Chapter 33. Smuggling and Heretics (1)

Unlike my brother who didn't welcome me, my father smiled as soon as he saw me.

Then he walked briskly towards me, almost as if he was going to hug me.

"I was disappointed that we didn't have time to face each other at the wedding because it was so busy. It's really nice to see you like this."

Although Albert showed some political movements to distance himself from us a few years before inheriting the Medici baronetcy.

It was because if the baron father cherished all his children equally, it could lead to misunderstandings.

Even if my family and I didn't, others might mistakenly think there were other intentions and engage in factional disputes on their own.

Then not only would the family relationship cross a river of no return.

There were not a few families destroyed by the intervention of the Emperor, who was obsessed with stripping nobles of their titles in factional fights.

Now that there's no such burden, he can cherish me to his heart's content.

"You look more and more manly every time I see you."

"No, father."

"I have no more regrets now. Albert has succeeded in connecting with the Farnese count family, so our Medici baron family will prosper even more. And you've made a name for yourself as a merchant, so won't you become even greater in the future?"

That saying of the elders is half lie and half truth.

It's also saying that they're so happy that it feels greedy to wish for anything more.

Because humans are animals that say "If you're old, you should die" while diligently taking tonics.

Then he held my hand tightly.

"Thank you for lending 7,000 gold coins for your brother's wedding even though I didn't do much for you and you've become independent from the family. Thanks to you, I saved face."

21st century civil servants, from grade 9 at the bottom to the president at the top, choose a life mostly unrelated to their current position when they step down from office.

However, nobles in the Tuscan Empire still exert influence until they die even after retirement.

If the son messes up too much, the father can take back the title, and can also interfere in politics.

Given my father's personality, he probably won't interfere unless it's absolutely necessary.

"My position in His Grace Visconti's faction has risen a lot. At this rate, I think it might be possible for your brother to become Viscount Medici before I die."

If a baron is like a mayor, a viscount is like a deputy governor, the superior of mayors.

Although there's only one rank difference in title, the difference in influence is, exaggerating a bit, like that between a general and a colonel, or a department head and a director.

"You should get married now too... no, it's better for you to do it a bit later. We don't know how far you'll rise, so it would be a loss to marry just anyone now."

21st century parents nag to get married as soon as you get a job.

"Now that I've passed on the title, I've become too lonely and my useless words have become long."

"No, but I came because there's one thing I want to ask."

Father smiled brightly at me.

"I'll help you as much as I can within my ability."

"I'd like you to entrust me with the position of financial officer of the Medici family for a while."

It's quite out of the blue to ask to be in charge of financial management.

However, it's not an impossible story.

In any noble family, it's basic for more than 1/3 of the family minister positions to be composed of relatives, and it's common for important positions like financial officer to be filled by relatives.

"Financial officer. You don't really need that position."

Honestly, it doesn't make much sense for me to become the Medici family's financial officer and pocket money.

Even if I devoted myself to embezzlement day and night risking my life for a year, it would only amount to about what's deposited in my account monthly now.

But what if I get caught embezzling by Albert?

As long as father is alive with his eyes wide open, he won't kill me, but my life would become very complicated and difficult.

"I'm not asking for the financial officer position to make money. It's to try to normalize the family finances a bit."

In 21st century South Korea, the word "normalization" is also used to mean ruining everything.

It's a concept created and spread by a great person in some games.

I have no intention of doing such normalization.

I'll restore the Medici baron family's finances with truly pure intentions.

If I had said this in front of Duke Visconti or others, they would have said something like this first:

'Our family finances are fine! Very solid! AA+ credit rating!'

It's better not to reveal that family finances are not fine, regardless of the reason, as it's a flaw.

"Our Medici family is relatively better off compared to other baron families thanks to the Medici Trading Company. However, my brother has to hand over territory instead of money to me, so there's no money in the family now."

The cost of the marriage with the count family itself is an investment for the Medici family.

So I don't even criticize in my heart that Albert or father were prepared to pull out the foundation pillars, no, actually pulled out about half of the foundation pillars.

But it's true that there's no money, right?

"If you entrust me with the financial officer position of the Medici family, I will rebuild the family finances. If rebuilding is difficult, I will pay part of the remaining debt with my personal funds."

