Chapter 263: My Savior and My Devil
For the first time in a while, I activated the Diplomat Scouter.
[Available justifications]
[Main River, price surge, hoarding, port, influential families, overland route, Feuzen, monopoly, spoils of war, Belorus family]
[Wenzenberg of Strasbourg, by supplying the gunpowder the Grand Duke’s army lacks, aims to secure a monopoly on military supplies and spoils of war.]
[F-Rank Negotiator (Persuasion 20%) applied]
So a monopoly on military supplies and spoils of war was the crux?
The kind of goal only a merchant would think up.
"The price of gunpowder and transport costs have gone up, you say? Didn’t you come up the [Main River]?"
"I don’t have the nerve to sail a boat through Duchy of Beren territory in the thick of a civil war."
With the Manager Scouter, I detected Wenzenberg’s lie. Given that port and influential families were among the justifications, what I could surmise was that his use of the port had been blocked against his will.
"Don’t lie to me. You must have been unable to use the [port]."
"...Why do you think that?"
"Strasbourg’s port is a place where the interests of [influential families] frequently clash, so you had no choice but to take the [overland route]. Am I wrong?"
"Hmm, you’re well versed in the affairs of the free imperial city. I’ll lower it to eighteen gold coins."
He’d dropped it by two gold coins, but it was still expensive. Still, I’d confirmed it was working. My angle of attack this time was the price surge and hoarding. The core reason the price of gunpowder had risen was obvious.
"For the price of gunpowder to rise, the price must have [surged], and the cause of the surge would be someone [hoarding]. The question is, why did the hoarding happen at this particular moment?"
Had the influential families made a move to corner the gunpowder market and sell it off at an exorbitant price? I’d actually prefer that. What worried me most was the possibility that the duke’s army had made the move.
"Considering the connection between you and me, you can tell me that much, can’t you?"
"Hmm, you’re very shrewd, my lord. Very well. Someone in Strasbourg was buying up gunpowder in bulk. That’s why the supply price surged."
"Did the influential families buy it up to sell as military supplies?"
"No. They’re too busy fighting each other for that. My guess is it was the duke’s doing. I witnessed a noble from the Duchy of Beren making contact with a gunpowder dealer."
I instinctively knew that noble was someone the Duke of Radensdorf had dispatched. The duke had tried to use the Hoenir to assassinate me and wipe out the gunpowder in the process, but thanks to the Scouter, I’d dodged the crisis.
Yet the duke wasn’t satisfied with that and had moved a step ahead to keep the Grand Duke’s army from procuring gunpowder. It was an extremely thorough, airtight scheme.
"...The Duke of Radensdorf must have sent him."
"I couldn’t find out for certain, but as you suspect, my lord, it seems to be the duke’s side."
"So how did you get hold of gunpowder? It couldn’t have been easy."
"The only ones in this world who show their hand are Saxon merchants."
Wenzenberg seemed to dislike Saxon merchants. From what I knew, the guild these Saxon merchants belonged to was the Hanseatic League, which held sway over the North Sea.
"Wasn’t it with the help of the [Belorus family]?"
"...You know Guildmaster Rafaello?"
"Not in detail. But surely he isn’t unrelated to your trade."
I’d only put it out as a feeler, but Wenzenberg looked thoroughly flustered, as if his hand had been exposed. Anyone, when caught off guard, gets badly rattled and finds it hard to think straight.
"Ngh, I think I’ve made a misstep. How about seventeen gold coins?"
"By the way, you seem to have had a rough time traveling overland. Didn’t you pass through [Feuzen]?"
Seventeen gold coins was still too expensive, so I deliberately changed the subject. Given that Feuzen appeared among the justifications, he’d surely stopped there along the way. Wenzenberg couldn’t collect himself under my relentless assault.
"Haa, I received help from your domain, my lord. The truth is, when I was crossing over from Euz, I was attacked by a band of bandits. I had guards, but there were too many bandits."
Around the time he crossed into Feuzen, Wenzenberg had, as luck would have it, been set upon by a band of bandits. Euz was currently in great disarray, its security in shambles, so he’d had the misfortune of being caught up in it.
"As it happened, the Gale Knights’ reserve company was in Feuzen."
"...The lord’s wife is a true heroine."
Fortunately, Hilda, having received the scouts’ report, had mobilized the Gale Knights’ reserve company stationed in Feuzen and rescued the Wenzenberg trading party. Viktor and Fiel had apparently distinguished themselves, so they must have recovered well.
