32 – LH Nun Punishment Act 6

Aosta Mountains.

As a branch of the mountain range extending from the rugged Als Mountains in Schwyz, it was a place forming the natural border between Schwyz and the city-state of Milan.

The area itself belongs to Milan’s sphere of influence, but

Compared to the Lugano region, which plays a role as a gateway, it has not received much attention because it is farther west.

In addition, the mountain is also steep, so it can be said that it is a quiet rural area where commercial development has not been achieved.

In other words, it means that it is a fairly poor neighborhood compared to other areas.

In such a secluded rural village, Jake, the lord of Lugano, visited secretly with his entourage.

“It’s been a while, my lord.”

“Ohh… Sir Jake. Long time no see.”

Looking at Jake, the lord of Lugano, a neighboring region, and the son of an old friend, Easter, the lord who rules the Aosta area, looked pleased.

“Yes, I am very glad to have you visit me after such a long time. I have heard about you often. I hear you are making a decent profit doing the mining business?”

After exchanging light greetings, the two sit in the room and talk.

As Easter, who had seen Jake since childhood, he treated him openly, and Jake did the same.

In terms of power, this side had the upper hand, but for him, Easter was an uncle-like figure who replaced his deceased father.

“Yes, it is, my lord. Although it is just getting started, it is still making a decent profit.”

“That’s a good thing. To successfully lead a task that is difficult to do hastily. If your father were alive, he must have been proud.”

At Jake’s words, Easter nodded his head and began to express his regret, and Jake, too, smiled a little darkly and began to lead the conversation carefully.

“It must have been. Since childhood, my father has told me a lot about mining. Now that I have made that dream come true, I am sure you are rejoicing in heaven as well.”

“Yeah, that’s right.. Anyway, that’s a very enviable thing. It’s the mining industry.. It’s definitely a job that makes quite a bit of money once you catch it.. Unfortunately, this side doesn’t seem to be very lucky in that regard.”

“But aren’t there good veins flowing in the Aosta area as well? I heard from my father that metals were mined here in the past, but…”

At Jake’s words, Easter slowly shook his head with a sad expression on his face.

“What would you do if a vein of good quality flowed? From our point of view, with no one to work with and no one to transport them, they are just bright apricots.”

Easter was right.

The Aosta region, which has less than half the population of Lugano and even few agricultural lands to procure food, and also occupies a geographically remote place, they lacked the ability to develop mines even if they discovered them.

Right now in Lugano, people are deliberately bankrupt and the mines are running while replacing the manpower that was created.

For Iosta, who is self-sufficient with barely enough food to live on, this was like a dream.

“You know better that the mining industry is a job that can’t be done with just one or two people. The fact that this area is so sparsely populated is just a pity for me right now. I heard that the price of iron ore has gone up a lot lately..”

“I see… that’s a pity.”

As he sympathized with Easter’s words, Jake took a sneak peek at him and carefully started tossing rice cakes.

“Um… my lord? Actually, there is something I want to ask you about him, but…”

“yes? Something?”

“Um… that’s… I’m asking just in case. Perhaps, regarding the mine, didn’t something come in from the Beden Merchants some time ago?”

“The top of Beden? Oh, I see, something like that happened. I remember that I applied for a purchase saying that I would develop a mine. But even so, the scale of the purchased area was small, and the workers said they would procure it themselves. In the end, what remains on our side will be a small amount of land price and at most a few pennies in tax revenue.”

“I see… do you know what kind of ore they are digging?”

“I don’t know the details… well… at most it’s iron ore or copper ore, right?”

“Um… ”

Read at noblemtl.com

Nodding slowly at Easter’s words, Jake knew roughly how things were going.

‘Indeed… Linda’s prediction was correct. Upper Beden…they were just as greedy as we were.’

In general, when a mine is developed, most of the profits from the ore from it go into the hands of those who purchase and develop the mine.

Although he had to pay a certain amount of tax to the lords of the region, that amount was at most an ordinary land tax level.

In other words, it meant that the income from the gold mine would go almost entirely to the mouth of the Beden Merchant.

And, having grasped the situation like that, Jake and Linda began to slowly lay the groundwork for the story as planned.

