You Can't Catch the Wind - Chapter 42

At those words, Kalon glared at Lasis with an expression as if he had swallowed rotten milk.

Anyway, the underground communication device activated on a day that wasn’t regularly scheduled for contact.

After receiving the report, Kalon hurried down and heard the voice from the other side, more static-filled than usual.

It’s a communication device that can only be used once a week, even with the Emperor’s power. Lasis must have forcibly used it with his golden rule.

It would have been fine if it was just heavy static, but after those words, the connection was completely cut off. The employee managing the communication device grabbed his head and sighed.

Further examination yielded the same result. Due to the forced attempt to contact from the other side, the communication network that had been difficultly connected with the Empire was cut off.

Kalon gritted his teeth. The Emperor must be trampling on Lasis in his place back in the Empire.

Meanwhile, Ino came down and asked if there was anything he could do, saying that the cleanup upstairs was almost finished.

Kalon hesitated for a moment, then brought up the story of Ael’s account and asked Ino for a favor.

Actually, it wasn’t necessary for Kalon to go when opening Ael’s account. But there was a reason he had contacted the bank in advance and prepared to go together.

‘I was curious.’

Ael couldn’t hide her joy when she learned she could have her own account.

Moreover, she was quite excited and checked several times if it was really okay for her to come out.

When he casually asked if it was such a joyous occasion, Ael replied that it was the first time she would have something ‘of her own’ in documents, leaving Kalon momentarily speechless. Just how backward was the concept in this country?

Anyway, he was curious to see what expression Ael would make when receiving an account in her name.

But with the morning’s turmoil and Lasis’s sudden action, there was suddenly more work to be done.

He spent all day in the basement with the staff trying to restore the communication network, but the conclusion was one:

Kalon recalled Lasis’s face and vowed to kick him mercilessly the moment he saw him in person.

It was only in the evening that Kalon finally came up.

The company had finished cleaning up, and Ael had long since gone home. Kalon felt an inexplicable irritation as he looked at the quieted company with only a few employees remaining.

Plans often go awry. In fact, there might be fewer days when things go according to plan. While doing company work, variables occurred anywhere and anytime, and it was his job to handle those variables quickly.

There were times when a merchant ship was suddenly trapped in changed currents and isolated, or when the entire company was detained due to an unexpected declaration of war, or when a branch was burned down due to conflicts over tax laws during trade.

Compared to those incidents, today’s events were just a trivial problem.

But why did his chest feel more stuffy than usual, and sighs kept escaping?

Unable to suppress the inexplicable irritation, Kalon went to see Nisha.

As if she had been expecting him, Nisha handed over some documents placed on one side of her desk as soon as she saw him.

“What’s this?”

“These are the ones Miss Ael decoded and left today. Please check them.”

At the mention of what Ael had left behind, Kalon turned his attention to the documents.

As always, the handwriting on the paper was neat and tidy. It was amazing how clearly the ancient language, unreadable even if turned upside down, had been decoded.

Kalon frowned as he read the decoded version.

“Wait, are you saying she did this much work and left even with all that chaos today?”

The papers he received were quite thick. It was clearly a different decoded version from what he had seen yesterday, so it must have been the amount she worked on today.

“Surprisingly, yes. I expected her to be diligent, but after coming back from opening the account, she was even more enthusiastic about work. She even helped clean up the flood in the morning……”

“Why did you assign Ael to clean up? Didn’t I tell you to make sure she could focus on decoding work, not other tasks!”

Nisha covered her ears as she heard his voice unintentionally rise.

“Why are you raising your voice?”

At Nisha’s words, Kalon quickly shut his mouth. Even to him, it seemed his voice had gotten too loud.

“Sorry. I thought maybe it still hadn’t been conveyed properly after saying it so many times.”

“Of course, it was conveyed well. Do you think I didn’t say anything? But Miss Ael was so insistent that there was nothing I could do. She was helping with the cleaning, not knowing what to do, as if someone might think today’s storm was her fault.”

Kalon imagined her image, helping with the cleanup more enthusiastically than anyone else.

“So she helped with the cleaning, made an account, and did this much work.”

“If you’re impressed, why don’t you raise her weekly pay? She was smiling all the way in, holding her account certificate.”

Kalon’s face stiffened slightly at Nisha’s words.

“More importantly, please check the third document. It’s about the territory near the Oltbea mansion.”

Kalon found the content Nisha mentioned. It was quite an important place among the lands Ash Company was trying to buy.

Compared to other lords who were desperate to sell their lands, this place didn’t seem to have much intention of selling, so they were paying more attention to it.

“What’s the problem?”

“According to Miss Ael’s decoding, the shares of that land definitely belong to Count Hebrides.”

“Hebrides…… that’s……”

It was a name he remembered seeing somewhere. Where was it?

Kalon, rummaging through his memories, rubbed his face with his hand.

Count Hebrides was known as the most stubborn and inflexible among the nobles of Denertum.

A person who believes in tradition as it is and follows only old rules. It was so extreme that he rarely showed his face in social circles.

Saying that the recent all-night feasts and parties that all the nobles flocked to were corrupt customs that had only been introduced 200 years ago.

“That person, he didn’t even deal with Ino, right?”

“Yes……”

Nisha mumbled in a deflated voice.

“When Ino said he wanted to enjoy his youth a bit more and wasn’t thinking about marriage yet, he chased him out saying his mind wasn’t that of an adult yet……”

Thanks to that, Ino had to come back bearing all the blame.

When Ino returned to the company, he whined, “He demanded to know what was wrong with me for a promising young man to have such thoughts! He even told me to at least get engaged before coming!”

Ignoring Ino’s subsequent whining about who wants to be in such a countryside kingdom and how he had the conscience not to make a girlfriend in the Empire before coming, Kalon and Nisha temporarily put the acquisition of Count Hebrides’ land on hold.

But as the plan progressed, they realized that land was absolutely necessary.

With a glimmer of hope, they looked into the ownership of that land a bit more, only to confirm again that not only were there no shares belonging to others, but it was all owned by Count Hebrides.

Such distant kingdoms are usually places where young employees volunteer to quickly gain experience and build their careers, not where those seeking a stable life come.

After that, Kalon discussed more with Nisha about Count Hebrides and that land.

But no particular answer came out, so they decided to think about it for a few more days and returned to the office.

Even if they bring a married couple from among the executive-level employees at headquarters, it won’t be an easy task. When would they have time to teach them Denertum etiquette?

If not married couples, they tried to find engaged ones, but there were even fewer of those.

‘Preferably, someone who knows our situation well should go. Ino was chased out, so the only ones left are Nisha or me…..’

Kalon looked at the data on Count Hebrides that he had received from Nisha.