But I could see it.
That it was all a calculated performance.
Nobles were people who must never show even the smallest lapse in vigilance.
&
“Hahaha! You must be hungry after coming all this way. Eat up.”
“Yes.”
Watching him tear into the meat with his hands, I moved some meat onto my own plate as well.
Then I cut off a piece with my knife and put it in my mouth.
“Hoho!”
Trevio burst into laughter at the sight.
“How can you eat meat like that? Meat tastes best when you pick it up with your hands!”
I kept my smile and nodded.
“That may be true.”
Then I immediately continued.
“But judging by what you are eating now, it seems you are rather short on potatoes and sweet potatoes.”
“Mm?”
Trevio’s gaze changed ever so subtly.
I had no intention of being swept along.
If I let myself be carried by the atmosphere of the meal, I would become full,
and once my stomach was full, my judgment would dull and the topic would naturally drift elsewhere.
Then, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, negotiations would be put off until tomorrow.
From that moment on, I would be pushed back once,
and after that I would be dragged around continuously.
That was exactly the flow Trevio wanted.
“Most of the crops produced in our domain are Grade Two. Occasionally, we even get Grade One.”
I spoke calmly.
“That is why I came to propose a trade using that supply.”
The corners of Trevio’s mouth slowly lowered.
“Hmm.”
His voice also dropped a little.
“To go straight to the main issue at the dining table.”
He tilted his head slightly.
“This is rather unpleasant. I’m starting to lose any desire to make a deal.”
After pausing briefly, he continued slowly.
“Are you lacking in manners because you are still young... or.”
His gaze pierced sharply into me.
“Were you simply not taught properly?”
He brought up my parents from the very start.
It was a method that worked quite well on young nobles.
The moment one reacted emotionally here, the initiative would pass over completely.
On top of that, it was subtle.
Since it was not an outright insult, he had left himself room to back out at any time.
As expected, he’s skilled.
And at that moment, Aileen’s words came to mind.
The first time.
That decides everything.
I laughed.
“Haha, that is not what I meant.”
I leaned forward slightly and continued.
“In truth, before coming here, I once asked my father about you, Count.”
Trevio’s eyes narrowed.
“My father said this.”
After pausing briefly, I spoke slowly.
“He is a truly manly man. Therefore, you too must act like a man.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Trevio’s hand stopped.
He set down the meat he had been eating and slowly raised the corners of his mouth.
It worked.
“So I thought that speaking plainly right away, rather than dragging things out, would be the more manly course of action.”
I maintained a respectful attitude as I concluded.
“If I have offended you, then that is due to my immaturity.
I am still in the position of learning, so I ask for your generous understanding.”
A brief silence flowed.
And then.
“Puhahaha!”
Trevio burst into loud laughter.
“As expected of Count Drevan Signal! His eye for people is as sharp as ever!”
Trevio laughed heartily, then leaned his body a little toward me.
“Good. Then let’s speak plainly, like men!”
“I understand that you are currently purchasing potatoes and sweet potatoes from several domains.”
I went into the main point without delay.
“Are most of them Grade Three supplies?”
“That’s right.”
Trevio answered casually while chewing his meat.
“Well, they’re still edible enough.”
“Our price will be a little higher... but in exchange, I would like to propose different terms.”
Trevio rested his chin on his hand and smiled leisurely.
“Hmm. Let’s hear it.”
I made it as simple as possible.
“You may pay us in Bedberiu iron ore instead.”
In that instant.
Trevio’s eyes flashed.
They were precisely the eyes of a predator that had found something interesting.
“In that case...”
His mind began turning quickly.
“If we convert the quantity of potatoes and sweet potatoes we will buy into iron ore.”
And immediately, he threw out his conclusion.
“Good. For one of our iron ore, I will take thirty potatoes and sweet potatoes combined.”
Fast.
His calculations were far quicker than expected.
As if he had been waiting for this.
It clearly looked as though he had taken one step toward me,
but in reality, it was a move meant to bind me all at once.
But I did not have long to be flustered.
He too was trying to take back the initiative in this situation.
He was trying to set the very pace of the negotiation on his side,
and drag the entire flow along with him.
And at the same time.
He was watching my reaction.
Whether I was wavering now,
and just how much I had calculated before coming here.
The condition he presented was not utterly absurd on the surface.
The problem was that the standard was the market price for refined iron.
What was piled up in Bedberiu’s warehouses right now was, in the end, raw ore.
“Count Trevio.”
I opened my mouth without wavering.
“As far as I know, this place does not possess proper smelting technology.”
Trevio was someone who begrudged the costs that went into blacksmiths with smelting skills.
“That’s right. True.”
He raised the corners of his mouth.
“So?”
“Surely you are not regarding our crops as Grade Three, are you?”
If it was unrefined raw ore, then by Grade Two standards, fifteen, or twenty at most, would be appropriate.
