“Hm.”

“Acrab has the benefit of tax exemption because it is the city of craftsmen but Vega doesn’t have such privilege.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“I don’t know if you remember,” said Las. “Count Vega sent hired mercenaries for mine development here for Acrab. But he could no longer function on trust alone so he cancelled it. Things aren’t going well in Vega too.”

“Did he carry on the deal based only on trust with my predecessor?”

“Yes. Count Vega and Count Alshine, your father, were very good friends.”

I sighed. I guessed that Count Vega couldn’t trust Dalia who inherited the title so he must have taken the mercenaries back.

“He asked us for 1000 gold coins as the toll fee. Is that supposed to be a small amount?”

“Ideally, the income generated by Acrab should have been a lot higher. Since, this city is a hotspot for craftsmen who frequently travel in and out of the city, the economy should have flourished. Since the number of merchants dwindled, he must have calculated the toll based on the supposed figure of income. For an estate as large as Acrab, 1000 gold coins won’t even be enough expense for a year. Count Vega is asking for only that much even when it has been decades.”

“One year…. So, is Count Vega asking for that amount of money to save his own estate at least for another year?”

“Yes.”

I felt hopeless. In order for Vega estate to earn an income, the merchants needed to be able to pass the mountains again. For that, the merchant organization needed to be set in place. The current merchant organization had been halted because the min development had stopped because of the bandits in the Mencar mountains. The bandits were a problem.

Neither Acrab nor Vega had the power and the resources to evict them from the mountain. The business faltered because of this hurdle. Vega had withdrawn when Arab suffered, understandably so. It must have been difficult for them to manage the mine development alone and to hire mercenaries in our stead.

“If we manage to get rid of the bandits in the mountains, will Vega be willing to resume trade relations with us again?”

“I believe that would be a plus point. We might be exempted from the toll fee of the Vega estate like in the past. But hiring mercenaries for work might prove to be tricky. The Mercenary Association needs to believe that Acrab is still thriving.”

“I thought Vega had lent us the mercenaries for the mine development.”

“Vega was sort of a middle ground. They hired the mercenaries from the Mercenary Association and lent them to us.”

“Why though? Why didn’t we hire them directly?”

Las looked at me sadly. “Miss… I mean Countess, your memory truly isn’t back, isn’t it?”

I urged him to answer first. “The former Countess Alshine, your mother, was the only daughter of the head of the Mercenary Association.”

I was shocked. This was my first-time hearing about it! I didn’t really have Dalia’s memory so it was expected.

“They didn’t approve of your father. So, they eloped. The head of the Mercenary Association saw it as slight to his honour. He saw your father as someone who stole away his precious daughter. So, he didn’t want to do any business with the Alshines.”

So, Count Alshine couldn’t hire mercenaries. He had no choice but to turn to his close friend for help. The head of the association agreed to deal with Count Vega, secretly caring for his daughter’s well-being. But her parents died in a carriage accident. The head of the Mercenary Association might have broken off the deal with Count Vega in grief and anger.

Doesn’t he care about his own granddaughter who has to manage the estate all alone? Maybe he hs no affection for a granddaughter he has never met. I guess blood isn’t really thicker than water in this world. I sighed. My head started pounding.

“If you try to patch things up with the head of the Mercenary Association, you won’t have to depend on Count Vega to hire mercenaries for you. The mine development would resume without a problem. Also, if you can manage to get rid of the bandits in the mountain, then you can just pay the toll and use the path. It would benefit both Acrab and Vega.”

“So, that was why you said there was nothing the count could do. He got involved without knowing too many things related to us.”

I was ashamed. I had called Count Vega ungrateful. Sheliak Vega had to take over the title in a hurry because his father had died a few months ago. That was why the toll bill was sent to me so suddenly. Maybe I should have a meeting with him. A proper conversation to sort things out.

First, I decided to pay the toll fee because it seemed Vega was in need of it. As Las said, 1000 gold coins wasn’t much of an amount to run an estate. It would help the estate for only a year. Was Count Vega looking for other alternatives to earn more money to help his estate after a year?

There is no choice but to help each other out. Before I received the compensation from the royal family and Kaichen’s key to his safe with permission to borrow funds, I was driven to the edge with stress. Sheliak must be feeling the same right now.

“Umm, Countess,” said Las, as I set the empty glass down on the countertop. “Did you really become a magician?”

It was a very random question in the light of all the things happening now. It wasn’t just Las who wanted to know as well. The eyes of the people inside the restaurant shone as they looked at me expectantly.

“Yes, I became the Kaichen’s disciple.”

“I heard Acrab was involved in forbidden magic. Is it true?”

“Oh, well… it was.”

“Are there any consequences for us because of that?”