After figuring out that it was the two letters Maria sent to the barracks that were the main reason for the division's preferential treatment, Claude felt rather conflicted. It was yet another favor that would be hard to repay.
Compared to the 300 hectares of forest, ten percent of the company's shares, and taking the initiative to pay off his brother's debts, Claude felt that he had no qualms about accepting them. He didn't think of them as favors at all.
If he wasn't worth investing in, Maria wouldn't have spent so much effort on him.
The 300 hectares of forest and the wooden hut could be seen as repayment for the four forbidden spells Claude gave her. Back then, she didn't have much money to spare and wasn't able to procure the spells Claude needed, so she used the forest and the wooden hut to make up for it.
From that alone, it could be seen that Maria was a person of integrity. She wasn't greedy and kept the four forbidden spells for herself. Instead, she gave them to him.
That was why Claude helped her butler, Ludian, acquire the land in the western slum district and set up a real estate development company to plan and build a community. He made use of the information he had and helped Maria earn an unimaginable amount of wealth.
It was also through that series of business operations that Maria saw Claude's talent in business. That was why she spent so much effort and money to rope him in instead of just maintaining his relationship as a herbalism tutor and student.
What she didn't expect was that Felidos would step in and send a recommendation letter that allowed Claude to receive a conscription order from Bluefeather.
So, even after Claude joined the army, he didn't think of using Maria's name to gain any benefits for himself in the barracks.
Back when he first got to know Maria, apart from his late father's advice to curry favor with her and the fact that she was trusted by Stellin X and had a close relationship with the royal family, Claude didn't have any intention of joining her side.
He respected Maria because of her selflessness and the teachings she had given him in herbalism.
Apart from that, as a transmigrator, Claude had his own pride. He had never thought of becoming a lackey for the rich and powerful. Even when his family fell apart and his father committed suicide, all he wanted to do was seek revenge on his own and not beg for Maria's pity and care.
That was what Maria wrote to him when she discovered his talents in business and decided to ask Stellin X for an exemption from military service.
When Claude received the letter, he felt rather conflicted. Being exempted from military service was a good thing. He didn't have to be cannon fodder on the battlefield.
However, if he accepted this pardon, he would be tied to Lady Maria and become a retainer of the Normanley Family. This was something that he was extremely resistant to …
Fortunately, Felidos' letter of recommendation saved Claude the trouble of choosing between two difficult choices. He left his hometown and came to Bluefeather.
He didn't think that even in the military, he would still be taken care of by Maria. The fact that the higher-ups of the division were biased in his favor for the incident of him getting injured during the training was due to Maria's two letters playing a huge role. It also showed Claude how much power Maria wielded among the upper echelons of the kingdom.
Looks like I'll have to repay her in the future. Claude smiled bitterly. He had thought that he would have to face at least five days of confinement and have to watch out for Fitney's vengeance.
But now, all of that had been swept away. Fitney had been ordered to retire and return home, and he would take over as sergeant major after he recovered from his injuries. He would be in charge of the guards and stretcher teams in the treatment center. It seemed that no one would dare to provoke him in the camp in the future …
Almost everyone who knew him was envious of his luck. Bell said that if he could become a sergeant major, he would rather be beaten up and bedridden for two to three months than to become a sergeant major.
As a bottom-rung soldier, he didn't know the truth of the matter. He only thought that the higher-ups of the division were being fair and just and used the incident to deal with the veterans who were used to bullying the newbies.
Claude was just lucky to be able to make it in time.
Since he was able to sit up on his bed, he asked Medic Bell to go to the receiving area of the battalion headquarters and retrieve all the letters he had received.
He had sent out nine letters and received fourteen. Apart from the two from Maria, his mother and sister wrote him two each. Two of the letters surprised him. One was from Welikro from the royal capital. He didn't know where he got his address from.
The other was from Kefnie's brother-in-law, Gerard of Shark. He didn't know what he would say to him either.
Maria's letter was dated. The first was a reply to Claude's greeting letter after she returned from Normanley Wood in Whitestag.
She told Claude two things in the letter. First, she appointed his mother to take over his position as the foreman of the wood.
Secondly, she discovered Angelina's talent and happily took her in as her disciple. She also mentioned in the letter that Angelina's talent in herbalism was much greater than Claude's, who spent most of his time in the field of herbalism.
What Maria regretted was that she had wanted to bring Angelina back to the royal capital to groom her, but Angelina refused.
Her mother wasn't in good health and her brother was still young, so she had to stay by her side to take care of him.
Fortunately, Angelina was still in her first year of middle school. She was only fifteen and had plenty of time. After much consideration, Maria decided to let Angelina finish her middle school years in Whitestag and build up her herbalism foundation. She would then bring her to the royal capital to teach her after she graduated.
Claude was quite relieved that Angelina was valued by Maria and taken in as her disciple. It meant that he didn't have to worry about her anymore.
