I'm Still Hungry
The count who had tried to barbecue me died with a skewer buried in his skull.
Officially, the story was that bandits he had attempted to ambush turned the tables on him, leaving him missing.
By all rights, Count Furkus’s estate should have passed to his surviving family.
He had no children, so the closest blood relatives stood to inherit everything.
I paid those relatives a visit and showed them the recorded footage.
“Do you really think I wouldn’t know you’re colluding with those imperial lackeys in the capital to swindle me?!”
The count’s furious face and every enraged word had been captured perfectly.
When his family finished watching, their faces began to tremble violently.
In some empires, treason could wipe out nine generations. The Alpeit Empire wasn’t quite that ruthless, but it could still cost every close relative their heads.
Especially the very relatives who stood to inherit the estate.
“…What do you want from us?”
The noble who seemed to speak for the family offered a negotiation. I answered in kind.
“They say a good deal benefits everyone. Rather than clumsily splitting up the count’s farms, wouldn’t it be better to sell them all?”
I had already claimed half the land, and the empire had more or less seized the rest.
When I promised to overlook the entire affair if they sold me the remainder at a reasonable price, they stamped the contract without hesitation.
“Thank you for the excellent transaction. I hope the Lorend family and the Rosenberg family can maintain a friendly relationship going forward.”
“…I would prefer we never see each other’s faces again.”
With expressions like they had swallowed something rotten, the count’s family handed over every last plot of land.
Honestly. I had spared them from a treason charge and they still looked at me like that?
Have some gratitude, people.
Still, I forgave them. After all, I had just acquired an enormous amount of territory and was in an excellent mood.
In this way I purchased the entire holdings of the largest landowner in the Eastern Region.
For the record, my original target had only been half.
The rest would have depended on how the count behaved. He simply chose the worst possible option.
With every objective in the east now complete, I finally left for the imperial capital in earnest.
It was time to go home.
I had made a few short trips back to the capital while handling eastern affairs, but in truth I had lived in the east for nearly a year.
The mansion I returned to after so long had changed in subtle ways.
The roof was now a much brighter, cheerier color, and the flower beds that once held tulips overflowed with far more extravagant blooms.
Several new statues had been added as well—clearly not the sort one bought on a whim.
My father and mother weren’t the type to spend money on such things, so they must have been gifts.
When I reached the front door, the entire household was waiting.
The butler, the maids, my father, and my mother—all of them.
“I’m back, Mother, Father.”
“You’ve worked hard again, my son.”
Father clasped my hand, his voice thick with emotion.
Mother rushed over as well.
Her name was Cannel Rose, a noblewoman from the Rose family who had married my father.
She was a good-natured noble lady with neatly arranged crimson hair.
She ran her hands over me, clicking her tongue.
“My dear Kyle! Just look at you! How thin you’ve become! Did you even eat properly while you were in the east?”
“I ate very well, Mother. Come now, let’s go inside.”
“Yes, I prepared your favorite chicken fricassee. Let’s eat while it’s hot.”
Perhaps it was simply because I hadn’t seen them in so long, but my parents looked even more prosperous than before.
Must have been my imagination.
Back home at last, I spent a warm evening with my family.
Both Mother and Father seemed to have enjoyed their time in the capital, thanks to the growing prestige of our merchant guild after its successes in the east.
Countless food-related guilds had begun sending gifts once our guild secured the largest grain distribution network in the east.
Mother complained that she had received so many new social invitations she was getting headaches just writing polite refusals.
“Your mother is so proud of how incredible her son is, but it’s also exhausting. Try to take it a little easier from now on, dear.”
“Hahaha. I’ll do my best.”
I’ve always loved festivals, but I also cherished warm meals like this with family.
Of course! A harmonious table with loved ones is more precious than gold.
After dinner, Father and I shared a glass of whiskey in his study.
I poured us both some of the finest eastern whiskey, “Valentine 192.”
“Mmm… this rich aroma… The east truly does produce the best whiskey.”
“It really does. I drank it several times while I was there, yet every sip feels new.”
Clink—!
We toasted for the first time in ages and sipped the whiskey lightly.
The drink’s distinctive fragrant barley scent tickled my nose and brought the eastern plains to mind.
Ah… I already miss my land.
Maybe I miss it more because it’s mine.
“The Imperial Treasury stopped by the other day.”
“What for?”
The Imperial Treasury was essentially this world’s version of a national tax office.
When an organization that managed taxes and imperial funds visited a guild like ours, it was usually for one of two reasons: extremely bad news, or extremely good news.
My heart beat faster as I waited for Father to continue.
“Our Lorend Merchant Guild has entered the empire’s top twenty. They asked us to attend the next Merchant High Council.”
“The Merchant High Council?!”
“That’s right.”
The Merchant High Council was a meeting only the top twenty guilds in the empire could attend. It was held once a year on a regular schedule.
