In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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This Life, I Will Become the Clan Head Episode 13

“Bring the stepping stool!”

As soon as the Durak Guild’s carriage came to a stop, Biejie rushed over and shouted to the servants.

Cleribane, who was following behind with Rulak, clicked his tongue quietly.

While waiting for the Durak Guild to bring samples of their textiles, he had investigated the caravan leader.

As expected, the caravan leader was the Empress’s person.

To be precise, the current head of the Angenas family was something like his great-uncle.

In terms of blood relations, he was quite far from the center of the family, but he was someone who had been reaping the benefits of growing up close to the Empress since childhood.

However, even so, Biejie’s behavior was excessive.

No matter how much the other party was the Empress’s person, Biejie was the eldest son of the Lombardy clan head.

There was no need to act so subservient.

Even the Angenas family, which produced the current Empress, was not a family that could dare compare to Lombardy.

There was no way Rulak, walking right beside him, could miss Cleribane’s tongue-clicking.

However, he showed no signs of displeasure.

He simply clasped his hands behind his back and watched his eldest son with even more inscrutable eyes.

Eventually, when Biejie opened the door instead of the servants, the Durak Caravan Leader got out of the carriage as if accustomed to it.

And he bowed his head deeply toward Rulak in greeting.

At least that man knows proper hierarchy.

Cleribane sneered inwardly.

“You’ve worked hard coming here. How about we check the goods right away before going inside?”

“…Let’s do that.”

The Durak Caravan Leader’s brow furrowed slightly.

He had brought the textiles when asked to show them, but he hadn’t known it would really be a prerequisite for the business.

Biejie, who had repeatedly assured the caravan leader that it was just a formality, stood as if blocking Rulak’s path and said.

“Father, is there really a need to go that far? The Durak Caravan Leader has shown sincerity by bringing the goods all the way here…”

“Move aside.”

Rulak’s angry eyes turned toward Biejie.

He didn’t frown or glare greatly, but Biejie froze instantly upon seeing those eyes.

“Did I teach you that it’s acceptable to block the clan head’s path?”

“Ah…”

Only then realizing his mistake, Biejie hurriedly stepped aside.

“Remove the covering.”

At Rulak’s command, the servants removed the covering from the cargo wagon the Durak Guild had brought.

“Hmm.”

Rulak reached out to touch the textile and let out a low murmur as he felt it.

The surface was uneven and rough.

“Cleribane.”

When Rulak called, Cleribane approached as if he had been waiting.

Sure enough, his expression wasn’t very good after touching the textile’s surface either.

“What is the raw material?”

Cleribane asked the Durak Caravan Leader.

“Ah, that is…”

The caravan leader hesitated as if he couldn’t remember for a moment.

To think he couldn’t immediately state the raw material of goods he was trying to sell while borrowing other people’s money.

It was a point that showed the Angenas family’s ignorance and attitude toward commerce.

“It, it’s woven from the long-drawn stems of coroi.”

“Coroi, you say?”

Coroi was a kind of weed-like plant that grew widely throughout the Empire.

When the erudite Cleribane seemed to be hearing about textiles made from coroi for the first time, Biejie acted smugly.

“It’s a traditional method from the Eastern Regions of the Empire. The caravan leader obtained it personally. You acted like you knew everything, but it turns out you don’t know anything.”

Cleribane was irritated by the sarcasm from Biejie, who truly ‘knew nothing,’ but he had nothing to say.

Textiles weren’t a field he knew much about.

Although he had been responsible for Lombardy’s affairs and conducted much trade, this was the first time he had heard of fabric woven using coroi.

“It’s only widely used in the east and isn’t well known in other regions, so we should be able to pursue great profits.”

The caravan leader said to Rulak.

“Is that so.”

It seemed like a positive response at first glance, but even so, Rulak’s gaze wouldn’t leave the rough cloth piled high in the cargo wagon.

He had received advance written reports on the funds and labor needed by the Durak Guild.

It was certainly a large enough sum that other guilds couldn’t handle alone.

However, for Lombardy, it was an amount that wouldn’t even be noticed.

What Rulak was worried about wasn’t money.

His wrinkled eyes took in his eldest son Biejie, who was chattering away beside the caravan leader.

The current Empress, Lavinia Angenas, was narrow-minded but also highly ambitious.

She would stop at nothing to make her son the Crown Prince.

The hastily assembled Durak Guild was also created to raise funds because they lacked bribes to offer the Nobility Council.

