How a Second Life Knight Lives

36. Beating with Words and Documents.

Kalmar City is classified as a commercial city.

Although agriculture and workshops are also thriving, the foundation of the city is centered on logistics and distribution.

Therefore, many of Kalmar’s influential people are merchants.

Even the Count of Kalmar, if you trace his origins, is said to be based on a knight family that grew its wealth by transporting rock salt by ship.

To exaggerate a bit,

the merchants themselves are the nobles and influential people of Kalmar.

That is Kalmar’s identity.

However, it is precisely because of this identity that the Count of Kalmar faces a difficult problem.

Unlike knights, farmers, or artisans, merchants cannot be fully trusted.

This is because merchants have to travel around.

And their trading partners are outside.

No matter how much their base is in Kalmar, to make a profit through distribution, there must be someone outside the territory to buy their goods.

In the medieval economic system centered on self-sufficiency, the only ones who could buy goods were nobles.

Or merchants subcontracted by nobles.

Can you trust subordinates who share interests with external nobles?

It is only natural to consider merchants as potential traitors colluding with external nobles and to monitor them.

Perhaps that is why the reaction towards me is so intense.

“Sir William, you are amazing. It’s the first time someone has competed equally with Master Johan.”

“I heard the knights couldn’t stop talking about it. They said you have such exceptional skills that they couldn’t possibly match you. They were repeatedly amazed.”

“To think that someone so young has such high skills! We look forward to your future.”

“Kalmar is truly a great place. Establish your family here!”

When I went to Kalmar City Hall for inspection, the city council members gathered around, eager to exchange a word with me.

These people don’t seem to have a good relationship with the guards or the territorial army.

Perhaps they are afraid of the Count, who is supported by the guards and the territorial army.

Fortunately, the council members representing the surrounding rural and mountain villages were curious but not as fervent as those from the merchant guild.

They must be cautious because they perceive me as the Count’s subordinate who came for inspection.

Nevertheless, the fact that I fought equally with Master Johan seems to have left a tremendous impression on the people here.

Previously, I was simply a skilled mercenary knight from outside, but now I am evaluated as someone with skills comparable to the best in the territory, a few levels higher.

There were even rumors related to Countess Linnea, making some people think of her as a power broker.

On the other hand, there were those who were trying to figure out how to best use me.

Their gazes were quite blatant, but they didn’t seem to care much.

It was probably because the image of a young knight aspirant who had just come up from the countryside still lingered.

Among them, two had red dots that sparkled.

Nordstrom.

He was the owner of a medium-sized merchant group that mainly dealt in textiles.

Mattson.

He was the owner of a cargo ship that transported various goods via the Dalaben River. He was a fairly large-scale merchant with four ships.

Upon personal investigation, I found out that both had major business dealings with Duke Glenn.

I didn’t know how they were caught by Duke Glenn, but they were more loyal to him than to Countess Linnea.

However, it was obvious that finding evidence would be difficult.

Shrewd merchants wouldn’t leave clumsy evidence of treason.

And we, the Countess and I, couldn’t do anything just because they were connected to an external merchant group without clear evidence.

If we recklessly took them down, most of the merchants in Kalmar would distance themselves from Countess Linnea.

From the merchants’ perspective, it wasn’t just those two who were connected to external merchant groups, but themselves as well.

So, I had to coax these people.

A novice close aide, trusted and chosen by the Countess, was overreacting to something.

If I pressured and hinted at them, making them anxious, they would make mistakes.

If I caught those mistakes well, something would come out.

Of course, this wouldn’t work in peacetime.

They could just ignore it and continue their business.

If it went too far, they could appeal to those around the Countess.

But now, chaos was erupting all over the empire, and no one was thinking of resolving it.

Sensitive people were already preparing, smelling the blood of troubled times.

At such a time, being suspected?

Would there really be anyone left around them?

It was only a matter of time before someone in the merchant group changed their mind.

After all, the place they had to live was Kalmar.

I set aside my complicated thoughts for a moment and greeted the members of the city council.

The council members shook hands and introduced themselves, detailing where they represented and how influential they were.

Then Matson approached me.

He tried to flatter me with an expression of genuine amazement.

It was excessive.

It must mean he had a purpose.

“To have subdued the great Master Johan! It seems a new hero has been born in Kalmar.”

“You’re too kind. I barely managed to draw after taking a beating for a long time. Strictly speaking, I lost.”

“No, no. That’s not true. Think about the age. Master Johan is now over 50 years old. Soon his body will wither. On the other hand, Sir William is in his early twenties, isn’t he? Sir William will be the next leader of those who protect Kalmar.”

“Oh! There are many ears listening. I am merely following the orders of the Count. And such excessive praise is rather harmful to me.”

“You are truly humble. It’s not just me. Everyone thinks so.”

“Is that so? I didn’t know Duke Glenn thought the same.”

For a moment, Matson froze.

Fear filled his eyes.

“What? Wh-what do you mean?”

