“You are…” Matthias gulped. “…You are from Nyohhira.”
“Correct. I run a bathhouse in a hot spring village. That is because I struck upon a spring.”
Still bewildered, Matthias furrowed his brow and pursed his lips.
“Plus old maps,” Lawrence said, gesturing to the expanse of the pond beside them. “What did this pond used to connect to? And what about now? In another life, the answer to those questions would’ve granted me the right to walk shoulder to shoulder with you, my lord.”
There was the legend of the great serpent, which was said to have laid across the Salonia plains.
When Holo had gazed upon the wheat fields from atop the tower, she had been genuinely shocked to see the remains of the serpent. The way Matthias looked now was a lot like her in that moment.
“Subterranean…water?” Matthias murmured and brought a hand to his mouth. “No. We do not struggle with water here—well, in some ways, we do. Digging up water would not…”
“Water alone? Perhaps not.”
Because this water was different from hot springs. The great serpent, chased underground by the hero, had left behind traces of its existence by way of groundwater, which seeped up here and there. Simply digging up those traces would not immediately gain one gold, no, but all Lawrence had to do was think one step further and consider what Kieman said.
The flow of water was just as valuable.
“Collect the remnants of springwater that bubble through the earth from the remains of the river that once flowed through here. Create a waterway, and make a waterwheel from Tonneburg lumber. And luckily, this land is hillier than the rest of the land around it, which makes it ideal for a waterwheel.”
The wrinkles in Matthias’s frown grew deeper—he was slowly beginning to see the reality of the problem.
“A waterwheel? You want us to levy taxes on grain milling? No—” Matthias shook his head and turned his attention toward the trees. “—for ironmaking? Are you asking us to expand on the smithy to the point we need a waterwheel, then? No, you’re not. You are…for some reason, siding with the trees.”
Kieman likely believed Lawrence’s excuse that he wanted to protect the forest so that he might preserve the right he had to wheat, something he obtained in Salonia.
But Matthias was no merchant. His roots were in the forest.
He understood that Lawrence and Holo held deep sympathy for the woods that was not connected to pure profit.
“Yes, we are. And that is why it would not be for milling, much less the expansion of your smithies. There are ways to use waterwheels that more closely suit the forest.” Lawrence grasped at his own clothes. “Fulling wool. You could make fabric here and sell it. You have a master smith here, which means it will be easy to get the needed ash. You should be able to undertake the entirety of the process right here, from raw wool to the finished product.”
Matthias stared blankly in shock at him.
“There is no need to rush and cut down all of your precious trees, or waste your time building a road among them. Spinning wool into thread, turning it into fabric, and making it into clothes is a special privilege only lands with bountiful water have. And the best part…” Lawrence paused. “…you would be working alongside your old enemies in Kerube.”
Matthias bristled at mention of Kerube. He could not help but be subservient when it came to his debt, but his sensibilities as lord would not let him do so, so he grew stubborn.
“Kerube? But they—”
“Yes. They are arrogant not because they are evil, but because their city is massive. And since prodigious quantity is necessary to be profitable in any trade, they would be a strong ally.”
Eve had done well in pitting Karlan and Kerube against each other. While the similarities in their economic structure meant it was easy to do so, that also meant it was easy for them to allow their interests to align.
She likely thought that, in order to get her lumber, she needed to avoid conflict with the two cities at once. It was from there she started to piece her plan together and eventually arrived at her current design.
“My plan should be able to bring Karlan and Kerube together with one trade. And this forest is necessary to bring them together, so they would be more than happy to kneel to the lord who owns it in order to secure his cooperation.”
Lawrence, who had been playing the part of humble merchant until that moment, took two steps forward.
With surprising vigor he closed the gap between himself and Matthias, and he looked up at him like a businessman with too much political power proposing a nefarious plot.
“I would like you to take the initiative on this project, my lord.”
Overwhelmed, Matthias stared down at Lawrence, but he was, at the end of the day, a ruling lord.
Strength returned to his eyes, and he squeezed his voice out from between clenched teeth. “What do you want in return?”
No merchant would propose such a plan without asking for something in return.
This was his second time asking that question. The first time, Lawrence answered for others’ sake. But this time, he decided it would be all right to answer for his own personal desires.
“I have two requests.”
Matthias seemed surprised he did not immediately name his price in gold pieces, yet he jerked his chin, urging Lawrence to continue.
“First, a set of clothes.”
“Clothes?”
“Karlan seems to be planning on attracting merchants from the south to its harbor. So I want you to use their connections and the fabric you make here in the forest to make one set of women’s clothing in line with what’s fashionable in the south.”
Matthias looked at Lawrence dubiously, but then recalled who his traveling companion was. Still, he managed a slow nod, despite his lingering doubt, and said, “And your second?”
“My second is that you say this plan was yours, my lord.”
“…?”
Matthias seemed like he had misheard Lawrence, and so Lawrence repeated himself.
“I want you to claim this plan of which I speak as your own. That would mean all the profits—everything—will go straight to you, and you will be in control over the entire operation.”
“I—I…”
Matthias looked at Lawrence as though he had said, I will give you money if you purchase this product.
“Do you think it strange? Remember, my lord, you are a man who rules over Tonneburg, while I am but a humble bathhouse owner. It is a small price to pay in avoiding Eve’s displeasure.”
Matthias’s mouth opened, then closed again.
“The price of being your scapegoat, I see.”
A proud lord would have taken blade in hand and reprimanded Lawrence for being disrespectful.
But Matthias took the friendly explanation well.
“…Do you mean to say you do not have the status to execute this plan, even though you are the one that thought of it?”
“I can’t eat a picture of bread, after all.”
Matthias still seemed to think it unfair, and the frown remained on his face.
Nobility valued face—he could not stomach accepting charity from a commoner.
“But I do have one last request, if you’ll humor me,” Lawrence said.
Matthias looked up at him.
“If my idea saves the forest, then will you promise me you will protect one sapling and ensure its growth, no matter what happens?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Allow it to grow through my children’s era, my children’s children’s era, and onward. Something that will fill them with pride knowing I helped protect this forest.”
Not gold, but honor.
That struck an easy chord with Matthias.
It was normal for merchants tired of pursuing gold to look for honor.
“And you are satisfied with this?”
The disrespectful traveler shrugged, and smiled.
The lord of the forest closed his eyes and ran a hand over his beard. Perhaps in his mind’s eye, he was picturing Eve, the one who pushed for the project to cut down his forest, clad in her ostentatious clothing.
She had been so imposing to the point that Matthias rushed home to the trees in fear.
But though he might not know much about money, honor was home for him.
He straightened himself, as though declaring as much, and looked at Lawrence like a well-trained hunting dog.
“How could those who tremble at the thought of wolves live in the forest?” he said.
If Lawrence were the sort to get easily carried away, he would have spoken up in the brief pause.
“Now then, what sort of preparations do we need to do? Do we need Meyer?”
He now had a treasure hunting ally.
And so, Lawrence told Matthias how they were going to topple Eve’s grand temple.