Chapter 12: Ragnar’s Hidden Strength (3)
“Thank you for making such an important decision.”
Pramo rose from his seat and bowed deeply to rchant Guild Head Tade in response to his decision.
Although Kyle had led everything, as the current Head of the Ragnar Family, there was a need to formally express gratitude to rchant Guild Head Tade, who had made such a crucial decision.
“No, not at all. I, too, had been feeling that the national fortunes of the Daon Kingdom were declining. That’s why I felt that the Rapid rchant Guild also needed change, and I judged it to be a good proposal.”
“Even so, you made this decision by putting on the line the rchant guild you built over your entire lifeti. I believe it’s only right that I offer compensation comnsurate with that.”
“I am already soone who received the grace of having my life saved by Young Master Kyle. I’ve received more than enough compensation.”
“That wasn’t sothing I did for you, was it? Please consider the items I am about to show you as a gift from
to you, rchant Guild Head.”
Pramo guided rchant Guild Head Tade and the others to a warehouse within the Lord’s Castle.
There, Saphiro, who had been waiting after receiving prior instructions, bowed his head.
“Head of the Family, the food supplies and daily necessities are all being moved into the warehouse.”
“Where are the items I told you to prepare?”
“They are being stored in the second warehouse. I will guide you.”
It was sothing even Kyle didn’t know about.
In case trade with the Rapid rchant Guild resud soday, Pramo had been preparing these items despite the Territory’s difficult situation, in order to show sincerity to them.
Perhaps eager to show it as quickly as possible, Saphiro strode ahead.
Watching his back as they walked, rchant Guild Head Tade tilted his head.
He had no idea what kind of items they could be.
Soon, upon arriving at the second warehouse, Saphiro flung the door wide open.
rchant Guild Head Tade’s eyes widened as he looked inside the warehouse.
“T, this is……?”
“These are items we’ve gathered over a long period of ti. We paid ticulous attention to the storage process, so there shouldn’t be any damage to the goods.”
“……Just when did you start preparing all of this?”
Inside the warehouse were not only Orc byproducts, but even byproducts from large monsters such as Trolls and Ogres.
Pramo turned to rchant Guild Head Tade with a smile.
“It was my father’s dying wish. He said that if Ragnar ever resud trade with Rapid, we were to offer these as an apology.”
“…….”
“Still, it’s fortunate. That I can hand these items over while you are still alive, rchant Guild Head.”
“Head of the Family…….”
With a look of deep satisfaction, Pramo gazed into the warehouse.
The northern Territories sold monster byproducts imdiately instead of stockpiling them.
That, in itself, ant that the entire north was in a precarious situation.
Most of the byproducts were flowing into the royal family.
Pramo knew that monster byproducts had practically dried up in the north, yet even amid dire circumstances, he steadily filled the warehouses little by little.
“I wanted to keep my father’s dying wish no matter what.”
Even as Ragnar’s finances teetered on the brink, Pramo never touched the byproducts stored here.
To uphold trust, and because he wanted to keep the Previous Head of the Family’s last wish at all costs.
rchant Guild Head Tade looked at Pramo with his eyebrows drooping downward.
“Why are you so foolish? What is that trust even worth…….”
Had they sold byproducts of this magnitude, Ragnar wouldn’t have had to live in such hardship.
Seeing rchant Guild Head Tade’s eyes redden with regret, Pramo shook his head.
“Even if you call
foolish, I have no regrets.”
At the sight of his gentle smile, rchant Guild Head Tade tightly shut his eyes.
After Reni’s death, he had tried to resent them, and even tried to hate them.
But knowing the character of Rai, the Previous Head of the Family, he had tried to understand.
He never once imagined that the result of waiting would co back like this.
“……Head of the Family, I will return all the funds obtained from selling these byproducts to the Ragnar Territory.”
“No, rchant Guild Head.”
“Your feelings alone are more than enough. Thank you for not forgetting Rapid.”
This was more than enough to resolve the lingering bitterness he had felt all this ti.
