Chapter 6
Noah returned to the White Merchant Guild's main headquarters for the first time in a while.
It was to report to the guild master and her father, ‘Malek White,’ that she had become House Kron's advisor.
At fifty, Malek looked more like Noah's grandfather than her father.
On top of that, with his snow-white hair and kindly appearance, he resembled the grandfather who brought presents in winter.
After hearing Noah's report, Malek was surprised by the young lord of House Kron's policies, which surpassed common sense.
And he was twice surprised that Noah had become an advisor to House Kron.
“What a remarkable thing. Even when various lords and nobles urged you to, you focused solely on the guild's affairs—yet you've decided to enter public service.”
“That is how it turned out, Father.”
Noah answered with her usual cold expression.
Malek wasn't a bad father, but neither was he an ideal one.
He had shown Noah affection, but at the same time, he had constantly forced his own path upon her.
He had proposed positions that would benefit the family—from becoming the chief steward of a powerful ‘noble family’ to becoming ‘the wife of a great lord’—under the pretext that they were for Noah's future, and Noah had become a merchant to survive.
Because Noah had achieved results on her own and become an important member of the guild, Malek respected her choice.
More precisely, he had been left with no choice but to respect it.
“It is your choice, so I won't say anything. But tell me one thing, my daughter.”
“Please ask, Father.”
When Malek put it that way, it meant he was willing to concede this much.
In exchange, he wanted her to answer honestly, and Noah accepted the question while looking directly into her father's eyes.
“When you look at him with those eyes of yours, how much is the lord of House Kron worth?”
For all his faults, Malek considered Noah's judgment of people the best in the guild.
When he heard that she had decided to enter public service, he became curious.
Just how valuable was the young lord of House Kron?
Was he a vessel capable of surviving the coming turmoil?
Or was he a vessel capable of becoming a new ruler of the Empire?
As Malek waited for his daughter's answer, Noah said with a bright smile:
“I don't know.”
“You don't know!?”
Malek was thrown off by his daughter's anticlimactic answer.
The daughter he knew had never, as a rule, said anything inconclusive.
“Yes…Lord Calix isn't someone whose caliber I can judge.”
“You mean he's that extraordinary…?”
Malek was surprised for the third time by Noah's words.
He knew that she looked down on countless lords and nobles.
Yet hearing her say that someone had a caliber beyond even her own left Malek unsure whether he should see this as a good thing or a danger.
“Ah, there is one thing I know for certain, Father.”
“What is it?”
“I don't know how far Lord Calix will go, but one thing is certain…”
A young lord who had suddenly appeared at the southernmost edge of the Empire,
who had carried out astonishing reforms in a short time and was gradually making a name for himself,
most people thought the young lord was merely overexerting himself temporarily to solidify his foundation, and paid him no attention.
But in her eyes, his actions were not so simple.
“He will definitely bring a 『storm』 to the Novarens Empire.”
He would bring a storm to the Empire.
Noah was certain of that much.
* * *
“A storm is coming.”
One day, while I was frantically busy with the administrative work created by the tariff reforms, a report came to Hart.
“A storm?”
“Yes. We heard from the 『Blue Magic Tower』 yesterday. They say a powerful storm is expected to reach our Kron territory in one week.”
According to Calix's memories, Kron territory lay by the sea, and large storms came regularly.
Recalling what I knew from Calix's memories, I checked with Hart to make sure we had prepared for the storm.
“I see… Are we well prepared for the storm?”
“Of course. We have prepared cloth and ropes to minimize storm damage at the warehouses, castle, salt fields, stables, and elsewhere. You needn't worry.”
Hart answered confidently.
By the standards of Calix's memories, that level of preparation was sufficient.
But I couldn't be satisfied with that now.
“Have the people prepared as well?”
“Yes, of course, my lord. We have informed the people that a storm is coming and prepared enough cloth and rope for them as well.”
Hart seemed to have adjusted his preparations to suit the new me.
But it still wasn't enough.
“Is that all?”
“Pardon?”
In my previous life, my family home stood by the sea.
So I could say this with certainty.
With only the preparations Hart had described, a storm would kill some of the people.
“What about repairing the breakwater? Preparing shelters? And maintaining the drainage channels?”
“Those…not yet…”
Hart looked flustered at my questions.
It was understandable; I'd never pressed him this hard before.
I didn't usually press Hart too hard, thanks to the Confucian dragon inside me, but this time I felt I had to.
