My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields - Chapter 40: Journey to the Capital (4)

PR: Cursed

The knowledge of who Edward White was, and what he was like, was so widespread that even country bumpkins knew about him.

His story was a legendary one after all.

“An eccentric genius.”

These were the words that followed Edward White around like a tag to describe him, and indeed, they were the best words to describe this man.

After all, it was enough to say that he had become one of the Seven Greatest with less than a knight’s strength.

Rebecca White, who had developed the Western Armin Circular Railroad, was his mother.

Edward White had an extraordinary woman who had changed the era as his mother, and he himself was a man born with an indescribable blessing of intelligence.

By the age of 10, Edward White had mastered all advanced engineering courses in existence.

At age 11, he became interested in the construction of flintlock muskets, and thus modified them to dramatically reduce the reload time that had previously taken minutes to load.

At the age of 13, the concept he had introduced successfully demonstrated its terrifying power with the outbreak of the Western War, making him a shit-ton of money.

At the age of 14, Edward White continued his efforts without stopping and embarked on the development of new weapons.

However, it was a capital-intensive endeavor, far beyond the scope of the money he had saved by selling modified flintlocks.

And that was when his intellect once again shone through.

[I will build a transcontinental railroad, with the help of all of you.]

It was an advertisement that spread beyond the West and made its way across the entire continent.

It was absurd.

No one could imagine how much money it would take or how long it would take to build a railroad across this great continent.

Most people snorted, but a few sharp-eyed individuals focused on the latter part of the statement, the “with the help of all of you” part.

That’s right.

Edward had successfully created the concept of a “public company”. [1]

The idea of investing capital in an individual whilst giving the investor a share of the business was a shocking method of corporation that was unprecedented across the continent.

He was the first man to give legal notarization to the concept of investment, which until then, had been part of transactions that had been a fistful of dollars at most.

This created a threat towards the feudalistic society of most states.

After all, he had created a perverse structure that allowed anyone with money to wield power, regardless of their status.

But no one could stop him.

It just so happened that one of the biggest investors in EW was Demon King Zerdia.

-“Hmm… seems interesting. Let me give it a try.”

The King of Nazak, a Continental Powerhouse, had endorsed Edward White.

Thus, there were several implications.

First and foremost, it gave Edward White’s idea a sense of reality.

A Continental Powerhouse, now a group called the Seven Greatest, was a name that lent a great deal of credibility.

-“There’s no time like the present to buy shares in a company at such a bargain price, so go ahead and invest!”

Under his shadow, Edward Wight began to raise money at an explosive rate.

And it became a success.

The railroad company “EW” raised five times the amount of money he had originally sought and successfully went public, spreading its railroads across the West.

This only took two years.

He had successfully bought time with money.

And Edward White was only 16 years old at the time.

It was also during that time that the name of 10-year-old Ygret was engraved on the iron fortress called EW.

-“Now, I will spread railroads over the continent, and I will devise new means of power to put an end to the war.”

Barely a year after making that declaration, 18-year-old Edward White succeeded in introducing a new concept in weaponry.

Bolt action. [2]

Instead of having to push gunpowder into the barrel of a gun, he had developed a firearm in which the gunpowder was embedded in the bullet.

Of course, it was an impossible technology to commercialize.

Not only because of its power, but also because it took an astronomical amount of skill and capital to create a single bullet.

Hiring a skilled bullet manufacturer, training them, and then getting them into service was a huge resource drain.

Thus, Edward White eventually gave up on commercializing the item.

However, he did succeed in getting it into the hands of Armin’s elite soldiers.

It was a pivotal event in the rise of the Arminian army, as they transitioned from being the weakest on the battlefield into a major power.

Edward Wight was crowned a duke on that day.

He became known as the Duke of Gold, even with his inability to handle even a handful of mana, also becoming known as Edward the Goldsmith, one of the Seven Continental Powerhouses.

Andn it was money that had bought him power.

This had occurred when he was at the age of 22.

By the age of 25, he had completed the Transcontinental Railroad, spreading his legendary story throughout the world.

Back to the present:

“I feel uneasy. Very much so.”

Elric couldn’t relax.

“Let’s make this quick then. First, I must ask how you found me.”

Elric’s eyes gleamed blood red.

Edward shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to ease the mood.

“In case you’ve forgotten, this entire railroad belongs to me, and so it’s easy enough for me to know whose gotton on and off, when and where. Thus, whenever there’s an important passenger, I’ll have a full report told directly to my ear.”