Simply earning the right to participate was proof that the empire recognized you as one of the greatest merchant organizations. In modern terms, it was like being among the absolute elite of large corporations.
And now, the Lorend Merchant Guild had finally earned that honor.
“Yes, it’s all thanks to you. Kyle, because of you our Lorend Merchant Guild has prospered like this.”
Honey seemed to drip from Father’s eyes.
I felt both proud and a little embarrassed as I answered.
“Not at all, Father. It’s all because of your guidance.”
In my heart I wanted to shout, “Hahaha! That’s right, it’s all thanks to my ability!”
But in this atmosphere that would have made me an “unfilial son who belongs in flames,” so I answered with the appropriate humility of a successor.
Even so, the emotion of reaching the Merchant High Council must have been overwhelming; Father’s eyes stayed misty.
He opened his mouth again.
“Good. Now stop wandering around and start making proper preparations here in the capital.”
“Preparations? For what?”
“What else? Your marriage, of course.”
“…What?!”
Wait, where did that come from?
As I stood there stunned, Father gave a signal and Ald the butler placed a thick stack of documents in front of me.
“Here, take your pick.”
“Father? These… these are…”
I looked through the papers.
They contained portraits of beautiful young noblewomen along with their personal information.
This was…
“These are the young ladies who have expressed interest in meeting you for a formal introduction.”
“There are this many?”
At a glance the stack easily exceeded a hundred pages.
Were there really this many noble daughters in the capital?
“Of course there are. Did you think there would be few?”
“…………”
Having been a lifelong solo player in my previous life, I still sometimes had trouble believing how popular I had become.
Father looked at me and said,
“Right now the Lorend Merchant Guild controls resources from both the North and the East. Do you have any idea how many guilds and nobles have their lives in our hands? Every one of them will want to become connected to you, the one who created this situation.”
Aha. So this was a political marriage.
That explained the mountain of documents.
I flipped through them lightly.
There were young ladies from countless noble houses, and some were even more beautiful than the idols I remembered from my previous life.
But…
“Ah… Father, I’m not thinking about marriage yet.”
To me, these documents looked like a tombstone.
Someone once said marriage is the grave of life.
I wasn’t ready to enter a grave yet.
To be honest, I still wanted to play around more!
Understanding my feelings, Father gave me a look of pure pity.
“Kyle… how long do you intend to live so recklessly?”
“Well, that’s…”
“Your father went through the same phase. But after I met your mother and had you, I realized it was all just the folly of youth.”
Father spoke with a strangely regretful expression.
Um, Father? Saying something so wholesome with that face makes it sound weird. Are you actually happy?
“So it’s time for you to settle down and prepare for marriage.”
I spun my brain desperately.
One wrong word here and I would be marching straight into that grave.
What do I do… what do I do!?
Okay… yes! This approach!
“I’m sorry, Father… but I’m still hungry.”
“Hungry?”
“Yes. I want to climb higher. I want to become even richer.”
Father looked utterly dumbfounded.
“How much richer do you want to become? There are only a handful of guilds wealthier than us now.”
I understood his point.
The guilds above us were the equivalent of the four major conglomerates or Hyundai-level corporations back in my old world.
But they still existed.
“My dream… is to become number one.”
Yes. My dream had always been to reach the very top.
To stand at number one and see the view from there.
“Hah… Do you even understand what it means to be the top guild in the empire?”
“Yes, of course I do.”
Becoming the empire’s top guild wasn’t simply about earning the most money.
One had to stand at the absolute peak of both commerce and politics. Naturally, it was no easy feat.
Father pondered for a long time before speaking.
“It’s an incredibly dangerous path… but considering everything you’ve shown us so far, I want to believe in you.”
“Father.”
“All right. Do everything you can, Kyle. I believe you can achieve it.”
“Yes! I will succeed.”
Father gave me his support, and I answered with determination.
With that, the marriage issue vanished without a trace.
Or it should have.
“But before that, go convince your mother.”
“What? Mother?”
Suddenly we had entered phase two.
“Yes. Your mother is desperate to see you married no matter what.”
“But… Father, couldn’t you…”
“Convincing your mother is beyond even me. Handle it yourself.”
With those words, Father stood up.
When he opened the door, Mother was standing right there.
Father left, and Mother came in.
“Father… Father…? Father!!?”
Mother spent the entire night singing endless praises of marriage while telling me stories about her friends’ sons—the classic “my friend’s son” routine.
Wow… even after earning this much money, I still get compared to others.
Besides, getting married and having children at fifteen—how is that normal!
…Well, in this era it actually is normal, but I’m telling you I’m still hungry!
By the time I barely managed to persuade Mother and escape the mansion, it was already the next day.
Ah… that was more exhausting than making money in the east.
I wanted nothing more than to rest, but there was no time.
I had to start preparing to head south.