Ofilis Hall Occupation (8)
Favor or trust is accompanied by a corresponding reason.
The reason why Slog, one of the six great merchants of the Elte Chamber of Commerce, joined Lortel is because he is in a position to aim for the position of the next chairman.
The reason why Seaton, the head of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, joined Lortel’s plan with a smile is because he believes that the internal rift in the Elte Chamber will bring a new wind to the power structure of the commercial city of Oldeck.
The reason why Sharo, the receptionist at Elte Company, is being mean to Lortel is because she is hoping that Lortel might accidentally leak valuable information.
The reason why Cardan, a store worker, is particularly generous in front of Lortel is because Lortel often gives him tips.
The reason why Tini, the pet bird raised at the academy, clings to Lortel is because the feed Lortel provides is of the highest quality.
Every favor comes with a reason, like a tag. At least that’s the case in Lortel’s world.
In most cases, if you can clearly see the reason, you can see the other person’s intentions and psychology at a glance.
There is no blood-related family, no lovers who promised to love each other, and no close friends who have been together for a long time. Since there is no way in the world that shows favor to Lortel without reason, paradoxically, he can maintain a cynical attitude toward all human relationships.
“I don’t think I have time to explain in detail. Anyway, Ellis betrayed you, right?”
Even though I knew that, I trusted Ellis. What a stupid and stupid mistake.
The attitude of life that did not completely trust anyone becomes meaningless.
One person who comes to mind is Yenica Palover.
I grew up receiving a lot of favor and love, and I am a princess in a storybook who approaches the world with only favor and love. Looking at her passionate eyes as she looked at Ed Ross Taylor… She can’t help but be convinced that this is indeed the love of a beautiful, unspoiled girl from Sefa.
If you saw something like that, you shouldn’t have forgotten how gloomy and dirty you were.
I should not have been intoxicated by the romantic scenery of Sylvania Academy and made the illusion that I, too, could become such a romantic and beautiful person.
“I saw Shenny making contact with Elte. “Shenny was a loyal maid to Ellis, I guess?”
Ed Rosstaylor says as he runs ahead through the first floor hallway.
“Still, neither Ellis nor Elte will report your whereabouts to the Bachelor. “Even the Golden King Elte himself would not want to find out that this incident had a connection with the Elte Company.”
There are five people that Lortel bribed for this occupation of Ofilis Hall.
Alice, the head maid, Shenny/Kelly, the twin maids, Willaine, the representative of the inferior students, and Ed, the fallen nobleman.
Ellis, Shenny, and Kelly went over to Elte.
Willaine also wants to join Elte, but he won’t join Lortel.
And Ed also had to be persuaded by Elte.
Suddenly the steps stopped. Ed, who was running ahead of her, looked back at her with a puzzled look on his face and quickly narrowed his eyes at her.
People complain about what they are doing when they don’t have time.
Lortel finally came to his senses and smiled like a fox… He put words into his mouth that even he himself couldn’t understand why he was saying.
“I am sorry. Senior Ed. Right now, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to give you the 20 gold coins I promised. As you can see, the situation is unstable right now.”
I wonder what the betrayal once or twice was, and my heart feels sticky after being stabbed in the back by Ellis.
Lortel had no choice but to admit it. He is now in a weak state of mind and body.
Otherwise, there is no way you would do such a stupid thing.
I don’t know why, but Ed Rothtaylor sided with Lortel instead of siding with Elte.
In that case, it would be best to read his intentions, see through them, and think of taking advantage of him.
However, like an idiot, he keeps making confessions like this.
What kind of idiotic behavior is this? It’s like confessing to your allies that there is no reason for them to be on your side.
“Who asked? “You’re so busy, what are you doing standing there blankly?”
However, Ed doesn’t show any concern as he shrugs off Lortel’s words.
“If you get caught by Elte now, your life will be over. “No matter what you plan to do later, you have to run away first.”
Ed, standing across the hallway and scolding him, is covered in blood.
He probably ended up in this situation while guarding the first floor of the Ofilis building as requested by Lortel.
Nevertheless, he does not even express his hard work. It’s almost like I’m grumbling that I’ve had such a hard time.
“Or are there any other sharp measures?”
“… ”
“If possible, let’s do as you wish.”
There is not even a trace of doubt in his tone as he coolly says that he will join Lortel’s will.
In fact, this man was even convinced that he would follow Lortel’s opinion and give up his hand.
As I have said time and time again, favor and trust are always accompanied by good reasons.
However, there appears to be no reason for this man’s favor and trust.
No matter how rational and reasonable one thinks about it, this man should have given in to Elte’s appeasement. If he asked a hundred people, they would all do the same thing.
