Chapter 363: New Trading Route
“Setting out from the Western Region?” Margaret asked, curiosity edging into her voice. “I didn’t know there was a harbor that leads to the sea here.”
“There isn’t yet. But we can build one.”
Her eyes widened. “Your Highness, are you serious?”
“Of course.” Roland smiled. “By next spring, we should be able to begin construction.”
Cold pressed in at the hall’s tall windows — the grey stone letting winter announce itself regardless of the fire. He’d grown accustomed to this. Border Town’s cold was a constant, less a discomfort than a baseline against which warmth measured itself.
In this era, harbors were, without exception, gifts of geography. Man-made harbors — projects that required remaking the land itself — were practically impossible. But now that he had Tilly’s full support, he needed only to wait for the housing construction on Sleeping Island to finish, for Lotus to return to the Western Region, and for the demon-beast crisis to have subsided. Spring would arrive. The harbor would follow.
He rose and pointed to the map hung behind him. “In the south of Border Town there’s a shoreline where the depth is ideal and the surface area more than sufficient — room enough for every facility a working harbor requires. A few modifications, the coastal ridges flattened, and I can run goods from the inland Western Region straight to the water.”
“Modifying the shore and flattening the ridges.” Margaret tilted her head. “Why is it that when you speak of these astonishing plans, I always get the impression they’re not difficult at all?” She smiled. “But do you have a merchant fleet? Sea ships and inland river ships are very different animals.”
“At the moment, no.” Roland spread his hands. “Which is one reason I hope you’ll participate.”
“I’d provide the ships?”
“And manage shipping and sales,” he added. “The Western Region supplies the goods. You handle everything else.”
Exclusive dealership rights in the Fjord region. A merchant of Margaret’s experience could smell the shape of those profits from across the room. If Roland built his own fleet and sold direct, the margin would be higher — but he had no interest in bleeding manpower and attention into maritime trade. What he wanted was capital, quickly, to sustain the territory’s pace. Primitive accumulation first; credit could wait.
As expected, she blinked, and the excitement was already in her eyes. “You’re entrusting it all to me?”
“If the price is reasonable.” Roland nodded. “If you’re willing to manage Western Region’s overseas trade, we can discuss details now. Sales territory is limited to the Fjords, and prices must not fall below what the Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan currently pays.”
“That’s a given.” She spoke with a merchant’s absolute assurance. “The steam-powered boat alone — a vessel that doesn’t rely on wind — is already worth a bidding war among maritime trading teams. Selling directly into the Fjord Islands, I’m confident we double the price.”
“We share the excess profits.” Roland laughed. “And there’s a second major product besides the steam engine.” He clapped once. A guard stepped in from the hall bearing a plate with four or five gleaming crystal bottles, each no larger than a thumb.
“This is…”
“Open it and smell.”
Curious, Margaret pulled the cork and sniffed. Her eyes lit. “My gosh — perfume. You actually created perfume.”
“How does it compare with what the Alchemist Workshop in King’s City produces?”
She raised the bottle and turned it in the light, clearly charmed. “Stronger fragrance, I think. Was this made by the Alchemist Workshop here in Border Town?”
“More or less.” Roland took a bottle for himself and turned it gently. At his instruction, the bottles had been blown from crystal of excellent clarity, each ground to the same hexagonal-prism shape. Under direct light, the liquid inside shifted through shades — amber to gold to a deep liquid rose. The presentation mattered as much as the scent; if later centuries had taught him anything, it was that exquisite packaging elevated a product by a third in the customer’s mind. As the hit product meant to open the Fjords market, he’d been careful with every detail.
The perfume was, compared to the steam engine, nearly free to produce. Once Evelyn understood that her gift — the ability to concentrate spirits past any natural limit — applied equally to distillation, she had begun producing liquors of extraordinary purity, sometimes skipping the final step entirely. Leaf, meanwhile, had extracted and condensed rose oil and flower essences into small batches. Two or three crushed stalks filled an entire bottle with fragrance.
“If you like them, these few bottles are yours.” He set the plate down.
“Really?” Margaret smiled. “Then I won’t be courteous.”
“I’m told it commands high prices in the Fjords?”
