A Man Who Can Envision the Future

“A-an outrageous story…?”

“Whether you believe what I’m about to tell you from this point on is up to you. Just listen.”

“Ah, u-understood.”

At his request, Stefan assumed the posture of someone who was only listening.

He was dizzy enough to feel as though he might die, but it was not entirely impossible.

Ferda began to speak.

“This is the future I envision.”

Ferda did not present it with any particular emphasis, as though he were introducing something.

He simply focused on recounting exactly what he had seen, heard, and felt.

As Stefan listened, he picked out the keywords one by one.

‘A carriage that moves without horses. A device powered by magic, but requiring no mages…’

Stefan was a man who had grown up being called a genius, and he also possessed excellent merchant’s instincts.

A merchant’s instincts were simple.

Take the profit and discard the loss.

What was Ferda talking about?

‘An absurd dream.’

By Stefan’s common sense, it was an impossible story that ought to be discarded.

‘And yet… something about it sounds plausible.’

It was not some sweet whisper meant to lure him into a trap.

There was none of the exaggeration peculiar to con artists, nor any trap concealed by withholding information.

It felt as though a grandfather were telling a story to children.

As if he were calmly reciting things he had personally seen and felt.

That was why even this preposterous story automatically painted a scene in Stefan’s mind.

He did not even know what to call it, but Stefan was struck by a certainty.

‘This will definitely make money!’

Stefan’s mind had returned to normal, but his hands were trembling.

“That is all. That is the future I envision.”

Stefan finally opened the mouth he had kept shut while listening.

“That future… is it related to the research Your Excellency is conducting?”

Stefan asked with his heart pounding.

The shock was so great that he had even forgotten to stutter.

“Of course.”

“Th-then! Could you please tell me what it is?! I beg you!”

Stefan pleaded with Ferda, unable to contain his excitement.

“Magitech.”

“Magi…tech.”

It seemed to be a name he had heard once, long ago.

But the reason Stefan could not remember it was undoubtedly that it had not seemed profitable.

‘If I thought it wasn’t viable back then, it shouldn’t be viable now either…’

This was the first time he had ever felt he was missing out on such an appealing product.

He must not let it slip away.

“If you need monster corpses for that research, would you like us to help?”

“You mean you’re offering to cooperate?”

“Yes. We will provide them.”

Ferda leaned back against the chair and asked:

“What do you want?”

“We would like to be involved in the distribution and manufacturing of these magitech products.”

Stefan revealed his desire.

Ferda asked in an even more serious voice.

“Only distribution and manufacturing?”

“Of course, I mean that we want an exclusive contract.”

Stefan answered clearly.

An exclusive contract.

Whatever it was, being the only one allowed to possess it would become a powerful weapon.

“I know that is a great deal to ask. So I will leave everything to Your Excellency’s discretion. I simply hope you will allow us to hold exclusive rights to products derived from that research.”

Stefan strongly made clear his desire for exclusivity.

Ferda wore an expression of complete indifference.

“What we are researching will change the world. If you want to monopolize it, you will need to show your sincerity in ways beyond helping with the research, won’t you?”

“What would you have me do?”

Ferda seized the opportunity to make his proposal.

“I want supplies for road development and the advancement of the Grand Duchy, as well as reserve provisions, secured as our top priority.”

Stefan was startled by Ferda’s demands, which poured out as smoothly as flowing water.

“You’re asking for quite a lot…”

“Is there a problem with a nation’s leader wanting to work for the nation’s development?”

“No problem. Haha…”

Though he smiled and played the fool on the surface, Stefan could not help but think it over seriously.

‘Giving him the three things he asked for isn’t impossible.’

The money and supplies Stefan had amassed far exceeded those of the other two siblings.

Road development was something he would have to undertake anyway, since they would be partners.

He had more than enough supplies and reserve provisions to spare.

And yet there was another reason he hesitated.

‘As our top priority…’

Stefan knew how frightening those words were.

Even if someone elsewhere offered a premium and asked him to sell to them, “top priority” meant gritting his teeth, ignoring them, and supplying Ferda at the proper price.

Stefan’s merchant’s instincts were warning him in no uncertain terms to avoid it.

“You don’t look very happy.”

“Pardon? Yes??”

“It seems you’re not pleased with supplying us as your top priority?”

“No. How could that be?”

Saying no even when the answer was yes.

It was the most basic of basics.

“Think about it. Even if you piled up billions, what could be more unfair than dying?”

Stefan flinched.

“A-are you threatening me?”

“No. This is not a threat, but a matter concerning your future. Herman Pascal is quite old, is he not?”

