Episode 4: The Empire's Longest Night
Slipping out of the banquet hall, I immediately boarded my carriage and headed straight for the Lorend Merchant Guild.
Every single second counted, so I urged the coachman on.
"Bucky, can't you go any faster?"
"Understood, Young Master. I'll pick up the pace! Yah!"
Neighhh!
At my command, Bucky whipped the horses into a gallop.
Normally, because I had no desire to die an early death, I would have instructed him to drive safely. But today was different.
No matter how hefty a fine I had to pay, we had to fly down the streets tonight.
My carriage practically pulled off an Initial D drift right in the middle of the Empire, arriving at the Lorend Merchant Guild twice as fast as usual.
"Great job, Bucky! Here's a tip!"
Toss!
"This much?! Thank you, Young Master!"
Leaving Bucky with his generous tip, Elina and I rushed straight into the Lorend Merchant Guild.
Under normal circumstances, this was the time of night when only a skeleton crew of night-watch employees would be left, passing the time with card games.
But tonight was entirely different.
"I keep telling you! We cannot sell a single stone without the Vice Master's direct orders!"
"You want to buy Blue Stones? At sixty thousand Zenon per kilogram?"
"The Red Magic Tower wants to buy them at seventy thousand Zenon per kilogram?!"
Dozens of guild employees were running around frantically, completely overwhelmed by the deluge of letters and urgent inquiries pouring in from various guilds and businesses.
To think this chaos was unfolding less than thirty minutes after the incident at the banquet hall... Information networks in this world were terrifyingly fast.
"Young Master, you're back!"
"Yes, I just arrived. Jiren, what's the situation?"
"Good heavens, it's absolute madness! Magic towers, mage guilds, potion guilds, and even merchant guilds I've never even heard of are all screaming to buy Blue Stones!"
Blue Stones. High-purity magic stones used to extract raw mana, they occupied the exact same position in this world as petroleum did in my past life.
From everyday magic tools like streetlamps to potions, and even the defensive barriers protecting towns and cities from monsters—there wasn't a single facet of life where Blue Stones weren't required.
Do you remember how oil prices skyrocketed in my previous world whenever a war broke out and oil supplies were cut off?
It was the exact same situation here.
The moment rumors spread that the Crown Prince's sheer madness had pushed relations between the imperial family and the North to the brink of collapse, the value of Blue Stones began to surge exponentially.
"You didn't sell any, just as I ordered, right?"
"Yes! Not a single gram has been sold, just as you commanded, Young Master. Some lunatic tried to throw a bag of cash at us and make off with a crate, but we gave him a proper welcome with our clubs."
"Excellent. Good work, Jiren."
Before leaving for the social gathering, I had strictly forbidden anyone from selling the Blue Stones in my absence, no matter what happened.
Fortunately, my orders had been carried out to the letter. Now, it was time to take the next steps.
"Double the guards at all of our Blue Stone warehouses."
"Yes, sir. Right away, Young Master."
"Tell the guards they'll receive a two-hundred percent overtime bonus, plus an extra hundred percent bonus for every thief they catch."
"Ha! The guards will have fire in their eyes looking for thieves with that kind of incentive! Understood, Young Master!"
I made my way toward the warehouse.
Inside, the glowing, azure gems of the Blue Stones were piled high like mountains.
"What is the current market price for Blue Stones?"
"The last offer we received was from the Red Magic Tower. They're willing to pay seventy thousand Zenon per kilogram."
"Seventy thousand Zenon..."
Since I had bought them at forty thousand Zenon, the price had already jumped by seventy-five percent.
By simple calculation, that was already a profit of fifteen billion Zenon—roughly one hundred and fifty billion won in my past life's currency.
But I wasn't aiming for a mere seventy-five percent profit.
Currently, our guild monopolized eighty percent of the Blue Stones available in the capital.
The remaining twenty percent likely belonged to smaller merchant guilds or the private reserves of the magic towers. They would probably burn through those reserves first to put out immediate fires.
The moment the value of my Blue Stones would truly peak was when that twenty percent was completely depleted.
Just then, a guild worker rushed over to me, panting heavily.
"Young Master! The Guild Master has sent an urgent summons for you to return to the estate immediately!"
"Father? ...Understood. I'll head over right away."
The news of the Crown Prince's disastrous stunt had likely reached my father's ears as well.
I immediately boarded the carriage and sped toward the estate.
From the social gathering, to the guild, and now to the estate...
What an incredibly hectic night.
The moment I arrived at the estate, I hurried straight to my father's office.
There, Gilbert Lorend was waiting for me, puffing furiously on his pipe while staring intently at a stack of letters.
"I'm back, Father."
"Kyle, you're here! Come, take a seat."
My father looked more flustered than I had ever seen him.
A turbulent mix of shock and confusion hung over him as he exhaled thick, heavy clouds of tobacco smoke.
"Is this truly happening? Is it true that His Highness the Crown Prince annulled his engagement?!"
"Yes, it is true. He annulled his engagement with Lady Matilda Lee Ludmilly right before our eyes."
"Ha... Hahaha... What on earth was he thinking, committing such an act..."
