How to Survive at the Academy Chapter 273

[Abduction] Double arm scales (14)

“When do you think you will retire as a merchant?”

I asked the same question to Bell.

The sudden talk of retirement or something is because there was an opportunity for that. If I had to say that the reason why I came to have such a meaningful thought… it has been decided.

“…yes? Suddenly?”

“You’ve lived as a merchant all your life, haven’t you? If you ever feel like quitting what you’ve devoted your whole life to, when would that be?”

“…I’m not sure what your question was about, but I don’t know… I’ve never thought about retirement. It’s still too early…”

A sea breeze blew softly. Could it be past 4 o’clock?

Somewhere between midnight and dawn.

Morning came soon to be called late night, and at the borderline, which was still too dark to be called dawn, we passed by the pier listening to the sound of waves.

A lot of large sailboats are built. Before long, diligent workers will appear and start loading today’s loads.

Many boats leave early in the morning. So, there were quite a few ships preparing in advance from dawn.

“And usually… the words of the colossus are not good.”

The scenery seems familiar to Lortel, so she talks while looking at such a pier.

“They are always stabbed in the back of the head and betrayed to death, or they do something they can’t handle and then fall into the gutter because they can’t handle it, or they are slandered by hostile forces and kicked out… Most of them… end their lives in mud. ”

“…”

“Right now… I want to live with a bigger meaning… but, yes, if I run recklessly like this, there will definitely come a time when I fall down. Those with the name Colossus have always been like that. Indulging in greed, they try to pursue higher ideals and eventually crash.”

It is not easy to fold that ambition in the proper line and finish the journey of life.

Mostly, like a butterfly jumping into a fire, it burns and dies while chasing its desires. That is the life of the giants.

Doesn’t Lortel herself consider it an exception?

“well. I always risk my life like walking on the tip of a knife, but I don’t think it’s time to retire yet.”

Lortel still has ambitions as a merchant. Above all, he is still too young.

Even if you decide to retire one day, you will have a hard time figuring out how to finish the work you have done.

“I guess so…”

“In the first place, it is not easy for merchants to retire…”

Lortel looked down at the floor and said.

“When I come to my senses, I am already entangled in so many interests, I can’t escape. You get to know too many important secrets, and if you retire recklessly, the situation of the old deck changes a lot, so there are many cases where you can’t step down without haste.”

“okay. That would be very painful.”

“Well, there are definitely cases where some big business plan hard for several years and then retire neatly and completely… Those who succeed in leaving their slush funds behind and erasing the traces cleanly. Although it really happens like a drought.”

“…”

“But, usually, as Ed sunbaenim predicts, death is the way to end a career.”

Sadly, death is the neatest retirement.

Lortel spoke so quietly.

We walked along the pier together, exchanging stories like that.

The cool morning air was also very cold. Summer is over. It’s autumn now.

Lortel wrapped her arms around me, smiled softly, and raised her voice cheerfully.

They argue about what to do with such a gloomy story.

“Well, it’s a special feeling to walk along Old Deck’s wharf with senior Ed. It’s always been at the forefront of the business front, but coming here at a quiet time like this, the atmosphere is very different…”

“It won’t be long before a lot of diligent merchants will come out on the streets.”

“Iknow, right. It’s a city that can’t be attached even if you really want to attach it. Anyway, you suggested that I take a walk to change my mood, right? You don’t have to be so considerate. I’m really fine.”

The corners of Lortel’s mouth curled up. Then, I casually rubbed my head on his shoulder and spat out words of happiness.

“Well, there’s a reason for that… but there were things I had to check.”

“Should I check it?”

“…Well, it’s not that big of a deal… but I had someone who helped me a little.”

“…yes?”

The moment Lortel asked back, someone appeared from far away on the road by the docks.

He had a large body and was wearing a shabby robe, so his face could not be seen.

The gait is extremely slow. It looks like a ghost walking along the pier of this late Old Deck, shaking off the frayed hem of his robe.

…just a passer-by.

Me and Lortel just have to walk like this and go to the commercial building where Lienna’s secretary is waiting.

