Chapter 116 Planning

After reaching back home, Ethan called for a meeting that Ronan, Aria, Naenna, Albert, and Armford attended. In the Whitekeep Castle, everyone other than Ethan was standing in the Ducal Office in front of Ethan wondering what the meeting was all about.

"Today, I have an important announcement to make," Ethan spoke in a serious tone with a stoic expression on his face.

Everyone simply waited patiently for him to speak and did not say anything. Seeing that the room was quiet and he had everyone's attention, Ethan finally spoke.

"I am going to start a Trading Company."

Albert already somewhat knew that it could be about this but didn't know what to feel. He didn't think there was any need, as the White Family was already selling its products through the merchants. He couldn't have imagined that Ethan had the idea of making completely new and ingenious products.

Although Albert and the others did not oppose nor agree with the idea, Armford was different. He knew that there was possibly nothing more that Ethan could offer for trade that wasn't already being traded by the white family.

In his point of view, Ethan was just acting whimsically.

"Young Master, what do you mean by this?" Armford asked in a roundabout way as if to not antagonize Ethan directly.

Ethan sighed and said, "Exactly what I said. I wish to create a large trading company. But do not be mistaken, we will not sell the average goods. We will sell things that the world has never seen before."

"Such as?" Armford asked.

"Hmm… For example…" Ethan muttered with a smile as he brought out a folded paper from his pocket.

As he looked at Ronan, Ronan took the queue and stepped forward, he received the paper from Ethan and delivered it to Armford.

Skeptically, Armford opened the folded paper and saw the contents within. As his eyes began moving left and right, reading the vast amount of things and seeing the diagrams on the large paper, Armford's eyes widened with disbelief as his hands shook.

Folding the paper once again, he passed it along to Albert and Albert too had the same reaction.

Looking at each other in shock and then looking at Ethan with widened eyes, both of them uttered in unison, "Is that… Did you come up with that?"

Ethan smiled gently as he tapped the armrest of his chest and said calmly, "Who else? Have you ever heard of anything like it before? There's the whole plan."

Gulping the saliva in their mouths hard, Albert and Armford once again recalled the contents of the paper and they couldn't believe that Ethan had come up with such a thing.

Witnessing this little fiasco, Naenna who was getting increasingly curious about the contents of the paper jumped up and snatched the paper from Ronan who was believing it back to Ethan.

As she read the blueprint, her eyes shined with excitement as she exclaimed, "Woah… That's incredible! This looks so much fun…"

Smiling, Ethan replied, "Yes, it's something I came up with to relieve boredom. The nobles will like it."

"....to relieve… Boredom?" Armford and Albert thought to themselves as they communicated by glancing at each other awkwardly.

"I will have it made soon… But that's not the point. I'm serious when I say this, but… This is simply the tip of the iceberg. I have many such ideas which will appeal to the noble society. We will sell them at high prices and after gaining enough influence, we will expand to the common market."

Hearing this, everyone fell into contemplation. Albert and Armford wouldn't have believed Ethan if he hadn't shown them on paper… The both of them got shivers when they thought about how Ethan had casually shown them such a unique invention.

"Forgive me, but… Why do all this?" Armford asked.

Hearing this, Ethan's expression changed to that anger. He stood up from his chair and slammed his hands on the table and chuckled mockingly.

"Heh, has peace made you complacent? Why shouldn't we aspire to make this house more powerful? What better way is there to gather soft power than to have an incredible amount of wealth? Have you ever thought about what would happen if the peace ended? What if the world falls into chaos? Isn't it natural to think of strengthening oneself?"

"... You disappoint me!" Ethan said in disdain.

As if suddenly their eyes had opened, everyone reflected on what Ethan had said. Now that they thought about it, Ethan was right. Even though the world was at peace, everyone could feel a certain eeriness looming over them as if something bad was coming. And this was not without any basis, the Tower of Tellers had released a prophecy, Alier had died, the Tribes were making movements and the Church had been acting suspiciously over the last decades. It wouldn't be strange if everything began breaking apart suddenly.

"Please forgive us! We understand now!" Albert and Armford exclaimed with resolve.

"Hmph, remember all those slaves we have given refuge to? Now it's time for them to earn what they eat. We will put them to use. I shall elaborate further on this at a later date." Ethan said coldly.

Everyone nodded as they very much agreed. No one was benevolent as the fact that all those slaves were being fed for free was not acceptable to many officials.

At this moment, a thought entered Albert's mind, 'Could it be that young master helped them for this purpose only?'

Hesitantly, Aria unexpectedly spoke at this moment, "Mmm… I… I can help in this venture. I have some knowledge of commerce."

Ethan smiled and spread his arms as he said in encouragement, "Of course! I can not do this alone! I need everyone's support to make it work! Remember, the sky is as high as we imagine it to be. We shall aspire for the greatest results!"

"Yes!" Everyone cheered.

"Good! Begin by searching for a large open land where we can operate. It should be a quiet place but not an isolated one. The ideas and products I have in mind will be manufactured there." Ethan ordered calmly.

"I shall see to it!" Armford replied with a bow.

"I have been curious, will you ask the Merchant Association for help?" Albert asked suddenly.

Ethan furrowed his brows in thought but then an expression of resolve flashed on his face, "The Merchant Association is mostly useless to us. We have enough money to stand on our own. We have the manpower and we also have connections to the nobles of this Kingdom. But… We still need them for one thing."

"What is it?"

"We should not antagonize the association as we will eventually need their assistance to grow beyond this country. Also, their intel will be valuable. I will present them a deal that they won't be able to refuse." Ethan said with a grin.

Hearing all this, Albert and Armford felt relieved. Ethan's thinking was very wise considering his age and this gave them hope for the future. They couldn't wait to tell the Duke about his son's exploits.

Suddenly, the door opened and Roly The Rat entered awkwardly escorted by a knight. After seeing Ethan, he bowed and showed a wide ear to ear cheeky smile.

"My Lord," He greeted.

Ethan smiled back and then brought out a small pouch full of coins and threw it towards Roly, who catched the pouch ecstatically.

"I have a task for you, find merchants who have a trading company registered. Remember that they shouldn't be too shabby. However, only those who are suffering from huge debt or aren't doing so well." Ethan ordered stoically.

Roly nodded solemnly as he dramatically saluted with a smile and said, "Hehe… It will be done! Anything else, boss?"

"No, you may leave."

Roly bowed and without saying another word he left, clenching the pouch of coin tightly in his fist.

Baffled by the strange assignment, Naenna asked, "Why the failing merchants?"

Hearing the question, Ethan revealed a sly smile as he leaned back in his chair.

"We're not going to build everything from scratch. We will just buy a well-organized Trading Company that has been in business for several years but is currently struggling and is on the verge of a breakdown." Ethan said.

Naenna pondered for a while and then her eyes shined with realization as she exclaimed, "I get it! This way, we can make use of an already established system and simply grow it with our unique products. This will save some time!"

"Correct!" Ethan applauded.

"I have a suggestion!" Naenna said in excitement.

"What is it?" Ethan asked curiously.

"Instead of kicking out the original owner of the company, we can convince them to work for us! I believe it will help us to manage it better." Naenna suggested excitedly.

"Yes! That's a good idea!" Ethan praised with enthusiasm.

With a smile, Albert and Armford nodded as they left the office in high spirits.

"Eth, when will we have 'that' made?" Naenna asked with sparkling eyes.

Smiling, Ethan opened the folded paper on his desk and saw his handy work. Averting his gaze from the paper he looked at Naenna and said, "it's called 'chess' And we will create it soon."