I quietly observed the man who had asked the question.
If this were Korea, I might have been a bit flustered. It was an official setting with dozens of people staring directly at me.
A sudden question like that would have easily thrown my thoughts into disarray.
But the current me was a duke of the empire, the Chief Justice, and simultaneously the chairman of a massive corporate group.
This much is not difficult at all.
Of course, just because I was confident didn’t mean I should refrain from using the abilities I had been given. Even a lion puts forth its full effort when catching a rabbit.
<Character Information>
Name: Scott Leod
Status: Count
Position: Provincial lord, trading company head
Relationship: Neutral
Condition: Three shops forced to close due to the emergence of the Dapan Group, deepening financial crisis, resentment toward Duke Carius.
Overall Ability: C
101…
Tsk!
Honestly, my first thought was that he was quite shameless.
Why had I organized this lecture in the first place? It was to help those struggling to run their businesses.
Yet Count Scott Leod had aggressively brought up business ethics as an attack.
However, seeing that he had closed three shops, I could only nod in understanding.
That makes sense. The ripple effect of the Midias shopping district is enormous.
They sold quality goods at low prices and offered unique products found nowhere else. Naturally, customer traffic to ordinary general stores would dwindle.
My initial urge to crush him with flawless logic quickly subsided. Instead, it was replaced by sympathy.
Of course, the closure of Count Leod’s shops was the natural result of market logic.
That didn’t mean I had to respond coldly.
“Count Leod, correct?”
“Cough! I only saw you briefly when you were very young. I didn’t expect you to remember me.”
“It would be a lie if I said I clearly remember my infancy. I simply heard about you through others.”
“I see.”
“By the way, I heard three of your shops have closed?”
Count Leod closed his mouth with a gloomy expression.
He seemed slightly embarrassed that his situation had been exposed.
It made his question look like nothing more than petty resentment.
However, anger appeared to outweigh his shame.
He continued staring straight at me, clearly waiting for an answer.
“How many siblings do you have, Count Leod?”
The sudden question left the audience looking puzzled.
Count Leod also looked confused, but he answered anyway.
“I am the third of five sons and four daughters.”
“The Leod family does not practice primogeniture, I take it?”
“It is more advantageous for the family’s survival if the most ambitious and capable person inherits the title.”
“You chose survival of the fittest back then, yet you criticize me for lacking business ethics?
Isn’t the one who failed to stay competitive yourself? It is only natural for customers to go where better products and services are offered.”
“Ah……!”
Count Leod let out a groan.
He seemed to have finally realized that his argument was nothing but a double standard.
The other nobles in the room slowly nodded in agreement.
Most appeared to think there was a clear contradiction in Leod’s claim.
This is fine.
At least the press-conference-like atmosphere had been avoided.
Screech!!
Count Leod stood up and bowed deeply with respect.
“I must have been filled with nothing but stubbornness after repeated failures. I apologize, Your Grace.”
“It happens. Isn’t failure the mother of success? You will surely rise again soon.”
“Th-thank you.”
He must not have expected such leniency from me; Count Leod’s face turned bright red.
Clap! Clap clap! Clap clap clap clap!
As soon as someone began clapping, the lecture hall instantly filled with thunderous applause.
“I heard rumors that His Highness Duke Carius only takes the side of commoners, but it seems they were all baseless.”
“He simply shows generosity to everyone.”
“Wow! ‘Failure is the mother of success’—what a wonderful saying.”
“Indeed. It means only through countless challenges can truly great results be achieved, right?”
“We should spread the word that it is a famous quote from His Highness Duke Carius.”
My face grew hot at their words.
After all, it was originally from Thomas Edison’s light bulb anecdote.
Sorry for borrowing it a little. This isn’t Earth, after all.
I calmed the excited crowd and opened the prepared materials.
In truth, this was not simply a lecture hall.
Then what was it?
It’s a gathering to recruit talent who will lay the foundation for the franchise business.
My plan was to build shopping districts modeled after the Midias shopping area in provincial cities and control the distribution network.
I would make money together with the nobles who joined the franchise.
Positive changes would surely occur on a much larger and faster scale than before.
Shopping districts like Midias would spring up across the entire nation.
It will create an enormous employment effect.
On the other hand, the trading companies attached to noble houses would taste some bitterness.
There would be quite a few people like Count Leod.
It was unfortunate, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Those who wished to join the franchise would receive help.
Those who didn’t would simply have to survive on their own.
***
The franchise business progressed at a considerable pace.
The provincial nobles who signed the contracts returned to their territories and began scouting suitable locations.
They needed sites that met my specified conditions.
Since they were essentially copying the Midias shopping district, it was not particularly difficult.
The issue was the cost. For someone like Count Leod, it was bound to be challenging.
Does that mean he couldn’t join the franchise?
Of course not.
Although repeated failures had left him somewhat financially strained, he was still a powerful figure in the provinces.
If he saved diligently for a few years, he could recover.
So I willingly lent him the business capital.
At a much lower interest rate than usual.
5% annual interest is practically free.
This was not the modern world where bank loans were commonplace.
