By the time we arrived in the city, the sounds of the bell of the church that told us it was 10 am was echoing.
Given the preparation, I had to go back to Water Palace in about an hour.
Town of All Kinds of Goods just before the launching ceremony was crowded and flourishing.
You could lend a standing room at a high building and the likes, and sell snacks and drinks that were easy to carry around everywhere on the street for the spectators.
It was a festive mood unique to the capital city that was different from Ignitia.
I looked at Harold’s appearance beside me.
His expression was dark and hard.
If there was nothing wrong, we would have been having fun together in that crowd.
“Boss, please bring us to the guild hall.”
Gilbert gave directions to the coachman.
The coachman skillfully took advantage of back roads and detours to reach the guild hall while avoiding crowds.
The guild hall was close to the image of the Joint Government Building in my previous world.
I guessed the biggest difference was that there were private guilds inside the building.
The interior of the guild hall was refined, with base of white and gold, similar to the interior of Water Palace.
I wondered if the Turm family was also involved.
The walls of the central staircase were lined up with portraits of the personages of Knot Reed.
Among them were portraits of Gilbert and someone with facial features that closely resembled the owner of the wand store were mixed.
Gilbert guided us to a room that looked like a large conference room.
Although it was a conference room, it didn’t feel dull and uninteresting, instead it was decorated to make it felt formal and dignified.
In the center of the room, there was a large and heavy oak table.
On the other side of the table, a special notary was waiting along with piled up documents.
“Bernhard-niisan, I’m counting on you.”
“Gilbert, you……please do things in moderation. I will make an exception this time.”
He seemed to be the seventh older brother of Gilbert.
He had the same pince-nez as the Turm elder, and his remaining hair was red.
Notary public Bernhard held out his hand as if demanding something.
Gilbert hurriedly took out the bundle of documents from his bag and handed it over to him.
Bernhard carefully confirmed that the papers were all present and sighed in relief.
Gilbert was sitting in front of Bernhard while Harold and I were seated on his left and right respectively.
Tirnanog kept standing behind me.
“Everyone, I apologize if our family’s youngest child was being a bother.
So? Gilbert, you have come this far, there must have been some results, right?”
Gilbert told Bernhard about the details of this investigation.
That the destination of the transit was the waste mine in the County of Nibelheim.
About the malicious conditional branch that was secretly incorporated in the transition magic circle.
When he finished talking about everything, Bernhard opened his mouth while writing something on his wax board.
“To tell you the truth, we have already heard of the fact that the transition destination has become the waste mine.
This morning, a contact from the property manager of the County of Nibelhaim had turned up.”
According to Bernhard, it seemed that Earl Nibelheim had let his property manager to conduct a confirmation on-site.
The Earl didn’t want to involve his son with every problem, and seemed to be working hard steadily behind the scene.
“Does that mean we were useless, Nii-san?”
“No, we were uninformed about the branching metastasis.
It seems that the property manager didn’t make detailed observations at the time of the investigation.
If this is true, the correspondence of the Turm Insurance Company side will also change drastically.
There is no question that this blunder happened due to the Earl’s carelessness, but it is likely that 10% of the blunder was due to the merchant Gustav’s non-performance.”
“Really!? Then, that means Tou-san can somehow get through this, right?”
Harold’s voice echoed brightly.
But Bernhard shook his head with a difficult expression.
“That’s not very likely, there are two problems here.
First, the camouflage of the transition magic circle that Gustav made the mage protégé make. This is very inconvenient.”
“Why is that?”
“Because of the problem with our domestic law, we cannot make a ruling on metastatic magic just by private judgment.
It is necessary for this to be audited by Lindis and Hafan.
Turm can finally decide the amount of insurance money after taking into account the information obtained by Lindis and Hafan.”
“N-no way……”
Harold’s voice lost all animation.
Even if we proved that there was no negligence by Earl Nibelheim, this time another problem surfaced.
In this fraud case, there was a feeling that the more we struggle, the worse this situation would become.
“Oi, oi, Nii-san. If that is the case, people won’t trust Turm.”
“Gilbert, say that to Eberhardt-niisan, not me.
