This Three-Year-Old Is A Villainess - Chapter 202
Count Talos, filled with excitement, spoke quickly, causing Noarizen to furrow his brows.
“…What?”
“They offered double the amount we expected.”
“There aren’t many people who could move that kind of money… Who are they?”
“They’re supposedly a high-ranking noble from another country. They said they’d reveal their identity once the teleportation blessing stones were ready.”
“They haven’t even confirmed their identity yet? What kind of nonsense is this…!”
“They offered an advance payment of two billion.”
“Wh…What?!”
“They said if we show them ten teleportation blessing stones, they’d hand over the two billion on the spot.”
It was certainly enough money to make Count Talos lose his mind.
At this point, both of them were scraping the bottom of the barrel with no funds left to pull from.
Noarizen muttered uneasily.
“But how did they even find out we’ve been making teleportation blessing stones…?”
Count Talos shrugged.
“If it wasn’t us, there’s only one other place the word could’ve slipped from.”
“The emperor?”
“A few months ago, there was a ‘Goldsteel Assembly’—a gathering of kings. Maybe he traded valuable information to get something in return.”
It was highly plausible that the emperor had mentioned the blessing stones while trying to get Count Talos a position in the Central Tower.
Noarizen had his suspicions.
“The range of movement is limited, and the number of people who can use it is also restricted. Plus, you can’t enter heavily fortified places like the Imperial Palace.”
From the emperor’s perspective, letting another country possess the teleportation blessing stone wasn’t a risk.
The information was valuable, but for the emperor, it wasn’t critical.
‘Still, this is unsettling.’
Noarizen chewed on his fingernails.
“If this spreads too early, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches Duke Astra.”
“What’s the old man going to do even if he finds out?”
“What do you mean? I’ve embezzled all the funds from the Aisa Jurisdiction, and I’ve experimented on Blitzen to make the blessing stones! If the duke finds out about this—!”
“That’s exactly why you just need to fill that hole with the money. As always, your son will cover for you.”
“…”
“If this deal goes through, we can pay it all back before the year-end audit. Then we can leave Astra altogether.”
“…”
“Besides, we still need to meet the emperor’s order of 30 teleportation blessing stones.”
“…”
“If I get into the Central Tower and become fabulously wealthy, who’s going to dare touch us?”
Noarizen had been born as the third son of a minor viscount family.
Due to their declining fortune, he had lived in poverty until he met a duke’s daughter by chance, turning his life around.
But when she died, he was left begging Astra for support once again.
‘Yes, if I can just sell these blessing stones…’
It would bring him enough wealth and power to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
“When do they want the blessing stones ready?”
“Next week.”
“Next week?! That soon?”
“They’re foreigners, so they can’t stay in the empire for long. But the issue is…”
Count Talos glanced at Noarizen.
“We need white crystal to make the teleportation blessing stones.”
Where could they possibly get the astronomical amount of white crystal they needed?
Even covering the experimental costs and the initial prototype had nearly drained them.
Noarizen spoke up.
“There’s a way to get the white crystal.”
“There is?!”
“My son is helping with the distribution of white crystal in Daymond’s jurisdiction.”
“You’re saying we can smuggle some out!”
“But the security will be tight.”
Count Talos, still excited, responded,
“We have teleportation blessing stones! Security is nothing.”
“…”
“If your son is working on the inside, they probably haven’t even set up wards against teleportation!”
Noarizen leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.
“But who will we send in? Smuggling something out of the Daymond Jurisdiction won’t be easy, and mercenaries won’t take such a risky job.”
“What are you talking about? You think I’d give mercenaries a teleportation blessing stone? They’d run off the moment we handed it over!”
“…”
“We’ll go ourselves and grab it quickly.”
Noarizen fell silent.
Count Talos, despite being of lower rank, had been raised as the pampered heir of a count’s family.
He was nothing like Noarizen, who had grown up struggling in a poor viscount’s household.
He didn’t understand real danger.
It was almost endearing how naive he was.
‘But without taking risks, we won’t gain anything.’
Noarizen had already embezzled funds from Astra and experimented on his own son to create these teleportation blessing stones.
He just needed to take one more step…
‘If I succeed, my life will be nothing like when I was groveling to Astra.’
Noarizen’s eyes gleamed.
“Fine. I’ll set the plan in motion and let you know.”
“Knew I could count on you!”
Count Talos burst out in laughter.
