Frederick limped into the study and reported dejectedly, "Your Highness, Duke
Lorence closed the book in his hand and looked at Frederick calmly, asking, "Your father lectured you again?"
"N-no..." Frederick tried to deny it.
"Then where did the big footprint on your trousers come from? Here, aside from me, your father is the only one who would dare to discipline you. Out with it—what did you do this time to make your father so furious?" Lorence could see that Frederick's state clearly indicated he had just received a thorough beating from his father,
"Uh... Your Highness, young Master Adalbert and I painted several small bear sculptures gray-white and pushed them into the corridor. My father didn't notice when he passed by, tripped, and fell flat on his face, so he was very angry..." Frederick confessed honestly.
Sighing, Lorence propped his forehead in his hand and smiled ruefully. Well, Fatty Shi's second son had a really lively personality. He wasn't as resilient as Reddy, lacked Shwade's love of learning, and didn't have Janniliou's steadiness. To put it bluntly, he was a curious, hyperactive child who wanted to try everything. Perhaps it was because he'd been spoiled by Fatty Shi's wife's grandfather, the Great Swordmaster Ingerlec, during his childhood, which had given him a fearless nature.
Just as Mistress Trusty, the headmistress of Nico Academy, had written in his evaluation: "Fundamentally good-natured, but excessively curious. Brave and resourceful. After four years at the academy, he has become its top troublemaker—a primary subject of strict watch by the instructors..."
So when they heard that Lorence was taking Frederick away to serve as his attendant, the instructors at Nico Academy were both delighted and a bit regretful. They had originally hoped Frederick might attend
Upon first arriving at Lorence's side, partly due to being new and partly because Reddy and Janniliou were present, Frederick behaved reasonably well. Though only sixteen, he had awakened his battle aura, possessed a cheerful personality, and was as sturdy as a young calf, which earned him the favor of Reddy and Janniliou. They often gave him pointers, helping him understand what he needed to be mindful of as Lorence's attendant...
But after returning to the Northland and settling into Bear King Palace, Reddy took Janniliou off to
Then Frederick hit a wall. As the Steward of administrative affairs for the
"Andebel ran off first again, didn't he?" Lorence asked.
Lorence had always suspected that his son enjoyed playing with Frederick so much primarily because he had someone to take the blame whenever trouble started. Who else but Frederick—tall and big but without a single cunning bone in his body? Being the older and the bigger one, when they caused trouble, of course he had to be the scapegoat. That little brat was already so calculating at such a young age…
"Well… the Young Master, he…" Frederick scratched his head, trying but failing to find any reason to defend Andebel. When Fatty Shrade had been tripped, Young Master Andebel had turned and bolted on the spot, while Frederick had to step forward to help his father up—only to be grabbed and beaten soundly…
Lorence pulled the bell rope by the wall. Soon after, Pat, the captain of the guard battalion, walked in.
"Go take Andebel and this fellow out to the courtyard. Have them hold horse stance for half an hour, and place a bowl of water on each of their shoulders. If the water spills, they start over. And give Andebel three lashes on his backside—tell him that since they're partners, when they do something wrong, they share the consequences, rather than running off alone…" Lorence ordered.
"Yes, Your Highness." Pat led a dejected Frederick out.
After a while, Fatty Shrade appeared before Lorence in the company of Duke Kenmais. Hmm, Fatty Shrade's clothes were a bit rumpled, and his left cheek was faintly red and swollen—clearly confirming that Frederick's account of his father's "accidental" trip had been quite the tumble indeed.
What truly piqued Lorence's curiosity, however, was Duke Kenmais, who had brought several large crates to Lorence's study this time around. After directing the court servants to place the crates properly and dismissing them, Duke Kenmais finally let out a long breath…
"Oh, my brother, you're really too kind — coming to visit and bringing so many gifts..." Lorence said this deliberately, knowing full well that those large crates didn't contain gifts. Between dukes like them, gifts were exchanged via a simple list, not by hauling great big boxes right in front of someone. That would be far too crude.
"You wish," Duke Kenmais immediately retorted. "These aren't gifts for you at all... Locke, I made a special trip to Flowing Water River and brought back these crates. They're all filled with new, trendy merchandise from the Antario Trade Company — your family's competitors. I wanted to broaden your horizons a bit.
