Survival Strategy for Weak Territories! ~ My Territory Will Be Destroyed No Matter How Many Times It Is Repeated. How Can This Be Saved? ~ - Chapter 17

Fourteenth Run, Groundwork

“Nn? Ahh, I died huh? I don’t know if it was poison or something else but not being able to remember how I died sure is troublesome huh.”

Klein woke up and nodded to himself after confirming that some furniture in his room was absent.

The question here is whether he’s back in April or not but it seems that he’s okay in that department.

“This futon is the one for winter, I wouldn’t use this one with the temperature in August. So I managed to come back huh.”

The nightwear he was wearing was also his winter one. There’s no doubt that he’s now back in April.

However, when Klein realized that he is now able to analyze his situation so calmly, he dejectedly dropped his shoulders.

“……I don’t like the idea of getting used to dying though.”

It was painless for him the last two times but it appears that he has become more and more comfortable with dying.

Even if he manages to overcome the Marquis Laguna threat, the idea that he might become so numb to dying made him tremble.

“Still, I will have to go into that negotiation with resolve for death again huh.”

After he discovers the silver deposit, he will have to report its discovery at the royal palace.

There, he will have to negotiate the alliance with the first prince again.

He needs to go through all that again to develop his territory.

However, there is one problem.

“I have already forgotten the specific details of that meeting. I can’t afford to handle it poorly too. What should I do here?”

Confirming that he can return to April.

Searching for the person who poisoned him.

Because he was busy doing all that, he forgot to prepare himself for this crucial meeting.

Since he repeated it so many times, and it only last a few days, he was able to remember the specific details of the meeting but for his current self, it’s been a few months since he negotiated with the prince.

“I wouldn’t want to repeat that meeting again after all.”

Can he do it the same exact way as last time? The answer would be very difficult.

It’s possible that he might be able to avoid getting assassinated if he can modify the territory development plans that didn’t work well last time.

Because he doesn’t know what will or won’t affect the assassination, he has to make the same mistakes and successes as he did last time.

“Well, I remembered how things went in general so it should be fine……….right.”

Since he has no choice but to start over, there’s no use thinking about it now.

If he does not get assassinated then, of course, that’s a good thing.

However, if nothing happens then he will have to be wary that someone might betray him forever.

“If possible, I want to identify who it was as soon as possible though.”

While thinking so, Klein felt down again as he couldn’t identify the culprit in his last attempt.

“…..I ended up assassinated again after all.”

He excluded the most and the least powerful companies from the meeting and didn’t touch the stomach medicine he received from Trek but he still died.

Although he tried to narrow down the suspects by excluding the most likely ones first, it seems that it was a complete failure.

“But I won’t give up. I will definitely smoke the culprit out!”

First, while his memory is still fresh, he has to write down what he remembers in a note.

Deciding so, Klein opened the curtain and shouted to the morning sun.

“Let’s do this! I will definitely find you!”

“…Umm, Klein-sama? What are you trying to find?”

Then, behind Klein who got too motivated and vainly shouted out loud, a maid entered his room without knocking the door.

“Eh!? Ah, M, Marie…….U, Umm, my dream?”

“….Klein-sama. I will cheer you on.”

After saying that much, she gently closed the door and left.

She looked like she just saw something she shouldn’t. Since she didn’t run away this time, Klein couldn’t chase after her either.

“UOAHH…..What, What’s wrong with chasing a dream…..!”

It appeared that the maid thought that she just witnessed another page of her lord’s embarrassing youth.

Without correcting that misunderstanding, Klein’s dark history has increased by one.

“……..Hey, Brynhildr.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Do you know of a good way to prevent poisoning?”

Using what he remembers, Klein followed the same path as last time and reached the point where Brynhildr joined him as his secretary/aide.

By digging up the memory of his previous lives, he managed to create a similar situation as last time.

Just like before, he tried to call her Lady Sigrun and was advised against it as he shouldn’t address his subordinate so overly politely and now they settled that he should call her by her first name.

Of course, there are some small differences in the content of their conversation but most of it went exactly like before.

For this conversation, Klein tried to come up with a topic but it was a strange one that came out of nowhere when they were processing the documents together.