It seems my sudden attack hit too well.

For a merchant and shipowner, he was so flustered that he bit his tongue while speaking.

“It’s nothing. I was just wondering if you still have a close relationship with Duke Glenn.”

“What? I only send him gifts on his birthday every year, nothing special. He is too high a person to have a relationship with a merchant like me. Perhaps, perhaps, Sir William is unfamiliar with the social interactions of nobles since he came from the countryside.”

Matson desperately explained.

And his explanation, and my sudden attack before that, were seen and heard by the nearby council members.

“Maybe so. I hope we can talk more about it when we meet again, Mr. Matson. I have to inspect the warehouse managed by the city hall. Goodbye.”

Leaving Matson behind, I followed the city hall officials, with the council members’ eyes darting back and forth behind me.

Even without speaking, one could communicate with eyes and facial expressions just as effectively.

Among them, Matson, who was addressed as a shipowner rather than a council member, had a dead look on his face.

The city hall of Kalmar is located next to the council building.

So, after throwing a bomb disguised as a greeting to the council members, I could immediately move on to inspect the city hall’s work.

However, there was some confusion as neither the council nor the city hall had ever experienced an inspection directly involving the Count.

This was because the city’s administration tended to operate independently without much involvement from the Count.

The council was a gathering of representatives sent to manage the interest groups in and around Kalmar, and the city hall was where the practical work was done by officials sent from those interest groups.

It was not a situation to argue about legislative or administrative powers.

It’s not that kind of era.

When the Count speaks, it becomes the law.

Of course, there are customary laws, so it’s not like there are no standards at all, but as is often the case with customary laws, they tend to favor the powerful, so most of the city’s administration was centered around compromises and adjustments between interest groups.

Of course, aside from that, there are departments that handle what modern people commonly think of as administration,

That is, managing the city, maintaining public order, taking care of citizens’ housing and welfare, collecting and executing taxes.

These departments are directly under the Count.

Public order is maintained by the guards, and taxes are handled by the tax collector, Lindstrom.

All other tasks are managed by Meller, the hereditary mayor of Kalmar, along with a group of clerks.

It seems that the Count has a tight grip on public order and taxes, but Meller and the clerks have taken care of the rest.

So when I came as the Count’s inspector, there was some confusion about what I was supposed to do.

I made only one demand of them.

The warehouse status.

A document containing the details of the warehouses managed by the city of Kalmar.

I took that document and randomly inspected 12 large warehouses and 25 miscellaneous warehouses.

Most of them were grain warehouses, and some stored building materials and various ingots.

I compared the contents of the warehouses to the records in the warehouse status document.

Places where the warehouse entry and exit records were not properly managed.

Places where the warehouse status did not match the actual contents.

Places where the warehouse building itself was poorly maintained.

There wasn’t a single warehouse that didn’t have issues, even though I inspected them randomly.

In other words, every warehouse managed by the city had some kind of problem.

I pointed out the issues to Mayor Meller and demanded corrections.

I emphasized that warehouses suspected of embezzlement must be fully restored and requested a report on this to be submitted directly to the Count.

This was giving Meller a chance to redeem himself.

Meller, sweating profusely, assured me that all the warehouses would be perfectly organized and told me not to worry.

Some of the clerks turned even paler at his assurance.

I made my presence known here, just as I had with the territorial army.

The long-standing power holders of the territory sweated and bowed their heads at my words.

Countess Linnea should recognize how well I am carrying out her commission.

In fact, what Countess Linnea wanted from me was simple.

Surviving.

The condition set by Countess Linea was simple: survive for five years without dying while playing the role of a fake fiancé.

And the reason I’m stirring up trouble and wandering around like this is simple.

I need a backstory to become the fake fiancé.

The background story goes like this: “That guy, he tried so hard to stand out around the Count, and somehow he hit the jackpot.”

Think about it.

Suddenly making someone, who appeared out of nowhere and isn’t particularly handsome, a fiancé and giving him a title and land is like openly advertising that this is a staged play, isn’t it?

Otherwise, it would be like confessing that the Count has lost his mind due to love.

Neither situation is helpful to the Count’s goals.

So, my position was to tour the city of Kalmar and attract attention by making a fuss.

That’s why I knocked out the knights in one blow and fought with Master Johan.

Considering that, both Master Johan and I lost our minds and rampaged. What a mess.

Later, I should give Burke a lot of tonic.

Despite some mutual mistakes, I was able to gain the image of a skilled person comparable to Master Johan.

I also showed the council members and city officials that I wielded power properly as Countess Linea’s agent.

From the outside, I would appear as a capable, ambitious, and greedy young knight.

Then, to make sure I’m not underestimated, I should show a scary and cold-blooded side this time.

The guards will be the sacrifice for that.

It seems like a good idea to prepare the large hammer I seized when I beat up the salt merchant.

There are things to smash anyway.

After spending the whole day talking and wrestling with documents, I wanted to move my body again.

I look forward to inspecting the guards tomorrow.