However, if for any reason this business went wrong and a situation arose where the Empress wasn’t financially satisfied, it was obvious who would be blamed.

Biejie was probably so eager because he thought successfully completing this deal would bring him closer to the Empress’s side.

Rulak finally made his decision.

This textile business would become a testing ground not only for the Empress but for Rulak as well.

“Biejie.”

“Yes, Father!”

“This textile business…”

It was just before the words ‘I’ll entrust to you from now on’ came out.

A small brown head popped up from behind the wagon wheel, and a clear little voice was heard.

“Wow, it’s cloth for making clothes!”

The four people standing in the tense atmosphere all turned to look in that direction simultaneously.

“Pirenthia?”

Rulak muttered in surprise.

Toward such a grandfather, Pirenthia smiled brightly and said in an even louder voice.

“Our dad knows this stuff really well!”

* * *

Looking at the people surprised by my sudden appearance, I showed an even more childlike innocent smile.

“How did you suddenly come here?”

Grandfather asked, lowering his body slightly toward me.

“I came out for a walk with Dad! But I saw Grandfather and came running over!”

There was no grandfather who would dislike hearing that someone came to see him.

Especially when it was a young granddaughter who came running over.

Sure enough, I could see the corners of Grandfather’s mouth turning up slightly.

“Thank you, Pirenthia. But running around is dangerous, so be careful from now on.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

As Grandfather patted my head, Biejie, annoyed at being interrupted, waved his hand as if shooing away a fly and said to me.

“The adults are working, so go over there and play, quickly!”

But I completely ignored such Biejie and asked Grandfather.

“But what is all this? There’s so much of the same cloth!”

“This is fabric made from a plant called coroi. We were discussing with the adults here whether we could sell this to people and make money.”

“Ah, I see.”

Make money, indeed. This business is going to fail completely.

To point out the problems, there are too many.

With various problems scattered throughout, this large-scale Koroi textile business ultimately failed and Lombardy suffered financial losses.

I could step forward now and say ‘Since it’s like this and that, let’s not even start and fold here,’ but that wasn’t my role as a young child yet.

“Huff, gasp! Tia! How can you run off like that by yourself!”

That’s exactly Father’s role.

I turned to look at Father with an innocent face that knew nothing and said.

“Papa! Grandfather is selling this fabric!”

“Huff, whew! I’m sorry, Father. Tia, you shouldn’t interrupt when adults are talking. Let’s go take a walk over there.”

Father, not knowing my intentions, tried to take me elsewhere.

“Look at this, Papa! This is made from a plant called Koroi. It’s so fascinating!”

“Hm? Koroi?”

I knew he would show interest.

Perhaps intrigued by the idea of weaving with a plant that was nothing more than a weed like Koroi, Father looked toward the cargo wagon.

“Oh, so this is fabric made from Koroi. This is my first time seeing the real thing, this rough texture is something I’ve never encountered before…”

Father, who had been excitedly talking without realizing it, came to his senses again and his face reddened.

“Let’s go, Tia.”

We can’t just leave like this!

Just then, a voice that refreshingly pierced through my anxious heart was heard.

“Take a look at it, Gallahan.”

It was Grandfather.

Biejie seemed flustered that his younger brother had suddenly appeared and was acting familiar, but his face was quite a sight as he couldn’t bring himself to interfere.

“I don’t know that much about it either. I only know that in the eastern part of the empire, they’ve been weaving fabric from this Koroi plant for about a hundred years. It’s easy to make and the materials can be obtained directly from the mountains, so it’s a textile favored by commoners.”

“Commoners?”

But the Durak Caravan Leader’s reaction was a bit strange.

When Father said that Koroi cloth was mainly used by commoners, his face twitched.

“You’re saying this is cloth that only commoners use?”

“Yes, that’s right… As you can see, it’s rough and coarse, so it’s not suitable for noble clothing.”

“Well, really.”

When the caravan leader couldn’t continue speaking, Grandfather asked.

“What’s wrong, Caravan Leader?”

“The person who told me about this textile said that both nobles and commoners alike loved it… So I was planning to do business targeting nobles.”

“Didn’t you say earlier that you obtained it directly?”

“Di-directly, or rather, someone I know well obtained it instead…”

“It seems you’ve been swindled by that person you know well.”

The embarrassed caravan leader’s face turned red.

“But there’s one drawback to this Koroi textile. Once harvested from the plant, it has a kind of expiration date… Ah, as expected.”

