Chapter 216: Count Rondon (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 216: Count Rondon (1)
One week ago.
Count Rondon received devastating news.
"The Golden Bank has sent an ultimatum. If we do not repay the 100,000 gold within a fortnight, they will exercise their rights as creditors and formally intervene. What should we do? As you know, Redford's royal treasury lacks the capacity to settle such a debt. We are already in a position where we must secure next year's operating budget from external sources. If we cough up 100,000 gold now, the kingdom will collapse."
One hundred thousand gold.
It was certainly an astronomical sum, but not one that should trigger the collapse of an entire nation. The problem lay in Redford's current circumstances.
Thanks to the King's reckless extravagance and gambling, the treasury had been bleeding dry day by day. By now, an unmanageable mountain of debt had accumulated. They had belatedly scrambled to rein him in, but by the time they grasped the reality of the situation, the debt—which had started as a mere snowball—had triggered an avalanche that was now swallowing the kingdom whole.
Count Rondon spoke. "Is there absolutely no room for negotiation?"
"None. The Golden Bank made it clear they will not grant us even a sliver of leeway."
He let out a heavy sigh.
For the past few years, Count Rondon had run himself ragged trying to save his country. He had poured a significant portion of his personal fortune into the effort, yet the nation still faced countless unresolved crises. A debt of 100,000 gold. He had no way of paying it off on his own. More precisely, even if he emptied his entire personal coffers to settle it, Redford would only find itself trapped in the exact same cycle when the next crisis struck.
It was a bleak reality.
The Golden Bank. Operating across the entire continent, they ruthlessly punished those who failed to repay their debts. They did not care if their debtor was a sovereign nation. Instigating riots by pouring money into a country's interior was just their baseline; they would undoubtedly fund the war efforts of hostile nations just to bring the debtor down.
If you cannot pay, we will collect it ourselves. That was their way. History had shown all too clearly what happened to those who ignored the Golden Bank's warnings.
"What did His Majesty say?"
"The same as always. His Majesty is no longer the man we once knew. He spends every day drowned in wine and women, slipping away to the gambling dens at every opportunity. We have restricted his access to the treasury, but we have no way to control the mountain of debt stamped with the royal seal."
"There is an external force instigating His Majesty's deviance. As long as they remain active, this problem will only repeat itself."
Redford was collapsing.
Although the common folk remained oblivious to the gravity of the situation, Count Rondon knew that ruin was just around the corner. The treasury would run dry. Riots would break out. And the nation would lose its very foundation.
Knowing this was exactly what the Empire desired, Count Rondon desperately scraped together every coin he could. He had contemplated rebellion countless times. However, according to the intelligence he had gathered, the King's corruption had been engineered by external forces. They were simply waiting for a patriot like him to stage a coup, which they would immediately use as a pretext for a bloody purge.
It was checkmate.
With his options severely limited, the only thing he could do was desperately prop up the crumbling pillars of the nation.
The man who had come to see him was the Financial Officer. The fact that the official who should have been reporting to the King had secretly sought out Count Rondon instead spoke volumes about the kingdom's grim reality.
Is there truly no way?
On the edge of his desk, a photograph of him and his father caught his eye. The photograph, captured through magic during his father's lifetime, showed a man who looked remarkably like the current Count Rondon, laughing heartily. In truth, the public remembered his father far better than they did him. He had been a man of immense patriotism, earning the respect of all, and had never stopped worrying about the country until the very moment of his untimely death.
After his death, the people harshly criticized the new heir of the Rondon family. Unlike his father, his public reputation was that of a greedy scoundrel who plundered the people and cared only for money.
Count Rondon spoke. "Redford is hurtling toward a cliff. Even though we know this country will eventually plunge into the abyss and shatter into pieces, we cannot abandon it and flee. Compile a list of factions that might help us. We must resolve the debt with the Golden Bank first if Redford is to survive."
"Understood." The Financial Officer bowed his head.
Count Rondon leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. The charcoal-dark wood felt like a perfect reflection of the kingdom's current reality.
* * *
He had not sought out Dmitry from the very beginning. He had first approached the factions he had prior relations with, but they had all expressed their reluctance.
"Count Rondon. Rumors are already spreading like wildfire in our circles not to lend any money to the Redford Kingdom, nor to you. No matter how high an interest rate you promise, if you collapse before we can collect, we'll be the ones taking the hit. I'm sorry. We have to think about reality too, don't we?"
Ten meetings.
Ten rejections.
Count Rondon had worn out his shoes. He had personally traveled vast distances to make his desperate pleas, but most reacted so coldly they refused to even meet him. It was then that he thought of the Dmitry family. Though they had no prior relationship, they were known as tycoons who stood in fierce opposition to the Kronos Empire. Perhaps there was a chance.
A sliver of hope. He was grasping at straws.
Having sought out Roman Dmitry, he swallowed hard as he watched the young man enter the room.
Roman Dmitry. The greatest talent on the continent, the man who defeated Knight Commander Gustavo in a single blow. Rumor has it that he is an incredibly cold, calculating man who draws very clear lines. If he is well aware of Redford's situation, the chances of him lending us money are slim.
He knew the reality of his request. But he had no other choice.
