Calon’s expression soured as if he had swallowed spoiled milk when he heard those words from Rasis.

Despite it not being a regular day for contact, the underground communicator activated.

Upon receiving the report, Calon rushed downstairs. The voice on the other end was more garbled than usual.

“Ah, connection… I was trying to… Can’t find the direction… Anyway, if found…!”

It was a communicator that even with the emperor’s power could be used only once a week. It was clear that Rasis had forced it to operate under his own arbitrary rules.

It would have been alright if it was just a poor connection, but the communication was completely cut off after those words. The employee responsible for the device sighed deeply and grabbed his head.

“It seems the communication network is cut off.”

Even upon further inspection, the result was the same. The communication network established with the empire had broken due to a forced contact from the other side.

Calon gritted his teeth. Most likely, back in the empire, the emperor was subduing Rasis on his behalf.

In the meantime, Ino came down and asked if there was anything left to do, saying that the upstairs was nearly sorted out.

Calon hesitated for a moment, then broached the subject of Aelfrie’s account and asked Ino to take care of it.

In fact, it wasn’t absolutely necessary for Calon to be there when opening Aelfrie’s account. However, he had a reason for calling the bank in advance and preparing to go together.

‘Just curious.’

Aelfrie couldn’t hide her joy at being able to have her own account.

Moreover, she repeatedly confirmed whether it was really happening, whether it was really coming out.

“Is it really that big of a deal?” Calon casually asked. At the notion of having her first ‘own thing’ in written form, Calon was momentarily at a loss for words. Just how backward was this country’s understanding?

Regardless, he was curious to see the expression Aelfrie would make when she received an account in her name.

However, the morning’s chaos and Rasis’s erratic behavior had increased his to-do list.

He spent the whole day in the basement with employees, working on restoring the communication network, but the conclusion was the same.

“It will take at least one month, and at most three months.”

Calon visualized Rasis’s face, promising himself that the moment he saw that face, he would kick it without hesitation.

Only in the evening did Calon finally manage to get back upstairs.

The business was sorted out, and Aelfrie had long since left work. With only a few employees remaining, Calon looked at the quiet office space and felt an inexplicable irritation.
Plans often went awry. No, in fact, days when things went as planned might have been the minority. In the business of trade, variables could arise at any time and place, and it was Calon’s job to handle them swiftly.

Whether a merchant ship was trapped by a sudden change in currents, isolated, or an unexpected declaration of war led to the entire trading company being detained, or even conflicts over trade laws led to the loss of a branch office—there had been such instances.

Compared to those issues, today’s problem was trivial.

Yet, why did his chest feel so stifled, and why did sighs keep escaping him?

Unable to suppress the irritation that surged for no reason, Calon went to see Nisha.

As if expecting him, Nisha immediately handed over the documents she had placed on one side of her desk.

“What’s this?”

“These are the documents Aelfrie decrypted today. Please take a look.”

Upon hearing Aelfrie had left them, Calon shifted his gaze to the papers.

As always, the handwriting on the paper was neat and clean. The ancient language, incomprehensible even if read backwards, was astonishingly well-deciphered.

Calon frowned as he read the decrypted text.

“Wait, she did this much work even after all the commotion today?”

The stack of papers he had received was quite thick. It was clearly different from what he had seen yesterday, confirming that she had worked on it today.

“Surprisingly, yes. I had expected her to be diligent, but her enthusiasm was even greater after creating her account today. She even helped with flood cleanup in the morning…”

“Why did you let Aelfrie handle the cleanup? I told you to focus her solely on decryption!”

Unintentionally raising his voice, Nisha covered her ears.

“Why are you shouting?”

At Nisha’s words, Calon hastily closed his mouth. He, too, thought his voice had risen too much.

“Sorry. I’ve mentioned it several times and thought it still hadn’t gotten through.”

“Of course it got through. Do you think I wouldn’t pass on your instructions? But Aelfrie was so assertive about it, I couldn’t help it. Anyone would think that today’s turmoil was her fault the way she was frantically helping with the cleaning.”

The image of her earnestly helping with the cleanup filled Calon’s mind.

“So she helped with the cleanup, created her account, and then did this much work.”