episode_0182

“You think I’ll be curious?”

“Yes. I listened carefully to what the lord said and noticed something!”

The owner of Sipmed, who appeared confident as if he knew everything, immediately opened the box.

“These are iron products made by the Marquis of Kurid?”

When the box was opened, what was visible were various weapons and farming tools. And, the source was the Marquis of Kurid.

Because the seal of the Marquis of Kurid’s family was clearly stamped on it, I had no choice but to know it even if I didn’t want to know it.

“Yes. you’re right. This is an item that merchants belonging to the Marquis of Kurid family were eagerly selling. It looks like the lord is having some trouble with the Marquis of Kurid’s family, so I brought it with you!”

He said he brought it because he noticed that I was having friction with the Marquis of Kurid, and looked at the things in the box while nodding at the sight of the Sipmed merchant who seemed to appreciate his efforts.

“Hmm… … .”

After looking at the items made by Marquis Kurid for a moment, he immediately took out one. It was a dagger with a length similar to that of the palm of one’s hand.

And, at the same time, he also took out a dagger of the same size that was sitting next to it.

“As expected, it’s a little different.”

“Yes? What do you mean by that?”

“No.”

After muttering to himself, he waved his hand at the Sipmed Sangjangju, who suddenly showed curiosity, and looked at the two daggers again.

Although the daggers look the same on the outside, there are quite a few differences when you look closely.

Although it was in millimeters, there was a difference in length, and there was also a slight difference in weight. In addition, there may have been differences in the forging process or sharpening process, and there were slight differences on the outside.

It was evident that overall uniform products were not being produced through press processing. It was only natural that the intruders had no idea about press processing when they first discovered the blacksmith shop.

Of course, other than that, there wasn’t much I could figure out.

I’m not a great craftsman, and there wasn’t much I could tell just by looking. I was able to understand this much because I had worked with metal in my own way and had seen it a lot.

Therefore, I decided to find out more details with the researchers later, and turned my attention to the owner of Sipmed.

“You said that Marquis Kurid’s merchant was selling this, right?”

“To be exact, this is an item sold at a store run by the merchant. This is the store that sold the cloth I mentioned, but this time it was selling new items made of iron.”

“Really? What is the price?”

“The dagger you are holding now was worth 14,000 meds.”

“Um… … . It’s expensive.”

I immediately thought that it was expensive after hearing the top ten Med’s words. Products of slightly more uniform quality than this were being sold at my blacksmith shop for a little less than 10,000 meds.

However, he hurriedly waved his hand as if he was not the Sipmed leader.

“It’s not that expensive. The place I went to has a fairly large population, but the access road is difficult, so transportation fees tend to be high. If you take the products the lord makes there, they will cost roughly the same price.”

“… … Similar?”

“I don’t know how much the store charged for shipping, but I can roughly guess that it is the minimum cost of shipping. I also have to change one or two wheels of the carriage every time I go back and forth, and even the axle after a couple of trips. That’s all included in the shipping fee.”

The owner of Sipmed said jokingly that he would have come a day earlier if his wheel had not been broken on the way.

Anyway, what the top Sipmed company said was that, except for the shipping fee, the prices would be roughly similar.

“You mean to sell it at a loss.”

And, I was able to determine that the Marquis of Kurid was producing iron products at a loss.

The reason I can sell it at a low price and still make a profit is because there are no labor costs, but the Marquis of Kurid did not do that.

The difference was that the Marquis of Kurid himself was not a warlock, and he brought in a warlock to produce iron products. Unless you were using the warlock for free, it was only natural.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to feel at ease.

Production is something that comes with know-how, so it was natural for things like quality to improve.

If I were to feel at ease and settle for the present, I might be caught up by the Marquis of Kurid. Well, I have no intention of becoming complacent, so I will never be caught up.

“Well, price aside. How about the quantity? I wonder if the store has enough stock.”

“It wasn’t particularly generous. Even though it is a place where goods brought in from outside are not sold again due to transportation costs, there were not many goods. My judgment is that there is not enough supply.”

I nodded at the words of the top leader of Sipmed.

I wondered if they might have lured an incredibly talented warlock to produce the items, but it seemed like there was no need to worry about that.

If a warlock was so talented that he could handle many undead at once, it would be very easy to increase production. Right now, hundreds of undead were producing items at the blacksmith shop alone.

Based on the standards of those who could barely be called warlocks, at most they could only use a few dozen undead. Considering that, I thought that I really didn’t have to worry about losing the steel market to the Marquis of Kurid.

“Good job. Thanks to you, I got the news quickly.”

“Hahaha! Oh no! Isn’t this all thanks to the Lord allocating more supplies to me?”

“Oh, so you’re saying I can completely wipe my mouth this time?”

“Em.”

