LIGHTNOVELSTORY My first meeting with the treasurer of the Olbia Baron Clan was shocking.
As soon as the treasurer saw me, he covered his mouth with both hands and took a step back.
Then he shouted loudly.
“Baron Fabio de Medici?”
I’m not a Medici; I’m a Rothschild Baron.
It seems the update on my family name, which I officially changed only a week ago, was a bit slow.
As a retainer serving a noble, that could be a serious offense depending on the time and place.
Still, being the generous person I am, I decided to let it slide this time.
“Although it’s only been less than a week since I changed the family name, do you think I would respond if you called me by the wrong name? I am Baron Rothschild. The first Baron Rothschild, Fabio de Rothschild.”
“I was promised to meet with the chairman of the Triale Association regarding the procurement of supplies necessary for the Olbia Baron Clan. Why on earth are you here, my lord?”
His excuse was perfect to the point where no one could doubt it.
Even if there was no agreed-upon matter, if he merely said he was here for a ‘consultation,’ no one would be suspicious.
After all, it’s as natural as drinking beer instead of water for a treasurer managing the entire clan’s budget to meet with the chairman of a trading company.
However, to someone who knows the whole story, it would be utterly ridiculous.
“Do you think I wouldn’t know that the maintenance costs for your dignity as a treasurer are so high that you can’t bear the debts?”
I gently waved a copy of the bond I brought.
The treasurer couldn’t hide his horror upon seeing it.
“Why is that in your hands, my lord? That’s a bond I issued when I borrowed from the Triale Association…”
I merely waved the bond, but the treasurer turned pale as a ghost.
People can sense things without words.
Even though I wasn’t threatening him with a knife, it was even more effective than doing so.
“What does it matter? What’s important is that I’ve done you a favor, Lucio.”
Humans are creatures that feel fear when confronted with phenomena they cannot understand.
Deep-sea terror, cosmic horror, and so on…
Just imagining things beyond their cognitive range and watching videos of those places from a safe distance makes them tremble.
But what if a creature that could take their life at any moment displayed incomprehensible behavior?
Having two terrifying things collide naturally makes it all the more frightening.
I decided to give this guy the opportunity to contemplate my favor.
“I’ve heard you’ve been under pressure to ‘retire’ even though it’s not quite your retirement age for about six months now. So, the Triale Association judged your value was running out and requested a higher interest repayment. I heard you sold precious family heirlooms to repay that.”
“How do you know this?”
Roberto, who I planted in your baron family, is great for gossiping.
He provides all the gossip from the chaotic life of the Olbia Baron to your foolish hobbies.
When the gathered information is analyzed by experts to verify its truth, high-quality information comes into my hands.
“I don’t need to tell you how I know. Just like you wouldn’t show your hand while playing poker, what matters is this.”
I purposely paused my words and smiled smugly.
“All the information you’ve handed over to the Triale Association is now in my hands, and thanks to that, I managed to escape a crisis.”
It’s amusing how I’m unraveling secrets that villains usually don’t know about, just like they do on TV.
Usually, this would lead to the villain being taught a lesson and suffering due to that secret causing their downfall.
“TV and reality are different.”
Moreover, this guy can never, under any circumstances, leak our dealings.
If even a hint of him being tangled with me gets out, the entire line of treasurer Lucio will be hanging from gallows.
“Who would save a guy who sold out the noble family he serves?”
Even the Young Baron who obstructed the establishment of my trading company, whose name I can hardly recall, recently met a ‘natural death’ for committing an act benefitting ‘another faction.’
He didn’t even realize it was a betrayal against the Duke.
Seeing how he sold clan secrets to another guild just to dodge some debt collection, that guy isn’t the type to sacrifice his life for his lord.
He’s the sort to sell out his lord to save his own skin.
“So, I’ll pay three months’ worth of your interest for you. Surely you received a demand notice this month, didn’t you?”
Treasurer Lucio froze upon hearing my words.
But his pupils were only shaking as if an earthquake had hit.
