Night Talk

Translator: Cinder Translations

...

The night was already deep, and in a manor in the southwest suburbs of Crystal Glare, most of the buildings had extinguished their lights. Among the few remaining flickers, there was light coming from a room on the second floor of the manor, belonging to Gerd Rodney.

The owner of the room was sitting on the sofa, carefully reading a stack of documents in his hands. His eyebrows occasionally relaxed and then furrowed, revealing the fluctuations of his inner emotions.

Just as he put down one sheet of paper and was about to read the next, a series of knocks sounded at the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened, and the footsteps of two people entered Gerd's ears.

He put down the documents, stood up, and said to the visitors, "Father, brother, you're back?"

"Yes, we're back. We noticed your room was still lit when we came in through the front door, so we thought we'd check on what you were doing. I figured you wouldn't mind."

The first speaker, a short and stout figure, was none other than Gerd's father, Prince Jasim Rodney, the younger brother of the current king of Aldor. The tall, lean figure behind him was Gerd's younger brother, Yuriko Rodney, Jasim's second son.

"My dear father, my dear brother, of course I don't mind. But weren't you supposed to be at an all-night banquet? Didn't you need to return until dawn?" Gerd opened his arms in welcome.

"Oh, don't mention that damned banquet."

Yuriko raised his arm and complained, "Someone got drunk and made a scene at the banquet, ruining the whole atmosphere, so we came back early."

Gerd teased his brother, "That's truly unfortunate! I remember you were planning to woo a certain lady at the banquet, weren't you?"

Yuriko shrugged helplessly. "I'll have to wait for the next opportunity."

Prince Jasim approached his eldest son and picked up a sheet from the stack of documents on the nearby table. "What are you looking at?"

Gerd replied, "Oh, this is the revenue statistics for several factories recently established."

Yuriko leaned in, looking at the paper with his father. The page was filled with neatly organized tables containing terms and numbers that he didn't quite understand. Some sections also featured different styles of graphics, such as wavy lines or patterns resembling sliced pizzas.

Yuriko looked puzzled. "What are these? They look like the evil magical runes described in novels."

Gerd shook his head, feeling a bit helpless towards his brother, who was somewhat lacking in knowledge. "Yuriko, if a scholar studying mathematics saw this paper, even if they hadn't encountered it before, they could guess what it's for based on their knowledge. I often urge you to engage with this great discipline that reveals the essence of the world, but you…"

Yuriko clutched his head in surrender. "Oh, come on! Spare me, my dear brother. Just thinking about those nonsensical formulas and numbers gives me a headache. We are the Rodneys, aren't we? Our task is to rule, not to study."

Gerd frowned. "With your attitude, you'll end up suffering sooner or later."

"Alright, I don't want to see my two sons arguing in front of me. If you must quarrel, do it somewhere I can neither see nor hear you."

Prince Jasim interrupted the brothers' dispute. He turned to his eldest son. "Dear Gerd, how are those things you brought back from the Northwest Bay? You seem to be taking it seriously, working on factory matters at such a late hour."

Upon hearing his father's question, Gerd's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Oh, Father. The technology and equipment from Earl Grayman are incredibly useful; they've already started generating profits for us. Paper, canned goods— the market's demand for them seems endless. And salt, not to mention, can even be used to pay our soldiers' wages. Spring wagons are also quite popular among the nobles, and as for honeycomb coal…"

Just as Gerd was about to list them all, his father interrupted him. "Alright, alright, as long as they're useful, you don't need to introduce them to me in such detail." Prince Jasim squinted, his face full of smiles. It had been a long time since he had seen his son so excited.

"Fine, but you must listen to this number." Gerd raised the paper in his hand. "If all goes well and our revenue continues to grow at the current rate, the new technology from the Northwest Bay will bring us an income of 500,000 silver shields next year, and that's after deducting all expenses."

"5… 500,000 silver shields?" As expected, Gerd's father's eyes widened.

This was undoubtedly a huge income. As the king's brother, Prince Jasim knew that the royal family's annual revenue was around 5 million silver shields, and last year had been quite poor, only around 4 million. How could a few factories generate income equivalent to one-eighth or one-tenth of the royal family's revenue?

It was truly hard to believe.

"Thanks to Earl Paul Grayman, who had already paved the way and cleared the thorns along the road. According to him, the market is still far from being saturated, so he is more than willing to let us, as partners, walk on the path he has laid out and share his channels and clients. In other words, we are one of his production bases here; he holds a twenty percent stake in this place, after all."

"Partners?" Yuriko snorted. "If I'm not mistaken, the Grayman family should be vassals of the royal— the Schroder family, right? It's a bit too flattering to call him that."

"Yuriko!" Gerd scolded his younger brother, but he didn't continue to criticize him and instead turned back to his father.

"Our revenue won't stop at this; it will continue to grow. The recent war in Horns Bay might cause some trouble, but that's alright. The Northwest Bay is building a trade fleet capable of sailing to the far East, no longer relying on the second-hand dealers from Horns Bay. We've also introduced their shipbuilding technology, and the traditional shipyard in West Port is currently being renovated, so we can also share in the shipbuilding industry. I expect…"

Gerd paused for a few seconds, calculating in his head.

"In five years, the income from these new industries will match the royal family's traditional income— of course, that's an optimistic estimate."

"Oh!"

Prince Jasim was captivated by the grand vision painted by his son. Although he didn't care much for the specific details of the new industry, as long as it brought profit, it was good.

(End of the Chapter)

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