He's already ordered that Flowing Water River be leased to the Antario Trade Company, with plans to establish another large trading market there. This is a clear attempt to compete with your family's Qilin Port market. Whether you look at geographical location or commercial reach, Flowing Water River holds the advantage. And with His Majesty's backing, Locke — aren't you worried about the decline of the Qilin Port market?"
Lorence smiled and shook his head. "I don't need to worry about that. While His Majesty's support of the Antario Trade Company's market at Flowing Water River does encroach on Qilin Port's commercial share, what's truly affected is only the procurement of raw materials and mineral resources. On that front, both sides suffer equally, and it's the lords of the territories producing those resources who benefit the most...
In truth, the benefit for the Qilin Port market lies in those territorial lords now having more money, which increases their purchasing volume of all kinds of goods and commodities. The Antario Trade Company establishing a trading market at Flowing Water River is simply trying to grab a slice of that pie. Ultimately, what goods and merchandise those lords choose to buy still comes down to quality and price."
On this point, Lorence was very confident. The Norton Family's territories now produced an enormous variety of goods and merchandise. Moreover, they held the advantage of maritime bulk shipping. Whether in cost or quality, Lorence believed that goods imported overland by the Antario Trade Company from the Commercial League were simply no match for their own products.
"You're too confident, Locke," Duke Kenmais said, shaking his head. "The Antario Trade Company isn't trying to compete with your Norton Family in everyday commodities. They've chosen high-end fashion goods and luxury items..."
Duke Kenmais walked over to one of the large crates, lifted the lid, and pulled out an exquisite, gleaming golden bowl, followed by a golden plate, then a golden cup. Before long, Lorence's desk was covered with all manner of golden tableware...
"This forty-five-piece golden banquet set cost me over seventy thousand gold furs," Duke Kenmais boasted with evident satisfaction.
"Are you out of your mind?" Fatty Shrade nearly jumped. "Give me twenty thousand, and I'll have someone craft two sets just like this for you..."
"Ignorance..." Duke Kenmais snorted through his nose, picked up a golden plate, and ran his fingers over an exquisite ring of patterns etched around its rim. "Take a look at these patterns first, and the maker's mark on the base, before you spout any nonsense about twenty thousand for two sets. This isn't ordinary gold tableware — at the very least, I, as head of the Kenmais family, am no fool with money to throw around..."
Lorence picked up a golden bowl and turned it over. On the base was engraved a trapezoidal signature — four somewhat stylized characters that appeared to read Bruvier.
"Bruvier? That name looks familiar..." Fatty Shrade said, clutching a golden plate.
"Heh heh, remember the Duchy of Cikodo?" Duke Kenmais asked.
What did this have to do with the Duchy of Cikodo? Lorence examined the golden bowl in his hands but couldn't spot any mark connecting it to Cikodo.
Fatty, however, suddenly realized: "You mean the Duchy of Cikodo, famous throughout the continent for its gold and silver craftsmanship? Wasn't it destroyed by the Commercial Alliance during the great war in the central-south? I believe it's now territory belonging to the Mayflower Kingdom established by the Mayflower Trading Company. The last time we helped restore the Cikodo Grand Duchy in the two provinces surrounding the Commercial Alliance, all we found was a nephew of the former Grand Duke — he inherited the title..."
"The Cikodo Grand Duchy you helped restore is a completely different matter from the original Duchy of Cikodo," Duke Kenmais commented without a shred of courtesy. "The old Kingdom of Cikodo was renowned across the entire continent for its gold and silver work. A name like Bruvier represented the very pinnacle of artisan families in that craft — they produced only about ten or so sets per year, and demand always outstripped supply. For nearly two centuries, owning even one set of Bruvier-made gold and silver tableware was a point of pride for any noble house.
