Chapter 20 : Chapter 20
Chapter 20. Marriage Alliance (2)
“How does it look? Certainly silver hair looks better than blonde, right? Doesn’t a mysterious atmosphere hover?”
‘Damn brat.’
Iselin, who detoxified the poison with the Moonlit Grass, got up from her bed quickly as if asking when she almost died.
Thanks to Iselin roaming around the mansion diligently, the family’s attending physician following her was about to lie down sick instead.
Since the place she finally stopped by no matter where she went and what she did was Blanc’s room.
“Listen well. Brat. If you want to enter my room, you must follow the rules.”
“No.”
“First, before entering my room, you must knock.”
“No.”
“If there are no words to come in, go back.”
“No.”
“And when I am sitting cross-legged, don’t even talk to me. Understood?”
“No~o!”
Iselin looking at Blanc with her chin resting on her hands sitting at the desk, fully harboring a mischievous expression.
Although anger soared watching such Iselin, Blanc was in a situation where he couldn’t treat Iselin carelessly.
Because she was a patient wandering the verge of death just a week ago, and after that incident, Bartomyu became very lenient regarding Iselin.
According to servants who worked for a long time at the Tolome mansion, even Nedrian, Blanc’s mother, was not adored to that extent.
Since she was receiving the love and interest of Bartomyu, the head of the family, abundantly, it was clear bad results would follow if he treated her carelessly.
“……Anyway, I wish you would leave for now.”
Rather, Blanc’s recovery was slower than Iselin who was poisoned.
Since his hands, which he overworked to pierce the centipede’s crown, hadn’t recovered yet, training moving the body with Edwin was temporarily suspended.
Instead, Blanc was meditating to deepen his realization of the White Thunderbolt during that time, but even that wasn’t easy.
“How can you treat me, your lifesaver, like this? I might not even be able to get married because of you?”
Because of Iselin quacking and moving her beak incessantly in front.
Iselin, who woke up, always carried the same words in her mouth, and the content was as follows.
-Because I drank the poison instead of Blanc, Blanc could live. So Blanc practically owes his life to me.
It was a ridiculous claim.
Since it was the poison of the yellow-striped mushroom causing only intense pain to men in the first place, it was clear it would have been much better for Blanc to drink it.
However, Iselin was a ten-year-old young girl, almost died a week ago, and above all, was receiving Bartomyu’s love abundantly, so no one bothered to refute that ridiculous claim.
So Blanc was taking all the blame for it.
“I say it again, the yellow-striped mushroom is…….”
“What does that matter? What is important is not the truth! It is important that I did so for you. Why don’t men try to grasp the true intention in words?”
‘Should I hit her?’
Of course, Blanc also had a burden in his heart for failing to protect Iselin, so he was willing to accept her playful grumbling to some extent.
However, there was a part Blanc couldn’t easily overlook either.
“Why can’t you get married?”
“I can’t because of you! Who would try to take me when my body became weak and my hair became white wandering the verge of death drinking poison!”
If what Iselin said wasn’t wrong, it would have been sufficiently persuasive.
Certainly, giving birth to offspring to continue the next generation was one of the biggest duties noble women had.
If her body was truly ruined by drinking poison as Iselin said, it would be difficult to find a suitable marriage partner.
Even if she found one, it would only be a noble in a low position not matching the class or the position of a second wife, not the legal wife.
But the problem was Iselin was healthy.
Blanc was dumbfounded at Iselin’s claim emphasizing only words advantageous to her by cleverly hiding lies and distorting the truth.
“Earlier you said silver hair? Why is it white hair now?”
“That is not what is important! Why can’t men grasp the true intention in words?”
“Okay, fine. I don’t know. What is the true intention contained in your words?”
As soon as she heard Blanc’s words, Iselin screamed loudly.
“What do you think! Since I can’t get married because of you, you must take responsibility for me!”
“Don’t talk bullshit.”
Iselin screamed and cried at Blanc’s stern voice, but Blanc was used to that much now.
Blanc, who grabbed the back of the neck of the precious noble child Iselin and threw her out of the corridor without hesitation, closed his ears and resumed training for the White Thunderbolt.
“Waaaaah…… Blanc you bad guy. I can’t get married because of you…….”
As much as Iselin was favored by Bartomyu, Blanc was also receiving interest from him.
Perhaps Blanc would be the only person who could throw Iselin within the Tolome family mansion.
Although Iselin cried sorrowfully pounding on the door outside, Blanc, focusing his mind, was already falling into the world of nothingness.
Edwin was right. Iselin’s disturbance was helpful for improving Blanc’s concentration.
***
“Right. You want to go to the Iron Bank?”
“That is correct. Lord Weird. I heard nobles of the continent register at least one account at the Iron Bank.”
“That is true, but…….”
Weird Tolome stroking his chin as if troubled.
Weird, who felt many things after his daughter almost died.
Weird used to find meaning in his life in work until now. Perhaps he overcame the sadness of losing his wife by focusing on work.
However, after experiencing this incident, he was allocating a lot of time to have time with Iselin.
Therefore, Blanc could seek advice from him who stopped by the mansion briefly to see his daughter.
“First, to create an account at the Iron Bank for the first time, you must go to the main branch. You know where the main branch is, right?”
“Yes. I understand it is in the Neyanpalgar Mountain Range, one of the holy places of dwarves.”
Since it was a place gathering and piling up the wealth and goods of the whole world, the place where the main branch of the Iron Bank was located had to be safe from external threats.
In that sense, the Neyanpalgar Mountain Range was the optimal place for the Iron Bank to move in.
The Neyanpalgar Mountain Range where huge mountains gathered was mountains made of rocks without a blade of grass growing when seen from the outside, but it was a completely different place if one went inside.
