The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (21)

The guards who watched the sight unconsciously held their breath.

It was inevitable.

Where else in their lives would they see this much money?

The only one who did not flinch was Vittorio.

“Money does not prove your identity.”

He’s quite a rigid sort.

I knew money wouldn’t sway him.

But the money was only bait.

The card to deal with Vittorio was in my hand.

I fluttered a rolled-up parchment.

“Who said I was showing you the money to make you come down? As I said, this is an IOU. It’s the payment contract between Limone and Denabi. Of course it bears the stamp and signature of the Lord of Limone. So come down quickly, check it, and let us pass.”

I smiled wryly and said one last thing.

“You wouldn’t make a fuss about comparing it to official documents because you can’t even recognize your own seals, would you?”

Only then did Vittorio send one of his subordinates down to us.

I handed the IOU to the subordinate.

Soon Ronari approached.

She looked at me with a strange expression.

“Young master, could you do something like that?”

“Like what?”

“I thought you just pulled that off, young master.”

“That?”

“A Lower Quarter thug who goes around collecting stall fees.”

“…“

An unexpected compliment.

When I glared at Ronari, she made excuses.

“It’s a compliment. Being able to be many things is impressive.”

“How very kind of you!”

“Ahaha… But did you really have to do it like that? Looking arrogant might not be the best.”

“No. Going out submissively will never be good.”

I stated emphatically.

Ronari tilted her head.

“Why? It’s important for us to gain Limone’s trust, isn’t it?”

It was a fair point.

Common sense.

But that made it the wrong question.

I asked back.

“Why do we have to earn Limone’s trust?”

“Because we owe Limone something?”

“No. We owe Limone nothing. And anyway, we should appear that way.”

I said it before, didn’t I?

In a debt relationship, the true dominant party is not the creditor but the debtor.

The one who lent the money is ultimately screwed if they don’t get repaid.

‘You can threaten to sue, to bankrupt the company, but it’s only a waste of time and money.’

Ronari answered that explanation like this.

“I get that. But we’re in a position of asking things from them. That doesn’t change. We still have to make appeals to them.”

A precise observation.

The dynamic between debtor and creditor is not absolute.

“That’s right. We’re essentially asking them to lend us money again. In that scenario the debtor becomes subordinate again. But Ronari, what was the name of our strategy?”

“Win it… and then repay it?”

Snap—

Correct.

I snapped my fingers.

A crafty smile spread across my mouth.

“Exactly. And to win we need stakes. The stake is military force. We came to borrow that money. We came to tell them this. As I mentioned before…”

I whispered into her ear.

“…You feel like you’ll go crazy to get the money, right? Give us a little more. We’ll win it and repay you!“

“Wow!”

“So, surprised?”

“Yes! You just seemed like a Lower Quarter thug gambler.”

I frowned.

A sense of déjà vu hit me.

“I didn’t mean for you to be surprised at that part…”

“Ahaha. Sorry. But seriously, what do you do about that?”

She laughed a bit more and said.

“I think I understand what you want to do, young master. For such a temptation to work, you must show firm confidence and possibility. If we go out groveling and lowly, they won’t even glance at us. Right?”

I nodded.

We came here as negotiators.

Not to beg.

“Now. You finally open the door.”

I pointed to the gate.

Vittorio was waiting beyond it.

His ice-cold eyes glared at me.

The scene of Limone Castle, dominated by black, bore some resemblance to Denabi in places.

Especially the Denabi Lower Quarter.

The Lower Quarter is built along the Denabi gorge.

Sunlight rarely reaches it.

Limone’s black ramparts created an atmosphere of night even in broad daylight.

Ronari said.

“Wow, it’s my first time in Limone—its atmosphere is… unique.”

“You speak so bluntly to me, yet you’re generous about Limone’s scenery.”

“Well, you can’t insult someone else’s land, can you?”

So it’s okay to insult me then!

I swallowed the muttered retort.

Well, fine.

She’s a hundred times better off insulting me than criticizing the people of this fief.

‘These people have fiery temperaments.’

Rough temper was characteristic of the people in this region.

Denabi was no exception.

The reason is simple.

There are many enemies around.

Someday we’ll have to deal with them too, but not now.

‘So we’ll leave tedious explanations for later!’

The enemy I had to face was right here.

We crossed Limone Castle and entered the lord’s court.

After a few doors and corridors, we stood before the audience chamber’s door.

Vittorio, who led us, spoke toward the other side of the door.

“May we enter, the lord?”

And finally, the door opened.

Beyond the door, the Lord of Limone appeared.

“My visitors shall pay respects to the Lord of Limone.”

I bowed as Vittorio requested.

I felt a little nervous.

The Lord of Limone, Ludovica.

I knew well about her.

Like Vittorio, she falls within the sphere of information from the original story.

‘But seeing her in person, her presence is no joke…’

At a glance she looked like an ordinary middle-aged woman.

But that majestic bearing.

The vigor emanating from a disciplined physique that even a heavy robe couldn’t hide was astounding.

‘Huh… From now on I have to walk a tightrope in front of her.’

I couldn’t let the composure I showed to Vittorio become mere bluff.

We are the superior party.

We must make that clear before leaving.

“Shane, son of the Lord of Denabi, greets the Lord of Limone.”

“As a brother of Denabi, I, the Lord of Limone, welcome your visit.”

