Chapter 100 : Chapter 100
Chapter 100. If It Can't Be Done, Make It Happen (4)
Graden Tyrkollu, the lord of Jengin Castle, was increasingly feeling his own senescence.
He had once reached the level of a 6-star knight, but it had been several years since he had last been able to swing a sword.
But there was something that troubled him more than his aging body.
And that was,
‘My body keeps getting weaker, but my pride just keeps getting stronger.’
Graden thought and let out a sigh.
For generations, the Tyrkollu family had not wielded much power in central politics.
For that reason, Graden had a particularly large number of things he had to endure.
Whether something bad happened or something good happened.
Whether something didn't sit right with him or something unjust occurred.
Graden would first endure it.
Then, after observing the situation, he would barely manage to express his emotions.
Even more often than not, he would be unable to express his emotions until the very end.
Perhaps because of that.
Graden, who had endured his entire life, found himself frequently reaching the limits of his patience these days.
Things he would have easily overlooked in the past, he now found impossible to let slide.
They would occasionally surface in his mind and infuriate him.
‘Despicable bastards……!’
Among them, the thing that came to mind most often recently was his dealings with the Sahar Caravan.
The Sahar Caravan was a place that had been trading food with the Tyrkollu family for over 20 years, and before the war broke out, their relationship was certainly not bad.
In fact, their relationship was on the good side.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have traded for over 20 years.
But a decisive incident that soured their relationship occurred recently.
The Sahar Caravan, which he had thought was simply conducting its food trade diligently all this time, was using an unthinkable trick.
It was food swapping.
Instead of selling the 1st-grade food purchased from the Tyrkollu family directly to the Vinchih garrison, they had been swapping it for 3rd-grade food and profiting from the difference.
Because of that, the Tyrkollu family had to bear the disgrace of having supplied low-quality food to the Empire.
What was even more infuriating was the fact that it was impossible for Graden to make this public.
This was because the ones backing the Sahar Caravan were the Bazar family, who had immense influence in central politics.
In the end, the Tyrkollu family had to conclude this matter by cutting ties with the Sahar Caravan without saying a word.
As a result, Graden had to grind his teeth whenever the Sahar Caravan came to mind.
‘At least the Billem Caravan, with whom I've recently started trading, is free from such problems, but my blood still boils whenever I think of the Sahar Caravan.’
In fact, Graden had signed a trade agreement with the Billem Caravan because he liked the fact that they had no backing.
The only one who could be called a backer was Abtal, but Abtal currently belonged to the Vinchih garrison and had only temporarily gained power; he was not from a great family.
To put it another way, he was on a similar level to the Tyrkollu family, so it was fine not to worry too much about him.
Thus, Graden always carried his anger towards the Sahar Caravan in his heart.
And then,
“Would it be alright if our caravan takes the lead in teaching the Sahar Caravan a lesson?”
Hearing such words from Roden, his heart couldn't help but be swayed.
At the same time, he was curious as to what kind of method Roden would propose.
And a short while later.
When Roden had explained the entire method.
Graden could only nod and say the following.
“Good. I will trust you this once. I will give you the evidence that the Sahar Caravan swapped the food.”
That was how flawless the method Roden proposed was.
***
Meanwhile.
While Roden was in the middle of a conversation with Graden.
The Sahar Caravan had gathered in one place, unaware of what was happening.
They weren't just gathered.
They were in the middle of throwing a party, having a grand time.
A scene where men and women, drunk on alcohol, were dancing to upbeat music under dim lighting.
The Caravan Leader of the Sahar Caravan, Tark, watched this scene with a pleased smile.
Then, with one hand, he kneaded the thigh of the woman sitting next to him, and with the other hand, he gave an order to another woman.
“Pour the wine.”
At that, the woman began to pour the wine as Tark commanded.
It was then.
Slosh.
The wine bottle suddenly tilted greatly, and the red wine contained within spilled out.
Tark quickly moved his hand, but he couldn't prevent the floor from getting wet.
The woman who had made the mistake put down the wine bottle and immediately knelt.
“I'm s-sorry! Please spare me!”
But Tark looked down at the woman with cold eyes, and then,
Screech. Slice.
He drew the sword that was placed next to him and beheaded the woman in a single stroke.
“Kyaaak!”
At that, the woman who had been sitting with Tark screamed.
Slice.
And that woman's neck also fell by Tark's sword.
Hiccup.
The people, who had clearly learned what would happen if they screamed recklessly, covered their mouths with both hands and kept silent.
How much time had passed?
Suddenly, someone burst out laughing, puhaha, and approached Tark.
It was Tark's twin brother, Yakub.
Yakub pointed at the bloodstains messily soaking the floor and spoke.
