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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobto
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The free city of Hamburg.
This city was located at the center of roads connecting various countries such as the duchy of Nantes, the Republic of Frantz, the Romanian Empire, Italica, and the Republic of Genovia.
Also, nearby was a vast plain where the Main River flowed, producing enough food for the citizens of the city to eat and have leftovers.
Diligent citizens, outstanding scholars, and many merchants seeking wealth carried out their respective roles to the fullest extent and developed the city.
Therefore, even without belonging to any country and despite having no lord, this city had the power to protect itself.
Thus, all the citizens living in this city enjoyed the independent economic sphere, military power, and freedom possessed by the city.
Moreover, like me, people who brought opportunities to make money or goods constantly flowed in, showing an ever-changing appearance.
“Look, young master.
This is the free city of Hamburg. Look at those city walls.”
It was truly tremendous.
Because city walls at least 8 meters high surrounded an area of about 2-3 kilometers in width and length.
“… It’s amazing.”
Ella, who was next to me, also agreed.
“Yes, Master…”
Varso looked at me and Ella as if looking at country bumpkins and said,
“Haha, how can you be so intimidated?
If you go inside the city, there are streets and houses lined up, all built with bricks.
Rich merchants even build their mansions with marble.
You shouldn’t be surprised by this much.”
“Is that so, Helmut?”
“Yes, young master.
But the marble mansions Varso is talking about are really rare even here.
There won’t be more than 4-5 in the entire city.”
For a moment, I tried to imagine a mansion with marble-plastered walls, but I couldn’t quite picture it.
Because the scale was too large.
“I see.”
“Those who own such mansions are the heads of the 5 families that move this city.
It will take an hour to get there, shall I tell you about them?”
“Please do, Helmut.”
Like that, Helmut told me about the political system of this city over the course of an hour.
According to what he said, what led this free city was the “City Council,” and the chairman of this City Council essentially became the ruler.
The chairman of the City Council was called the “Doge,” and under the Doge, there were 10 senators of the City Council and 30 other councilors.
Almost all of the councilors passed on their positions to someone from their own family, but befitting the name “free city,” they held elections by selecting candidates from their respective constituencies once every 4 years.
Helmut laughed at this system, saying it was stupid, but the citizens of this city with wealth would have the dream of participating in politics and rising in status, so it wouldn’t be bad.
And incompetent councilors would usually fail to be “re-elected” unless it’s unavoidable, so they would be weeded out and self-purified.
Under that City Council, organizations such as the security force and city military responsible for the city’s security and defense against military aggression, and the administrative bureau to which administrative officials belonged, were organized.
The most important thing was that in this city, almost everyone except “prostitutes, low-class workers, the poor, and beggars” owned “civil rights” as citizens.
Because they had freedom, even the Doge with strong authority like a lord could not treat them recklessly….
Seeing these things, it somehow reminded me of Korea or other democratic countries.
**
When we reached the city gate, two soldiers wearing armor and holding spears blocked our carriage and said,
“Halt, halt! For what purpose have you come?!
To enter this city, pay the passage tax!!”
Upon hearing those words, Varso got out of the carriage and shouted,
“The person here is Sir Ciel von Kreutel, the successor of His excellency Marquis Kreutel!
No matter how much of a free city this is, how dare you try to collect passage tax from a noble?”
The guards spoke in a shrunken voice.
“How are we supposed to know that?
And it’s a carriage without even a coat of arms engraved, isn’t it?”
Hearing those words, Varso himself seemed to think that it was a bit inappropriate to say that they shouldn’t collect passage tax from a noble carriage that came without even engraving a coat of arms, so he scratched his head and said,
“I’m sorry about that.
Then can we go now?”
“Go ahead.”
The guards moved to lift the gate bar to open the gate.
I stopped them and said,
“Wait a moment, guards. There are a total of 4 carriages behind me, how much is the passage tax?”
The guards looked at me with a puzzled expression and said,
“No, aren’t you a noble?
You can just go.
It’s an unspoken rule.”
“No. As far as I know, in this city, both nobles and peasants must abide by the same laws.
Then I should pay the passage tax accordingly.”
Then the guards looked at each other for a moment and replied,
“It’s one silver coin per carriage and 2 copper coins per person.
But if you pay this, you can receive at least minimal protection under city law.”
“Good, take it here.”
After paying the money, my party and I got on the carriage and entered the city again.
Then, Varso looked at me with eyes as if looking at a strange person and asked,
“young master.
Why did you deliberately pay the money?
