Chapter 243
Chapter 243: Starting a New Business (1)
The barbarians gathered for negotiations with food as bait all agreed. There were some dissenting voices, but they all fell for Woroka’s persuasive words.
His tribe was the strongest, and resisting would lead to nothing good.
Days later, at the renewed negotiation table, Woroka confidently declared, “The allied tribes have all agreed. We will cease attacks and plundering against the Ruthania Kingdom for five years. I will take responsibility for stopping the plunder of the few tribes that have not allied with us.”
“You’d better keep it under control. I don’t want to see your face here again if you don’t. Make sure to send the horses to the Northern Fortress every year.”
Woroka’s lips twitched at Giselle’s arrogant words. He wanted nothing more than to chop the arrogant fool’s head off with his axe, but a fight seemed burdensome.
No, to be honest, he didn’t want to think about the names Perdium and Penris at all.
‘The day I start fearing the name Perdium has come.’
He never imagined that such a day would arrive in his life. Rather than being afraid, he had not cared about Perdium at all and was only focused on unifying the tribes.
Now, he found himself bowing his head to those he had ignored.
Of course, he had no intention of letting it end like this.
‘Just wait. Once I unify the North… I won’t leave Perdium or the Ruthania Kingdom alone either. I will never forget today’s humiliation.’
Seeing the discomfort etched on Woroka’s face, Giselle couldn’t help but smirk. It was obvious what he was thinking.
‘Tsk tsk, you won’t get that chance.’
Running a tribe and running a country were entirely different. Indeed, while Woroka had unified a nation in his past life, he had been unable to manage the incidents occurring everywhere.
With a lack of not only food but also infrastructure, a country simply cannot run properly.
If Giselle hadn’t sparked a war, Woroka would probably have attacked the Ruthania Kingdom much sooner.
‘Then his head would have rolled under Duke Delphine’s blade.’
Back then, the Ruthania Kingdom, which had suppressed all the nobility and wielded absolute power, was fearsome in its decisiveness and had the strength to execute their plans swiftly.
Only someone of Giselle’s caliber, one of the seven powerful families on the continent, could contend with a kingdom. Woroka would have never survived otherwise.
‘If only I had the time, I would have completely wiped them out. It’s a bit of a regret.’
To sweep aside not just the tribe allied with Woroka but others as well would take several months.
With Harold as a distraction, he couldn’t afford to drag things out here any longer, thus he needed to finish things up appropriately and head back. It was only natural for Giselle to feel a bit disappointed.
‘Well… this isn’t the only opportunity.’
Once the civil war is over, Woroka would have to make a clear decision.
Would everyone submit, or would they all die?
In any case, the negotiations ended successfully. Zvalter was glad that the difficult battles with the barbarians had ceased, and Giselle was pleased to secure a massive number of horses, ensuring stability for the rear.
And Claude was sad because Wendy didn’t carry him.
Giselle returned to the territory with over ten thousand horses, including those acquired as spoils.
Heeheehee!
As the horses lined up and entered the castle, the territory residents’ eyes widened. They had never seen so many horses in their lives.
“Wow! Incredible!”
“There are so many horses? Is this even possible?”
“Truly amazing! Our Lord is remarkable!”
Given the exorbitant price of a single horse, there were hardly any territories that owned this many.
The territory instantly fell into a festive atmosphere. Even with roads repaired, they were too short on horses for proper transport.
But now horses were overflowing. Even after deducting some for military use, thousands could now be used for transport.
Giselle gathered his retainers to boast about their achievements.
“Look, look! After tightening the reins a bit, we’ve massively increased our horses!”
The happiest of all was indeed Belinda. She was more thrilled about having beaten the barbarians mercilessly than about acquiring the horses.
“Of course, our Young Master did it! I wanted to join in and beat them too!”
As the territory developed, it became harder for Belinda to find time for herself since she had to manage the increasing number of servants.
So Giselle planned to involve Belinda only in major battles from now on.