If you can’t see the reason, you shouldn’t believe it. You haven’t completely figured out the other person yet, but you don’t know what might happen if you carelessly share your true feelings.
Wasn’t it just now that I trusted Ellis and ended up like this? You can’t repeat the same mistake again, right?
However, the mouth begins to move on its own. My inner voice is screaming at me to stop, but I feel so devastated that I can’t let go of the last straw.
What flows out of his mouth is the full story of the internal circumstances of the Elte Company and the power struggle within the company.
“… There is a plan to manipulate the market price being planned by the head office of the company. “Maybe that’s what my father planned.”
“Explain.”
“After the large-scale subjugation of monster tribes in the Eastern Mountains last summer, the market for janggu plummeted. After purchasing and monopolizing all surplus janggi products, internal transactions were repeated… ”
“It’s a full-fledged transaction. “You can explain briefly.”
Ed coolly cut off the explanation.
After monopolizing the goods for sale in the area around the punitive force station, they repeatedly buy and sell the goods in the market.
The key point is that it is insider trading.
Merchants who were secretly purchased, centered around Elte Trading Company, repeatedly made transactions among themselves.
Assuming that three merchants, ABC, are buying, A sells the equipment to B for 1 gold coin, B sells it to C for 2 gold coins, and C sells it to A for 3 gold coins, and so on, gradually raising the market price.
In the end, the gold coins and accessories for sale were just spinning around in the hands of Elte Company, but their prices were steadily rising.
In that way, the frothy market price is maintained until the next monster tribe subjugation when demand rises. Then, you can sell the janggu items at ridiculous profits.
It may seem like it makes sense to manipulate the market price through such arbitrary collusion, but it was surprisingly a classic tactic. However, it is simply unrealistic because it requires a huge amount of capital.
“For that plan, my father took out bonds from the Duke of Oldogar and the Count of Oper. However, by the time the expiration date arrived, the plan to subdue the monster tribe had been pushed back, so urgent funds were needed.”
“The solution was the wise man’s seal?”
“yes.”
There wasn’t much explanation, but Ed understood very quickly. It was as if I had learned something in advance.
“My father… I found someone who would buy the wise man’s seal at a high price as long as he got his hands on it… He instructed me to enter Sylvania as a student and find a way to steal the wise man’s seal.”
“okay. I get it. “There’s no need to explain after that.”
“yes? “Is this okay?”
Ed grabbed Lortel’s wrist. Saying that it was a waste of time to stay still, he walked out again across the hallway.
“After that, what’s the use of talking about it in detail? In order to push the academic finances into a corner, the scale of the Ophilis Hall occupation was raised, and then the negotiations for the purchase of the wise man’s seal would become more realistic, so they used that as bait to pull Elte out of the Sanghoe head office, and took advantage of the opportunity to sell the equipment at the head office. “I guess I was planning on doing it.”
Although he only talks about the main points as he strides forward, the story penetrates to its essence. The speed of understanding the situation is unusual.
Lortel looked at Ed with blank eyes, but Ed didn’t seem to care.
In the end, the core of market manipulation through clear transactions is mutual trust.
An act of artificially inflating the market price by three merchants A, B, and C exchanging money and items for sale.
However, if even one of the three people A, B, and C defects in the middle, the structure cannot be established. The structure is such that when the market price rises moderately, they first empty out all their inventory and disappear into hiding, leaving only the remaining two to suffer.
I used A, B, and C as examples… Considering the size of the merchant association and the market, there must be dozens of mid-level or higher merchants involved.
Over the past six months, about a third of them have been sold, so if you get the timing right, you can induce a market plunge through a large-scale sale of janggu.
Since the price has been artificially bubbled, it is not difficult to cause the price to plummet. It is difficult for prices to go up, but once you start selling properties competitively, the rate at which they fall is instantaneous.
For Elte Trading Co., which has a lot of equipment, the price drop will be recorded as a huge loss.
If you look at it from a very broad perspective, it will only be a reduction in the amount of surplus, but in the immediate short term, it will record a huge amount of deficit in the upper management books.
What matters is right now. Macroscopic pictures that cannot be seen are not very important.
Elte’s position, which has been shrinking due to various losses, will be fatally wounded by this loss.
In addition, if charges of minor ledger manipulation or responsibility for losses are added, this cannot be a sufficient justification for his removal from office.
Just by saying those words, all these pictures could be drawn in Ed Rothtaylor’s head.
No matter how much your head spins, there is a limit to a person’s agility. There is no way that all of these pictures could be drawn with just Lortel’s brief explanation.
“Then there is only one thing for you to do.”
But Ed’s words still hit the point.
“Somehow, all you have to do is send a message to the head office of the company telling them to sell the janggu right now, right?”
