Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt - Chapter 101



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Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt Chapter 101

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Countess Tzak’s eyes narrowed as she looked at him. Was he really a man with a unique charm? If it weren’t for Isabella, she would have teased him into going to bed. That would be fun, right?

What would that man be like in bed? Does he know that among the ladies of the salon these days, it is an interesting topic of discussion to have that stone-like man fall on the bed?

Arthur, who had no idea what she was imagining, greeted her politely and left. And then he slowly admitted that he had to face the uncomfortable reality. To pretend not to know about Madame Zeltney’s affection for him any longer would be to use her.

What should I do? Since the music box was already a huge hit, there was no need to maintain a partnership with her. But wouldn’t that be just human garbage?

Viana guessed that her husband was troubled. After he came back from his visit to the count’s house a few days ago, she often saw him sitting at the table, lost in thought.

“Honey, what’s wrong with you?”

“Uh… um… … uh.”

Arthur did not say that he had no worries. Lying to his wife to make her feel bad was often the seed of distrust and the starting point of conflict.

“What are you worried about?”

“I think Madame Zeltney likes me.”

“… … You know that now?”

Arthur almost said that he had known all along, seeing Viana’s pitiful look in her eyes, but since that would have made him a real piece of trash, he said something else.

“But it can’t stay like this forever.”

“That’s true.”

Viana, who had been anxiously waiting for a long time for her husband to fall for Madame Zeltni’s seduction, nodded at her husband’s words, then, intoxicated with a strange sense of victory, spoke firmly.

“But why should you worry about that? You are responsible for your own feelings.”

Mrs. Zeltney likes my husband? So what? That doesn’t make my husband responsible for Mrs. Zeltney’s feelings. Did someone threaten her with a knife to make her like my husband?

Arthur nodded at the principled story.

“That’s true. But the problem doesn’t end there.”

The problem was that there was an acquaintance around Madame Zeltny who was impulsively pursuing a strange romantic interest. And that was a close friend. Yes, Countess Tzak.

There was no way to deny that one day Mrs. Zeltney might decide to seduce Arthur, given her impulsive nature. This must be why her parents kept nagging her about making good friends.

“Isn’t that countess crazy?”

After hearing her husband’s story, Viana tried not to raise her voice and criticized Countess Tzak.

Arthur shrugged.

“Well, people who are full and have warm backs tend to have strange imaginations.”

The perversion of humans who can enjoy all kinds of pleasures at the peak of power is beyond imagination. The imagination of those who live hand to mouth cannot possibly keep up with the imagination of those who have the time and resources to enjoy pleasures.

Don’t you see the difference just by looking at the time spent imagining?

It was only natural that the more time spent thinking about pleasure, the more extraordinary pleasures would be developed. How could the country bumpkins, busy with farming, ever imagine the pleasures of the higher-ups?

Viana’s eyes narrowed.

“Are you taking the Countess’s side now?”

“No, don’t get excited. If you get excited, you’ll make mistakes.”

Viana felt a sense of trust in her husband’s calm words.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I’m introducing you to a man who is cooler than me.”

“That seems impossible?”

Arthur was momentarily speechless at Viana’s serious response.

* * *

A company dinner was held. It was a company dinner to celebrate the success of the music box business, and people who helped with the business were invited to drink and eat.

But not everyone could gather in one place. There was a clear difference in status and rank, so Holden led those who suited the pub, and Jarani led those who suited the salon.

Arthur was of the latter group. It would be absurd to include the developer of a music box in a dinner party with his subordinates.

Thus, Arthur, Samuel, Madame Zeltney, Viscount Chorin, and the lawyer Sangswart gathered in the salon. They were all responsible for important parts of the music box business.

“Congratulations on your business success!”

“Cheers!”

Arthur spoke first, raising his glass, and Zarran followed suit. Arthur drank tea, but the others drank cocktails or wine.

“Thank you all for your hard work.”

“I don’t know if I should be in this position.”

Mrs. Zeltney also added a word to Sangswart’s words.

“Me too. I really didn’t do anything.”

To be honest, the only thing Mrs. Zeltney did in this business was to give a review of the music box. Compared to the others, and even compared to Sangswart, who participated later but was a great help in the revision of the law, she really did nothing.

Arthur said.

“But we lent our brand to the Ridis Salon. If it weren’t for the recognition of Ridis Club, it would have been difficult to establish the brand so quickly.”

Music box is a product name, and the place that made it was Balta Workshop. In other words, the music box currently being sold was called ‘Balta Music Box.’

This was one of Arthur’s intentional measures to have the music box be called an music box. I don’t know when music box will become a common noun, but it led to the formula music box = Baltar being engraved in people’s minds for a very long time.

And here, the successful launch of the product played a huge role. It captured the market before competitors appeared.

“But I don’t have much of a stake in the Lydis Club?”

“You can be proud of the brand value because it comes entirely from Mrs. Zeltney. If she were to sell her shares, the Lydis Club would have to change its signboard.”

Because that was the identity of the Ridis Club.

