The Count’s Youngest Son Is A Player Chapter 174

Episode 174

“Welcome. “Welcome to the Wizards’ Association.”

A young female employee with a relaxed look greeted Raoul and his group.

The female employee wearing a robe over her uniform did not seem to have outstanding skills, but like a magician, she radiated a strong mana energy.

Noisy.

The first floor of the lobby was bustling with numerous visitors.

It was certainly large in scale as it was an association representing the rights and interests of wizards.

“What brought you here?”

“I made an appointment with Director Dario.”

“Oh, please wait a moment.”

The female employee checked the reservation schedule by operating the magic screen on the desk a few times and then asked again.

“Are you really Viscount Raoul?”

“Yes, it is.”

When Raoul held out the family seal, the employee who confirmed it through the scan smiled.

“Viscount Raoul’s reservation has been confirmed. Please use magic circle number 3 in the east hall.”

As I walked to the east hall following the instructions, I saw a moving magic circle divided by partitions operating, swallowing or spitting out people.

When Raoul and his group arrived at the magic circle, the waiting staff checked their destination and immediately activated the magic circle.

Faaat.

And the place we moved to in an instant was a quiet-looking hallway.

An employee who was waiting greeted them and guided them to their room.

“This is the place. Manager, your guests have arrived.”

“Ask them to come in.”

This may have been a building that utilized space like the Magic Tower, but except for the moving magic circle, it felt like an ordinary commercial building.

“welcome. “I’ve heard a lot about it.”

Director Dario, who greeted Raul, was a man in his late forties with slightly balding hair.

The head of the Wizards Association must have been a wizard of considerable skill, but on the outside, he just looked like an impressive salaryman.

And in fact, the reason Raul made an appointment with him today was because of a deal.

After briefly saying hello, the two immediately moved on to talking about work.

“I have checked the information you inquired about. “Are you sure what you want is a preliminary meeting and the association’s mediation for the acquisition of Magic Tower?”

“Yes, it is. “I received advice that it would most likely go through the association’s arbitration.”

The director nodded at Raoul’s answer as if it was obvious.

“of course. It is difficult to easily evaluate the value of a magic tower and there is a lot of room for noise. “It’s not something I can tell you as a wizard, but wizards are so unique and capricious that it’s difficult for ordinary people to deal with them.”

At the same time, he explained various reasons why the association’s choice of arbitration was a wise choice.

“Besides, Viscount Raoul is a VVIP customer of our association, so we will do our best to help him.”

After the Gate incident, Raoul became the Wizards Association’s highest level customer.

This is because mana stones and various by-product cores obtained from the gate have been distributed through the association.

Since there was a personal request from Great Sage Gray, it was not at all strange for the association director to be kind.

“This is basic information about the 15 magic towers you inquired about and the acquisition cost data they propose. “If you choose from among these, I will take responsibility and work with experts to review the financial structure and feasibility of the acquisition.”

Basic information about the magic towers of interest had already been obtained through Chief Wizard Elmer of the Gray Magic Tower.

Nevertheless, the reason I visited the association was to get help to avoid noise in the acquisition process, as the association director said.

“But I think you came at the right time. Normally, magic towers of this size would rarely be put up for sale.”

Raoul just smiled at Director Dario’s words.

“You probably already knew this, but the situation in the kingdom is not so good these days.”

“If you don’t mind, could you explain a little about the situation in the kingdom? Since this is my first time here, I would like to get advice from a local expert.”

“Oh, of course.”

As he was a top-tier customer, Director Dario explained the situation in the kingdom without hiding anything.

Leslie Kingdom.

It was a magical kingdom established under the leadership of wizards.

While the Kingdom of Ruben had grown around knights, the Kingdom of Leslie was dominated by wizards.

Among the nobles of the Kingdom of Leslie, many were wizards, and most of the so-called prestigious families or families close to power owned the family’s magic tower.

The king sitting on the throne himself was a wizard, so what more can I say?

Thanks to this, the Kingdom of Leslie’s country revolved around magic, and the country’s main industry itself was various magic items and power armor produced at the Magic Tower.

The kingdom has been maintained with checks and balances between the powerful royal magic tower and the magic towers of each noble family.

Perhaps due to the wizards’ tendencies, the prestigious magic towers had a greater desire to develop new magic and power armor than their greed for territory.

Therefore, various merchants and magic tower families linked up to establish large power armor manufacturers, and they often showed off their influence through competition among such companies rather than through typical power struggles.

“But that was before the Gate incident. ‘That incident’ shook up the kingdom.”

Like the Reuben Kingdom’s capital, the Leslie Kingdom’s capital was also invaded during the Gate Incident.

Unlike the Kingdom of Ruben, which reduced damage through Raoul’s appropriate intervention, the Kingdom of Leslie suffered severe damage.

One-third of the magic squadrons that the royal family was proud of disappeared, and one of the royal magic towers that symbolized the Six Stars collapsed that day.

Moreover, all of the king’s children, including the crown prince, lost their lives that day, and the old king was bedridden from the shock.

The royal family was literally paralyzed.

‘Nothing has changed since my previous life.’

Raoul listened to the explanation and checked to see if anything had changed from what he knew, but nothing much had changed.

Although the director did not say anything, the guardian who protected the Kingdom of Leslie, like the Kingdom of Ruben, would not have escaped extinction.

The fact that the first stage seal was released would mean that the Kingdom of Leslie was also unable to protect the seal.

“It was from then on. Prestigious and noble families who had not been greedy for power until now began to take action. “Maybe it’s because the position of the next king is vacant.”

And that movement was fatal to small and medium-sized magic towers.

Each force began to focus on increasing their power rather than direct conflict, and the target was a small to medium-sized magic tower.

