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Chapter 49
Before entering the elegantly decorated small banquet hall, Helena gave Benjamin some prior instructions.
“I’ll tell you in advance—everyone here is at least a little willing to help us. So, you don’t have to bow excessively, but act a bit humble.”
Benjamin, nodding, asked,
“And where are the ones who don’t intend to help us?”
Helena replied nonchalantly,
“The freeloaders? I told you to have them caught.”
“‘Told me to have them caught’? Who did you give that order to?”
“Your subordinates.”
“……?”
Helena clasped her hands together, putting on a pleading expression.
“They said they would send a pursuit team immediately because I said my heart aches from dealing with such horrible people.”
“…….”
“I didn’t ask them to capture them at all costs, but I did request that they be caught.”
“Capture…?”
“If they resist too much, capturing them could be more difficult, right? I was just making your work easier in advance.”
Benjamin sighed and nodded.
“I understand.”
“So, your subordinates can handle the freeloaders any way they like, but with the people gathered here, you need to behave as politely as possible. Got it?”
“……I’ll try.”
“Good.”
Helena smiled brightly and placed her hand on Benjamin’s arm.
The countess, radiant in her smile, and the count, sullen-faced, walked side by side into the banquet hall.
“Many familiar faces after such a long time.”
“Sitting together like this brings back old memories.”
Helena’s intuition was correct.
The people gathered in the Ischpern small banquet hall were those who, despite having had their ties forcibly cut with the Ischpern family in the past, could not completely sever the connection due to their own circumstances.
“I never imagined I’d see Mr. Duval here.”
The head of the Duval trading guild, displeased, took a second sip of the pre-meal drink.
“I came because I was curious about what kind of person the new count is, who dared to calmly invite me to the Ischpern estate after putting me in such a predicament.”
Leon, who had asked the question, gave a faint smile that did not hide his bitterness.
Leon, too, had managed several businesses on behalf of the Ischpern family but had suffered losses when his connection to the family was abruptly severed.
He continued with a measured tone, despite the bitterness.
“In any case, merchants and noble houses exist in a symbiotic relationship. If the new count is willing to start anew, we ought to support him.”
Like Leon, Vogel, who had participated in trade under the previous count’s authority, clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“Leon, you are very forgiving. I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what happened five years ago.”
“You had it rough too, Mr. Vogel.”
“In any case, I must receive a proper apology today.”
At Vogel’s words, Makena, a merchant dealing in mana stones who was nibbling on bread crusts, raised his head in surprise.
“An apology from the new count…?”
“That’s why we were called, isn’t it?”
Swallowing hard, Makena continued.
“You know that the new Count Benjamin Ischpern is one of the Empire’s most renowned knights, don’t you?”
Vogel flinched at Makena’s words.
“A few days ago, the count’s soldiers brought mana stones to our shop, including one from a griffin.”
“Oh!”
“A griffin…! Flying and hybrid-type monsters’ mana stones are extremely rare.”
As southern merchants, they were well-versed in the value of mana stones.
Makena nodded proudly.
“But I heard that the new count personally defeated it alone.”
“Alone?”
“That massive monster?”
Makena nodded, fear evident in his expression.
“My point is, Count Ischpern should not be treated as an ordinary trading partner. If he gets angry…”
Vogel felt a long-standing frustration from the past five years start to dissipate.
With a calmer expression, Vogel said,
“Now that I think about it, maybe we don’t even need an apology. We are merchants, after all. Why should we dwell on the past and make obstacles for future deals? What matters is the future.”
“Exactly.”
“Mr. Vogel is right.”
With Makena’s advice, the atmosphere softened, just as the doors of the banquet hall opened and the Ischpern count couple entered.
“Everyone, thank you for gathering here today.”
The new Countess Ischpern was indeed a rumored stunning beauty.
With her hair neatly styled and wearing a modest dress, she somehow illuminated the entire hall.
“…….”
Count Ischpern, on the other hand, was strikingly handsome, almost hard to believe if one remembered the previous count.
However, perhaps because of Makena’s comment, his beauty seemed overshadowed by an aura of coldness and intimidation.
“We should begin with an apology.”
Helena, expecting nothing from Benjamin in such a social setting, took the initiative to lead the conversation.
“There is no excuse. To those who have suffered losses because of the Ischpern family but still came here without holding a grudge, I must sincerely apologize.”
As the dazzlingly beautiful countess spoke in a fragile voice, like a breeze scented with dew, the merchants in the hall jumped slightly in their chairs.
“No, madam, this is not a matter for you to apologize for!”
“Of course. In trade, both sides cannot always benefit equally, so it was something you were right to endure.”
Helena smiled warmly, like a spring breeze.
“Thank you for saying that—it makes me feel lighter.”
Just as the mood was softening, Duval, who had remained silent until now, spoke.
“But there’s also the matter of trust.”
All eyes at the table turned toward Duval.
“If you have looked at the past business records of the Ischpern family, you may have noticed that the previous Count, Damon Ischpern, was not particularly capable. Yet, between him and us, there was trust built over a long period.”
Duval continued in a solemn voice.
“Trust has no form, cannot be documented, and might seem trivial—but that is precisely why it is so valuable.”
As Helena slightly raised her chin to respond, Benjamin leaned slightly over the table.
With the candlelight behind him, his face was shadowed, and his red eyes glinted sharply.
“Don’t trust me, is that it?”
The merchants, tense, only rolled their eyes nervously between Benjamin and Duval.
Duval spoke calmly.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Count. I just wanted to say that if trust could be quantified, it would be close to zero—or even below that.”
The subtle sarcasm in Duval’s tone irritated Benjamin.
Benjamin growled.
“So, that is what you mean by not trusting me.”
The atmosphere in the hall turned icy.
Duval spoke coldly.
“We are already doing well without the support of the Ischpern family. In this situation, is there any reason to take your hand again?”
“So you’re saying you want to defy me?”
Duval let out a chilling laugh.
“There is no need for pretenses. Until the countess sent a letter, the connection between us and the Ischpern family had been completely severed. And it was you who cut it off. Have you already forgotten that no matter how many people we sent, not a single door was opened?”
Helena thought,
“Benjamin Ischpern… you’re really impossible…!”
It seemed Benjamin intended to ruin the gathering she had worked so hard to arrange.
Just as Benjamin was about to speak, Helena pressed down hard on his foot under the table and stood.
“That’s right. The Ischpern family has already lost trust once. This cannot be patched over with a single apology or recovered in a short time.”
She continued, pressing down on Benjamin’s foot.
“Today, we are simply here to see you again and offer our apologies for the past…”
Benjamin, unfazed by her foot on him, interrupted.
“No, if there is no trust, this is just a transaction. Is there any need to drag it out?”
He spoke ominously.
“Tell me directly what you want.”
Duval looked at Benjamin silently.
The current Count Ischpern couple seemed unaware, but Duval’s guild had a long-standing relationship with the Ischpern family.
His father, the previous guild leader, had once been just a merchant at Osos Harbor in Burwood.
By chance, he had received investment from the previous Count Damon Ischpern, gradually establishing the guild’s foundation.
Of course, there had been a crisis. That had happened five years ago—at a critical time when they were trying to expand transport networks beyond the harbor across Burwood, the main investor, the Ischpern family, cut their support.