“However, if you refuse my next proposal, a demand notice will fly your way again in two months.”
Cold sweat started to trickle down Lucio’s face.
At this point, he could probably shower in sweat.
“Anything, anything you want! I’ll lick the soles of your shoes!”
I dislike having such a servile and unscrupulous subordinate, but if the only people who can leak information from another clan are those types, I’ll take what I can get.
As long as I pay him properly, he’ll gladly take on the dirty and despicable tasks.
“Leverage the clan’s secrets.”
“What secrets are you referring to?”
“For a noble family, isn’t there some shocking secret that would be dangerous if revealed? Tax embezzlement, assassination requests, and so on?”
Digging deeply into dark corners might unearth maddened souls selling out their own lords to pagans.
“If you bring me information that satisfies me, I’ll buy this bond from you.”
Lucio tilted his head after hearing my words.
“As you know, I have quite a bit of money. So if you continue bringing me minor yet helpful information, I won’t ever demand interest or principal from you in your lifetime.”
This bond is worth a thousand gold coins, with an annual interest rate of 40%.
The interest might be relatively low, but Lucio will have to empty all his annual income just to barely pay off the interest.
However, being a noble means that the costs of dignity (including daily life) surpass what I earn, leading the principal to keep increasing every year.
With the interest piled on, it becomes a snowball effect and grows exponentially.
“The interest compounding means that the bond has already turned into one worth 2,200 gold coins.”
With an annual interest of 880 gold coins, that’d be hard even for a respectable Young Baron to manage.
“Is that true?”
“I have no intention of saying one thing and doing another. So to survive, you’d better bring me good information.”
“Thank you, thank you very much!”
Lucio bent down as if he might almost bow down to me.
It’s so easy to manipulate someone blinded by money.
“Oh, and take this.”
I tossed a pouch containing about twenty gold coins at his feet.
It’s a bit pricey, but anyone would swear loyalty if you threaten them with a knife and then hit them with a wad of cash.
“A beast blinded by desire is easiest to control with money.”
“Open it on your way and go.”
Treasurer Lucio of the Olbia Baron Clan stepped out of the inn, gasping for breath.
He had been summoned by the Triale Trading Company, but suddenly a rapidly rising figure in the market appeared.
It felt like being struck by lightning while sleeping.
“I thought he was a monster because he rose to a Baron at that age. But he’s practically a Leviathan. Our Baron doesn’t stand a chance against him…”
It’s not that the Olbia Baron is incompetent.
However, the opponent is a monster that doesn’t have any point of comparison.
Just thinking back to that encounter made cold sweat trickle down his body.
With a way of speaking that effortlessly pushes people to the brink, and a wicked smile that suggests he would send Lucio and his family to the gallows if he even slightly goes against his will.
“Moreover, he’s a lunatic who seems to see everything with his palm.”
His own master, the Olbia Baron, is entirely unaware that Lucio’s financial situation is dire.
That’s because Lucio is desperately hiding it.
But to find that out as if it were nothing and then threaten him…
“That’s beyond human capability…”
Of course, from Fabio’s point of view, piecing together trivial information to catch a ‘big fish’ wasn’t that difficult.
“Frankly, I’d like to backstab that guy…”
As soon as he uttered that thought, Lucio glanced at the pouch of gold coins in his hand.
“Selling secrets would net me quite a bit of money, and it saves my clan…”
He’s already a tainted man.
Once you dirty yourself, you can’t wash it clean again. There’s no turning back now.
If he betrays Baron Rothschild, he’ll die.
Even if he doesn’t actively follow his orders, he’ll still die.
But what if absolute obedience leads to massive rewards?
“……I’m sorry, my lord, but what can I do? I need to survive.”
And then he immediately began checking his clan’s accounting ledgers.
Not to cut budget expenditures, but to find fatal flaws.
All the weaknesses Lucio had sorted out naturally fell into Fabio’s hands.
So quietly that no one outside the stage would even notice.