140 – Battle of Waine Plains (13)

After hearing that, Duke Architel laughed and said,

“You are so cruel. It looks like this already injured old man will soon be called by Deus… Please take it easy.”

Even though I said that, I didn’t feel any intention of cursing or belittling me in any part of the Duke’s voice, eyes, or actions.

It must be because of his strong will not to reveal his weakness by showing his emotions in front of me right now, he is showing such a nonchalant appearance.

And as if my guess was correct, the duke was expressing his anger, resentment, and resentment by gripping Baron Agincourt’s armor even more tightly.

Then, Duke Architel pointed to the right leg of the armor and said.

Looking closely, I saw a hole the size of my finger on my right calf, and inside it I could see a penetrating wound that looked like it had been burned with a pharynx.

“I am 73 years old this year. But since I was seriously injured… I think I will die soon… ”

“no. You will recover soon.”

“Though I missed the calf bone and didn’t cut off my leg… I’ll never be able to ride a horse for the rest of my life. Now my life as a knight is over. When I return, I intend to hand over my title to my son and retire.”

“For a great knight like Your Highness to retire… I’m really sorry.”

Now I am talking about the wounds inflicted on Duke Architel, but the central content of the story being shared is quite different.

The true meaning of what that man is saying is…

[Yes, Count. Congratulations on winning, but I suffered a terrible injury that kept me riding in great health until I was 73 years old. See the gunshot here? Seeing this, my life as a knight is over. So, if you’re going to pretend that conscience exists, you’ll have to relax the conditions. In exchange for mitigation, pass on the title to your children and live quietly.]

As a knight, it’s a little off-putting, but as a duke of a duchy, his efforts to protect his family and his vassals by any means seemed tearful.

In normal cases, if you appeal to this extent, the conditions will be alleviated to some extent in order to protect your honor, but…

No matter how great the damage was, whether it was the enemy’s duke or baron… Our dead soldiers cannot come back alive.

What I can do for those who can’t come back is to make it impossible for Duke Architel to recover at all.

“To help the Duke recover quickly… After this war, we will send the most famous doctor in our county. So you will be well soon.”

“Thank you, Count. Thanks to you, even though I won’t be able to ride a horse again, I don’t think I’ll have to spend the rest of my life in pain… ”

“It is an honour. However, aren’t there many wounded knights and soldiers on both sides? And in order to treat them, shouldn’t we return to the manor as soon as possible?”

At those words, the duke said with a bitter expression, as if he knew that he couldn’t do it anymore.

“I agree. Our duty is to save even one more soldier. Then, let me start the story first.”

“good.”

Then, the duke called a soldier outside and said.

“You ask Inspector Bischoff to bring you the papers from the Hamburg MP Melona.”

After a while, a man dressed in black silk came in, set the papers down in front of the Duke and me, and left.

The duke pointed at the document with his chin, as if asking me to read it.

[Former Hamburg member Melona reports to Her Highness. Count Kreutel stole the seal of Architel’s brewing guild. Using it, the wine he made is being sold disguised as if it were produced in Akitel. Also this… ]

[Chief Inspector Heine Bischoff reports. Currently, the price of wine produced in our estate has dropped by about half, and we only receive about 50 gold coins per barrel. (Omitted) As a result of comprehensively analyzing these phenomena, it is thought that more than half of the wines currently sold in all of Europe are not made in our territory… As a result, our territory suffered more than 60,000 gold coins. Also, if this counterfeiting continues, it will lead to losses of at least 40,000 gold coins every year… It seems that it will soon lead to bankruptcy.]

It is said that after the Melona councilor escaped, he joined the Duke of Architel, and, of course, he told the Duke as it was and gave it to him…

However, we cannot fully prove that we made huge profits by counterfeiting seals to that extent.

However, I expected Duke Architel to suffer tremendous damage from the wine we made…

I never thought that I would have suffered more than 60,000 gold coins.

That’s the only thing I brought with me as the number of conversion…

I closed the papers and thought about bowing my head to the duke and apologizing, but then changed my mind.