If one ‘went inside’.
Dwarves who made a huge mountain range into a rag to find ores and veins for over five hundred years.
Although it would be an ordinary mountain outwardly, if one went inside, it was practically a huge maze tangled like an anthill due to the mines dwarves made.
According to rumors, it was complicated enough that one couldn't escape until death without a dwarf guiding.
Topography located in a rugged place and complicated maze inside. There was no better place to protect something.
“And even if you go to the main branch, they don’t just create an account blindly. First, about 500 gold is needed as a deposit.”
‘500 gold!’
500 gold was an amount exceeding the one-year tax revenue of ordinary local nobles. Nobles living in poverty managed their families with about 100 gold.
Just the cost to open a transaction was 500 gold, an amount ordinary nobles couldn't even dream of.
“On top of that, a guarantor is also needed. The Iron Bank announces 100 families or organizations they trust in a cycle of 10 years, and only those belonging here can stand guarantee. No matter how successful nobles or merchants are, if they are not included in this list, they cannot stand guarantee.”
100 groups capable of standing guarantee at the Iron Bank, which can be called the pinnacle of wealth.
The Iron Bank grasps all groups existing in this world transcending race and borders, selects 100 groups, and announces them.
It wasn't necessarily only noble families included.
Groups possessing power such as military power, financial power, authority, etc., like the Goddess Order, a religious group, the mercenary corps called Sons of Asinawar, Tenacio Merchant Guild, could all enter the 100 groups the Iron Bank announces.
Therefore, the Iron Bank’s list of 100 groups announced in a cycle of ten years was a matter of paramount interest for all families and groups existing on the continent.
Because although they expressed it as ‘100 groups the Iron Bank trusts’, in fact, it was a list practically no different from ‘ranking table up to 100th in the whole world selected by the Iron Bank’.
“But our Tolome family couldn’t enter those 100 families……. If it’s 500 gold, I could handle the currency somehow, but for the guarantor, I think I have to ask Father.”
Although not in the list announced 8 years ago, according to what Weird found out following Bartomyu’s instruction, the Tolome family didn’t make it into the top 100, but was within the top 150.
Although Tolome could be called the highest-ranking family of the Felix Kingdom, they were Meritorious Nobles of the Kingdom unable to possess territory.
Since they were trees without a place to root, the Iron Bank didn't give high evaluation to the Meritorious Nobles of the Felix Kingdom.
Since this evaluation wasn’t limited only to the Iron Bank, all Meritorious Nobles lived hiding an inferiority complex deep in their hearts about not having territory.
Perhaps regarding reclaiming Norington, Bartomyu might want it more than Blanc.
Since Bartomyu intended to make Tolome’s territory putting Cadmus in front.
“No. Lord Weird. Thank you just for the words. Since it is Cadmus' business, I must solve it with my own hands. Thank you for giving advice.”
Weird’s gaze naturally went to Blanc’s hands hearing he would solve it with his own hands.
Blanc’s hands still wrapped in bandages. Blanc who saved his daughter by bringing the Moonlit Grass fighting until those hands became bloodied.
“Sorry I couldn’t help. I will also find out with my best effort.”
Since Weird operated the merchant group practically the heart of the Kingdom Meritorious Noble Tolome family, if he did his best as he said, he would be able to create at least one account at the Iron Bank somehow using connections.
However, Blanc was in a situation where he wasn't sure if he should use Weird’s influence to create an account.
‘Weird’s help might be needed more later.’
Although not as much as Bartomyu, Weird was also a figure counted on one hand in the Felix Kingdom regarding money and influence.
Moreover, since Blanc was Weird’s nephew and the person who saved his only daughter, he would be able to receive Weird’s help greatly at least once later.
‘Anyway, it’s not an account I have to make urgently. An opportunity will come.’
Fourteen-year-old Blanc who hadn’t even had his coming-of-age ceremony. It was time to crouch and build strength within the Tolome family yet.
“By the way, there is such a rumor circulating…….”
“What rumor is circulating?”
Blanc didn’t have a route to collect information except for Billy yet.
“It is a rumor related to your marriage.”
“My marriage?”
Blanc hadn’t even had his coming-of-age ceremony yet.
According to the law of the Felix Kingdom, one who hasn't become an adult cannot marry.
However, if it’s arrangement for marriage, not the wedding ceremony, fourteen was rather a late age.
Since marriage between nobles was something achieved through dialogue and agreement between families.
Marriage between nobles was more an alliance between families rather than a union between individuals.
Therefore, agreement between the highest decision-makers of a family was the most important in marriage, and the decision authority regarding Blanc’s marriage was currently held by Bartomyu.
“Then…… Do you happen to know with which family the talk is being shared?”
For Blanc, marriage was a very precious opportunity he could use only a few times in his life.
Moreover, since this marriage was to obtain a legal wife, not a concubine or a second wife, it could be called practically a one-time opportunity.
“The closest family is the Neudorf Count family. You would know well too. Since it is a famous household.”
“Lord Berger’s? Are you talking about the Neudorf Count family?”
“That is so.”
There was only 1 woman matching Blanc’s age range roughly in the Neudorf Count family.
Blanc clenching both hands tightly and lowering his head as soon as he heard Weird’s words.
Seeing that appearance, Weird thought Blanc was suppressing his emotions not to show his happy heart, but that wasn’t it.
‘Of all people…….’
Blanc was feeling genuinely dismayed.
Because Blanc also knew well about that woman.
Ciella Neudorf.
The woman said to have worn only black mourning clothes all her life was called ‘Red Widow Spider’ in the past life.
A widow spider who devoured a whopping 8 husbands.
She was a cursed woman.