Chapter 290 Big Business Deal (1/2)
Rhode didn't recognize the wrong person. This fat merchant was indeed Matt, who he had met when they escaped from the wreckage of the floating boat when he first arrived in this world. To be frank, although this merchant was sort of troublesome, he was actually rather kind in nature. After they parted ways in Deep Stone City, they never met again. But, who knew they would actually reunite here.
Since they knew each other, the following matter was easier settled. Matt wasn't an unreasonable person, and besides, although he had never met with Rhode and the rest after parting, he ran business within Paphield and naturally heard the news of Rhode's Starlight. Furthermore, this incident was technically his men's fault, which was why Matt had no qualms in apologizing to Marlene on behalf of his men. Marlene, on the other hand, had decided to not pursue the matter further as she had once heard from Lize the incident when Matt, Rhode, and her escaped the Twilight Forest. Therefore, she was more or less aware of this fat merchant and since this man was sincere in his apologies, Marlene decided not to hold a grudge anymore.
This conflict had been put to an end almost immediately.
In the end, both parties decided to share the campsite. Matt naturally welcomed this invitation. Although this wasn't the first time that they met this fat merchant, Rhode and Lize finally had the chance to watch him display his strong interpersonal skills. Although, due to the previous conflict, Rhode and the rest were standoffish with the guards, Matt was not affected at all. He brought a huge warm smile to everyone and chatted about the recent good weather, shared his knowledge and experiences, and passed rare gifts to everyone at the end of their conversation. Then, everyone who was objective about the guards, finally changed their attitudes, not to mention the always carefree Anne, Lapis, and Christie who had always been afraid of strangers. They admired the exquisite art gifts they had received.
Matt wiped the sweat off his forehead and sat by the bonfire. Then, he sneezed after gulping down a mouthful of wine, which left him he feeling much better.
”I didn't expect you to be so capable,” Rhode said. Matt smiled cheekily in response and tucked the wine pot back into his bag.
”I've got no choice, Mr. Rhode. People in this industry need to be amiable. If everyone feels good, it makes businesses much easier? Ah… I promise that such incidents won't happen again. I will immediately fire that bunch of useless idiots once we returned to the Trade Association! Goddamnit! They even dared to offend a Mage. They must be sick of living…”
”It seems like you're doing fine?”
”The ways of the world are never easy.”
Facing Rhode's taunt, Matt let out a bitter smile and shook his head while letting out a long sigh.
”Life isn't easy nowadays. Ever since the floating boat got wrecked, I lost almost half of my assets and now the Silver Libra Trade Association is struggling. We hardly get by everyday.”
”Oh?”
Rhode twitched his brows.
”I remember when the trade route was sealed off, many items increased in price. Could it be that you didn't earn a fortune from that, Mr. Matt?”
”I do want to earn a fortune from that,” Matt said with a face full of hopelessness. He scratched his head as the wide smile on his face faded. This indeed was a huge trouble for Matt.
”If it went according to what you said, Mr. Rhode, the sealing of the trade route should be a good opportunity for me. Even though I lost almost half of my assets, at least I could earn back my losses with the other half. But the damned Trade Association actually used this chance to jack the price up! Do you think I dared do it? My gosh, I still have my parents and children to feed. I can't risk getting hanged like those idiots who went against the price!”
As a travelling merchant, Matt had always been sensitive to such incidents. From the jacking up of price, he had already sensed that something was off and because of that, he didn't get involved with business transactions.
Just as expected, although the rise in price was considerably small, Matt wasn't able to recoup his losses. He felt that he had earned much more than the corpses swaying on the hanging post; after all, there was no use of money if one didn't even have the life to spend it.
”So then, this time around…”
”Because Her Highness Lydia decided to hold the Midsummer Festival in Golden City, I decided to try my luck and see if I could make a windfall out of it. To be honest, I came to a partnership agreement with Golden City. You see… My chariots are filled with wine and spices for Golden City. The price of these commodities are two times higher than before… And I can recoup my losses if everything goes well.”