The Situation Was Somewhat Serious

In Uiazdov Fortress, the Piaster Kingdom's latest administrative center, Frederick unexpectedly came across a newspaper called "Weissen News." It contained summaries of newspapers from the Duchy of Weissen over the past three days, with the latest news taken from yesterday's Weissen Daily.

At a salon attended mostly by local merchants, Frederick handed a landscape painting of a village to his employer, Baron Boch, a salt merchant.

Seeing his hometown, which he had not returned to in fifty years, the white-haired Baron Boch was moved to tears. He hurriedly called over his children and grandchildren, pointed to the mill, and told them he had played there as a boy. Then he pointed to the little river and said that the day before he left home, he had gone fishing there with his father and older brother...

Many of the guests crowded around, chiming in with their agreement.

Bellberk quietly sipped her tea in a corner, sizing up the guests at the salon.

The star of today's salon was undoubtedly Baron Boch. Closest to him were two middle-tier merchants from the city, along with five or six small merchants.

These merchants mainly depended on Baron Boch. Whenever he had something to do, he assigned it to the two middle-tier merchants, who then subcontracted whatever they could not handle to the small merchants.

Baron Boch likely had more than one such group, each dealing with affairs in a different area.

So when Baron Boch asked Frederick what additional compensation he wanted, everyone else pricked up their ears. Any work beyond the payment would fall to them.

Frederick said, "I'd like to see the past month's issues of 'Weissen News' so I can get a sense of current trends."

Baron Boch nodded. "A merchant who doesn't read 'Weissen News' will never make a fortune."