Chapter 123 - A Prince's Resolve

Calian returned to the room and quietly sat back down. The expression on his face didn’t look good, so Yan worriedly asked,

“Is there something else bothering you, Your Highness?”

“Lenon Brissen. I already don’t like the idea of there being a monopoly on the food trade, but the fact that things can be twisted whichever way they want is worse.”

“Is it because they’ve stopped doing business in this area?”

“Yes. It’s not like it’ll be the Lord who starves if this goes on.”

There were many mines around this area, but it wasn’t fertile enough for large-scale farming. So food had always been dependent on transactions with merchants.

“It’s not good to be careless with matters of food.”

Calian was grumbling like this when he heard a knock on the door. Even if he didn’t check, it was clear who might have come, so Calian waved a hand to Yan to open the door.

As expected, it was Ger who entered Calian’s room. His displeased expression was worth seeing.

‘He probably didn’t think that someone with the status of a prince would just leave things be with two territories on the verge of war before his eyes.’

Ger stood, looking at Calian for a moment and hesitating.

When there was no word from Ger after waiting for a long while, Calian frowned.

“Are you just here to stare at my face?”

Ger then bowed his head.

“I am sorry. I’ll explain, so please listen to me for a little while.”

“Make it short.”

Ger opened his mouth, and in a very cautious voice—very much unlike how he’d sounded when they’d first met, or even back in his room moments ago—he explained the situation with Brissen Merchantry that Calian had discovered from Sting.

Then he bowed his head again.

“Through Luca, I learned you were involved in the situation with Latran. But I couldn’t tell you at first because the reason this war is happening was because of what happened in Latran. I hid Luca because I thought you wouldn't help if he was involved. I am really sorry.”

Calian didn’t say anything.

“You might call me shameless, but we need your help. This isn’t a problem we can solve ourselves.”

Calian did not immediately give an answer.

He pursed his lips and fell into thought for a moment. Ger looked on nervously, waiting for Calian to speak.

But there was one name running around in Calian’s head.

‘Lenon Brissen’

He had betrayed Franz and decided to support Randall, which caused the issues in Latran, and now, because he was dealing with the fallout from that poorly and breaking trade deals as he wished, it was causing a war between territories here.

Before that, it was Lenon who had used petty tricks during Rumein’s birthday festival to try and get rid of Melphir Polun because of the rights to the diamond trade with Tensil, and it was also Lenon who handed the Tacrimosa over to Silica, which she had fed to Calian for so long, almost killing him.

Again and again and again!

It was like he was holding Calian at the ankles, trying to drag him down.

After a long time, Calian gave his answer, speaking quietly and quickly.

“I haven’t been to Nerika yet. But it’s probably similar. Go and confirm whether they’re preparing for a fight there too. If it’s the case, then give them my letters. And find out what they need other than wheat. Then I’ll meet the Lords.”

“Does this mean you’ll help us?”

“I’m not doing this to help the elves, so don’t be mistaken.”

He was doing this because he felt like he needed to put a stop to Lenon Brissen first.

Either way, Ger’s expression looked much better, whether Calian continued talking or not.

“I hate being a pawn in someone else’s game. And I don’t deal with people who do things like that either—so do it right this time.”

“I understand.”

Ger, who replied, bowed a few more times, thanking him as he left.

—

The sunlight streamed in from the window.

Calian had passed the night with open eyes and contacted Alan as soon he could. Because it was early, Alan replied immediately whether he was at home or not.

“Did you stay up all night?”

Calian was someone who unexpectedly needed a lot of sleep, which was why, whenever he was awake at dawn like this, it was because he hadn’t slept the night before.

“Yes. I had a lot to think about.”

“Go on.”

Calian nodded and explained everything that had happened so far to Alan. He could feel Alan’s surprised reaction through the magic of the ring and agreed with his reaction—this situation deserved surprise.

“Are you saying that you’ll really do that?”

It was the first time Alan had questioned him like this. Calian laughed. He could almost see what Alan was doing right now—he was probably sprawled across his bed or on a sofa and kneading whatever he could find in his fists.

“Yes. Please tell His Majesty to let Marquis Brissen know that Lenon betrayed him.”

After a long moment of pause, Alan asked,

“Do you know what it means to tell Marquis Brissen about Lenon Brissen’s business with Tensil?”

“I know there is a risk of civil war and the risk of starting a fight between the princes. But I know Marquis Brissen likes money.”

It was a fact that he had understood after dealing with Hale Latran’s issue this time around. Didn’t Hale say that he would receive a piece of land as a gift after handing over the money earned to Marquis Brissen?

“Does that mean you want to bribe Marquis Brissen too, Your Highness?”

“No. I wouldn’t.”

Calian, who said so, recalled once again all the thoughts that had run around his head throughout the night and continued to explain.

“Please give the information to Marquis Brissen and tell him that if he quietly ousts Lenon Brissen without any other problems arising, that you will buy the Brissen Merchantry from him.”

Alan was silent for a moment as he tried to process what exactly Calian was suggesting he would buy, even as Calian’s explanation continued.

“When Silica was rumored to have poisoned me, the damage to the Brissen Merchantry was the biggest. To the point where Hale, who had been dealing quietly with Lenon, was hit by it—the damage would be beyond imagination. There’s no way that Marquis Brissen would want to keep holding on to that headache of a Merchantry.”

From the first place, the House of Brissen was a family of knights.

Brissen Merchantry was something that Lenon, who had no talent with swords, founded and grew.

Lenon’s father, Marquis Evan Brissen, would have left Lenon and the Merchantry alone because, in the grand scheme of things, it was a small sum of money. However, there was no way he would be pleased with the Merchantry now that it didn’t fit the prestige of the knights' family and was even losing money.

“No matter how much the deficit might be, it’s the biggest Merchantry in Kyris. How on earth will you buy and operate it?”

“Isn’t there already the right person to operate it? Baron Polun, the owner of the Polun Merchantry, will be enough to operate it. If the name of the Merchantry is changed, then the nobles will resume trading, so the deficit problem should be resolved.”

“It’s not a matter of whether there is anyone who can run it. Right now, we are preparing to buy a site for the Mage Unit, Valkan, to use and build a building there. In addition, the cost of maintaining Valkan is high. No matter how difficult the situation has become for them, it will not be easy for the royal family to pay enough money to purchase the Merchantry.”

Calian, who understood where Alan might have misunderstood, said,

“Teacher, you haven’t opened my safe yet, have you?”

Rumein had loved Freya very much.

Rumein, who had taken Freya in as a concubine after the death of Queen Aisha, Randall’s mother, gave Freya a decent estate and assets. Silica didn’t enter as Queen until after that.

The land owned by Freya Whitlin, who passed away, was inherited by Calian.

And the old Calian had never used the money generated from the estate. The old Calian didn’t spend a single penny—it was to the point where the Brissens didn’t even wonder how much money had been accumulated in that safe.

For 14 years, that money had accumulated.

“Lenon Brissen. Please clean him up, Teacher.”

Located in Whitlin were the largest wheat production farms in Kyris.

And that was the order of Calian, the Lord of Whitlin.