“The Alchemist Workshop in King’s City releases only a very limited stock each year — a thousand bottles, perhaps, nowhere near satisfying demand. Most of what sells in the outer regions has already passed through maritime merchants’ hands once.” She paused, then looked at him. “How many bottles can your Workshop produce in a year?”
“If material supply holds, approximately ten times King’s City.” Roland gave the figure deliberately low. He had no interest in flooding the market and selling perfume like grain at a harvest fair, earning four or five thousand gold royals when the thing could command five times that. Perfume alongside the steam engine — that was the formula. Not cabbage pricing. Hit-product pricing.
Margaret was quiet for a long moment. Beyond the window, grey sky sat flat and low over the town rooftops. Then she exhaled. “Your territory,” she said slowly, “is truly full of the unexpected.”
“Does that mean you’re willing to manage sales?”
“Of course, Your Highness.” She rose and bowed. “I consider this a rare opportunity.”
After the general terms were settled, Roland passed the contractual details to Barov and returned to his office to draft a letter to Theo — still in hiding in King’s City.
Whether to press the attack against Timothy or to build a new trading route: the answer was both. He had no intention of committing everything to a single gamble. Even if the assault failed, saltpeter production had to continue.
The solution was self-sufficiency.
In the letter, alongside his intentions to move against the capital, he took care to encourage Theo to contact the nitre plants in King’s City’s outskirts, to find workers from those operations and arrange for them to come west.
Life had not been kind to the saltpeter trade this year. Timothy’s export ban had been bad enough; the forced low-price sales to the Alchemist Workshop had wrung what remained from the merchants’ margins. Nitre-field profits had collapsed. Roland was confident that generous wages would be sufficient — entire factories’ worth of workers, if necessary.
The principle of saltpeter production was not complicated. Border Town’s population was growing steadily, and it could already supply the volume of raw material the fields required. Every condition for self-production was in place. Before Timothy fell, this was the most reliable guarantee he had.
Chapter 363: New Trading Route
Translator: Meh/TransN Editor: – –
“Setting out from the… Western Region?” Margaret asked curiously. “I didn’t know that there’s a good harbor that leads to the sea here.”
“There isn’t yet, but we can build one.”
Her eyes widened, “Your Highness, are you serious?”
“Of course. By next spring, we should be able to begin the construction.” Roland smiled and said.
In this era, harbors were, without exception, natural. Construction projects which required transforming the natural landscape, such as man-made harbors, were practically impossible.
However, now that he had obtained Tilly’s full support, he simply had to wait until the housing construction in Sleeping Island was completed, after which Lotus would come back to the Western Region, and furthermore, the crisis caused by the demonic beasts should have subsided by then. It would then be a suitable time to start work on the harbor.
He stood up and pointed to a map that was hung behind him. “In the south of Border Town, there’s a shore where the depth of water is ideal and the surface area is highly suitable, sufficient to accommodate all of the facilities required by the harbor. By making only a few modifications, and also flattening the ridges along the coast, I’ll be able to transport goods from the inland of Western Region to the harbor.”
“Modifying the shore… and flattening the ridges? Why is it that when you speak of these astonishing plans, I seem to get the impression that they are not difficult at all?” Margaret said with interest. “However, do you have a
merchant fleet? You should know that sea ships and inland river ships are very different.”
“At the moment, no.” Roland spread his hands. “This is also one of the reasons why I hope that you’ll participate.”
“I’ll provide the ships?”
“And also be responsible for shipping and selling,” he added, “while Western Region will only provide the goods.”
This was equivalent to possessing the exclusive dealership in the fjord region, and with her experience, Margaret could smell the potential profits. If he created his own merchant fleet and sold goods to the Fjords himself, the profits would be higher, but Roland did not want to expend too much energy and manpower in this area. He simply wanted to obtain some funds as soon as possible, in order to maintain the rapid development of his territory. After the primitive accumulation was completed, it would only be a matter of time before he introduced credit.
As expected, the businesswoman blinked her eyes and excitedly asked, “You’re entrusting it all to me?”
“If the price is reasonable.” Roland nodded. “If you’re willing to take care of Western Region’s overseas trade, we can discuss the details right now. The selling area is limited to the Fjords, and the selling price must not be lower than the price at which we’re currently selling to the Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan.”
