Far East Maritime Province Special Tourism Zone Development Project (6) ****
The sound of shoes echoing through the corridors of the Valeriano Merchant Guild was full of arrogance.
The merchants, led by Viktor, the representative of the merchant guild union, deliberately arrived later than the appointed time.
Negotiations were always easier if you intimidated them from the start—especially when the guildmaster's seat was occupied by a little girl.
Besides, hadn't even His Great Majesty the Emperor said that women like rough men?
As a loyal subject, he was merely upholding His Majesty's sacred words.
'Now, how eagerly will she be waiting.'
Viktor adjusted his tie in front of the meeting room door and smiled a foul smile.
When the door opened, a pale-faced cat girl would greet them anxiously.
Kkiiik—
An employee cautiously opened the door.
On the face of Viktor, who stepped into the meeting room, the leisurely smile froze solid.
The one sitting at the head of the table, waiting for them, was not Laura Valeriano.
A posture almost lying down in the chair.
And languid eyes, as if this whole situation was extremely bothersome and boring.
Clothes that were clearly of high-quality material, but unfastened for the reason of being uncomfortable.
It was the Grand Duke of the Far East Maritime Province, the 7th Prince Mikhail.
"You're a bit late."
Mikhail said in a voice as if he were suppressing a yawn.
"I don't know why guys who come to negotiate always try to have a pissing contest like this. Am I wrong?"
His gaze turned to Laura, who was standing beside him like a shadow.
Laura merely raised the corners of her mouth slightly and did not answer.
The merchants, who had belatedly recognized Mikhail's presence, hastily knelt as if collapsing.
"Long live the eternal Empire! Long live our merciful Father, His Majesty the Emperor! Your humble subjects have an audience with the noble His Highness the Prince!"
The sound of foreheads hitting the cold marble floor was loud.
But a few, including Viktor, remained standing stiffly, unmoving.
"You guys not bowing your heads?"
There was no sense of intimidation in Mikhail's voice.
It was just filled with pure curiosity.
Viktor barely managed to squeeze out his voice.
His face was pale.
"I, we have the right not to kneel before royalty, Your Highness."
"Ah, ah, so you were a noble of sorts."
Mikhail nodded his head.
"Even so, aren't you just an illegitimate son kicked out of the main family, or from a collateral branch, or a second or third son from a humble family who's latched onto a merchant guild? That's why you're working as a merchant now."
Viktor's face, having been hit where it hurt, flushed red.
Mikhail, as if greatly enjoying the sight, continued.
"But well, since you are nobles for now, I can't do anything about it. I have to be understanding, since status is the supreme law."
"...."
"Whatever."
Mikhail sat up.
The languid atmosphere from a moment ago was gone without a trace.
"The reason I came here is nothing special."
His eyes glinted coldly.
"It's because you all threw a fucking fit about my business."
"Y-Your Highness, a person of your high stature should maintain his dignity!"
Viktor, his face pale, shouted, barely squeezing out the words.
'Fucking fit'.
No matter how much of a good-for-nothing he was, to use such vulgar words in front of him, a noble.
"Dignity?"
Mikhail leaned his back against the chair and crossed his legs.
He had an indifferent expression, like a spectator watching the most boring play in the world.
"I heard that my representative, Guildmaster Laura, signed a contract at a very reasonable price."
Mikhail's voice was quiet, but it made the air in the meeting room as cold as ice.
"So why on earth did you suddenly change your tune and terminate the contract?"
"Th-That is...."
"This is a merchant's business, Your Highness!"
Viktor shouted urgently, cutting off another merchant before he could say something foolish.
"There are numerous variables in commerce! No matter how much Your Highness protects it, no matter that it is Your Highness's business, it is not right for you to directly involve yourself in such a private contract!"
His voice gradually grew louder.
It was a show of forced bravado to overcome his fear.
"The negotiations should rightly be handled by the master of the Valeriano Merchant Guild, Guildmaster Laura, herself! We have followed the procedure and paid a hefty penalty as well!"
He was right.
It was a mere commercial dispute, not a political matter.
It was not something for a member of the royal family to get involved in directly.
No, they shouldn't.
Unless one intended to create a dispute with the other noble families involved behind the scenes, they should properly put forward a representative.
That was the rule of the empire.
And common sense.
"You're right. This isn't the Republic Federation or something, a merchant's business should be handled by a merchant."
Mikhail nodded his head obediently.
At that calm affirmation, Viktor's face was instead colored with bewilderment.
"But you see. You guys aren't… exactly clean either, are you? Right?"
It was a business with a proper permit, even if it was rushed, and it was a business involving a prince, no matter how much of a good-for-nothing he was.
For them to pull this kind of fucking stunt… it was obvious.
The 2nd Princess, Anastasia.
It could only be her.
Mikhail asked, tilting his chin.
"Hey. Who am I?"
"...Pardon?"
"You, you know me, right?"
"…You are His Highness Mikhail. The 7th Prince of the Empire, the Grand Duke of the Far East Maritime Province...."
A very cheerful smile appeared on Mikhail's face.
"No, not that. My nickname."
"...."
"Drunkard. Utter good-for-nothing. Useless prince."
A madman who beat a noblewoman to a pulp and even pissed on her.
Mikhail chuckled as he recited his own nicknames.
