Chapter 125

The day after I entered Hamburg, I summoned the apprentice of Hamburg and all the members of the Ten-Man Committee.

After arriving early at the designated location and quietly sipping tea while waiting, the apprentice and the committee members entered.

Ten years ago, I was in a much worse position than them, but now they come running to me as soon as I call…

Back then, they were super nobles, and I was just a bit of debris, like a B or C rank in the hierarchy.

Now, I’ve become the super noble, and they’re acting like commoners in front of me… It’s truly a nostalgic feeling.

While I was deep in thought, the apprentice represented them and greeted me first.

“I am Endolo Panini, the apprentice of Hamburg. It’s an honor to meet Your Excellency, who is renowned as a great ruler and a connoisseur of commerce.”

“I am SIEL von Croilet, the rightful Count reigning over Croilet. I apologize for summoning you unexpectedly.”

“Not at all. If it were any other noble, it might be different, but if our most significant business partner has come personally… even if I were in the midst of a romantic encounter with a beauty, I would come running.”

“Then let’s talk while enjoying tea and pastries first. These are new macarons made in Croilet. They have a lot of cream inside, so they might be quite sweet; please eat them together with the black tea I’ve set aside.”

At those words, we all remained silent, furtively checking each other’s reactions as we ate the macarons and drank the tea.

Since we were so cautious while eating, I felt like I was missing out on the taste, but it was only polite to treat them properly since I had invited them, no matter how mighty I thought I was.

After finishing the pastries, the apprentice drank all the tea in his cup and set it down as he spoke.

“I heard about Your Majesty’s marriage to the Northern Imperial Princess… It seems the expenses for the wedding were quite substantial… and that you are in need of funds… How much do you require?”

If they asked how much they could lend, it would allow them to easily gauge how much they could invest in the new deal I was proposing.

After all, I am currently a reputable client with a credit rating of 1++, so the chance of me running away without repayment is 0%.

They would surely think to lend me as much money as possible to gain massive interest profits and wield various influences while I repay them.

So, first, I had to make a bold demand and ascertain their hidden intentions. After all, I wasn’t planning to borrow money anyway.

Thus, I asked them in a serious tone.

“Could you lend me about 300,000 gold coins upfront?”

Upon hearing this, the apprentice of Hamburg stiffened his face and replied.

“We would have to exhaust all the cash we currently have… No matter how important a business partner Your Excellency is to us… we cannot lend 300,000 gold coins at once. We need to retain a minimum amount for our next dealings.”

“For a free city of commerce, that amount is rather small.”

Hearing this, the apprentice jumped up from his seat and slammed his hand on the table, saying, “Only Your Excellency could say something like that! 300,000 gold coins is equivalent to at least two to three years’ income of a Duke or Marquis from another country!!”

“I apologize. I mistook it because the money I earn from my territory is about 300,000 gold coins annually. If so, then how much could you lend?”

“If it’s 100,000 coins, or even up to 150,000 coins, we could lend that much.”

They could gather all the money they had and lend me 150,000… In that case, I could sell approximately 3,000 tons…

With this, I could completely replace the demand for Architel Mountain wine for the time being.

Then, after inflicting a tremendous blow to the wine exports that constitute a large part of Architel’s economy, I could claim that everything resulted from Croilet producing good wine. Merchants would surely rise up in arms.

“Great, so you can lend up to 150,000 coins?”

“Yes. We cannot lend any more… this is our limit.”

“I appreciate the apprentice’s sincerity. Then, as a gesture of thanks to you and the committee, I will specially present you with the finest wine. Let’s have a toast.”

After saying this, Chris, who was standing behind me, placed glasses in front of them and poured the wine.

As the wine circulated among everyone, I raised my glass to the sky and said, “To the prosperity of the free city of Hamburg and Croilet!”

“For equitable trade between both parties!”

Then, everyone emptied their wine glasses at the same time.

“This quality is extraordinary. Truly Your Excellency, with this, it’s a luxury that is hard to come by even in Architel…”

“Mmm… it’s very delicious and has a deep flavor.”

“Apprentice, didn’t Count Croilet bring this? Then it’s natural that it would be something even the Architel Duke would find hard to drink. Isn’t that right?”

