I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
“Are you insane?”
Viscount Viscount Viscount Leron, who had already lent a large sum to Baron Dean, twisted his face fiercely.
“Do you know how much money you borrowed? It’s a whopping 3,000 gold! 3,000 gold!”
“I know, I know.”
“I lent you the money out of loyalty for ten years. But now you want to borrow more?”
“First, listen to what I have to say, okay?”
“Do you want to see me die in front of my wife!”
Baron Dean took Viscount Viscount Viscount Leron by the arm and led him to a secluded place.
“I know I owe you a lot, I know!”
Baron Dean looked around and then lowered his voice significantly.
His voice was so low that even Viscount Viscount Viscount Leron, who was nearby, had difficulty hearing.
“So I asked for some valuable information.”
“You?”
Viscount Viscount Viscount Leron scoffed.
Was this noble, who was assigned to Princess Lottie, really asking for valuable information?
“Probably asking for worthless information!”
“Hey, hey. Didn’t you tell me during the day? That, there’s a rumor that Princess Lottie is getting close to the Empress.”
Viscount Viscount Viscount Leron’s eyes widened. Right, he heard that?
“Well, is that rumor false?”
“It’s true! The Empress gave Princess Lottie that amulet as a gift. Don’t you know?”
Viscount Viscount Viscount Leron nodded as if entranced.
No one didn’t know the amulet the Empress had always worn since she was young.
“Is it true that she gave that?”
“Yes! I checked it with my own eyes.”
Baron Dean widened his eyes.
But Viscount Viscount Viscount Leron still had his arms crossed and his face twisted to the side.
“The Empress seems to have put it there and talked about this and that. It seems she thinks she has nothing to say! So that’s what it means.”
Baron Dean’s voice lowered even more.
No, he was a little curious, right? Just a tiny bit.
“Her Majesty the Good Empress recently suggested raising the tariff on Benthian tobacco leaves.”
“… … !!”
The Viscount’s eyes widened.
“If, if it’s Benthian, that’s what the people at the Marquis Floyd’s Club enjoy, isn’t it?”
The nobles who had joined the Marquis Floyd’s Club, founded by Marquis Floyd, who stood at the pinnacle of power, all enjoyed Benthian tobacco leaves.
Other nobles who wanted to join the Club or make connections also bought the same thing.
But there had always been a small amount of Benthian tobacco leaves, and if the price skyrocketed…
Gulp.
His Adam’s apple moved visibly. The greed in his eyes began to show.
Baron Dean, who noticed this, smiled, showing his teeth.
“Interested?”
“Not much, just a li, little? So… Should we buy up everything available on the market?”
“Wouldn’t it be enough for you to have just that? The amount available on the market would be substantial.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“I heard it at the gambling den, you know.”
Already speaking in a hushed tone, it became even lower.
Instinctively, Viscount Viscount Leron knew that the next words were crucial.
“Finn has just imported Benthian leaves this time! And he brought them in bulk!”
“…!!!”
Wow! This is perfect timing!!
The price of Benthian leaves is about to soar.
But no one knows this information?
And it just so happens that the smuggler brought in Benthian leaves in bulk.
“If you buy from Finn, it might be more expensive than the market price, but you could sell them for even more!”
Ka-ching!
The sound of coins stacking up resonated in his mind.
Viscount Viscount Leron’s eyes were filled with greed.
“So, what do you suggest I do?”
Baron Dean chuckled as he looked at the completely swayed man.
“First off, don’t you have the money you took from your son’s marriage fund and the land tax? Invest that.”
His son’s marriage fund and the tax?
Not only the marriage fund but the tax was supposed to be used for the land.
But if it multiplies…
He was instantly convinced. Viscount Viscount Leron nodded.
“What about you?”
“I’ll bet on this.”
What Baron Dean took out from his pocket were documents for the sale of his estate and his lordship transfer letter.
He was truly putting everything he had on the line.
“You should be able to sell the estate for a decent price, right? And the lordship transfer letter should fetch a good mortgage.”
“Okay.”
Viscount Viscount Leron accepted the two documents with a smirk.
“Do you think I’ve sold these kinds of things just once or twice? Trust me.”
And so, the two of them secured their funds.
