Black Iron's Glory

After finding out that it was because of Maria that the corps decided to treat him so well, he felt rather perplexed. It was a favor that was really hard to return. The gift of so much land in the wood, ten percent of the profit of the company as well as the repayment of his brother’s debt was something Claude believed he had done more than enough to deserve.

If Claude wasn’t of any use, Maria wouldn’t invest so much time and effort on Claude. The gift of land could be seen as repayment for Claude’s four forbidden spell formations. She didn’t have money on hand back then and wasn’t able to get Claude the kind of spells he wanted, so she repaid him with part of her estate. In that sense, Maria was a just person who didn’t take advantage of being given the four forbidden spells upfront. She made sure to give something back to Claude of arguably equal value.

That was why Claude was willing to help her and Rodan purchase property at the slums and form the development company. Using the information advantage they got, he managed to earn Maria an unimaginable amount of wealth.

It was due to his chain of business decisions that Maria saw his business acumen and started to spend even more effort and resources to better her relationship with Claude instead of remaining just his herbalism teacher. What she didn’t think would happen was Felidos’s interference, which led to Claude’s enlistment in Bluefeather.

After Claude joined the army, he had never thought of using his association with her to get any benefits in the base. Even though his father advised him to get on Maria’s good side on account of her relationship with the Stellin royal family, Claude never bore the intent of doing so.

He respected her because of her selflessness and the herbalism knowledge she imparted unto him. But as a transmigrator, he had a sense of pride. He came to this world into his new life not to serve as the lapdog of the rich and powerful. Even when his father committed suicide from the schemes of others, he never counted on begging Maria to look over him and resolved himself to get revenge with his own abilities.

That was also another reason he felt so conflicted about receiving word that Maria was trying to get him an exemption from the military after she realized his value. Not having to join the army and becoming cannon fodder was a good thing, but if he accepted the exemption, he would be bound to her and remain House Normanley’s servant, hence his inner resistance to that notion.

Fortunately, Felidos’s recommendation letter relieved him of that dilemma. He left home and came to Bluefeather, but never in his wildest dreams did he think he would end up benefiting from her again. The two letters she wrote him inadvertently caused the corps to treat him well in the settlement of the case and that finally opened his eyes to the extent of her influence in the higher echelons of the kingdom.

Looks like I’ll have to return this favour down the line, he thought with a bitter smile. He thought he would have to be confined for five days at least and watch out for the retaliation of Fitney, yet his worries were completely pointless. Fitney was discharged and sent home while he would have to take over as sergeant major after he recovered and serve in the noncombatant role of keeper or stretcher trooper. He also wouldn’t be facing any more problems within the camp in future.

Almost everyone who knew Claude was envious of him. Bell even said that if getting hurt and having to recover for three months would make him a sergeant major, he would happily receive a beating. As a normal soldier, Bell wasn’t aware of the truth behind the matter. He thought that the corps was just trying to use this chance to enforce stricter discipline to prevent further hazing of cadets and recruits, and that Claude had lucked out in his experience.

Now that Claude could sit up, he asked Bell to go to the post office of the base to retrieve his letters for him. He wrote nine letters and received fourteen in response. Apart from the two Maria sent, his mother and sister each sent two. Another one of them was from Welikro, who informed Claude of his new address in the royal capital. Kefnie’s brother-in-law, Jerad of the Shark gang, also wrote to him, much to his puzzlement.

He opened Maria’s letter first. According to the dates, the first was written when she went to Normanley Wood during her vacation in response to the letter Claude wrote her. She informed Claude of two matters in that letter. The first was how his mother had taken over as supervisor of the wood after his departure, and the second was her discovery of Angelina’s talent and her becoming her disciple. She even snidely remarked that Angelina’s talent in herbalism was far better than her half-assed elder brother’s.

What she thought to be a shame was how Angelina refused her offer to take her to the royal capital for further training and nurturing. Given that their mother’s condition wasn’t in her peak and Bloweyk was still young, she chose to remain by their side to care for them. Thankfully, Angelina was a 15-year-old middle schooler and she had more than enough time. Maria decided after much consideration to let her finish her studies in middle school first while having her establish her basics in herbalism before taking her to the royal capital after her graduation for further guidance.

Claude was quite glad that his little sister could gain Maria’s favor and even be taken as her disciple. Her future was set and she would no longer have to worry. No matter what happened to him, whether it be an accident on the battlefield or the exposure of his identity and the subsequent pursuit, his mother and Bloweyk would be fine as long as Angelina was under Maria’s care.

