Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt - Chapter 157



Only Noblemtl

Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt Chapter 157

28-Military supply

“I won’t do anything that big. I just want to help my brother, who is in the military, advance in his career.”

Arthur replied. That was the reason why he didn’t bother to hold onto Samuel and try to coax him. It wasn’t a big business, and it was more of a personal matter. Maybe he was thinking of taking care of the people around him while he had free time?

Holden nodded to Arthur’s words.

“If you say Arthur’s brother, then he’s not completely left. Let’s find out.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard. If you wait a bit, you’ll have plenty of opportunities anyway.”

Bonds were issued to increase the number of troops. As the demand for supplies increases, even if existing companies hold on tight, there will be room to make small gains.

Arthur bowed his head to Holden, who nodded in agreement.

“Then please.”

“No, no. Arthur, how much have you done for the guild… … .”

“That’s for the benefit of the guild, including me, and this is a personal request, right?”

So Holden was embarrassed by Arthur’s logic that he should express that much gratitude.

Anyway, he investigated whether military supply was possible at Arthur’s request. And he decided that it was possible to provide military supply in a way that would sufficiently support Hans.

“It’s difficult with just our guild’s strength.”

If it was a local defense force, it would be different, but it was the Royal Central Army. In order to supply to it, not only excellent supply capabilities were needed, but also the ability to exert sufficient influence on central politics. However, the Tsurard Craft Guild was very lacking in that area. To be honest, other than Arthur, there was no other window through which to exert influence on central politics.

“So you’re saying I have to do it myself?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Ugh.”

It’s annoying.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”

“No. There is only a distinction between what the guild can do and what I can do.”

I tried to eat it raw because it was a personal matter, but it didn’t work?

Arthur had no choice but to write a letter to Hans, asking who he should meet to help him advance in the military. This way, the surprise gift went down the drain.

[Arthur. I really appreciate your concern for your incompetent brother. To put it bluntly… … .]

Arthur frowned at the content of the short letter from Hans. The letter mentioned the name of the Provost Plavan.

It was the name that immediately came to mind when Holden concluded that he needed to use Arthur’s connections, since he was in the Royal Central Army.

But I deliberately ignored him. Because I didn’t want to become any more friendly with that diehard royalist. But it seemed that Hans had become close enough to be able to talk about this with him.

Arthur took a moment to look for another solution.

Isn’t there any other way besides this diehard royalist faction? First of all, because the King was offended by the Scalon Noble Committee, it was forbidden to approach the neutral faction or the noble faction. Asking that gentleman, Viscount Karl Frant, was also a good idea. That gentleman had established himself in the noble faction due to the Scalon Noble Committee.

Arthur ran through the list in his head, but there was no one he wanted to associate with who could be used to get into the Royal Central Army’s supply chain. No, there was just one person.

It was his older brother, Hans. So Arthur wrote again.

[What can’t you do, hyung? You can say something like, I’ll take responsibility for providing cheap supplies, so please consider me for your promotion review.]

Arthur enclosed a list of items that could be supplied with the help of the Tsuraz Craft Guild, and Hans responded to his brother’s consideration by writing:

[I’ll give it a try.]

Yeah, isn’t it for your own good in the end? If you just sit there and take it, you have no conscience.

Arthur spent his time leisurely raising his children until he heard Hans’ reply in a letter saying that he had realized that.

“Dad, dad!”

“Why why why?”

“That thing, that thing, that thing!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Arthur responded to his son’s urging and took him closer to the grandfather clock, holding him in his arms. He saw it every day, but today it seemed to pique his curiosity.

As Viana was spending time looking at the sight of such a rich man with a happy smile, the maid came and informed him that a guest had arrived. Arthur handed his son over to Viana and went out to the living room to greet the guest.

To be honest, it wasn’t a very welcoming face.

“How have you been, Your Majesty?”

“How have you been, Arthur?”

The visiting guest was Plavan Jungwi. Although he was not happy to see him, Arthur greeted him with a smile, and Plavan Jungwi also greeted him with a smile.

“Why are you so busy here?”

Arthur guessed why the Plavan Guard had come, but he ignored it.

“Your older brother Hans was doing something funny.”

“Ah. Are you talking about military supplies?”

“They want me to do well in the promotion examination with good military supplies.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Arthur tilted his head. Seeing Arthur like that, Plavan Jeongwi let out a deep sigh.

What Arthur and Hans were doing wasn’t exactly strange. It was a reality that military school cost money, and that officer positions could ultimately be bought with money.

This was because the army of the Kingdom of Skara was not essentially the army of the people or the army of the state, but rather the private army of the powerful. Naturally, in order to prevent the king from swinging this army around as he pleased, the nobles inserted their own people here and there, and this became the custom.

The reason the king silently tolerated such practices was because the military did not cost a small amount of money. Shouldn’t they secure the funds to maintain it?

If that were the case, one might wonder what would happen if an incompetent person became an officer through the power of money, but considering the current level of social development in the kingdom, it could be interpreted as a ‘talent’ who could ‘supplement’ the supply in that way. Of course, there was plenty of room for corruption in military supplies to occur, considering the principal.