Basically, if you want to sell the company’s internal assets on that scale, you need the approval of the company’s shareholders.
However, when the owner of the company is away, the approval rights are inherited by an elder among the six major merchants under him in order to expedite business processing.
Slog, one of the six great merchants of the Elte Company. She is an old fox who joins Lortel’s plan after being promised the position of next leader.
If you put a confirmation stamp on the sale of janggi as if it were everyday life with a nonchalant face… That responsibility, sadly, will fall on Elte.
Even if an enraged Elte tries to punish Slog, it is his defeat at the point where there is already a justification for his removal.
Originally, all of this planning should have happened during the ‘Sage’s Battle for Seal’ event.
An enraged Elte screams and calls out Lortel’s name, but the event ends with Lortel standing in a corner of the shaking carriage with a faint smile flowing beneath his robe.
After that, Act 2 ends with the chase and annihilation of Professor Glast, who stole the seal and fled to the secret laboratory. In fact, this is the main event and is larger in scale.
“If you go to my room, there is Jeon Seo-gu. “He is a liaison directly connected to my inner circle at the head office of the company.”
“If you blow away that Jeon Seo-gu and hide well until the sales plan is implemented at the head office of the company, you will win.”
“However, my father probably expected it to some extent. “They plan to capture me tonight and make me reveal my entire plan and the traitor within me.”
You never know what might happen if you leave your seat carelessly. Even though Elte knew this, he ran all the way to Sylvania. Because I can’t figure out who among my henchmen is an ally and who is an enemy.
It may have been carried out on a minimal scale without informing anyone, but even so, news reached the ears of the merchant in an instant.
We bet everything on each other. This chase is the final battle that determines the joys and sorrows of father and daughter.
“You could go out the back door, go around the outside wall, and go in through your window.”
“I was going to say that too.”
“Yes, we communicate well.”
We really communicate well. It’s a smooth exchange of opinions, as if it were heavily lubricated.
They are quick to understand, proactive in coordinating opinions, strong in crises, and not swayed by emotions.
Lortel swallowed dry saliva as he watched Ed running down the hallway while pulling his wrist.
The back door of Ofilis Hall is visible. Although it is not as grand as the main gate, the luxuriously engraved patterns and pictures represent the class of the building.
“Listen carefully, Lortel. There is nothing good about your location now being discovered. “You have to hide in the hiding place as unseen as possible.”
“I have a villa that I purchased separately in the Mine region. If only I could take a carriage all the way there… ”
“If I were Elte, I would have people waiting on both bridges leading out of Aken Island. “Your tail will be stepped on 100% of the time.”
Ed was correct.
The driver who pulls Lortel’s carriage is a trustworthy man, but the carriage’s appearance is still gorgeous in its own way.
If you cross the bridge openly, you will definitely be followed.
“Talk to the coachman who will be waiting in the living quarters, and just send the empty carriages out of Aken Island. Then instruct them to abandon their wagons in an appropriate area and run away. “Then they will mistakenly think you are outside of Aken Island.”
“Then I… ?”
“There is a cabin I built in the northern forest. “I only need to last three days there.”
It is dark under the lamp. If it were a forest right next to Sylvania, you wouldn’t have thought it would be here.
“I’ll go to your room and blow away your Jeon Seo-gu. “If you just write and deliver the message ‘Sell now,’ all the other complicated matters will be handled by the head office of the company, right?”
“… yes that’s right.”
There is absolutely no waste in Ed’s movements or work, as if he were a fellow merchant who has been working with him for a long time.
When I see Ed, who adapts to me and solves problems as if he were my own, I get the feeling that it might actually be okay to trust and leave everything to him.
Even though I know that such a romantic relationship cannot be established, my already devastated heart whispers in my ear once again.
It might really work this time.
As I have said repeatedly, the feeling of obsession is not one that arises from flowers on a distant cliff.
It blooms from a breathtaking lack that seems almost reachable but cannot be reached.
“… ”
Ed tried to open the back door, looked out through the crack in the door, and then quietly closed the door again.
“Listen carefully, Lortel. “There’s someone guarding the back door.”
In a low voice, Ed quickly explained the situation.
“Nothing good comes from revealing your location or movements. I’ll go outside and take care of it, then run towards your room, while you watch, and when there’s no one in sight, run towards the living room. Do you understand?”
Lortel nodded with difficulty, but Ed narrowed his eyebrows as if he was dissatisfied and scolded Lortel.
“Are you sure you’re coming to your senses? “Why are you so absent-minded, unlike you?”
“yes yes… “I understood well.”
Ed grabbed Lortel’s shoulders and pulled Lortel’s body into the wall next to him. Lortel was startled and his pupils trembled for a moment, but if you think about it closely, he just pushed Lortel into an unseen place outside the door.
