Release That Witch

Roland deliberately went to the docks to meet the business woman and inspected the cargo she had delivered.     

The most important things were the three ships of saltpeter. Border Town's gunpowder had basically run out causing the shooting practice of the First Army to be stopped. Though revolving rifles had been distributed on a small scale, they were merely put through their paces in order to maintain the guns by reloading and cleaning them. With the saltpeter they could begin shooting practice once more.     

Apart from the saltpeter, she had also brought two ships of mine ingots that included iron and copper, as well as part of green alum mine. It would take almost two or three days to unload that.     

Roland put two steam engines in an obvious place and dropped a red cloth on one as was customary. He then tied the cloth into a big red flower and waited for Margaret to accept it. Actually, the Western Region Industry Company had spent almost one month and a lot of power to make just a single steam engine based on hundreds of scrapped parts. So, Roland had Anna reprocess some part that had a smaller deviation, which made it possible for the second steam engine to catch up on the scheduled delivery time.     

To Roland's surprise, Margaret did not come alone this time, she had brought the merchants group of the king's city.     

After the delivery was completed, Margaret and her crew followed Roland back to his castle for lunch.     

"Your Highness, this is Hogg, my old friend. He's also one of the top businessmen engaged in mining in the king's city." Margaret introduced them one by one. "This is Gammon, like Marleen, he belongs to Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan as well. He mainly mainly deals in the sea trade between the Kingdom of Graycastle and the Fjords. They all are very interested in the steam engine. Due to having known them for years, I'm embarrassed to increase the selling price to profit off of them. Therefore, I come here with them to make the necessary introductions."     

"I pay my respects to you, Your Royal Highness," Hogg who had a paunch and a shining face with fat said, "I heard Margaret say that this kind of machine not only replaces manpower to draw water from mines and transport ores quickly but also is capable of creating an endless supply of power. Does it need a rest? Could I see it with my own eyes?"     

"Of course." Roland took a sip of wine. In the beginning, he could not get used to its acerbic taste from the start, but now he had gradually become accustomed to it. "However, if you want it to deliver ores, we'll need to equip it with the orbit system. I'll take you to North Slope Mine and you can see the system."     

"Your Highness, I'm very interested in the uses of the steam engine you described. Could it be installed on sailing ships instead of sails to drive ships?" Marleen asked, "If it were used on a three or four mast seagoing vessel, its power wouldn't be enough, right?"     

"The steam engine is just like horses, some of which have great strength while some of which have a poor strength. It depends on their model number when they're produced. Of course, the engine that has a greater power is more expensive. What's more, you can decide the model number that you'll buy as per your needs," Roland answered with a smile.     

Even though it was the most basic of paddle steamers, it involved complex power, transmission and control systems. Besides Border Town, there was no place owning the technology in Kingdom of Graycastle. And transferring that kind of ship cost much more than a steam engine.     

"If that's the case, Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan also want to order this kind of machine." Gammon narrowed his eyes after forking a bun just out of the steamer into his mouth.     

Sure enough, birds of a feather, flocked together. Entrepreneurs were drawn to other entrepreneurs. They had not even looked and had already placed an order as if they did not care about the thousands of gold royals that they would fork out.     

Roland shook his head. "We're incapable of producing extra machines before finishing Margaret's order because Border Town's manpower is shorthanded and making a machine is very complex."     

"I can provide sufficient manpower, Your Highness." Gammon clapped to applaud a breast. "Either carpenters or blacksmiths, even shipwrights, there's enough in my port. Besides, you wouldn't need to worry about paying them."     

"After that, let them learn the means of making the machines and work for you." Hogg interrupted.     

"No, of course not!" his eyes rounded and he said, "how would I play these tricks on His Highness. 10 years, Your Highness." He opened his two palms. "I'm willing to let them work for you for 10 years, and I shall pay them. But I only have one requirement that steam engines made by them will be sold to Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan preferentially."     

[This is an interesting suggestion,] Roland thought, [just like technical partners in the modern society. I only provide technology and gain the large part of its earnings. Of course, they can get the steam engine as soon as possible and own a group of technical personnel in 10 years. His investment might be equivalent the cost of buying the technology.]     

"Don't worry about deciding on that now. We can talk about these details after seeing the object." Roland relieved the pressure by changing the subject. "The steam engine isn't the only thing worth buying, you're presumably interested in something else as well, such as this..." He snapped his fingers and the guards move a lot of things out of the box by his feet and placed them on the table one by one.     

"These're the new goods in Border Town, both high quality and available for a fair price. Let me present the simple mug," Roland said, pointing at those colorful mugs. "Light, beautiful and not fragile like crystal cups. The patterns on it can be customized and what's more, it sheds water so it's easy to clean."     

"Sheds water?" Margaret picked up a cup and looked at it carefully.     

"You can have a try with the wine." Prince Roland joked. "You can pretend to be a drunken man, throwing it to the ground. If it breaks, I'll undertake the cost."     

"The craftsmanship... it... is rather exquisite... But I'm afraid that not all of the cups will have this kind of quality." Abdominous Hogg had filled his glass and swilled it all. "Eh, inside of it should be dry."     

It certainly was dry. The nature of it was an ordinary wooden cup covered by a layer of Soraya's painting. "It doesn't conflict with crystal cups. Compared with a royal banquet, it's more fit for noble lady's boudoir," Roland said, "as far as I know, they tend to like colorful and beautiful things."     

"I think so too." Margaret nodded with interest. "You look really experienced."     

"Ahem." The prince coughed twice. "Look at this, a whole cuirass that has a uniform thickness. It has two parts, the forward and back, both of which are made of wrought iron. Besides it's more portable than knights' plate armor and anyone can wear it. It's fit for guards following caravans too because there's no gap after closing it. The most important thing though, is that it's cheaper than plate armor."     

...     

After having introduced all goods, the merchants could not help getting together and whispering. Roland left the hall to give them some free discussion time and went for a walk heading down the long corridor towards the garden.     

"Your Highness, we left one month ago. But now you've made a lot of novel things," Margaret said as she walked out behind him.     

"Do you exchange your ideas with them?"     

"No, the things I like can't be changed by the thoughts of others, which include both goods and people." She shook her head with a smile. "The caravan may stay here for three or four days. So could you allow me to meet Lightning again?"     

"She didn't recognize you, but she didn't express her dislike of you at least. So, I think it's okay."     

"Thank you!" Margaret said thankfully.     

"No problem." Roland smiled. "You know, now that you stay here for such a long time, what about watching a drama? The first show will be held in three days in Border Town."     

"It only took one month to finish building a theater?" she said with a great astonishment.     

"Of course not, this is just an open-air performance. It's located in the central plaza of the town. I think it might be different from the rest."     

"And so your wish shall be my command, Your Highness," Margaret bowed and said with her hands on her chest.