He opened her second letter. This one dealt primarily with official matters. He was informed about the completion of the base and the completion of the transaction with the navy. Maria was glad to inform him that the more than half of the profit, after deducting the costs, were split to the shareholders, and that she had transferred Claude’s share to his mother.

The profit seems a little low… Claude thought with a furrowed brow. Some of the real estate developers he’d seen in his past life started out with nothing but a loan from a bank and ended up with more than ten times the profit. It was only after his country started regulating the industry that the market returned to its proper path. Despite that, a good profit of around 130 percent could still be made through property development.

Even though there wasn’t any precedent of gentrification in this world, why was the profit only half as much as he estimated? Maria wouldn’t hide that matter from him. It was possible that the cost of the construction inflated ever since his departure. The project was worth 300 thousand crowns in actuality, but only 280 thousand was paid because of a discount. Claude had estimated the profit to be around 160 to 170 thousand crowns, and that was the reason he gave away 100 thousand crowns to the shareholders out of the initial 200 thousand they received to bolster their confidence in the project.

When work just began, many were still in doubtful of borrowing loans from the bank to buy land, which would be mortgaged again for even more loans. Only after the loans ballooned t around 60 thousand crowns did Claude finish purchasing the land in the western part of the slums. By that time, the company only had ten thousand or so crowns remaining.

If they didn’t do any renovation and only resold the land to the navy, the profit would only be around 40 thousand crowns. Claude pushed for actual development because he wanted even more profits. By purchasing a piece of land at the price of around 30 crowns, they could erect a couple of buildings there that could accommodate up to a household of five people for the fair price of around 50 crowns. That alone was supposed to be enough to make ten times profit of their initial capital.

Granted, that was only an oversimplification of the costs. The company couldn’t just purchase land to build houses upon. They had to develop other high-class infrastructure like streets, parks, fountains and street lamps. It was those things that attracted the navy to the notion of letting their family members reside there.

Most of the extra cost probably came from the additional amenities and decreased the profit by at least 30 thousand crowns. At least, that was what Claude believed. However, it couldn’t be helped. Rodan had always been insistent on maintaining good image as it was exemplary behaviour for nobles. Had Claude still been there managing things, he would only do what he had to, instead of what he could. The deal with the navy was already struck anyway and there was no need to spend extra money on unnecessary fluff.

As expected, Maria brought up in her letter about her inspection of the site when it was near completion. She requested Rodan to decorate the environment even more lavishly and Viscount Wenisk suggested that they construct another small plaza with a commemorative plaque that credited Maria for her investment and development in that area. She gleefully agreed to that suggestion and gave Rodan the green light for that undertaking.

The poor Maria was probably feeling a little too loose on spending now that she had made so much money. All Wenisk had to do was to flap his lips for the company to spend so much more money and effort. She probably didn’t know that her little joy trip cost them to lose tens of thousands of crowns in profit.

Regardless, that wasn’t something he wanted to dabble with. It didn’t matter that the earnings were lower than expected. It wouldn’t make sense to squabble over the little difference. Maria did ask him whether she should purchase some property in Port Neru, given their falling prices, and give them the Whitestag treatment.

Perhaps she was aware that the letters would be inspected by the military, she intentionally phrased her words vaguely. That didn’t stop Claude from picking up on the meaning behind them, though. In asking Claude whether they could repeat the Whitestag treatment at Port Neru, Claude could surmise a few things.

The kingdom developed Whitestag into a naval city and split Fearless into two, leaving one flotilla behind to guard the kingdom’s eastern coast and moving two thirds of its forces to Lake Balinga to be formed into a new fleet called Storm to secure the new trade route from Whitestag to Nubissia.

The split of Fearless caused many to lose confidence in Port Neru. They believed that the trade center for Nubissian goods would move from Port Neru to Whitestag, so many merchants were leaving that place and causing property prices to fall. Maria had insider knowledge from her position in court, however. The splitting of Fearless was a temporary measure. The kingdom would soon replenish their numbers and Port Neru would grow lively once more.

Yet, Claude didn’t have high hopes for Port Neru. The war with the anti-Auerasian faction was going to start anytime soon. If the kingdom emerged victorious, it stood to reason that they could conquer a few more ports along the eastern coast. That meant that even if Fearless was to be replenished, they might not necessarily continue to operate around Port Neru, which would make it nothing more than a trading port. It would no longer be as prosperous as it was when it was the sole naval port of the kingdom.

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