A few days later.
In the round table conference room of the imperial palace, the elders of council gathered one by one from early hours.
Most of them were the ones who pointed out Frey’s qualities and praised Tahar’s legitimacy at the council of elders last week.
A few of them moved to the terrace and began talking in low voices.
“Count Aren came early too.”
“I was getting restless being stuck in the mansion…Who would have thought things could turn out this way in a week.”
“Yes. What do we do now?”
“I never thought that Gelon and the Crown prince would fall like this….”
Count Aren pressed his throbbing forehead.
The elders on the terrace were all the heads of families who grew up with the full support of Gelon.
It was also the power of Gelon that allowed an insignificant family to enter the center of the central political world, the Council of Elders.
Therefore, Count Aren’s group believed in the great power of the Empress, Gelon, and the Crown Prince.
Even when the Duke of Gelon was detained in the basement of the Great Temple.
[“As expected, this is also the big picture of His Highness the Crown Prince!”]
[“My conviction hit my knees at Her Majesty’s the Empress insight”]
‘I’ve even gone as far as to say nonsense.’
‘What’s the big picture? You were bluffing to pretend you didn’t fail!’
The decisive blow was Lydia’s runaway.
The newspapers only reported that Tahar had failed to stop Lydia’s runaway.
‘Why did he fail to stop it?’
[Princess Garnet revealed how the Duke of Gelon, the Empress, and the Crown Prince dealt with the transcendent.]
According to the disclosure of Crown Princess Garnet, those who inherited Gelon’s blood abused the child.
The Crown Princess concluded the interview by saying that she also had a great responsibility, and even added a word.
[“I hope that the Grand duke and Grand Duchess Prause will raise Lydia with love.”]
In a way, it was natural. It was after it was proven that only the Prause couple could stop the runaway transcendent.
“In conclusion, we…”
“It seems ruined.”
Count Aren’s group wanted to hit themselves for believing in Gelon until the end.
“Now what? It seems it’s only a matter of time before His Highness the Crown Prince is detained at the Great Temple.”
“He used the Fog Of Fall to transfer the Transcendent’s abilities to the scroll, but in the end, he even made it go wild, so there is no way he won’t be detained.”
“Besides, it seems Her Highness Grand Duchess Prause has decided to catch and kill us.”
It was customary to postpone the meeting of the elders for a week when something important happened in the imperial palace.
So Count Aren’s group sent a person to Grand Duke Prause’s mansion, but they were rejected.
[“Because my wife wants to meet the deadline requested by the council of elders for qualification verification.”]
‘Frey meant to stick to deadlines, but—’
“That must mean she is going to watch those who give her difficult assignments and set such short deadlines, right?”
“It’s clear that we have to wait and see. What should we do about this….”
It was the time when Count Aren’s group were getting freaked out by their own interpretation of Frey’s meaning.
–Click
“The Grand Duke Prause and his wife have arrived.”
Starting with the much-talked-about Grand Duke Prause and his wife,
Frey and Daniel have arrived.
But, why?
The complexion of Grand Duke and Duchess Prause looked five times brighter than last time.
The skin also seemed to be soft and smooth.
‘I’m sure they are thinking of killing the rebels, right?’
‘Are they thinking of wiping out the rebels and returning home refreshed…’
Count Aren regretted it.
‘After all, when Lydia ran out of control, I should have taken only valuables and escaped at night!’
Of course, Frey didn’t care about Count Aren’s anxiety.
“Then, since it looks like everyone has gathered, let’s start the meeting.”
As Frey glanced over, the low-ranking officials assisting the meeting distributed the materials Lina had given them.
[Methods of purchasing goods and improvements plan to the current imperial palace]
Seeing the title, Count Baines huffed and wiped his chin.
‘Just by looking at the title of the material, it’s hard to know how Her Highness the Grand Duchess intends to improve the imperial palace’s financial problems.’
Count Baines continued to focus on the material today with a heart of cheering for the Grand Duchess.
“The first part of the materials we handed out tells you how to purchase necessary items in the imperial palace.”
Frey pointed to the material created by Lina and Wiz with their heart and soul.
“The problem is here. It’s the part where the imperial palace orders the necessary items from the Top.”
At her point, most of the elders tilted their heads.
