Black Iron’s Glory

Claude understood the meaning of doing wrong with good intentions from Maria’s letter. Given that there was a dividend of 100 thousand crowns, Maria’s got 70 thousand of that because of her shares and the joy almost drove her insane. She couldn’t have fathomed that she would earn 70 thousand crowns in profit in a short three months. Back then, she was only able to gather 300 crowns for Rodan to buy some property in Whitestag and would be more than satisfied if she earned a profit of a thousand crowns.

Yet, Claude’s interference made the whole project blow up. First, they mortgaged the wood and formed Normanley Real Estate to purchase the lands and properties in the slums. Purchasing one house after another for the price of 30 or so crowns, they began to plan a large sector. They razed the old buildings down and erected large ones around four-storeys tall, each of them having twelve to sixteen large suites. They only had to construct around forty such buildings to accommodate around five hundred households.

Maria wasn’t just happy about the news. She checked time and again to ensure that the cooperation between the navy and the company was legal. In a sense, the company sold the whole area off for a little too cheap. Regardless, Maria still found Claude to be a great financial mind. He had managed to find her a route to riches on which nobody had ever treat before.

Rodan and the other investors of the company had their eyes narrowly focused on the construction of the naval base. But Maria was unlike them. She was already contemplating whether the business model could be moved to the royal capital or some other city in the kingdom. If it were possible, then House Normanley would no doubt shoot up to the apex of the kingdom and have a long-lasting source of income.

Having noticed Claude’s importance, Maria got Rodan to seek out Sir Fux on her own accord to pay off the debt and give the IOU back to Claude. Yet, she didn’t consider whether he even needed it or not. She wanted to cement her relationship with Claude in the future and possibly earning his gratitude was one way she could do so.

Claude had ten percent of the company’s shares and his profit amounted to ten thousand crowns. Taking out that five hundred from the debt, he still had way more to spare. But Claude didn’t want to pay the debt back because he had other plans. It was too bad Maria ruined it for him, but he couldn’t bring himself to blame her either way. He should even accept it as a favor. He really didn’t know how to react to it.

As for the exemption from military service she said she would try to get him, CLaude felt a little conflicted about him. Usually, people who were exempted from serving were publicly acknowledged talents, such as great artists, authors, and other kinds of youthful talent.

Claude believed that all he did was give Maria a business idea. She already paid him back with ten percent of the shares and he was more than satisfied to gain the favor of House Normanley.

Yet, Maria was going to ask for an exemption from Stellin X on behalf of him. He didn’t know how to feel about that. It was a good thing to be exempted, as he didn’t have to become cannon fodder on the battlefield. However, that also had the negative effect on limiting his status as a peasant. He wouldn’t have as many freedoms as a dignitarian had. That way, he would be forced to rely on Maria for the rest of his life. While that wasn’t bad in itself, Claude felt a little reluctant for that.

The kingdom of Aueras had always worshipped the strong. Even though the descendants of nobles were dignitarians by birth, they would join the army upon reaching adulthood. While they wouldn’t be sacrificed on the battlefield as cannon fodder like the peasants would, their lives were still at risk. The list of noble officer casualties after every war proved the bravery of those who participated and that was the reason for Aueras’s continued expansionist policies for the years before.

To the young nobles, joining the military was a necessary part of their life journey. Anyone, regardless in which noble circle they belonged, would be a target for mockery should they not join the military, because that showed that they didn’t have the courage to face the threat of death. They were simply cowards. Additionally, nobles who didn’t join the military weren’t eligible to become members of the noble council. Those in it had earned their seats through hard work and toiling on the battlefield.

Claude didn’t think that Maria would be able to get him an exemption just by saying that he had a great mind for finance. The kingdom had always been strict with giving such exemptions after all.

Back then, an artist Claude read about on Whitestag Dawn by the name of Wecks-something received the top prize for a competition among youth artists. His teacher praised him for being a divine artist born among mere mortals, but as the youth was unable to receive the recognition of the top ten most famous artists in the kingdom, he received a draft order from the military nevertheless to serve as the royal army’s painter.

Oh well, it’s just my luck. There’s no point fussing over this now. I’ll cross the bridge when I come to it.

When he returned home that night, his mother seemed really glad. Upon asking, he found that Rodan had sent the copies of the proof of debt repayment from the town hall to them. That meant that Bloweyk was no longer bearing that debt.

“You have to serve Lady Maria the best you can. Our family is truly indebted to her. Thanks to her grace, little Blowk won’t have to worry about the debt in the future… But… oh, if only your father were still alive to bask in this bliss…” She began to feel melancholic again from remembering the past.

Claude sighed. But I didn’t want that! Regardless, he had to console his mother first. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have a peaceful meal later.

There were many things that were linked to one another and changes were occurring nonstop. Tomas mentioned that had they not invested in the new sailing route and trading fleet and went straight into real estate development, they would’ve gotten rich long ago and wouldn’t have to go through all that trouble. Claude’s father would’ve been fine too.

