System vs Rebirth

"Welcome to my Laivaen City. Please take a seat."

'So, this is the rumored Marquis.' The merchants thought. They all had different opinions in their heads.

First of all, it was clear that the marquis was the youngest person in this meeting. Yet, there were a lot of rumors about his brilliance and slyness.

Still, it didn't change the fact that the four nobles had cornered him to the point where he had to beg for their help.

Some people thought that they could devour him. Some people carefully observed the situation and let the others make their move first. However, there were two people who feared him.

"I'm pretty sure that you have heard about the situation, so I won't beat around the bush. I gather you here to solve that problem." Noel opened it with a calm and collected tone.

"Goods," one of them answered.

"That's correct." Noel raised a finger. "In that case, I will say this once so as to not make you waste your precious time. Those who are unwilling to help me can leave right now."

"!!!" The merchants widened their eyes. In the first place, it was quite astonishing for the ten merchants to come here. Yet he didn't hesitate to expel them either when he was supposed to ask for their help.

"I apologize, Marquis. Aren't you asking for help?" One of them asked.

"Haven't I stated it in my letter? I invited you here to talk about the relationship between you, merchants, and my Ardagan family. I didn't force you to come." Noel shook his head calmly. It might be because he looked like he was cornered by those nobles that they forgot that even if they were merchants, the opposite party was still a marquis.

If it were only a Count, all these great merchants might be able to look down on him in this situation. But he was a high-ranking noble, not even an Earl.

He had to establish that fact first before they began talking.

The other merchants were quite shocked as well, but the two who feared Noel actually had a different opinion.

'Even if he is in such a situation, there is no way for a marquis to lower his head for us. However, it seems that he has riled up at least three people in this room…'

'No. This is actually an appropriate thing to do. At the end of the day, he is planning to expel those who are arrogant enough to ignore the difference in status. If they are too arrogant to acknowledge that, there will be no negotiation. After all, negotiation is only for those who are willing to talk.'

"If you are going to do this, aren't you afraid that you will anger the merchants in the kingdom?" One of the riled up merchants stood up while clenching his fists.

"That's not the correct question. It's whether they dare to anger a Marquis." Noel looked down on him, reminding him that he was just a commoner here.

"…" He gritted his teeth and said, "It seems that the Marquis doesn't need my Elrain Company."

He stormed out of the room in anger. The other two were confused for a moment, but surprisingly, one of them chose to stay while the other left as well.

This action didn't escape Noel's eyes. "It seems that there are only eight people left here. In that case, I will be brief with my demands.

"First, you shall provide me with goods. The price will be limited to one and a half times of the market price, but I'll accept your sincerity if you have any."

Another merchant looked angered as he couldn't help but ask, "Sincerity? Shouldn't we ask it from you, Marquis? You should know that if we ever sell our goods to you, there is a chance that the other nobles won't trade with us anymore."

"That is just my first demand." Noel waved his hand as if treating it as not a big deal. "My second demand is to make this agreement temporary."

"!!!" This second demand dumbfounded them. All agreements were indeed temporary, but it seemed that Noel planned to make them short term as well. In other words, if they cooperated with him, they would only be able to do it for a few months or a year at the longest. But because of this agreement, they would definitely offend a lot of nobles.

"I have heard enough. Unfortunately, my General Welfare Company can't take such a risk."

"My Saturn Company is also unable to. I apologize."

Two more merchants left the room, believing that the risk was simply too high and that no matter the reward, it was simply not worthy.

In addition, Noel even forced them to sell the items at a low price.

"Hahaha!" One of them suddenly laughed. "You are a very ambitious person, Marquis."

Noel looked at the merchant, who actually dared to laugh. It was the president of the two biggest companies, Matthew.

"Ambitious? I believe I have been a bit too lenient with the demands. And there are still two more demands." Noel shook his head.

"That's where you're wrong, Marquis. First of all, you shouldn't have gathered all the ten merchants in this room since your action might be taken as an insult toward us. And there is one thing that you've forgotten, Marquis.

"We, merchants, might be common people, but we possess wealth that can change the fate of a territory."

Noel fell silent for a moment. "Are you saying that you have more money than me?"

"No. Instead, I'm talking about the fact that nobles might not be the only ones that could stop their trade with you."

