NOVEL NEXT Chapter 56
As soon as I disembarked at Guillaume City port, Mayor Guillaume personally welcomed me with a genuine smile on his face.
“I thought you wouldn’t be back for a few months after buying cotton and wool in bulk. I never expected to see you again in less than half a month. Is something going on?”
Hearing that, I joked, heh heh heh, “Are we only meeting when something’s up between us? You’re being too formal.”
“Cut the jokes. Sure, we’re a bit friendly, but it takes two days by ship to get here from your territory. It ain’t exactly easy.”
“I brought some wool and cotton to sell, and I thought I’d drop by to see you, Mayor.”
“Fabrics are always welcome. And you, of course.”
After a bit of meaningless chatter, we walked to a spot where we weren’t in the way of the unloading workers.
We shared all sorts of small talk—stories about his grandchildren, who he was considering lobbying to become a law noble, and even my wedding story that sounds like something you’d hear from relatives only during holidays.
“It’s a man’s job to get married quickly. Honestly, there are times when I look at my wife and feel disgust, but seeing the kids and grandkids grow gives me the will to live!”
“Is that so? I still haven’t married yet,” I replied.
“A guy like you should have noble daughters lining up to marry you. Don’t bother too much about personality; look only at family and looks. You can’t figure out character just with a few conversations. Women hide their true selves thoroughly, and how would you figure it out?”
There’s an old saying: “You can know the waters deeply, but you can never know a person’s heart.” It’s hard to understand human psychology and thoughts, but picking my future wife based only on family and looks seems a bit… off.
Although, it’s not entirely unreasonable. Marriages in noble families happen without dates or love, just through conditional discussions and a few formal chats…
“Who has time to understand character in that scenario?”
It kind of makes sense, honestly, to just pick someone based on looks and family. Damn, this is tough!
Just when I was desperately wishing to end this headache of a topic, the Mayor changed the subject.
“By the way, I don’t see any fabrics. What’s going on?”
“I packed them with seaweed as packing material.”
The Mayor frowned at my response.
“With all these boxes, it looks like you’re trying to avoid customs. Even though we’re close, that seems a bit much. I’m quite disappointed.”
He picked up on my smuggling tricks quickly. Honestly, even I felt it was a bit over the line.
The seaweed I usually brought in was just 2-3 boxes of 200 kg each, more than enough for regular export.
But bringing in over a thousand boxes of similar size was a little too obvious for tax evasion.
“Since we’re on the same boat, would I really let you down? I have a plan where we both benefit.”
The Mayor’s face showed a hint of willingness to listen, having earned a good profit because of me.
“In Guillaume City, fabrics have a 30% tax, but I specially have it reduced to 15%, right?”
“That’s true. Do you know how hard it was for me to get that reduced tax for you?”
Forgetting the favor of the reduced tax simply isn’t human.
So I decided I’d repay that favor in a way he preferred.
“I’ll give you half of the taxes I owe as a political donation—50% of the fabric tax.”
The Mayor began to lick his lips while deep in thought.
“60% of the money I give will go directly to Duke Guillaume, and the remaining 40% can be split between you and your allies. Everyone’s happy that way, right?”
“Hm, I understand you care about me. But as the Mayor of Guillaume City, I cannot condone embezzling city finances. A person must be clean and honest.”
Our Mayor isn’t some paragon of virtue like Admiral Yi Sun-sin, nor can he be a miser like Choi Young. He is just an ordinary noble of this era.
He craves more power and wealth with a desire to indulge in pleasure with beautiful women.
Convincing someone who isn’t free from desire isn’t that hard.
“There’s no tree that won’t fall after ten knocks.”
“But with this, you’ll have a slush fund to spend freely, right? I haven’t been in the government, but I hear being in public office costs a lot.”
The expenses I speak of aren’t just about transportation for work or business expenses.
They are about bribing colleagues to climb the ranks over the competition.
“If central nobles are recognizing your abilities, when else will you get such an opportunity? Strengthening our bond also helps the interests of Guillaume City.”
The key to bribery is this: You need to instill in them a sense of justification for accepting the bribe!
