Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt - Chapter 177



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Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt Chapter 177

32-Post-war revival

“Why is that?”

“Now all the authors who bought the donations and exhibition bonds against their will will blame me.”

No, I never thought the patriotism of the bourgeoisie of this country would fall to this extent… … .

Arthur had no idea that he would be the first bourgeois to issue war bonds and make special donations. Somehow, when he said he was going to buy, the courtiers from the palace were unusually polite and kind.

At the time, I thought it was an aftereffect of being praised by the king, but after receiving the medal, I thought about it and realized that wasn’t it.

Arthur was disillusioned. The world was against him.

Viana still didn’t understand.

“Do I need to worry about those people?”

“He’s my customer, right?”

Buy me a music box, buy me an automaton, buy me a sky sheet music, buy me tickets to the Ridis theater. Isn’t it your duty as a businessman to consider the feelings of such customers?

Viana understood Arthur’s logic and nodded.

“If that’s the case… … .”

She told her husband’s troubles to the network of housewives she had become friends with and asked for advice.

I feel like my husband has unintentionally burdened his customers, and I wonder how I can ease his worries.

The bourgeois women who were familiar with Viana smiled and told her not to worry. If anyone blamed Arthur, they would surely be a traitor who was trying to sell out the country, so they would step forward.

Arthur felt both grateful and agitated when he heard the story.

Seeing the rich react like this, does that mean there’s still hope for this country, or is this just a passing remark?

Since I wasn’t there, I couldn’t know what their true intentions were, but since I couldn’t predict how things would turn out, I decided to collect gold and silver and other precious metals and observe how the situation developed.

Meanwhile, his younger brother, Rel, thought of his older brother when he heard the news that Arthur had received the medal.

“Is big brother okay?”

“There’s still no news of death… … .”

Arthur let out a hopeful remark in front of his brother, but his rational mind thought that Hans had a one-in-three chance of being safe. It might have been a pessimistic view, but Arthur was just looking at numbers.

In probabilistic thinking, you shouldn’t be excited or depressed before something actually happens. It’s just helpful to hedge your risk based on probability.

Hmm. I hedged against the risk of my older brother’s death… … In this day and age when there is no concept of life insurance, how could something like that exist? All I can do is prepare myself mentally.

Rel asked Arthur, who was organizing his thoughts.

“Brother. What will happen to the war?”

“well…….”

The poor, who were more afraid of poverty than of losing their lives in war, participated in the military draft in large numbers.

They used the advance money they had in hand first to support their families. Prices were expected to rise, but Arthur moved Mato Trading Company through Zarran and joined hands with a logistics giant named Ttian Aho to import agricultural products in large quantities, thereby stabilizing food prices.

The landowning aristocrats and grain distribution bourgeoisie who controlled the land cursed the Mato Trading Company, but in a situation of defeat, they could not speak freely because they were afraid of being attacked by greedy people who were destabilizing society.

Of course, there were some merchants who were trying to buy and sell and were arrested as examples, and there were also voluntary actions by members of the People’s Association who were impressed by Arthur’s contribution to price stabilization. However, Arthur was not particularly pleased with this because it went beyond criticizing such unscrupulous merchants and even openly praised Mato Trading Company and Arthur Hurt, the Count of Cambridge.

He said he was going to make a fuss. Let him curse instead. Isn’t this definitely stacking up 1 stack of hostility?

Anyway, while the local army was blocking the advance of the Jatra Kingdom army, troops recruited from the major cities of the Skara Kingdom outside the capital and the provincial towns and received basic military training headed east.

Arthur answered Rel.

“We’ll have to wait and see.”

The national power of the Skara Kingdom was also not insignificant. King Rai may have been greedy, but he was not an incompetent person.

But what Arthur overlooked was that competence and incompetence can also be relative.

“You lost?”

“Yes. Half of the eastern granary region, including the entire Traba Basin area that we occupied last time, was blown away.”

At Arthur’s absurd face, Chairman Ttian sighed deeply and answered, then lit his pipe.

“I quit smoking… … I wonder what my daughter will say next.”

“Why on earth did you win?”

“If I knew that, I would be a general, not running a company.”

He said he didn’t know either.

Chairman Ttian sighed, exhaled smoke, and spoke with a sigh.

“My railroad in the east was also taken away.”

Somehow, that seemed more painful than losing the war. Arthur would have felt the same way if he were in his position.

“Can more be taken away?”

When asked whether the war could be prolonged, Ttian shook his head.

“That’s not it. They said they would stop the advance at this point and send a messenger to sign a ceasefire agreement.”

“How did you know that?”

“Because I sent the news in advance using my railroad.”

Hmm… … As expected of someone who holds the logistics in check, sensitive news was also delivered very quickly.

“The palace must be in chaos.”

They tried to buy time with local forces and push back with newly recruited troops, but instead of signing a ceasefire, they lost the war and ended up signing a humiliating treaty.

“Ugh~”

Ttian sighed. A difficult time was coming after the defeat.

* * *

32-Post-war revival

The Kingdom of Jarta sent an envoy to discuss a ceasefire and peace agreement.