"Don't you remember? What kind of guy I was in the capital. Does 'Mikhail' look like a guy who would care about such common sense?"
Cold sweat ran down Viktor's spine.
Mikhail was wielding his own ruined reputation like a weapon.
"Who the hell is backing you worms that you're acting so cocky, is what I'm saying. Is it perhaps that crazy bitch Anastasia?"
He even knew who was behind them.
That's why it was even more frightening.
"In the first place, I…"
Mikhail rose from his chair.
"Didn't come here to negotiate with you."
His voice echoed softly throughout the meeting room.
"I just came to inform you."
He nudged a kneeling merchant with the tip of his foot.
"You all will no longer be able to do business in this Far East Maritime Province."
"Y-Yeees?!"
"Y-You can't do that, Your Highness!"
The merchants who had been prostrated on the floor raised their heads in astonishment.
Viktor protested with a deathly pale face.
"We have had a business relationship for decades, since the time of the previous Guildmaster of the Valeriano Merchant Guild! And, Her Highness Anastasia also…!"
At his desperate cry, Laura's shoulders, standing beside him, flinched ever so slightly.
For a moment, a look of anxiety crossed her face.
But Mikhail just scoffed at it all.
"So?"
"...."
"I'm the lord here, so what are you gonna do about it? I think that bitch Anastasia's territory is Roumière, so go do business there."
Mikhail looked down at them as if looking at the corpse of a stray cat that had been hit by a carriage.
"There are plenty of other merchant guilds in the empire to work with besides you."
Kwang!
The sound of the heavy door closing cut through the silence of the meeting room.
The lingering scent of humiliation and anger left behind by the expelled merchants seemed to still hang in the air.
"Your Highness."
It was Laura who broke the silence.
She looked at the head of the table where Mikhail had been sitting with eyes that had grown cold.
"Will you really be alright?"
"With what?"
"You have made enemies of all of them. Almost all of the stone merchants who do business in the Far East Maritime Province. On top of that, Her Highness the 2nd Princess Anastasia as well."
An unconcealable anxiety was present in Laura's voice.
"It will take time to find new business partners. There is also no guarantee that they won't pull a trick like this again. There will be a huge disruption to the construction schedule."
At her rational concern, Mikhail just shrugged his shoulders.
"By any chance, have you built up a force that could become a political partner, or was there another merchant guild that proposed a direct investment or collaboration with Your Highness? You've been receiving a lot of letters recently…."
A faint sense of expectation crossed Laura's eyes.
Could it be that there was another card up his sleeve that she didn't know about?
"No, there isn't."
Mikhail snorted.
"They were all just trashy talk, like some noble bastards saying they'll give me a bribe if I give them Mikhail Blue Label, or begging me to attend their banquets, or asking to go hunting together. So I rejected them all."
He waved his hand as if he were fed up.
"Some of the insolent ones even invited me to a banquet held in the capital, knowing full well I've been exiled. Isn't that lèse-majesté?"
"...."
"Ah, there was something from a merchant guild. Asking to transfer the monopoly rights held by the Valeriano Merchant Guild to them. I told Boris to just tear them all up."
The last glimmer of hope vanished from Laura's face.
She clenched her fists without realizing it.
"Then what on earth… do you intend to do?"
"Don't worry, that bitch Anastasia will be a bit busy selling drugs and fooling around, and for this business… I know a pretty cool method."
Mikhail leaned his back against the chair and smiled a very satisfied smile.
"An auction."
"...Pardon?"
"We put it up for auction."
"Your Highness. An auction is where you sell an item to the person who calls the highest price. We are in the position of needing to buy an item."
"My, you are very, truly, extremely smart."
Mikhail chuckled.
"So, we do it the other way around. We buy from the guy who says he'll supply the goods at the lowest price."
"!"
"Through a closed bid. If we put out a notice throughout the empire, some pretty decent guys will take the bait, don't you think?"
For a moment, it was as if a bolt of lightning struck Laura's mind.
The bidding system.
Of course, it existed.
But it was a system like an ancient relic, recorded only in history books.
Because modern commerce was run in a very fair and efficient way… through connections, monopolies, and tacit collusion.
"Your Highness, that method is…."
"Why, is there a problem?"
"No. It's just…."
Complex calculations swirled in Laura's mind.
Without realizing it, she began to pour out her words, panting for breath.
"Then how will you set the bid deposit? The creditworthiness of the company? How will you guarantee the quality of the supplied goods? What about the penalty for breach of contract? The transportation route?"
At the barrage of questions, Mikhail's brow furrowed as if in annoyance.
"How would I know something like that?"
He let out a long yawn and leaned his body against the chair, almost lying down.
"You take care of such bothersome things. All of it."
"...."
"You're my plenipotentiary representative, Laura Valeriano."
At that moment, something in Laura's head snapped with a 'tuk'.
As expected of this man.
He was always like this.
An attitude of regarding her as just a convenient, pretty, and high-performance tool.
'This good-for-nothing…!'
She was furious.
But it was strange.
That insulting trust was not entirely unpleasant.
Rather, it felt as if something hot was boiling up from a corner of her chest.
If it were her, she could do it.
She could not betray the trust this man had thrown her way.
Mikhail, whether he knew of Laura's complex inner thoughts or not, asked as if he had just remembered something.
"Ah, and by the way."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Are there any guys interested in new construction technologies?"
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