Chapter 10: 8

N, N, Ninth!?

-Mr.Graverobber

Ninth Run, Full-on Weak-kneed Diplomacy

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!!??”

The information about the silver mine must have been leaked.

It has been 4 deaths since he discovered the silver deposit in his territory and each time, Klein was brilliantly assassinated.

He tried increasing the number of guards.

Going off somewhere far away to escape.

He even went to bed while wearing armor.

And despite all that, it was still useless.

In the end, all Klein can remember of the assassin was the gentle gaze that he saw peeking through the mask as he was stabbed to death.

“That’s just too much……..those eyes were saying something like ‘I will release you from this world full of suffering’.  What kind of assassin has eyes filled with 100 percent good intentions like that!?”

If the eyes he saw were burning with ambition and greed then he would be able to pump himself up while saying ‘I’m not going to lose to violence!’ but when the assassin did not show any kind of malicious intent toward him, it scared him instead.

“No, but seriously, what can I do about this……even with the silver deposit found, I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere if I got killed for it each time after all.”

To protect himself from this kind of violence, he needs economic power and the silver deposit he discovered will be the source of that.

But now it turns into a question of chicken and egg.

“Gununununun…….isn’t there anything I can do…….”

As he was groaning, his maid, Marie entered the room.

However, she seems to be quite anxious from seeing her lord growling to himself.

“Good morning. Are you alright? Klein-sama.”

“A, Ahh, yeah, good morning. Thanks for the morning call.”

If her memory reset every time he came back to this moment then perhaps it can’t be helped for her to see him as an emotionally unstable man.

Even so, this is still a new start.

When the morning sun shone through the gap in the curtain, Klein’s expression darken.

“Um, did something bad happens?”

“Something bad huh…….hey, Marie. If a bandit appears in front of you while you are holding on to a lot of money, what would you do?”

Marie finds the question difficult to reply to since the question came out of nowhere but since it’s a question from her lord, Marie tries to imagine the scenario.

“If it’s bandits we are talking about then it’s most likely that they will take both the money and myself as a set right? See, I’m cute after all.”

“Right, that’s it! That’s exactly it!”

When her lord responds to her joke so seriously like that, Marie finds it even harder to say anything.

However, from Klein’s perspective, her analogy was perfect.

The Bandit/Assassin whose motive should be the silver mine came for Klein, its owner.

That’s Klein’s current situation.

“In a case like that, how would you protect yourself?”

“Eh?”

“Ah, by the way, the money is for your mother’s medicine and you don’t want to lose it no matter what.”

“Uwah, there are even more things to consider now. Hmm, what would I do huh………”

Her lord sounds serious but——since there’s no way for her to protect herself, she would have no choice left but to negotiate with the attacker.

Thinking so, Marie starts to think about how to negotiate with the bandit.

“I would probably tell the bandit that he can have half the money in exchange for letting me go. I should be able to buy the medicine if I have some money left after all.”

“…..I see.”

In her scenario, it’s highly likely that the bandit would forcefully take both money and Marie to sell her off somewhere though.

“I see, that was helpful. As I thought, you really are a good maid.”

However, such a solution might be able to be applied to Klein’s problem.

———-it might actually go better than he expected.

Eh? Ah, yes. If that’s the case then please raise my sala—.”

“Anyway, what’s for breakfast today?”

“Ahh, come on! It’s just the same as usual!”

To reduce the burden on the cook, unless they were told to prepare something specific beforehand, the breakfast served would be the same for most of the year.

This has been in practice since his predecessor’s generation so naturally, his breakfast will be the same today as well.

After casually pretending not to hear Marie’s request for a raise, Klein skips to the dining room in a good mood.

‘Well, if things go well, I might consider raising Marie’s salary a little though’

————————-

“Klein von Asgard. You are allowed audience!”

“Yes.”

3 weeks later. With several reports in hand, Klein arrived at the royal palace.

It took him a week to locate the silver deposit again.

12 days traveling by carriage to the royal capital.

And 2 days for the palace to allow his audience with the king.

When there was an important meeting, usually the senior vassals would gather at the king’s side but today there are only the King, the Prime Minister, the First Prince, and a few others inside the audience room.

The content of his reports should have been delivered to the King beforehand but a meeting with a viscount like him only amounted to this huh.

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No, getting an audience with only 2 days’ wait should be considered fast already. The King must have given him a priority.

Thinking so, Klein greets the King with perfect etiquette.