The Plavan government was concerned about that.

“Are you trying to make money?”

“I’m trying to help my brother get promoted.”

“When your older brother Hans becomes successful, will he make money through military service?”

“I don’t really plan on making a lot of money, but I can’t sell it at a loss, right?”

There is no such thing as a free lunch. A one-sided relationship is bound to end in failure somewhere.

In order to have a healthy, long-term relationship, you have to give what you can and take what you can at a reasonable level. The same goes for military supplies.

If you sell at a loss and your losses pile up, this side will give up on military supplies, and if you try to make a quick buck with military supplies, there will be bankruptcy somewhere on the other side.

At Arthur’s words, Plavan Jeongwi asked.

“Is that really all? You can really supply these at this price?”

What Plavan Jeongwi handed over was the list of military supplies and their prices enclosed in the letter Arthur had attached to Hans.

“Well… … if the raw materials are at their current price. If demand increases and it becomes difficult to supply raw materials, the price will go up.”

“What is your margin rate?”

“We estimate that the production cost and transportation cost are included in the cost price, which amounts to around 10%.”

“But is this the price?”

Plavan Jeongwi said in despair.

“Why? Is it expensive?”

“Because it’s cheap… … Because it’s cheap!”

The Plavan Jeongwi suddenly made a sudden rash move, and Arthur, startled, narrowed his eyebrows and said.

“I was surprised.”

“I’m sorry. But how could I not be angry? The original military supplies cost four times more than this! How can I eat four times as much?!”

“Well, it seems like they’re producing it at a high price. It’s supposedly a military product, isn’t it?”

At Arthur’s words, Plavan Jeongwi barely managed to calm his excitement and nodded.

“… … Yeah, there might be a difference in quality… … but I’ll have to check it out myself.”

Arthur somehow felt that things were getting worse, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that he couldn’t help under the glaring eyes of Plavan Jeongwi. He felt that arrows of anger might fly at him.

“I will instruct the guild capital branch to prepare a sample.”

“Thank you.”

Plavan Jeongwi held Arthur’s hands tightly and gave a long speech about how he was a true patriot before leaving.

And then things got bigger.

* * *

“Arthur Hurt, come out here, you little punk!”

“You can’t do that here!”

Arthur, who had been working in the workshop for the first time in a long time, felt a sense of foreboding at the noise that reached his ears.

Why does this seem like something like this has happened before… … .

But unlike before, it wasn’t a show of force using thugs. It was just a pot-bellied gentleman in expensive-looking clothes, yelling and making a fuss for Viscount Arthur Hurt to come out.

So Arthur was able to welcome him kindly and without any burden.

“I am Arthur Hurt. Excuse me, who are you?”

“I am Bartrand and the Viscount!”

“Oh, Your Majesty, it is an honor to meet you like this.”

Despite Arthur’s polite greeting, Viscount Bartrand could not calm down his excitement.

“Whose fortune did you get?”

“yes?”

“Who told you to fuck me, Bart and Viscount?”

“Ah. Um… … Would you like to go in and have a cup of tea?”

Arthur could guess why Bartrand had come, but he tried to calm Bartrand down for now.

This was because of concerns that if Viscount Bartrand returned in anger, another troublesome bad relationship might arise.

Although Viscount Bartrand was grumbling, he still had some dignity as a nobleman and so he could not refuse Arthur’s polite invitation and entered the workshop.

He sat in the reception room inside the workshop and glared at Arthur, who was serving tea with a disgruntled face.

Arthur put the teapot down with a faint smile.

“Have you calmed down a bit now?”

“Are you laughing at me now?”

“I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”

Arthur immediately wiped the smile off his lips. He had simply used the adage that it is hard to spit on a smiling face, but he immediately controlled his expression and even apologized to Viscount Bartrand’s reaction.

It wasn’t something I did out of a desire to do, but people who are originally angry and excited tend to have a weakened ability to think rationally and tend to exaggerate every word and action of their enemy, which can lead to confirmation bias, so they had to be careful.

“First of all, may I ask why you came?”

“You really don’t know why I came to you?”

Arthur had some idea, but he pretended not to know.

“yes.”

“Ha! Then let me explain! Because of you, our family’s business is going to fail!”

“What kind of business is it?”

“Still, you don’t know?!”

“While running the music box business, there were more than a few factories and businessmen who went bankrupt because of us.”

The strange pressure and coldness of those words made Bartrand calm down a little and said.

“Our family was in the business of supplying supplies to the Royal Central Army.”

As expected.

Arthur nodded as Viscount Bartrand continued speaking. He said that the military had suddenly informed him that they would be cutting off supplies.

Suddenly, Viscount Bartrand, who was in a state of panic, received intelligence that Arthur Hurt and the Tsuraz Craft Guild were involved, and he was furious and rushed over?

“Aha. That’s all I know.”

Arthur spoke as honestly as he could.

I was trying to find out about a small military supply for my older brother who is in the military, but then Chief of Staff Plavan came to see me and gave me the information I had discussed with my older brother to confirm the supply price. He said that when he went back, he also confirmed the difference in quality.

Bartrand asked.

“Delivery price? How much?”