“Once we get to the northern forest, there will be no room for chase. After that, it’s up to you.”
After saying that, Ed opened the back door and bent down to go out.
“Senior Ed.”
Only after reflexively calling that name did Lortel realize that he was embarrassed.
I couldn’t bear it without asking.
“Why, to this extent… The reason you’re helping me… ?”
Every favor has a good reason. By detecting the reason, you can usually see the person’s psychology and behavioral principles at a glance.
However, if you ask directly what’s going on… Even beginners who have just become merchants make mistakes that they wouldn’t make… Lortel put the words in his mouth.
This is because it does not make sense through common sense. No matter what anyone says, from Ed Rosstaylor’s point of view, it was the right decision to stick with Elte.
No matter what you look at, whether it’s financial gain, odds of winning, or influence, Lortel is inferior in the current situation.
Even if you think about it in terms of good and evil, Lortel is a bad person and can never be good.
Nonetheless, Ed stuck to Lortel’s side.
To Lortel’s question, Ed frowned for a moment as if he was thinking about what to answer.
“… just? “I somehow feel like it should be like that?”
He said that in a vague tone… I kicked out the back door.
-Shoot ahhh
-Thump, thump.
The sound of pouring rain came through the open door, and sounds like explosions caused by battle were heard throughout the Ofilis building.
It seemed like the noise was caused by the battle between maid head Ellis and Taily and her group that was taking place on the 5th floor.
-Thump, thump, thump
The noise from the intense battle will mark the final battle of Ophelis Pavilion. Lortel sensed that Tailley and his party would win. No matter how much of a maid she is at Ofilis Hall, if Tailly starts using the swordsmanship technique, her strength will start to wane.
In that state where he was pushed against the wall, Lortel remained still for a long time.
I can’t see Ed Rothtaylor’s true intentions. It’s clear that there must be a reason for all the favor and trust, but I can’t see his reason.
He has no financial gain, no ideological background, and is not just a person swayed by emotions. So then, what other reason can there be?
– ‘Have you been tempted by the child’s beautiful appearance?’
Suddenly, my spine felt hot due to Elte’s questioning. But she soon starts shaking her head. As mentioned above, Ed Ross-Taylor is not the type of person to act based on emotions.
In the first place, didn’t Ed Rosstaylor always have Yenica Palover attached to him?
However, the identity of the sense of discomfort felt was due to the fact that the two were not in a romantic relationship.
Yenica’s passionate gaze as she looks at Ed is sure to make one realize his identity right away. but… Most likely, the affection only goes one way.
– Thump, thump, thump
After standing with the sounds of battle spreading through the Ofilis Hall in the background, Lortel slid down the wall and sat down. It’s already hard because I’m running so hard, but I’m so mentally cornered that my legs start to lose strength.
I sat down in the corner of the hallway and stared into space for a long time.
just. I helped because I wanted to help.
Why on earth does that one sentence linger in my chest and make my breathing difficult?
The strange feeling that suddenly arises is that the building is not shaking.
If the sound of battle at this level is spreading throughout the Ofilis building, shouldn’t there be vibrations or debris from the building flying around?
However, at the sight outside the window of the peaceful rain falling, Lortel realized the true nature of his discomfort.
– Thump, thump, thump.
Although it is an unbelievable fact, this sound was the sound of Lortel’s own heart.
*
-Shoot!
Ofilis Pavilion in the rain. The rain has become quite thin, making you think that it will stop soon.
On the top floor, the final battle between Taily and the maid Jean Ellis will take place.
On the first floor, Ziggs and Yenika will be showing off their skills as they block Elte.
A back door away from such a dazzling battle. Through the dark night air, I see a maid standing in the rain.
Since when did I stand there? He stands still and prepares to capture fugitives for his loyal lord Ellis, preventing anyone from leaving through the back door.
Her rain-soaked maid uniform was completely stuck to her, and her light purple hair was loose and tangled.
If you look at the figure slowly turning back, you will see that it is Sheny, one of the twin maids who, as the boss of the 3rd floor, should have blocked Tailley’s path. She quietly raises her head and makes eye contact with me.
“I didn’t expect Master Ed to show up there, but it’s surprising.”
After guiding Elte, she immediately blocked the back door and blocked Lortel’s escape route.
Without erasing her usual cold expression, Shenny took out her rapier.
Unfortunately, I know Shenny’s abilities and patterns extremely well. She is even the type of boss who only shows her full potential when she works together with her younger sister Kelly. Only because she is kept separate can she show less than half of her abilities.
Is it a bit bland for the final hurdle?
I confronted Shenny in the rain.
Now this painful occupation situation has come to an end.