“Klein von Asgard, raise your head.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Saying so, Klein raises his head up to look at the king while still kneeling.

A Count or other high-ranking aristocrat with some privilege might be able to stand and talk normally but his current posture is befitting of his status right now.

“It appears that a silver deposit was recently discovered inside the Asgard territory, correct?”

Even though the reports should have been passed to them beforehand, the Prime Minister still asks him that for formality.

“That is correct, My Lord. The details are in these reports.”

After presenting the reports with both hands and waiting for a few seconds, a servant took them and carried them to the King.

Receiving the reports, the King examined them seriously before relaxing his expression.

“I see. I never thought that there would be such a big deposit so closeby.”

The King calmly said that but his voice sounded a little joyful.

He is probably glad that he can solve the silver crisis with this but what caught his eyes was probably the proposal at the end of the reports.

The proposal at the end of the reports Klein submitted——-it truly sounds like a person begging a bandit for her life.

“Half of the profits made will be given to the royal family, huh…….are you sane?”

It’s no wonder why the King asked him that.

Half of the profit from a silver mine is about the same as the total income earned by the Asgard house.

If Klein takes in help from outside his territory and expands the scope of mining, he will be able to generate several times more profits from the mine alone.

With the shortage of silver, its price continues to rise.

Seeing Klein throwing away the chance to make a killing for himself, the King couldn’t wrap his head around his decision.

“This report says that you will be shouldering the miner salary and other mining costs as well. What is the reason behind this proposal of your……..”

To be honest, Klein himself did not want to let go of such a large amount of money either.

However, he knew that if he monopolized the mine, he would definitely be killed.

Klein’s plan still has many stages after this but this is Marie’s [I will give you half the money so please let me go] strategy.

Moreover, since he aims to gain something other than his safety out of this, Klein calmly answers the King.

“Yes, I am sane, Your Majesty.”

“I’d like to say that your loyalty is praiseworthy but…….tell me, what exactly do you want?”

Under the law of the Kingdom, a lord has the right to monopolize the resource they discovered.

In such cases, although tax is levied on the profits made, it is only about 10 percent of the total profit.

The royal family wouldn’t threaten to confiscate it from him and the southeastern side of the Asgard territory is filled with mountains and forest so there are no other noble houses that would dispute his claim either.

Although the terrain was harsh and his house did not make any progress to reclaim the area at all, there have been edicts for generations that the Asgard house can expand its territory as much as they want if they can develop the forest.

No matter how anyone thinks about this, Klein has the legitimate claim to monopolize the mine.

However, Klein came in with the intention to hand almost all of it to the royal family from the beginning.

Since his proposal is so weak-kneed, the King couldn’t understand the reason behind it.

Just what on earth could he be aiming for by doing this?

As though he saw that question coming, Klein explains his reasons.

“Now that a silver mine has been discovered inside my territory, I believe that it will lead to unnecessary conflicts in the future.”

“Certainly, that is likely to happen.”

“Yes, since that is the case, I thought that the best course of action would be to hand it over peacefully from the beginning without being greedy.”

“……in a sense, that would be the wisest choice huh.”

His words seemed to somehow convince the King.

It would be troublesome if his relatives start hounding him to let them share the mine and it is possible that the small houses to his north and east would gang up on him.

They might even start looting his territory without any just cause.

But what if the Asgard house has a protector?

[Even though we are mining the silver for the royal family, you still try to get in our way?]

He will have the strongest deterrent to silent the minor lords.

It would not be as effective against Marquis Laguna or Count Vanaut though.

He does not know which one of them sent the assassin but with the royal family’s protection, it would cause a huge turmoil if Klein was to get assassinated.

At least, they will not be able to touch him as easily as before.

That’s Klein’s thinking.

“But half would still be overkill. Usually, the offer would be 20 percent or 30 percent at most right.”

“Your Majesty.”

“This is curious, isn’t it. ……what? Do you want to be promoted to a count or something?”

The elderly Prime Minister tried to caution the King to just silently accept it since Klein went out of his way to offer such a good deal but the King dismissed him and asked if Klein wanted something in return.

Since the poisoning of his relatives, this is the first good news for the King in a while.

He was actually depressed from all the recent bloodshed.

Moreover, he is truly curious about Klein’s intention.

That’s why King is pressing for Klein’s true intention with a cheerful expression.

In response, Klein is internally rejoicing that the ideal flow for him has finally arrived and was trying his best to maintain his poker face.

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