Book 3-1.4 Funding the Ships (IV)
“Unlike my husband who is the Glow of Pareia, I am not as innocent or as open-minded. I will not stand for him bowing down to someone. If you keep rolling that smart head of yours, even I don’t know how I will respond. Since it is natural for a merchant to look for a profit, I will not say much. Moderately, as that word indicates, take your profits moderately.”
Grace stopped for a moment before slowly continuing to speak.
“My husband is the Glow, not a merchant. I’m sure you understand what I mean?”
Edwin could not speak due to nervousness, and Thriger finally understood why the members of the tribe called this extremely beautiful woman the Iron Woman.
“Madame, that ……”
“I have clearly warned you. I am not open-minded, so I do not have much patience.”
‘Amazing. Just amazing. Definitely deserving to be the woman of a king. I will definitely get a wife like that in the future as well.’
Edwin could not remove his eyes from Grace and just blankly stared as he thought to himself.
“I have not heard an answer.”
At Grace’s words, Edwin instantly nodded his head as he started to reply.
“I will keep your words in mind. Moderately. I will not forget that.”
Grace finally eased her expression and leisurely protected the seat.
A moment later, Yulian came back and asked for Edwin’s understanding.
“I’m sorry. Something urgent suddenly came up.”
“Ah! That is okay. The madame was telling me a very beneficial story.”
Yulian looked toward Grace at Edwin’s response, but Grace just smiled back at him.
“I did some calculations while the Glow was away, and I believe I will be able to handle this request.”
Seeing Edwin bring it up first, Yulian responded with relief.
“That is a relief. I was quite worried because of the extremely high amount.”
“We would need around 12,000,000 Arin (currency of the Inama Kingdom) per ship, so around 50 kilograms of gold. I believe Captain Thriger told you 48 kilograms, and if it was just one ship, I would be able to get it for a similar cost. However, the Glow is requesting a large amount in a short amount of time, so we would need to pay extra, and hire some more magicians. We will also need to give some extra to each city’s security and border patrol. If we want to quickly proceed that is.”
“It will cost that much?”
“Yes. These types of deals are always best to take slowly in order to not face a loss, but you are bound to pay more when you are in a hurry. Please wait exactly 3 months to deliver the material necessary for all twelve ships. If you give me half a year, I can lower the cost of each ship to 11,000,000 Arin. The decision is up to the Glow.”
Yulian was surprised at the high cost, but right now, and the next few years, were extremely important. He needed to quickly build the ships and train the warriors.
“Let’s go with the quickest method.”
Edwin tapped the right side of his head out of habit and answered.
“I understand. This Edwin has clearly memorized the Glow’s request. Then, I believe it is now time to see what the Glow can offer me in return.”
“Please tell me what you are looking for. If it is something our Pareia is capable of doing, I will do it all.”
“The thing that perked my ear the most was this. Can you promise me a trade route through the desert and protection while we are going across?”
“If it is from the Inama Kingdom where your guild is located to the Eastern Continent’s Silence Empire, our warriors of Pareia will escort your carts. Honestly speaking, if you follow the quicksand river and make it to Pareia, the path to Silence is all Pareia’s territory, so you wouldn’t even need an escort.”
“I am still in shock as you are so casually talking about a desert trade route that many merchants have failed to acquire for a long time.”
Thriger responded to Edwin’s statement.
“The Glow of Pareia does not lie. If the Glow says it is safe, it will be safe.”
‘This man would have been serving the Glow at max six months. How is it that he trusts his Glow so much already?’
Edwin thought it was surprising, then had another thought.
‘If this route is successful, our Serubil Merchant Guild will be in the lead. If we succeed, there will be many other guilds trying to do the same.’
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Edwin’s brain was spinning quickly. He was the man who had the nickname of the Young Ghost of the Business World. The calculations regarding profit and loss were already completed the instant Yulian started to speak.
“Glow I will first bring all of the materials over as fast as possible per the Glow’s order. We will also assist in getting other materials from the continent. However, for ten years, please give us a monopoly over this trade route.”
“Of course. If you will trust us without any guarantee like this, we must be willing to pay an equivalent price.
At Yulian’s words, Edwin decided to get one more confirmation.
“I will be honest with you. Once this route is established, the gains for the guild will be overwhelming. No other guilds will be able to transport as quickly as we can, and since we will be able to quickly move large amounts of material that needs to be moved quickly, our guild will monopolize a portion of the market. I will give you a portion of that profit. You mentioned that the glow does not lie, correct?”
“I do not believe I have said a lie to date. I plan on doing the same from here on.”
Edwin pushed for more at Yulian’s answer.
“Please promise me with your lips. For ten years, no matter what guild it may be, other than our Serubil Merchant Guild, they will not be able to transport through the desert. If there is, the Glow will need to prevent them from utilizing the route.”
“I will promise you under the name of our Guardian. Is that promise enough?”
“There is nothing else other than that promise that you can give me right now.”
As Edwin lightly smiled and replied, Yulian smiled back and answered.
“Yes. Although there is nothing we can give or show you right now, you will see it soon. You will see that your decision today was the correct one and that you will never regret it.”
Clap!
Edwin loudly clapped his hand and answered.
“If I think that I am reeling in a very large fish today, will it be offensive to the Glow?”
“Since I feel the same way, not at all.”
The two looked at each other before laughing again.
Seeing as how his most urgent issue was settled so easily, and because Edwin had offered to provide other materials as well, Yulian felt a bit better. Edwin was happy in his own accord for being able to run an extremely profitable operation for the next ten years.
The reason Edwin did not hide his internal thoughts and revealed it was partially because of Yulian’s charm that Yulian himself did not know about, but also because of the way the people surrounding Yulian treated Yulian.
The person who has more items and has more time always has the upperhand in deals like this, but Edwin’s philosophy was delivering his end of the bargain quickly and bringing out the most profit.
“Since the big issue has been settled, then may I speak about the smaller details?”
“Of course.”
Once Yulian answered, Edwin gave an impassioned speech about what they will provide for Pareia, as well as what they will receive from Pareia down to the smallest detail.
From this point, Veruna, rather than Yulian, went up against Edwin. Veruna had veins popping out on his neck as they went back and forth.
Since the big issue was a compromise, a battle to gain more profit from the smaller items had started.
Honestly speaking, Edwin and Veruna enjoyed this very much, but the others just blankly stared at the two of them discussing and were extremely bored.
The moon was already starting to rise in the desert.
As Edwin promised, 3 months later, a large amount of materials were delivered to Pareia. There were so many materials that the Desert Runner had to complete multiple trips from the north end of the quicksand river to Pareia.
Five months after that, Edwin arrived at Pareia with a large team that totaled two hundred merchants and one hundred and fifty supply carts.
Fifth month of year 255 in the continental calendar.
Pareia had a total of thirteen ships to maneuver across the quicksand river, and managed to train five thousand warriors as the quicksand brigade.
And Edwin, the merchant of the Inama Kingdom, went into the history books as the first merchant to successfully take a large scale team across the desert, and started to move up in the ranks of merchants.
End of Chapter 1.
Next up:
The Moving Pareia
Pareia made the Wikaly instantly become surrounded by shock.