He couldn’t use byproducts gathered by countless people risking their lives for personal matters.
More than anything, from the mont he stepped into the Head of the Family’s Office, he had already resolved to do everything he could to help Ragnar rise again.
“……Head of the Family.”
“What is it?”
“I thought it was strange how an unusually large amount of byproducts were flowing out of the northern Territories. The royal family nearly doubled the taxes on the northern Territories as well. Yet despite that, the Territories are barely holding on. I think I finally understand the reason.”
rchant Guild Head Tade let out a hollow laugh as the pieces of the puzzle he couldn’t understand fell into place.
He could now guess why the northern Territories had been able to endure until now, and who it was that had orchestrated everything behind the scenes.
“I expected that you would be able to infer it after seeing these items, rchant Guild Head.”
“It seems Ragnar never let go of its influence over the north. Now I truly feel that my choice was the right decision.”
“Haha, you flatter
too much.”
“On the surface, it looks like the northern Territories are rejecting Ragnar, but in reality, you must have been secretly supporting them from behind. Was it military power, or military supplies?”
“If I said it was both, would you believe ?”
“I’d have no choice but to believe it.”
rchant Guild Head Tade shook his head from side to side with his eyes closed.
They truly were no ordinary brothers.
Kyle possessed a heaven-sent talent in martial power, and Pramo possessed abilities in managent that were astonishingly exceptional.
Martial power and operational ability.
If those two were combined into one, Ragnar would be able to rise without question.
“I will relocate the Rapid rchant Guild’s headquarters. The one in the Royal Capital will be converted into a branch.”
“No. I think it would be better to leave it as it is.”
“But…….”
“The royal family won’t find fault with the trade between Rapid rchant Guild and Ragnar.”
“Why are you so certain of that?”
“It’s simple if you think about it. Ragnar doesn’t pay taxes. But what about the Rapid rchant Guild?”
The mont Rapid rchant Guild sold the byproducts coming out of Ragnar, they would have to pay taxes to the royal family.
There was no reason for the royal family to oppose the trade between Rapid rchant Guild and Ragnar.
“Ah…….”
“Maintain the trade, but Rapid’s core must remain in the Royal Capital. That way, the royal family will also put aside their suspicions.”
“Then I will do as you say, Head of the Family.”
As he spoke, rchant Guild Head Tade stared intently into Pramo’s eyes.
He couldn’t imagine how stifled Pramo must have felt all this ti.
It wasn’t that he lacked ability, but that he lacked the martial power to support that ability, which was why he had been forced to keep his head down until now.
Reading the aning in rchant Guild Head Tade’s gaze, Pramo shook his head.
“I am not such an outstanding Head of the Family. I am rely a Head of the Family who focused on dealing with monsters and failed to properly take care of the Territory.”
He had identified that Slave rchant Guilds were operating within the Territory.
However, by the ti they realized it, the situation was already far too late, and to make matters worse, the Orc Legion had advanced right up to their doorstep.
In such a situation, there was no way they could strike down the elders.
“……In order to save even a few more of the Territory’s residents, I stood by and watched, and this is the result. Am I not truly a pathetic man?”
Pramo squeezed his eyes shut.
Just how was he supposed to clean up this ss?
The thought of how to rescue the residents who had already been sold off to the Slave rchant Guild made his vision go completely dark.
As Pramo suffered in silence, Saphiro, who had been keeping his mouth tightly shut, finally spoke.
“Head of the Family, I will speak as one of the residents living in Ragnar. I do not resent you.”
“……Chief Administrator.”
“Not long ago, ssages arrived from several Northern Territories. They said they succeeded in rescuing residents who had been sold into slavery from a secret location of the Sinoah rchant Guild.”
At the story he was hearing for the first ti, Pramo could not say a word and simply stared with his eyes wide open.
In his stead, Saphiro continued.
“You did not stand by and do nothing, Head of the Family. And even now, in such difficult circumstances, are you not doing everything you can to protect the Territory and its people?”
Saphiro had deliberately not reported it.
