Chapter 318

[T.L: punisher87]

 As Rosa made her shocking proposal in the conference room, everyone held their breath, including Jin, who maintained his usual poker face. Joshua never thought there was anything special hidden behind Jin's stoic expression.

 He always kept his composure, so there was no reason to suspect otherwise. However, when Joshua suddenly asked if Jin had already found Arya Aulhart, it was purely a gut feeling.

 There's a moment of silence.

 'What? When everyone was surprised earlier, was I really sitting too calmly? Even if that's the case, I can't be so confident just based on that.'

 Jin quickly searched his memory, but he couldn't figure out when or how Joshua had found out about his meeting with Valeria.

 For the first time since starting to confront Joshua, Jin felt flustered.

 Fortunately, he didn't lose his trademark poker face when Joshua started to talk about Valeria.

 Jin smiled. Regardless of how Joshua found out, it was a problem that could be solved by simply putting up a poker face.

 "Both you and our mother seem quite troubled. Judging from the nonsense you're spouting." Jin said.

 "The Youngest." Joshua replied.

 "Don't use such a friendly term. We're not like brothers who get along well with each other," Jin said.

 "This is a more important issue than you think." Joshua said.

 "That why mother had offered the Eastern 5 regions as a reward."

 Joshua speculated confidently at first, but since it was just a gut feeling, he struggled to keep the conversation going.

 Do you mean to say that you also haven't found that person yet?

 Joshua couldn't bring himself to ask that question directly.

 "If you hand that person over to me, I will give you not only the Eastern 5 region, but also more than that. I swear on my name and clan's honor."

 "Why do you keep beating around the bush with such an interesting story? Let's hear it."

 "Your life."

 Jin burst into laughter. And then he looked at Joshua with a serious expression.

 "You're still not good at making jokes. Didn't I tell you last time, that was your last chance to kill me."

 "And the safety of your comrades."

 Joshua expected Jin to be visibly agitated by that remark, just like when she referred to him as "youngest" earlier and got upset.

 But Jin didn't feel the need to get angered about it.

 'I wondered when he would take my comrades hostage, but here it is.'

 Comrades, though they are Jin's strongest fence, but at the same time, they were his biggest and only weakness.

 That was why Jin and his comrades had already prepared themselves for the possibility that Rosa and Joshua would use them as leverage.

 'I'm starting to wonder about the value of the teacher's ransom. Bringing out the most powerful card to pressure me, when even the Eastern five regions are not enough?'

 Jin's curiosity about what Rosa would receive in exchange for handing over Hister grew quickly.

 Jin's life, and the lives of his comrades.

 What Joshua meant by saying that he would guarantee Jin two things.….

 'It is highly likely that the problem is related to the Solderet contract. Mother may have asked from Zipfel for a Demon's God Orb or other means to transfer my contract to Joshua.'

 It was just speculation, but it seemed like a plausible development.

 Joshua's goal is not to kill Jin, but to take away Solderet's powers, and Rosa's goal was likely to correspond to his.

 'Mother has been acting strangely since last time. For her, transferring only my contract to Joshua and using me as a flagbearer for our clan would be the best outcome.'

 In fact, even without the power of Solderet, Jin can even use magic and the power of the Plutonian. Jin is considered to be most outstanding from Runcandel flagbearers, and he is also a person who could be evaluated as having high potential. With pure swordsmanship alone, he is showing growth enough to be mentioned as the next patriarch.

 Even without the power of Solderet, and even if he couldn't use magic or the power of the Plutonian tribe, Jin was still considered the most talented Runcandel flagbearer and had high potential. He was already showing remarkable growth in swordsmanship alone, enough to be mentioned as a next patriarch.

 As a Rosa, there was no reason for her to give up on his youngest son unless Jin betrayed the clan or hand over the power of the shadow to Joshua.

 In addition, the fact that Zipfel can transfer God's contract is an almost confirmed case considering that the contractor of time in the past and present life are different. Also Midor Elner and Veradin used spatial explosions.

 Various thoughts swirled through Jin's mind. The various scenarios that unfolded in his mind all boiled down to one question: why did Joshua and his mother obsess over Hister so much?

 "How about it? Do you want to talk now?" Joshua asked, and Jin smiled.

 "I'll say it again. I've never found Hister. I don't even know why you're saying this. It seems like you just doubted me with a hunch."

 "I'll give you ten days. Bring Hister to me within that time."

 "If you want to make an achievement that much, you'd better go outside and run to catch Hister instead of wasting time with this nonsense."

 Jin turned around and added, "Just a few words. I hope you're not one of those idiots who are willing to bleed out from delusions. It means that there's nothing good about touching my comrades recklessly."

 "Let me take your advice into account."

 "That's just a warning, not advice. Do you understand? At a moment like this, in a dim corridor, just the two of us, I could impulsively draw my sword and cut off the second flagbearer's head without thinking about the consequences. I'm not worried about the aftermath."

 "How pathetic. Do you think you could beat me in a one-on-one?"

 "If you're confident, we could fight right now."