What’s wrong with ordering things we need from the top…?’
‘If placing orders at the top is a problem, how does the imperial palace order things?’
All those who filled this position were nobles.
It was only natural for them to send people to the top or call in merchants to buy necessary items.
Frey was well aware of that.
“Of course, most people will buy things this way, so you’d think there’s no problem. but…”
Lina flipped through a page of the presentation material hanging on the blackboard.
“Let’s look at this part. The price of a bundle of candles supplied to the imperial family by the Gelon Merchants is 50 silver.”
“……”
Could it be that these people are nobles and don’t know the price of candles?
Fortunately, Frey has attached additional materials just in case.
“Candles of the same quality at the same time were selling for 20 silver in the market.”
“…..!”
“Because we purchased the product through a specific merchant, a transaction fee was added.”
‘In fact, the amount was too large to be called a transaction fee.’
‘They almost doubled the price of the item, so they won.’
Frey was convinced that she would be able to stop wasting money simply by buying things at the right price.
“Previously, the Vliette Merchant and the Gelon Merchant held a tight grip on the capital’s supply market.”
“Does that mean that in the future, the Holt Merchant will be able to—”
“No. It doesn’t mean that buying things through the Holt Merchant will solve it.”
Of course, Baron Holt would not eat the imperial family like Gelon or Vliette.
Frey swallowed her thoughts and spoke again.
“If you receive goods through a specific merchant, there will inevitably be adhesions, and there is a high probability that you will pay a lot of money for the quality.”
Frey pointed at the summary with his pointer stick.
“Therefore, the solution I propose is that from now on, all items purchased from the imperial palace, government offices, and public institutions will be through bidding.”
TL: Bid is a term used when people want to buy goods at a lower price than the last price.
This price represents the minimum price a seller is willing to take on the same security. Thus, trading or transactions occur when buyers in the market are willing to pay for the offer being sold at the best price.
The elders were taken aback when the unexpected word came out.
“Bid…?”
“Are you talking about an auction?”
It seemed to be an unfamiliar concept in this world.
‘Especially for the nobility.’
Frey decided to give an example.
“Let’s say you need a hundred bundles of candles in the imperial palace. If it was like before, you would send someone to the trade merchants to bring you a bag of candles, and give them as much money as they ask for, right?”
“Yes.”
“But since I want to buy a bag of candles, I am asking the Imperial Palace to present the price and some test candles to check the quality.”
The elders imagined using the experience of participating in the auction.
“From the point of view of merchants, selling a bag of candles to the imperial family will benefit both money and honor, so I will lower the price to a reasonable level.”
“I won’t be bringing poor quality candles because I have to win a deal…”
“If we receive bids from several merchants at the same time, there will be opportunities even for the smaller tops.”
Even if they think about it for a moment, there are many advantages over that method.
‘Considering the amount of items the Imperial Palace orders in a year, the expenditure will be much lower than before.’
Count Baines nodded happily.
Frey pointed to the last part of the material with a sense of pride.
“Some estates with strong finances are already using bidding to order goods. Representatively, the Prause estate is like that.”
It was Daniel who reassured Frey, who wondered if it would be possible to purchase things through bidding in this world.
‘In Prause, Jakov, the Master of the Merchant Guild, played a role in delivering the bid to both sides.’
Frey combined Prause’s method and the modern method to find a method that benefited both the merchant and the imperial palace as much as possible.
‘Of course, we have to set up a system to prevent the bureaucrats who receive bids from pushing a certain guild.’
It was time to explain some additional provisions she had to make.
“But if the imperial palace receives a bid, there will definitely be problems.”
As expected, the one who spoke with a firm voice was Count Aren, who remained by Tahar’s side until the end.
It was Frey, who was expecting him to take another bet.
But…
“Since the future emperor is the owner of the Holt Merchant, wouldn’t the Holt Merchant have an advantage in bidding?”
“Future Emperor?”
Everyone, including Frey, Count Baines and Grand duke Prause, was startled.
“Don’t you know that since you have completed the task so perfectly, the controversy over your qualifications will end now.”
Count Aren was attempting a flattery that made not only Tahar, but also Duke Gelon and the empress laugh.
“….!”
As if they didn’t want to lose, other nobles began to shine their eyes.
* * *