They even thought it wasn’t enough, so they gathered people they could trust.
People didn’t believe them at first.
Others invested money when they saw the amulet that Princess Lottie wore on her wrist-.
“This is how we’ll trade with Finn regularly!”
As a result, they amassed a tremendous amount of wealth.
Baron Dean and Viscount Viscount Leron chuckled with satisfaction. It’s done, they were now rich!
Tonight, they were meeting with the smuggler, and after tonight, just after tonight!
“We can live as lavishly as the high-ranking nobles!”
They could finally enter that society they had only dreamed of, swaggering into Marquis Floyd’s club.
Just a mere viscount and baron like themselves could enter Marquis Floyd’s club.
Kkuhaha, the two shed tears.
“Alright, let’s go!”
The two of them, shoulder to shoulder, strode towards their shining future.
But right at that moment.
“Hello?”
Lottie appeared.
* * *
“Welcome, Baron Dean.”
Standing tall on the deck of the smuggler’s ship, I looked down at the two.
“You’ve come a long way.”
I even greeted them kindly, but Baron Dean remained frozen.
“Why… like this? It’s me, Lottie Pandelion you’ve been ignoring.”
He looked as scared and wary as usual.
As if flipping cold water, Baron Dean’s eyes grew wider and wider.
“W-What! Y-You, or rather, how can Her Highness Princess Lottie…!! Wait, no way.”
“Now, do you see reality, or still blinded by illusions?”
“It was all lies…!!”
“Yeah.”
Did he really think things would go smoothly like that in the real world?
He’s more naive than I thought.
Did he end up melting his brain from wandering around in the gambling dens?
“It was all lies.”
The faces of the two men turned pale at first, then quickly flushed with anger.
The amulet, the leaves, all lies!
‘I pretended to have an amulet from the Empress just by finding some old trinket!’
Even though he was fooled himself, Baron Dean’s body began to tremble.
“Hah! This half-wit!!”
Viscount Leron, who was standing beside him, stepped forward.
“You’re fool enough to come here alone. Well, even if you brought some soldiers, it’s no problem! We have insurance too.”
“R-Right! Come out!”
As Baron Dean gestured, men began to emerge one by one from the deep darkness of dawn.
They were mercenaries.
And not just any mercenaries, but a ruthless bunch who would do anything for money.
“We’re going to use them to escape.”
The two men thought they’d already gotten away with it. They probably raked all the money from those gambling dens too.
Even if they escaped to another country, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“If it was all lies from the beginning, there’s no way we’d tell the Emperor or the Good Empress. At best, we’d just bring along a few royal soldiers.”
Even if they did tell, who in the royal court would listen to the words of that thing confined to the palace?
Viscount Leron nodded as if agreeing.
“Let’s buy some time by using her as hostage to escape to another country.”
“They’ll act as a shield for us, being nobles and all.”
If she died, there was nothing they could do.
“Capture her!”
About twenty or thirty mercenaries, or so it seemed, approached me with their weapons raised.
Just do it.
“How many did you bring? Twenty? Thirty?”
Seriously, is that all?
“Bringing just this? How foolish.”
I returned Viscount Leron’s words to him, word for word, and flicked my hair over my shoulder.
“Come out, gentlemen.”
I brought the entire knight order.
And they were royal knights.
As soon as I signaled, the knight order, which had already seized the smuggler’s ship, immediately emerged.
“This is the real deal.”
I raised my hand to show the amulet on my wrist.
“The lie that everything was a lie was also a lie.”
“…!!”
The startled mercenaries hesitated and stepped back.
“You see, gentlemen!! You never told us there would be Imperial Knights, much less soldiers!”
A man who seemed to be the leader of the mercenaries shouted angrily.
But neither of them responded.
No, they couldn’t.
Their gazes were fixed on my side.
Since I brought the knights along.
“Leold Dean, Berton Leron.”
I even brought the Emperor.
I grinned as I looked at the Emperor drawing his sword under the moonlight.
It turns out the Emperor was a sword master.
“I’ll execute you for your treason in conspiring with the smuggler.”
‘You have to make the most of the resources you have.’
I chuckled with a smile.
Ah, enjoy the show!