What they were drinking was indeed wine made from the best grapes harvested in our territory…

Given the nature of their profession of dealing with numerous nobles, if they could genuinely appreciate the wine enough to distinguish high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade just by tasting it…

This demonstrates once again that this is indeed a wine that truly works.

Now it’s time to shatter their expectations.

“Indeed, this wine is made from grapes from our territory. That’s why it’s something even the Architel Duke would find hard to drink. In fact, it’s something he cannot drink at all.”

After hearing this, the apprentice and the committee members initially had stunned expressions and stood there dumbfounded, but soon lost their composure and began to bombard me with questions.

“No matter how much Your Excellency has created delicious dishes… this is impossible! You couldn’t obtain a flavor like this using grapes from Croilet rather than those from Architel!”

“Perhaps one of Your Excellency’s servants mistook the high-quality Architel wine for the wine from Croilet when pouring it. Otherwise, how could this taste be achieved?”

“Apprentice’s words are correct. The sugar content of grapes from Architel is on another level; it cannot even be imitated! That’s why we cannot produce wine superior to that from Architel. But how could this…”

I looked at the committee member in front of me, placed my finger to my lips, and smiled slyly as I spoke.

“That’s a trade secret. I can’t tell you that, can I?”

Hearing that, they grimaced and nodded.

“And that’s not what’s important. What matters is that a level of wine has been created that can completely replace Architel’s wine. Plus, you get the chance to sell it before anyone else, don’t you?”

“Yes, indeed. Then what would the price be…”

I slightly pushed my body inside the table where the apprentice and committee members were sitting, raised the right corner of my mouth, and said, “If Architel wine was at least 90 gold coins per ton… then we will only charge 60 gold coins per ton. And I would like you to purchase 3,000 tons and sell the entire amount.”

“….. 3,000 tons? Even if it’s wine of the same taste and quality as Architel wine… even selling it for just 60 gold coins, we would have difficulty processing that volume at once…”

If they didn’t intend to purchase, they would have said it was hard to handle, or they would have made some strange excuse to back out.

However, since they were positive they could make a profit even if they bought out the entire stock, they were certainly asserting it would be hard to handle all at once.

Given that, it would be best to openly acknowledge their forgery while asking for a lower price.

“Alright then, let’s do this. I will sell it for 50 gold coins per ton, but I would like you to fulfill a small request of mine…”

“Sure, what sort of request would that be…”

“Just wait a moment. Let me get that.”

Then a man’s voice could be heard from outside the door.

“Yes, understood.”

After about five minutes, the door opened, and one of my soldiers rolled in an oak barrel.

Next, he set the barrel near the table where we were seated and left.

I pointed to the oak barrel and said, “My small request is for you to sell the wine in this oak barrel as if it were from Architel. If you do so, I will sell it to you for 50 gold coins per ton for 3,000 tons.”

The apprentice and committee members exchanged worried glances and said, “If we buy it for 55 gold coins, we won’t suffer any losses… so let’s just buy it at 55…”

“No, buy it for 50 gold coins. And look at the bottom of the oak barrel. It has the official seal used by the Architel brewing guild to certify original products.”

Upon hearing this, the apprentice examined the bottom of the oak barrel and said, “It’s difficult to obtain a proper seal for just a few thousand gold coins. Where did you find this?”

“That’s something you don’t need to know. What do you think? Just this once… just this one time would allow you a way to deny if caught… so what profits could be made?”

“….. Alright. But this is a one-time deal only. And we must not incur losses if the sales from that wine fall below 200,000 gold coins. Should we incur a loss, you will need to compensate the amount that does not reach 200,000 gold coins.”

These crafty individuals, but given the sale of this, this scheme is almost like a success already.

I could invest that much.

“Good, I can make that happen quickly. And… I want to make a truly special proposal to you. No, I mean a contract where only one of us in this room will gain from it.”

This made the apprentice and committee members focus intently on my words.

I cautiously said to them, “Until now, I have supplied sugar evenly to all of you, but instead of doing so, I now wish to sign a contract with just one family among you. Of course, it would be exclusive, so benefits would be granted… Isn’t that an enticing proposal?”