Chapter 339: Sweet Deal
"And that’s what happened," Allina Crest concluded her summary.
Across from her, Count Randolph and General Caldwell frowned deeply, their minds churning at this shocking turn of events.
While trying to capture a suspected smuggling vessel, a Raging River Legion warship had been openly boarded and attacked, with the assailants actually going so far as to blow themselves up just to avoid being taken alive.
Not only was this a massive escalation in the ongoing issues plaguing the south-eastern border of the Rockwell Kingdom, it was also a huge insult to the military as a whole.
Of course, these two men didn’t blame Allina; after all, as far as they could tell, this was all just an unfortunate series of coincidences and accidents. However, that didn’t make the implications of this event any less serious.
"You’re certain that there were no survivors from the enemy ship?" Lucas, who was also seated at the table asked pointedly, his upbeat mood from earlier in the day now completely wiped away.
Shaking her head, Allina could only sigh, "No, I’m not certain."
It was only after the chaos of the attack and subsequent self-destruction of the black-cloaked assailants settled that it occurred to Allina that there might still have been enemies lurking out there.
The shadowy figures who had boarded the ship earlier were using Aura Concealing Cloaks, making them all but invisible to Soul Sense. If someone, say the mastermind behind all this trouble, were to don a similar cloak, slipping away through the dark waters was entirely possible, especially if they just let the river’s current carry them away from the battlefield.
It was an oversight on her part, but an understandable one given the situation.
Seeing the frustrated look on his big sister’s face, Lucas took a deep breath to control his anger and sighed, "I doubt it would have mattered either way. Given the extreme lengths they were willing to go to already, if there had been any survivors, I suspect they would have chosen death over being captured if all hope of escape was cut off."
"Agreed," General Oscar Caldwell nodded, "There’s no way those were normal smugglers."
"What are the chances they were spies from some foreign kingdom?" Count Lester Randolph asked.
The table fell quiet at this question, which was answer enough.
Everyone gathered in this room was intelligent enough to see that something bigger than black-market profit-seeking was going on here. The problem was there wasn’t nearly enough information to make even a rough guess about what the threat was, or what the enemy’s objectives were.
After a brief silence, General Caldwell declared, "We need to re-double our interdiction efforts. This might all be unrelated to the recent increase in illegal activity on the Lorren, but if there’s even a chance it’s all connect, we can’t afford to let it continue unchecked."
"The Raging River Legion will do its utmost to cooperate in this matter," Allina vowed, her expression turning sharp, "We won’t allow anyone to threaten the kingdom, whether they’re mere criminals, or some shadowy enemy nation."
"Here here," Count Randolph concurred, adding his support to the matter.
"In that case, we’ll need to accelerate the development of the new towns and villages surrounding Falcon’s Bend," Lucas chimed in, though his words took the other three a bit by surprise.
"Pardon my offense, Young Master Lucas," Count Randolph narrowed his eyes slightly, "But is now really the time to prioritize establishing new settlements around this city?"
Ordinarily, as the Lord of this territory, having more people settle in his lands would be something he welcomed. After all, more people meant more tax revenue.
However, pioneering villages was not cost-free, nor was it something that could be done in short order if the objective was long-term stability.
Right now, both Count Randolph and General Caldwell were troubled for money, and what spare funds they did have were needed to expand the military presence on the Lorren, so to the two of them, now seemed to be the wrong time to focus on expanding the local population base.
The only reason Lester Randolph was politely asking Lucas to explain himself was because of the brilliance the young boy had displayed last night and earlier today.
Had it been any other 10-year-old boy, even if he was the True Disciple of Marquess Balfour, neither the burly Count nor the skinny General would have even accepted his presence in this meeting, much less entertained any fanciful ideas from them.
Allina, on the other hand, knew Lucas far better and deeply understood how he thought. If he was saying they needed to hurry up and build new villages around Falcon’s Bend, then he must have a very good reason, one that would provide some kind of strategic advantage to them.
