Chapter 513 — Among the People

Corde, a great merchant of the Carol region, came from a family that had traded for generations. In his youth he had gone out into the world alone and made a name for himself in the northern Southern Marches. Sharp-eyed, bold in action yet never reckless, he was a model merchant who seized every profit while keeping scrupulously to the spirit of a contract. His family's trade spanned furs, spices, and potions, and thanks to his wide circle of friends he had channels in both the Holy Spirit Plain and the Eastern Marches.

Pal was Corde's eldest son—barring mishap, this young man of considerable commercial talent would inherit his father's enterprise.

Gaoyang looked at the great merchant of Carol before him and matched him against the files in his mind—this was the first time he had met Corde in person, but he knew a good deal about the man, and two things about him had left a deep impression.

The first was the reorganization of the Carol merchants' association. After the War of Southern Unification ended, the government hall took over the Carol region; the local merchants' loose alliance was restructured and placed under the government hall's administration. The first great merchant to put his signature to it was none other than this Mr. Corde, and afterward he had actively pushed forward the rectification of the whole region's commercial order—which brought him into the local governor's sight and earned him a place in the government hall.

The second was earlier still—after Cecil's alchemical potions rose to prominence, cheap industrially made potions swiftly blanketed the entire Southern Marches, and nearly every merchant with a hand in the potion trade felt the shock, Corde's family included. Yet while the other merchants fled, changed trades, or threw themselves on Count Horsman's protection, this Mr. Corde did something astonishing: without a moment's hesitation he abandoned his family's entire trade in finished potions and went into the business of herbal raw materials and wholesale alchemical potions, becoming one of Cecil's earliest suppliers of raw materials and wholesalers of alchemical potions...

An excellent businessman.

"Sit, no need for ceremony," said Gaoyang. He had chosen to receive this merchant and his son in the study, and naturally would not put on lofty airs. "Betty—tea and refreshments, brought to the study."

There were chairs and a table in the study for receiving guests. Corde and Pal steadied their somewhat nervous feelings and sat down with as much composure as they could muster—to sit face to face with a noble of such rank was an encounter almost unimaginable for merchants of common birth like them, and even a man of Corde's resolve could scarcely keep his heart calm; yet the great merchant had not lost his basic judgment—he had noticed that this was the study, and that was undoubtedly a good sign.

The parlor was the most common place for receiving guests, but the study was more private; what could be discussed in a study often could not be brought out into the parlor.

Today there was a great deal of business to discuss.

Gaoyang observed the reactions of Corde and Pal and smiled slightly. "Don't be nervous. What we discuss today falls in your area of expertise—Patrick recommended you to me. Mr. Corde, from what I hear, your trade routes run far and wide."

"All of it is a living scraped together," said Corde, weighing every word with care. "In your presence it amounts to nothing."

"No false modesty. A merchant's worth matters a great deal to the duchy—Mr. Corde, I hear you even have business in the Eastern Marches?"

Corde's heart lurched. For a moment he did not know how to answer, and sweat slowly gathered at the back of his neck.

The Eastern Marches were at war with the Royalist army... Though the Southern Marches had not been drawn into this civil war, merchants with wide trade routes had more or less been affected.

Besides the Southern Marches, Corde's business had a large market in the Holy Spirit Plain, and at the same time he had dealings with merchants in the Eastern Marches.

Owing to the shifting situation at Boulder Bastion, the trade route to the Holy Spirit Plain was presently somewhat obstructed; to avoid losses, many merchants who did business with the Holy Spirit Plain were looking for other outlets, and Corde too had strengthened his ties with the Eastern Marches—using the overland corridor through the Golan region as a relay, he had recently sent several large shipments that way, mostly potions...

He had broken none of Cecil's laws. All taxes were paid in full, all goods registered on the ledgers. But for the duke to raise the matter now, of all times... Should he answer yes, or no?

Gaoyang Cecil was the founding grand duke of Ansu—so whom did he support in this civil war? By legitimacy, perhaps the Royalist army... but frankly, of the two sides in this civil war, was either one a hundred percent legitimate...

In an instant countless thoughts wheeled through Corde's mind, a flood of calculations of gain and loss rising and falling, but he had to give an answer, and so after a hesitation of barely two seconds he spoke: "...There are indeed some channels, though the civil war has left them less than smooth..."

"To me, the Eastern Marches and the Royalist army are one and the same," Gaoyang said unhurriedly. "It is only the young ones squabbling."

Corde's expression turned earnest. "But lately the channels have grown much smoother."

"Good," Gaoyang nodded in satisfaction. "The duchy needs your business."

Corde kept his expression well under control, but his breath still caught in spite of himself.

Big! Business!!

Bigger than he had imagined!!

The great merchant's face all but glowed. "I am at your service—this is the highest honor of our entire family!!"

Gaoyang nodded in satisfaction once more, then said, "Then you had better understand this business of ours..."

Corde listened closely, not daring to miss a single word.

Just as he had expected—the duke meant to do business with the Eastern Marches, to sell potions there.

It was an open, large-scale trade, but it could not be conducted too ostentatiously, and so it required an agent.

Corde and his family would become that agent, executing the duke's will, managing those flowing golden coins.

The terms the duke offered were nothing short of generous—though from now on the family would no longer enjoy the whole profit of the potion trade with the Eastern Marches and would have to turn over more than half the proceeds to the duchy, this "loss" was utterly trivial beside the gains to come.

With the duke's backing, how many times over would the family's potion trade with the Eastern Marches expand? Tenfold? Twentyfold?

More than that!

Corde knew what kind of bargain it was to become a noble's agent. Born a commoner, he knew many men like himself who would scatter most of their fortune just to grasp such a chance: this was a road to rising into high society, to winning the honor of a bloodline.

An outstanding agent could win a true title of nobility for his descendants, and for that one possibility they were willing to pay a tremendous price.

Though the nobles of the Southern Marches now held little real power and retained only honorary titles and limited hereditary privileges, on the other hand the duke demanded no great price of him—he might even profit handsomely. There was nothing better in all the world.

When most of the matter had been made clear, Gaoyang looked into Corde's eyes. "So—do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Grace, I understand completely," Corde said, nodding quickly. Then he tugged at his necktie and, steadying his feelings, asked cautiously, "But I do not understand... why you chose me in particular?"

"You have ability. You are a clever man," said Gaoyang, leaning back in his chair. "And besides, I did not choose you in particular—Patrick recommended twelve candidates. I merely drew you from among the twelve."