 Joshua shrugged as if he didn't care. "The 12th flagbearer s in a better position than I thought. Even if I defeat you, you have nothing to lose."

 Jin challenged him because he thought Joshua wouldn't fight anyway. As Joshua had said, even if he lost in a one-on-one fight, he wouldn't lose anything, whereas Joshua would lose his reputation even if he won.

 Joshua watched Jin's back until he disappeared.

 Then he became certain.

 His beloved little brother must have at least met Arya Aulhart before.

 'If the youngest really didn't know anything about Hister, he would have offered a deal in reverse when I spoke to him.'

 The Jin that Joshua recognized was that kind of person.

 If he saw a desire in his opponent, he would find a way to use it, even if he didn't have a weapon to shake that desire. That was the scary side of his little brother that he saw.

 But now, even though he revealed his desire first, he only tried to avoid the subject when he didn't know anything about Hister.

 Jin seemed to have no intention of proposing a deal or playing with him. That was the reason why Joshua was sure about the relationship between Jin and Hister.

 He smiled as if he had achieved something big.

 'But even if I really kidnap or kill his comrades, Jin will never hand over Hister to me.'

 Rather, it was nothing more than provoking the sleeping beast.

 'It's a good thing that the youngest knows Hister. If it's with him, even our Runcandel and Zipfel won't be able to find Hister. Hister is safe.'

 The youngest would never let go of the cards he held. It is also another thing that Joshua understood about him.

 Although they were clearly enemies, or even foes, Joshua respected Jin.

 Since the time before Jin showed his skills until now. Joshua had never underestimated Jin even once.

 "My lord."

 Howard, the first-class butler who had stepped back, approached Joshua. He is the younger brother of the butler Heinz and one of Joshua's closest aides.

 "Did you gain anything?"

 "I caught an unexpected huge fish. Howard, don't assign any of my knights to search for Hister. It's a waste of resources."

 "Understood."

 "Instead, spread false information about Hister to the other flagbearers. While the flagbearers are preoccupied with finding Hister, secure as many death row inmates as possible and send them to Rickalton."

 Howard didn't comment on Joshua's decision.

 "And find a list of all our trading partners, including merchants, wealthy people, and nobles who have a relationship with Free City Tikan."

 "The spies have already identified that information. They update it weekly, and there are few errors."

 Joshua nodded in satisfaction.

 "Cut them all off. I want to dry up their funds a bit. It doesn't matter if the youngest and his comrades figure out that their trading partners have disappeared, but we can't let the outside world know that we pressured them."

 "I'll make sure to keep their mouth shut. How should we handle the trading partners of Zipfel, Hidden palace, and the Empire? It's difficult to maintain security in those areas."

 "How many places are there?"

 "I'll have to check, but I've heard there are about ten. Of those, about half of them are Zipfels."

 "Leave the hidden palace alone and see if the rest of the trading partners have a proper connection with the Zipfel clan or the Imperial family. If not, send pirates to raid and incite a strike."

 "Understood."

 There is no need to provoke a ferocious animal into a full-on confrontation.

 Instead, Joshua decided to gently scratch Jin's nerve by cutting off his money supply and subtly threatening his comrades to see how Jin would react.

 And he wonders if Jin's comrades will endure all sorts of disadvantages and stay by his side till the end.

 'He's smart enough not to come at me with an all-out attack. But it will be quite annoying.'

 ***

 Ten days had passed.

 April 10, 1799, the Free City of Tikan.

 Kashmir's expression was dark as he sat in his office.

 The city's economy had been paralyzed at an unprecedented pace.

 Over 80% of the trading partners had already requested a stop to their contracts, bearing violations and penalty fees, and the remaining 20% seemed likely to disappear as well.

 "The power of Runcandel's 2nd flagbearer is enormous indeed. Not a single trading partner has disclosed why they are cutting off their deals, young master."

 Jin, disguised with Murakan and Gilly, had come to Tikan as soon as he heard the news.

 "Kid, that brother of yours. Who does he take after to be such a little brat?"

 "I don't know."

 "Young master, you said to prepare thoroughly for the 2nd flagbearer's attack, but I didn't expect it to be like this... We are currently solving the problems with emergency funds, but I don't know how long we can hold out."

 Joshua's attack was effective. In some ways, it caused more damage than a direct assassination threat.

 Tikan's leadership was struggling to be recognized as a 'state' and was giving enormous amounts of money to each faction every month, which was why the damage was significant.

 "It's frustrating, but we still don't have the financial power comparable to that bastard, no. Joshua... No, that bad bastard! We can't beat him. Young master, even the tourists were leaving when they heard the news of pirate ships appearing in the nearby waters." Gilly spoke in anger.

 Jin's emergency funds were at a considerable level, but not enough to sustain a city.

 "I didn't expect him to come out like this either. But we can't just sit and watch when he wants to fight this badly."

 "Do you have any plans, Young master?"

 When Kashmir asked, Jin lifted the corners of his mouth."I'm going to hit one of his villas."