What I didn't expect is that the Commercial Alliance, when they destroyed the Duchy of Cikodo, carried off the Bruvier family. Controlling the Bruvier family's gold and silver production means the Commercial Alliance has gained yet another tool for raking in gold. Locke, your Norton Family's glass tableware is indeed exquisite and luxurious, but compared to the Bruvier gold and silver sets that the Commercial Alliance is now putting out, it lacks a certain depth of heritage. I'm certain many nobles with estates in the Empire will feel the same as I do — willing to pay a premium for a set of Bruvier gold and silver tableware as a family heirloom..."
Lorence's expression turned serious. Duke Kenmais was right. His own territory's products, while varied in range and commanding nearly half the market for everyday goods on the Galentea Continent, were essentially mass-market items. Some could be classified as high-end goods or luxury products, but they lacked heritage — they were merely novel fashion trends at best.
The Commercial Alliance choosing to compete with the Norton Family on the fronts of history and brand prestige was unquestionably a shrewd move. After all, the Norton Family's rise had only begun after Lorence's return to the Northland. Though the Norton Family's history spanned over three hundred years, those centuries had been spent as a military nobility on the northern frontier of the old Krisen Empire — the family had never had the inclination to invest in the kind of cultural accumulation that had nothing to do with survival.
"What else is in those chests? Bring it all out," said Lorence.
The Duke pulled out an extremely peculiar sculpture from the chest.
"What in the world is this?" Lorence asked with curiosity. One half of the sculpture was a voluptuous female figure, the other half a skeletal male figure, the two twisted together in a way that was deeply unsettling.
"Heh heh, this is a replica of the masterwork 'Man and Woman' by Carmen Setov, the greatest artist five hundred years ago, also recreated by a renowned sculptor of later ages. I spent fifty thousand gold forties to snatch it up. Look at the lines and curves, how aesthetic and natural they are, profoundly revealing the truth that between man and woman, woman is the victor..." At that moment, Duke Kenmais suddenly became quite the romantic aesthete.
What nonsense... it just meant that even the most exhausted ox cannot plow up a field, thought Lorence, watching with a mix of amusement and exasperation as the Duke tenderly caressed the bizarre intertwined sculpture of man and woman. "Alright, alright, no one is going to snatch this thing from you. Only someone like you would treat this as a treasure. Fifty thousand gold forties? Do you just have too much money lying around?"
"Locke, you simply don't understand, this is art," Duke Kenmais said, quite displeased that Lorence called his treasure a "thing."
"Your Lordship..." Fatty Shrade, looking at the merchandise filling the study, finally spoke up.
Lorence knew what he was going to say and shook his head with a smile. "It's fine. The Antalo Trade Association bringing in these goods from the Commercial Alliance won't cause a major impact on our family's territory producing goods for the big market at Qilin Port. There might be a short-term effect, perhaps, but in the long run, we provide daily consumables, while they provide fine and luxury goods. Their prices are high, and the market demand won't be that great..."
"Aren't you worried that His Majesty the King might use this as an opportunity to suppress the big market at Qilin Port? Perhaps he'll revoke your family's administrative rights over it?" asked Duke Kenmais.
"Rest assured, he wouldn't dare do that," Lorence said, looking confident. "Although our wise King foolishly backed the Antalo Trade Association to acquire raw materials and mineral resources, cutting off this profitable business they had with our family, he still needs to rely on Qilin Port to purchase grain produced within the Empire and exchange it for large amounts of cash to support the operation of the Empire's various administrative bodies. As long as the Antalo Trade Association cannot provide him with gold coins, he will not move against Qilin Port."
Duke Kenmais sighed in relief. "That puts my mind at ease. You know that our Snow Salt Trade Association is the Empire's largest trading house. The competition between your Norton Family and the Antalo Trade Association has increased our profits by thirty percent this year. Our caravans are now aggressively purchasing raw materials and mineral resources produced by noble estates across the various provinces, then transporting them to Liushuichuan or Qilin Port for sale. As long as your competition continues and keeps acquisition prices stable, I'm planning to expand the scale of our caravan purchases even more next year…"
"The acquisition prices shouldn't change," Lorence said. "We're both in too deep to back down now—it's just a matter of who holds out longer. I'd actually prefer it if you transported all the raw materials and mineral resources you've acquired to Liushuichuan to sell. That would drain the Antalo Trade Association's cash reserves."
Duke Kenmais nodded. "I understand."
……