Rumors were rampant that Dmitry was practically run by Roman Dmitry rather than Duke Romero, which was why he had sought the young man out. Roman Dmitry took his seat across from him. After brief introductions, Count Rondon cut straight to the chase.
"I apologize for making such a request at our very first meeting, but please lend us 100,000 gold. Of course, I am well aware that this is an unreasonable request. We have no prior relationship, and even if we do borrow the money, we are not in a position to repay it quickly."
He laid bare his weakness. Rather than trying to borrow money with plausible excuses, he spoke honestly about their dire circumstances.
Rondon and Dmitry. Both were families with merchant blood running through their veins. Half-hearted excuses would never work on either of them. Besides, there was absolutely no benefit for the Dmitry family in lending out a massive sum of 100,000 gold. The promise of interest was meaningless. If Redford and Rondon collapsed, the debtor would vanish, and the money would evaporate into thin air.
"If we cannot repay the Golden Bank's debt, Redford will collapse. I want to prevent that at all costs. Lord Roman Dmitry, you know the strategic importance of Redford. The Kingdom Alliance is already barely holding itself together. If Redford falls, the Alliance will lose the strength to hold back the Kronos Empire. So please, lend us a hand. Redford does not have the strength to endure without external help."
With this pitch, he flipped the script. Instead of framing it as a simple transaction of profit, he appealed to Redford's geopolitical importance to Dmitry, a family currently at odds with Kronos.
Count Rondon was a clever man. While speaking honestly, he framed Redford's crisis as everyone's crisis.
After quietly listening to this explanation, Roman Dmitry took a sip of his tea and asked in an even tone:
"I have heard the rumors about you, Count Rondon. The tycoon of Redford. A man who plunders the wealth of those around him and accumulates vast riches through ruthless business tactics. People call you a piece of trash, a bloodless, tearless miser. Yet, the Count Rondon sitting before me seems quite different from those rumors."
His public reputation was a far cry from the man sitting before him. At the very least, the people of Redford did not consider Count Rondon a patriot.
"Explain it to me. Why does someone with such a reputation strive so hard for Redford? In truth, wealthy men always have plenty of ways to survive if they simply discard their patriotism, do they not?"
* * *
Roman's words brought a heavy silence.
Count Rondon stared at him without a word. His public reputation. He was well aware of it. People spat curses at him, calling him human trash as they watched him expand his businesses and seize the assets of those around him, even as the country was collapsing. He never spent a single copper on others. To the outside world, Count Rondon was a man who clutched his gold tightly while being scorned by the public.
But the reality was entirely different.
Most of the money he had earned through such ruthless means had been secretly used to resolve Redford's crises.
Count Rondon finally spoke.
"Only a few years ago, I had little interest in the affairs of this country. My goal was simply to inherit my father's business and become the greatest merchant on the continent. But you see, when you amass vast wealth, you begin to see truths that others cannot. Take His Majesty's deviance. People say the King is the one ruining the country's finances, but those who know the truth cannot ignore how unnatural the whole process has been. I am certain the Kronos Empire is behind this."
The King had been lured into the gambling dens by someone. Delighted by his massive winnings at first, he had degenerated into a hopeless gambling addict in less than a year. A gambling table where the continent's heavyweights gathered... How had the King managed to enter such an exclusive place to begin with?
One question led to another, and Count Rondon eventually realized that a hidden force was orchestrating Redford's downfall.
"The tycoon of Redford. How do you think our family looked to the traitors trying to ruin this country? My father's death was no accident. They must have realized that a man possessing both patriotism and immense wealth would be a massive obstacle to their plans. That is why I turned my back on my public reputation. I trampled on others' businesses and seized their assets, drawing the public's wrath, but I do not regret it in the slightest. The people I ruined—they were all traitors complicit in selling out our country. I merely confiscated their wealth and returned it to the state."
Looking back, when Count Rondon first inherited the family, he had not been a patriot willing to sacrifice everything. However, as time passed, something solid had taken root in his heart.
Watching his father's death and the subsequent collapse of Redford, Count Rondon could not bring himself to let things unfold exactly as Kronos intended. And so, he had dedicated his life to Redford. How people judged him was no longer of any importance.
His sole purpose was to protect this country built by his father and ancestors. He did not care what became of his reputation.
Count Rondon leaned forward.
"I do not expect you to shoulder the entire burden of the 100,000 gold. As collateral for this transaction, I will offer not only the Rondon lands but also our family heirloom. Even if the worst-case scenario unfolds, Dmitry will not suffer much of a loss. And if Redford resolves this crisis and recovers its former glory... the Rondon family, and by extension, Redford, will never forget this debt of gratitude for the rest of our lives."
As he finished speaking, Count Rondon had a sinking intuition.
He will reject me this time as well.
Dmitry. For a family of merchants who had risen to their current position by selling steel, there was absolutely no reason to accept this proposal. A tragic story? Relations with Kronos? None of these were pressing issues for them. One never truly understands the danger of a fire on someone else's foot until the sparks leap onto their own.
But then—
"Very well. I accept your proposal."
The response came without hesitation. Having already given up, Count Rondon could not hide his momentary bewilderment.