“What's this? The red wine in the bottle fell on the floor and multiplied several times. Brother, what magic did you cast again while I was dancing?”
As Yakub asked jokingly, a smile reappeared on Tark's lips.
“Magic? If I showed off anything, it would be my swordsmanship.”
“Ah, that's right. My brother also has a discerning eye for swordsmanship. By the way, I'm quite confident in my swordsmanship too, so why has the music stopped? And why do you all look like that?”
Yakub's gaze swept over the musicians and the caravan's employees one by one.
At that, they forced a smile and began to play their instruments and dance again.
Yakub nodded his head as if satisfied.
Tark watched this and spoke.
“Trash.”
“Well, what can we do? It's our fault for forming a caravan with stupid slaves. By the way, what about the Bazar family's food? Are you going to sell it again this time with almost no margin?”
At Yakub's question, Tark nodded as if it were obvious.
“I told you. We can't mess around with the Bazar family's food. You too, don't do anything foolish next week and just sell the food quietly. I'm already annoyed because our deal with the Tyrkollu family was cut off.”
“I understand. If that's what you say, brother, then I have to follow.”
Yakub replied, and from between the two corpses, he picked up a wine bottle and filled Tark's wine glass with red wine.
And as the glass was filled, Tark and Yakub clinked their glasses together cheerfully.
***
In fact, it wasn't just Graden who had gathered information about his trading partner after the private meeting.
Roden had also looked into the reason why the Tyrkollu family had cut ties with their previous caravan.
In that process, he learned the name of the Sahar Caravan and was able to grasp the extent of their atrocities.
‘The Sahar Caravan was a very problematic place, even apart from the food swapping issue.’
It was a given that they threw drinking parties every day, picked fights with passersby for no reason, and caused disturbances.
The Sahar Caravan was amassing a huge fortune through usury, and the interest rates were truly shocking.
It was virtually impossible to repay the debt by earning money diligently.
‘The interest rate wasn't high from the beginning. But they played a trick by writing in small print on the contract that the interest rate would increase after a certain period.’
Because of that, there were countless cases of people who borrowed money from the Sahar Caravan, failed to repay the debt, and were demoted to the status of slaves.
And the Sahar Caravan used these people who had become slaves as caravan employees, treating them like livestock.
Livestock that would be slaughtered on the spot if they didn't listen or had outlived their usefulness.
As he dug deeper into the rumors, Roden felt his mind grow dizzy.
At the same time, he was able to plan this affair with a firm resolve.
And meeting Graden and securing conclusive evidence that the Sahar Caravan had swapped food was the beginning of this plan.
‘Now that I've safely secured the evidence, I need to move on to the next step.’
Thus, as soon as he finished his conversation with Graden, Roden left Jengin Castle and headed for Betalin Castle, where the Bazar family was located.
In Roden's case, he had already visited Betalin Castle once to open a food trade.
But he had not been able to meet Deniz Bazar, the lord of Betalin Castle.
Not even the treasurer of the Bazar family would meet with Roden.
He was flatly turned away at the gate of the inner castle where Deniz resided.
It was a moment that made him realize anew just how high the prestige of the Bazar family, which was active with influence in central politics, was.
‘Will I be turned away at the gate again? I wonder how it will be this time.’
As soon as he arrived at Betalin Castle, Roden requested an audience with Deniz and
stayed at an inn for a while.
After a few days had passed, he was thankfully able to be guided into the inner castle.
However, the one who appeared before Roden was not Deniz, but the treasurer.
“You requested an audience with the lord?”
But Roden was not flustered even when he came face to face with the treasurer instead of Deniz.
It was only natural, as he had anticipated such a situation.
Thus, Roden answered the treasurer's question.
“Yes. I have something I must tell the lord, so I have taken the liberty of requesting an audience.”
“I was already aware that you were making a lot of money from the commoners by creating something called the Billem Meatball. And also that you had started food trading with the Tyrkollu and Pahad families. But the lord is not interested in either of those two things. So do not dare to take up the lord's time and take your leave.”
As expected, the Bazar family was not to be taken lightly.
The fact that the treasurer had seen through Roden's movements was proof of that.
Compared to the treasurer of the Tyrkollu family, who was like a parrot, it was a world of difference.
However, that didn't mean Roden was thinking of backing down just like that.
“You certainly know a lot about our caravan. It is an honor.”
“I am merely doing my duty as a treasurer.”
“Then do you also know this? That the Sahar Caravan, which is trading food with the lord, is a very immoral place?”
As soon as Roden threw out his trump card question, the treasurer frowned.
Then he answered.
“Immoral? What on earth is immoral? Isn't it enough for a caravan to make good money.”