My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 72

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 72
Elia climbed to the fifth floor and opened the room at the far end of the corridor.
A sprawling office lay beyond the threshold.
Waiting there was a woman with short chestnut hair touched by a reddish glow.
“What an honor. The heroine of all the rumors graces our trading company with her presence.”
She was perhaps in her forties.
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity—that was what struck you first about her.
“You’re the head of the Capella Trading Company?”
“Indeed. And you are the youngest of House Laberose, recently returned from the Rift?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Goodness, I have so many questions I hardly know where to begin. But since this is our first meeting, I’d prefer to hear what brings you here.”
For Vivian Capella, it felt as though gold were rolling in of its own accord.
Did the girl even realize how much the attention of the continent had turned toward her?
‘Probably not, or she wouldn’t have come here.’
The Rift—once a realm of mystery and terror.
Since rumors had spread that it was moving southward, every curious soul from one end of the land to the other was talking about “the youngest of House Laberose.”
‘Before this, she was impossible to reach, surrounded by Marquis Celesta and all manner of foreign races.’
Even the smallest scrap of information from this small child would draw the covetous eyes of half the continent.
But first, she needed to win the girl’s favor.
Vivian summoned a servant with delicious cookies and hot chocolate, then sat across from Amy.
The large man who had entered with her remained standing behind the girl.
Presumably her escort, though his frame was far too imposing to seem quite human.
‘Could he actually be a giant?’
Amy’s face lit up at the sight of the cookies and chocolate. She devoured three cookies before seeming to remember why she had come.
Then, suddenly all propriety, she folded her hands neatly and sat with perfect posture, meeting Vivian’s eyes with a silly grin.
‘How adorable.’
Those enormous eyes and her delicate features made her all the more endearing in that moment.
Vivian was smiling warmly when Amy’s next words made her expression freeze.
“Buy land under the Capella Trading Company’s name.”
“I beg your pardon? Land?”
“Yeah. Can you do it?”
Vivian fell silent, thinking.
It was unclear whether she should regard this as a child’s whim or the proposition of a shrewd operator.
For all that she had survived the Rift, on the surface Amy appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary girl her age.
‘What kind of child asks to buy land?’
She found it difficult to believe, yet perhaps appearances and reality were not the same.
Vivian decided to probe deeper and answered with care.
“It depends on what land you’re speaking of.”
Amy swung her legs idly from the high sofa.
“It’s fine. It’s land nobody uses anyway. But I need it.”
“Where is it?”
“All the barren ground below the Flame Mountain Range.”
Vivian’s lips curled into a slight smile.
This was intriguing.
The Flame Mountain Range was home to active volcanoes, and the barren stretches below would likely be sulfur fields—places where nothing grew.
Vivian leaned forward, her curiosity sharpening by the moment.
“What do you intend to use such land for?”
“Well, um…”
“Are you perhaps seeking it as fertilizer? Do you require food supplies on a large scale?”
“…Yeah.”
Seeing the girl hesitate over how to explain, Vivian had offered a plausible reason—and Amy accepted it with an awkward nod.
Of course, Vivian already suspected it was nothing of the sort.
Clearly the sulfur was meant for something else entirely.
‘Could sulfur be effective against the creatures that emerge from the Rift?’
Shelving her speculation, Vivian decided to ask the most crucial question.
“Acquiring such land is no trivial matter. Might I ask why you chose our company?”
“Because it seemed like you wouldn’t dismiss me.”
Something flickered briefly in Vivian’s eyes.
It was a fair observation.
The other two major trading houses, bound by aristocratic conservatism, would have found it far more difficult to grant even a first audience to a visitor who approached them so directly.
‘I’ve never been good at letting things like this slide.’
To be honest, Vivian Capella was barely restraining the impulse to seize Amy’s hand and insist they begin at once—she was far too curious about what the girl intended to do.
She was a merchant, after all.
Of course she had to consider practical matters as well.
“However, Miss Amy. That region also borders the territory of the giants, and Duke Hamel, who rules it, received his fief directly from His Imperial Majesty and will be reluctant to part with it.”
“What if we lease it instead?”
“How many years would you require?”
“Um… until I grow up?”