Lending money here usually meant only usurious loans existed.
Most charged upfront interest, and annual rates exceeding 50% were normal.
In such a situation, offering 5% would make me look like a saint—or even a god—in Count Leod’s eyes.
Ah, of course I took proper collateral.
These people might lack cash, but they had plenty of real estate.
“The reaction was a bit excessive.”
Recalling the scene made me laugh.
They had all forgotten their dignity and shown extreme courtesy worthy of a temple.
Since I have plenty of money anyway, maybe I should establish a bank.
Profit could be generated from the interest gap between deposits and loans.
It would also naturally help paper money take root.
There were many benefits, but the problem was me.
“I have too much work.”
—To me, it just looks like you’re playing around.
Feltron, sprawled lazily across the office desk, grumbled.
What is this guy even saying?
“Playing? Can’t you see I’m dying from overwork?”
—Anyway, the employees do all the actual work. You just give orders, don’t you?
“You who only lived in that barren north don’t understand. Do you know how difficult and full of worries a leader’s position is?”
—Wow! You’re looking down on me just because I lived in the countryside. Tens of millions of provincial people won’t stand for this.
“Ei, that’s not what I meant. Do you acknowledge that I hold many concurrent positions or not?”
—You do have quite a few titles.
“I have to switch my way of thinking completely every time I move from one position to another.”
—Sounds easy to me.
“When someone else’s job looks easy, that means they’re a true master.”
Flick!
I gave the cheeky Feltron a sharp flick on the forehead.
His body flew far away before bouncing back.
—Why did you hit me!
“Because you’re cute.”
—Ha! That’s a terrible excuse.
“If you weren’t cute, I would have half-killed you.”
—…I am cute, right?
Instead of answering, I simply stared at him.
Feltron backed away hesitantly with a frightened expression.
—Ugh! Those are the eyes of a madman!
He then immediately threw himself out the window.
It seemed he had fled in terror.
But can that guy even fly?
Isn’t he a bat in name only?
Thud!
As expected, the sound of Feltron failing to fly properly and crashing into the floor rang out.
I shook my head and focused on the trial documents.
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
Today was a day I only worked the morning shift at the courthouse.
Perias had too many issues that needed fixing, so I was focusing more on city administration duties.
As soon as I turned the first page, a very unpleasant word greeted me.
Fraud?
Just like in Korea, fraud cases happened constantly here too.
From small-scale price gouging to selling fake goods.
It was a country of fraud on par with South Korea.
The reason was simple.
Recovering embezzled funds was difficult, and punishments were not severe.
Why? Because the high and mighty had to enjoy their meals comfortably.
Large-scale frauds were frequently committed by nobles.
As a result, cases often ended with light fines or suspended sentences.
This case also involved a considerable amount of damages.
“The suspect is Viscount Randy Eplin, and the victim is Baron Lamont.”
It was a case that had unfortunately occurred between nobles.
Moreover, Viscount Eplin was an official in the Perias city administration.
Given that it was a troublesome trial in many ways, it had been assigned to me.
But why?
The salary for city officials was not bad.
Of course, they could no longer freely siphon off budgets or take bribes like before.
Still, it was not so low that they couldn’t maintain their dignity.
Like most officials, Viscount Eplin had opened a few shops in good locations.
“I need to look into this more carefully.”
I immediately pulled up Viscount Eplin’s character information.
Since he was a city official, I could see what he was doing at the moment.
<Character Information>
Name: Randy Eplin
Status: Viscount
Position: Head of the City Sewer Management Division, general store owner
Relationship: Neutral
Condition: Dissatisfied with reduced income, uncomfortable with position change, currently planning to close one shop.
Overall Ability: B
This man was not a talent dispatched from the Dapan Group.
He had originally been a second-year junior official.
His practical skills were lacking, so I had changed his duties. He seemed to be adapting decently.
However, he should have been removed long ago.
The Sewer Management Division doesn’t have much work these days. Still, this is a bit much.
Through the employee management window, I discovered that Viscount Randy Eplin had been frequenting an illegal underground gambling den run by the underworld.
Legally speaking, that alone was not a major issue under imperial law.
Since entertainment options were so scarce in this world, such activities were mostly overlooked.
However, if it turned into fraud gambling, the story changed completely.
“To prove the crime, I’ll have to confront it directly.”
I stood up and headed straight to the prosecution headquarters.
A presiding judge did not have direct investigative authority.
I could only order investigations.
That meant I had no choice but to go with a prosecutor.
Knock knock!
“Who is it?”
When I knocked on the office door, someone with a haggard face emerged.
His pupils widened the moment he saw my face.
The man fumbled with his words in shock.
“P-p-p-p-presiding judge? What brings you here?”
The person stuttering was none other than Prosecutor Corbin Sears.
But why did he look so terrible?
I tilted my head and asked.
“Why do you look like that?”
“Well… I haven’t been able to sleep much lately.”
“Is it because of this trial?”
Fraud cases were always difficult.
However, the words that came out of Prosecutor Sears’s mouth far exceeded my expectations.
“No. My wife is too scary.”
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