Elric frowned.

‘He seems to have known about my whereabouts since the moment I left the west.’

He had been short-sighted.

He should have kept his identity hidden from the start.

“Well, I’m still surprised actually. I never would have dreamed that the Sword Demon was a married man. And your wife, acting as if she would die today… Haha! Don’t look at me like that.”

The moment he spread his killing intent, Edward gasped and hunched his body over.

“We’re not on bad terms after all? Right? We got along great on the battlefield…”

“Think of this… perhaps this is a token of gratitude from my knee.”

“Eh, ah… What a bitter thing to say.”

Edward laughed raggedly.

“That’s not something I did, it’s something my army did.”

“It was you who made their weapons, and you who bragged about it. And I also seem to recall that you were the one who commanded the battlefield that day.”

“I’d prefer you think of it as purely a matter of business…”

Elric really didn’t like the way he tried to smirk his way out of it.

Elric tapped his cane with his index finger.

“Why don’t you tell me why you’re here then, I have company to attend to.”

“Oh, I see. About that lovely lady…”

“I’d prefer you not to mention her anymore. It makes me angry. No, I’m already angry.”

Edward’s discovery of Tyria’s existence was too much for Elric.

If he were to pull a fast one on him, there wasn’t much Elric could do to stop him.

So, he would have to threaten him.

“If you decide to play tricks on my wife, I can’t stop you. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t take any action afterward.”

“Uh, I see…”

“I’ll force you into being the first to be employed in the war as a part of Armin’s enemies without pay. You’ll stand at the forefront of all battlefields, helping in the destruction of your own country. Of course, you won’t be harmed that much though. EW is your cradle, so to speak.”

Edward swallowed hard.

Elric’s voice continued gravely.

“I’ll then destroy the railway after making you bring your own country onto its knees. I’ll kill your major shareholders one by one. That way, there’ll be less friendly stakes, and most will try to get rid of their stocks immediately.

“…”

“And then, just before EW collapses, I’ll come for you. I’ll stalk and then choke you until you’re as miserable as humanly possible.”

“Fnally, after all that, only then will I rip your throat out.”

It wasn’t just an empty threat.

If he actually did harm Tyria, Elric would certainly do all that he had said above.

“Do you think I can’t do it?”

Edward didn’t doubt it. His rigid expression spoke for itself.

And it was a ridiculous thing to try and discuss the possibility of Elric’s success.

This had all been on the name of Kasha the Sword Demon after all.

“Now, do you still want to talk about my wife?”

When questioned this, Edward straightened up with a slightly more serious expression on his face.

“…Well, that wasn’t my intention anyways.”

He scratched his head.

‘Ah, I’m going to be sick.’

Edward felt like his breath was being cut off as he looked into Elric… no, Kasha’s eyes.

He had thought the man might have become a bit more genial while recuperating in the countryside.

Yet, when he spoke about his wife, he had the air of a ubiquitous young man around him.

‘So, he was wearing a mask.’

He wonder if his wife knew.

That the man who was her husband was a merciless killer who would go to the ends of hell to find and tear apart any person who harmed her.

Edward let out a long sigh.

“As you can see, I didn’t come here to fight. You surely would know that if I had any intention of fighting, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place.”

Among the Seven Greatest, Kasha the Sword Demon was a man who truly lived up to his name as the “Strongest.”

Aside from the current state of the Empire in which they had been retreating, there wasn’t a single person who could defeat him in one-on-one combat.

Of course, battles on the battlefield didn’t always occur as one-on-one fights.

That was how the Seven Powerhouses maintained balance, and was also the reason why Edward’s neck was still attached today.

And Edward was not unaware of that fact.

He was the clearly the weaker man in this situation.

“So, if you didn’t come here to fight…?”

“I came here to negotiate.”

Edward leaned his head forward and spoke.

“We both know that the Sword Demon dislikes beating around the bush, and I’m not fond of pretense either, so I’ll be straightforward.”

Edward swallowed hard before cutting to the chase.

“Please retire. I don’t want you ever setting your eyes on the western battlefields again.”

A chill ran down his spine, but he continued.

“I wish for the war to run on for longer.”

Kasha’s gaze hardened.

[1. A public company is a company in which one can trade stocks in.]

[2. I know that this definitely doesn’t mean a firearm that uses modern type bullets, but I had no idea of what to call it, so I just stuck with the MTL.]