Revisiting Seattle

What a shot. Butler Carson had never expected that, after randomly praising his young master's troop-training methods, he would actually end up matching the young master's own explanation. What a wonderful start. Carson wanted to give himself thirty-two likes.

"You don't believe me? Then let's make a bet. In half a year, I'll have trained them properly. I guarantee you've never seen an army like it." Kerry could not help feeling smug. Warfare in this world was still at the primitive stage of large-scale brawling.

Even when someone occasionally knew how to arrange formations, they were nothing more than simple squares supporting one another. Battles relied almost entirely on individual strength, and were far behind even the era of the Three Kingdoms.

At least people back then still had generals duel each other. Here, everyone simply charged forward in a swarm.

Actually, Kerry had misunderstood warfare in this world. As the saying went, even the finest technique was garbage before absolute strength. Anyone above Level 5 was a Sky Knight. No matter how good your tactics were, if the other side simply flew into the sky, all your plans became useless.

In the end, what mattered was still hard power, logistics, national strength, and luck.

Of course, tactics and strategy were not completely unnecessary. It was just that they were rarely useful, which had led Kerry to misunderstand the warfare of this world.

"First, make it clear what we're betting on. I really have never seen an army worse than this." Emma had a temper too. She had spent most of her past fleeing for her life and had rarely interacted with people her own age. Now that she was dealing with Kerry, a transmigrator with a weaker sense of class hierarchy, she unexpectedly found him easy to talk to and let herself relax.

"Fine. In half a year, I'll train a powerful army—the kind that makes you admire them from the bottom of your heart. If you lose, how about coming to work as my maid for a month?" Kerry had originally been arguing normally, but once the idea of a bet came up, he suddenly felt that if Miss Emma worked as his maid for a month, it would be incredibly impressive to take her out with him.

A maid even prettier than a young lady. Would he get burned alive if he took her out? Kerry began to let his imagination run wild.

"Sure, but what if you lose?" Emma refused to back down. She had seen plenty of grand spectacles in Faglan and knew what an army should look like. It absolutely was not a bunch of City Guards who could do nothing but look left or right.

"I'll lose? If I lose, you can name any condition you want." Kerry answered magnanimously. Countless transmigrator predecessors had told them that following the Party was the best method. No matter the world, it would let you slap faces with overwhelming force.

"Good. It's a deal." Emma was somewhat smug. This country noble probably had never seen how mighty the Imperial Army truly was. Did he think training troops was something that could be done casually?

Emma looked forward to seeing Kerry turn these City Guards into the sort of thuggish street fighters who could only brawl. Then Kerry would shout, "Charge!" and those City Guards would be beaten senseless by the opposition. Just imagining it was hilarious.

Kerry had no idea what Emma was thinking, but he was already considering the style of Emma's maid outfit. He had not had any ideas before, but now he suddenly imagined how thrilling it would be to have a beautiful maid following him everywhere. This was the bearing a noble lord ought to have.

From that day onward, Emma always came to watch whenever Kerry trained the troops. Kerry did not mind and let her watch, though it was rather depressing to have cold water thrown on him in all sorts of ways whenever they took a break.

Today was one week later, and it was time for the second trip to Seattle to trade with Paul. Paul was the owner of the Gaits Family's metal shop in Seattle under the Jili Merchant Alliance, making him quite a busy man. However, Kerry had said there would be more than 300 tons of pure copper this time, making it a major deal, so Paul personally came to the dock to receive the shipment.

This time, Kerry brought not only Mike, but also Butler Carson and the ten brick haulers recruited the previous time. Yes, "brick haulers" was the job title Kerry had given them—the employees specifically responsible for moving copper-ingot bricks.

There were several purposes to this trip. He brought Carson because he wanted Carson to handle the handover and payment for the copper ingots in the future. He brought the brick haulers so they could familiarize themselves with the work. Perhaps after making enough trips, Carson might discover some talented people among them and relieve some of his workload.

Carson was already over fifty, after all, and Kerry currently had few trustworthy people under him. Carson was responsible for many things.

Of course, Kerry also brought the two strongest City Guards as bodyguards. Now, when he walked down the street, he finally had a bit of the bearing of a noble lord.

The docks were as busy as ever, with traffic streaming along the roads. From a distance, Kerry spotted the little old man Paul gazing out from the agreed-upon barge berth.

"Hahaha, Paul! You've been waiting long, haven't you? This shipment is even larger than we originally expected. You won't be able to take it all, will you?" Kerry called out to Paul from afar.

This time, the shipment exceeded the scheduled 300 tons of copper ingots by a great deal, reaching 410 tons. At the agreed price of 41,000 Copper Coins per ton, that came to 1,681 Gold Coins. It was a rare major deal, of course. For Kerry, however, this was only the beginning. He would buy more robots next month and strive for monthly trade volume exceeding ten thousand Gold Coins.

"Don't worry, Lord Kerry. Our Gaits Metal Shop has never received a shipment we couldn't handle." Paul was not exaggerating. The Gaits Family had been in business for decades, even centuries. Even if they could not consume the goods in a short time, they could find downstream buyers and distribute them in the shortest time possible.

"That's good. Let me introduce you to someone. This is my butler, Mr. Carson. He watched me grow up, and when I'm absent, he can make decisions on my behalf." Kerry's group came up to Paul and introduced Butler Carson. The two of them would be dealing with each other frequently in the future, so they had to get properly acquainted.

After exchanging pleasantries at the docks for a while, they returned to Paul's shop and waited for the copper ingots to be stored and settled. Moving hundreds of tons of metal into the warehouse using only the dockworkers' manpower and animal power was not something that could be completed quickly.

Kerry could not help thinking of the container ports from his previous life. Cranes loaded and unloaded the ships, while trailers hauled the cargo away directly. It was simple, fast, and saved on labor costs. Perhaps there was a business opportunity here for him to get involved in?

Kerry sat in Paul's shop, his mind wandering over business opportunities. Before long, time passed.

Before noon, the entire shipment had been stored and settled. The total was 410 tons, exactly as Unit 001 had calculated before departure—neither more nor less. Kerry waived the one-Gold-Coin remainder, while Paul treated Kerry's group to a lavish meal at a nearby hotel. It was the most expensive lunch Kerry had eaten since transmigrating. Kerry, Paul, Carson, and Mike spent 90 Silver Coins on the meal. Supposedly, the area even offered delicacies costing over a hundred Gold Coins per meal, but Paul clearly did not have the means to treat Kerry to something like that.

Before they parted, Kerry suddenly thought of something and instructed Paul and Carson. "Starting next month, we may begin increasing the trade volume. By then, the small boats from South Australia Island may no longer be capable of handling the transport. I hope Boss Paul can arrange the shipping. We can cover the freight costs; you only need to send large ships."

By next month's trade, Kerry would definitely have purchased more Miner Robots from the Dimensional Exchange, and production would surge explosively. Constantly arranging for people to deliver the goods wasted too much manpower and time. It would be better to have Paul come collect the cargo himself. That would also save Carson a great deal of trouble. Once Carson had more free time, he could spend more of it serving Kerry. Of course, until production increased, Carson would still have to make several more tiring trips.