Other noble families are heavily in debt to merchants doing business in their territories.

About 1 to 4 years' worth of family taxes.

However, our Medici family's financial state is very healthy for a noble family thanks to the Medici Trading Company's tight grip.

It says it all that for a noble family, there's not a single debt.

Of course, now there's about half a year's worth of debt due to borrowing from various places for the wedding.

"It seems like you want something, what do you need?"

"The Medici baron family's connections."

No matter how close I've become with Duke Visconti, or how I've dominated Guillaume City using seaweed.

I can't beat the connections of the Medici baron family with its trading company boasting a long history.

So to grow as a merchant, shouldn't I buy all of this?

Chairman Lee Kun-hee even said this about the importance of connections:

'Do you want to be rich? Then line up next to the rich.'

I've already entered the ranks of the rich, but honestly, I want to go higher.

"Alright, if it's you, not someone else, I can trust and entrust it to you."

"Thank you."

I succeeded in obtaining the last thing I absolutely needed.

And I immediately went down to the Medici barony.

**

Lucasi, which could be called the capital of the Medici barony.

Befitting the central city of a family that hasn't forgotten its merchant roots even after becoming barons, a large port was built in this city.

"There are a lot of people in the city, young master."

Chloe looked around curiously.

She must have seen the port plenty in Guillaume City.

The way her eyes sparkled as if seeing a port city for the first time in her life was incredibly cute.

"It seems more prosperous than Guillaume City we went to last time."

Just in terms of the number of residents living there, Guillaume City has far more than Lucasi, the base of the Medici family.

However, Lucasi is the base city of one of the top ten, if not the top, merchants in the Tuscan Empire.

And it's close to Florence, the capital of the Tuscan Empire.

It's at a level where you can arrive in 3 days by carriage or 5 days on foot.

It has the heavenly conditions to develop as a commercial city, so of course it can't help but prosper.

"Even if the number of residents living in the city is less than Guillaume City, the number of merchants coming and going is probably more than Guillaume City."

I'm not sure how it is now since the influx of merchants increased sharply after selling seaweed.

"And there's a store here that sells special items. Let's go take a look."

Strictly speaking, it's not really a special item.

However, there's a product that could be called the secret weapon that brought the Medici family to this position.

That's the reason why I'm doing the good deed of being a financial officer for my brother Albert.

"What on earth is this special item?"

Saying that, I immediately moved my steps to the shopping district where stores selling that special product were gathered.

"You can hold my hand in case you get lost."

Chloe hesitated for a moment and looked around.

Finally, she took my hand.

At first, it was barely touching fingers, but soon she grasped my hand tightly as if she would never let go.

And we went to the shopping district without saying a word.

I, who had encountered women through various media in Korea, didn't tremble and become speechless just because of this much.

But Chloe couldn't say anything with her face flushed.

Still, I could see her mouth corners slightly, no, gradually rising more and more.

"You said you've been studying hard lately, right?"

"Yes, I studied hard because I wanted to be of help to you, young master."

The job of my personal maid isn't that difficult.

Honestly, it's no different from a public service worker at a community center or a company intern with just long working hours.

'Still, studying while working does require some grit.'

"It says 'Selling pepper and cloves, exotic spices'."

Pepper and cloves, those spices that dragged medieval people by the collar to the sea.

Well, even so, I can't interfere with the trade of those who monopolize spices yet because my rank is still low.

Currently, the biggest vested interest of great merchants is the monopoly trade of spices.

If I openly covet this at my current rank, all the great merchants except Medici would join forces to try to kill me, and if that happens, even the Duke, no, the Emperor couldn't protect me.

"That's right. Then how much would you have to pay to buy 1.5kg of pepper now?"

"Looking at what's written there, it's one gold coin per 100g, so 15 gold coins."

One gold coin can buy a cow.

Even for a monopoly trade, the price is really crazy.

Well, I'm not one to talk, selling seaweed that costs 2 copper coins to produce for several gold coins?

"I'd like to look around there too, but let's eat first since we're hungry now."

And the next day, I attended the Medici family's vassal meeting for the first time.