“That’s for sure. The steam-powered boat, which doesn’t rely on wind power to sail continuously, has alone made it worth it for maritime trading teams to compete for and buy goods at high prices.” She said in a highly assured voice, “If selling directly to the Fjord Islands, I’m confident of doubling the price.”
“We can share the excess profits together.” Roland laughed. “And, aside from the steam engine, there’s also another major product.” He clapped his hands, and a guard who was waiting outside the hall immediately walked in with a
plate in hand. On top of the plate was four or five gleaming crystal bottles, and each of them was only about the size of a thumb.
“This is…”
“Open it and smell.”
Feeling curious, Margaret pulled the cork from the top of the bottle and sniffed. Her eyes immediately lit up. “My gosh, you actually created perfume!”
“I wonder, how is it compared with the perfume created by the Alchemist Workshop in King’s City?”
“The fragrance seems to be stronger.” She raised up and scrutinized the bottle, seeming very fond of it. “Was this manufactured by the Alchemist Workshop in Border Town?”
“More or less.” Roland also took a bottle and placed it in his palm. In accordance with his demands, the perfume bottles were made by firing crystals of excellent transparency, and each of them had the same hexagonal prism shape. By spinning the bottle gently under light, the perfume inside the bottle would change into various shades of color, and looked extremely aesthetically pleasing. If the sales concept of later generations was anything to go by, exquisite packaging could greatly increase the quality of the product itself. As the perfume served as the hit product to open up the Fjords’ market, he naturally took great care with every aspect.
Compared to the steam engine, the perfume could be described as real lowcost goods. When Evelyn realized that “the spiciest White Liquor” was also a type of liquor, she started to continually produce liquors with very high concentrations and even skipped the final step of distillation. As for roses and other flowers with unique smells, they were made into various oil products by Leaf. By mashing only two or three stalks of flowers, it produced sufficient fragrance to fill a bottle of liquor.
“If you like, I’ll give these few bottles to you.” He placed the perfume back on the plate.
“Really?” Margaret smiled, “Then I shall not be courteous.”
“I heard that this thing can be sold in the Fjords at a high price?”
“You should know, the Alchemist Workshop in King’s City sells only a very limited stock of perfumes every year. The thousand or so bottles don’t come anywhere close to fulfilling the demand. In fact, of the perfumes sold in other regions, a large portion is bought by maritime merchants and resold in the Fjords.”
Margaret paused after she said this. “I wonder, how many bottles of perfume can your Alchemist Workshop produce a year?”
“If there’s sufficient material, it should be approximately ten times the amount produced by the Alchemist Workshop in King’s City.” Roland deliberately downplayed the actual figure. He did not want to sell this highly profitable good as if it was cabbage, or earn only four or five thousand gold pieces a year. Along with the steam engine, the perfume served as his hit product, and Roland hoped that it would be able to bring back a similar profit.
“…” The businesswoman remained silent for a long while before she heaved, “Your territory is truly full of the unexpected.”
“So, does that mean you’re willing to manage the sales of these goods?”
“Of course, Your Highness.” She stood up and bowed to Roland. “I find this to be a rare opportunity.”
…
After a general agreement was reached, the specific details and contractual terms were handed over to Barov to negotiate. Roland returned to his office and prepared to write a letter to Theo, who was hiding in King’s City.
Whether to initiate an attack and overthrow Timothy, or to open up a new trading route, a fine balancing act was required. Roland did not want to put
all his eggs in one basket. He hoped that even if the attack failed, he could continue to obtain saltpeter.
And the way to do this was self-production.
In the letter, aside from mentioning his intention to attack, he made a point to encourage Theo to contact the nitre plants in the surrounding areas of King’s City and purchase a batch of nitre workers to send to Western Region.
This year, life was certainly not rosy for saltpeter merchants. Apart from prohibiting exports, Timothy also forced the merchants to sell at a low price to Alchemist Workshop. As a result, the profits of saltpeter fields naturally sank. Roland believed that as long as the pay was good enough, it would not be a problem to obtain entire factories’ worth of workers.
The principle of saltpeter production was not complicated. At present, the population of Border Town was continually increasing, and could already satisfy the large amount of faeces required by the saltpeter fields. All of the conditions for self-production were fully met. Before defeating Timothy, this was undoubtedly one of the most stable guarantees.