She received us with proper formality.

She was very much like Vittorio’s mother.

The two of them indeed resembled each other greatly.

‘And one feature of both people I know is that they don’t beat around the bush.’

“So. You came to repay the borrowed money, I hear.”

“That’s correct.”

I replied and gestured to the clerks behind me.

The clerks, led by the guards, carried in two chests.

I flung them open.

“Ooh…”

Waves of golden light.

Even among the courtiers, murmurs of admiration escaped.

But Ludovica and Vittorio did not remove their ice-like gazes.

She spoke coldly.

“Far too little.”

Her gaze turned to me.

“To repay Denabi’s debt to us, you should have brought chests ten times this. Are you deceiving me?”

The content was ordinary, but the atmosphere was deadly.

A chilling tension.

‘Phew… It’s been a while. This feeling.’

But at the same time I felt familiarity.

Lately everyone tended to trust me, so I had forgotten.

When I was Lee Jungwoo, I always had to speak up in front of people who watched me warily.

In Korean society, proving your abilities is like a dangerous tightrope act.

One mistake and you can fall.

Report presentations, running meetings, shareholders’ meetings, performance announcements.

All kinds of hardships passed over me as routine.

Alright, I admit it.

I’m still afraid to step up and make a fuss like that.

I’m afraid of walking the tightrope.

But I’ve never actually fallen from that rope…

This level of fear is all too familiar to me.

I opened my mouth.

“Do you know how much this is?”

“There’s nothing to see. It doesn’t even come close to the principal. That amount is laughable. And I’ve already waited two years.”

“So I brought two years’ worth.”

“Hmm?”

Ludovica’s eyebrows twitched.

Her eyes asked.

‘Brought two years. What does that mean?’

Seeing that look, I felt a secret pleasure.

‘The strategy worked.’

To arouse curiosity with a single simple question and pull the tempo of the conversation to me.

That was my skill.

Now the initiative of the conversation was mine.

“The exact amount I brought is 1,700,000,000 won plus 15,000,000 won.”

“So what?”

“This is the two years’ interest on the total debt of 16,600,000,000 won from two years ago.”

“So you’re saying because you paid two years’ interest we should be lenient? Ridiculous.”

Ludovica snorted laughably.

“The day you should have repaid the principal already passed two years ago. Interest won’t cut it. We could bankrupt you. The fief would be torn apart and fall into the hands of creditors.”

I listened silently to what she said.

“Go and tell your father Alejandro. If he thinks I’ll be satisfied with pocket change like this, he’s gravely mistaken. If you fail to keep your promise, Denabi of the Astrier family will cease to exist.”

It was a rebuke laced with anger and cynicism.

But my answer was simple.

“But this is all the money I can give right now.”

Ludovica slammed her throne’s armrest.

A crack appeared in the marble throne.

I couldn’t help but marvel.

‘Wow. What a waste of money for what she’s doing.’

“…Ha. You probably said you’d tear your father’s lands to pieces immediately.“

“Then do it.”

“What…?”

I gave a small smile.

“Try it.”

“Temerity is not permitted before the lord of Limone.”

Ludovica said sternly.

But the real recklessness begins now.

“Recklessness? Do you think I’m boasting? No. The one boasting is not me but the lord. Or… perhaps you’re so foolish you don’t even realize it’s recklessness.”

Ssshhh—

The sound of swords being drawn.

Vittorio, gripping a blue steel longsword, was staring daggers at me.

“Those words—are you prepared to die for them?”

“Death will come regardless of whether you’re prepared.”

I rolled up my sleeve and showed them all.

Mana crystallization.

When signs of the Mana Plague appeared, the courtiers groaned.

“Ugh…”

“Now. You probably don’t want to bother stabbing a doomed man, so hear me out. Put away those useless bits of metal.”

I continued without giving them a chance to interrupt.

“Since you’re pretending not to know, I should inform you. You say you’ll tear our fief apart? Ah, you plan to bankrupt us in the Imperial court. Then let’s see what will happen. One.”

I raised my index finger.

“If a bankruptcy ruling is issued, our fief will enter liquidation. They’ll seize all available cash first. But it won’t be you who gets it.”

“What do you mean…”

“You know that, don’t you? You don’t have priority for seizure. The Imperial Bank and the Imperial Commercial Guilds and others will take anything of value.”

Denabi owed debts to more than one party.

And Denabi’s debts far exceeded the fief’s liquid cash.

‘Under liquidation, funds go first to institutions with priority seizure rights. Limone isn’t among them.’

“Then what remains will be only a few scraps of Denabi land. By the time liquidation ends, even that will be land drenched with the Mana Plague and worthless. You know the state of our fief, right? If you still want Denabi’s lands so badly, run to His Majesty the Emperor’s court immediately and bankrupt us there.”

Ludovica suddenly stood up as if she could no longer contain herself.

“You pile-of-debt fief trash dare to insult the Lord of Limone?”

“Then when even a single coin comes out, we’ll do as you say.”

“Ha…?”

“But we have no interest at all in options that don’t produce money. Do you think we came all this way just to insult the lord? No. We came to present a better option.”

At that moment I clearly saw it.

A crack forming in Ludovica’s anger.

Not even anger, a powerful emotion, could overcome this.

‘And we call that emotion curiosity.’

“Now, esteemed Lord of Limone. I will make you an offer you cannot refuse.”