Chapter 33 - Volume 2 (1/2)

Being a center of trade and transportation oods were transported by water, controlling those as sure to bring an insurmountable amount of money and power to its owners

There were four incredibly powerful individuals in Port City whom even the mayor looked at in fear There were Zeroman of the south, Rodney of the east, Niske of the west, and Harold of the north

These four each owned the rights to one of the four canals which led out of Port City in their respective regions And these canals have brought the

The Seven Grand Merchant Guilds have stopped theuild, but if they were to succeed, they could threaten the existence of the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds using their control over the canals This was the reason why the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds blocked its inception with all their oal to make it happen

They’ve spent incredible suh-ranking officials to the point where just reasp in horror But despite their efforts, there had been very little progress thanks to the lobbying and connections from the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds It seeone to waste, until the Milros Faht

“Did they really say that they will give a hand on uild if we help them eliminate that brat Isaac?”

“Count Milros told us himself This entire plot was constructed by them”

“I can only say that fortune is on our side With the strength of Milros Family on our back, our dreaive them a considerable number of shares”

“It will still be profitable for us With their help, ill be able to fight back against the governree”

“And the Milros Family will be able to use Rondart Family to step foot into the business world It’s an excellent opportunity for them as well”

“And thanks to that we can finally see soress on this ambition of ours”

“How likely is it to succeed?”

“How can we possibly fail? Even if he has the power of a Lord, what could he possibly do to make New Port City prosper?”

“What you say is true Funny hoe haven’t been able to do anything against hie title of his, but now it has shackled hiet to shatter that insufferable pride and honour of College as a bonus How e New Port City? All they ever achieved was failure anyway”

“It seems the Seven Grand Merchant Guild has reached their end too To think they’d hand out one a to that brat”

“Haha, they must be incredibly desperate to do so”

“Now! Let us toast! To ill becoreatest Merchant Guild within the Eth,one of the three is a long and difficult process But once you gain one of the three, the ree

Everyone expected Isaac to take aggressive actions when they heard the ruhtened authority as Lord and the investa from Seven Grand Merchant Guilds, but Isaac sied

Nothing was confirmed yet – not even the investment If Isaac were tobackstabbed with a letter saying ‘I’m sorry, but let’s make that investment we talked about void’ It was very unlikely to happen, but Isaac wasn’t foolish enough to play with money he didn’t have yet

The criminal syndicates were troubled by the sudden turn of events and worried about what Isaac would do They sighed in relief when they saw that nothing had changed, but they continued to be on guard

The first group to find him was Goldman and seven euild in the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds

“Haha, it doesn’t even seeo that we’ve seen each other face to face thanks to that Co a choyu leaf at the plaza when Goldreeted Goldman

“I didn’t think you would coroup oftheir decision to come when they saw the state New Port City was in They’d only heard about it in ru it with their own eyes ined in their heads wasn’t even close to the situation at hand

“Haha They are here to help you with your work We have selected the brightest individuals in all our guilds”

‘They are here to watch uess there’s no way they’d sis attached’

A a had been invested, yet they had no idea what thisto be used on If it weren’t for the special situation they were in, no other guild would have erous investment

If Isaac was to si his declaration to make Port City fall, it would turn the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds into the laughing stocks of the Ehts if Isaac were to try negotiating with that a of his The Seven Grand Merchant Guilds obviously didn’t trust Isaac, and they couldn’t be bla to steal theirPort City as an excuse So they’ve sent their eure out exactly what their iven that you’d want to watch how yourspent I happened to need soood for both of us”

Goldman flinched when Isaac iained his posture and changed the topic of the conversation as if he hadn’t heard Isaac’s words

“So are we the first to arrive?”

“Yes Personally, I thought the investuess the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds work on a different time schedule compared to the rest of the world”

“A merchant needs to be quick when opportunity arises One e sum of money, but it isn’t so difficult if we share the burden And the biggest reason for this investment is that this is insurance”

Even if the burden was shared auild was essentially required to pay around 150 thousand Giga in the investnificant deposit, considering that the average incoa every year

Isaac kept the question in his head for now and replied

“Insurance You want to distract Port City with that a”

“Yes! You really are easy to talk with Young ones these days aren’t as sharp as you Ah! If it weren’t for the College, I would have hired you without a second thought As long as you don’t really abuse the funds, the Seven Grand Merchant Guild won’t say anything against what you do”

“But you want to know exactly what theused on?”

