My Lord Who Is Being Prudent! [EN]: Chapter 201

201. Elanur’s Secret Funds (1)

Sian left the Lord’s Castle with Hans and Hugo.

And headed to the commercial district where Amelia was.

Specifically, he was going to ‘It’s All Mine! Merchant Guild Lv.2’.

It was an upgrade from the existing ‘Sweep It All Up Merchant Guild Lv.1’.

Moreover, most of the facilities in the commercial district had been upgraded by one level.

Most of the gold was spent on solidifying the internal structure.

But 150 million gold was a transcendent amount that more than covered it.

Though it had now evaporated and disappeared.

Anyway.

The commercial district, which could be called the essence of P2W [Pay-to-Win, a gaming term for systems where paying gives a significant advantage].

Of course, was there any area in Ruben that wasn’t the essence of P2W?

“Th-This is, what on earth…!”

Hugo didn’t seem to think so.

Hugo’s eyes showed no sign of shrinking.

His eyes widened like lanterns.

Ever since coming to Ruben, his eyes had been getting bigger and bigger, and now they looked like they were about to burst.

Sian left Hugo behind and continued to walk.

And arrived at the building of ‘It’s All Mine! Merchant Guild Lv.2’.

No, to be precise, in front of the guild’s building.

“Huh? Amelia?”

Sian could see Amelia hurrying.

She seemed to be in a hurry to go somewhere.

“Ah! L, Lord?”

Amelia seemed startled by Sian’s appearance.

Of course, Sian had appeared suddenly.

But even considering that, Amelia was quite surprised.

“Why are you so surprised? And where are you going?”

“Ah, no. I wasn’t going anywhere… No, I was about to go, but now there’s no need.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Amelia smiled awkwardly at Sian’s question and replied.

“I was just about to go to you, Lord.”

“Ah.”

Sian nodded in understanding.

He wondered why she was so surprised.

“But why to me…? Don’t tell me you found something out?”

“Yes!”

Amelia answered energetically and continued.

“You see, I meticulously examined the ledger, focusing on what you said? About the allowance.”

Amelia unfolded the copied ledger she was holding.

The copied ledger had separate markings here and there.

It seemed Amelia had marked them separately while checking the ledger.

“It’s incredibly difficult to manage such a large slush fund. So, they create a dedicated accounting ledger. But conversely, it becomes a vulnerability that allows you to track the source of the slush fund. So, to deceive this, they use various concealment methods, including double ledgers…”

As expected, Amelia pointed out the marked areas one by one and continued.

“They hide small slush funds by placing them in books or burying them in the ground. But when the scale is this large, they generally use a method called ‘currency exchange’. That is, they use abstract currency instead of physical currency like gold. And these abstract currencies require considerable procedures to retrieve. For this…”

Amelia’s explanation continued.

She continued to explain, mentioning various complex accounting knowledge.

‘What is she saying?’

He really couldn’t understand a single thing.

As expected, he glanced at Hans and Hugo.

They were also blankly staring with unfocused eyes.

Thanks to that, Hugo was spared the misfortune of his eyes bursting.

Anyway, those two didn’t seem to understand what Amelia was saying either.

Sian turned his gaze back to Amelia.

Amelia was still continuing her explanation.

They were complex and headache-inducing pieces of knowledge, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand them at all.

To put it very simply, what Sian understood from those complex pieces of knowledge was this:

Large slush funds cannot be hidden by burying them in the ground.

Burying them in the ground was a lot of work, and it would be a considerable problem when retrieving them later.

Placing them between books was not even worth mentioning.

He couldn’t just stash them in a vault either.

So, they ‘convert and exchange’ the gold into another form to hide it.

And that would be a type that is easy to store and easy to find.

In the form of paper wallets, like vouchers.

Thus, if you prepare a few devices on these paper wallets, it’s over.

In short, it was money laundering.

Amelia said she had identified those devices by checking the ledger.

Of course, Sian couldn’t understand how she had identified those devices.

Or what principles they were designed with.

There was just a complex and confusing design.

And Amelia had been racking her brains to figure it out.

He could only know this much of the result.