That’s why Brynhildr raises her head up and asks him why the topic suddenly shifted to assassination.

“Poisoning?”

“Yeah, I didn’t really think about it until now but I think that I should be more careful from now on you see.”

It’s been a month since he started working with her so he’s more or less familiar with her already.

That’s why Klein decided to take the initiative to talk to her about this subject before he gets to the merchant meeting.

Since she was the first prince’s escort, she should be familiar with the matter of assassination.

After pondering to herself for a while Brynhildr came up with a suggestion.

“Well……I believe that most poisons should be detectable using silverware, Your Excellency.”

“I see, silverware huh. I think I’ve heard about this before as well.”

Klein has never been wary of being poisoned before but it’s highly likely that someone will try to poison him.

Fortunately, his territory is now producing silver. Even if he has no silverware in his mansion, he should be able to procure some quite easily.

After all, with the materials plentily abundant, he just needs to find someone to make it.

“That being said, our craftsmen still don’t have the skill to create silver tableware themselves……..should I trouble the Southern Count for this?”

“Because he is a distant relative?”

When Brynhildr asked that while keeping her gaze on him, Klein’s heart was about to jump out from his chest.

Her gaze was by no means a sharp one.

Rather, her eyes seem to be extremely gentle.

However, Klein is quite sensitive toward the nuances behind them.

Behind her gentle gaze, he felt like this secretary is trying to fish something out of him.

“Yeah, I never knew that we have that kind of relationship but it seems that the predecessor of the count was quite fond of the Asgard house you see.”

However, he immediately guessed the reason behind her probing.

When the first prince asked him about his relationship with the big houses, he told him that he did not have any close ties with them. Still, including the field lease agreement, he has a large number of small transactions that directly tie to the improvement of his territory’s economy.

If their relationship develops into one that they are comfortable enough to share the know-how of their craftsmen with his house then Brynhildr might think that he has lied to the prince.

“The other day, I sent the count a letter you see. It seems that he’s liking me better than I expected.”

In his previous life, the relationship between them only amounted to the import of daily necessities to counteract the damage from the cold weather.

That’s why there was no problem.

Still, if he increases the volume of silver being exported to the count then it’s inevitable that she might doubt him.

While thinking that if his answer was received poorly, he might get assassinated tonight, Klein sips on his tea with a smile.

“…….is that the case?”

“Yeah. When His Highness asked me if I have any relationship with the great houses, it made me think that I should start cultivating that kind of relationship you know. It would be better than nothing after all.”

If he earnestly tries to improve the relationship with the Jotunn house, they will surely push the marriage talk with him again.

That’s why after attracting the companies in the capital into his territory, he mainly dealt with the capital alone.

He also tried to extend his reach to the east as well but right now the capital is his main focus.

That being said, he would have a bad reputation if he doesn’t let his relatives share the benefits of his newfound wealth as well.

That’s why it only makes sense to balance things out and improve his business ties with the south.

Or so Klein tried to respond casually.

“Right. Putting the future into consideration, I believe that it is wise to be on friendly terms with other houses.”

“Well, you can’t build that kind of relationship with only one business deal though. Still, there’s no loss in doing it right.”

“Yes, I think that it is a good thing to do.”

‘Please let it go. Please, just let this go’, while praying in his mind, it seems that Klein managed to elude his secretary.

Brynhildr started to concentrate on her work again while Klein began writing his request to the count to dispatch some craftsmen to his territory.

The Jotunn territory’s specialty is their agricultural products but their craftsmen should be skilled as well.

Rather, among the houses that Klein is associated with, the only one who is likely to possess that kind of processing technique is the Southern Count.

Since he can’t afford to be more indebted to the first prince who he can not fathom what he’s thinking, Klein thinks that it is the correct choice.

He might be overly cautious here but this is necessary to avoid being poisoned again.

Klein convinced himself.

For the time being, he managed to get his secretary to drop the topic but Klein’s stomach is still damaged by the mysterious pressure she emitted.

While reaching for the stomach medicine which has already become his good friend, he started preparing for the meeting.

TLN: So he managed to change his respawn time huh……

Also, the chapter just get longer and longer doesn’t it.