The man who appeared far away on the other side was slowly advancing towards the pier, as if he was about to board the boat of this early morning.

– Jeobuck, jabuck.

Little by little they get closer to us arm in arm like that.

“…”

Neither me nor Lortel… say nothing.

However, the unidentified man wearing a robe trudged along like that… and stopped in front of me for a very short time.

Then, just a little bit… He bowed his head with a slight bow, then passed us as if nothing had happened.

– Turbuck, turbuck.

– Suck.

Just like that, we were only moving towards our respective destinations.

We to our destination, and the company to the company’s destination.

As with most relationships in our lives.

With a relationship that passes by like that.

Lortel, who was holding my arm, suddenly opens her eyes wide.

Did you notice something?

Considering the random question I asked while walking along the pier, a girl as smart as Lortel would have noticed it to some extent.

There will be no need for further explanation.

“hey.”

So, Lortel calmly called the man over.

The man had already passed us and was far away. It looked pretty busy. It looks like the ship is leaving soon.

I don’t know why they would rush to board a ship that leaves early in the morning. A man has his own circumstances.

Without turning around, he only slightly turns his head… Lortel looks at the man quietly.

The man wearing a shabby robe also did not turn around, but only slightly turned his head. Of course, the face is not visible. Because of the robe that completely covers his body, even her physique is covered.

It was a situation where it was completely unknown who the opponent was, but Lortel was surrounded by something like a strange certainty.

Then, I let out a laugh.

“Because it is the change of season, the night air is very cold. If you go out to sea, it will probably be colder.”

Under the darkness of the hem of the robe, the man did not even move.

“Please wear thick clothes. It is very cold.”

After Lortel said that, there was silence for a while.

“…”

In the quiet streets of Old Deck, a moment of emptiness.

“…under.”

The man was silent for quite a long time, perhaps contemplating what to answer.

seagull sound. sound of waves. The sound of workers going to work can be heard from far away on that pier.

The sound of dawn gathers together and fills the empty silence for a while.

After staying in it for a while, he opens his mouth briefly.

“—Yes, I will refer to it.”

Like that, all the answers were thrown as if it was nothing special.

You can only infer from his grim tone that he is an elderly person.

“Thanks for the advice.”

After exchanging only such short conversations, they turn around and go their separate ways.

The parting of merchants is like this.

They meet as if passing by, and part as if passing by. If the fate is reached, meet again and talk about a good deal, if not, it’s just a relationship that ends there.

So, we get further apart again.

As Lortel went on her way, she wrapped her arms around me tightly. so i just laughed

The gentle sea breeze blew through her hair.

“…I couldn’t even pay for my severance pay.”

With such a brief lament, Lortel buried her head in my shoulder and walked.

The crescent moon I looked up at was also smiling.

*The scales of both arms of Elte Co. are always level.

Merchants belonging to the Elte Firm saw such a proverb and laughed at it, calling it deception. For mature merchants were already well aware that there are no two-armed scales in the world that are perfectly level.

“Wow, you ran wild.”

Lortel was impressed as she entered the trading lobby.

The exterior walls were broken here and there, and the interior was a mess. It was a situation where I had to run wild as much as possible, so I couldn’t help it.

Still, secretary Rienna has finished some of the big tidying up.

The merchants already attached to the slog had been listed by Rienna’s secretary. Since Slog, the leader, has died, there will be no place for him to step foot in the Elte Company anymore.

“You did a really good job.”

“I’ve seen too many unseemly things, Rienna.”

“no. It was a situation that had no choice but to…”

Rienna was, as expected, a lot more dependable.

Having worked for such a long time as Lortel’s chief assistant, it was a time when he had a lot of bones in his own way.

Rienna was kidnapped and imprisoned by Slog at Rienna University, and went through many hardships… But in the end, Slog seems to have freed her with both hands.

In the first place, Rienna’s secretary was the card that would bring the old merchant’s plan to an end.

“You must be in a complicated state of mind, but it’s okay to rest a little longer. I think I can clean up the half-destroyed store building by myself. There are a lot of workers, so by the time the sun rises, you should be able to handle urgent work.”

