Chapter 268
Chapter: 268
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 268
>Chapter Title: Bertrand & Lee (2)
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Seongjin hadn't planned a grand venture to revive the northern economy from the outset. No matter how good the item or concept, business is the sort of thing that fails spectacularly depending on luck and the tides of the era, after all.
He had watched a junior who had tanked a startup weep as he swallowed his pride and joined the company, and from that moment, Seongjin had firmly resolved never to touch business for the rest of his life.
Just a modest salmon restaurant.
A delicious eatery where one could enjoy fresh salmon shipped straight from the source every day.
That was all he wanted. As the prince of the Holy Empire and the continent's top playboy, he figured even a little shop like that was something he could handle with pocket change.
But Schmidt, the branch manager, was skeptical about it.
"It just doesn't add up financially."
The prime spots for salmon were the northern reaches of Ortona, around Barletta.
A region where cold seawater flowed, teeming with plump salmon before they swam upstream into freshwater.
Fishing had once thrived there, but after Ortona's fall, it had gradually dwindled, and now there weren't many fishermen left.
"Most became refugees, and those who stayed mostly turned to banditry."
Naturally, the salmon catch had plummeted.
They were still relatively cheap in the local and surrounding areas, but in the Empire, where they arrived in small quantities via Kipros's maritime trade and inland caravans, things were different. A single piece of salmon cost more than the same weight in silver.
Even that supply was inconsistent, trickling in irregularly mixed with church tribute shipments.
"Ah, but a salmon restaurant... it really feels like it could work..."
Seongjin scratched his head.
Somehow, it seemed like it would. He had a strong hunch that a solution would come along soon!
But this time, even Seongjin couldn't charge ahead on gut feeling alone.
He was a complete novice at business, and Schmidt, the expert, was so negative. If things went south, not only would he be ruined, but so would branch manager Schmidt.
"I thought going straight inland would be cheaper and more stable than looping around Kipros..."
"Would the cost of a safe, established route equal that of blazing a new, dangerous one? Besides, since Ortona's collapse, security in the north has been a mess. Areas without proper lords are basically lawless."
"Yeah. You're right."
At any rate, pioneering a supply route just for salmon was too burdensome an investment that didn't make financial sense.
"Then what if we pair it with other productive ventures to at least break even?"
With that in mind, Seongjin turned his eyes to other local resources. Fortunately, Schmidt, as the Merchant Alliance branch manager, had plenty of data on goods once traded in Ortona and the industries that had flourished there.
That's how Seongjin discovered a highly profitable copper mine near Barletta and shouted.
Perfect! Copper mining it is. How about this one!
Schmidt's reaction to that was comparatively positive.
"Well, it's not bad. Reinforcing the abandoned shafts will take time, but we could turn a profit within three years. If Your Highness gives up on the salmon distribution, that is."
Then let's scale it up to dilute the losses.
Fired up, Seongjin pored over documents and learned of a massive logging camp in the upper reaches of the river flowing through Barletta.
"Let's chop down the existing trees and sell them! The upfront investment won't be as huge as the mine!"
Hearing this, Schmidt brightened considerably.
"We could recoup the investment and turn a profit in two years. Of course, Your Highness's salmon would steadily eat into those gains."
Argh! Can't end it like this!
Seongjin wrestled with the paperwork.
Then, shifting his approach slightly, he even devised a plan to supply rotting Anatolian grain from the south to the north, at which point the furrows in Schmidt's brow finally smoothed out.
"At this scale, it might be worth blazing a new distribution network. The problem is it's gotten terrifyingly huge. But, Your Highness."
"Yeah?"
"Can't you please set aside that unprofitable salmon obsession now?"
"......"
Having tasked Schmidt with exploring multifaceted supply chain options, Seongjin left for Regina.
But even on the road to Sigismund territory, and after arriving at the fief, his worries didn't end.
"Something cooler. Something I can just whip out and show Dad with a 'ta-da!'"
That line of thinking birthed a massive collaborative plan drawing in neighboring lords. It targeted fiefs in the broken Ortona distribution structure, ones that were self-sufficient or reliant on irregular caravans.
From slaughterhouses to dyeing workshops—various small-scale industries and their workers moving in tandem on a grand scale.
"How did I end up here...?"
At any rate, after sending a detailed letter via Dasha, he finally elicited a highly positive response from Schmidt.
-I had no idea Your Highness possessed such commercial acumen. A fitting heir to Grand Duke Asen, the Iron-Blooded Merchant. With a plan this solid, we should see stable profits within months.
Though the reply ended there.
-Of course, excluding the salmon.
"Damn it all! This whole thing was for fresh salmon to the capital!"
But there was no other way. Transporting live fish—or even keeping dead ones fresh—was an entirely different beast.
There was good reason caravans mixed it with church tributes. To preserve freshness, they needed holy power-infused goods or the attending priests' divine magic.
"Now there's really no answer..."
Thus, opening a salmon restaurant in the capital was indefinitely shelved, and Seongjin faced a monster horde assault in Sigismund territory.
Then, unexpectedly, he acquired the Ice Heart.
Using ices that didn't melt at room temperature, Seongjin had the dragon's workshop convert them into a refrigerator.
