Chapter 81 - 77: One Envoy, Two Messages
Chapter 81: Chapter 77: One Envoy, Two Messages
Velin remained noncommittal about this "compensation" that came with a sting.
"Lord Baron," Jim said with a perfectly measured smile as he presented a document stamped with the Stone-Whisker crest. "My liege is currently in your custody. Might I be permitted to see him?"
Velin didn’t speak, simply jerking his chin toward a guard.
"Take him."
Beside the vine fence of the temporary prison camp, Jim saw his liege. The foul stench of sweat and decay made Jim’s brow furrow, but Ola simply sat on the ground with his back against a wooden post, seemingly oblivious to it all.
"My Lord, you’ve suffered," Jim began, putting on a convincing show of distress. But then, an irrepressible excitement crept into his voice. "But please, rest assured. I have already dealt with the ’trouble’ back in our lands for you."
He leaned closer, his lowered voice brimming with triumph.
"Those serfs—more than eleven hundred mouths that do nothing but eat—have become Shiyan Town’s reparations to Baron Velin. Heh! Think of how much grain the domain will save every year! When you return, your burden will be so much lighter!"
But not a single ripple stirred in Ola’s hollow eyes.
No joy, no anger.
Jim’s smile slowly faded. He took an unconscious step back.
’The lives and deaths of the serfs? The domain’s expenses?’
At that moment, Ola cared nothing for such things. His mind was filled only with the day of his defeat: the dark green vines that had erupted frantically from the earth, and the perfectly coordinated insectoid legion under Velin’s silent command.
...
「Tarry Port, in the top-floor office of the Golden Sail Commerce Association.」
Dragon Eagle Knight Rudolph had been standing for nearly ten minutes. He wore an impeccable aristocratic expression, his voice a strange, stilted monotone—the sound of a man fighting back immense disgust while being forced to maintain decorum. Word by word, he recited Sea Wolf’s unbearably crude message.
"...Lord Velin is doing just fine. The fish has been hooked—it’s big and fat. Tell her to put her mind at ease, and to stop—fucking—worrying—over—nothing!"
As the last few words tumbled from the Count’s lips, one after another, it was as if all the air had been sucked from the room. A dead silence fell.
The attendants beside Caroline held their breath, terrified the Vice-President’s fury would set the entire room ablaze at any moment.
But... the expected storm never broke.
In the frozen atmosphere, Caroline’s emerald eyes narrowed slightly. Then, a trace of a smile tugged uncontrollably at the corners of her lips.
An image instantly flashed through her mind: Velin, wearing his usual deadpan face, standing next to the boorish Sea Wolf, who was likely slinging insults with spittle flying.
She could just imagine how... amusing it must have been for Sea Wolf, upon seeing Velin safe and sound, to deliberately use such vulgar language to provoke the Dragon Eagle Knight standing before him.
It was a tacit understanding, an inside joke that no outsider could possibly comprehend.
However, that fleeting smile froze the moment her gaze fell upon the sun-shaped crest on Rudolph’s chest.
’Diana? That countess??’
Caroline’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
That brief moment of pleasure born from their shared understanding vanished like smoke.
In its place was the alarm of having her territory brazenly invaded.
’Diana?’
’That countess who was making waves with her political schemes in the southwest of the Duchy.’
’What is she doing, writing to Velin?’
’By what right? How dare she?’
Caroline felt like a miner who, after years of hard labor, had finally unearthed a diamond in the rough. She was just starting to figure out how to cut and polish it to a brilliance that would blind all onlookers.
Then she turns her head, only to find some tactless fool sidling up, thinking they can help appraise her find.
’As if I need your help?!’
Right now, the only thing on Caroline’s mind was how to drive off this intruder and chop off the hand reaching for her most unique "investment."
"You may leave, Sir Knight."
Caroline’s voice had returned to its usual iciness. She gave a dismissive wave, not even deigning to look at Rudolph again.
The Dragon Eagle Knight offered a salute, turned, and departed, leaving only Caroline and her attendants in the room.
Caroline sank back into her ornate, high-backed chair, her fingers tapping rhythmically on the tabletop.
An attendant bowed, retrieved a parchment list from within his robes, and presented it to her with the utmost care.
"Your Excellency, this is the first requisition list from the Origin Association."
Caroline took the list, her eyes scanning the contents.
[Five thousand pounds of dung from Level 3 or higher Magical Beasts. (Must be hermetically sealed.)]
[One apprentice with latent magical talent. Requirements: Must be hardworking and have a high tolerance for foul odors.]
[...]
The contents of the list were as bizarre as ever, but Caroline felt her anger slowly begin to extinguish.
She slapped the list onto the table, leaned back against her chair, and gracefully crossed her long, slender legs. Her skirt slid down, revealing a sliver of soft, pale skin.
’Now *this* was more like it.’
’This was the real Velin.’
’His head should be filled with all this bizarre nonsense, not playing some saccharine "pen pal" game with that countess!’
’And these things, only she—the Golden Sail Commerce Association—could get for him!’
’Only she, Caroline Channing, could deliver it all without batting an eye, and tack on a casual, "Just ask if you need more."’
’Diana?’
’An impoverished countess who just barely managed to quell her own internal strife.’
’Besides a few worthless words of encouragement and some outdated intelligence, what else could she possibly offer him?’
’Pathetic.’
Caroline rose to her feet. She walked barefoot across the cool floor to the massive, floor-to-ceiling window.
Like a queen surveying her domain, she gazed down upon the bustling prosperity of all of Tarry Port.
But an inexplicable sense of unease crept over her once more.
’This won’t do.’
’I cannot give that woman a single opportunity.’
She rang a small bell.
"Your Excellency."
"Inform the captain. The *Sea Siren’s Song* is to prepare to set sail."
"I’m going to see with my own eyes. I’ve fed my investment so many fine things; I want to see exactly what it’s grown into now."
"And I’ll also make him understand, unequivocally, which investor’s coattails he ought to be clinging to."
’He can have a partner. But there can be, and will be, only one.’
Her gaze fixed on the west—the direction of Newly Town.
「Meanwhile, at the Lord’s Mansion in Newly Town, before Velin’s desk.」
The Lord’s Mansion.
Candlelight flickered.
In his hand, he held the letter sealed with the crest of a rising sun.
He spread the letter open, his expression unchanging.
He scanned it in the candlelight, word by word.
[Regarding the matter of the Primal Blood Essence Powder, you needn’t worry. Its value has far exceeded my expectations.]
Velin’s fingers tapped unconsciously on the desktop. Diana was smarter, and more decisive, than he had imagined.
The letter also mentioned his "shepherd dog" story.
[Your story was very useful. Now, those ’shepherd dogs’ are loyally guarding my borders, all for a bit of honor I casually promised. My domain is much more stable.]
Velin was not at all surprised. To those struggling in the games of power, such a method of leveraging others’ strength was akin to a stroke of divine genius.
He continued reading down the page. When his gaze fell upon the letter’s final paragraph, his pupils contracted sharply.