"That would be incredibly far away. Crossing our Black Tortoise Domain by carriage takes a year. The Western Black Domain is even bigger and takes two years. If it's farther still, wouldn't the carriage journey take five or six years?"
"Certainly not five or six, but three or four years would be necessary."
"Three or four years? They probably wouldn't come. They say the Mysterious Nether Domain is extremely dangerous, with many unknown things. The roads are hard to travel."
"So, elders, you're all reasonable people, and many of your families run businesses.
"Shipping things here from so far away, even a sack of rice would skyrocket to dozens of times its original price.
"There are also plenty of dangers along the way, such as bandit raids, losses in transit, and...
"So this kind of business is extremely difficult. By the time a shipment reaches me, only about twenty percent remains.
"And bringing a shipment over costs the lives of quite a few guards escorting it. That's another hefty sum in compensation.
"Then there are carriage fees, manpower, and resources. Sigh... what can we do? These goods aren't available here, only in the Mysterious Nether Domain.
"So unless I charge high prices, I couldn't cover the losses even if I sold myself." Seeing how heated their discussion had become, Tang Wen immediately played up his hardships.
"That's true. A bathroom is so big, and of those two hundred high-grade spirit stones, losses probably account for seventy or eighty percent.
"The thing itself probably isn't expensive, only thirty or forty high-grade spirit stones.
"Look at our own latrines. Building one from fine stone and such costs a dozen or so high-grade spirit stones.
"Some luxurious ones even cost several dozen high-grade stones.
"Besides, his bathrooms are clean and tidy. They