Even if this is a free city, they don’t impose passage tax on nobles from other countries, let alone customs duties…”
I smiled and replied,
“Varso, I have come to trade with the merchants of this city.
And according to Helmut, the merchants of this city are also the ‘rulers of the city.’ Then, even though I am a noble, it would be better to show them that I am willing to follow their rules.”
**
On the day we entered the city, we rested and took an inn, giving Helmut and Varso a lot of money to gather information.
Even if they say they’re gathering information, in this era, it’s almost entirely just going to a tavern, drinking, and eavesdropping.
I was so tired from riding the carriage for nearly 10 days, so I decided to rest at a nobles-only inn in this city.
But when I asked for a room for myself to rest comfortably, Ella stubbornly opposed, saying, “Serving Master is Ella’s important job,” so in the end, we used a room with two beds.
Ella used the small bed, and I used the large bed.
Like that, for about 2-3 days, I ate three meals a day inside the hotel, occasionally watched performances held inside the city, and rested well.
And finally, Helmut and Varso, who had finished gathering information to some extent, returned and reported.
The content was a bit complicated, but to summarize, it was like this.
The current Doge of this city was Rael Schmitz, and this person had originally been making a huge profit from the sugar trade with Spenia.
However, because a civil war broke out inside Spenia, the supply of sugar was gradually decreasing and the price was rising, so this person was on the verge of going bankrupt.
In this situation, if I say that I will sell without limit at the same price Spenia used to sell, it would be a big help.
Nobles have to serve dishes using “sugar” to maintain their prestige when holding banquets anyway, so they will buy it almost unconditionally without negotiating the price.
Even that bastard Duke Nantes spent a lot on sugar for holding banquets, let’s not even talk about it.
Then, since good things should be done as quickly as possible, I should prepare to go right away.
“Varso, Helmut. Good work so far.
Go to the Doge’s mansion and inform them that Ciel von Kreutel has brought sugar.
And tell them that I will sell as much as they want and at the price Spenia used to sell to them.”
Now that I’ve put out the bait, I hope that person will take it…
**
Before long, no, after only 2 days, the steward of the Doge’s family came to see me.
“I am Helios Filer, the steward serving the Doge.
I heard that Sir Kreutel brought sugar, so the Doge wishes to see it directly.”
Upon hearing these words, I was convinced that I had grasped the beginning of success.
For a moment, I wanted to do a somersault out of joy, but I deliberately pretended to be nonchalant and said,
“Can I go now?
I brought 2 tons of sugar to sell to the Doge.
It’s not much yet, but…”
The steward’s eyes widened upon hearing those words.
I moved to the office of the mansion where the Doge lived.
**
The Doge’s office was unexpectedly modest, no, to be precise, it only looked modest.
The sofa the Doge used looked like it was made of black cloth at a glance, but upon closer look, it was silk with a slight sheen, and the desk and bookshelves were made of black ebony wood.
The curtains were also white, but considering that lace that required tremendous effort from top to bottom was attached, the price must be enormous.
While I was spacing out for a moment, thinking about the tremendous amount of money put into the office, the door opened and the Doge entered.
Wearing a passionate red outer garment and clothes embroidered with gold thread, the Doge walked in vigorously, not looking like someone in his 60s at all, and sat on the sofa across from me.
After sitting down, he smiled while looking into my eyes, but I couldn’t read any intention in that smile.
I first bowed my head deeply towards the Doge and then spoke.
“It is an honor to meet you, Doge.
I am Ciel von Kreutel, the successor of Marquis Kreutel, a retainer of the Nantes Duke family.”
The Doge looked at me and said with a smile,
“Yes, I am the Doge of this city.
Even if you say you brought sugar, I wouldn’t have met you unless it was unavoidable.
But according to the report of the guards, I wanted to see what kind of young man paid the passage tax that he didn’t even need to pay just to respect ‘our law’ as much as possible.”
“Is that so?”
“Much wiser than I thought, it’s like looking at myself when I was young.
You pass.”
As I thought, it seems that paying the passage tax to show the guards that I “respect the law” even though it was unnecessary was the right answer.
And the Doge now looked at me with a meaningful smile and terrifyingly cold eyes and said,
“So, that sugar.
How much are you selling and for how much? Don’t even think about cheating in front of me.
If you do, I will take revenge not only on your father but also on your liege lord’s family.”
When a person who could actually erase me and my family threatened me, fear suddenly swept over my body.
But I tried to compose myself and prepared to answer.
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