“Ah…”

Stefan thought he understood what Ferda meant.

He recalled the matter he had briefly set aside.

‘That loathsome brother and sister…’

Murchit and Tilda.

Hadn’t the two of them been pressuring him relentlessly?

“Even if it means accepting losses, isn’t there any offer more appealing than becoming the owner of the trading company?”

“T-the owner of the trading company…”

The Pascal Trading Company meant everything to Stefan.

It meant not only his fortune, but his very life.

“To the extent that you cooperate with me, I will cooperate with you as well. I will make sure that everything Herman Pascal built, along with the trading company you have grown, becomes yours in its entirety.”

Stefan brought out the scales in his heart.

What Ferda demanded, what he had shown him, and what Stefan would have to put forward.

Of course, it was a deal overwhelmingly unfavorable to Stefan.

‘The Grand Duke—or rather, the regent—could become someone who has my back.’

Ferda Valdrowa.

At first, Stefan had not thought much of him as a connection.

If he went around calling Valdrowa’s kept man a connection, people would only laugh and think he was desperate enough to grasp even a rotten lifeline.

Most people underestimated him, and Stefan had believed them too.

‘But that’s not true.’

Seeing him in person now was different.

He was a man with a radiance rivaling the emperor’s.

Even as he faced him and marveled, Stefan could not shake the suspicion that he was still underestimating him.

‘This man knows how to envision the future.’

Not the childish picture drawn by boastful nobles, but one whose form remained clear even when sketched in rough lines.

He had conviction, and the ability to make it a reality.

‘Something I could never possess.’

Absolute charisma, something Stefan had never possessed.

That was why he wanted to say this.

I want this no matter what.

The words rose up in Stefan’s throat.

“May I ask one question?”

But he did not say it.

Because answering every question one beat late was the shortcut to becoming a great merchant.

“Go ahead.”

“You have an elder brother and a younger sister, so why did you choose me instead of them?”

Ferda answered honestly.

“I’ll be frank. Because there’s nothing to gain by attaching myself to them.”

A cool, calculating judgment.

“And you’re lonely and isolated. Because that makes you perfect to use.”

“Ugh…”

Ferda was being far too honest.

Stefan, who had waited intending to test him, was instead the one caught off guard.

“That is why I am making you this proposal. Will you be prepared to accept losses and survive, or will you simply be pushed aside?”

Stefan realized how shallow his thinking had been.

To think he had tried to test a man like this.

“I will.”

Then he added the words he had forgotten.

“I will, no matter what.”

Stefan knelt and bowed to him.

Ferda leaned forward and held out his hand.

“I look forward to working with you.”

“I’m the one who should be saying that, Regent.”

Stefan thought:

No matter who made him whatever proposal, nothing would ever make his heart race as much as the deal concluded today.

* * *

The County of Consilius.

Today, a soldier who had been someone’s father and husband died.

He had died heroically while buying time to protect the farmers from the monsters that had attacked their fields.

The clergy performed a rite, sprinkling holy water over the corpse, while the soldiers honored his death by raising their swords.

Count Consilius himself also attended the funeral of a mere soldier.

The aged lord could no longer wield a sword, but he never missed a soldier’s funeral, always coming to honor the dead.

It was no different from his usual behavior, but today was different.

Even after all the funerals had ended, Ulbera Consilius did not leave, remaining to watch over the grave.

“Arwen…”

He called the name of the knight standing behind him.

“Yes, my lord.”

“How did things go with the Empire? What became of the letter we requested?”

Arwen answered reluctantly, forcing the words out.

“They say it will take some time. Supplying the soldiers within the Empire takes priority…”

“Priority…”

Ulbera Consilius stroked his beard.

Ulbera Consilius, whose life was as precarious as walking a tightrope, rarely showed his emotions.

In a place where venting today’s feelings could lead to tomorrow’s death, he had always practiced smiling affably.

If it could not be done today, do it tomorrow; if not tomorrow, then the day after.

“Those bastards are worse than dogs…”

Even Count Consilius could no longer keep smiling.

“Supplying the soldiers in the Empire takes priority? Are you saying we are not subjects of the Empire? We on the front line suffer from monsters every day! Is the Emperor arming only the guards because he’s afraid of so much as a disturbance to public order?!”

“Please compose yourself, my lord.”

“It is truly lamentable. I have never lived an honorable life, but I thought I had never lived a shameful one either! Yet I have never felt so ashamed as I do today!”

When Count Consilius heard why the soldier had died, he felt his heart collapse.

