The First Gift Like This
Count Albert watched Kyle’s carriage depart from the second-floor study. Turning to his son Adler, he asked, “Adler… who do you fear the most?”
“I fear mages, Father.”
Albert shook his head at his son’s answer. He assumed the boy was recalling his past battle against an enemy nation’s first-class mage, so he continued.
“That is merely a threat, not something to truly fear.”
Having fought countless dangerous foes on the battlefield, Albert knew the feeling well. Yet every time, what he felt toward them was a competitive spirit. I will win. I can win.
Now that he was older, he could say it plainly: that emotion had nothing to do with fear.
Even now, Count Albert remembered it clearly—the feeling he had experienced when he first became the family head, meeting countless figures from high society and the political world in both the East and the capital.
“Your father fears… the wise the most.”
“The wise, Father?”
Albert felt sweat gather in his palms as he spoke. “Yes. They hide themselves behind smiles and use their wisdom to share abundance with everyone. People respect and revere them, and within that reverence, they conceal their claws and wait for the right moment.”
They coat their words in sweet honey to lure and reassure. They create situations where refusal feels impossible, and by the time you regain your senses, you’re already dancing in the palm of their hand.
“They wait for days, even years, until the moment they’ve been aiming for arrives. And when that day comes… they swing their claws without hesitation. That is why your father fears the wise the most.”
“Father, are you saying Lord Kyle is one of them?”
From the moment Kyle had gifted him imperial gold coins worth tens of billions of zenons just to build a friendly relationship, Albert had been reminded of every wise person he had ever met.
Rather than making such a terrifyingly wise individual an enemy, it was far better to turn them into an ally. That was why Albert had accepted Kyle’s overture of friendship.
“Yes. If the opportunity arises, you should build a good relationship with Lord Kyle as well. His help will be essential for governing the East in the future.”
“Understood, Father.”
Albert believed his son was an excellent child. But this recent incident had revealed his lack of wisdom to the world. And the only way to make up for insufficient wisdom was to learn it from someone truly wise. Albert sincerely prayed that his son would learn a great deal from Kyle.
The Eastern Region, now under Princess Shuren’s full authority, stabilized with astonishing speed. The Lorend Guild had delivered grain, and food distribution to the starving began immediately. Once hunger was resolved, public order stabilized.
In the meantime, the Green Magic Tower and a great number of mages were mobilized to swiftly restore the tulip fields back into proper farmland.
Investigations into the Eastern tulip crisis were also carried out, followed by punishment. Those who had speculated excessively on tulips and those who had fueled the bubble—all became targets. The sad part was that most of the speculators had already suffered devastating losses.
Unable to control their greed, the majority had reinvested every profit they made into the belief that tulip prices would keep rising. When the bubble finally burst, they were left on the brink of bankruptcy.
Because of this, even the princess could not impose overly harsh penalties. Instead, she adjusted the punishments to focus on revoking rights such as Agricultural Administration Control Rights.
And within that chaos, one guild shone brilliantly.
“Wow… the Lorend Guild is seriously insane.”
“Right? Even I have to admit their timing was perfect.”
The Spear of Judgment, acting as Princess Shuren’s eyes and hands while auditing the East, were reviewing investigation reports on numerous nobles and guilds. Among them, they couldn’t help but marvel at the report on the Lorend Guild’s absurd results.
“They entered the tulip business in the very early stages and made enormous profits.”
“And then they pulled out at the most unbelievable timing imaginable.”
The Lorend Guild had profited massively from tulips right from the beginning of the bubble. Following the success of the novel Love and Tulips, they cultivated vast flower fields and actively sold tulips.
At first glance, they should have been labeled as undeniable speculators, but their luck arrived at precisely the right moment.
Just as the tulip bubble began to spiral out of control, they sold their flower fields to Count Furkus, the owner of the East’s largest farm. Though it was called a sale, given the market prices at the time, it was closer to outright robbery. Thanks to this, the Lorend Guild completely withdrew from the tulip business.
Up to this point, one might have dismissed them as merely a lucky guild. But their next move surpassed all imagination.
Having earned a fortune from tulips, the Lorend Guild poured every last coin into purchasing grain and foodstuffs. They bought up grain that had become dirt cheap due to tulip-driven inflation, along with farmland being sold at rock-bottom prices. While other farmers were obsessed with tulips, they focused solely on grain.
The result was that they secured enough food to feed the entire East. For this achievement, the Lorend Guild was granted the rare honor of receiving Agricultural Administration Control Rights—an unprecedented privilege for a merchant guild.
“The Lorend Guild really does seem blessed with luck.”