The other retainers nodded, looking as if this level of achievement was expected.
‘They’ve fully become robbers now.’
‘They’ve turned into people who take everything they need.’
‘But since the other side consists of barbarians, there’s no one to complain.’
If iron ore is needed, they take over the mine, and if horses are needed, they take the horses. It was frightening to think of what they would come back with next.
Yet everything had plausible reasons and justifications, so they couldn’t be stopped.
Truly a Lord who gets to do everything he wants while receiving less blame(?)!
“Now that we have the horses, shall we initiate a revolution in transport?”
Giselle said confidently, but Claude interrupted and shattered the mood.
“There’s a problem.”
“…”
“There is a problem.”
“…Are you possessed by some spirit of trouble? Why is there always a problem? Were you cursed somewhere?”
‘It’s your fault! You! You! Because of you, everything is always so tight!’
After repeating his concerns to no avail, Claude just hid his annoyance and replied.
“…Anyway, there is a problem.”
“Fine, what’s the problem?”
“There are so many horses that, while it’s good, I can’t oppose this expedition too much. However… the number of horses you brought back exceeds what we anticipated.”
“Isn’t more supposed to be better?”
“Yes, but it has to be within reason. Right now, we can’t manage that huge number of horses. We lack stables and staff for management.”
Claude had a point. Just bringing in the horses and letting them be wouldn’t make sense. Maintaining over ten thousand horses consistently would require enormous resources.
But Giselle dismissed that with an “it’s not a big deal” attitude.
“Build more stables and hire lots of people. That should solve it, right?”
“…Do you think the money for that will just fall out of the ground? We are already spending enormous amounts on territorial development and military augmentation. To maintain that many horses would require even more money.”
While they were making a mountain of money selling food and cosmetics, there were limits. They were spending as much money buying resources as they were making.
Moreover, there was a limit to the amount of food and cosmetics that could be sold.
Particularly, food was not just used for paying laborers but also for feeding the residents of both the Penris and Perdium territories, so the consumption was quite significant.
In short, they needed additional income. Hence, Claude presented a new proposal.
“How about selling half of the horses we brought back? Even with just half, it should be enough for transporting materials and training cavalry. Horses can be sold at good prices, providing us with funding.”
“Absolutely not.”
Giselle’s firm rejection made Claude think.
‘…I knew you’d say that. You never listen!’
Still, Claude didn’t lash out. Lords disliked unnecessary expenditures. He planned to exploit that aspect.
“If we push ourselves, we can manage them for now. After all, we can just sell more food to secure the funds. But it wouldn’t be useful for us right now.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re lacking riders. What good is building roads and getting tons of horses if we don’t have enough people to use them?”
“Hm…”
“Plus, our territory has too much to do. Transporting materials has been delayed, both for food and meat. Ultimately, the remaining horses will just sit around in the stables, sleeping and eating. Damn it, that’s frustrating!”
Having horses is not the end. They need people to handle them. However, most of the territory residents who had lived poorly did not know how to ride.
The soldiers only brought infantry, which wasn’t much help.
Up until now, those who could haul materials or ride horses had been gathered diligently. In urgent situations, even knights were pressed into the transport tasks.
“We cannot handle that many horses right away because of these two issues. It’s just money going out the window. We should sell what we can’t use now and consider increasing our numbers later.”
Claude confidently smiled, thinking that this time even the lord would have no choice.
Just having more doesn’t mean success. Everything has to fit the situation.
If you scale up when you can’t use what you have, you end up with greater losses. That’s the obvious truth.
But who is Giselle? He’s the one who’ll twist situations if necessary.
Can’t use the horses they’ve acquired? Then create a situation where they can use them!
“We can build stables, hire managers, and train riders.”
“No, when do you propose we train them?”
To ride well requires learning proper equestrian skills. It can’t just stop at the level of sitting on a horse; they need to move quickly and freely.
