Vol 3 Chapter 13 (2/2)

After the Earl read through the letter, he fell silent

(Tch! Which bastard dared to do this kind of wanton thing?!)

The Earl tried to control his enraged heart and to analyze Ryouma's intentions

(damn it Who dared to tell hi of Christoph's little bitch? I'irl, it wouldn’t be weird for her to have sniffed this matter out)

Currently, inside Epiroz and its surrounding territory, there were very few people who could openly oppose the Earl

Ast them, the Christoph firm, who lost their position as the leader of the business alliance, was the Earl’s erous enemy

Thanks to the Earl backing the Mistel Fired

However, the Christoph Firm, who had served as the trade alliance leader forhistory behind them

(I've let Mistel be the leader of the trade alliance for three years now If we can hold the position for another two or three years, we can couess that hy, huh )

‘The Christoph firainst the Earl’s pressure, had finally made their counter-attack’ That was the most likely story

(But why did she leak this information to him?)

For Si the salt vein at the Wortenia peninsula and wanting to make money out of it was fine and all

After all, she was a woed a business firm, but the problem was how she did it

(Why did she tell him about the vein? Why not move by herself?)

The ansas in relation to the Earl’s misappropriation of the vein To effectively use this information, it would have been more productive if she had used Ryouma to report this matter to the Royal officers

After all, it was the truth that the Earl had been e the Royal family’s resources With that, his family would have been executed

(That is why she told Ryou in telling him Well fine Let's calm down for now It won't hurt to hear what he has to say for a bit This is my territory after all)

Earl Salzberg’s gaze turned even sharper and colder He was ready to bare his fangs against Ryous against his own father n: pow!=”” enter=”” the=”” flashback=””>

Earl Salzberg’s household, whose territory bordered with the Zalda Kingdoe of bankruptcy due to repeated increases in the et

They had had to increase the number of troops; followed by a necessary increase in weapons procurement; not to o on and on

In spite of that, the Royal family had never helped them They left the territory to be operated at the discretion of the ruling Earls

In other words, they wouldn’t intervene hat the Earl was doing, but the Croouldn’t give them any money either

However, without reinforcing the army, they wouldn’t had been able to defend the territory

They had saved and scrimped on as much as they could, but the Earl's household still could not shake the ghost of bankruptcy that had been haunting them and had been left in a poor state They could only maintain the bare minimum appearance of a noble family

Nevertheless, the Salzberg household had never co their suffering out of sheer loyalty towards the kingdom’s Royal family

The then heir and current head of the Salzberg fa, however, was of a different nature He would do anything to satisfy his desires He would see this country burn if he could be king of the ashes

It all started when a rock salt vein was found within Wortenia five years ago

A territory that then had belonged to the Royal faed to the Baron Mikoshi+ba Ryouma

On the mountain a day’s march north of Epiroz, a certain salt vein was discovered

It was an accidental find

The Wortenia peninsula had no inhabitants That hy the peninsula was filled witharound the territory unhindered

Other than runaway crio to that territory willingly would usually hold a certain profession

And those folks were either adventurers or mercenaries

People who ood battlefield that allowed theood battle experience, and also a place for them to earn some income

In any case, only powerful s from those monsters fetched substantial amounts of money

Although they needed to put their lives on the line to get them, they considered the rewards to be orth the risks

And one such group of adventurers was the one who chanced upon the salt vein However, even if they had found it, they couldn’t directly profit from it

Although salt was an essential ite that was profitable unless one were to sell it in large quantities

They talked about their finding at the guild when they returned to sell the goods they got from the peninsula

And that was how it eventually reached Tho's ears

For the Salzberg estate, which faced dire financial proble, if properly handled, would have been nothing short of a blessing

At that tied his father desperately and had asked him to use this opportunity to rebuild the household’s economy

After all, from his perspective, they had practically found a buried treasure in their backyard! To quietly let such a treasure that was practically in their grasp to go to waste or end up in so he could simply not abide

If it had been located deep within the peninsula, even Thomas would have hesitated, but this salt vein was located only a day’s march from Epiroz

Although it was dangerous with monsters around, such a distance still could be considered as close And the encounter rate with h

However, Thonored, his father even looked at him with contempt

It was obvious that his father was angry

His fa tiain their loyalty to the Royal family

Even though it was right in front of theed to the Crown His son’s idea of bolstering their ever decreasing treasury using the rock salt vein was the sa the Royal family’s property

With his pride and loyalty on the line, the previous Earl outright rejected his corrupt son’s plan He considered it a breach of the fealty owed to the Crown as a guardian of the public peace and order

However, in the case of Thomas, who had been looked down by their peers because of their lack of e, his heart bore no loyalty for the Royal family, but resented it instead

Not only was the territory far from the royal capital, as more, the royal family had never helped theles In his eyes, for the Royal falect them

Of course, reinforcements would come if the Zaldians decided to launch a full-scale invasion, but for s and the surrounding nobles

For Thomas’ father, that was the proof that the Royal family trusted his household FFor Tho like that without expecting expecting anything inthing in return wasn’t just not worth it, and bordered on , but it bordered on sheer stupidity

Tho obscure such as trust Specifically, he preferred money, resources, and power

The discussion between Thomas and his father then took a turn for the worse There was no longer any room left for compromise between them

Practicality and pride There were cases where such ideas could work together, but this time, only one could be chosen

It is said that it is our choices that shoe truly are, far reedy Thomas, he opted to cross path with his father

The reason? He couldn’t find any way other than to do that to fulfill his desires

(No et in my way)

The Earl kept repeating to himself his life motto

He wouldn’t sit idly and let his life end then and there

After all, he had ly killed his own father

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