There, King Rai threatened to mobilize his troops, insisting that the war was not over yet, in front of the envoy.

But the nobles vied with each other to oppose, saying that the country no longer had the capacity to wage war.

The king vented his anger for a long time, telling them to stop talking nonsense, but he could not overcome the opposition of the nobles who had joined forces, and had no choice but to organize a delegation to make peace.

Arthur went to see Balan, who was working at the Foreign Office, to get information on what was going on.

“No, you really don’t have the capacity to fight?”

“No way. If we continue here, it will be a real loss, so let’s stop.”

Balan answered Arthur’s question with a bitter smile.

If nationalism had been developed, the people would have risen up, saying that we had lost the war and that we could not allow our land to be taken away, but in a state with a caste-based totalitarian system, war was a game for the higher-ups.

Moreover, since it was not a completely absolutist state and the contractual concept unique to feudalism still remained, the nobles were able to join forces to check the tyranny of the king.

In other words, is it true that even if the king decides to go to war, he cannot do anything if all the nobles unanimously oppose it?

“The war must have cleared out the poor. Most of the eastern granary belongs to the royal family, so they must have taken away their power. They must have stopped in a hurry because they thought that if they went any further, they would really suffer.”

“That’s strange. There’s a postmortem consent form… … .”

There was an agreement to provide collateral to secure the underlying credit for the issuance of the Scalon. Now that the war has been lost, that agreement will certainly come into effect.

Then it would clearly be a loss for the nobles, and King Rai would have definitely mentioned it, but he ended up opposing the war?

Balan brought out his own reasoning in response to Arthur’s question.

“Even considering the sunk costs, it could be that they calculated that ending the war here would be less damaging. Or, they may have thought that they had to remove the king’s power for sure even if it meant suffering some losses, or they may have calculated that even if there was a consent form, the effect of the consent form could be nullified or reduced.”

“Fuck… … .”

Arthur cursed without realizing it. He didn’t know about the former, but if he was thinking about the latter, he would definitely get involved.

And that premonition came true and came to him. The king summoned Jaran and Arthur.

“Postmortem collateral agreement. What should I do?”

At the king’s words, Jaran said:

“I intend to request from the Noble Council an amount equivalent to 50% of the Scalons issued by the Special Assembly of the Exhibition.”

“But didn’t the value of Scalon fall considerably?”

“So we calculate based on gold. The asset value against gold has not changed much.”

When I explained it as I had discussed with Arthur in advance, King Rai nodded and said.

“Then do so. If you need anything, let my attendant know.”

“The surname is like Ha-hae.”

King Rai nodded calmly at the polite manners of the two men, Arthur, then narrowed his eyes and said something else.

“Oh, do you guys have any money?”

“I have enough to eat and live.”

King Rai was secretly disappointed by the ambiguous answer that asked him to decide for himself whether it existed or not.

“The palace guards need to be strengthened.”

“What about the Royal Central Army?”

“What good is rebuilding the Royal Central Army that was defeated like a swarm?! It’s obvious that they’ll end up defeated after their heads are split and they’ll just do useless things!”

King Rai became angry for a moment, but then realized that it was not helpful and regained his composure before continuing.

“After all, the military needs a unified command system. One less-smart head is better than many smart heads. That’s why I’m thinking of strengthening the palace guards.”

So, the idea is to create an army that will only follow the king’s orders.

Yes, that is true, but… Arthur somehow began to think that the reason for the defeat was that the royal central army was confused due to the divided command, and was defeated individually by the Jatra Kingdom army. Then it was not strange for the king to think that way.

But isn’t the problem always the budget? The reason the Royal Central Army had divided command was because the country couldn’t fully fund it. So how can you do something now that you couldn’t do it before?

“Well… … Your Majesty, honestly, even if you take away all the assets of the former central bank governor, I think we will run out of money within three years.”

At Arthur’s words, Zarran blinked. Why are you bringing up my property?

King Rai was suspicious of Arthur’s words.

“Hmm… … Didn’t you earn a lot?”

“Your Majesty, the former central bank governor is not a greedy businessman blinded by money.”

“That’s true.”

King Rye nodded at Arthur’s words.

If Jaran had decided to make money with the currency issuance rights he had, he could have made a lot of money. Of course, if he had done that, he would have drawn so much aggro that his ship would have been torn apart.

Arthur packaged it as a fact that he was an honest merchant who had grown up with such a reality.

There was no hesitation in packaging it because it wasn’t a lie at all, and Jaran’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“Hmm! Hmm!”

Arthur coughed softly, saying that his face was hot and that he should apply the gold powder moderately, but Arthur pretended not to hear him and continued talking.

“Isn’t the true value of a former bank president in protecting the kingdom’s economy?”

Arthur took this opportunity to appeal to the king to help him regain his lost crown.

Of course, if you think about the defeat, the reparations that must be paid to the Kingdom of Jatra, and the post-war reconstruction, there will be a mountain of difficult tasks… … But if you are Jaran, you can do it.

Of course, I had no intention of saying that out loud.

If that happens, even if he is a person of integrity, I will grab Arthur by the collar and shake him…

At Arthur’s suggestion, King Rye stroked his short beard and opened his mouth.