The Mayor nodded, as if he fully understood everything.
“Yes, it won’t hinder the city’s interests. For the Lion Kingdom, individuals like me must reach higher positions.”
I actually had no intention of parting with the bribe money myself.
Having someone obtaining high-ranking positions with money gifted from a foreigner isn’t something good for the Lion Kingdom…
But whatever, the Lion Kingdom isn’t my country anyway; it’s not my problem.
Then the Mayor added another condition.
“Seaweed can be directly traded from your shop in Guillaume City, but the fabrics must only be sold to merchants rooted in Guillaume City.”
This would reduce my profit somewhat, but actually, it’s not a bad deal.
As the process of Guillaume city merchants buying increases, tracking that I’m selling large quantities of fabrics alone becomes harder to do.
Especially even by the merchants of Guillaume City.
And it seems the Mayor is intending to pocket a nice cut from these fabric sales with the merchants of Guillaume City.
His cunning is truly impressive.
“Alright, sounds good.”
“Great! So how many did you bring this time?”
“2,000 rolls of wool and 3,300 rolls of cotton. I’ll settle the donation later.”
“Very well. I need to head to the merchants of Guillaume City now. The rest can be handled by the treasury officials.”
With that, the Mayor left the scene immediately.
I then sold all the goods at auction to the merchants of Guillaume City and headed back to my territory.
André Montpellier, the head of the powerful Amore Trading Guild in the Lion Kingdom, was on the lookout for other trades after finishing a seaweed deal at the Medici Guild branch.
“Sigh, Guillaume City has many advantages, but the problem is there’s nothing to buy other than seaweed.”
Although people have been gathering recently, just a year ago, it was a small coastal town, so food and lodgings are still relatively cheap.
The hospitality is great, too; often I get bonus servings just for asking in pubs.
“I secured the 40 kg of seaweed our guild master requested, but I need to find something to load into the remaining wagon space. I don’t need anything stinking or cheap like fish; if I can secure weapons that others bring over, that’d be great.”
Right now, the Lion Kingdom is on the verge of war with the Granada Kingdom. Therefore, the prices of weapons are gradually rising, and if war breaks out, the prices could jump to 1.4 times.
“The one holding the weapons will be king.”
As he headed to the plaza or market where other trading guilds are gathered, something caught his eye.
“Special sale on cotton and wool?”
Cotton and wool are essential items for making clothes, consistently popular regardless of the situation—a guaranteed money-making asset.
Naturally, his gaze shifted to the price tag.
“Only 6 silver coins and 50 copper for a roll of cotton? That’s unbelievably cheap! Even buying at the lowest price is 6 silver and 20 copper…”
The market price he mentioned was based on purchasing directly from the production site when it’s at its cheapest.
“Hey, did you mess up the pricing?”
“We don’t lie about prices here. Cotton’s 6 silver and 50 copper per roll—buy ten rolls, and it’s 60 silver!.”
At this rate, it’s only a tad cheaper than buying directly from factories.
Meaning, he’d make a profit just by buying here.
“If I sell it back in Montpellier City, I could make a silver coin per roll.”
A profit margin of 20% isn’t small at all.
“How many do you have?”
“We have 120 rolls of cotton in our store. We also have around 80 rolls of wool.”
“I’m the head of the Amore Guild. Wait one hour; I’ll buy everything you have.”
“Yes, thank you!”
And as their conversation ended, other traders from different guilds swarmed in.
They had been searching for the shop selling cotton and wool at such low prices.
“Damn it? That guy got ahead of us!”
“We need to hit other shops first!”
Hearing this, André from the Amore Guild realized.
“I don’t know who it is, but some insane fellow is selling those fabrics at an absurdly low price!”
And he quickly directed his subordinates.
“I don’t know why, but the prices of cotton and wool are crazily cheap here. Secure as much stock as possible!”
“Yes, understood!”
“Set up trading promises too!”
The subordinates of the Amore Guild quickly scattered, beginning to gather goods.
Just as Fabio had anticipated.
At this moment, Fabio was starting a somewhat serious conversation with Chloe.