“From this moment on, our territory will begin preparing for the storm. Make storm preparations the top priority of every task, mobilize all the workers, and suspend the knights' training so they can join the preparations. Understood!!”
“Y-yes…Yes! Understood, my lord.”
I wasn't sure what expression I was wearing, either.
But when he saw my face, Hart turned ashen and hurried out of the office.
The sky outside the castle was already growing cloudy, perhaps because the storm was approaching.
“A storm in another world too… This fucking sucks.”
I had hated storms in both my previous life and this one.
* * *
Baron, who worked in House Kron's salt fields, had recently been enjoying the happiest period of his life.
Thanks to the lord doubling their wages, he had finally been able to move out of his parents' house and get a new home with his wife and children.
And that wasn't all.
Somehow, the prices of goods in the market had become much cheaper, as if the lord had used some kind of magic.
Thanks to that, Baron could finally eat proper bread and meat with his family at every meal.
On top of that, the market now had more clothes, toys, and liquor than he'd ever seen before.
Since prices were low, Baron could buy the clothes and toys his wife and children wanted and enjoy happy times with his family.
It all felt like a dream: until last year, whenever there was no work at the salt fields, he had had to feed his children thin gruel with barely anything in it and endure those painful days.
“All right! Let's all get to work!!”
“Let's do it!!”
That day, too, he went to work at the salt fields with his friend Leon as usual.
But something seemed to be going on: instead of entering the salt fields, everyone was gathered out front.
When Baron and Leon went over, they saw Old Man Sola, who managed the salt fields.
“All right, is everyone here now?”
“What's going on? Old Man Sola, is something wrong?”
“An official notice came down from the lord's castle. Let's see...what does it say... It says a storm will come in one week.”
“A storm!?”
At the news that a storm was coming, everyone's faces turned deathly pale.
Storms in Kron territory were notorious for their ferocity.
Last year, roofs had blown away and Baron's family had nearly met with disaster; some workers had even lost family members to storms.
“So, by the lord's command, we're beginning storm preparations now. The lord orders us to stop salt-field work for the time being and focus on preparing for the storm.”
“The lord ordered this!?”
“Yes. They say the knights will come to help too, and the lord will provide things like ropes and cloth needed for preparations, so anyone who needs them should go to the castle.”
The previous lord had also prepared for natural disasters such as storms.
But he had never gone so far as to mobilize the knights and provide equipment.
Baron was deeply grateful to Lord Calix for caring so much for them.
Just then, Leon, standing beside him, asked:
“Then what about our daily wages?”
“Let's see… It says the lord ordered that we'll be paid as usual, so don't worry.”
“Good heavens! He's even taking care of our daily wages!?”
“Long live the lord!!!”
It was kind enough of the lord to help with the preparations, and now he was even paying them their usual daily wages!!
Baron truly thought Lord Calix was a lord sent down from heaven.
Once everything had been sorted out, Old Sola said:
“Then we need to assign the work first, so foremen, step forward.”
The salt-field foremen, including Baron, came forward and were assigned their respective duties.
They divided up jobs such as constructing drainage channels, repairing breakwaters, and securing houses and salt fields with ropes and cloth, and everyone worked hard to protect their property.
Calix personally toured the territory, inspecting each place and making sure everything was taken care of.
Noah, who had followed Calix and watched him do this, asked:
“Are you afraid of storms, my lord?”
“I am… Aren't you afraid, Noah?”
“They scare me, but I'm not afraid. As long as I stay quietly inside the house, I'm fine.”
Noah had seen a storm once before.
As rain and wind raged and it seemed everything might be blown away, Noah, frightened, had stayed shut indoors until the storm passed.
From her words, Calix easily imagined what she had experienced and said:
“You are blessed.”
“B-blessed!?”
Noah was momentarily flustered.
Very few people knew she had a Blessing.
Could he know about my Blessing?
Just as she wondered this, Calix said:
“For someone with nothing, enduring a storm is no different from facing God's wrath. You should remember that too, Noah.”
So that was the kind of blessing he meant.
Noah breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing her chest, and said:
“Understood, my lord. I will be sure to remember.”
Noah became intrigued by Calix's words, which sounded as though he had experienced the lives of common people himself.
What could he possibly have experienced in the past?
Planning to ask him later, Noah changed the subject.
“Still, if we've prepared this thoroughly, surely nothing will happen.”
“I hope so…”
Everyone throughout the territory who was able to work had come out to help prepare.
With preparations this thorough, surely nothing would go wrong.
Yet I was uneasy even as I thought that.
I had a feeling something bad was going to happen.