Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 248

After that, I start receiving regular updates from Anne, along with requests for funds. I haven’t seen her in person lately, so I can’t say for sure, but it seems she moves into a noble’s house in the first district. From there, she attends noble salons and parties, reviving and expanding her old connections.

She even sends me a bill for the costs involved, so I ask her what it is for. Apparently, Anne’s strategy is to stir up conversation in the salons, dropping hints that anyone interested in the Cardinal’s shoes should come to her. It’s part of her promotional plan.

Honestly, it makes sense. Rather than having the nobles visit the workshop way out in the third district, it’s much more comfortable for them to place orders with a beautiful woman at their regular salons and social gatherings.

Anne also requests a bodyguard, so I arrange for someone from the Sword Fangs Legion—someone skilled and familiar with noble etiquette.

That same day, Jilboa himself comes to the workshop to discuss security.

However, after the general discussion is over, Jilboa brings up a topic that almost makes me spit out my tea.

“At the last party, Anne from your group comes on to me.”

I barely manage to swallow my tea before nervously asking, “And? What happened?”

Jilboa said with an amused smile.

Jilboa smiles, clearly amused. “She asks me to be a patron sponsor. Of course, there are plenty of middle-aged nobles with oily smiles drawn to her looks and charm.”

“What is she thinking, going after our shareholder sponsors like that…”

I immediately send Anne a parchment detailing that the bodyguard arrangements have been made, along with an additional clause in her contract, asking her to refrain from soliciting patrons.

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Less than two weeks after Anne starts her social activities, the results are dramatic. Several workshops and merchants who had previously been stubbornly uncooperative contact me, indicating they are now willing to negotiate.

I don’t want to appear desperate, so I only send back a reply saying that, due to my current schedule, we need to arrange a date after the Cardinal’s unveiling.

“So suspicious, suddenly changing their tune like that,” Sara complains, clearly frustrated by their sudden change of heart.

“Is it? From my perspective, it seems pretty rational,” I reply.

The collapse in solidarity among the workshops probably happens because they realize I am serious about developing my own independent route for selling luxury goods. They have raised the stakes too high, and it backfires.

If they had been a bit more cordial, I might have believed a settlement was possible and continued to wait patiently.

However, when several workshops and merchants send nearly identical messages, it doesn’t take much to convince me that an unwritten cartel exists.

This is just speculation, but I suspect there is a long-standing routine in place, where any offer from outside the cartel is rejected with a standard response like this.

In fact, it’s possible that the decision-makers within the companies haven’t even seen our previous offers.

Even if the information is important, it could be blocked by a person in charge who can’t assess its significance, preventing it from reaching upper management and resulting in incorrect decisions. This is something that often occurs in corporate management in my old world.

With this suspicion in mind, I compare the letters and notice a clear difference between the handwriting of the rejection letter and the letter accepting the negotiations. Specifically, the acceptance letter is messy and poorly written.

Whether the workshop owner is trembling with anger or in a hurry, it is evident that their emotions are disturbed. Alternatively, the person who writes it on their behalf might be scolded while writing it.

Given that my judgment could be an illusion, I consult several colleagues in the company, including Sara, about the difference in handwriting, and they all agree that it is definitely different.

In any case, it seems certain that a hole has opened in the sturdy dam of the unwritten cartel.

All that remains now is to widen this hole and bring down the dam.