Iron Beans

"Lord Victor, don't let the fact that I'm from Wright County fool you—I've been to Blackwater City many times. Baron Weiss often came here to trade. The Rose Essential Oil and Rose Perfume made from Rose Territory's specialty Perfume Roses were very popular goods here. It's a pity Rose Territory is about to disappear." Jack began his introduction enthusiastically, but his mood sank again when he mentioned his hometown.

Victor patted Jack's shoulder and consoled him. "Rose Territory may no longer exist, but its specialty Perfume Roses won't disappear. Neither will your homeland."

"Thank you, Lord Victor." Jack smiled.

"From here on is Blackwater City's largest slave market. There are Moors from the Southwestern Desert, Blackwater People from the Southern Border Great Forest, Snowfield People from deep within the northern grasslands, not to mention barbarians and islanders from Vitro Island," Jack explained.

"I'm not very interested in slaves. I'd like to see whether there are any shops selling magical plants here," Victor said.

"Of course there are. South of the slave market is a large plant market. Not only can you find common varieties like Perfume Roses, Bitter Bamboo, and Black Oil Pine, but even Iron Birches and Silver Maples. However, trees like Iron Birches and Silver Maples are controlled by Grand Duchy nobles. They're only sold in scattered quantities and never in bulk," Jack immediately replied.

Hearing that Silver Maples were for sale, Victor was immediately interested. Silver Maples had always belonged to the Grand Duchy's ruling house, and no one was permitted to cultivate them privately on a large scale. Once someone planted more than fifty trees, they would be stripped of their title. The reason for such strict control was that the Grand Duchy of Vera's legal currency was the Silver Maple Leaf. Among the most magical plants in this world, the Silver Maple definitely ranked near the top. This tree had to be planted atop silver veins, and every other year it would grow more than a dozen silver leaves—leaves of genuine pure silver, with a purity far beyond artificial smelting techniques. Moreover, as long as they were not plucked from the tree, they would never oxidize and turn black.

It could be said that Silver Maples guaranteed the Grand Duchy's wealth and formed the foundation of the Silver Maple Family's control over it. Every Silver Maple forest in the Grand Duchy was held by the ruling house.

Victor followed Jack to the market, but when he saw the Silver Maples for sale, he was greatly disappointed.

The Silver Maples being sold here were all inferior saplings selected from the Grand Duchy's Silver Maple forests. Not only were they short and crooked, but they were also extremely expensive, costing fifteen Silver Maple Leaves each.

According to the Grand Duchy's currency exchange rules, one ten-gram Raine Kingdom Standard Gold Coin could only be exchanged for five Silver Maple Leaves. Each Silver Maple Leaf weighed roughly seventeen to eighteen grams. One Silver Maple Leaf could be exchanged for five Silver Coins, one Silver Coin for ten Copper Coins, and one Copper Coin for ten Copper Pieces. A one-kilogram loaf of Black Bread without sawdust mixed into it was worth only one Copper Piece. A serf family of five or six consumed no more than two Silver Maple Leaves' worth in a year, after all, they could not afford this kind of Black Bread without sawdust.

Although he felt he was getting a poor deal, Victor still bought two saplings. As he paid, a Ball Person emerged from the shop's inner room, fat as a ball.

"Honored guest, I am Vitri Greenleaf, head of the York County branch of the Gorn Trading Company in the Grand Duchy of Vera." The Ball Person introduced himself to Victor.

Victor frowned. This man claiming to be a branch manager of the Gorn Trading Company was a Court Noble of the Raine Kingdom. In this world, neither serfs nor Freemen had surnames; only nobles and their descendants did. According to the heraldry Victor had studied, Greenleaf was one of the surnames bestowed upon Court Nobles by the Raine Kingdom.

A Court Noble from the Raine Kingdom serving as a branch manager in a county of the Grand Duchy of Vera indicated two things. First, the Gorn Trading Company was extremely powerful. Its cross-border trade had reached deep into the Grand Duchy's county cities, and it had even secured distribution rights for Silver Maples. It was a formidable outsider. Second, although Vitri possessed the status of a Court Noble of the Raine Kingdom, being sent to manage a county branch meant that he had either committed a major mistake or been maliciously suppressed.

After finishing his analysis, Victor smiled and asked, "President Vitri, greetings. I am Lord Victor of the Sunflower Baronage in Boler County of the eastern region. Your company's goods are indeed rare and greatly to my liking."

"So you are Lord Victor of the Golden Sunflower Territory. You are most welcome. Our trading company has only recently expanded its operations into the Grand Duchy of Vera, and we currently have branches in only six central counties. We will expand into other regions afterward. The Sunflower Oil produced by the Golden Sunflower Territory is a rare treasure. We will surely have opportunities to cooperate, and when the time comes, I hope for your support." Vitri's smile grew even brighter.