“We can’t make too rows on trees So how long will youto stay here too?”

“No I uys are your subordinates now, are they not?”

Isaac spoke to the group with an annoyed expression when Goldman asked his question

“Go back to Port City and stay in a hotel there until I call you guys”

The group looked at Isaac in confusion They expected at least some form of a brief introduction and at least a notification of future projects to co them to stand by was an order they could not understand

“Hm? Does this city not have a hotel of its own? It will be et to work if they can stay here, since it’ll make their analysis much easier”

Goldman asked the question in place of everyone Isaac snickered

“You’re going to sleep in New Port City? Shall we make a bet how many of those faces will still be alive by tomorrow?”

Everyone’s faces turned pale They had heard about the notoriety of New Port City fro it firsthand from its Administrator as now a Lord’s Representative had slammed them with the cold reality of this place

Once Golduild of the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds situated the when he said they were theon their own after resting for one or two days

They looked through every detail of New Port City’s financial and administrative system Once they were done, they could only wail despair The city had been in a state of bankruptcy for a long time

First of all, they received no funds fro body What’s more is that the city doesn’t have an administration body of its own All of the basic documents required to be sent to the Capital were done by Port City Responsibilities like surveys, taxes, education, medical care, residential and infrastructure, which are mandatory for a city to operate, were owned and run by the criminal syndicates

This meant that taxes wouldn’t be collected properly, and educational, medical and residential works were obviously in shambles They didn’t knohere to start froation, they had to report on it; but, nobody wanted to enter New Port City again They pushed the duty to one another, and Cordnell was eventually selected since he was from Rivolden Merchant Guild, which had some relation to Isaac

“Huh? You actually came here on your volition?”

“…”

Cordnell could only sigh at Isaac’s surprised reaction It seely when he was clearly ordered to quietly stay in Port City Cordnell felt the effects of New Port City’s notoriety once uard, but even theCordnell to hire et here

“This is the report we’vethe situation”

“H instead?”

“If you want to run this city, then you need to stabilise the administration of this city as soon as possible”

“It’s fine Don’t worry about that stuff”

“How could we not care about it?”

“That’s not what you guys are here for”

“Huh? Then what are you going to make us do…?”

“You will knohen the tiive you work Go findand construction”

“Expert on law?”

A construction expert was easy enough to find It was expected that construction was going to be a part of Isaac’s project with that a, so the Headstone Merchant Guild had sent a construction specialist as one of the supervisors But needing an expert on laasn’t so they foresaw

“I just have a few questions Try bringinglordshi+p”

“Yes sir”

Cordnell has come here with the promise of promotion and an incredible sued to hold on for three years No h to come here without such rewards on the line, but Cordnell had volunteered, believing this to be his life-changing opportunity So all he had to do was follow the orders, noon for 3 years Just hang on for 3 years

It had just been over 2 days, yet Cordnell was repeating those words like a mantra to preserve his sanity

The whole Euilds’ one a investment into Isaac was confirmed to be true Soa with his tongue alone, while others both praised and insulted the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds Souilds’ ability to make such a risky investn that they had finally gone mad

This news piqued the curiosity of those ere still oblivious about Isaac, and they sought to figure out the reason why the Seven Grand Merchant Guild decided to e investment on him This curiosity was answered by the words froraduates, and the whole Empire soon kneho Isaac was

All of the backstories about Isaac had been revealed From the reason why the Department of Administration made a decision that was unheard of in history to the reason for the investments and even Isaac’s birth and all the turh due to the complicated relationshi+p between the Rondart and Milros Families The majority of the public sided with Isaac, while the Rondart and Milros Faan to focus on what Isaac was schea investment, but their expectations were quickly betrayed by Isaac’s deplorable behaviour

“Hooh! I see they are having good business”

New Port City was the final destination for shi+ps that transported goods That ot their pay and also the place to quell their desires One of thedens

A ether on a table and bet their hter while screah out loud in joy, soed out of the den, and some shake on the spot as they hesitated on what to do This was the place to see reed express every emotions known toclothes, seducing the a den, but this is more of a casino’

Froaames that were both new and fa the area

“Hm, maybe I’ll play this?”

Isaac walked toward the roulette table, which only needed you to bet er of this ga Isaac ever since he entered quickly left the den to report this to his superiors while the dealers and employees of this den looked to each other, unsure of how they would deal with this situation

“What? The bastard’s in the gawhen he received report Why the man who had shut himself in the City Hall has come out was unknown, but his mere existence was a proble?!”

