Chương 86: Book 2 Chapter 38 - Just A Hunch

A few days later, Kiara met with Dustin to see how House Yountal was doing financially. Her soul storage was still about as full of coins as it always had been, she had only given Dustin a very miniscule portion of her total wealth. Even so, what she had given him was a substantial amount of money, and Dustin insisted on meeting at least monthly to report back and fill her in on how things were progressing. He started off with the latest general news from Easton.

"Well, it appears that House Norse, House Heniton, and House Gorand have begun a three-way feud of sorts." Kiara's eyebrows rose in surprise. She didn't know any of those three houses all that well, but they were all influential houses, and this was the first time Dustin had mentioned something of this sort. Dustin continued, "Apparently the fire at the Norse warehouse may have been started by House Heniton, or so Lord Norse claims.

Of course, Lady Heniton vehemently denies any involvement, claiming that Lord Gorand is responsible and is setting her up to take the fall. House Heniton and House Gorand have had bad blood for some time now, though, so that sort of accusation doesn't come as too much of a surprise.

"Lady Heniton claims that Lord Gorand sent her a letter wherein he proudly announced responsibility for the Norse warehouse fire, and his intentions to frame the Heniton House. Lord Gorand challenged her to produce the letter, but she was unable to, apparently the letter has gone missing." Kiara listened intently. Something about the situation felt off.

She remembered back at the party, when Kane and Baron Norshod had both seemed less surprised than everyone else at the disruption, along with Baron Norshod's smirk of satisfaction.

"Would Baron Norshod have any reason to wish House Norse harm?" she asked after a moment of thought. Dustin furrowed his eyebrows.

"Not that I'm aware of, at least not directly. Why do you ask?" Kiara hesitated before answering.

"I'm not sure. Just a hunch, I guess." Duystin raised an eyebrow.

"You think the baron may have been involved in some way?" Kiara shrugged.

"Like I said, it's just a hunch. At the party, when news of the warehouse fire was delivered, he seemed smug about it. Then again, maybe I'm leaning into my own bias, I don't know. If it really was House Heniton, why would they attack House Norse like that?" It was Dustin's turn to shrug.

"Nothing is certain, but their business relationship has been tenuous for years. House Norse offers long-term storage for quite a few of House Heniton's trade goods, and they've had disagreement about the rates they're charging. Most recently, House Heniton didn't initially receive an invitation to the Norse party, although House Norse claims they sent one out… but maybe that was the final straw?

"Notably, the warehouse that burned was one of the few that didn't hold any of the Heniton House trade goods. I'm not sure that Baron Norshod has the… mental acuity to plan something so thoroughly. Combined with the fact that he was at the Norse party that night, it seems unlikely that it was him. Perhaps he was simply pleased by the news, rather than responsible for it?" Kiara pursed her lips in thought, rubbing her chin with her thumb.

"Hmm. Baron Norshod may not be able to line everything up that nicely, but what about Kane Vondeer?" Dustin considered it for a bit.

"If it was indeed a setup, it is a level far above anything I've seen in Easton so far. To be fair, I can't claim to have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of Kane's mind, but I haven't seen anything yet from the man to indicate that he's not capable of something like this. He acts like a brute sometimes, but he showed a different side of himself at the Norse party the other night." He thought for a moment.

"I'll keep an eye on things in the coming weeks and months to see what else I can learn." Kiara nodded thoughtfully. They simply didn't have enough information to make any real accusations, and Dustin made some good points. Both Kane and the baron had been at the party well in advance of when that fire could have started. Their reactions had given birth to a suspicion that was likely false. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Oh well, no matter.

Nobles would be nobles, there was nothing Kiara could do about it. If they wanted to fight and burn each others' stuff, that was their business. As long as they didn't injure or threaten any of her own people, it probably wasn't her concern. Or since she lived here, maybe it was her concern? She really didn't know.

"As for our own business ventures," Dustin said, changing the subject, "I am happy to report that things are going well. Our businesses here in Easton are all profitable, and improving by the month. With the increased protection from our new house retainers, we're ready to expand more aggressively in other cities. The travelling merchants tell me that our house logo is already starting to be recognized in cities as far away as Brighton, due to the quality of our products."

Brighton was a large city, the county seat of the county south of their own. Kiara recognized the name as one of the cities they had passed through on their trip from Horange to Portish months ago. Kiara had been thinking about starting some businesses of her own, but she just didn't have the gumption or drive necessary to make it happen. Instead, she decided to share her ideas with Dustin to see if he thought they were viable.

"Do we have any manufacturing businesses?" Dustin shook his head.

"My specialty has always been in merchandising. I know how to find quality products, and get them in front of the right audience for a healthy profit, but I've never forayed into the world of making things."

"Would you be open to starting up some businesses in that world?" Kiara asked.

"Wouldn't it make sense to make the products ourselves?" Dustin pondered on the benefits.

"Rather than our logo only being on the packaging, we could have it built into the product itself, which is a bonus. If the tradesman that makes a quality product suddenly dies or gets ill, our current business model forces us to look for new suppliers. If we were the ones making the weapons though, then we could have multiple sources all making the same products. That redundancy would be nice." Kiara smiled to herself.

She had got the ball rolling, and now Dustin would see it to its natural end, whatever that might be. She added, "We could have blacksmithing, alchemy, maybe even artificer shops all working under the House Yountal name," she added.

"Speaking of which, that sword that Victor gifted me is incredible. Did you know that it can cut through steel chains?" Dustin raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Oh? Fascinating." Kiara nodded.

"It's not the same as the other enchanted sword I purchased. The next time I'm in Portish, I want to ask him about it. It's even able to cut through mana shields." Dustin gave her a smirk.

"Should I even ask how you found that out?" Kiara smiled innocently.

"Probably not."

"Well," Dustin said, "speaking of Portish, if we're going to set up manufacturing, we should probably do that in Portish. It's centralized, and has the workforce and availability of goods to support an undertaking of that size. I was already planning to take another trip that way, I suppose I should do it soon. I can look into these new ideas while I am there." Kiara's eyes brightened at the news.

"While you're there, can you also look into what it would take to hire private magic tutors? I want to start training all of our staff in magic." Dustin froze.

"That is… unconventional, to say the least. Private magic tutors are very expensive, usually only hired by wealthy noble houses, and even then only for their direct children. It's an order of magnitude more expensive than sending someone to a magical academy." Kiara shrugged.

"I don't mind paying for it myself, you don't have to worry about the cost coming from the house's finances."

"Even then," Dustin replied, "I'm not sure what the logistics would even be of teaching magic to so many people. I'm sure it won't be as easy as you're hoping. Also, many people simply don't have the innate talent needed to actually become a mage. Even the children of powerful mages oftentimes never make it past tier 1 or tier 2." Kiara shrugged.

"Zoey's parents aren't mages, and she's doing quite well. I'm not sure how hereditary something like that is." Dustin stroked his chin as he thought about it.

"You may be right." Kiara continued, "Besides, even if they only reach tier 1, or never even make it to tier 1, just the fact of having magic flow through their body will be beneficial for them. Their strength and endurance will improve, making them better workers and improving their quality of life." Dustin ruminated on the subject.

"The high cost of paying for a magic tutor is normally very prohibitive. If you train up a servant, and they never develop any magical talent, most houses would see that as a monumental waste of money. If they do develop magical talent, then you'd have to worry about them leaving to go work for another house, in which case you've again wasted a considerable sum of money. You don't seem too concerned about either of those things though, it would seem?" Kiara shook her head.

"It's fine. Just promise me you'll look into it while you're in Portish." Dustin nodded.

"Sure thing."