Chapter 221: Saving That Reached Its Bottom Again
In this slightly tense atmosphere, desserts and breakfast were served.
The beautiful maids were like a beautiful scenery.
They carried the wooden plates briskly and placed the silver cutlery on the long table. Each of set put on a silk scarf to wipe their mouths and a gla.s.s of water that was added with flowers for rinsing their mouths.
The extravagance of the Kingdom of Swadia was fully reflected. Although it was not yet to the extent that King Harlaus could enjoy it, as a castle-level “Drondheim”, there were also many rules. As for these young girls that came from wealthy families, even though they became maids, they would still be top-notch. Naturally, they would maintain their former elegant style.
This was what Kant mattered because he was the supreme lord, the king who commanded everything in the estate. Naturally, he should have such complicated and extravagant rules.
The dishes were very sumptuous and were sprinkled with a little spice, as it was a grant dinner of the lord and the gentlemen.
The first dish was boiled antelope meat.
The second dish was fried fresh wild vegetables with egg liquid.
The main dish was a fried pike.
Finally, it was served with minced meat and wheat grains that were boiled into porridge.
In addition, there was a small cup of malt wine to cheer them up, as well as a few dried date palm.
“I wish everyone good health.”
Kant raised the small cup of malt wine and looked at the two sides of the long table where the atmosphere was awkward and no longer happy as before. He smiled and said, “After come over here, I hope that everyone can strive for the same goal. When we reach the peak, I don’t mind dividing up the land and the castle to create a new future for my loyal subordinates.”
“Thank you for your kindness.”, Firentis and the other three raised their gla.s.ses together.
But now, their eyes were s.h.i.+ning.
Kant’s words were undoubtedly a stimulant, which shocked them instantly.
Granted with land and the castle was equivalent to becoming a n.o.ble. Although among them, for example, Firentis was already a n.o.ble, he was still inferior to the those n.o.ble who truly controlled a certain area and a castle. That was what a true n.o.ble should be.
They couldn’t help but be excited!
While they were eating, a charming personal maid walked over and gracefully laid down beside Kant’s ear, and a faint virgin fragrance came from her, the voice whispered in Kant’s ear, “Lord Kant, Mr. Borg and his old butler have woken up in the room. Would you like to invite them to come down and have breakfast together?”
“No, bring them breakfast.”
Kant directly denied it.
After pondering for a moment, he raised his head and ordered his maid, “Bring them three meals a day. Ask the servant to invite them to rest in the room. If there are no accidents, it’s best not to leave the corridor.”
“Yes, I understand.”, the maid smiled and left.
The faint fragrance disappeared into the distance.
Kant’s heart palpitated slightly. His 16-year-old body had indeed reached the stage of p.u.b.erty.
Taking a sip from his wine gla.s.s, Kant regained his composure.
Across the long table, Firentis guessed the reason for the maid’s arrival and said, “Is it that guy called Borg?”
“That’s right.”, Kant nodded.
“Please be careful,”, Firentis suggested. “Lord Kant, he can’t gain our trust yet. It’s best to limit his range of activities. We can’t let him find out the ins and outs of our castle.”
“If he runs around, send someone to kill him,”, Rolf said fiercely. “A spy is a rat!”
However, this sentence made Bunduk glance at him with dissatisfaction.
But Rolf’s words made sense.
“I have already restricted his range of activities and placed him under house arrest in his room.”
Kant nodded. “I will meet him in the afternoon and ask him to leave with you.”. After a pause, Kant looked at Bunduk and Rolf, he said solemnly, “Be careful to the post I have appointed. At the moment, we cannot afford to be so extravagant that we fail. If anything goes wrong, we will fall into an abyss of misery.”
“Yes, I will do my best.”
Bunduk and Rolf immediately stood up, put down the knives and forks in their hands, and bowed solemnly.
Kant stretched out his hand and gestured for them to sit down. “You must be 100% responsible for it.”
“Yes!”, the two of them answered solemnly and sat down.
“And Manid.”
Kant turned his head to look at Manid, and said with a solemn expression, “Arrange this Borg well. Give him 5,000 great silver coins. I think this money is enough to save some of their family’s current decline.”
5,000 great silver coins was equivalent to nearly a year’s basic tax revenue in Lionheart City.
It was definitely a huge amount of money in the Dukedom of Leo!
It was absolutely no problem to save the family that had fallen into decline. Although it could not bring back the dead, it could prolong the period of bankruptcy. They could still struggle to sell some goods, reduce the scale of business, and survive so that they would not become a poor family, there was no problem of doing so.
According to Borg, their family’s business completely relied on the fleet of the Resniston River, helping them to operate and sell goods. Their annual net profit was only 2,000 great silver coins.
Although they had lost the fleet, with Kant’s investment, 5,000 great silver coins were enough to stabilize the current situation.
“Understood.”
Manid thought for a moment and nodded.
Kant had considered enough. In terms of investment, this huge sum of money was enough.
However, Manid still proposed his own suggestion. “Lord Kant, we should perhaps send people to follow this Borg. If he gets our investment and absconds, we will still be at a disadvantage.”
“There’s no need.”