Thus, cultivating skilled cavalry would inevitably take a long time. Plans for training cavalry had already been laid out long ago, and the other retainers were aware of this.
However, to implement that plan, even half of the horses they just acquired would be enough. More than that wouldn’t be usable.
But Giselle cut off Claude and started speaking his piece.
“This level of problem is nothing at all. I have my plans. I can solve everything.”
“What’s the plan?”
“First, I’ll start a new business using the roads.”
“Roads… a new business?”
Claude and the other retainers looked at Giselle with uneasy eyes. The ways he proposed to solve problems, as well as his business ideas, were all far from normal.
Ignoring their gazes, Giselle continued speaking.
“The roads within the territory are almost complete, right?”
“Yes, except for some small villages and remote areas, most cities, castles, and villages are connected. Not just our territory, even Perdium.”
“Now we’ll expand and connect to the capital, the Crown Prince Faction, and the territories of neutral lords. Excluding the Duke Faction nobles and any suspicious individuals.”
That was an enormous undertaking. A task fit for an emperor from history. No matter how much money and labor they had, it was not a venture to take lightly.
“…It might take several years to connect the territories of the Crown Prince Faction and the capital with roads.”
“Not necessarily. Road construction is a simple task. Simple tasks can usually be resolved more easily than you’d think.”
“How?”
“Put in money and manpower, and it’ll be done in no time. Everyone knows that.”
“…”
The retainers had nothing to say. In fact, the Penris territory had developed at an incredible pace precisely because they put money and people into it.
However, the issue lay elsewhere.
“Even if we consider the timing, do you think the lords would allow it? To say we’re going to lay roads without their permission?”
“Why would they refuse if it’s beneficial? And what will they do if they don’t?”
“Huh? What will they do?”
“If the royal family and Marquis Branford tell them to, what can they do?”
That was a fair point. If Giselle asked, Marquis Branford wouldn’t refuse. Well-maintained roads could be hugely beneficial for military purposes too.
Some lords might be reluctant to lay roads for fear of invasion. However, connecting all the territories of the Crown Prince Faction would make it easier to call in reinforcements, so they would have no choice but to agree.
Hearing Giselle’s grand plan made Claude dizzy. How much money would it take to connect all of those territories?
“What about the money? Where will we find the funds plus labor? No matter how much money and workers we have, we can’t handle such a huge project!”
“Well, other lords will have to support their own workers from their territories while we provide the money and collect usage fees in return. We’ll have to get the road toll collection rights through the royal family. Just imagine how much money we’ll make!”
Gulp.
Claude swallowed without realizing it.
Well-laid roads were rare. Hence, transportation and movement took time.
What if they truly completed fast-moving roads and collected fees?
The logistics and people moving on those roads would turn into money flowing back into Penris.
In theory, it was undoubtedly a revolutionary business. If it were practically possible, that is.
“…Let’s assume we get manpower from other territories. But do we even have that much money?”
In response, Giselle shrugged off the concern with a confident grin.
“We can use our money and have Lady Rosalyn and Sister Meriel invest. I heard there’s some investment group lately, right? We can pull all the noble money in. The Juana Sect will help too. Having priests means the construction will finish even faster, right?”
Porisco would have to send a mass of priests to rejuvenate the exhausted laborers, lest they be burned at the stake for heresy.
“…”
Giselle spoke with such confidence. What might seem impossible to others felt doable for a lord already overflowing with connections.
As everyone stood dumbfounded at the absurdly ambitious plan, Giselle continued with a serious expression.
“Now, secondly. The road toll business isn’t the end. Once the roads are laid, we’ll use the surplus horses to start a delivery business.”
“…A delivery business?”
“Yes, I’ve even picked a name already.”
“What is it…?”
Everyone looked at Giselle with a mix of anticipation and concern. Giselle, seemingly enjoying the atmosphere, grinned and said,
“Penris Arrow Delivery. What do you think?”
At that blatant and crude name, everyone facepalmed.
