The silent constant temperature array blocked the bleak cold wind outside the castle. The decorations on the walls were shining with shields. The gorgeous classical tapestries depicted symbols about heroes, monsters and gods. The precious incense from the hands of the fairy quietly exuded a pleasant and elegant fragrance in the copper incense box. The glory of the magic crystal stone lamp sprinkled from the roof and sprinkled in the gold-edged teacup. The bright red liquid emitted a warm floating light inside.

The gray elf Wenna picked up the teacup in front of her and gently shook the liquid with distinct texture. The light-colored eyes reflected a small spot of light: "The goods from the Tifeng Empire? This... is indeed novel. What is it?"

"Textiles, mainly textiles, as well as dyes and white crystals," said Beardwin with a smile. "Great quality and sufficient supply - friends of the Western Plains tribe should like it."

"If you don't say anything else, I'm really interested in textiles," Wenna raised her eyes, "Can I look at the sample?"

Bodevin stood up with a smile and nodded to the servant next to him: "Of course, this is - open."

The attendant opened the wooden box containing the samples. The guests from the Agure Tribe immediately looked out with curiosity. Duke Bodevin personally stepped forward, took out a piece of white cloth from the wooden box, and handed it to the gray elf Wenna: "Madam, please check it out."

Wenna reached out to take the fabric and looked at it carefully with expectation and curiosity, but within a few seconds her expectant expression became a little stunned and disappointed. After a brief silence, the head of the Gray Elf tribe frowned and shook her head: "My friend, I was just praising the creativity of human craftsmen in the field of art... Now I am a little confused."

While saying that, she raised her head and looked at Duke Bedwin curiously: "I am forgiving the far-off Tifeng Empire is not good at craftsmanship? You should also see that although the fabric is strong, it has no taste in weaving and patterns. Apprentices who have just learned to weave can weave such things, it..."

"Sixteen silver shields." Berdevin said suddenly.

"What?" Wenna didn't react for a moment.

"Sixteen silver shields," Bodevin smiled and gently patted the wooden box at his hand, "Total one hundred and sixty rulers."

The gray elf Wenna couldn't help but tremble: "...Are you kidding?"

"The last time I reported the price of alchemy potion to you, you had the same expression and words," Berdevin shook his head and sat back on his high-back chair, with the expression on his face serious. "This is the real price - as you can see, these fabrics are indeed tasteless in weaving and patterning, because they are woven by machines. With current machine technology, they can only weave such fabrics. They really cannot reach the eyes of the upper nobles, but in terms of price... it will definitely be very popular among the middle-class citizens and civilians."

"Machine...I'm not the first time I've heard this word," Wenna's face of surprise and disappointment had disappeared, and instead she thought, "If it's made by machines, I can understand its price, but I have a problem - even if it's made by machines, you still have to transport these fabrics from the distant Tifeng to the western border. After such a long journey, are these things still so cheap? In my understanding, even if a stone is transported from the east of your country to the west, the travel fee alone is a big number."

"We are building new roads, new transportation technology can enable the rapid delivery of bulk goods - of course, even so transportation costs exist, the profits of these fabrics are very, very thin, but the Franklin family has always been looking for long-term business partners, and small profits and quick turnover are our code of conduct, which you should know."

Duke Bedevin said with a frank expression, with a sincere and gentle smile on his face.

The gray elf Wenna looked at the smile on Bodewen's face, and then said after two seconds of silence: "You are really sincere when you are talking about business... So, you just shipped the cheap fabric sold to you by Tifeng to the west and sold it to us... This is different from the previous alchemy potion."

"The essence of trade is to convert the journey into profits, and transportation also costs money," Berdevin nodded, "but no matter what, these fabrics will probably still produce great value in your hands. After all... Putting aside taste, their quality is still high-quality and worthy of the price."

The gray elf's eyes narrowed slightly, which was her habitual movement when she was thinking.

"The elves love art, and exquisiteness and taste are elements that we value very much," after a few seconds of thinking, she slowly opened her eyes, and a glimmer of light eyes flashed. "My friend, no doubt - gold coins are the most tasteful thing in the world."

"It's very consistent with your personal style - it's also mine," Berdevin's smile bloomed. "Then if everything goes well, we will be able to officially start accepting textile orders next spring, and the specific amount will be discussed again. The alchemy potion will be based on the previously agreed delivery time and will not be affected by textile orders. As for the settlement..."

"Half of gold coins, half of grain and medicinal materials," Wenna said proactively, "our king has agreed to your request, and we know... the troubles encountered by the Cecil Empire, as old friends, we are happy to help - the first order of grain will arrive at the border before winter."

"Thank you to the Grey Elves on my behalf," said Beardwen, standing up and sincerely, "we will not forget every help from our friends."

Wenna stood up and returned the gift, then looked at another box: "So, these should be another sample?"

"Yes, let me show you..."

...

The brilliance of the huge sun gradually sinks westward, and the increasingly brilliant glow begins to cover the earth along the clouds. The nameless birds chirp in the background of the clouds and the sky, hurried back to their nests. Wenna, who left the castle, raised her hand, lifted her hair on her forehead, and looked back at the classical and gorgeous castle of the Franklin family.

"What a big business..." The gray elf said softly to himself.