Though, it was a laughable statement. If Morssen didn’t lead the exploration to find a new trade route, such an opportunity would never surface in Whitestag. Things would go on as usual and they would remain a small hub town in the three southwestern prefectures that led to the outer territories.

Perhaps a case could be made if they were able to be convinced to drop their greed and acknowledge the risk of pirates and hand information about the new route to the royal navy directly. That way, it probably would’ve ended nicely for everyone. But did that version of events have the most remote chance of occurring? Before they were made aware of the pirate threat, their eyes were completely blinded from the profits they could make from the new sailing route.

Which one of them would’ve been able to give up on a secret trade route connecting the two continents that nobody knew of? The profits would be ten times the capital had they succeeded! Instead of saying that the trading fleet ultimately failed as a result of bad luck from falling prey to the pirates, it was more apt to call it the fleet’s destiny. Sending out such a large trading fleet when there were still so many unknowns was serving them out on a silver platter.

Consequently, it was precisely the trading fleet’s doom and the pirate infestation that drew the attention of the royal navy. The kingdom even amended its policy to invest in Whitestag’s development. Only then did Normanley Real Estate have the chance to take an early step and get their hands on the slums to develop it and sell them to the navy for huge profits.

It was an amalgamation of various factors that led to the current developments in Whitestag. If all had remained the same, developing the slums was a fool’s errand. Other things aside, who would be the target market for the property? Would the slum folks be able to afford any?

After Felidos cleared up the various departments of the city hall, he gave a conscription order for the expansion of the Keepers of Whitestag. The garrison clan numbered only 224, yet a full keeper tribe numbered up to 864 men. As such, they still had to recruit around six hundred men to fill their ranks.

However, Felidos didn’t open the recruitment to volunteers, nor did he employ forced conscription at the slums. Instead, the troops would be recruited from every household. Any peasant household that had two fit male youth members that fit the bill had to send one of them to join the keepers, regardless of whether they had a proper job.

But that caused Tomas quite a bit of trouble. More than two hundred people from his thousand laborers were conscripted away just like that. They all matched the criteria to enlist and received a notice for a health check. If they passed that, they would be brought into the keeper camp to be trained. That would pose a huge loss of laborers for Normanley Real Estate.

Claude couldn’t do anything about it. He wasn’t able to sway Felidos’s decision, so he asked Rodan to consult him whether he could get the new mayor to relax that policy a little and enlist less people from the workforce. It was a crunch period for the project after all.

Rodan merely shook his head and said that there was no chance he would be able to change the viscount’s mind either. Felidos was a military man himself and he held their priorities as paramount. The fact that among his first orders of business was a military draft meant that even Maria wouldn’t be able to change his mind. It was the first ember he ignited as mayor and Felidos would ensure that it burned till the end. It was a matter of honor and pride.

“Whatever… We’ll just recruit some other laborers…” Claude said helplessly to Tomas, “This time, make sure to hire older ones. Weren’t there quite a number of people who wanted to work for our company after the forced conscription at the slums? Let’s take in more of them and at least give them some work. Having more people will help us if more of them get conscripted away in the future.”

The forced conscription in the slums some time ago greatly benefited Normanley Real Estate. Anyone in the slums that flashed their proof of identity as an employee of Normanley Real Estate would be spared from conscription unconditionally. The company didn’t have to take them back themselves, to the envy of the other employees who were waiting for their respective employers to pick them up. Not long after, a huge crowd gathered at Normanley Real Estate’s recruitment point.

Back then, Tomas excitedly picked out one out of three to four workers, prioritizing the hardworking, young, strong and obedient. Yet, he didn’t think that he would be merely thinning out the crowd for the keepers to select their members from. He lost more than two hundred youths in a flash and that would set their schedule back considerably.

It wasn’t even certain whether Felidos would draft Claude. But as much as he didn’t want it, it still came to pass.

A few days later, Felidos sent his right-hand man to summon Claude into his office at the city hall. The mayor handed him a document with two words on it: conscription order.

“Claude, this is an opportunity only made possible by my recommendation letter. The Bluefeather army will be holding an officer training course. Candidates picked for that course are all veterans with more than five years of impressive performance. After the training course ends, they will officially become officers in the military. That is the turning point from turning from a normal soldier to a military officer. In three years’ time, you will make a fine second lieutenant. I believe you won’t let me down. I have high hopes for you and trust that you won’t disappoint me. As long as you can contribute to the kingdom, the bowing of my head to plead for you to be given this opportunity wouldn’t be wasted! You have to strive hard!”

Felidos used his one remaining right arm to pat on Claude’s shoulder heartily. His expression seemed to convey, ‘I bet you’re surprised, aren’t you? What are you waiting for? Thank me for this great opportunity!’