The Immortal Genius Spear Knight (8)
The ground was stained with blood.
On the battlefield, filled with the scent of blood, the surviving soldiers and the wounded were sitting down, unable to hide their exhaustion.
Among them was Damian’s unit, which seemed completely drained after a particularly fierce battle.
“…Captain, it looks like relief supplies are coming.”
“Ugh… someone get me some water. I’m dying of thirst.”
At his subordinates’ words, Damian turned his head.
There he saw the emblem.
The emblem, depicting the wings of an angel intertwined in blue and red, belonged to the continent’s top trading company, the Yurk Trading Company.
One of Damian’s subordinates commented on this sight.
“Wow… Yurk Trading Company. Aren’t they the richest trading company on the continent right now?”
“Damn, I’m jealous. While some of us are out here rolling in the mud on the battlefield… others are making a fortune selling wheat and swords.”
At the words of someone clearly discontented, Damian turned his gaze and spoke.
“You do realize that without that wheat and those swords, we’d be dead, right?”
“Of course, it’s just envy talking.”
Damian chuckled at this.
He fully understood their tired and weary hearts after the battle.
It was natural for them to feel a bit resentful towards those who approached with such cheerful expressions.
“Still, it can’t be easy to run a charity like that.”
The staff of the Yurk Trading Company handed out water and bread to the soldiers, offering words of encouragement.
It surely wasn’t easy to come out to a battlefield and do such things.
Damian silently watched them. But then, it happened.
“Captain! Over there, it’s the head of the Yurk Trading Company!”
“…The head?”
Damian’s gaze followed his subordinate’s direction.
Even for a charity, it wasn’t common for the head to personally come to a battlefield.
Even for a charity, it was rare for the head to visit the battlefield personally.
“Wow… I’d heard he participated in charity work personally, but I never thought it was true.”
All the subordinates turned their eyes towards the person identified as the head of the Yurk Trading Company.
Damian was no exception.
‘So that man is the head of the Yurk Trading Company, Yurk.’
For the head of the largest trading company on the continent, he had a surprisingly slender build.
His white robe seemed out of place on a battlefield.
Under it, his wavy blond hair was impressive. But even more striking was…
“But he looks… so annoyingly pretty.”
“Indeed. Why does a man look so pretty? It’s irritating.”
“Shit, this superficial obsession with appearances. Isn’t it because of guys like him that we’re all doomed?”
At these words, another subordinate snickered.
“Well, that might be true, but you’d look like you were about to die even without that guy.”
“What the heck!”
“Hahahahaha!”
As the area quickly filled with laughter, Damian also smiled and spoke,
“Those who are in good shape, go and help those people. It would be good for us to assist in their good deeds.”
“Yes, yes, understood.”
Suddenly, old memories came rushing back.
…Why did the face of the head of the Yurk Trading Company he saw back then overlap with this person now?
He had only seen them once, but the memory was vivid. With that, Damian looked at the woman who had entered the trading company.
“Huh?”
Surprised by Damian’s gaze, the woman who had entered the trading company spoke.
“We have a guest, my apologies.”
She politely bowed to Damian.
Damian quickly waved his hand.
“Oh, no, it’s fine.”
“This is my daughter, Diel. Greet him, Diel. This is Damian, who came to invest in our charity work.”
“Ah, hello. You came to invest in our charity work?”
They addressed Damian with bright expressions, seemingly unconcerned about his age.
Though the reaction was a bit surprising…
“Yes, that’s right.”
Damian nodded.
His mind was quite confused, but he thought it was best to continue the conversation for now.
‘The head’s name is Yurk… and they have a daughter…?’
But she looked so much like the Yurk he had seen back then.
Damian’s eyes wavered for a moment.
…If she’s not a man but a woman?’
It was as if something shattered in his mind.
The ages seemed to match.
Diel, in front of him, looked no older than twenty at most.
And if she was this enthusiastic about charity work…
‘There’s a high possibility that she will continue the charity work even after inheriting the trading company.’
Compared to the other trading companies he had seen so far, this one had the highest potential.
Damian looked at Diel, who was sitting across from him.
‘The resemblance is uncanny.’
His impression of the person was so strong that he remembered it clearly.
If this was their younger self, it seemed to fit.
‘But why…’
Glancing,
Damian looked at Yurk sitting beside him.
Will this woman inherit the trading company under the name Yurk instead of this man?
Why did the company’s name change from Hamel to Yurk?
Damian didn’t know the reason.
He simply looked at the charity pamphlet Diel handed him.
Without any unnecessary content, it briefly stated the purpose, ongoing projects, and future plans.
“So, how much are you planning to invest? Oh, the reason I’m asking is not to request a lot but because what we use it for depends on the amount.”