He let out a long, heavy sigh.
As expected, the news had already reached him.
Honestly, it was inevitable.
Aside from the inquiries sent to me, desperate requests to purchase Blue Stones must have flooded my father's desk as well.
He couldn't help but learn about the incident at the social gathering.
"Kyle... did you know this would happen?"
"...Yes, I did."
"And was that through that reliable source of yours that only you know of?"
"Yes, Father."
I had made numerous accurate predictions about the future up until now.
My excuse for this uncanny foresight was always my "private information network."
Of course, it wasn't entirely a lie; I had actually spent a significant amount of my own money to establish an information guild in the back alleys of Outerloon.
Claiming that I had successfully pulled off these high-stakes business gambles using information gathered from there had been my go-to excuse, and my father simply nodded in acceptance.
"Whew... Yes... I understand. Confidentiality is sometimes more important than anything else... So, what do you think will happen now?"
"Regarding what, exactly? Do you mean the Blue Stones?"
How to utilize the Blue Stones.
I already had a complete plan mapped out for them.
At my casual response, my father raised his voice.
"The Empire, boy! The Empire!"
"Huh? The Empire?"
"Yes! Even if we make a massive fortune by monopolizing the Blue Stones right now, if a civil war breaks out between the Empire and the North, we'll all go down in flames!"
I could see exactly what my father was worried about.
The Northern Grand Duke's daughter had been publicly humiliated by having her engagement annulled at a social gathering.
Naturally, the Northern Grand Duke would not take this lying down, and the friction between the imperial family and the North would only escalate.
To the point where a full-blown civil war could erupt if things went sideways.
However, I wasn't particularly worried.
"There is no need to worry about that, Father. The Empire will absolutely not fall."
My father looked at me in surprise, startled by the absolute certainty in my voice.
Seeing that I wasn't even trying to hide my confidence, he slowly set his pipe down.
"You... you know something else, don't you?"
I simply smiled.
Yes, the Empire would not fall. Because in the imperial palace, she was there.
At that very moment, the doors to the Crown Prince's bedchamber in the imperial palace were violently thrown open.
A young princess stormed through the threshold.
She was the tomboyish Second Princess, sharing the same golden hair as her brother.
Her name was Shuren von Alpeit.
Normally, she was a bright, cheerful presence who brought laughter to the imperial court with her lively smiles.
But right now, her face was contorted with pure rage.
Slam!
"Brother!!!"
"...What is it, Shuren?"
The Crown Prince, who had been lost in thought while gazing out the window, looked back at her with an annoyed expression.
Princess Shuren glared at Prince Lucas von Alpeit and yelled.
"Brother!! Is it true that you broke off your engagement with Sister Matilda?!"
"Yes, it is true."
The Crown Prince spoke with utter nonchalance.
He sounded as if he had done nothing more than kick a stray pebble on the road, and his sheer indifference only fueled Shuren's fury.
"Why would you do such a thing?! Have you lost your mind?!"
"I am more sane now than I have ever been."
"A sane person does something like this?! Do you even realize what you've done today?!"
"..."
Just moments ago, Shuren had received a telegram from the North on behalf of her brother, who had completely abandoned his administrative duties.
The contents of that message had been chillingly severe.
"Right now, the imperial family and the North are heading toward an irreversible disaster because of you... If we're not careful, a civil war will break out!"
"Yes, I suppose that might happen."
"Father... His Majesty the Emperor is lying gravely ill, and you choose this exact moment to pull a stunt like this?! What on earth were you thinking?!"
The Emperor of the Alpeit Empire, their father, was currently bedridden and unconscious due to a severe illness.
Naturally, as the heir, the Crown Prince was supposed to be managing state affairs. Instead, he had chosen this critical juncture to trigger a massive political crisis.
To his sister's frantic questioning, the Crown Prince replied calmly.
"I did it precisely because of the situation. If I didn't act now, the opportunity to choose my own life would never come again."
"Brother..."
Hearing her brother's icy words, Shuren felt as if the sky were crashing down on her.
His gaze was as cold as stone, looking at his own sister as if she were a complete stranger.
"Leave, Shuren. I have no desire to discuss this matter with you any further."
"..."
Realizing that any further conversation was utterly pointless, the princess turned and walked out of the Crown Prince's chamber.
Her aide, Rina, who had been waiting outside the door, looked at her with deep concern.
"Lady Shuren..."
Shuren looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
As Rina anxiously debated how to comfort her...
"Phew... Alright, let's do this!!!"
Smack!
Shuren suddenly slapped both of her cheeks hard with her hands to pump herself up.
The sharp sound of the slaps echoed through the imperial corridor. Rina watched in stunned silence.
A fierce determination began to burn in Shuren's eyes.
"I'm not going to let that crazy brother of mine drag me down with him!"
"L-Lady Shuren?"
"Let's go, Rina! Summon the officials from the Imperial Administration to my office immediately."
"...Yes, Your Highness! Right away."
Steeling her resolve to clean up the massive mess her brother had made, Shuren marched energetically toward her office.
The longest night of the Empire was far from over.