“It would be better to stay on site. We also need to check the damage situation.”

As the person who caused the damage, I couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed, but as my older sister said, it was force majeure.

If they didn’t make a fuss like this, there’s no way the clever merchants of the Elte Company would be easily fooled.

“And, it might be a bit early celebration, but…”

Secretary Rienna lowered her head and spoke.

“You will be officially promoted to the chair of the council. Congratulations.”

“Like you said, it’s too soon.”

With a soft smile, Lortel accepted Rienna’s thanks.

The attention of the surrounding workers who are cleaning up the broken store building is focused. Yes. Now, Lortel Kecheln, who is here now, becomes the ruler of Elte Firm.

Behind her is the Roth Taylor family, the zodiacal city of Chloeron, and the castle of Carpeaa. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that the continent’s trade routes were held in one hand.

“And now, the name of Elte Co. is getting old…”

The first thing to do when you seize power is set.

The golden age of kings is over. Now the time has come for Lortel Kecheln. It is time for the name Elte to disappear beyond history.

“The scale has grown too big to be called a business now. If you combine the small merchants under your command, it would be much better to just call yourself a huge commercial guild.”

As Lortel said, Elte Firm has long since reached a scale where it is difficult to exist as an independent firm any longer.

That’s why, it’s time to go one step further as a group that rallies and voices the merchants under his command, not just a place to do business.

The Guildmaster sitting at the top, Lortel Kecheln, who coordinates internal Guild Rules and has the authority to negotiate with external power groups as a representative.

It is safe to say that she has become a queen who reigns among merchants who risk their lives for gold coins.

“There will be more paperwork to be handled by the government office.”

At that, Secretary Rienna replied with a soft smile.

“I will gather the paperwork to be processed in advance. Chairman of the union.”

Since they abandoned the name of Elte Firm, it is time to rename it as a commercial association.

It was full of all kinds of combination names, but Lortel didn’t really worry about it.

As if attracted to something, he naturally spit out a new name.

Hearing those words, Rienna smiled and nodded.

*The room that was the office of the head of state is also completely destroyed.

When Ed and Lortel entered together, there was barely a place to sit because of the dust that had come in from the broken exterior walls.

Lortel looks around, then sweeps the dust off the hospitality tea table and sits down on it.

And after gesturing to Ed to sit next to him, he puts his head on Ed’s shoulder and smiles with a worldly happy expression.

On the wharf outside the broken outer wall, you can see a sailboat about to set sail. There wouldn’t be a lot of people who wanted to leave the old deck early in the morning, but they were still ready to depart.

Towards the ocean beyond the horizon, the ship is going to go.

After the night of the Old Deck is over, and before dawn comes… the sailboat will leave the Old Deck as if being chased.

As if nothing had happened, the sun in the commercial city would rise again.

However, it is still night.

As if whispering so, a warmly shining crescent moon rises above the horizon.

While the soft moonlight illuminates the world, the people of the world are asleep for a while.

However, there are also diligent people who keep their eyes open even at times like this.

Bell, who opened the window for a moment and looked up at the stars in the bluish night sky in the carriage heading to the Ross Taylor estate.

The same is true of Tanya Rosteiler, who is sitting in a corner of her office with a candle lit, checking the telegrams from Oldeck.

The same goes for Rienna’s secretary, who is giving instructions to the employees while repairing the half-destroyed store building.

After spending a bright day with the sun rising, now is the time for everyone to take a break.

Even in a world that is asleep, the moon smiles at those who move diligently.

“Oh, that can’t be…! It’s different…! Even though he said that the boarding fee was seven Telos silver coins…! Is this…?!”

The pier in the late morning.

A boy was arguing with a sailor.

He is a young boy who is about to leave the peddling business for the first time in his life. He protested to the crew with a face of regret, but the crew didn’t pretend to listen.

“Are you really doing this?! Now, just by looking at it, the two-arm scale is leaning this way! If you see that the weight and the weight of the silver coin do not match, did you bring counterfeit silver coins?”