“The gate incident occurred and magic towers experienced a boom. “Not only has the demand for power armor and various magical items increased explosively, but the supply of materials has also increased.”

And that became poison.

The magic towers that thought this was an opportunity increased their loans and collected by-products to accelerate the production of magic items, and the same went for small-scale power armor manufacturers.

And at some point, the prices of magic items and power armor plummeted.

“The prestigious magic towers and various forces have colluded. “They organized a large-scale cartel.”

When they made up their minds and poured out the quantity and lowered the market price, the small and medium-sized magic towers that had taken on debt to run their production lines did not have the talent to hold on.

It has become a situation where the more goods you sell, the more losses you incur.

However, if production was stopped, there would be no income, so they had no choice but to start a game of chicken with the end in sight, crying and eating mustard.

As a result, except for some magic towers with strong financial structures, small magic towers had no choice but to go bankrupt one by one.

The members of the ruined Magic Tower were torn apart and absorbed into each faction, putting them in a miserable situation where they had to work like slaves until their debts were repaid.

“The association also received numerous complaints and petitions. But what can you do? “There are many high-ranking members of the association who belong to powerful groups, so it is meaningless in the first place.”

Director Dario, who was purely affiliated with the association, did not seem to like the current situation at all.

It was uncomfortable to know that the association that was supposed to protect the rights and interests of wizards was contributing to their destruction.

“More than half of the small magic towers are already closed or completely destroyed. Some medium-sized magic towers are also experiencing difficulties due to financial crisis. If things continue like this, this Magic Tower Street, the pride of the kingdom, may disappear forever.”

As Director Dario said, if this situation continues, that might happen.

But Raoul was sure that wouldn’t be the case.

‘This type of cartel formation is sustainable only when the interests of all members are aligned.’

The bloody competition was difficult for everyone. That’s the same even if it’s a large magic tower.

Even if they lowered the unit price through mass production, they were still running at a loss.

They may not know it, but the damage they suffered to create this situation may have exceeded the national budget.

‘Unless all forces have the same financial power, a traitor will appear at some point.’

But even Raoul did not know when that time would come.

“But I can’t tell you how happy I am that Viscount Raoul has come forward. “As a member of the Association, or rather, the Wizard, I would like to express my sincere gratitude.”

“No, I haven’t decided anything yet, so it would be difficult if you did this.”

Raul waved his hand, but Director Dario’s attitude did not change.

“It doesn’t matter. At the very least, the mere fact that a new competitor has appeared will crack their collusion.”

The director’s insight seemed to be better than I expected.

As he said, if Raoul takes over or funds the magic towers here, the effort they put in will be in vain.

In some ways, Raoul’s current actions were very dangerous.

Because it was like stepping into the game set by the country’s core powers.

But Raoul didn’t care.

He was not even a nobleman of this country and had sufficient power and funds to be comparable to them.

Even if a problem arose, all I had to do was return to my home country.

I had no intention of diving deep anyway. I was planning to get out of this mess after taking only what I needed.

What if someone catches him by his ankles?

‘Just step on it gently and that’s it.’

They had already secured information on the power structure of the Kingdom of Leslie and the level composition of the Magic Tower.

Since we had already confirmed that there were almost no forces that could pose a threat to Raoul right now, there was nothing to hesitate about.

‘Is it even possible to move the magic tower lords with heavy hips?’

There was no reason for those who were busy keeping each other in check to pose a direct threat to Raoul, a noble from a foreign country.

After remembering that fact, Raoul spoke with a relaxed expression.

“Now that we know the situation, shall we move on to the main topic? “I would like you to look into this place first.”

Raoul took pictures of some of the magic towers on the list.

“Please leave it to me. Tower owners will probably actively cooperate.”

If it goes bankrupt like this, everything in the Magic Tower will be sold off at a cheap price.

Then the only thing left for the future is hardship to repay the debt.

Now that a buyer has appeared who will pay the right price to take over the magic tower, the magic tower owners will try to get Raoul’s hand somehow.

Raul returned after discussing with the association’s director Dario.

Naturally, his appearance quickly spread to each faction.

* * *

The next morning.

Raoul was staying in the guest annex prepared at the Gray Magic Tower branch courtesy of Chief Wizard Elmer.

For convenience, we hired servants to take care of chores during our stay, so we did not cause any inconvenience to the wizards of the Gray Magic Tower.

“Raul, a guest has arrived.”

The temporary butler announced the visitor and Raoul welcomed the guest in the reception room.

“nice to see you. “My name is Gerner, and I am the owner of the Kantu Magic Tower.”

A wizard with an easy-going appearance who appeared to be in his mid-40s bowed his head to Raoul.

Raoul greeted him appropriately and asked him a question.

“How did you find out about this place? It’s only been two days since I arrived…”

“Actually, I heard it from Director Dario. “Before building the magic tower, I was studying at an alumni university.”

He said he came to me quickly and it seemed like he had connections.

‘Anyway, that’s good. Now let’s go to the interview.’

As for Cantu’s magic tower, it was a fairly healthy magic tower that was on Raoul’s shopping list.

Although it was a small magic tower with about 20 wizards gathered, it was a meaningful place with the know-how to strengthen the force field of power armor.

However, Raoul’s expression gradually hardened as he spoke with the tower owner.

The situation was worse than he thought.

‘The head wizard and half of the workers have already left?’

In addition, the force field-related patents were sold to pay off the debt.

Literally, all the kernels are gone and only the shell remains.

‘The top owner is a useful talent, but…’

It was crazy to spend a huge amount of money to acquire a magic tower just to recruit one top owner.

Somehow, an ominous feeling passed through Raoul’s mind that the acquisition of the Magic Tower would not be smooth.

(Continued in the next part)