Vol. 1 - Ch. 35 - What Do You Mean I Have to Build a Road Just to Pick Up Goods?

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Unconsciously, several days had passed.

After the lovely(?) (and sadistic) Miss Daina left, the client for the other large order also arrived at Blackstone Fief.

When the Viscount of White Pine's convoy drove into Blackstone Town, many townspeople came out of their houses to watch curiously.

For them, this was a rare sight.

However, compared to the imposing presence of the convoy, the condition of this team... was truly hard to describe.

Those carriages, which had originally been painted with the White Pine crest, now had their lower halves completely covered in blackish-brown mud, as if they had just rolled around in a swamp.

The horses pulling the carriages all had their heads drooping, and there was even a bit of white foam at the corners of their mouths.

(ED: The description of horses with drooping heads and white foam suggests a grim scene, often indicating severe exhaustion, stress, or medical issues like dehydration and "choke". When carriage horses are overworked, they may become lethargic and hypersalivate.)

Seeing this tragic scene, Lynn covered his face, strode forward, and asked in a heartbroken tone:

"My, my, what on earth happened!

Did you encounter bandits? Or did you run into magical beasts?"

In his view, the tragic state of the Viscount of White Pine's convoy was so—

Perfect!

Under his palm, the corners of his mouth, which couldn't help but curl up, were being desperately suppressed.

'No, I can't laugh out loud yet.'

The Viscount's adjutant was covered in dust and dirt, his expression like that of someone constipated as he squeezed out a smile:

"There was no major trouble...

It's just that the small road was slightly slippery and bumpy...

That's all."

Hearing these tactful words made the corners of Lynn's mouth twitch uncontrollably.

What do you mean 'slightly slippery and bumpy'?

It wasn't as if he hadn't traveled the road from Blackstone Fief to White Pine City himself.

On the way there, Iyanna's sled had nearly jolted half his life out of him.

On the way back, he was getting his hair bitten by that old horse on one hand, while having to get down and push the cart on the other.

"Heavens, just bumpy and slippery?!"

Lynn pointed at a wooden wheel on a nearby carriage that had already become oval, his voice rising an octave:

"Look at this poor wheel! It was originally round, wasn't it? Now it's been jolted into an olive!

And look at this horse! The look in its eyes is filled with despair! It's accusing this road of murdering its knees!"

"This..."

The adjutant was somewhat dazed by Lynn's barrage-like bombardment.

He had intended to be polite and say "it's fine"; after all, as a guest, he couldn't just directly say that the other party's territory was too remote.

But as a result, Lynn's scolding was even more satisfying than his own?

"Although it seems very close to White Pine City, if the road conditions are always like this, it is a great waste of the Lord Viscount's property!"

Lynn didn't give the other party a chance to breathe at all. He directly grabbed the adjutant's hand and said affectionately:

"Your Excellency, you wouldn't want to flip over, cart and all, into a ditch the next time you come, would you?

You wouldn't want to see the Lord Viscount's precious carriage turn into a pile of rotten wood, would you?"

"I... of course I wouldn't..."

The adjutant, who had not yet recovered his senses, subconsciously nodded.

"Wonderful! I knew Your Excellency was a reasonable person!"

Lynn, his dagger revealed now that the map was unrolled, instantly revealed a brilliant smile, as if the heartbroken expression from just now was just an illusion:

"Since you also agree that road construction is urgently needed, then regarding the cost-sharing plan for the road construction funds, as well as the subsequent toll reduction agreement, I have already drafted them."

He stuffed a piece of parchment from his tunic directly into the adjutant's hands.

"???"

The adjutant's brain had not yet rebooted from the motion sickness before he discovered that he seemed to have jumped into a pit.

"Hey, wait? I just don't want to flip over... I didn't say we should build a road... This needs the Lord Viscount's..."

"My, my, building a road to avoid flipping over—that logic is very sound.

And you only expressed your agreement; the real consent naturally requires the Lord Viscount's nod, so you just need to take it back to him."

