CH 159

The announcement of the decision on Aeris’s guardianship was to be made at a later date in a big way.

In the aristocratic circles, the Van dyne family turmoil was a matter of interest since it was now well-known.

Tauro was relieved to hear this.

The nobles he had met had all had their own merits and demerits, and he had been unable to choose one.

All of them were eager to sell their favors to the Van Dyne family and eventually to incorporate them into their own power.

Tauro had initially wondered if he could choose a guardian from the Prime Minister’s faction, but they were silent on the matter.

Using his personal connections, he also sought to contact the Prime Minister, the Duke of Barriera, but he was met with nothing but silence on the matter.

Therefore, he was unable to use the connections he had relied on, and he had to work hard to find a guardian, but things bore fruit with an offer from the royal family that could not have been better selected.

There is a side story to this, and the reason it came up in the royal family was because the Prime Minister spoke to the king during a reversi game.

The reason why the Prime Minister did not meet with Tauro was because he thought that if he had, Tauro would have been noticed and would have been involved in a factional war, but as expected, Tauro would not know about this until a little later.

The decision of the guardianship quickly turned the tables.

The Marquise de Van Dyne was now completely unable to touch Aeris.

Even before the announcement, rumors were already circulating among the nobles.

It was only speculation that a royal family member might become her guardian, but the rumor alone would serve as a check.

Tauro was finally relieved that Aeris’s safety was finally going to be assured.

Besides, Tauro’s fortune was running out.

It cost him a lot of money just to meet with the noblemen.

Tauro’s wealth, which had been quite rich, had been swallowed up by this incident and he was on the verge of poverty, so it was good that the problem had been solved before it disappeared.

While he was calculating his future expenses at the inn, he received a request from the Garfish Trading Company to meet with them.

They wanted to discuss the commercialization of the “lantern,” a magic tool made by Tauro, and the “non-wetting cloth,” which uses slime bodily fluids.

“Consulting me at a time when I’m broke…… was he also doing the math?”

Tauro recalled the smiling face of Mardai, the representative of the Garfish Trading Company, and he also suspected that the merchant’s sense of smell made him aim for the right time,…….

****

“──That’s what we’ve decided on for the price of the lanterns. We have already secured several major workshops for the production. As soon as we get your approval, we’ll be up and running.”

Tauro visited the trading company and immediately entered into business negotiations. Tauro was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic explanation from Mardai himself, the representative of the Garfish Trading Company.

Aeris was not there.

Aeris tried to follow him as usual, but he decided she should keep quiet until the announcement of her guardianship.

She knew she was causing trouble for Tauro, so she agreed, albeit reluctantly.

Back to the story, the unit price of the lanterns was also set low at Mardai’s suggestion due to Mardai’s momentum.

In other words, Tauro will remain poor for the time being, as they can barely make a profit by selling at a low profit margin.

He would receive a large sum of money in the form of a contract fee, but since he would be staying in King’s Landing for the time being, he would have to deal with the nobility, so he had a feeling it would be flying that way.

“I understand. Then, the innovative technical parts will be supplied only by the one workshop that signed the special contract, and the other workshops will take care of the rest of the work, is that right?”

“Yes,. Tauro-san. As proposed, we will have each workshop manufacture the parts separately and the assembly will be done by a workshop affiliated with our trading company. This way, productivity will be much higher than the conventional method of having a single workshop manufacture everything from one part to the next. I didn’t realize this way of doing things ……, it’s groundbreaking!”

“With this method, we don’t have to teach the techniques from start to finish, so it will be easier to increase the number of workers.”

“Then, we will start production immediately. Hey! Somebody!”

Mardai called his servants and asked them to send a message to the various workshops.

Mardai once again praised the “lantern”  magic tool.

“Tauro-san, I believe that this ‘lantern’ will be a bigger hit than reversi. We are fortunate to have an exclusive contract with the Marches Chamber of Commerce.”

“I hope so.”

“No, this will sell like hotcakes! There is not a household in the world that doesn’t need lights. The oil-based lanterns of the past will be eliminated, and this new magic tool, the lantern, will take over the world! This is a revolution!”

It sounds like an exaggeration, but Mardai, a great merchant, said it, and when he was told that much, Tauro began to feel that way.