For his part, Lucas didn’t pay the questioning looks he was receiving any mind. He was used to this routine by now, so it no longer bothered him.
Glancing over at Allina and receiving a small nod from her, Lucas confirmed he had her support regardless of what he was about to say, so he stopped hesitating and reached into his Space Bag, fumbling around a bit before pulling out a small jar.
Uncorking the jar, Lucas handed it to the Count and explained, "A method to produce this was discovered in my hometown."
Accepting the container, Lester Randolph peered inside curiously, only to have his eyes shrink in the next instant.
With his hand trembling slightly, the Count poured a few light-brown crystals from the jar into his hand before sending them to his mouth.
The moment the pure sweetness hit his tongue, Count Randolph’s face brightened and a smile soon formed on his lips.
Handing the bottle to his old friend the General so that he too could inspect its contents, Lester Randolph fixed his gaze on the young boy in front of him and asked, "Is the production method of this sugar related to your proposal to establish new villages around my city?"
Without saying a word, Lucas simply nodded.
"Amazing," General Caldwell, who by now had also sampled the sugar, couldn’t help but praise, "This is better than anything I’ve ever had from the Darr Kingdom. Not only is it extremely pure, it’s also rich in World Qi."
"We call it Maple Sugar," Lucas explained, "And it’s produced from the sap of Lych Trees."
""No wonder..."" Both the Count and the General had an epiphany the moment Lucas said this. They had been wondering why the young boy was so excited earlier today, talking to Molly about different types of Lych Trees. Now it all made sense.
After composing himself slightly, Count Randolph couldn’t help frowning slightly as he asked, "Are you sure you should be sharing such vital information with people you just met, Young Master Lucas?"
"After mass-production really begins, it won’t be long before this secret is exposed," Lucas shrugged before grinning, "Besides, I already sold the rights to the Maple Sugar production method to my Master. If you want to challenge her for it, you’re welcome to try."
Hearing this, the faces of both men twitched slightly.
Steal from Celestina Balfour?
There was only one word for that, madness!
Just as the Count and General were feeling a bit depressed, Allina threw out an offer, "Since the Randolph County will be a large production site for this new luxury good, the Balfour Family will not mistreat you. In addition to full financial support from the Marquees to establish new villages and towns dedicated to harvesting and refining Maple Sugar, we are willing to pay a 5% tax on all sales made from this business in your territory to the Randolph Family."
Immediately, Lester Randolph’s frown turned into a giant grin.
A 5% sales tax might not sound like a lot, but considering this was sugar they were talking about, the Count was more than willing to accept this small share of the profits.
One had to remember, 10 million Gold worth of sugar was consumed in the Rockwell Kingdom per year, and that was strict import limits imposed.
If a domestic source of sugar were to appear, consumption would easily increase 10-fold.
A 5% sales tax on 100 million Gold was 5 million Gold, per year, all for doing basically nothing!
Even for a powerful Count-Rank family, that was a huge amount of income.
And that was just considering domestic consumption
If enough of this Maple Sugar could be produced to begin exporting to other countries as well...
Without any hesitation, Lester extended his hand towards Allina, "The Randolph Family thanks Marquess Balfour for her generous offer. We accept."
Smiling happily for the first time since last night, Allina shook the offered hand firmly to seal the deal.
Neither Lucas nor Allina had cleared this with the Balfour Family yet, but the two of them didn’t think that was going to be a problem. Knowing Celestina, if they explained to her that they had done this to save her time and paperwork, she would have nothing but praise for them.
As for General Caldwell, he was all smiles too. Although this deal didn’t benefit the Swift Current Legion directly, since Falcon’s Bend was their main base of operations, anything that increased the city’s prosperity was a good thing for him too.
Lucas had also indicated his interested in making upgrades to the shipyards and lumbermills, so as far as Oscar Caldwell was concerned, the more money this young boy made and was willing to spend here, the better.