Chapter 394 - Feeding You Poop

Duke Carter performed an impeccably graceful noble’s salutation and said, "Please allow me to interrupt, I am not solely representing the Odulin Chamber of Commerce; I represent the Sambiyan Business Council, which is a consortium of the Darun Commerce Chamber, Odulin Chamber of Commerce, Selgant Company, Uraspil Commerce Chamber, Yehong Company, and Seren Company. It embodies the joint interests of six major cities, moving forward as one."Darun, Odulin, Selgant, Uraspil, Yehong, Seren.

These are the names of six cities, the largest along the coast of Sambia, each boasting a population no less than one hundred thousand and ruling over hundreds of kilometers of surrounding land.

Sambia follows the governance of a plutocratic oligarchy, where each wealthy oligarch has a commerce chamber supporting them and controls at least one city.

When these wealthy individuals and their representing commerce chambers unite, they essentially form Sambia.

The Sambiyan Business Council is a common self-designation used by Sambiyan merchants when abroad.

In essence, it’s like flexing your muscles—nobody can truly verify if their claims are accurate or not, and even if someone had the ability to investigate, the Sambiyan merchants would usually side with one another out of collective interest, as long as it did not infringe upon their own benefits.

Gaven, expressionless, nodded in understanding and turned to Bede, "Mr. Bede, don’t you have other matters to attend to?"

Bede caught the hint—Gaven was distancing him from the soon-to-unfold negotiations, ensuring that whether they succeeded or not, it would be of no concern to Bede. He promptly bowed and said, "My apologies, I have other urgent matters to deal with, so I shall not disturb your discussion any further."

Since Mr. Bede had other matters to attend to, it’d be best for him to be on his way," Duke Carter said, his goal having been achieved, he naturally did not mind Bede’s departure.

If Bede stayed, it would inconvenience Carter’s persuasion efforts.

Bede left in a hurry, as if his seat were on fire, to oversee the evacuation of the Thousand Chief Commerce Assembly from the greater region of Sambia.

"Duke Carter, may I inquire what service I can offer you?" Gaven feigned ignorance.

Duke Carter smiled and said, "I come on behalf of the esteemed lords of Sambia. They are very interested in your ghost grape wine and Ghost Manor, and they are willing to sign a long-term trade agreement with Mr. Gaven. The terms offered by the lords are very generous. If you agree to this agreement, you will become the wealthiest man in Battle Valley overnight and could even gain prestige in Sambia. All the commerce chambers there will provide conveniences for you..."

"Empty promises, I’ve heard enough to last a lifetime, so save your breath. Give me something concrete, how do you want to cooperate?" Gaven interrupted Duke Carter’s lengthy speech with impatience.

Everything said thus far was merely meaningless chatter.

"One million Nu Bao." Duke Carter held up a finger and said, "To purchase Ghost Manor and all the ghost grape wine in Mr. Gaven’s possession."

Duke Carter’s demeanor and words exuded nothing but pride.

Nu Bao is Sambia’s term for gold coins. One million gold coins is an astronomical figure to anyone.

The entire trove of treasures within a Giant Dragon’s nest might not even be worth that sum.

Across the whole of Felen, there are few organizations that could produce such a substantial sum of wealth at once, including the Komeer Royal Family.

After all, this requires a significant amount of readily available cash flow.

Withdrawing a million gold coins in a short time could potentially be fatal to the operations of commerce chambers, possibly crippling them.

An heir to a baroncy from Thacel, destitute enough to only be able to dig holes with Gnolls in the remote countryside.

It’s likely he had never seen such an exorbitant sum in his life and was now astounded by the sheer magnitude of the figure—you can tell he’s speechless.

Gaven was indeed shocked by the price offered, but not because it was too high—it was too low.

He looked at Duke Carter as if looking at a fool, "Your Grace, did you not bother to investigate the current market price of the ghost grape wine or the annual wine production of Weizemay Manor before it went missing?"

The reaction was unexpected for Carter, making his heart skip a beat with dread that the situation could slide unfavorably. Trying to remain composed, he asked, "What do you mean, Mr. Gaven?"

Gaven answered placidly, "What I mean is, Your Grace, your lobbying this time is quite incompetent. Before its loss, Weizemay Manor’s first year production was two thousand bottles, increasing annually at the same rate. By the eighth year, it had reached its peak with a production of twenty thousand bottles a year. At that time, the annual revenue of Weizemay Manor was at least two hundred thousand—that is the lowest estimate.

"How much is a bottle of ghost grape wine now?

One hundred gold coins, and still in high demand.

The exclusive auction for ghost grape wine will be held in a few days—do you think the auction price will be lower than this?

And now you come to me, offering one million gold coins to buy my manor and all rights to my ghost grape wine.

Heh, even if you were trying to swindle a fool, you’re barely showing any sincerity.

It’s not even professional to force a sale."

Gaven’s tone and expression carried not a hint of mockery.

But every word dripped with scorn.

It was as if he was just shy of slapping a label of ’frog at the bottom of a well’ on Carter’s forehead.

Carter’s eyes betrayed a hint of embarrassment; it was not that he hadn’t done his market research, but that he had not studied Gaven Nort thoroughly enough.

He certainly knew the value of the Weizemay Manor, as well as the value of Ghost Grape Wine, and it was precisely because he knew that he had come.

