Chapter 564
Yvar’s throat worked once before any words came out.
“What do you mean,” he asked carefully, “by your latest actions?”
Ludger didn’t answer immediately. He stared at the letter for a moment, as if weighing how much explanation was worth spending.
Then he folded the page once and looked up.
“The path,” Ludger said.
Yvar blinked. “What path?”
Ludger’s voice stayed even, almost bored. “The one I created for the runic carriages.”
Yvar frowned. “That, why would the capital care about a smoother road?”
Ludger’s eyes narrowed slightly, like Yvar was missing something obvious.
“Because it changes feasibility,” Ludger said.
He leaned back against the desk, hands relaxed, and explained it the way he explained combat tactics, clean and mechanical.
“The path removes bumps,” Ludger said. “Less vibration. Less resistance. Less wasted motion. That means higher average speed and fewer delays.”
Yvar nodded slowly, still not seeing the danger.
“It also saves energy,” Ludger continued. “The runic carriage doesn’t have to spend mana fighting bad terrain. Mana cores drain slower.”
Yvar’s eyes widened a fraction as the implication finally started forming.
Ludger kept going.
“Before,” he said, “runic carriages weren’t feasible for most people. Not long-distance. Not regularly. Only those with a lot of money and access to a lot of mana cores could keep them running.”
He tapped the letter lightly with one finger.
“But with the path I made,” Ludger said, “it becomes feasible.”
Yvar went quiet, mind catching up. If a frontier guildmaster could create stabilized routes that made runic transport cheaper… Then it wasn’t just a local convenience. It was a logistical shift. A military shift. A trade shift. A control shift.
And the capital, especially a Regent trying to consolidate power, would absolutely care.
Yvar exhaled slowly, eyes fixed on Ludger now like he was seeing a weapon he hadn’t recognized as a weapon.
“…So they’re calling you because you made expensive transport cheaper,” Yvar said.
Ludger nodded once.
“More accessible,” he corrected. “Cheaper is a side effect.”
Yvar swallowed again, quieter this time. “That’s going to draw attention.”
Ludger’s expression stayed calm.
“It already did,” he said, and glanced at the imperial seal like it was proof.
Yvar went very still for a moment, then exhaled like he’d just solved a puzzle he didn’t want the answer to.
“The Regent probably wants your cooperation,” he said slowly, eyes fixed on Ludger now with something close to alarm. “To build those stone rails… everywhere.”
Ludger didn’t react, but his gaze sharpened slightly, listening.
Yvar continued, words picking up speed as the implications lined up in his head.
“It wouldn’t be completely feasible to use it for carrying everything across the country,” Yvar said. “Not yet. The cost. The maintenance. The labor. The sheer distance.”
He gestured vaguely, as if drawing a map in the air.
“But for important cargo?” Yvar’s voice tightened. “For high-value shipments, emergency deliveries, and, especially, resources for war…”
He swallowed.
“It would be game changing,” Yvar finished. “Faster movement. Less mana core consumption. More reliable logistics. Armies supplied on time. Materials repositioned without bleeding money and time.”
Yvar looked at the imperial seal as if it had grown teeth.
“And if the Regent can tie that kind of infrastructure to the capital,” he added quietly, “he doesn’t just gain speed.”
He glanced back at Ludger.
“He gains control.”
Yvar stared at the letter for another heartbeat, then looked up at Ludger like he was trying to read the future off his face.
“So what are you going to do?” Yvar asked.
Ludger didn’t hesitate.
“I have better things to do,” he said. “I’ll send my father.”
Yvar’s mouth actually fell open. For a second, he looked genuinely stunned, like his brain had tried to reject the sentence as impossible.
“You’ll… send Arslan?” Yvar managed.
His eyes narrowed in disbelief. “I can’t tell if you’re making light of the Regent, your father… or both.”
Ludger shrugged, calm as stone. “Neither. I’m being practical.”
Yvar stared harder. “Practical?”
Ludger held up the letter slightly.
“The letter asks for the Guildmaster of the Lionsguard,” he said. “Most people look at me and assume that’s me.”
Yvar’s expression twitched. “Because it is you.”
“It’s not,” Ludger said flatly.
He didn’t sound defensive. Just certain.
“My father is the Guildmaster,” Ludger continued. “I’m the one who does too much work and gets blamed for it, the vice guildmaster.”
Yvar blinked, still processing.
Ludger’s eyes stayed steady.
“So I’ll send Dad,” Ludger repeated. “He’ll go, he’ll listen, he’ll speak carefully, and he’ll buy us time.”
Yvar swallowed. “And if they ask why you didn’t come.”
Ludger’s voice didn’t change.
“Then he’ll learn to make his research right the next time,” Ludger said.
He folded the letter once and set it on the desk.
“They want cooperation,” Ludger added. “They don’t need me to get it started. They need a hook.”
Yvar slowly closed his mouth, still looking like he’d just watched Ludger juggle blades.
“…Buying time,” he repeated.
Ludger nodded once. “Exactly.”
Yvar exhaled, equal parts impressed and terrified.
“That is…” he began.
“Annoying,” Ludger finished for him. “Yes.”
Yvar’s eyes narrowed. “You realize this could offend them.”
Ludger’s mouth twitched faintly. “Only if they admit they can’t tell which one is which.”
Yvar stared at him.
Then he muttered, defeated, “You’re going to get us all killed someday.”
Ludger shrugged again, already moving to the next task.
“Not today,” he said. “Today we buy time.”