While we were talking, something to eat came out. We all had light snacks and talked while eating.

“The Mato Trading Company merchants will soon visit the Tsuuraz Craft Guild Capital Branch.”

“I’ll have Holden prepare a contract.”

Arthur answered Jaran’s words.

Samuel asked curiously.

“But what about exports?”

“Well, I guess I’ll be summoned to the palace soon.”

“why?”

“You might even be given the title of Baron.”

Everyone’s attention was focused on what she said while chewing on a cookie.

Cho-reng asked, blinking his eyes.

“Who said that?”

“Countess Tzak.”

At those words the table became quiet.

Arthur opened his mouth.

“What do you think? It sounds like a lie, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Cho-reng said.

“Honestly, I don’t understand what you did to deserve a semi-noble title?”

“He said it was because of what was going to happen in the future.”

“What about the future?”

“They say that music boxes will become a specialty of the Kingdom of Skara.”

“Hey… … Even your dreams are wild?”

Cho-Reng gave an assessment that could be considered an insult to the King, depending on how you interpret it. As everyone’s attention turned to him, Cho-Reng spoke quickly.

“No, that would be the case. After all, music boxes are industrial products. Any country that can make pocket watches can make them.”

“It seems that His Majesty the King wants to sell music boxes to cover the finances lost in the war.”

The atmosphere became heavy at Jaran’s words. Samuel said in a discontented tone.

“Oh, so you’re saying that you have to suffer all the hardships and the royal family takes all the money?”

“That can’t be happening.”

Jarani encouraged Samuel.

“His Majesty the King knows that you cannot hire people without paying them their dues, so the business will not fail.”

“But they will make many demands to promote exports. They will pressure the public to disclose technology in order to produce more. Technology leakage will be faster than you think.”

“Then what should we do?”

“The only good thing is that we succeeded in branding first.”

Arthur was confident that Balta Orgel would be able to capture the high-end market that sells to the domestic aristocracy because of its name value. However, it was clear that the mid- to low-priced market and the export market would be fiercely competitive. Balta Orgel had not been able to capture that market, and it was a place where price was more important than brand value.

“We can’t even take over the export market anyway. In this situation, it would be best to sell the music box technology to a company or corporation designated by the royal family at an appropriate time and distribute the responsibility.”

“Divergence of responsibility?”

“Music boxes are profitable, so countries with the technology to back them up will quickly reverse engineer them and make them. Then, the expected profits will decrease, and as the expected profits decrease, the royal family’s anger will increase.”

“Hey, can I talk about this here?”

“Um… … Let’s do the rest somewhere else.”

When Arthur hesitated to respond to Samuel’s remark, Cho-Reng sorted out the situation.

“So His Majesty the King will receive the title’s value in arrears?”

“Mr. Cho-Reng, your expression is a bit… … .”

When Sangswot warned Cho-reng, Cho-reng expressed himself more gently.

“So you are saying that you will later receive the kindness of His Majesty the King in bestowing you the title of baron? And as a result, you will have to tighten up your business considerably?”

“Don’t worry too much, the only people here who are having a hard time are me and the merchant over there. Oh, and Mr. Sangswart may need your advice on a contract with a foreign composer.”

Arthur responded like that, raised his glass and continued speaking.

“After all, isn’t a crisis an opportunity? A chance to expand your business under the protection of His Majesty the King.”

“That’s… not bad.”

Jarani nodded in agreement. If there was strong protection from those in power, it would be possible to monopolize the domestic music box market.

“Okay, let’s stop talking about the headaches and talk about something fun.”

When things had settled down to a certain extent, Samuel said, “Now that the heavy topic is over, let’s get to the real fun of the dinner.”

As expected from a salon, they enjoyed the play of intellectual conversation, and various topics came up. Jaran and Samuel were in the business world, Sangswart was in the legal world, Cho-Reng was in the music world, Arthur was in the industrial world, and Madame Zeltny was in the fashion world, so there was no shortage of topics for conversation and discussion.

“So you’re saying that the reason dresses are so popular is quite political.”

“I feel a little sad. Even now, I’m caught up in political logic and can’t wear the dress I want to wear.”

Madame Zeltni’s words in response to Sangswart’s words were, depending on how you interpret them, quite dangerous statements. The social circles of the Kingdom of Skara were currently divided into the royalist faction, the noble faction, and the neutral faction.

Sangswart smiled as if he had difficulty answering her question, then continued.

“So what if there was a new dress that wasn’t tied down by political interests?”

From what he understood of Madame Zeltney’s words, the people could now be divided into the royalists who wore the Lydis style, and the aristocratic faction who wore the splendid dresses of the past.

But what if a new dress appears that is distinct from these two?

The remark was made out of a bit of curiosity.

“A new dress?”

“For example, this is the dress that those who are neutral would want.”

The Lidis style was a dress of the pro-royalists who aimed to secure the finances of the state, or rather the royal family, while the previous splendid dresses were dresses of the aristocrats who took it for granted that the privileged class would enjoy the luxuries of the privileged class.