The Sipmed Sangsanju, who seemed to be flattering me with a grin on his face, seemed to instantly stiffen at my words.

At the same time, I could tell that his eyeballs were rolling and he was thinking about what to do about this.

“It’s a joke, so don’t be so surprised. You’re probably flattering me like this because you want something, so tell me what you want.”

“Ah, that’s… … .”

“You can say it comfortably because you’re not making a fuss.”

“Since you said so… … . Could you please tell me what the cloth skeleton’s fiber supply is? I guess the quantity I ordered was small… … . Hahaha!”

I told him to speak comfortably, but perhaps it was because of the difference in status, but the Sipmed Sangsan owner changed his mind.

Still, I was able to summarize it briefly. ‘Allocate large quantities first.’

Of course, it wasn’t difficult to grant the request of the Sipmed leader. Since the elves had already started growing flax as soon as spring began, fiber production was in full swing.

Moreover, instead of being unable to grow due to snow after cultivating once like in the winter, cultivation was starting again. They said there would be no shortage of supply.

“Isn’t the quantity on the order form I just looked at sufficient?”

“Ah, ah… … . I didn’t expect this. My lord… … .”

I chuckled at the words of the Tenmed leader, dripping with regret. I don’t know if it was because they told me to take it easy, but I was openly expressing that I was still lacking.

If you just listen to the words, it may sound like there is nothing you want, but in reality, you can see that this is not enough and that you are dying of regret.

Of course, they didn’t mean to tell me what I wanted and then allocate a small amount to me without any reason.

“If you say you won’t charge a higher price than Marquis Kurid’s fiber, we can allocate a larger quantity. How about that?”

Even if I sold it at a low price, if those who sold it somewhere else made a profit, it was nothing more than a waste of money. No, it was just like enriching someone else’s stomach.

In order to do this, some restrictions had to be placed on those who would handle large quantities. It would be okay if there were no competitors, but with such a huge competitor, such behavior could not be tolerated.

“What, you mean it’s always cheap?”

“Of course, it is not unconditional. There is no need to lower the price when the Marquis of Kurid says, “You die or I die,” and it doesn’t mean you have to sell at a loss. Still, you have to have something left over to run a business, right?”

“Hahaha, then I might get to see the lord often. There is no one who would not want to buy something that is of better quality than the Marquis of Kurid’s family, but is also cheaper!”

“You may not see it often. The more you take, the longer it takes to sell, right?”

“Oh, that’s true too! As expected, the lord seems to be amazing! You pointed out things I hadn’t even thought about, so I was able to learn a lot!”

I smiled at the sight of the Sipmed owner rubbing his palms until they made a crunching sound, and decided to give him a considerable amount of fiber.

Of course, it was not a small amount in terms of quantity alone, but in terms of the total amount of fiber that would be steadily produced in the future, it was a very insignificant amount.

However, the leader of Sipmed, who did not know this fact, left with a big smile, as if he was happy. I don’t know if it was because they gave me enough to satisfy me, but I bowed and walked backwards.

“What an amazing human being.”

I felt amazing at the sight of a top ten med who used his every action to flatter me.

At the same time, I wondered if that was what merchants could do to survive.

However, it wasn’t long before I found out that the top holder of Sipmed was a slightly more unusual trader. This is because the merchants who left all at once returned to my city one by one after a few days apart.

These merchants each took a considerable amount of fiber and sold it.

When they returned to the city, they talked about the fiber’s reaction and hoped to receive more supplies.

Naturally, the response to the fiber was overwhelmingly positive. There was even a merchant who said that people were looking for it like crazy because it was superior to Marquis Kurid’s fiber but cheaper.

Of course, merchants didn’t just talk about textiles.

In the case of some merchants with their own sense, they brought stories about the Marquis of Kurid, as did the Sibmed merchant.

It’s a shame, but among those stories, there was no news about the Marquis Kurid reacting to the fibers I made. However, I was able to hear some important news.

“There is news that they have developed an iron ore mine and are selling weapons in large quantities to nobles… … .”

That is, news of the development of iron ore mines and news that I was planning to arm the nobles of the aristocratic faction just as I had armed the nobles of the royalist faction.

“It’s time to introduce erythronium alloy.”

But I wasn’t worried at all. This is because the production of items that could be dismissed as ordinary weapons made of iron was beginning.

It was necessary to improve the structure of the steel mill to secure erythronium, which is essential for erythronium alloy. So, even in the spring, it could not be presented right away, but the work was now completed.

If the Marquis of Kurid wanted to arm the nobles with his products, all I had to do was arm the royal family and the royalists with even greater items.

“The royal family also ordered weapons, so let’s show them there first.”

It seemed like it would be perfect to replace the additional royal armament that the princess had mentioned during her visit with erythronium alloy armor.