Chapter 155

Chapter 155: I Will Take Care of This (1)

The migrants arrived faster than expected, but it wasn’t an unforeseen situation.

After all, it was impossible to build housing for thousands of people within a month or two.

For the time being, they planned to set up temporary tents and mobilize manpower to expedite the construction.

They had to provide a place to live immediately if they wanted to put these people to work, right?

The problem was that there was a shortage of lumber, making it uncertain when the construction would be finished—no, it was unclear if they could even begin.

The longer it took to build the housing, the more chaotic people’s lives would become.

Claude, scratching his head in frustration, asked Wendy with a pleading look.

“What should we do?”

“...I really don’t know.”

“When you really don’t know, you actually say ‘really,’ huh?”

“...”

If even Claude, the Chief Overseer, didn’t have a solution, there was no way Wendy would come up with a clever idea.

Even though she was his aide, her main role was to guard Claude.

Claude, after pondering for a while, sighed and cleared his thoughts.

There was no time to waste on worrying right now. He needed to quickly wrap up this transaction and move on to the next task.

“We’ll discuss the price later. Other than that, there aren’t any other issues, right?”

At Claude’s question, the merchant responded with a serious expression.

“There aren’t any major problems yet, but... if you continue purchasing in such large quantities, issues will eventually arise.”

“What kind of issues?”

“You’re throwing around too much money in Fenris. The northern economy is starting to fluctuate. It’s a good thing for people like me who are making money, but there will inevitably be those who are negatively affected.”

The North was a barren region to begin with.

But now, Fenris was sweeping up the scarce resources, causing prices to rise, and even leading to a situation where the supply was completely drying up.

“Hmm... Did I buy too much? But I needed all of it, you know. I’ll have to keep buying more.”

“What you’re purchasing are mostly raw materials, aren’t they? Since Fenris is absorbing all of it, it’s bound to create dissatisfaction among those running other businesses. Especially the nobles. You understand, don’t you?”

Claude fully understood what the merchant was trying to say.

Because of Ghislain’s audacious policies, an enormous amount of money was flowing into the North. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they were practically scattering money around.

The merchants were grinning from ear to ear, thrilled to have a big client after so long, but not everyone felt the same way.

For the peasants in impoverished estates, it didn’t matter who was buying or selling what. But for nobles who were deeply involved in economic activities, it was a situation that would certainly rub them the wrong way.

Claude nodded a few times.

“The nobles must really hate our lord. Honestly, I can’t stand him ei— ahem, let’s pretend you didn’t hear that.”

“People who don’t live in the big cities don’t really feel the impact of the prices or anything. The real issue is with the other lords and nobles.”

A bratty young lord, like a clumsy child in a candy store, had shown up and was sweeping through the northern markets, causing havoc as he bought up all the goods.

Normally, the nobles would’ve banded together to trip him up or inflict some losses on him.

But it turned out that this bratty lord had the backing of the Marquis of Branford. So, the nobles couldn’t interfere and were left with no choice, but to watch from the sidelines.

How envious and frustrated they must be! They were probably itching to snatch everything out of Ghislain’s hands, desperately stomping their feet.

Claude, having grasped the situation, nodded and attempted to finalize the deal with the merchant.

“I’ll keep that in mind. No other issues, right? Then... let’s shave off just 1 gold.”

“Pardon?”

“Just 1 gold. Give me a discount.”

The merchant couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

They had already negotiated the price during their previous meeting. On top of that, hadn’t Claude already paid the full amount?

‘Isn’t bargaining usually done before you hand over the money?’

The merchant couldn’t make sense of it, but this was Claude’s final act of conscience.

If he kept back some of the funds, it would be considered embezzling from the estate’s budget... but if he paid first and then got a little back, he could pass it off as a “rebate.”

That’s why he was being so insistent even after the deal was supposedly done.

“We’ve done business more than once, and we’ll keep doing business in the future! So, just cut 1 gold off.”

“...”

The merchant looked at Claude with a suspicious gaze.

The timing of the request was strange, but so was the amount. Not 100 gold, but just 1 gold?

For a bribe request from a Chief Overseer, the amount was so small that it only raised more suspicion.

‘What’s his game here? Should I report this to Lady Amelia?’

No matter how much he thought about it, the merchant couldn’t figure out the reason.

Since he didn’t know that Claude was only a Chief Overseer in name and was essentially treated like a slave, there was no way he could guess correctly.

Claude’s request for just 1 gold had no hidden schemes or ulterior motives. It was purely an act of simple desire.

As the merchant stayed silent, Claude, feeling awkward, started to push a little more.