It even had the crystalline world's feature of being impossible to steal without specific conditions—a perfect mobile warehouse.
"...What the hell have I been doing all this time?"
What washed over him wasn't joy, but emptiness.
All his prior efforts felt futile as the problem resolved itself so simply. No wonder his hunch had screamed it would work out.
"It's certainly an impressive item..."
Dasha, acting as liaison between Schmidt and Seongjin, looked a bit deflated upon seeing the finished refrigerator.
At any rate, things proceeded smoothly after that.
Holing up in the count's residence, Seongjin exchanged busy letters with Schmidt, fleshing out the salmon restaurant plan.
It was then. One night, Dasha said this to him.
"Thanks to Your Highness's drive, it was shaping up nicely. A bit of a shame."
"You think so too?"
"Yes. It could have stabilized Ortona a little and given some wandering refugees a place to settle—a good opportunity."
"Hmm... Huh?"
Seongjin snapped alert, as if doused with cold water, blinking into space.
"Ortona stabilizes, refugees settle..."
Then, the mountain of documents he'd wrestled with unrolled in reverse in his mind.
Revitalizing fishing centered on salmon, developing profitable coal mines. Operating abandoned logging camps.
Cheap southern grain supplies, collaborating with neighboring lords to stabilize the local economy around the new routes.
"...Wait, isn't this all actually doable?"
A shiver ran down Seongjin's spine.
A lantern lit in little Barletta village in the north, descending toward the capital and gradually illuminating all of Ortona.
That brief vision struck his mind like lightning.
"Yeah. This is it! I can't keep pouring Logan's pocket money into Ortona forever, right?"
Logan had already dispatched several caravans, anonymously delivering aid to refugees. Though the increased allowance had boosted the volume lately.
"But still, more gets siphoned by middlemen than reaches the refugees! Can't monitor every bit. To rebuild Ortona and save the refugees, the only way is self-sustaining economy!"
And nab a pro-republic radical group thriving in the capital, link them to the caravan, put them front and center...
Seongjin's mind whirred energetically for the first time in ages.
"Then even as an enemy prince, Logan could one day stand proudly before the Ortonans...!"
* * *
"That's how it happened! Ortona's economy will revive bit by bit like this! No more wandering for the refugees!"
Logan, hearing the epic saga, stared blankly.
He wanted to cheer Seongjin's passion, but the scale was so vast he didn't know how to respond.
"And this is the star of the show—the refrigerated carriage!"
Seongjin pointed to a wagon at the building entrance.
It gleamed white, newly made, with "Bertrand & Lee" painted boldly in huge letters.
"Refrigerated carriage?"
"Yeah, a wagon to carry the fridge."
"Fridge?"
"Explaining fully would take forever—think something like a Grace Knight."
Logan looked incredulous.
"...You're using a holy relic for that?"
"Can't have priests on 24-hour shifts to keep salmon fresh, right? The church wouldn't stand for it, and it wouldn't make financial sense."
"Hmm."
As Logan grudgingly nodded, Seongjin sidled up, eyes sparkling.
"Which is why, Logan."
"Yeah?"
"Invest in this caravan too! I bit off more than I can chew—need more startup capital. But I'll double—no, triple—your money in a few years!"
"...Huh?"
Seongjin drove the nail home to the flustered Logan.
"Think about it. The profits aren't just that. Even excluding Ortona's economic boom, you'll get triple your investment! Then you can fund more revival projects. What could be a better deal?"
Grinning ear to ear, Seongjin looked every inch the con artist from any angle.
Having received what felt like an empty tin can as a gift, only to sign over a fortune in investment, Logan asked dazedly.
"...So, Seongjin, this really counts as a gift, right?"
"Of course!"
[What's 'of course' about it, you conman.]
The Demon King sighed softly in his head.
But Logan was no pushover either.
"Fine. If you say so."
Scribble, scribble.
Logan boldly signed the contract Seongjin had slyly proffered.
"Excellent choice, Logan. I guarantee it."
Beaming as he tucked the contract away, Seongjin suddenly froze and turned back to Logan.
"But, Logan?"
"Yeah?"
"If someone asks you to sign something later, call me next time. Got it?"
"......?"
* * *
That afternoon, Administrator Dorian visited the Holy Emperor's office with a massive stack of documents.
Gentle in demeanor but sharp in administration, he was a young aide the Holy Emperor valued.
Yet even after entering, Dorian hesitated a long while before finally placing the documents before the Holy Emperor.
"Your Majesty, it's about permitting a caravan to operate in and out of the capital. Various business plans await approval alongside it."
"Handle that with the Merchant Alliance through the executive branch."
"But the caravan is jointly owned by... Prince Mores and Prince Logan..."
"......"
Sensing something amiss, the Holy Emperor silently took the documents.
"It seems too detailed and well-funded to be mere impersonation. I felt it necessary to report to Your Majesty."
As the Holy Emperor carefully reviewed the contents, his eyes began to tremble faintly.
A long silence filled the office.
"Business..."
Thud.
Having turned to the final page, the Holy Emperor slowly raised a hand to rub his face.
"Yes. Far better than getting hurt elsewhere. Better... but..."
Still, wasn't this scale exceeding a small nation's annual budget by leaps and bounds?
Just how big are you planning to go, son?!