"If you received help from my domain as well, I think that should count toward the price too, no?"
"That’s why I paid Feuzen a generous sum in tolls and lodging fees."
He’d bought up Feuzen’s specialty goods, sold them in Breisburg, increased his guards, and barely made it to Rheinkalsen. The rain along the way had apparently been an absolute nightmare.
"Still, you avoided going bankrupt, at least. Isn’t that right?"
"...Let’s make it sixteen gold coins."
Wenzenberg had the look of a man realizing that trying to negotiate with me had been a mistake. Beating a half-baked noble down on price might be doable, but I was no half-baked noble.
"No, that’s still too expensive. Let’s make it twelve gold coins."
"My lord! At that price there’s nothing left in it for me!"
He stubbornly refused, and it looked as though the negotiation might fall through, but I was certain. There was no way it could fall through. If he failed to sell the gunpowder here, Wenzenberg would take an enormous loss too.
"Wenzenberg, why don’t we lay our cards on the table?"
"Hoo, my hand’s already been stripped completely bare, hasn’t it?"
"Not quite. Your true goal is a [monopoly] on [military supplies] and [spoils of war], isn’t it?"
Wenzenberg’s eyes went wide.
When a war breaks out, vast quantities of military supplies are consumed and spoils of war are generated. It’s normal to trade with local merchants, but if you monopolize that, you can turn a considerable profit.
Naturally, merchants like this had approached me along the way, but I hadn’t granted any monopolies. And a few of those merchants had colluded with the supply unit officers to embezzle military supplies, which was why things were in an uproar over there now too.
The crown prince had ordered them all executed, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. In a situation like this, Wenzenberg’s approach might actually be an opportunity. Above all, the fact that he’d brought gunpowder was the biggest factor.
I could buy gunpowder from the nearby Swiss Confederation, the Duchy of Bavaria, or Austria, but it was treated as a strategic resource, so procuring it outside of free imperial cities was extremely difficult.
"If you hand over the gunpowder at twelve gold coins, I’ll pull some strings so you can have the monopoly on the Western Lords’ Army’s military supplies and spoils of war this campaign. On one condition: the tax is fixed at seventy percent, no exceptions."
"Seventy percent?! Isn’t what I get from this far too little?"
"Because the scale is large, you’ll still be able to turn a good profit. But if you play games with the supply price, you’ll have to pay an enormous fine. For your information, I’ll be the one managing the monopoly merchants."
"..."
He had the face of a man who wanted to run, but what kept him from running was surely the sweet temptation of a monopoly. In the end, Wenzenberg conceded his crushing defeat.
For me, it was nothing more than browbeating him into submission thanks to the Diplomat Scouter and my negotiator title, but from the receiving end, it must have been terrifying. I could even verify the truth with the Manager Scouter.
[E-Rank Negotiator (Persuasion 30%)]
Oh, the negotiator title finally ranked up. Even though it was a title I’d gotten in the early days, it sure took a long time to rank up. The truth is, it’s because I don’t use the Diplomat Scouter very often.
Wenzenberg said he’d barely managed to buy twenty barrels in Strasbourg at ten gold coins each. Without the Belorus family’s help, it would have been impossible.
After coming all this way, he’d only pocketed a margin of two gold coins, but either way he’d secured the monopoly on military supplies and spoils of war, so it wasn’t all bad for him.
I’d have to pay two hundred and forty gold coins, but I intended to bill the entire enormous sum to the Administrative Department. They’d agreed to give me their full cooperation, so they’d cover the funds too.
Of course, the Administrative Minister would jump out of his skin when he received the invoice, but he’d said with his own mouth that his goal was to help me and earn merit, so he couldn’t very well take it back now.
There’d be tremendous financial pressure, but it wasn’t as though the Administrative Department was taking a total loss. In the end, the picture would be one of Radensdorf being captured thanks to the Administrative Department’s support.
By now Wenzenberg feared me. I hadn’t particularly meant to eat him alive, but pinpointing his goal so precisely—the Belorus family connection and all—had filled him with dread.
"My lord, you are my savior, but at the same time, you are a devil."
"I’ll give you enough breathing room to pocket a decent share, so don’t worry too much."
"Hoo, I hope I never have to see you again."
But Wenzenberg was already on my radar. Not in a negative sense, but a positive one. A merchant who feared me and could be bent to my will was incredibly easy to handle.
After the war ends, I’ll gently dangle some bait and lure him into Feuzen.
You can never escape me.