The Honggu people walking beside them couldn't help but frown: "They must have made more."

Wenna shook her head: "Don't focus on how much others make when doing business. No one comes to do business with you just to lose money."

The gentle man spoke: "But no matter what, the prices of those fabrics are still surprising. After a long transportation, they are still so cheap... It is really hard to imagine how cheap the Tifeng Empire was when it exported these things to Cecil."

"Yes... it's really hard to imagine..." Wenna turned her head again and glanced at the castle with a history of hundreds of years.

A craftsman was busy on the platform on the side of the castle, installing a strange magic device with indescribable purpose on the platform. The magic device had a base made of metal and huge crystals.

What an ancient castle, it feels almost as old as this land.

But she vaguely felt that something young was growing on this land.

What about commodities from the far east, on the other side of the mainland... It's really a long journey.

...

Bedevin Franklin stood in front of the window of the reception room, watching the guests of the Auguri tribe take their own carriages and gradually disappear from the corner of the road in the distance, and then he retracted his eyes.

A young man in a royal blue coat and a golden brooch on his chest walked into the room, stood behind Beardwin, and shouted respectfully: "Father."

"Eliven," Duke Bedevin turned around and smiled softly at his eldest son, "You should hear it very clearly in the next room--judging from your expression, you seem to have a very doubt."

The young man named Elivan stood up straight. As he was just a grown-up, he was accustomed to following every word of his father's teaching, but he already had many of his own thoughts and questions: "Yes, Father - why did you confess that the fabrics were from Tifong at the first time?"

Bodewen looked at his eldest son quietly: "Why not confess?"

"...You have taught me that when we can monopolize the supply sources, confidential supply channels are one of the important means to maintain monopoly and ensure profits. We imported textiles from Tifeng and then sold to the Ogure Tribe State, which is essentially just reselling. But if we don't say it, the Ogure Tribe State would not know these, and we can raise the price a little more - but now, the gray elves already know the source of those textiles, and sooner or later they will confirm the approximate price of textiles exported by Tifeng Empire. Transparent costs are the biggest taboo in doing business..."

Bodewen waited patiently for the young man to finish speaking, and shook his head: "You can think of these, which means you are indeed learning what I taught you seriously, but you can only think of these, which means you are learning only the basics.

"The first point is that what we need to do is long-term business, and it is a business from country to country. This kind of business requires stability rather than temporary huge profits. The gray elves are not a closed group. They will one day know the source of those textiles. Although from a commercial perspective, our behavior of keeping the supply channels confidential is not a deceptive, if we use this to make too much trouble on the price, then sooner or later we will damage the feelings of our trading partners and future business.

"The second point is that even if I disclose the source of goods, we don't have to worry that this business will fall apart, because Cecil is the only channel for maintaining east-west trade in the northern part of the mainland. To the south are Gondor wasteland, to the north are wastelands, mountains and cold winters, trade goods from the Tifeng Empire are to be transported to the Ogure Tribe State, and we can only take this route - unless the gray elves or elves find a way to break through the ocean blockade and restart the North Ring Road route.

"The third and most important point: do you think our Emperor asked me to sell those things to the Agure Tribe State at a price of nearly zero profit, really just to sell textiles?"

The young son of the duke was confused for a moment, and then he showed a thoughtful look.

Berdevin Franklin laughed and shook his head: "What we really want to sell is the railway."

Elivin's eyes widened.

Berdevin's gaze moved away from his eldest son and landed on the shelf not far away. On the shelf was a gift given to him by Emperor Gowan Cecil before leaving the city of Saint Sunil.

Model of the first freight magic train.

Exquisite and clever, it comes from the "hands" of St. Nicholas Egg, the chief craftsman of the Empire.

However, this model is too strange, and it cannot see its purpose or its "artistic value", so that the gray elf Wenna's attention was attracted by the flashy magic power, and she did not notice this item that truly symbolized the Empire era.

But he believed that it would not take long before the kings of the Agure tribe state would notice it.

"Elivin, maybe I'm too persistent in raising you into someone like me, and I've ignored your true expertise and interests."

"Father?" The young duke's son was a little surprised, and then a little frightened, "Father, I'm not..."

"Don't be nervous, child," Bodevin shook his head, "You still make me proud, but now you need to be more diligent to keep up with the era created by His Majesty. Magic technology, trains, Magic Network Radio, Alchemy Industry... There are so many new things in the new era, and these things, the teachers in the castle and the scholars in the territory themselves, and they cannot teach you.

"The West is too far from the center of the empire, far away from new technologies and knowledge, and far away from the true 'civilized society'.

"We cannot wait at home for civilized society to come, and we must take the initiative to contact us.

"Your Majesty is building more educational facilities and a new Imperial Academy in the imperial capital Cecil. I have ordered that five hundred intelligent young people from all over the West be selected to study, and you can go too - as the leader of the school group, go to the south together. The old aristocratic era has ended, and the Franklin family is no longer the direct ruler of this land, but you still shoulder the responsibility of fighting for the land and the people on this land.

"I believe the snow-like duchess in the north are doing the same thing-we never lag behind."

Elivan quietly faced the Duke of the West, and after a long time, he lowered his head deeply: "Yes, father."
Chapter completed!