Restart:Untalented Man

Three weeks go by peacefully after the food poisoning incident.

Riz is currently looking at the written report sent to his office this morning.

It is a report about the Rogvor people.

He sends some of the spies in Audrey's expedition to secretly observe the Rogvor settlement for him. What surprises him the most is that a part of their body is slightly different from the rest of humans.

Rogvor people have pointy ears.

Based on the sketches by his spies, their ears are not overly pointy like the elf depicted on Earth.

The report also stated that they have a youthful appearance.

Wouldn't that mean they are this world version of elves? Despite his curiosity, Riz decided to put this newly discovered fact aside for now.

Everything is progressing well with the Rogvor people. Riz considers himself lucky because the messenger he sends turns out to be the chief granddaughter and the chief agrees without resistance.

'Maybe I should keep employed that girl. She can become a bridge between the Rogvor people and the rest of Ryntumians.'

He personally doesn't believe that such dense forest only has coal in them. Exploration is needed to confirm his suspicions but he opts to take it easy.

Souring the newly forge relationship is the last thing he wants to do after painstakingly building it.

He shook his head to get the idea out of his mind, 'Let's not anger them and focus on the more important stuff.'

With the coal mine up and running, his finances can finally be diverted to another place. He is grateful that the coal seams are near the surface where coal can be extracted economically using the open-pit mining method.

In that span of time, Theodora has done a great job establishing the central bank. His royal mint also has begun to produce and stockpile the new currency.

With the central bank now in the picture to regulate and monitor the commercial bank, Riz took this opportunity to establish his own commercial bank.

He named it Royal Bank. This financial institution functioned exactly like a bank on Earth, to earn profits.

At first, the establishment of the Royal Bank received a lukewarm reception. People can understand the necessity of a central bank when it was first reported on Ryntum Weekly.

However, the idea of storing their coins in the bank is something they are reluctant to do. They feel safe when the coins are in front of them. But Riz needs his people to use the bank. He plans to slowly take their Bagyarosia currency through the bank and replace them with Ryntum currency when they withdraw the money.

Therefore, he had the idea of orchestrating an incident to highlight the benefits of banks by resorting to his one and only effective weapon.

On a certain week, the newspaper reported a very detailed burglary incident that happened in Bideford. An incident that rarely happens as nobody is insane enough to commit a crime right under the king's nose.

According to the victim, his house was broken into by several men looking for coins. He has been targeted by them due to his profession as a merchant. Fortunately for him, he stores most of his wealth in the Royal Bank and only loses a meagre amount of coins.

Another page of Ryntum Weekly reported a story of the small-size clothing enterprise upgrading its business to a medium-size with the help of a loan provided by Royal Bank.

The constant exposure of benefits provided by the bank slowly seeps into the populace's mind. It didn't take too long for them to end up using the bank as well.

It pleases him so much when his people move in the direction he intended them to. He guessed this is probably why people are so fixated on fighting for a position in any organisation.

*Boom*

Charlotte barged through the door of his office. There is no greeting whatsoever.

"What's the matter?" he asks.

"Your Majesty, we received a piece of news from our agent in Naharog stating that the Count just attacked a barony under him. The county is in chaos right now." Charlotte reported to him in just one breath.

Riz kept a straight face, "He finally decided to do it, huh? For God's sake, he is taking too long to prepare. I am getting tired of waiting. What information do we currently have on hand?"

Baffled by Riz's reaction, Charlotte throws another question at him.

"Why are you acting so calm? Our agent said they are using a weapon similar to us."

"Relax, I know about that. I am the one who personally makes a deal to sell ammunition to them back then."

"But why? Wouldn't we lose our advantage?" she worriedly asked.

Riz begins his reasoning, "They manage to recreate the field cannons by themselves based on the cannon they capture during the war with us. It is a matter of time before they figure out the ammunition and create their own version. However, Count Naharog doesn't have the patience to wait that long. Before that happened, I took advantage of Count Naharog's desperation of wanting immediate ammunition by selling it to him."

Seeing Charlotte shut her mouth, Riz continues.

"Now, why don't you tell me what info you got?"

Charlotte begins her report, "Yes, milord. Last week, Count Naharog suddenly launched an attack on the barons under him. He captures the town without any resistance and massacres the entire Szazki family."

Riz laughed so hard when he heard that. To think Count Naharog wants to follow in his footsteps. He most likely wants to clear his own turf first before shifting his direction to Napuna.

"Did the barons or the soldiers expect that?"

Charlotte replies, "The Naharog soldiers were told that they were conducting a military exercise to coordinate with the usage of the new weapon."

Shrugging his shoulders, he replies "Well, the count technically speaks the truth though it's a half-truth. What about other forces?"

"Like a fire, it spreads to the neighbouring county. Basically, three counties are in a chaotic state right now."

"The domino effect...huh."

"Pardon?"

Riz shook his head, "Nothing, just my own word. The chaos spread is not a surprise. Those three counties were ruled by the greediest noble in Bagyarosia. What about the royal family?"

"They are yet to show any movement or release any statement."

"Hahaha...Perhaps they are incapable of making any."

"There is one more thing that needs your attention, we also receive a request for purchasing more weapons but..." Charlotte is hesitating to proceed.

Riz frowned, "Sell it. What are you hesitating for?"

"Some of the requests come from a group of civilians, not nobles."

Once again he laughs. Riz never expected things to go out of hand.

"There is a high chance that a group of civilians is backed by an outside force. I refuse to believe a bunch of peasants capable of organizing a rebellion force."

"Should we refuse?"

Riz looks at her with a sinister smile, "No, we sell. While you are at it, sell some of our used arquebuses at an exorbitant price."

Half of his soldiers have begun to use the flintlock musket. He has no use for the outdated arquebuses.

"But they might reverse-engineer it..." She inwardly opposes this decision.

"The moment I create those weapons, the warfare is bound to change. When the wave of change occurs, we don't oppose it but we ride it. Don't worry, we are still maintaining our lead in this arms race."

"If you say so...Then, I will leave first." She knows once Riz makes a decision, it is hard to change it. Until now, all his choices are spot on.