Wizard Earl

Located in the north, only 500 kilometers from Frosinone, the Odin Empire has 70% of its territory covered by ice and snow for at least six months of the year. Therefore, the people of Odin, regardless of age or gender, love alcohol, something that can warm them up with just a sip.

Although the Odin people love wine, unfortunately, although the Odin Empire has a lot of arable land, it can only grow crops once a year at most because most of the land is covered by ice and snow. This results in a very low grain yield in the Odin Empire, and the annual grain production is barely enough to feed the entire country.

In years of bad harvests, the Odin Empire would run out of food. As a result, no matter how much the Odin people loved wine, they couldn't produce enough grain to brew it. In addition, the Odin Empire's industrialization was relatively poor, which meant that the utilization rate of the grain used for brewing was also low. This double blow resulted in the Odin Empire producing very little wine each year.

As the saying goes, scarcity increases value. In the Odin Empire, beer, distilled spirits, and wine are all considered high-end items, simply unaffordable for ordinary working-class families…

While wine is expensive and scarce in the Odin Empire, its neighbor, the Kaman Empire, has a much more abundant supply. This is because the Kaman Empire has achieved near-universal fertilization of its arable land, coupled with favorable weather and bumper harvests in recent years, resulting in full granaries and plentiful grain for brewing. Furthermore, its advanced industrial capabilities mean that the Kaman Empire's wine industry is primarily factory-based. Therefore, both its wine production efficiency and grain utilization rate are among the highest in the Byzantine continent. Consequently, wine remains a relatively inexpensive commodity in the Kaman Empire, allowing ordinary wage earners to enjoy wine freely.

According to a survey by Old Trafford, the most authoritative business research company in the Caman Empire, for beer of the same volume and quality, Odin Empire's price is five times that of Caman Empire, distilled spirits are eight times, wine is ten times, and for high-end alcoholic beverages, the difference is even more exaggerated, reaching as much as eighteen times!

Therefore, due to the significant price difference in alcoholic beverages between the two countries, in recent years, in order to make huge profits, a large number of Kaman merchants have sold Kaman Empire's alcoholic beverages to Odin Empire, earning huge profits and greatly impacting the vested interests of Odin Empire's original wineries.

The influx of cheap Kaman liquor forced the previously fragmented Odin Empire's breweries and the interest groups behind them to unite and exert influence on the Odin Empire's government. This compelled the Odin Empire to impose tariffs on Kaman liquor dumped in by the Kaman Empire at several times, or even ten times, its original price, thereby reducing the price competitiveness of Kaman liquor and bringing the sales competition between the two sides back to a more level playing field.

The high tariffs were undoubtedly a heavy blow. Normal trade in alcohol and beverages between Kaman and the Odin Empire was profitable, but the huge profits also led many unscrupulous merchants to disregard the law and choose smuggling. Every year, at least several hundred people lose their lives because of this. However, the endless stream of heads and the large number of hanged corpses could not stop the Kaman merchants' mad pursuit of wealth.

Although the number of executions continued to rise, countless others still flocked to smuggle the wine from the Kaman Empire to the Odin Empire. Smuggling methods were constantly evolving, making them incredibly difficult to prevent. The long border between the Kaman and Odin Empires also significantly increased the difficulty of surveillance and prevention in the Odin Empire, facilitating smuggling by Kaman merchants…

Gagliardini's boss was also part of this group smuggling alcohol products to the Odin Empire. However, he was clever enough to use the timber trade as a disguise, hiding bottles of distilled liquor inside the timber in an attempt to smuggle them through the Odin Empire's customs and inspections.

Gagliardini, the warehouse night watchman, once accidentally stumbled upon his boss's affair during a night patrol. However, knowing the gravity of the situation and its far-reaching implications, Gagliardini, after careful consideration, chose to pretend he was unaware of what had happened.

He knew very well that once his boss found out that he, Gagliardini, had discovered smuggled liquor in the timber, he would at best lose his job, and at worst risk his life. So, in order to keep his job and his life, Gagliardini buried this secret deep in his heart and never mentioned it to anyone. If it weren't for the fact that he was being threatened with death in this room, Gagliardini might never have revealed this huge secret until his death!

A few seconds after Gagliardini answered the question, the deep voice in the room spoke again, posing a second question.

"What do you know about this batch of goods in the warehouse?"

Upon hearing this question, Gagliardini appeared somewhat conflicted. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "If I tell you that I know something, can you guarantee the safety of my family? If my boss finds out I betrayed him, he will definitely kill my whole family..."

"Pa! Pa!"

Gagliardini's words were abruptly cut short as two crisp sounds echoed in the room. Although no one had touched him before, Gagliardini felt as if he had been slapped twice hard across the face.

"I'll remind you of the rules one last time: I ask, you answer. You have no right to negotiate with me." The deep voice echoed in the room once more.

Gagliardini, though furious after being slapped twice, had no choice but to admit defeat under the threat of death. He said dejectedly, "I'm a night watchman for Marat Security Company. My boss is Sodir, the son-in-law of the company's big boss, Marat Grigorian. I haven't counted the goods in the warehouse, but there are about a thousand bottles, and they all nominally belong to Marat Grigorian."

"However, we are a small company with only a few dozen people, and Marat Grigorian is just a small business owner with little money. He doesn't have the funds to buy such a large quantity of goods. Therefore, based on my observation, the real owner of that valuable batch of goods in the warehouse is not Marat Grigorian, but someone else..."