Because if I apologize, the duke will use this as an excuse to negotiate terms that are favorable to him.

“I know this has happened, but it’s not my fault.”

Seeing me like that, the Duke laughed at me and said,

“These are the words of Merona, member of the Hamburg Committee of Ten, herself. Couldn’t a person of that caliber have lied?”

It’s what I did, but if you accept it here, it becomes what I did.

Then, the county of Creutel suffered a blow to its trust as a merchant.

If that happens, our territory, which lives on commerce, will be hindered from feeding the soldiers.

Then, in a decade or so, Duke Architel may be able to take advantage of our weakness to reclaim his lost territories.

However, you can’t catch me with just that amount of evidence, and I have no intention of showing any gaps.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. Also, in the first place, Senator Melona was the one who fled with great dissatisfaction when I was dealing with Creutel wine. Wouldn’t it be too much for you to take the words of such a person literally and try to tarnish our reputation?”

As I said, Melona is the one who was exiled due to a power struggle in Hamburg.

And as with modern politicians, politicians who have lost their power sometimes flesh out even the slightest gap and create outrageous bullshit.

For example, even if you are walking close to an unknown woman, regardless of prostitution or adultery, you may call it adultery.

Of course, in this case, the real culprit is me, but catching it is the most important thing in this case.

Perhaps because he knew so many such precedents, Duke Architel did not have a strong objection to what I said.

“However, I heard that the damage is serious according to the words of the Merona councilor and administrator. And being able to do this… ”

“We developed a wine to die for, and as a result, we were able to create a wine that tastes just as good as Architel wine. That’s why some of the middlemen probably forged the seals and sold our wines as Architel’s wines. That way, you can make a bigger profit.”

It is a world without patents or copyrights.

In such a world, it is impossible to hold back an independent lord of an equal position with the belief that our wines of the same or better quality seem to have been forged.

The Duke sighed and said, knowing that he could no longer shake me.

“Then the seal… ”

“It’s nothing more than nonsense made up by Melona in order to receive protection from His Highness the Duke. Wouldn’t it be? Why would I want to steal the seal and do something crazy like that?”

“But… Anyway, I can’t help but suspect that the merchants under your command did it. If you have the senator of Merona, and you can make and sell wine of a similar level to us as you said… Switch to our wine. The only thing you can do is sell it.”

“Anyway, we only sold the seal of the Earl of Creutel. Please don’t falsely frame us with a fake seal that we can’t even prove we stole. Also, we are a place where we fall if we don’t keep our morals. There’s no way you’d do something rude and unconventional, right?”

I said this, but if war is involved in business, it is justice and truth to deceive the other party as best as possible.

Anyway, that guy would have done all sorts of things to fuck me up, but it would be stupid to admit it as it is.

However, the duke spoke in a firm tone, as if he would use any means to obtain compensation.

“But, isn’t it true that the wines you exported have damaged us? We have to pay at least some compensation for this.”

“Okay. Then, the fact that Your Highness sent a spy to our territory and assassinated three soldiers, I will pass on to you without question. I think this will be enough compensation…”

I have spies who perform this kind of mission in Brussels, Maxburg, Italy, etc., and are conducting various schemes.

Sometimes, not a few cases of killing enemy nobles or soldiers in order not to be caught.

This is what all nobles do, but when the evidence is caught and the suspicion becomes clear, a considerable reward has to be paid.

Not only that, but he is even criticized as a man without honor, saying how a nobleman uses spies.

I’ve already secured all the evidence and pretended not to know the spy’s case, so I said let’s end it here.

We paid proper pensions to the bereaved families of the dead soldiers, but I feel guilty for burying these issues.

However, if we prevented this much of a problem that could damage the credibility of our territory, it would have been very cheap.

The duke heard that and said in a voice that seemed to be helpless.

“… .. Instead, I hope that the crackdown will be thorough in the future.”

“good. then… Your Highness the Duke.”

“Tell me.”

“As far as I know, Count Hellsman’s bastard has not been recognized. By the way, to bring such a guy to come… I think it makes no sense, but… ”

From now on, you are a vending machine that gives money and land to our territory.