The Brivant Estate, which had agreed to provide support, might have had a smaller population, but it was wealthy, and it also had the Crimson Flame Tower.

They assumed that, while it might take some time, Ghislain would be able to feed them all.

As Ghislain looked over the migrants, he spoke to Lowell, who was standing beside him.

“Lowell, start a population survey right away. First, separate those who can work from those who can’t. Inform Belinda to start treating the sick, and pick out the healthy ones to send to Gillian. We’ll be short on manpower to maintain order for a while.”

“Understood.”

“And as for spies... No, forget it. There’s no way we’ll find them in that crowd. We just need to make sure they don’t leave.”

It was clear that there were spies from other estates mixed in with the migrants.

However, picking out spies among the people gathered from all over the kingdom wasn’t an easy task. Things were already busy enough; there was no time to focus on that.

From the beginning, it was impossible to completely prevent spies from entering. The best way was just to ensure they couldn’t get out.

“Where’s Claude?”

“He went to make a deal with the merchant guild. He should be back soon.”

“As soon as he arrives, make sure he starts distributing food to the immigrants. They’re probably very hungry.”

“Understood. For now, I’ll lead everyone to the temporary shelters.”

Since the work of constructing housing hadn’t been completed yet, everyone would have to live in tents for the time being.

To prevent any commotion, even mercenaries were mobilized to control the immigrants.

But unexpectedly, there were no major disturbances.

Perhaps because they were anxious about being in an unfamiliar place, they followed instructions quite well.

In Claude’s absence, Lowell led the immigrants to the temporary shelters.

“This is where you’ll be staying for now. Even if it’s not to your liking, please be patient. We’ll try to prepare proper housing as soon as possible. Food will be distributed daily, so there’s no need to worry.”

The immigrants looked at the many tents standing before them.

Lowell’s face turned slightly red.

These people had been forcibly relocated at Ghislain’s request. Naturally, they must have had some expectations about their new living conditions.

But now, the fact that they were being told by Fenris to stay in tents because proper housing wasn’t ready yet...it was an embarrassing situation.

However, contrary to Lowell’s expectations, the immigrants’ reactions weren’t bad.

“Wow, the tents are clean! They’re better than where we used to live.”

“All we need is a roof to keep the rain out, right? What’s more important is that we don’t starve.”

“They said they’d give us food every day. We won’t go hungry anymore... but can we really trust that?”

Hearing the murmurs of the people, Lowell nodded.

‘Looks like... they really gathered a bunch of beggars.’

Lately, things had been improving, and he’d almost forgotten. But not long ago, even Fenris was a place where survival was a struggle, with people dying in droves.

Recalling those times, he suddenly understood how these people felt.

‘For now, just giving them food would be enough to make them happy.’

Clicking his tongue inwardly, Lowell continued to sort the people and assign them to tents.

Meanwhile, as Ghislain was returning to his office, Claude hurriedly approached him.

“Lord, we have a problem!”

Ghislain frowned. His mind was already cluttered with too many things to handle, and now it seemed there was another issue.

“What now? Why is there always a problem with you?”

“This time, it’s a real problem.”

“What is it?”

“We’ve run out of lumber. At this rate, not only will the construction of the housing be delayed, but all our plans will face setbacks.”

Ghislain’s expression turned serious at those words.

They had anticipated a shortage of materials from the outset, so they had been sourcing lumber through the merchant guilds. Yet, the problem had surfaced faster than expected.

“Ah, this godforsaken estate. No matter how much money we pour into it, the problems never seem to lessen.”

“With construction happening across the entire estate, materials are being consumed too quickly. There are limits to what we can secure locally and buy from the guilds. Money is one issue, but time is the bigger concern.”

He didn’t care about spending more money. If push came to shove, he could always use the pretext of cosmetics to extract more funds from Rosalyn.

But in the current situation, any delays would mean risking people’s lives.

After a moment of contemplation, Ghislain suddenly brightened, as if he’d thought of something, and let out a small “Ah.”

“I know a way to get a large amount of lumber immediately! And it won’t cost us a dime!”

“What? Where? How can we get that much lumber? And why wouldn’t it cost anything?”

“Just go to Ferdium.”

“Ferdium... Are you thinking of sourcing it from the Forest of Beasts? Even cutting down the outskirts will cause monsters and wild beasts to appear!”

Seeing Claude’s alarmed expression, Ghislain clicked his tongue.

“Of course not. When do you think we’ll have time to subjugate the Forest of Beasts? That’s something for later.”

“Then how... Wait, don’t tell me...?”

Ghislain grinned slyly.

“If we’re short, we’ll just have to strip their forests and mountains. Ferdium and our estate share a common destiny, don’t they?”