"Not at all. If your company wishes to cooperate with our Golden Sunflower Territory, we naturally welcome it wholeheartedly," Victor replied with a smile.

"Lord Victor, is there anything else you would like? I also have a list of premium goods, available only to high-ranking clients." With that, Vitri handed over an exquisitely wrapped piece of parchment.

Victor accepted the list and looked it over. It contained not only weapons and armor, but also specialty slaves and bulk goods such as grain and cloth. In the final section, he spotted several magical plants.

"President Vitri, what exactly are the Iron Beans listed here? I have always been interested in all kinds of magical plants. Could you introduce them to me?" Victor asked Vitri.

"So milord is interested in this field. Naturally, I will tell you everything I know. These Iron Beans are a common crop cultivated by the northern grassland barbarians."

Victor could not help interrupting.

"I've never heard that barbarians farmed. Are you sure you're correct?"

Vitri smiled and continued, "You may not know this, but the northern grasslands are vast, and the barbarians have many branches. The Skyline Grassland directly north of the Raine Kingdom has better conditions. The barbarians there are relatively stronger and more civilized. The barbarians in the East Wasteland Grassland north of Vera may not cultivate this crop, so it is perfectly normal that you are unaware of it."

Victor looked slightly embarrassed.

"Barbarians do not all eat raw meat and drink blood. They need clothes, iron knives, and iron arrows as well. There is division of labor among their tribes. Some excel at farming, some at weaving, and others at smelting. It is simply that most barbarian tribes are better at fighting. For example, these Iron Beans are specifically cultivated by tribes responsible for smelting, and they are used as smelting material. After the first snowfall each year, the tubers are planted underground, then dug up after the next snowfall. Some of the tubers turn into spherical iron lumps, hence the name Iron Beans. However, the quality of this iron is poor. The blades and swords made from it are rather soft and unsuitable for chopping. After a few battles, they generally need to be melted down and reforged. The yield is also low—less than fifty jin of Iron Beans per mu each year. Its only advantage is that this iron does not rust easily. As for the ordinary tubers, they can be eaten, but eating too many causes diarrhea, so no one but barbarians cultivates them."

Victor frowned. He had some guesses in mind, so he asked, "That's quite interesting. President Vitri, do you have any actual Iron Beans? I'd like to have a look. If they are interesting, I'll buy some to take back."

Vitri smiled. "Naturally. Please follow me."

He led Victor and the others to the warehouse behind the trading company.

Vitri directed a servant to open the warehouse doors.

"They're all here. Lord Victor, please inspect them as you wish." Vitri pointed at the straw sacks piled up like a small mountain.

Seeing the mountain of straw sacks before him, the corner of Victor's eye twitched.

Vitri hurriedly explained, "Because our branch was only recently established, we did not conduct enough market research, so we transported some of every kind of product. These Iron Beans could originally serve as emergency food, and we thought they might find buyers here. We never expected everyone to be unwilling to try new things. On top of that, eating too much of them causes diarrhea, so no one is buying them at all. If Lord Victor is interested, I can make the decision to sell them to you cheaply. How about one Copper Piece per kilogram? There are around twenty-five tons of Iron Beans here, valued at ten Gold Coins. Of those, around two hundred kilograms are iron lumps, which I'll give you as a gift. You should know that iron prices have risen because of the war. One kilogram of iron now costs a Silver Coin. Those two hundred kilograms of iron lumps alone are worth four Gold Coins."

Victor did not respond. Instead, he opened one of the sacks and examined its contents.

The contents resembled potatoes somewhat, and their roots had not been removed. Some of the roots were connected to the spherical iron lumps Vitri had mentioned.

"How much more cargo can our ship hold?" Victor turned to ask Jack, giving him a wink.

Jack immediately understood and answered at once, "My lord, our ship is carrying wounded soldiers returning to the territory, damaged weapons and armor, and some provisions. Our carrying capacity is very tight. At most, we can take another one or two tons of cargo."

Victor nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Vitri. "You see, President Vitri, my ship cannot carry much cargo. There are too many Iron Beans here, and I can't take them all. I can offer two Silver Maple Leaves for one ton, just to try something new."

President Vitri immediately wiped the oily sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. "You must be joking. How could we conduct such a small transaction with such a distinguished guest? How about this? Pay two Silver Maple Leaves, and I'll give you two tons. Just remember to favor our trading company with your business in the future."

"Then thank you very much, President Vitri. If you have the chance to visit our Golden Sunflower Territory, I will certainly receive you well," Victor said with a smile.