“He’s playing trumble”

“Why did he have to pick that out of everything?!”

Truht was siaed from 1 to 40, and there were hundreds of ways to ed fro it a favourite for those who aiame didn’t have a maximum bet, so you could instantly becoled to think of a way out of this predicament when another subordinate came to shout him the news

“Boss, the Ada”

Soland’s legs collapsed and his face went pale

“… How can that bastard lose 100 thousand in less than 30 minutes?”

“Well he started slow at first, but now he’s betting a thousand Giga each on twenty nu was 50/50”

Soland facepal twenty thousand Giga per round Even if he were to bet on the winning nua He would also need to exclude the 19 thousand bet, so basically his winning would only double his investment If he’d already lost 100 thousand, even ten wins in a roouldn’t eventhe inevitability that he would also lose so Isaac would only lose more money

“Tell the dealer to play as the situation calls for it!”

One of the reasons why ga dens liked Trua to his needs It’s not to a point where they can h to et area

“Well… h Let’s just go there now”

Solandden was aia placed in a single bet ame, and it was understandable that the dealers couldn’t re around

He had to go there and settle the situation

The thought of taking all of Isaac’s a investment crossed Soland’s mind briefly, but if word of such a loss were to spread, there was no telling what the Seven Grand Merchant Guild was going to do

Plus, gaal and Isaac was a Lord’s Representative The fact that a Lord was playing in an illegal gah as it was, but what Soland truly feared hat Isaac would do if he wentall of his money

“T, the nule number is it?”

The dealer’s hand trembled as he took all of the chips placed on the board All of the other games in the den were on hold as everyone’s eyes were on Isaac’s table Where else could they see a gaed hands at once?

This was going to be a great story for the pubs no matter how it ended

“Y, you’ve already lost 150 thousand Giga May you should stop…”

“Huh? Do you knoho I aot money”

“I know that, but…”

This isn’t the place you should be spending that er despaired as he looked to the roof The dens only kicked out people who cheated or sole den who told so

Not to mention the news of Isaac’s investment was confirmed so they couldn’t even refuse him with the excuse that his credit wasn’t reliable While the er pranced around the den hopelessly, Isaac let out words that turned the situation for the worse

“Shall we ? Let’s bet 10 thousand per nuuests in the den cheered and shouted in response, but the workers of the den could only screaa, but 10 thousand? That was a proble ratio may be the same, but the difference was astronomical If Isaac were to win now, Isaac would take 200 thousand Giga froaa This ay beyond what they could cope with

Just as theto Isaac to leave the den with all of his losses paid for, the door suddenly opened and a group of police officers barged in

“Don’t ”

“Huh?”

While Isaac looked at the situation duuests quickly retaliated with insults and picked up the chairs they were sitting on, threatening to use theressive nature as sailors were in full swing, and blood was bound to be shed at this point

Soland quickly entered the situation in this moment and smiled as he spoke to the officers

“Hahaha I think there was a e only provides entertainal transfer of money in this place”

“Is that so? Hm… Fine I’ll look over it this ti place, I won’t let you run free”

“Yes, I understand”

Like a horrible movie, Soland’s horrendous act had sent the officers out of the den, and Soland began talking to the guests

“Now! I think ill have to call it a day with this sudden visit We will give back all of thebooth Our lodge records exactly how uests have spent, so I hope there won’t be any accidents for trying to trick roup of syndicate uests into a line, and without a choice, the guests quietly left the den, albeit with souests left, there was only silence In the room were Isaac, Soland, and the employees Soland approached Isaac, who sat with a smoke in his mouth, clearly entertained

“You should have toldtoday I would have shown you around Did you enjoy our service?”

“No, not really I think ga is fun only when thethat I won’t lose anya bore”

“Haha, but you still shouldn’t gamble”

Soland s

‘As expected, he never intended to pay for his losses’

Soland realised while he was on the way that even if Isaac were to lose all of one a, there was no way for him to take the money fro in consideration who is owes the debt; doing it to a Lord’s Representative is like asking to have your head chopped So as his final ambled here

“Well, it was fun at the end I didn’t think you’d use the police force I admit, it was very creative”

Isaac pat Soland’s shoulder as he walked past hi his fists

“… Thank you”