But thirty?
It was blatant pressure.
Even so, Trevio remained composed.
He tore into the meat with his hands again and grinned.
“But you see.”
He spoke leisurely.
“If you want to obtain iron ore from anywhere other than here, it would have to be the capital or the northern domains.
Wouldn’t you have to spend far more money to buy it from them?”
As expected, this was it.
Since I had openly said I wanted iron ore, he intended to use that to raise the price.
When I mentioned iron ore directly, he had probably rejoiced inwardly, thinking, as expected, he is still young.
He was not wrong.
There were other methods,
but bringing iron from Bedberiu would bring far greater profit.
Rather, that was even more true because it was raw ore.
The flow was clearly tilting toward him.
So once again, I needed to shake the board.
“It seems there has been a misunderstanding.”
At those words, Trevio, who had been chewing his meat, twisted the corner of his mouth.
It was a laugh that seemed to say I was ridiculous.
“What is?”
“I.”
I met his gaze straight on.
“Am giving you an opportunity.”
“What?”
In that instant, Count Trevio’s presence surged roughly.
It was the oppressive pressure befitting a family head responsible for a domain.
The very air of the dining hall seemed to grow heavy.
But I did not waver in the slightest and continued speaking as I was.
“As far as I know, the quality of the iron ore produced here is not particularly good.”
I continued without hesitation.
“Moreover, since your smelting technology is also insufficient, I heard that if you try to process it unnecessarily, the losses only grow larger.”
Trevio still frowned, sending me a sharp gaze as if telling me to keep talking.
“In the end, you have no choice but to sell it as raw ore, and that means the burden of transportation costs must be considerable. Your buyers are limited as well.”
I cut off my words for a moment, then opened my mouth again.
“As a result, raw ore keeps piling up in your warehouses, and whenever you urgently need funds, you often have to hand it over at a bargain price, do you not?”
At that moment, the corners of Trevio’s eyes trembled ever so slightly.
It was the reaction of someone whose hidden circumstances had been struck precisely.
“Ha.”
Trevio let out a short laugh.
“The Signal family is quite something. To think you know even that much.”
Who would believe that a domain like this did not have blacksmiths properly equipped with smelting techniques?
There must have been more than one or two people who had been caught like this.
At any rate, the board had been shaken.
I could not miss this moment.
“That is why I am making this proposal.”
I looked him straight in the eyes.
“One raw ore for fifteen potatoes and sweet potatoes.”
After catching my breath briefly, I added.
“That will be the most profitable condition for you right now, Count.”
It was a sufficiently reasonable condition.
The problem was not the price, but face.
Just before Trevio could open his mouth first, I immediately threw out my next words.
“Three years.”
“Mm?”
“I will maintain the same terms for three years.”
In that instant, the air in the room changed.
If he could steadily move low-quality raw ore for three years,
then from Trevio’s standpoint, it was a profit that did not even require lengthy calculation.
Trevio gave a low, dry cough.
Now was the time.
“I did not come here to haggle.”
I spoke while receiving his gaze head-on.
“Nor did I come to deceive you, or to use shallow tricks.
I presented what was necessary and demanded what I wanted.”
I paused briefly.
Then I drove in the final nail.
“I do not believe you are the sort of man who would dislike such a transaction, Count.”
Manliness.
The words I had thrown out earlier came alive here.
They might have seemed like a simple compliment tossed out once,
but those words had already placed Trevio inside a frame from which it was difficult to escape.
The moment he rejected my proposal here,
he would be kicking those words aside himself.
That was when it happened.
Trevio burst into loud laughter.
“Hahaha! I can see clearly what the Signal family will become in the future!”
He struck the table with his hand.
“Good. I accept those terms.”
It was done.
In truth, I had laid one more trap here.
Speed.
If my opponent was the type to use slowness to lead the board,
then I, on the contrary, used speed to draw out an emotion he was not used to feeling first.
Manliness, and the impression that a decisive man acts quickly.
I had touched both of those psychologies at once.
It was one of the methods Aileen used,
employed when there was no need to insist on extracting more than what was necessary.
When ending the transaction quickly was more important than anything else, she used this method.
At times like that, this method worked frighteningly well.
Transactions between nobles seemed like calculations, but in truth they were closer to obsession.
More than the transaction itself,
they were sensitive to the feeling that they had lost out by even 0.1.
They were the sort of people who would brood for a long time over the mere thought that their face had been damaged.
All the more so when the other party was a young brat like me.
As soon as the final seal was stamped on the contract, I left my seat at once.
Even until I had completely left Trevio’s mansion, he was still laughing in a good mood.
Before that laughter could turn back into calculation,
I had already climbed into the carriage.
It would take another five days to reach Brennan Domain.
And the true value of this transaction
was not iron ore, but time.