In a Polite Tone.
While not offending the other party, clearly stating one’s purpose.
Damian pondered briefly at Diel’s question.
‘For now…’
While he had some evidence, he couldn’t say it was 100% confirmed yet. Even if this was indeed the Yurk Trading Company, they might take a different path…
“For now, I’d like to start with 300 gold.”
“Th-three hundred gold?!”
Diel’s eyes widened.
When the young boy came to talk about investing, she hadn’t expected much.
But an investor is an investor.
No matter how young, she couldn’t ignore or dismiss someone with good intentions to invest in charity.
But 300 gold.
That was more than the total annual budget for their current charity work.
“Are you sure? That’s a very large amount…”
“Yes, for now, it’s 300 gold. Depending on the progress, I plan to invest more.”
Even 300 gold was a huge sum, and he was considering additional investments.
Yurk’s eyes turned serious as he looked at Damian.
Yurk asked, “But you mentioned it’s an investment, not a donation. Do you have any specific expectations with this investment?”
“I want to hold a share in the Hamel Trading Company. I don’t wish to be involved in its operations; I just want a portion of the company’s profits as a return on my investment.”
“Hmm, we’ll need to consider that. Moreover, our company is not very large, so we don’t have a clear policy on shares yet.”
Yurk’s gaze at Damian changed.
Not negatively…
‘No matter how I look at it, he’s in his mid-teens… How can he have such money and act so boldly?’
Yurk asked Damian with a stern expression.
“And if it’s not too rude to ask, could you tell us the source of that money?”
If, by any chance, that money was linked to crime or black money, they absolutely could not accept it.
Damian drew a small smile at the corner of his lips.
“If you’re worried it might be ill-gotten money, you don’t need to. The source is…”
Damian placed a prepared insurance certificate on the table.
“It’s the insurance money I inherited after my parents passed away. You can see the name of the insurance company and the seal of the imperial notary here.”
“Ah… my apologies.”
“It’s fine. I understand.”
With that, Yurk’s doubts were sufficiently resolved.
Yurk nodded.
“Then, we will need to have an internal meeting about the shares. Can we discuss the investment amount again after that?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
For now, just establishing a connection with the Hamel Trading Company was enough.
The shares were merely a small device for the future, so it didn’t matter much how much he received.
‘I didn’t expect it to be such a small company.’
Having made some certainty, Damian glanced inside the company.
Although not large in scale, the interior was well organized, and there was a clearly written monthly plan on the wall.
Still, some questions remained unanswered.
‘There’s no way to find out now.’
All it takes is time.
“Where should we contact you?”
“Oh, that…”
As Damian continued to speak, Yurk’s eyes slightly wavered.
It felt like a storm had just passed.
Entering the office with Diel, Yurk sat down and recalled the recent meeting, bursting into laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
Diel asked, seeing Yurk’s laughter.
Yurk replied, “The more I think about it, the more surprising it is. That a boy of just thirteen years would come to us with such thoughts.”
There are many other companies in the capital conducting charity work besides theirs.
Even so, he was curious about why he came to them…
‘Those eyes… he was no ordinary boy.’
The talk about investment and shares was the same.
“And to think he’s a soldier, hahaha.”
Moreover, he was a very promising boy who had even passed the military test to protect the kingdom.
He was a perfect boy with no flaws.
Except for one regret…
“If he were just five years older, it would have been perfect.”
“…Yes?”
Diel tilted her head at Yurk’s muttering.
To this question, Yurk just grinned and said, “Maybe he might like older people?”
“…Dad!”
At Diel’s outcry, Yurk could only burst into laughter.
“An unexpected gain, should I say…”
After leaving the Hamel Trading Company and returning to his lodging, Damian organized the events that had happened.
Although he was quite surprised by the unexpected truth(?) about Diel…
‘It could certainly be the case.’
The world can be a tough place for a woman to run a trading company on her own.
But still, finding out something is better than nothing.
‘At least I solved one issue.’
As for the ongoing matters with the Hamel Trading Company, they would contact him, so he had no choice but to wait.
So now…
“Ha, time to get ready.”
If he joined, he would be holed up inside for at least a month, undergoing training.
There was talk that some among the successful candidates might decide to drop out during this period…
“That’s none of my concern.”
For now, the primary goal was to achieve good results during this training period and apply to ‘that place.’
‘If I go there… Will I be able to see that person?’
The reason Damian came to the 3rd Training Camp.
To go to that unit, he must pass through the 3rd Training Camp.
It was the place where his senior, friend, and most trusted subordinate was stationed.
Damian recalled the events he had with him in the past and just smiled slightly.
And…
“It was called the Lion Eagle Store, right?”
He moved towards the military supply store mentioned by Apel to purchase necessary items.