No matter what happened to him in the future, if something were to happen to him on the battlefield or if his identity as a magus were to be exposed and he had to wander the world, as long as Angelina and Maria looked after him, nobody would be able to touch his mother and brother.
He opened Maria's second letter. It was about official business. The construction of the community had been completed and handed over to the naval base. The rest of the payment had been paid off.
Maria happily wrote in her letter that the profits this time were about half. After deducting the costs, the remaining profits would be distributed to the shareholders.
As for Claude's share, it had already been given to his mother.
The profits seem a little low, thought Claude with a furrowed brow.
The real estate developers in his previous life all started off with nothing to gain. They got loans from the banks and got ten times the profit.
It wasn't until the country started reorganizing the real estate market and came up with a series of regulations and policies that the real estate market got on the right track. But even then, the developers still got thirty to forty percent of the profits.
There wasn't a precedent of developing a community like the one he had in the slums, so why was the profit only half?
Maria couldn't possibly hide that fact. It was likely that the cost of the construction increased after he left.
The total value of the community was 300,000 crowns and the profit was 280,000 crowns. Claude estimated the profit to be around 160,000 crowns. So, after he received 200,000 crowns in advance from the naval base, he decided to give all the shareholders a dividend of 100,000 crowns to boost their confidence.
Actually, many people were doubtful when they first started. Using Normanley Wood as collateral and the other shareholders to raise 20,000 crowns to buy the properties and land in the slums, then using the purchased properties to get a loan from the bank to continue the purchase.
When the loan from the bank increased to 60,000 crowns, Claude was able to get the properties and land in the slums. By then, the company only had about 10,000 crowns left in its account.
If they didn't develop the entire community and instead sold the entire area to the naval base, the profit would only be double and the company would only be able to make around 40,000 crowns.
The reason why Claude wanted to build the community was to make even more profit.
For the price of 20 to 30 crowns for a single plot of land, three or four plots of land could be used to build a four-storey building with more than ten apartments. Selling each apartment for 40 to 50 crowns would be enough for a family of five to live in. That was a very reasonable price.
But for the company, the profit was almost ten times that.
Of course, the price couldn't be calculated that way. The company couldn't just build the houses and sell them. There had to be public facilities to improve the quality of the community, such as streets, gardens, fountains, lamps, fences, and chairs. That was also why the naval base decided to use the area as a residential area for the families of naval officers.
It was obvious that he had to spend a lot of money to meet the deadline and build the facilities after he left, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 crowns. That was what Claude guessed.
But there was nothing he could do about it. Given Luther's personality, he paid a lot of attention to the facade and believed that it represented the demeanor of a noble.
If he was still supervising the construction in Whitestag, he wouldn't have to spend too much money on the facade, especially since the deal with the naval base was already done.
As expected, Maria mentioned in the letter that she visited the community that was nearing completion when she went to the wood for a vacation. She also made a request to Ludian, hoping that he could decorate the public environment of the community in a more beautiful and stylish manner.
Wenisk, the supervisor of the naval base, said that it would be best to build a small plaza and erect a monument to commemorate Maria's investment in building the community.
Maria happily agreed and asked Ludian to do as he was told.
Poor Maria. She became arrogant the moment she earned some money. Viscount Wenisk made it sound like she didn't have to bear any burden, yet the company had to fork out so much money to do as she was told. She probably didn't know that her happiness had reduced their profits by tens of thousands of crowns.
However, Claude didn't want to be a busybody. He didn't mind earning less and there was no need to fight over such a small profit.
But at the end of her letter, Maria asked if the property prices in Port Neru had been falling recently and if they could buy some like they did in Whitestag.
Maria probably knew that all the letters she sent to the army would be censored, which was why her question was a little vague.
However, he immediately understood what she meant. She was asking him if he could do the same thing in Port Neru as he did in Whitestag.
Coupled with the news of the falling property prices in Port Neru, Claude understood. The kingdom invested in the development of Whitestag to build a naval base and split the Dreadnaught fleet stationed at Port Neru into two, leaving only one fleet to guard the eastern coast of the kingdom. Two-thirds of the fleet was moved to Lake Balinga to form Storm and maintain the safety of the new sea route from Whitestag to Nubissia.
Due to Dreadnaught being split up, many people weren't optimistic about the future of Port Neru. They believed that the center of trade with Nubissia would be moved from Port Neru to Whitestag, so many merchants left Port Neru, causing the property prices to fall.
Maria was in the royal court and naturally knew some insider news. Splitting up Dreadnaught was something they had no choice but to do. The kingdom would soon rebuild Dreadnaught and Port Neru would be bustling once more.
However, Claude wasn't optimistic about the future of Port Neru. Everyone knew that the war between the kingdom and the five anti-Auerian nations was imminent. If the kingdom won, they would definitely be able to occupy a few of the eastern ports.
Even if Dreadnaught were to be rebuilt, they wouldn't be stationed at Port Neru. By then, Port Neru would only become a commercial port and wouldn't be restored to its former glory as the kingdom's only military port.