BXBX NOVEL Chapter 50: Steam Again!
Chapter 50: Steam Again!
Yep, looks like it’s time for me to splurge again.
Roel thought as he looked at the neat row of boxes filled with gold coins sitting right before him.
That’s right, Roel had struck it rich.
From yesterday morning, which was the day right after Nora’s birthday banquet, the street outside the Ascart House’s Labyrinth Villa had been filled with carriages. The nobles were fighting with one another to enter this usually feared villa to express their deepest concern for Roel and Alicia.
These nobles were neither the subordinates of the Ascart House nor the friends of Carter. All of them had a common similarity though—they were the parents of those in the Elric Youth Faction.
The existence of the Elric Youth Faction had been made known along with the incident. While the leader of the group, Bron, had been killed by Count Bryan, the discussion on how they should deal with the rest of the group, who had tyrannized others alongside Bron, was still underway.
Not every noble house could be as cold-blooded as the Elric House. Most nobles were willing to pay some price to save their children, and there were even a few who didn’t know of the existence of the Elric Youth Faction. Now that crisis had struck, they were trying everything they could to resolve the problem.
They weren’t so foolishly naive as to think that they would be spared just by lying low, especially not after beating up the young master of the Ascart House. If things blew up, the ones to suffer would surely be their own children.
Ever since the incident yesterday, the noble houses had been fighting with one another to foot Roel’s medical bill. Of course, given the multitude of distinguished actors amongst the nobles, one could expect a fair dose of drama as well. There were monologues depicting feelings of lamentation over how they had failed to keep their children in line, followed by infuriated vows to break the legs of their children.
Roel felt that there was no need for that since he had already broken their ‘leg’ back then.
In any case, the Ascart House chose to accept some of the gifts and money that the noble houses brought over. They also expressed their willingness to reconcile with some of the sidelined houses in the Elric House’s faction.
It was not that the Ascart House was bowing down to them, but that it was an essential political maneuver.
These noble houses used to side themselves with the Elric House, but now that the Elric House had lost a son and fell into disrepute, it was an ideal opportunity to poach their people.
The Xeclydes and the Ascarts had already discussed their plans to divide and undermine the Elric House’s influence. Roel’s unintentional fight had really brought them the impetus they needed in order to stage the collapse of the Elric House’s influence.
Regarding the gifts, Carter magnanimously handed them off to Roel and Alicia, citing the reason that they were the victims and ought to be compensated.
Roel was more than delighted with his father’s decision. He had figured that the whole lot would be confiscated and funneled into the Ascart House’s public funds, so it was a pleasant surprise that things turned out this way instead. One should know, of the five elements, the one he lacked the most was none other than gold.
After all, the System was practically a gold digger!
And just yesterday, Roel noticed that the System was holding yet another event.
【Special Event: Inaugural War of Fury
In a dark room, amidst flashes of cold blades, you stand determined to protect the justice in your heart.
Everything in the event shop currently going for 30% off!】
【Special Event: Silver Wings of Liberation
Release the silver bird from its cage. Allow it to unfurl its wings and fly to unstoppable heights!
The items in the event shop will be discounted by 40% (Can be stacked with other discounts)】
To be honest, Roel initially thought nothing about the 30% discount, but when he saw that the second special event was an additional, stackable 40% discount, he suddenly felt electricity running through his body as he jolted upright.
A 30% discount on top of a 40% discount... That was a grand total of 58% off!
One must know that even the usual monthly sales only gave a 50% discount!
Goddamnit! Shopkeeper, get me everything from this row to that row!
Roel quickly went into the event shop to take a look, and voila! It was yet another surprise! There were surprisingly a lot more items inside the event shop than usual. He would typically only receive 2 items in the event shop every month, but there were 10 items this time around!
However, because this was a special event, the items would only remain in the shop for a week. Nevertheless, this didn’t dampen Roel’s mood at all for he was now a mini tycoon!
In order to fish their offspring out of this massive scandal, the noble houses really went all out. The amount that was received from each house ranged from several hundred to several thousand. All in all, the split that Roel obtained in total was around a hulking 10,000 gold coins!
And, that wasn’t all.
An old friend had come to visit him during this period—Arwen.
It had been several months since Arwen had been appointed as manager of the Saint Mesit Theocracy Headquarters. As soon as he caught wind of the matters that had transpired during the princess’ birthday, he immediately tapped into the Sorofyas’ information network to uncover the details surrounding the matter before hurriedly rushing over to pay Roel a visit with all sorts of recovery medicine, tonics, and, not to forget, gold coins.
Arwen wasn’t just indebted to Roel over the issue surrounding the Soulcalming Lamp. More than that, Roel was going to be his future collaboration partner. If something were to happen to the Ascart House, Arwen would be losing out on a lot of potential profits.
Of course, his action of siding with the Ascart House would risk placing him on the bad side of the Elric House...
... but who cares? I’m a Rosaian anyway. The only superior I’m accountable to is the Sorofyas. The Elrics can hate me for all they want, but they can’t do anything about me.
Roel got up from his bed to welcome Arwen in person. Two acquaintances meeting in a foreign land tended to evoke feelings of closeness. The two of them chatted leisurely in the reception room, bringing their ties closer, though Roel did manage to get some useful information out of the conversation too.
“The Elric House? Ah... Young master Roel, you should also be aware that us employees of the Sorofyas are bound by a clause of confidentiality.”
“Of course I’m aware, but surely you must also know of some information that isn’t confidential? Tell me anything that you are allowed to concerning the Elric House.”
“The Elric House, huh? Hmmm, let me give it some thoughts...”
Arwen pondered with a frown for a long while before he finally spoke up slowly.
“The current Elric House is a little... unusual.”
“Oh? What do you mean by that?”
“There are some doubts surrounding how the Elric House managed to rise to power once more. Young master Roel, you have heard of the battle between the royal twins a hundred years ago, right?”
“Naturally. It’s a matter concerning my predecessor, Ponte. I have known about it since I was young.”
Roel spoke with a straight face without the slightest hint of embarrassment on it.
Arwen nodded his head before he continued on.
“The battle between the royal twins led to the Elric House being banished to the borders facing the Austine Empire and Knight Kingdom Pendor. I have once traveled to the borders myself, and I can assure you that it’s not an easy land to manage. It’s a buffer zone between the three countries, and small skirmishes often occur there. It’s a place of chaos.
“The intention behind the royal family’s decision to banish the Elric House there is likely to have it spiral into decline before vanishing from the face of the world. However, after struggling for the past hundred years, the Elric House miraculously managed to rise back to power. What is bizarre about this whole matter though is that the Elric House’s rise is totally unaccounted for. Our Sorofyas actually didn’t notice it until it had already happened.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Roel was confused, so Arwen took some time to reorganize his words before he elaborated with a much softer voice.
“Young master Roel, our Sorofyas is a merchant organization. We have invested significantly to build up our intelligence network, so as to ensure that we can make the right decisions. Ah, just to clarify, we don’t engage in spy work or espionage! We would never stoop that low! What we mainly do is collating and tabulating information.”
“Collating and tabulating information? Wait, what you mean to say is that...”
“Yes, we gather information and make estimates about each fief’s production and flow of goods. Through this, we are able to gauge each noble house’s financial power and make investments accordingly. However, our investigations seem to have failed with the Elric House.”
Speaking up to this point, an uncomprehending look appeared on Arwen’s face.
“Based on the data we have gathered on the Elric House’s fiefdom, there hasn’t been any change in their population size over the past few decades.”