“Younglord. I have something to tell you about that, but…”

“What is it?”

“The truth is…”

After Jake’s story began like that, Lord Easter’s face was filled with a light of surprise.

“Is that…is that real? The… gold mine? Is there really such a thing in our estate?”

“Yes, it is, my lord. There is no doubt that the head of the Beden Merchant Chamber came and said it himself.”

“Huh.. Oh my God.. Gold mine.. Giving away a gold mine that is not a railroad copper mine at such a low price..”

At Jake’s words, Lord Easter began beating his chest in pity.

I don’t know if it’s wild ore. Precious metals such as silver and gold can yield astronomical benefits once they are developed, even if they are too much.

As the name suggests, selling the bonanza itself for mere pennies is a very painful loss both personally and as a lord who rules a region.

Then, looking at the lord like that, Jake spoke to him in a cautious voice.

“Um… So, my lord… There is something I’d like to offer you in this regard…”

“proposal? That… what is that?”

The Easter lord asks with great anticipation about the story related to the gold mine.

In this regard, Jake slowly started talking about the issues he was thinking about. Hearing this, the Lord Easter automatically nodded.

“How is it? I have a plan in mind.”

“Umm… I’m sure if you succeed, you and I will both benefit a lot… but is it really okay? If things go wrong and you end up incurring the wrath of the Beden Merchant…”

“You can worry about that. Anyway, this Easter area is a place where there is little breath from the top of Beden due to its nature. And if we move a little stealthily, we don’t have to worry about being found out by the Beden Merchant Corps either.”

“It might be, but…”

“Above all, this is a very normal administrative matter if you look at it at face value. No matter how great the Beden Merchant Army is, they will not attack us with simple feelings in the absence of evidence.”

“… If so…”

After thinking about Jake’s words for the last time.

Easter finally nodded his head as he brushed off the uneasiness that remained in his heart.

“Okay. Let me proceed according to your word.”

“Thank you, lord.”

“If your plan succeeds, we will surely benefit greatly. Then, it would not be a dream to develop the Aosta region, which is no different from this small village.”

“Surely it will. Trust me, lord.”

A bright smile began to appear on Jake’s face as he was delighted that things had been completed according to his plan.

*

“What are you doing about this? Suddenly canceling the license for a mine under development. Isn’t there a law like this?”

Looking at Lord Easter in front of her eyes, she…

Isolda Evergarden spoke in a cold voice.

Even though she was simply talking, her attitude seemed to radiate cold air.

At this, Easter, the lord, felt a chill run down his spine without even realizing it, but nevertheless he endured it and answered in the most calm voice possible.

“Uh… well… that’s how it happened. Opposition voices erupted from nearby residents. I can’t accept a mine that doesn’t help the local economy.”

“Isn’t the lord the one who gave permission for it in the first place?”

“I just checked the paperwork. I didn’t know that public opinion would harden like this. Sorry, but this is a small town. As much as I feel sorry for each and every one of the residents, no matter how much I do, I have no choice but to notice.”

“… under… ”

Isolda let out a small sigh as she listened to Easter’s excuses, which had put together her own logic.

“..great. If that’s the case, then you should take responsibility as well.”

“Responsibility…?”

The Easter lord expresses a question. At his words, Isolda put down a document with the feeling of throwing it away. Seeing this, the lord flinched slightly and carefully picked it up.

“This… this… what is this?”

“Is this the permission signed by the lord? It has these words written there. If the permit is unavoidably revoked for any reason, the land cost and permit tax, as well as due compensation for damages, shall be paid in addition.”

“Umm… when did this happen…”

“… Surely you didn’t sign without checking the contents?”

“That… can it be? Ah.. Anyway, I got it. A promise is a promise, so pay the reward.”

To be honest, I signed it without thinking, thinking it was just a simple pocket money earning.

Even if he had discovered the provision in the first place, he would have signed it without much risk, as he did not know that things would turn out like this at the time.

In addition, although the compensation was larger than expected. As it was clear that he would gain more from this, he accepted Isolda’s request without much resistance.

In the process, it was a bonus that the feeling of fear for Isolda, who was staring at him with eyes like a poisonous snake, was planted throughout the work.