Chapter 315 — One Step Forward

Amber knew perfectly well that the "rules" Gao Yang had laid down were unlike anyone else's—just as Gao Yang's whole way of thinking was unlike anyone else's.

Would a normal person sell off his own advanced technological achievements? Would a normal person work so hard to drive magical power—something that ought to belong solely to nobles and extraordinaries—down to the price of cabbages? Would a normal person establish an administrative hall and a whole apparatus of government, delegating the powers that ought to be a lord's sole prerogative to "civil servants" of lowborn or even common origin?

Gao Yang had done all of it, and every time he had done so with reasons and precedents to back him up.

"The Magic Web has already begun spreading through the Southern Region. Prototypes of imitation work have appeared on noble lands near the Leslie and Kant domains. Several great nobles with sufficient wealth and good information have also learned of the magic-energy engine, and they should be very interested. Just as you planned from the beginning—let Viscount Andrew, rather than anyone from the Cecil domain, front the sales. That will further allay the Southern nobles' misgivings. Barring the unexpected, once spring comes and the trade routes open up, we'll have a steady torrent of income flowing in—just in time to buy more raw ore and expand the population."

After hearing Amber's report, Gao Yang nodded slightly. "Viscount Andrew is a familiar face in the Southern Region. His connections can help us put the primitive Magic Web and the magic-energy engines into other nobles' hands—and once they've tasted even a little of the sweetness... they won't be able to refuse what comes next."

"There's also word from Padric. The alchemical potions are still selling well through the winter; some merchants have even put down roots at the Eastern border and on the Holy Spirit Plain. But the large quantities of cheap potions in their hands have drawn the attention of the local lords, and Padric is a little worried about it," Amber reported, all business. "He's afraid those nobles will, driven by profit, squeeze the distribution end of the merchant guild... His exact words were: not every noble is as honest and trustworthy as Duke Cecil, doing business with a conscience."

Gao Yang lifted his eyelids. "What exactly is the situation? I doubt he sent you nothing but complaints."

"Can't hide anything from you," Amber said, scratching her hair. "He says there have already been a few rather nasty incidents. Further north, some local nobles detained our potion merchants and demanded they sell half their goods to them at an extremely low price—or else they'd declare our potion merchants illegal traders."

Gao Yang looked intrigued. "Oh? An extremely low price? How low is that?"

"...A third. A quarter, even," Amber said, her face clouding with indignation. "That's plain robbery!"

Gao Yang couldn't help laughing. "Hmm... given the current selling price and the costs over at the alchemy factory, even a quarter still leaves a profit."

"And you're laughing?" Amber stared at him, dumbstruck. "They're robbing the Cecil domain blind! If they weren't still mindful of your name, I'm afraid they wouldn't be demanding part of the goods—they'd just plunder the merchants outright!"

"Outright plunder wouldn't do at all. That way no one would dare keep selling potions on their lands, and my reach wouldn't extend there," Gao Yang said, stroking his chin. "Hmm. Draft an order for me to send to Padric. Tell him that the merchants who've already gained a foothold should take the initiative to approach the local nobles. A quarter of the price, is it? Fine. The Cecil domain is willing to sell them potions in bulk at a quarter of the price—our potion merchants can even set aside half of every shipment specially for them. The condition being that those local lords must protect the Cecil potion merchants' distribution rights on their lands, and must prevent other traditional herbalists and alchemists from suppressing and squeezing out the potion merchants."

Seeing Amber's dumbstruck expression, Gao Yang asked with deliberate amusement, "Do you think those local lords will agree to these terms?"

Amber gaped for a long while before words finally burst out. "Of course they'll agree! Only an idiot wouldn't! That works out to a bottle of alchemical potion for a dozen copper coins! With a boon that huge, you wouldn't even need to tell them—they'd protect the potion merchants on their own, maybe even help them haul cargo! But what good does that do you..."

Gao Heng cut her off as soon as she finished. "What do you think those local lords are buying the cheap alchemical potions for?"

"What for?" Amber blinked. "It can't possibly be to gargle with..."

"Definitely not for their own use," the half-elf looked adorable when she sank into a state of bewilderment, but Gao Yang had no intention of teasing her this time. "Our alchemical potions are watered-down 'inferior goods.' They're still good stuff for common folk and adventurers, but they'd never again catch a noble's eye. Those local lords surely know that in advance—so there's only one reason they'd buy cheap potions in bulk: they're for their own subordinates. For their private soldiers, their guards, their hired muscle."

Amber wasn't stupid; it was only that her habits of thought sometimes left her stuck in a rut. With Gao Yang's slight prompting, she realized just what sort of scheme this cunning old zongzi in front of her was brewing.

"You mean..."

"Ship in bulk. As much as they want, we have it. The generous Duke Cecil will see that every noble army in the Southern Region is equipped with fine, cheap alchemical potions. Brave soldiers will no longer have to pack foul-smelling black salve and mashed roots into their wounds. And in the process, I'll collect only a tiny, trivial sum for costs," Gao Yang said, leaning back in his chair, unhurried. "With good alchemical potions available, no one will keep using those near-useless herbal salves and witch remedies. The expensive traditional alchemical potions will vanish overnight. Do you know what that means?"

Amber instinctively touched her neck. "This is what you meant last time... the noose?"

"Exactly. The noose," Gao Yun breathed out softly. "None of them want to see the Cecil family rise again, so they'll use every trick they think clever, fighting tooth and nail to drain blood from the Cecil family. So I'll let them drain it—and while I'm at it, slip a rope around each of their necks."

After a pause, Gao Yi glanced at Amber with a smile. "Watered-down alchemical potions have a very short shelf life, you know."

In the great laboratory of the Runic Research Institute, Pi Yun had received Jennie's invitation and come to view a special magic circle.

The unkempt old druid still looked as unreliable as ever. Though he was now the man in charge of druidic spells and the arcane-alchemical industry, with a double-digit number of apprentices under him, a research team and projects of his own, he still wore a plain, worn gray cotton robe, with all sorts of talismans—useful and useless alike—hanging from every part of his body. A shock of white hair covered the top of his head in disarray, pinned down by a faded earth-yellow soft cap, and a pair of shrewd little eyes darted endlessly beneath the loose strands of hair at the cap's edge. Anyone's first impression of him was to wonder whether the old fellow might suddenly pull out a deck of cards and offer to read your fortune—and never to associate him with anything like "divine rune expert" or "druid mentor."

But he truly was an expert in that field.