the remaining 350 tons, it’s bound to disappear quickly.
These people don’t eat like the Mukbang streamers, but they do tend to consume protein from their staple foods, wheat and barley, without much side dish variety.
They end up eating about 1.5 times as much bread as modern people do...
For those engaged in physical labor, like soldiers or sailors, they need 1.5 times the regular amount of food during normal days, and nearly double when they exert themselves.
‘I wonder how much they’ll eat.’
"In addition, we’ve sent around 600 sailors. The remaining personnel will either be trained as informants for the Rothschild family or employed in factories."
With this new group, Dongindika Company now has around 1,600 employees, rounding it to about 2,000.
That’s quite a large workforce for a company in a pre-modern medieval fantasy world.
"Now that I think about it again, that’s an enormous number. And with weapons too. Are you planning to start a war?"
We have a misconception about the Age of Exploration.
To Europeans, Africa and India were almost like a fantasy world, and they imagined peaceful trade routes with profits through those areas.
This isn’t entirely wrong, but...
During the early days of opening new trade routes, none of that applied.
When Vasco da Gama first arrived in India, he gave a filthy, sweat-soaked shirt to the King of Calicut as a gift, demanding:
"I’ll give you these trinkets, so give me pepper and spices."
He was essentially trying to convert a half-rotted shirt into pepper through alchemy, but the King of Calicut, not being an alchemist, rejected the offer.
In the end, to make a long story short, Vasco da Gama taught the King of Calicut "alchemy via cannons" and, having learned alchemy, the king and other Indian states used it to exchange cheap goods for spices.
Ultimately, it’s clear that to start trade, war is often required — or, rather, war almost inevitably occurs.
"When we trade with Sultanate merchants, who we can at least communicate with, we still have to be ready for war in case things go south. So, do you think conflicts won’t arise when we meet unfamiliar people from a new continent?"
When I first encountered the Botswana tribe, I had mercenary soldiers armed with matchlock guns, which was why it ended well.
Had I gone with only a handful of people to sell matchlocks?
The tribal chief, Malik, would have drawn his sword and attacked us right after seeing the power of the matchlocks.
Sebastian agreed with my statement.
"If strangers who’ve never shown their faces before came to my doorstep begging for money, I’d certainly draw my sword or pull out a gun. After all, they could harm my property and family."
Until the 1980s, if a thief broke into your house armed with a knife in the early morning, it was deemed self-defense to shoot and kill the thief with an air rifle.
There was an unspoken agreement that killing someone who attempted to rob your house and kill your family was legally justified.
In the Toscana Empire, where medieval customs still lingered, if a beggar or an uninvited guest came to your door in the middle of the night and demanded food, it would be easy to get a verdict of no guilt after stabbing them with a knife.
The reasoning is, as Sebastian said, that these intruders could plunder our family and property.
‘Let alone, when groups with no legal protection meet...’
"And if there’s a force that’s completely hostile to us, we can wage war and drive them out. And in the New World, we need to establish several cities under the Rothschild name."
In any business, the surest way to make money is to pioneer new fields.
In today’s world, establishing cities in the New World and selling various specialties is the quickest path to fortune.
‘Cochineal and crimson silk dyed with it was used as the highest-quality fabric for centuries.’
Its value could rival that of silver.
Now imagine monopolizing such specialties, as well as gold and silver mines.
What couldn’t be done then?
"Looking at you, my lord, sometimes I feel like you’ve come from another world. The way you see things, it’s as if you’re seeing places far beyond everyone else. Sometimes, I even think you might be a prophet sent by Deus, who took pity on mankind."
There are some things in this world that cannot be explained by science, like reincarnation from another world.
So, I won’t outright deny the existence of gods.
‘If reincarnation from another world exists, there’s no guarantee that Deus doesn’t exist either.’
This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.
But what’s clear is that I’m not a prophet sent by the gods.
I’m simply a person who opened the Age of Exploration for my own selfish reasons, pioneering the New World, and planning to lead a religious reform that will restore the "normal" state of the wicked Deus Church.
Still, my desires will likely contribute to humanity's advancement.
‘I’m probably not going to hell, but I won’t be a VIP in heaven either.’
"I can see farther into the future because of the knowledge passed down by many ancestors."
The wisdom of the British Empire, the slightly more ethical people in the British East India Company, and the brief existence of France under Elang Vital’s rule.
The wisdom of the Japanese fools who, having been obsessed with imperial games, regressed to the level of ‘medieval idiot empires.’
All these experiences—learning from them and applying them to the right situations—that’s how I’m able to act as I do.
"After subtracting the money for supplies and personnel to send to Erikson, we still have 200,000 gold coins left."
While I spent some of the money to arrange supplies for Erikson...
There are clear limits to making money through such artificial inflation.
For now, I’ll just have to be content with this amount.
‘200,000 gold coins isn’t a small sum.’
"Invest all of this into expanding the weapon factories and printing presses."
"Yes, my lord."
From what I’ve heard, it’s become fashionable in the Holy Empire to [N O V E L I G H T] criticize the church, regardless of status.
The wicked church, in its already scarce state, continues to push for "indulgence purchases" and collects donations under various pretexts...
The fear of going to hell after death seems to have driven even medieval people to the point of sacrificing their family’s property.
But if they can’t endure any longer, what happens next?
That’s when the religious reform comes.
"And speaking of, Sebastian."
"Yes, my lord."
"Don’t you think it’s a bit hasty to end our revenge with just the last war and this incident?"
"...The one who led this incident, Count Guillaume, was already executed in front of the villagers of Vio, and didn’t you deal with the Black Death with extreme cruelty?"
Most of those criminals were from poor backgrounds, so they had no families, and thus, collective punishment wasn’t applied.
I had no choice but to make them slaves in the sugar factories, chained up, but at least I gave them an easy death.
‘The best way to torment death row inmates isn’t through execution, but by giving them life imprisonment,’ they say.
In a place where human rights aren’t guaranteed, forcing them into grueling labor, the likes of which even British industrial workers from the Industrial Revolution would find horrifying, that’s the ultimate revenge.
"That’s not enough. Since the people of the Lyon Kingdom laid their hands on us... we need to send them a plate of rebellion in return."
This is what being Korean is all about.