Noel's expression turned cold. What Matthew said was indeed reasonable. If the ten great merchants didn't want to trade with him anymore, he would definitely be in a bind. There was nothing he could procure.

Even if his territory could rely on themselves to sustain themselves, they would still be a very poor territory since they couldn't sell their products or even procure other goods. No territory could sustain itself alone.

As a noble, Noel should have known it.

That was why Noel shouldn't have gathered them in a single town since they could actually collaborate in anger.

However, it didn't matter for Noel. Noel simply asked, "Can I assume this is a threat?"

"A threat? Please don't say a word that can be easily misunderstood. I don't have the heart to offend a high-ranking noble. It's just… I'm thinking that if my companies don't provide you with goods, I believe that your territory is going to be in trouble."

Noel raised three fingers. "By the way, that's the third demand. I'm going to have you invest in my city."

"You're very bold, Marquis." Matthew's body shook. It was unthinkable that he would dare to force them to 'invest' or, more like, extort them for short term cooperation.

"Are you sure you're going to do this, Marquis Ardagan?" Matthew clenched his fists.

"Oh? You're still here? I guess my Rune Technology is that enticing to you. And that is actually the fourth demand. If you decide to cooperate with me, you are not allowed to acquire any share in the Runegard Company."

That was it. Matthew coldly said, "It seems that the Marquis is serious about this. I hope you don't regret this decision."

"Just leave." Noel shrugged as if he didn't care about his threat.

Matthew felt humiliated. He wanted to get all the rune technology earlier, but to think that the opposite party would look down on him this much.

After this, he swore to ban all trades with the Ardagan family. He couldn't wait until Noel came back to him, begging to have him back.

Matthew snorted and walked away. The merchants knew what Matthew was planning to do. Two out of the remaining five decided to bail out, thinking that the Ardagan family had no future because the lord had become too arrogant because of his achievements.

"Oh? There are still three people here." Noel smirked, looking at the rest of the merchants. They were the number one merchant in the kingdom, Maxwell, the fourth ranked merchant Theresa, and the eighth ranked merchant Zephyr.

While wiping the sweat on his forehead, Maxwell said, "I'd like to know a bit more about these demands first. I hope that Marquis won't feel offended if I ask a few questions."

"Since you still remain here, I guess I can answer a few questions."

"Thank you very much. First of all, your letter stated that you were planning to discuss cooperation between the Ardagan family and the merchants. Then, your first demand was straight to helping you, while the second demand made it look easy for you to abandon us. I find this very conflicting."

"I believe I've stated everything in the letter. It's about cooperation." Noel nodded, confirming it. "What part of the word 'cooperation' do you not understand, President Maxwell?"

Maxwell raised his eyebrows before saying, "I apologize for being too foolish. May I know what cooperation means to you?"

"Cooperation is the process of working together to the same end."

Maxwell lowered his head for a moment. That meaning was definitely contradictory. "And what is the goal you're trying to achieve, Marquis?"

"Isn't it normal for cooperation to get a good result where both parties are happy?"

"…" Maxwell seemed to feel something was off. If that was what he meant by the happiness of both parties, he was wrong. However, what if the mistake was on his part? What if he misinterpreted his words? He couldn't help but ask himself, 'In the current situation, the Ardagan family is definitely in a pinch. From those demands, it's clear that he is planning to forget about the help we've given to him and terminate the cooperation…

'No, wait. He said agreement instead of cooperation. The first agreement was only for help, which was not cooperation. What if I misunderstood him by thinking the agreement was cooperation? What if he wanted the Ardagan family to escape from the predicament first before talking about real cooperation? He said earlier that he wanted to see our sincerity first.

'The price would go higher, but one and a half times is enough. The price won't go much higher than that. In fact, the price might decrease because their highest demand comes from the Ardagan family.

'If that's the case, I might have misunderstood him. I should check whether I'm correct or not.'

Maxwell opened his mouth. "In the third demand, you said that we would have to invest in you, but I didn't think you would need an investment in yourself. Did you perhaps want us to invest in something else?"

Noel smirked. "I guess this will be your last question since the answer to that question is… this area here."

Noel pointed at the area west of the main city.

When they looked at the area, they couldn't help but widen their eyes, thinking the same thing. 'Is he crazy? He wants us to invest in an area that has nothing in it?'