“Would ten to twenty years suffice? I believe His Grace would accept terms of that length.”
In any case, the land was barren, and sulfur was hardly a frequently used material.
If the Capella Trading Company, which dominated the vast agricultural regions of the south, led the effort, they would assume—just as Amy had suggested—that it was being leased to use as a cheaper fertilizer source.
“Yes, please do that.”
Amy nodded and gestured toward Ignitan standing behind her.
Without a word, Ignitan stepped forward and set down the sack of gold coins Amy had entrusted to him beforehand.
Clang.
The heavy sack settled with the metallic clink of coins shifting inside.
When Vivian opened it, gold gleamed so brightly it hurt her eyes.
Vivian’s lips twisted.
It was a considerable sum—almost terrifyingly so.
‘So the tales of sudden fortune were true, then.’
Naturally, Amy had not entrusted all her earnings to Agnes.
She reasoned that Amy would need funds of her own if she was to manage any ventures independently.
Instead, since she could never carry everything herself, Amy had asked Kesenor to craft a large bag for her.
Kesenor understood her request and enchanted the otherwise ordinary-looking bag with magic so that no matter how much she placed inside, it remained light and did not increase in size.
What Vivian received, of course, was an ordinary sack—withdrawn from the enchanted bag Amy carried.
“Will this amount suffice?”
“Of course. There will likely be funds remaining, in fact.”
“I’m entrusting all of it to you. Count it carefully and issue me a certificate, yes? And I’ll need you to handle other matters besides the land purchase.”
“Consider it done. We are grateful for choosing our company.”
“Oh, one more thing—keep it secret that I bought it!”
“Of course. Leave it to us. Trust is the lifeblood of any trading house.”
“Good.”
Amy nodded, visibly reassured.
Shortly after, Vivian counted the coins, issued a certificate, which Amy entrusted to Ignitan before leaving the room.
“Phew.”
Once outside the Capella Trading Company, Amy let out a deep breath.
‘Will this be enough?’
Until now, the Cadius Empire had had no need for explosives.
The last major and minor wars had occurred a thousand years ago.
Though territorial skirmishes did occur from time to time, the Empire’s citizens had never needed explosives.
Magic existed, after all.
Lords would hire mages at considerable expense when necessary, and the destructive power of bombs was laughable compared to a mage’s might.
But if the other side had no mage…
Amy remembered what had happened at the crucial turning point of the story.
‘War.’
That was why, after hearing Rapitor’s account, she had searched for where sulfur could be found in the Empire.
The search hadn’t taken long.
Sulfur was found almost exclusively in volcanic regions near the Flame Mountain Range.
Amy looked up at Ignitan beside her and took his hand once more.
Ignitan calmly lowered his gaze to meet hers.
Amy smiled at him warmly.
“Let’s go home now.”
“Is your business finished?”
“Yes.”
She appreciated that Ignitan never asked questions.
Rapitor might tell Agnes what he’d heard, but Ignitan would keep their secret.
That was simply the nature of giants.
Naturally, the outing that day remained between the two of them alone.
* * *
After that, time flowed swiftly on.
While Ignitan and Rapitor attended to the territory, Agnes conducted an investigation into Valdemar alongside Rupert.
Their focus lay primarily on those who had suffered sudden ruin in Valdemar’s domain through drink or gambling.
Though all of them resided far from Laberose’s territory, Kesenor assisted them by employing Teleportation.
At first, Agnes and Rupert had intended to investigate directly, but once they realized how conspicuous they were, they began going with Pavel, a guard.
He proved unexpectedly personable and invaluable to their work.
“Our parents received kindness from this person, so we came looking for him—but something happened, didn’t it? What on earth became of him?”
“Ah, well… it’s a shame what happened to him.”
“He changed so suddenly. Why he went that way in his final years, I really can’t say.”
The consensus among nearly everyone they spoke with was the same: they couldn’t fathom how he’d come to such a state—yet all of them shared one observation in common.
“He was the sort who spoke his mind quite freely.”
“That’s right. He had a passion for speaking truth.”
“I heard he even had words with the Lord once? He must have been deeply wounded to resort to drinking.”
The vague suspicion hardened into certainty when they concluded their investigation of Stefan Ritter, who had been called the father’s old friend.

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