“What, what is that…! That’s nonsense! It’s a silver coin that I exchanged straight from Hallam Bank…!”

“How can we believe that..! Get your weight right and say it! One more up!”

It was unreasonable to anyone.

However, the scales placed on the table by the sailors are not level even at first glance.

The boy made a look of regret, but there was no way he would be eaten by the tough-looking sailors.

“If you can’t pay the boarding fee, you can’t board the ship! you’re like…”

– Took.

Just before the argument escalated further, a gold coin was tossed onto the scale.

It must have been a fairly heavy gold coin, but the scales were completely tilted. It was a fare for nearly five or six people.

When the boy turned around in surprise, a man wearing a shabby robe was holding his wallet and stuffing it into his bosom.

The sailors, staring at each other in a dumbfounded state, guided them while stuttering.

“Oh, you can board inside.”

“Thank you.”

Saying that, the man in the robe tapped the boy on the shoulder a few times before disappearing into the boat.

– Kki-look-ki-look.

A few diligent seagulls perched on a pole, staring at the distant horizon.

The man in the robe is also in the midst of staring blankly at the distant sea, leaning against the railing of the ship.

“Ah, thank you for that. Boo, I must have brought the silver coin just right… but for some reason, the weight didn’t match…”

“You should have checked the scale properly. It’s a trick often used by people who seem to be moderately talkative. From now on, you should be careful not to fall for such an obvious move.”

The boy was more surprised than he thought at the man’s voice.

This sailboat, which left the old deck early in the morning, was full of people with all sorts of circumstances on board.

Among those people, there is someone who seems to have a special situation.

“I didn’t think I would have written numbers on the scale… I didn’t..”

“You should have known in the first place that there is no such thing as a perfectly level two-armed scale.”

He is a boy who dreamed of becoming a peddler who ventured out into the world.

I was ashamed that I hadn’t grasped such a basic trick, so I couldn’t say anything more.

“That… may I ask what you used to do?”

The man thought about what to answer, but before long he let out a dejected laugh and smiled.

Looking at the boy reminds me of my own childhood when I was stabbed in the back of the head because I didn’t know how to read a scale.

Everyone must have had a time like this.

Golden King Eltedo, Guild Leader Lortel. All of them were inexperienced and insecure rookies at first.

The man pushed down the robe’s hat. Between gray-brown hair is full of gray gray hair.

old colossus. Noho lives in Old Deck.

Being called that way must be a thing of the past.

“I used to touch some money, but now I’m a retired old man.”

In the boy’s eyes, the figure of the old colossus, who seemed full of stories, looked up to him for no reason.

In a daze, I could only look up at the moon over the horizon.

Climb aboard a boat leaving Old Deck and look up at the commercial city that has been with you for the rest of your life while feeling the sea breeze.

In the distance, a half-destroyed building comes into view.

After looking at it for a while, the old merchant lowered his head and smiled.

“Let me tell you something nice, boy.”

An old man who survived all the winds of the three waves tells a newbie who can’t read a scale.

“There is no law that two-armed scales are perfectly level. But, in fact, it doesn’t really matter.”

“…yes?”

“Because that’s how all human relationships are.”

In exchange, the scale tends to tip in one direction. Someone will also see a loss.

Those who don’t really care, we call and live as life partners.

If you think about it that way, it may be first to find a partner for life before a partner as a merchant.

You have to know how to make your own person, because you can survive on this floor for a long time.

The sea breeze caught the hem of the robe and dragged it.

The man shakes off the hem of his clothes several times, leans against the railing again, and examines the scenery.

The ship is still far from reaching its destination.

There are at least some opponents who will be able to talk to you, so it won’t be boring.

Looking at the half-destroyed building in the distance, I think to myself.

Oldeck’s night is long. Get enough rest.

Still, there must be a lot of people who have a long way to go.

Blown by the sea breeze, Lortel fell into a moment of rest.

The scales were tilting back and forth, but it didn’t matter.

Lortel Kecheln, the head of OLDEC’s general commercial union ‘Three Gold Coins’.

Because before being a cold-blooded colossus, she was just a girl.