“No kidding. At this point, it feels like the gods themselves love them.”
These were not actions that could be planned without knowledge of the future. It was a result that required incredible fortune. The inspectors of the Spear of Judgment ultimately concluded that the Lorend Guild was simply an extraordinarily lucky organization.
Of course, the fact that they enjoyed the princess’s trust played a role, but even that trust couldn’t fully explain such luck. They didn’t succeed because of the princess’s favor; rather, they earned her favor precisely because of their success. And this wasn’t a conclusion drawn only by the inspectors.
News of the Lorend Guild spread through the nobles and merchants of the East faster than the wind.
“…Elina.”
“Yes, young master.”
“What is all this?”
“Gifts sent for you, young master.”
Starting the day after I received overall authority from the princess and strengthened my ties with the Eastern border count, gifts began pouring into my Eastern residence. The variety was staggering.
From blatant valuables like ruby necklaces from the ancient mage empire, to pure-white warhorses with flowing manes, to priceless tea leaves from the elf kingdom that even money couldn’t easily buy—every expensive treasure in the East seemed to have gathered in front of my house.
“This one is from the Marquis Byron family… this from the Esral Guild. And this one is from Baron Taylor’s house.”
“There really is everything here.”
I examined each gift one by one. Accepting every single present as-is could lead to trouble later. I needed the flexibility to return excessively lavish gifts while keeping the appropriate ones for future relationships.
As I sorted through them, one item caught my eye.
“Th-this is…!?”
It was the East’s most famous stamina tonic, known only by rumor: eel jerky.
Just as my eyes were about to roll back from how much I loved the gift, Elina gazed at me with a deep, meaningful look.
“Where did this one come from?”
“…It is a gift from Count Baren, young master.”
“Count Baren… I’ll have to remember that name.”
I quietly set aside the eel jerky sent by Count Baren. Oh my, you’re the first person to ever give me a gift like this.
With this, I could look forward to an even hotter night. As I organized the gifts with that pleasant thought in mind, Elina let out a sigh and said,
“Do you really like it that much, young master?”
“Of course! It’s fantastic!”
“Even without such things, your stamina is more than sufficient. I can personally guarantee it.”
Hmm… well, if Elina was guaranteeing it, I could probably trust her. But… there was one thing Elina didn’t understand.
“Elina… have you ever heard the saying ‘the more, the better’?”
“The more, the better? What does that mean?”
“It means the more you have, the better it is.”
In this world, there are three things where having more is always better: money, power, and finally, a man’s stamina!
Legend says that eating this will turn you into a berserk orc on the bed, capable of running for three days and nights straight. Returning a gift like that would be disrespectful to Count Baren.
I carefully stored the eel jerky and began examining the other gifts. Elina watched me with another deep sigh.
If there is happiness for someone, misfortune will strike another. The world is sorrowful, but such was the law of happiness conservation.
While Kyle was enjoying the happiest time of his life, Count Furkus’s mansion was wrapped in darkness.
Everything felt like a nightmare to Count Furkus. The flower garden his mother had cherished so dearly. From the moment he sold that garden—land that could grow nothing but flowers—misfortune seemed to have befallen him.
When the Lorend Guild made money from the flower fields, he could only watch with empty hands. So he used his influence to forcibly buy the fields back and invested everything he had. The moment he believed he could finally earn the money he had missed out on, tulip prices plummeted and took everything from him.
He hadn’t even made any money, yet he was suspected of being part of the tulip speculation forces. Dragged away by the imperial inspectors, he endured a hellish investigation. His once-firm skin and belly had shriveled up until he looked like a mummy.
The land that remained was now bound by Agricultural Administration Control Rights; from now on, he could only grow whatever crops the Eastern governor decided. He had become little more than a tenant farmer.
With no money to pay the servants, most of them had left. Only the butler and one or two others remained in the mansion.
What had gone wrong? Where exactly had it all started?
Count Furkus sat in his study, lost in countless thoughts. What in the world had caused his once-glorious life to begin crumbling?
As he stared blankly at the portraits of his mother and father while pondering, one face flashed through his mind.
“That damn brat…”
The one who had stolen his flower fields and then his farmland… Yes, everything had begun the moment that Kyle brat arrived.
“I will never forgive him… never! You damn brat!!”
He must have used some underhanded trick to strip me clean like this. Otherwise, there was no way I would end up penniless while that Kyle brat succeeded.
Never forget a favor, but never forget an enemy either.
As his father’s old saying came to mind, Count Furkus clenched his fist so tightly that blood seeped from between his fingers.