Lynn didn't give him a chance to go back on his word at all. He directly put his arm around the other party's shoulder and forcibly led him to an open space outside the castle.

Soon, they arrived in front of the temporary warehouse that Elysia and Iyanna had built through overtime.

Looking at the barrels filled with White Charcoal piled up in front of him, the adjutant's attention was instantly captured.

His first mission on this trip was to bring back enough charcoal.

"Then, Lord Lynn, we will place the food outside the warehouse."

He waved his hand, and the various foods loaded on the carriages were unloaded in a short while.

This was the consultation fee Lynn had previously requested; the mission of this convoy was to bring food while taking away charcoal.

The adjutant looked at the charcoal barrels inside the warehouse, and then his brows furrowed slightly.

"Lord Lynn, this may be a bit presumptuous, but I wonder if you could allow me to do a simple sorting first?"

Sorting?

Lynn rubbed his chin and nodded with slight confusion:

"Of course, no problem."

These White Charcoals were all skillfully burned by Elysia after she had mastered the technique; there was not much difference in quality.

In this case, was there any need for sorting?

Thus, out of curiosity, he followed behind the adjutant.

"This barrel, put it aside for now... that barrel, move it up... that barrel, don't move it."

After watching for a while, Lynn quickly realized what his sorting was targeting.

Although the quality of the charcoal was similar, because Iyanna's wood-chopping posture was very casual, plus the crooked trees themselves had many varieties, the sizes and shapes were actually uneven.

Furthermore, damage could also occur during transportation, and in addition, Lynn adhered to the principle of not being wasteful, so some barrels were filled with fine dregs.

And clearly, the adjutant believed that these charcoals with poor appearance were inferior.

This was a very common situation. Although two products were essentially no different, if the packaging and the so-called cultural connotations were different, then the market value would be different.

Lynn did not understand this; after all, he was a pragmatist.

However, precisely because he was a pragmatist, whether in his previous life or now, he immediately realized the importance of this phenomenon.

With just simple packaging, one could divide products of similar quality into completely different grades!

More uniform charcoal looked more high-end than crushed charcoal, even though the latter might burn with better effect.

"I'm truly sorry, this batch of products is just the crude production version of Blackstone Charcoal."

Lynn stood behind the adjutant and spoke with a beaming smile:

"However, we will soon be producing higher-grade products, so please inform the Lord Viscount and ask him to be more forgiving.

As compensation, these crude production charcoals will be given to the Viscount at eighty percent of the price we agreed upon before."

If Elysia were here, she would surely scream, thinking that a demon had possessed Lynn.

Otherwise, even if he died, he would never make a concession on this kind of matter.

That's right, under normal circumstances, it would indeed be so. In fact, his heart was also bleeding at this moment.

However, this twenty-percent price concession would open up a brand new business model.

And that was differentiated sales.

This was the Middle Ages, with a strict hierarchy. The rich disdained what the poor enjoyed, and the nobles disdained what the commoners enjoyed.

"Please ask the Lord Viscount to look forward to our Premium Charcoal and Special Grade Charcoal.

These two, we will exclusively supply to those who are worthy of enjoying them!"

After seeing off the Viscount's convoy, Lynn returned to the castle with a foolish smile on his face, holding a money pouch filled with gold coins.

"Well, I've finally found you... Wipe your drool, it's about to drip onto the floor."

Hearing Elysia's voice, he immediately put away his smile:

"Shouldn't it be work time now? Get back to work!"

The silver-haired witch forcibly suppressed her clenched fists:

"I came to pass on a message for Theodore! He said,

'That fellow is so noisy, it's affecting my experiments. When are you going to deal with him.'"

Oh right, he seemed to have forgotten about this matter.

Five days ago, he had thrown the Blood Snake Society killer into Theodore's laboratory, planning to deal with him when he had some free time.

"Hmph hmph, that reminds me. Let him witness my terror. Hehehe!"