“Guh…! How humiliating…! How could someone as brilliant as this genius mage endure such indignity…!”
“This woman is completely out of her mind.”
“Why me too…”
After the explosion at the training ground.
The troublesome trio, immediately dragged before Gordon, were kneeling in a corner of the office with their arms raised high in punishment.
“This isn’t even a proper punishment posture, like lying flat. I’m 24 years old, not some elementary school kid…”
“If you’re going to complain about your age, maybe don’t do things even elementary school kids wouldn’t dare to try.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The punishment wasn’t particularly harsh, but for a robust young man who had even finished his military service, being subjected to a penalty fit for a child who got caught running in the hallway was mortifying.
As he grumbled, Freya glared at him, and he immediately clamped his mouth shut.
“Sigh… So, the new magic staff… or gun? You were testing it, and that’s what caused all this?”
“Yes! It’s unfortunate that there were some durability and stability issues, but with this prototype, I can create an even more perfect and outstanding product—”
“Quiet.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“…Sigh.”
Freya let out a deep sigh, feeling a pull in the back of her neck.
“My daughter has always been like this, but my son… What am I going to do if you follow suit?”
“Well… Honestly, I saw the gun design and couldn’t resist trying it out. You know how it is, Dad—guns are every man’s dream!”
“I don’t entirely disagree, but don’t you realize how serious this incident was? It’s fortunate no one was nearby, but what if someone had passed by and gotten seriously hurt?”
“That… Uh… I’m sorry.”
“And Tenet. You should have stopped them. What were you thinking, even becoming a target for them?”
“Well, they’re both older than me, and they don’t listen even if I try to stop them…”
‘…Right. Tenet, it’s not your fault. Your older siblings are like this… Come out of there and stand over here.’
“Yes! Awesome!”
“Coward.”
“Next time, I’ll make sure the experiment burns their underwear to ashes!”
Freya glanced at Tenet, who was pouting with puffed cheeks full of injustice.
Unable to blame him, she naturally excluded him from the punishment.
Tenet, now smiling and standing to the side, left Pat and May glaring at him with betrayed expressions.
“Anyway, my dear daughter? You can expect your allowance to be cut off for the time being.”
“What?! Wait, Dad! I’m a bit short on money to buy the mana stones for my next experiment…!”
“That’s exactly why this punishment will be effective. Take a break from magic experiments for a while and clear your head.”
“Ugh…”
“Hehe, serves you right.”
“And as for you, my son? You’ll be wearing dresses for three days.”
“…What? No, wait. You’re joking, right?”
“I’ll have Bennett keep an eye on you, so don’t even think about trying to cheat. If you do, the punishment will double.”
“Father!! No, Dad!!! Please… anything but that!”
Thus, the two golden siblings faced the heavy consequences of their actions, their faces turning utterly grim.
“Sigh… What a headache.”
“Madam, I’ve prepared your milk tea.”
“Thank you, Gordon.”
After giving appropriate punishments to her two mischievous children, Freya rubbed her temples and let out a long sigh.
But when her eyes landed on the cup of milk tea on the table, her slightly furrowed brows relaxed.
“They’re adorable and precious kids, but dealing with their antics on top of everything else is exhausting. Being a parent always feels like a heavy burden.”
“Even so, I think they’re far better now than they were in the past.”
Though Freya vented about her children, Gordon responded with a warm smile.
“These days, the staff around the mansion laugh a lot more. In the past, the mansion always had a cold and rigid atmosphere, but now it feels softer and more relaxed. It’s a change that even this old man finds refreshing.”
“…Is that so?”
Before her family’s change, the Evergarden estate had been like a sheet of ice.
The siblings had been tyrannical, treating the staff harshly and without hesitation.
The parents had indulged in extravagance, squandering the estate’s wealth without a care.
The household staff had endured their mistreatment daily, barely getting by.
But now, they smiled as they worked, and the estate’s atmosphere was brighter.
Gordon couldn’t help but hope such days would continue.
“…Still, casually blowing such a massive hole in the training grounds is something they need to refrain from.”
“Well… yes, I think some restraint would be advisable.”
Even Gordon, fond as he was of the family’s current state, hoped they would cause fewer incidents.
“We should get started with today’s schedule.”
“Understood. Sir Penril?”
“Yes, my lord. Here it is.”
Thud.
Freya took a sip of milk tea and set down her cup.
