Chapter 225.3
“Your Excellency, Baron… this is a problem. You were the one who asked us to buy wheat, weren’t you? You can’t just ask us to raise the purchase price this year?”
“… but, Lord Zel, if we do that, the people of the territory will starve. Can’t you do something about it?”
Baron Kelly, a subordinate of Duke Helton, was confronted by one of the Herman Company’s clerks in the reception room of his mansion.
When Herman Company started selling cheap wheat, there were no more companies buying wheat produced in Baron Kelly’s territory, and they had to lower the price.
Until then, in order for the trading companies in the barony to make a profit from wheat, they had to buy it at 60% of the previous price, and the trading companies had been doing their best because of their long-standing relationship, but when wheat could no longer be sold, it became difficult for the trading companies to even survive, and they withdrew from the barony.
Currently, 60% of the stores that handle food in Baron Kelly are under the umbrella of the Herman Company, and the Baron has no choice but to sell wheat to the Herman Company, even at a low price.
“Then why don’t you reduce your wheat production and sell timber like other territories? Our company will lend to villages that need initial investment.”
“…Lumber and other things are common around here. I don’t know if I can pay it back if I borrow money…”
“If you’re a little lenient, our company will take care of that.”
Zel looks behind the sofa where he was sitting, and the adventurer who seems to be his guard winks at him and nods with a mask-like smile, and the Baron quietly exhales.
Before, he could survive as long as he didn’t live extravagantly. Even now, if he restores food production and calls back the trading company that moved elsewhere, he can live the same life as before.
However, as long as the Herman Company, which Duke Helton had invited, was there, the baron could not sell wheat and could not drive them away, so he could only nod.