The sword he had raised to stop the monster had broken while he was delivering the decisive blow.

The sword he had used was a supply-issue weapon, yet he had used it for no less than five years.

It was no wonder it had broken.

Count Consilius knew how important defense was.

At the very least, he had never neglected his soldiers’ training to protect his territory, and he placed importance on superiors setting an example so that their morale would remain strong.

But even such morale was no match for inadequate supplies.

The interior of the Empire was peaceful, but the front lines were always effectively at war.

Casualties from monsters occurred steadily in this land.

“Forgive me…”

Count Consilius knelt, clutching the soldier’s grave.

“Please forgive this incompetent old man… I was wrong.”

“How could Your Lordship be incompetent! This is all because of our own shortcomings!”

“That’s right. It’s my fault!”

“It’s my fault!”

Arwen knelt, and all the soldiers under his command knelt as well.

Count Consilius wept aloud for a long while.

After weeping for some time, Count Consilius rose with Arwen’s support and began walking again.

He was on his way back to his residence.

Then he heard a commotion outside the castle gate.

It was loud enough to penetrate the tall, thick walls.

Instead of proceeding to his residence, Count Consilius asked the guard stationed at the main gate:

“What is going on?”

“Loyalty! We were just looking for you, my lord!”

“You were looking for me?”

“Yes. A line of carriages is forcing its way through the forest outside. They look like merchants, but they seem suspicious, so we haven’t let them in…”

“Merchants seem suspicious?”

“They say they came from the Pascal Trading Company.”

They certainly had reason to be suspicious.

A company as large as the Pascal Trading Company would never come all the way to the Far East.

The guards must have judged them to be disguised bandits or ruffians.

“I see. I’ll go take a look.”

A murderous glint entered Consilius’s eyes.

If they were bandits, he vowed to draw his sword and bathe it in blood on the spot.

Count Consilius opened the side gate and went outside.

In front of the main gate, a relatively well-dressed middle-aged man sat astride a horse.

“I have come to see Count Consilius. The carriages are waiting aimlessly in the forest, which is dangerous. Could you open the gate?”

“The person before you is Count Ulbera Consilius. Show proper respect.”

At Arwen’s warning, the middle-aged man jumped in surprise, dismounted, and knelt.

“Ah, I’m terribly sorry. My old eyes must have failed me. Please forgive my rudeness, my lord.”

“It’s all right. Who are you people? Bringing so many carriages to a place like this would frighten anyone…”

“I apologize for the late introduction. We are from the Pascal Trading Company.”

“I heard that as well. Do you have any way to prove it?”

“Here.”

The middle-aged man produced an identification certificate.

It bore the Empire’s emblem and seal, unmistakably identifying him as an agent of the Pascal Trading Company.

“Why have you come here?”

“We came to inquire about establishing a branch in Count Consilius’s territory.”

“If the Pascal Trading Company is establishing a branch… are you saying you’re interested in trade in the Far East?”

He was even more astonished.

Establishing a branch meant that they intended to stimulate trade in the surrounding area.

Yet there was no reason for a major trading company to stimulate trade in the Far East.

Their business would more sensibly spread in all directions from the safety of the central regions rather than risk the Far East.

“We received orders from above. We were told to give top priority to supporting projects such as supplying provisions and improving roads, and to establish a branch in the Far East. We selected Count Consilius’s territory as the best location for that purpose. If you grant us permission to establish a branch, we have arrived fully prepared to begin immediately.”

Count Consilius stared blankly at the countless carriages that had carved a path through the forest.

“So you came intending to build an entire castle?”

“Haha, no, that’s not it. We do have construction materials, but we heard that you haven’t received supplies recently. So, on behalf of the Empire, our trading company has selected the finest goods from our inventory and come to supply them to you.”

“Supplies…!”

Count Consilius strode to the rear of the carriages to see what they carried.

“Gasp!”

His wrinkled eyes widened.

The carriages were piled high with things more precious than billions in gold.

‘My requests, which were ignored… they’re all here!’

Everything from weapons and maintenance supplies to storable provisions.

From minor necessities to absolutely essential goods, everything was inside those carriages.

Count Consilius picked up one of the supply-issue swords.

It was unquestionably of the finest quality.

It was a sturdy weapon that would not break in the middle of a fight with a monster, at least.

“Why would Pascal… bring business to a place as remote as the Far East?”

Count Consilius was intensely curious.

He felt he could not rest until he heard the answer, no matter what.

The man answered.

“This is a project being carried out in consultation with the representative of Grand Duke Valdrowa.”