Yvar stared at Ludger like he’d just been handed a loaded weapon and watched Ludger toss it to someone else out of laziness.
“Why shouldn’t you go?” Yvar asked.
Ludger’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Because I am needed here and there is too much to be done.”
“That’s not an answer,” Yvar shot back. He tapped the letter with two fingers like it offended him. “Aside from you and Gaius, no one else can actually produce those stone rails at scale without you personally babysitting it. Arslan can talk. He can buy time. But he can’t build the thing they’re calling for.”
He leaned forward, voice tight, the archivist mask cracked open enough to show the strategist underneath.
“If you go,” Yvar said, “You can use this as leverage.”
Ludger didn’t interrupt. He watched.
Yvar continued, faster now, because once he started thinking in ledgers he didn’t stop.
“You can make deals with the Empire,” he said. “Formal contracts. Clear terms. Limits. Compensation. Protection for Lionfang and Lionsguard.”
He jutted his chin toward the seal.
“And with the maintenance alone, we could make a fortune every month.”
Ludger’s expression stayed flat. “Maintenance.”
“Yes,” Yvar said sharply. “Because your road-rails aren’t iron. They’re hardened earth and stone. They need inspection and repair. Cracks. Settling. You know this.”
He spread his hands, as if laying out an entire network across a map.
“If the Regent wants rails across the Empire, he doesn’t just need a builder,” Yvar said. “He needs a service chain. Scheduled repairs. Standards. Teams. Replacement materials. Someone to take responsibility when a section fails and a supply wagon flips into a ditch.”
His eyes sharpened. “That someone can be us. And we charge for it.”
Ludger exhaled quietly, still listening. Yvar’s voice dropped into pure ledger mode.
“Do you know how much we’re paying in taxes right now through guild work?” he asked.
Ludger didn’t answer.
Yvar answered for him anyway.
“House Torvares takes its share, properly, legally, and with a smile,” Yvar said. “Then we pay local levies for market expansion. Then tariffs when goods cross borders. Road tolls for shipments through other territories.”
He pointed toward the window as if he could see the routes in the air.
“And now,” Yvar continued, “we’ve added new revenue lines, spider silk products, overdrive bracers, rune-refit sales. Which means more eyes, more paperwork, more fees.”
He opened his hands again, palms up. “We bleed coins to keep moving. We do it because we have to. But if the Empire wants our rails…”
His eyes narrowed.
“…then we stop paying like beggars. We negotiate. Tax relief. Trade exemptions for Lionfang shipments. Protected routes. Recognition. Contracts that bind the capital to our success instead of treating us like a convenient tool.”
He paused, letting the weight of it settle.
“In short,” Yvar said, “we turn this letter into profit and protection.”
Ludger watched him for a long moment. Yvar looked back without blinking, the tension in him clear.
“So,” Yvar finished, voice low, “tell me again why you shouldn’t go.”
Ludger listened to Yvar’s entire pitch without interrupting. When Yvar finally stopped, Ludger didn’t argue about the math. He argued about the trap hidden inside the math.
“I’m not becoming the Empire’s stone mason,” Ludger said.
Yvar’s jaw tightened. “That’s not what I said.”
“It’s what it becomes,” Ludger replied flatly. “The moment the capital learns we can lay rails faster than anyone else, we stop being a guild and start being an imperial construction arm with nicer branding.”
He tapped the sealed letter once with a knuckle.
“And it’s stupid,” Ludger continued, “to show someone exactly how much they can gain from you.”
Yvar frowned. “Explain.”
Ludger’s eyes sharpened, calm but cold.
“If you walk into the capital and tell them: ‘We can build rails across the Empire and we can maintain them for a fortune every month,’ you’ve already lost half the negotiation,” Ludger said. “Because now they know the size of the prize.”
He leaned forward slightly.
“They will do what powerful people always do when they see a prize,” Ludger continued. “They will try to take it. If not by contract, then by pressure. If not by pressure, then by ‘regulation.’ If not by regulation, then by replacing you with someone they control.”
Yvar’s lips pressed into a thin line.
Ludger kept going.
“The more you reveal your maximum value,” he said, “the less room you have to refuse later. They stop asking politely. They start treating your skill like a resource the Empire owns.”
He looked Yvar dead in the eye.
“And if you show them the maintenance profits,” Ludger added, “they won’t pay you that. They’ll build their own maintenance corps and tell you to hand over your methods ‘for the good of the realm.’”
Yvar exhaled sharply, frustrated. “So what, do nothing?”
“No,” Ludger said. “We buy time.”
He straightened and pointed toward the door.
“I’ll talk to my father,” Ludger said. “He goes to the capital. He listens. He nods. He gives them enough to keep them calm without giving away the real leverage.”
Yvar’s eyes narrowed. “And you?”
Ludger’s expression stayed flat, but the intent behind it was sharp.
“While he buys time,” Ludger said, “I prepare the next step.”
Yvar frowned. “What a step.”
Ludger’s gaze drifted briefly to the imperial seal again, and the annoyance finally showed, just a sliver, in the tightening of his eyes.
“I make the Regent realize,” Ludger said, voice calm and dangerous, “that he can’t just send letters and force people to cross half the country because he thinks they don’t have better things to do.”
He looked back at Yvar.
“We’re not a tool you summon,” Ludger said. “We’re an ally you negotiate with.”
Yvar stared at him, then slowly swallowed, understanding forming whether he liked it or not.
“And the way you teach someone like that,” Ludger finished, “is by making them need you on your terms.”
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