Chapter 429-2 Audience Chamber I
Marquis Grandchester grinned slyly, and laughter burst out all around.
'Grandpa, stop it. You scared me.'
Sophia didn't show it, but inside she was sweating, shaken by Marquis Grandchester's joke.
"Haha. True, Elma brandy and Spieluhr sure are tempting."
"──Your Majesty, the ladies are also noticing the cosmetics from the Sophia Merchant Guild. Didn't you see the Young Marquis couple's looks?"
The queen sitting next to the king spoke up.
"Cosmetics, huh. Well, it does fit a female merchant, I suppose."
The queen smiled sweetly and said no more, but her gaze burned right through Sophia.
Looking closer, the Crown Princess, the prince's wife, and the noblewomen around also gave off the same fiery looks.
'Ah, this is eagle eyes.'
Sophia understood what was going on.
The treatments on the Young Marquis couple were working better as advertising than she'd imagined.
"With all due respect, Your Majesty, may I speak?"
Then, one of the top-ranking nobles at the table spoke up.
"Duke Russell, yes? You have permission to speak."
"Thank you very much."
Duke Russell was a hefty old man with white hair.
Actually, he was younger than the king but wasn't the type to pretend to look young like the king did.
Mostly because the king tried to look young to avoid giving off a vibe of weakening.
"Sophia, I am Jasper Radis Avalon, honored to be Duke Russell."
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Sophia."
Duke Russell was the king's cousin.
He inherited his title by marrying the previous duke's daughter.
His last name, 'Avalon,' showed he was from the royal family.
Of course, Sophia already knew the family ties from Rebecca's lessons when she first heard his introduction.
"Finally, I get to see your face. Just as the rumors say, you're beautiful."
"I'm honored."
"But your cruelty seems to far surpass your beauty. I acknowledge that the deal with the Grandchester territory was legitimate. However, because of those driving up the price of wheat, the cost in my own territory has skyrocketed to 3 times the usual rate. Many lords must be feeling the same pinch. If this continues, we'll have a massive number of starvation deaths. It's hard to forgive someone who acts like their gold is more important than the lives of the common folk."
"What!"
Upon hearing Duke Russell's outburst, Marquis Grandchester quickly tried to step in between him and Sophia.
But Sophia controlled the situation, shaking her head to dismiss the Marquis.
"Your words are harsh, but we conduct our trades based on independently researched market prices. We are not doing anything to artificially inflate prices."
Sophia subtly glanced over her shoulder, sending a look to the palace servant who had guided them to the audience chamber.
For the audience, Sophia had brought a box filled with documents.
The box was being held by a palace servant who was waiting in the background.
Bringing such items into the palace requires inspection to ensure no forbidden objects are inside, and even after confirming the contents are only documents, they would not be returned until the audience was over.
After signaling for the box to be brought closer, Sophia took out the documents recording the trade.
She handed the documents to the nearby servant, who then passed the ledger to the king's attending steward.
'It feels like such a waste of time with all this back and forth, doesn't it?'
While Sophia was thinking this, the documents had reached the king's hands.
"What I've just handed over is the record of the wheat trade. I have the actual ledger with me as well, but I've extracted these records since they include other transactions too."
"Hm. Is this the graph those folks at the Academy were making a fuss about?"
'Um, that's what you focus on first?'
"Certainly, compared to the same time last year, the prices this year are surprisingly high. Shall I have the bureaucrats verify the documents they've brought?"
"As you wish."
The King made the officials look at the papers Sophia brought.
The officials brought their own bureaucrats.
They talked back and forth, arguing.
Then, the person who seemed to be the Prime Minister spoke to the King.
"We want to check it more carefully, but the wheat prices from last year and the year before seem to be correct, as written in the papers."
"Sophia, can I hold onto these account books for a little while?"
"Yes, of course."
She felt uneasy, but the King's request was almost an order.
She had already made a copy of the account books, so her work wouldn't be affected.
Besides, Magi probably remembered everything anyway.
"It's probably just a double set of books. You're the one holding back the wheat, which is why the wheat market keeps going up!"
Duke Russell glared at Sophia, looking annoyed.
"That's not true. If you ask, I'll think about trading wheat. I've already done business with many merchant guilds."
"That's because they agree with you! The Arrows merchant guild, based in my territory, can't buy wheat from the Sophia Merchant Guild. They have to sell the wheat they bought from other territories little by little. They offered to pay twice the usual price! How high do you want to go?"
Duke Russell yelled at Sophia so loud the air shook.
But Sophia knew the merchant guild Duke Russell mentioned.
The Arrows merchant guild was a medium-sized company that sold wholesale food.
It was an old company that had been based in Duke Russell's territory for generations.
They were close to the Duke Russell family, and they had almost all the trade in grains, salt, sugar, spices, and processed foods in the Russell territory.
The Sophia Merchant Guild didn't trade wheat with the Arows Merchant Guild because the Arows Guild was basically working for the Silt Merchant Guild.
Also, Duke Russell's land was by the sea, so it was a hideout for smuggling.
'I got this info from Sedrick, and there's some proof... but...'
If she showed the proof, everyone would know Sophia was spying.
Of course, nobles and merchants would investigate, but for a commoner to expose the secrets of a noble's land wasn't a good idea.
"You look troubled. You know something, don't you?"
When Sophia couldn't answer, Duke Russell got even more pushy.
Seeing this, Sophia knew she had to share the info, and she softly sighed.
Characters:
- Sophia - Guildmaster of the Sophia Merchant Guild, protagonist
- King - Monarch of Avalon, central authority figure
- Queen - Present in the audience chamber, secondary royal figure
- Rihito - Companion, recognized as 'Paracelsus'
- Amelia - Companion of Sophia and Rihito, the pharmacist.
- Rebecca - Sophia's etiquette teacher/stepmother.
- Duke Russell - Top-ranking noble; makes accusations against Sophia.
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