To be precise, she was struggling because she hadn’t found one crucial thing.

And she got a hint from Sian’s words.

She was finally able to grasp the core device used by Elanur.

“That was the allowance!”

That was none other than the allowance.

Honestly, it was a ridiculous name.

That’s because hiding a slush fund as an allowance.

Honestly, wasn’t it ridiculous?

But.

“I never thought they would hide it like this… It’s really ingenious.”

The thought and image of ‘ridiculous’ became a barrier.

Even Amelia wasn’t thinking about it right now.

“Who designed this…”

Amelia exclaimed in admiration.

Sian couldn’t be sure who did it either.

But he thought it might have been Isabel.

Anyway.

“I found out where the slush fund is!”

Amelia finally found the place where the slush fund was hidden.

Elanur’s ledger that Sian had taken.

And the hint of allowance he had obtained from Roswell.

The truth was revealed when those two things combined.

No, those two things only paved the way.

In fact, it was a fund that could not have been found without Amelia.

Of course, Sian suggested the hint of the allowance.

But that was just one device for concealment.

All the other numerous devices were discovered entirely by Amelia.

“As expected, Amelia! No, King-melia!”

“Huh? King-mel… lia?”

Amelia tilted her head and asked back, but Sian didn’t answer.

He just used it because the Mobile Lord used it.

Sian didn’t know what it meant either.

Anyway.

Sian accepted a document, a piece of paper, that Amelia handed him.

It contained a complex calculation and the name of a region.

Sian took out the map that Hans and Hugo had given him earlier from his pocket.

As a result of comparing the two pieces of information.

“Found it.”

One place that exactly overlapped was clearly revealed.

#

The Elanur Marquisate located in the eastern part of the Empire.

The Elanur mansion located in the marquisate, Isabel’s office.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

At the sound of knocking on the door, Isabel put down the quill she was holding.

She raised her head and looked at the door.

With a click, the door opened and a pair of men and women appeared.

A man with short blonde hair, Nathan Elanur.

A woman with blonde hair in a ponytail, Roswell Elanur.

Two of Isabel’s three children.

And those who were nominally Sian’s older brother and sister.

“I heard you called for us, Mother.”

“You called us.”

Nathan and Roswell, who had entered the office, slowly walked towards Isabel.

“Sit there for a moment.”

Isabel said, pointing to the sofa in the office.

Nathan and Roswell followed Isabel’s instructions and took a seat in a suitable spot on the sofa.

Isabel picked up the quill she had put down and finished the approval document she was writing.

Then, with the finished approval document, she went to the sofa where Nathan and Roswell were sitting and took a seat.

“The reason I suddenly called you two is because of this.”

And Isabel continued.

“The two of you go and meet Soren.”

Nathan and Roswell seemed slightly surprised at Isabel’s words.

The name Soren.

They knew who that name belonged to.

“Us… the two of us?”

“Yes. The preparations are all done, so just go and get it.”

Isabel gently placed the approval document she had just finished on the table in front of her.

Nathan and Roswell’s gazes naturally turned to the approval document.

“It’s a very important matter.”

And Isabel’s words came again.

“You know why without me having to explain it, right?”

Nathan and Roswell slowly nodded.

The matter involved Elanur’s slush fund.

Considering the scale, it was pointless to talk about how important it was.

“What about Brother…?”

“What about Oppa…?”

That’s why they only had questions about other things.

It was a little strange to send only Nathan and Roswell for such an important matter.

That’s why Nathan and Roswell asked that question.

“Kai is not going. This time, the two of you go and come back.”

Isabel shook her head firmly.

In fact, it wasn’t that Isabel hadn’t thought about Kai.

To be precise, she had intended to send Kai with them.

But she couldn’t.

Kai was currently holed up in the training hall and wouldn’t come out.

Of course, this was a major event for the Elanur family.

It wasn’t something to excuse by simply being holed up in the training hall.

But Kai being holed up in the training hall was also a major event for the Elanur family.

It was possible that he would complete the Elanur family’s secret technique.

No matter how important this matter was, she couldn’t interfere with his training.