As she picked up her quill, Penril, recognizing Gordon’s cue, placed a thick stack of documents on her desk.
“These are reports about the merchants’ guilds seeking to establish themselves in the new area. The documents have been meticulously organized based on our longstanding intelligence network and thorough analysis.”
“Hey, old man. Don’t act like you did all this by yourself. Who do you think gathered that information?”
“Oh? You’re taking credit for such a trivial task? Still a fledgling, I see.”
“This old geezer…”
“What’s the matter? All bark and no bite, like a true dog.”
“…Hah, must be age catching up with you, seeing how you keep sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Oh?”
As Penril wagged his tail proudly after presenting the documents, Gordon’s smug interjection made Penril bare his fangs in irritation.
Though both were essential to Freya as her right and left hands, their relationship was contentious at best.
If Freya weren’t present, the two would likely have clashed, turning the room into a battlefield.
“Enough. I don’t recall bringing biting dogs into my service.”
“…Apologies.”
“Sorry, my lord…”
Freya intervened with a faint smile, diffusing the tension.
Though she spoke firmly, she regarded both as indispensable talents.
She would have to think about finding a way to improve their relationship.
“There’s quite a lot here. For a minor territory, this is an unusually large influx.”
Freya, having mediated between the two, glanced at the pile of documents beside her and murmured to herself.
During her efforts to clean up the back alleys, she had significantly reduced various excessive taxes, including import, export, and transaction rates, which merchants greatly appreciated.
Although she had anticipated that the merchant guilds, who had previously only watched from the sidelines, would start coming one by one, the turnout was about 1.3 times more than she expected.
“Master, you must consider the unique aspects of our domain.”
“That’s true. Unlike other territories, we don’t have a major merchant guild presence and rely heavily on traveling merchants.”
The reason for this was simple.
In most territories, large merchant guilds had been firmly rooted for years, if not decades, making it difficult for new guilds to establish themselves without facing considerable obstacles.
The so-called “ladder-kicking” was rampant.
However, Evergarden’s situation was different.
There were no existing merchant guilds to keep new ones in check.
Previously, even those who attempted to establish themselves here faced significant losses due to the high tax rates.
But with those adjusted, such risks had vanished.
As a result, Evergarden became a prime location for merchant guilds seeking new footholds.
If a guild managed to establish itself in Evergarden before anyone else, there was a chance it could grow into a dominant force in the region, perhaps even a massive guild controlling the territory’s economy.
Merchants, being driven by profit, couldn’t ignore such an opportunity.
“Well, let’s start reviewing them one by one.”
With that, Freya began flipping through the documents Penril had organized.
“Hmm… as expected, most of these guilds are well-established giants.”
She confirmed that the information laid out before her matched her expectations.
The larger the guild, the faster they could access information and make decisions based on it.
Setting up a branch in a new territory required significant capital, but large guilds with ample resources had no trouble making such investments and had quickly reached out to Evergarden.
“Rickval, Leon, Harssen… I’ve heard all these names before.”
For Freya, who had only been in this world for about two or three months, even faintly recognizing their names indicated how widespread their influence was.
As she quickly reviewed the documents, her eyes stopped on one in particular.
“This one…?”
Her hand froze, and her gaze fixated on the document.
“Ah, that guild struck us as unusual as well. There’s very little information about them, and we haven’t heard much about where they operate. We suspect it’s a newly established guild.”
Penril, noticing her reaction, shrugged and responded.
“Haha… that makes sense.”
“…Excuse me?”
“There’s no way I could forget this. It’s impossible…!”
Freya’s expression turned unsettling.
Her pupils trembled, her forehead broke into a cold sweat, and she looked as if she had just seen a ghost.
“…Sir Penril?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Arrange a meeting with this guild as soon as possible. Make it the top priority.”
“…Pardon? Oh, yes! Understood.”
Momentarily at a loss for words, Freya gave the order, and Penril, though slightly delayed in his response, nodded and hurried out of the room.
“Ma’am? What’s wrong…?”
“How… How can this be…?”
Gordon, standing nearby, glanced at the retreating Penril before addressing Freya with concern, but she didn’t seem to hear him.
Instead, she clutched her head, muttering to herself.
At that moment, one of the documents precariously perched on the edge of the table fell to the floor.
The logo on the paper featured a capital “H” with a star pattern above it, resembling a shooting star.
Hanseong.
It was the logo of Hanseong Corporation, a once small company that had grown into a leading conglomerate representing South Korea.