If they were willing to buy Weizemay Manor and Ghost Grape Wine at market price, he wouldn’t have looked for Gaven before the special auction for Ghost Grape Wine.

Is this guy honestly stupid or just pretending to be?

Duke Carter coughed slightly and reorganized his words, "I think Mr. Gaven might have misunderstood my meaning, the one million Nu Bao is merely a settlement fee for Mr. Gaven, what the nobles really want to give you is a ladder to success, just nod, and you will become a member of the Sambiyan Merchants Council, and you’ll have access to endless resources. The most update n0vels are published on ɴovel(ꜰ)ɪre.nᴇt

With this one million Nu Bao as start-up capital, in just a few months, you could organize a large commerce assembly, in only half a year, you could harvest the second million, then a third and a fourth will follow, by that time, you will have become one of Sambia’s most successful merchants, when you have the wealth to buy a city, you’ll leap into Sambia’s new ruling class.

That is much more advantageous than simply guarding a remote manor, after all, this batch of Ghost Grape Wine is the only one, even if the annual yield is five hundred thousand, it takes a long time."

"It sounds very appealing," Gaven couldn’t help but nod, "but, Your Grace, you only talked about the best outcomes and omitted the worst. It’s very likely that after investing this million Nu Bao, not only will the first million not be earned in half a year, I might end up losing my pants, drowning in debt.

If this money-making venture is so profitable, why would Your Grace need me?"

Gaven, through his actual actions, exemplified what it meant to be soberly aware.

He could draw a bigger pie than anyone else.

If he really believed the Sambiyan merchants’ spiel.

Then he would essentially be gifting them the one million, and then becoming their next million in the following half-year.

"Mr. Gaven shouldn’t be too pessimistic, seeing as you were able to..." Carter, sparing no effort in persuasion, still wanted to convince Gaven.

Gaven directly waved his hand and interrupted, "I currently have no intention of selling Ghost Grape Wine in bulk, nor do I intend to relinquish the manor. If you are interested in Ghost Grape Wine, you can send someone to participate in a fair auction competition."

"Should Mr. Gaven not appreciate the nobles’ goodwill, don’t blame us for proceeding with legal action," Carter seriously turned the tables.

"Legal action?" Gaven, who was about to show the guest out, looked astonished and curiously asked, "How did that come about?"

Carter spoke earnestly, "Mr. Gaven surely knows that Mr. Kolonfel, the founder of Weizemay Manor, is one of our Sambiyan merchants, right?"

"I know," Gaven’s mouth twitched imperceptibly, the other party had started an argument, and he could already somewhat guess the dirty tricks they were ready to use.

"Mr. Kolonfel had purchased Weizemay Manor along with its surrounding perpetual residential and usage rights from Lord Ilmet of Battle Valley. He was born in the Odulin Chamber of Commerce. To acquire Weizemay Manor, he borrowed five hundred thousand Nu Bao from the chamber, and for subsequent construction, borrowed another six hundred thousand in succession, always repaying the loans with wine, to this date still owing eighty-nine thousand in loans, that’s the first point.

The second, Mr. Kolonfel has a family in Sambia, with two sons who possess legal succession rights to Weizemay Manor.

Mr. Gaven, currently residing in Weizemay Manor can hardly be considered legitimate." As Carter spoke, he pulled a series of scrolls from his chest.

Gaven didn’t need to open them to know, they were undoubtedly loan agreements signed by Kolonfel.

Undeniably authentic, almost impossible to discern even with magic.

He knew Sambiyan tactics were distasteful, but he hadn’t expected them to be this appalling.

This was outright feeding him crap.

And not just one load, but two.

After a brief reflection, Gaven answered, "Weizemay Manor in Battle Valley has been decreed a land lost and unclaimed, Mr. Darnell has already purchased the reclamation rights from Lord Ilmet, which I have taken over from Mr. Darnell, and this is verifiable.

This is Battle Valley, I follow only Battle Valley’s laws, not Sambia’s, whether Mr. Kolonfel actually has two other sons is none of my concern.

As for Mr. Kolonfel’s debts from his lifetime, that’s for Mr. Kolonfel to worry about, you may go and discuss it with him.

Because what I’ve reclaimed is the lost territory, not an inheritance from him."

There’s no way he would let them shove crap down his throat.

He was adamant about one thing, Weizemay Manor had been a land lost and unclaimed until just before.

Lost lands are those whose control was once in human hands but then was lost, whether it be to monster races, human bandits, or even undead spirits, etc.

And the reclaiming of lost lands would make claimants the new lords of those territories.

This law is not just in place in Battle Valley; it’s also prevalent in other countries’ domains.

The purpose is to stimulate adventurers to proactively reclaim more lost lands, expanding human habitation.

In many places, this law takes precedence over many other local laws.

Carter naturally had his own countermeasures, "The proclamation of Weizemay Manor as lost land is Battle Valley’s unilateral decision; Sambia has never acknowledged this matter, this area still belongs to the territory of Sambiyan merchants, sacred and inviolable. However, in light of Mr. Gaven’s effort throughout this process, we would like to resolve this peacefully, which is to say, Mr. Gaven should agree to the initial conditions I proposed.

If you accept the one million Nu Bao, all debts will be wiped clean, and the issues of succession rights will be resolved by us."