It was so he could report it when Kyle returned.
Pramo had not simply maintained the position of Head of the Family while doing nothing all this ti.
He had done everything he could to save the residents, and beyond that, he had poured everything he had into protecting the Northern Territories.
Saphiro wanted to show those facts to Kyle.
Still, Pramo, as the Head of the Family, had no choice but to reprimand Saphiro for delaying the report.
“Chief Administrator! Why are you only reporting this now!”
“I apologize for the late report. However, I wished to show you. Just how outstanding the Head of the Family of Ragnar truly is.”
Saphiro glanced sideways at Kyle, who was standing quietly behind them.
Yet even under his gaze, Kyle said nothing.
He rely wore an indifferent expression.
Trying by any ans to make it known that Pramo had done his utmost as Head of the Family, Saphiro added his explanation once more in a grave voice.
“Young Master, after the breeding pens were discovered in the elders’ mansions, the Head of the Family sent urgent dispatches to each Territory. And as soon as Military Strategist Aron grasped that not much ti had passed since the residents were moved outside, he took follow-up asures as well.”
Watching Saphiro try to persuade Kyle, Pramo shook his head and spoke.
“Chief Administrator, in the end, it is true that I stood by while the residents were in danger, is it not? I do not wish to make excuses.”
“Excuses, you say? That was due to my lack of ability. By the ti the Head of the Family learned all the facts, there was no room left to act.”
At the ti, stopping the Orc Legion had been the priority.
Even so, after defending the Lord’s Castle, they had already laid out plans to eliminate the elders.
In the midst of that, Kyle returned, and there was no ti to put the plan into action.
Perhaps it ant that Pramo had shown Kyle a disappointing side of himself.
Saphiro wanted to tell Kyle about these cruel twists of circumstance.
However, Kyle looked at Saphiro and shook his head.
“The Head of the Family of Ragnar is not , Chief Administrator.”
“……Young Master.”
“I rely returned to make up for what the Head of the Family lacks. There is no need to persuade , nor to explain anything to .”
Thinking things through was Pramo’s role.
Carrying out those plans, however, was Kyle’s role.
It did not matter even if Pramo had shown a disappointing display.
He believed that if he instilled confidence in him, Pramo would handle the rest on his own.
“What happened in the Territory was nothing more than an accident. Becoming strong so that it never happens again—that is what we must do now. And then, we take it back.”
“……Brother.”
“Do what the Head of the Family can do. I returned in order to do what I can do as well.”
Rather than weighing right and wrong, understanding each other and embracing one another no matter the fault.
That was what Kyle needed to do right now.
‘I never regret the choice I made fifteen years ago.’
Kyle recalled that day.
A day he had never forgotten for a single mont, the mont he left behind the family he had wanted to protect so desperately.
As if fleeing in the dead of night, he left the mansion carrying only a few sets of clothes and so ergency funds.
“Are you planning to leave?”
At the voice full of regret coming from behind, the young Kyle sharply turned his head.
Standing there was his father, and the Head of the Family of Ragnar, Rai.
“…….”
“Kyle.”
“I have to leave. Only then can Pramo beco the Head of the Family.”
“Will you not regret it?”
“No, I won’t regret it. Never.”
At the resolute gaze and voice of the young Kyle, Rai let out a deep sigh.
“Promise .”
“……What if I cannot promise?”
“If you cannot make that promise, then you will not be able to leave the family either.”
At his father’s firm words, Kyle lowered his head deeply.
“……Please speak.”
“When you return, even if the family has fallen into ruin, do not bla your younger brother.”
“Father.”
“I am not finished yet.”
Rai placed his hand on Kyle’s shoulder and continued.
“Even if Pramo shows disappointing behavior, take good care of him. You may scold him, but do not make him lose confidence.”
“I will do that.”
“And make sure you return alive. I want you to beco Pramo’s strength. Can you keep this promise?”
At Rai’s solemn expression, Kyle nodded firmly.
“I will do my best to help Pramo beco a Head of the Family who lacks nothing.”
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