Well, our insurance company is not as vicious as manticores.
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I won’t pay the full amount, but I will do a temporary repayment of insurance until the end of the audit.”
“Then, the Earl must keep in mind the reduction of business, huh……that’s tough, Nii-san.”
It was a safe solution, but this was a harsh situation.
Wrinkles gathered between Gilbert’s eyebrows as well.
Bernhard kept on explaining it indiscriminately.
“There is other problem as well. It’s the nuisance fee for the successor of County of Argene.
Depending on the amount of unnecessary fees, even if we consider the insurance for rebuilding and business contraction, there is the danger of becoming cash flow risk.
The Earl Nibelheim’s business will slowly roll down the slope towards bankruptcy.”
This was where I would come in.
I didn’t want to have any further troubles with Earl Nibelheim.
“Well……however, Nii-san. If we can buy some time, isn’t there still a turning point?”
“In this case, he has received loans from various directions.
If the shareholders know that it’s unlikely that their funds will be paid back, many people would desire to annul and return the contract.
Bernhard declared so and I looked around.
Harold and Gilbert who had been silent exchanged looks with me.
I nodded and opened my mouth.
“Regarding the matter of the nuisance fee, please do not worry.
The successor of the County of Argene would like to refuse to accept it.”
“Yes……?”
Bernhard opened his mouth halfway and stared at me.
He looked at Tirnanog who was holding himself back behind me and furrowed his brows.
Bernhard leaned his body towards Gilbert and beckoned him, exchanging words with low voices.
“Oi, Gilbert. By saying so, who is this lady?
I thought that she’s an official from the County of Nibelheim, but when I think about it, her escort is too extravagant.
Is she actually an official related to County of Argene……no, Duchy of Aurelia?”
“Bernhard-niisan, I’m not allowed to speak about it, so please pardon me.”
Although I was the person they were talking about secretly, I could hear them clearly.
Although, hearing Gilbert’s reply, I felt like I would say almost the same thing.
When Bernhard returned to his original posture, he cleared his throat.
“Ehem……then, as a representation of the Notary Guild, I will confirm that with His Excellency Ernst to that effect.
And it will be in the form of judgement in accordance to his daughter.”
Harold looked at me with a crying face.
I nodded back at him with a small smile.
“Yosh, in that case, the withdrawal of loan by the investors won’t happen immediately, Nii-san.”
“Most of the shareholders are merchants based in the West. This is due to Duke Aurelia’s reputation.
They will think that His Excellency paid for the Earl of Nibelheim.”
Life lines were connected somehow.
The business situation would be difficult for a while, but it seemed we were able to prevent catastrophic ruin.
There was a relieved air flowing among us.
But the air also froze in the next words of Bernhard.
“However, there is one exception.
There is only one person who doesn’t consider the reputation of the Aurelia official or the trends of other investors.”
“T-that is……?”
“Margrave of Urs, Harlan Lucanrant.
He will not be swayed by anyone’s speculation, instead he will press the Earl of Nibelheim until he fulfills his contract.
He won’t give the finishing blow until the Earl is barely holding his ground at the critical moment.
Furthermore, the troublesome thing is that he is the biggest investor of the Earl.”
Bernhard shook his head with a grave expression.
Harold, whose few hopes were getting a beating, hung his head with a crushed appearance as if struck.
“Aah—……, so it’s that Harlan—……”
Gilbert looked up to the ceiling and muttered while sighing.
Either way, without making the cash flow and rebuilding the industries of the territory, we couldn’t avoid the destruction.
If Harlan pressed there, there would be no telling what the other investors would do.
“……I’m that I cannot help you more, Gilbert, Harold-botchan.”
“No, this is enough, Bernhard-niisan. Thank you.”
Bernhard settled the papers and stood up.
His time as Gilbert’s brother was over, he needed to return back to become the notary public.
Sooner or later I had to meet up with Palug for the preparation of the launching ceremony.
As we left the conference room, Harold staggered and collapsed onto his knees.
Tirnanog quickly supported his body.
“Why, this kind of thing……”
Harold’s muttered voice was getting hoarse and soon disappeared.