Durak didn’t want that either.

And she couldn’t send other members of the family with them.

Because this was something that only the Elanur bloodline should know.

Also, it was made so that only the Elanur bloodline could use it.

The allowance given to the Elanur bloodline.

The name of the slush fund was ridiculously funny.

But rather, that’s why the source of the funds could be thoroughly hidden.

And it wasn’t just the name, but the actual effect was also the same.

It was made so that only the Elanur bloodline could find it.

So, there was no one more suitable than Nathan and Roswell.

Of course, there were also concerns about safety.

But even this wouldn’t be a big problem if it was Nathan and Roswell.

The two of them had each set foot in the realm of Upper Expert and Top Expert.

Even Roswell was already looking at the realm of Master.

“It’s urgent, so prepare immediately.”

Even if Kai wasn’t there, there wouldn’t be any major problems if it was the two of them.

“Understood.”

“I understand, Mother.”

At Isabel’s words, Nathan and Roswell immediately got up from their seats.

Then, they took the approval document and slowly walked out of Isabel’s office.

#

Hugo’s information and Amelia’s information.

The place that both pieces of information pointed to was the territory called Amsberg.

A territory located in the southern part of the Empire.

It was a county governed by Count Avenne.

The Avenne family.

The Avenne family was a prestigious family located in the southern part of the Empire.

A family known as a prestigious family in the south, along with Count Crowd, who owned the largest granary in the south.

But that was all in the past.

So, now the Crowd family couldn’t dare to compare to the Avenne family.

Of course, Crowd had also been deprived of 100 million gold by Sian.

But even before that.

The Avenne family had surpassed Crowd and become the center of the southern nobles.

And there was only one reason why they could do so.

‘If it’s the Avenne family… wasn’t that Isabel’s main family?’

Isabel’s main family was none other than the Avenne family.

Currently, Isabel’s full name was Isabel Elanur.

Isabel had become completely a person of the Elanur family as the mistress of the Elanur family.

But before Isabel was still Elanur.

So, before Isabel married Durak.

Isabel’s full name was ‘Isabel Avenne’.

In other words, the Avenne family was Isabel’s main family.

And it could be said to be the Elanur’s in-law.

The Elanur’s in-law.

With just this one fact, the Avenne family was able to rise to the center of the southern part of the Empire.

“How… are you going to do it?”

Hans then asked carefully.

Now that they had found Soren and the location of the slush fund, it was time to take action.

They had to catch Soren and recover the slush fund.

Of course, the place where Soren was hiding and the place where the slush fund was hidden were in the same place, so it was the same thing.

“If it’s related to the Avenne family… we can’t move rashly.”

The problem was that they couldn’t move rashly.

They knew the approximate location, but they didn’t know Soren’s exact location.

And if the circumstances of finding Soren were revealed, the Avenne family would put pressure on them in some way.

But there was no one who could ignore the pressure from the Avenne family and act.

No matter how much Hugo was the Mercenary King, it wouldn’t work.

They couldn’t act ignoring the Avenne family, the Elanur family.

You had to see that there was no one in the Empire who could do that.

So.

“I’ll go catch him myself.”

Sian had to take the lead in this case.

Whether it was the pressure from the Avenne family or the threats from the Elanur family.

It was already a situation where they had gone as far as they could.

There was no big difference between having an arm and a leg cut off or being torn to pieces.

Of course, that didn’t mean he was going to move alone.

None other than Hans and Hugo.

And Hans’s old colleagues who had gathered information, although they weren’t here now.

He was going to move with them.

It was something he couldn’t just leave to them for such a dangerous task.

And Soren would be moving at this moment.

Now that the territory war with Crowd was over, there wouldn’t be any guys to mess with for the time being.

Now that Ruben’s P2W, which amounted to 150 million gold, was over.

He needed more damn gold.

The Mobile Lord was passed out and there was nothing to do.

“Let’s leave right now.”

Sian didn’t feel the need to delay.

Hans and Hugo nodded at Sian’s words.

And just as they were about to slowly move their steps.

“Wait a minute!”

Amelia shouted and grabbed Sian.