Father lifted the bottom layer of the stacked fabrics and clicked his tongue.

Black mold was growing on the textiles sandwiched in the middle.

“Finished Koroi cloth is vulnerable to moisture. It seems this happened while we went through the recent rainy season.”

“Sigh, oh no.”

The caravan leader couldn’t hide his dismay.

Of course he’d feel deflated.

He had just learned that the business plan he had ambitiously prepared was completely useless.

Then, Father, who had been pondering something, said to the caravan leader.

“However, Koroi grows sufficiently in territories near the Directorate, so there shouldn’t be any major problems if you source materials from nearby instead of bringing them from far away.”

“Oh, is that so!”

“And if you really plan to do this business targeting nobles, try mixing wool when weaving.”

“Wool?”

“Yes, actually Koroi isn’t such a bad material. Rather, it would allow you to save a lot on costs, which is good. So if you invest just a little of the money saved on raw materials into mixing wool, you’ll get quite a cool and soft textile.”

“Oh, such a method exists!”

As if seeing a rope dropped from heaven, the Durak Caravan Leader’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Father.

“However, mixing wool with other raw materials requires quite advanced techniques. Please carefully select weavers with appropriate skills.”

“We-weavers…”

The caravan leader seemed to truly know nothing about this field, just blinking his eyes.

“The weaver guild under our Lombardy should be able to handle it sufficiently. Of course, that would mean Lombardy’s share of the business profits would have to increase.”

Cleribane jumped in at the right timing to help.

“How much are you thinking?”

“Considering the wages of Lombardy craftsmen…”

As Cleribane and the caravan leader began negotiating, Father took my hand.

He was trying to quietly slip away.

“Gallahan, you take charge of this business.”

But Grandfather’s tremendous command immediately caught Father’s retreating steps.

“Ah, Father!”

Biejie almost screamed.

He couldn’t let the business he had worked so hard to bring be taken by his youngest brother.

However, Grandfather’s attitude was very firm.

“But I don’t know much about business. This is beyond my capabilities and too much for me, Father.”

Father, startled, seemed to want to refuse, but Grandfather asked the Durak Caravan Leader in a leisurely tone.

“It seems you’ll need an advisor who knows this field well.”

“I was just troubled by my lack of knowledge about textiles. If Lombardi Lord helps, it would be reassuring!”

Biejie treats others like servants of someone else’s house, but changes his attitude toward Father, calling him Lord.

“When it comes to business matters, I’ll also lend my modest assistance. Please don’t worry too much, Lord Gallahan.”

Even Cleribane, who didn’t get along with Biejie, stepped forward to help Father.

Father, who had been hesitating for a moment, looked down at me standing there holding his hand.

You can do it, Father!

I sent him the most sparkling gaze I could muster and said.

“You can help that mister! That’s so cool, Papa!”

My words were the deciding factor.

Having made up his mind, Father squeezed my hand tightly and nodded toward Grandfather.

“I’ll give it a try.”

I barely restrained myself from jumping up and down and shouting right there.

Father would definitely be able to make this business successful.

Since the fundamental problems would disappear, both Lombardy and Angenas could make big money, and there wouldn’t be any fool stupid enough to interfere with a business conducted by the two largest families in the empire joining hands.

“Grrr!”

Except for idiots like Biejie here, grinding his teeth.

But as long as Grandfather is alive, there’s nothing Biejie can really do.

If he tried to ruin a business involving the family’s money out of jealousy, Grandfather wouldn’t stand for it.

“Papa, you’re so cool.”

I deliberately muttered such words loud enough for Father to hear while standing quietly.

There’s something I know for certain, having lived through the future.

Just as Lombardy is interested in the imperial succession, the Empress is also someone with great interest in who will inherit the position of Lombardy’s clan head.

Until now, the eldest son had shown the most prominence, but there wasn’t a single imperial noble who didn’t know that Biejie wasn’t particularly bright.

Currently, Biejie and his family attend the monthly banquets held by the Empress and Emperor at the Imperial Palace in place of Grandfather, but once this business succeeds, well…

I’m confident that Gallahan Lombardy and his family will appear on that attendance list at least once.

And there was someone in the Imperial Palace I absolutely had to meet as soon as possible.

That person I must make my ally if I, an illegitimate daughter and a woman, am to inherit the clan head position.

Second Prince Peres Bribachau Durelli, he is in the Imperial Palace.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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