Kant narrowed his eyes slightly. “He will not do that if he controls a new trade that is comparable to the table salt trade.”
Manid had just returned from the Stone Pa.s.s. He did not know that Kant had already planned to hand over the sugar trade to Borg, he could not help but wonder, “If we lose the rights of supervision, it is equivalent to raising an enemy. After all, although our cooperation of interests is firm, it is also too fragile. Once he controls the interests, he might unwilling to become our puppet.”
“He must become our puppet.”
Kant opened his mouth and said with a smile, “It is not easy to make sugar cubes with honey on a large scale.” After a pause, Kant said in a deep voice, “Moreover, the core of the sugar workshop, those date palm, only exists in the Oasis Lookout throughout this world.”
“I see.”, Manid widened his eyes slightly. With his business mind, he instantly understood.
This was the advantage of a monopoly.
Just like table salt, it was once monopolized by the dwarves for a very high profit.
Now Kant not only had the salt mines in the desert, but also the date palm tree, which was not available in this world. It was equivalent to monopolizing the raw materials used to make this extremely sweet candy, and the profit would not be low.
As long as Borg came into contact with this trade, he would definitely not be able to leave.
There was no date palm tree in this world!
At least in Kant’s impression, when he carefully recalled, there had never been such a tree plant in this world!
This was also Kant’s defense against Borg.
Sugar cubes required a mixture of honey, date palm powder, and fried flour.
The whole thing was similar to cake cutting.
These date palm sugar cubes were durable and extremely sweet. Not only could they be used as seasoning, but they could also be eaten directly as a dessert. Compared to the n.o.bles of the Dukedom of Leo, they still ate bread with honey or made simple desserts with fruits, date palm candies were even more attractive to the tongues and stomachs of these n.o.ble families!
Borg’s pledge of allegiance could not be unlimited.
After all, he was not one of his own people like Firentis who came from the continent of Caradia. In the eyes of Kant, his trust level could not even be compared to that of a commoner.
Just like now, he was not qualified to have breakfast with Kant.
Perhaps Kant could choose to trust him after some performance, but it would never be possible to truly accept Borg as a core member. It was because people’s hearts would change. Without the guaranteed loyalty from the system, Kant could not trust anyone at all, it was even more impossible to let these natives to have access to the core secrets.
The wariness of a traveler was always from the heart and soul.
Just like a thief, using an excuse to enter a stranger’s home and always had the mind of avoiding being discovered.
It was almost time for finis.h.i.+ng the breakfast.
The breakfast had basically been wiped out, leaving only a little residue.
At this moment.
On Kant’s retina, a dialog box instantly popped up.
[ Ding… As the morning sun rise, a new week begins. ]
[ Income: you collect 2,600 denars in Drondheim (village)]
[ Expenditure: you pay 16,287 denars to the entire army. ]
This was a notification from the system.
The crisp sound of metal coins colliding with each other was like wind chimes colliding with each other.
In the end, Kant’s savings balance was only less than 3,000 denars.
After all the castle-level construction, his savings were finally in trouble again after this military expenditure. This point, let alone next week’s military expenditure, even purchasing some items from the Reyvadin caravan was not enough at all. if there was no denar replenishment afterward, Kant would probably be bankrupt now.
“Just wait for Joslin to arrive.”
Kant sighed lightly.
He was already prepared to see the bottom of the denar.
Fortunately, he could still sell some of the inventory in the warehouse.
For example, various honey and date palm products, sugar cubes. It was said that this kind of material was not cheap even in Caradia. It could be said to be goods on par with salt.
In addition, there were other miscellaneous items.
For example, elemental gemstones, various harvested crops, and war-damaged surplus goods could all be sold at a good price.
If it did not work out, Kant also planned to sell the sun disk to Joslin.
After all, it was made of gold and was within the scope of the system’s purchase.
The door of the council hall was opened.
A Swadian knight quickly walked in and reported, “Lord Kant, Mr. Joslin from Reyvadin is leading his trade caravan into the castle and into the grocery store.”
“Coming.”, Kant smiled and waved his hand. “Go and invite Mr. Joslin in.”
“Yes.”, the knight turned around and moved.
Kant instructed both Bunduk and Rolf at the same time, “Go and prepare. Attend the farewell banquet at noon, and each of you will go to your own appointed defense area. Don’t let down my trust and expectations of you.”
“We will do our best!”, Bunduk and Rolf nodded.
“Lord, I will continue to patrol the city wall.”
Seeing that he had nothing else to do, Firentis said goodbye and prepared to leave.
“Okay.”, Kant nodded. “Go.”, he also told Firentis, “Remind Bunduk and Rolf. Tell them the things that need to be noted, be more detailed and don’t hide anything.”
Obviously, Kant understood the enmity between them, so he reminded them.
“Don’t worry.”, Firentis nodded.
He turned around and left with Bunduk and Rolf. They were both combatants and were not good at internal affairs and economics. Instead, they felt that the conversation between Manid and the leaders of the trade caravan was a little boring, it was better to take this opportunity to make a detailed introduction of the current situation, so that these two new companions would understand what they should and shouldn’t do.
Of course, the last sentence was Firentis’s idea of Rolf.