This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

"Um... let me think about it some more."

While Xiao Ai was tirelessly sharing her experience and encouraging her friend to improve, Dick returned to his cabin and worked with his advisors to study the details of the arms sales plan.

It's worth mentioning that Joan of Arc, who wasn't originally on the travel list, was now with Dick. She suddenly approached Dick on the morning of departure, expressing her desire to also visit the south. If given the opportunity, she wanted to travel to the southern front to personally meet the "historical Joan of Arc" in the Maple Dew Kingdom; she was eager to know what kind of person her "prototype" was.

Interestingly, since the girls under Dick's command all come from different ACG works, and the team also has Lucoa, a "god incarnation" who knows the truth about the multiverse, Dick never deliberately hides anything from his own people. Therefore, everyone gradually comes to know that they are actually two-dimensional characters from anime, games, and even fan works.

Some people accepted this reality, while others, though confused, gradually became convinced of their belief, with the encouragement of Dick and his companions, that they were real people.

However, Bai Zhende had only been there a short time, and she was also curious about the "historical prototype" of herself in the Maple Dew Kingdom.

Dick didn't refuse her request to accompany him, but he made it clear beforehand that although they were going to the south of the Empire, they were only there to sell arms, not to fight on the front lines. Besides, the Empire was at war with the other side, and if she wanted to see the enemy's military commander, the enemy probably wouldn't allow it.

After the fleet set sail, Lucoa would come every morning to deliver messages so that Dick, who was on the sea route, could keep abreast of news from all sides and remotely control the rear headquarters.

The situation on the southern front continued to bring bad news. After the main force, the Western First Army Corps, was routed, the Western Second and Eastern First Army Corps also suffered heavy losses from the main force of the Kingdom's army. Both army corps suffered heavy losses. Most of the Western Second Army Corps was annihilated, and more than 30,000 men surrendered to the Kingdom's army. Although the Eastern First Army Corps was also badly defeated, its commander successfully led a portion of its elite troops to break through and join forces with the Eastern Second Army Corps.

After observing the performance of the four major legions, Dick was surprised to find that his cheap older brother was actually the most decent one!

Although he didn't have any outstanding achievements, at least he didn't embarrass himself.

Another noteworthy piece of news is that the Third Prince, who had been missing for several days, has finally reappeared.

On the day the Western First Army Corps was defeated, he successfully broke through the encirclement under the cover of his personal Saint-level experts and a group of guards, but he was also targeted by the Kingdom's elite troops who were specifically responsible for decapitations and were relentlessly pursued.

The two sides engaged in a life-or-death escape race. In the end, the Third Prince successfully escaped and fled back to the interior of the empire, but the Saint-level experts and guards around him died on the battlefield while covering his retreat.

According to rumors, the third prince eventually disguised himself as a commoner, rode a donkey that appeared to be stolen, and went to his uncle, Marquis Leodor, for help. He was almost beaten by a servant who didn't recognize him, mistaking him for a beggar.

In short, although the Third Prince is alive, he is essentially dead in terms of his social status!

He was once so full of vigor, but now he is so dejected that he has become withdrawn and is hiding at his uncle's house, not daring to return to the front lines or the capital. He is truly a laughing stock.

It's no exaggeration to say that the entire southern region of the empire is now in complete chaos. Noble lords are living in fear, and ordinary people are living in constant anxiety. It is in this social atmosphere that Dick, with a large number of high-quality weapons and equipment, landed at Mousse, an important port on the southern coast.

Mousse is the largest seaport in the South and one of the few royal territories outside the capital region.

In order to make money more efficiently, the royal family promulgated the Coast Law, which, while not prohibiting maritime transport, set many restrictions on the construction of ports, including the size of the ports and the capacity of the docks. Therefore, if the Lagog fleet wanted to dock in the south, it could only choose the largest port, Mousse.

Before the fleet had even come to a complete stop in the harbor, several small boats carrying tax collectors approached. The fat man at the head of the boats was almost a perfect embodiment of the stereotype of a "corrupt official." Because he couldn't climb the rope net, his attendant magician used a levitation spell to lift him up.

Once on deck, this guy arrogantly demanded the fleet manager come over, behaving disrespectfully and ignoring everyone. However, his haughty expression lasted less than half a minute before he vanished without a trace after seeing a nameplate handed to him by a servant.

"Oh! It's...it's the Best family! You should have said so earlier! We're all family, friends."

With just a small sign, the tax officer put on a show of "face-changing" on the spot. He only glanced at it twice before taking the bill of lading and "tip" thrown to him by the servant, and happily disembarked. His comical behavior of being arrogant at first and obsequious at second made the sailors on deck burst into laughter.

Dick stayed in the cabin the entire time and never came out to show his face.

Dick has only separated from the Duke's family; he's not saying he's no longer called "Best." If he has to personally slap a little Karami in the face to deal with him, then he's a complete failure as an earl.

Despite being a royal territory and nominally under the jurisdiction of the port governor, Mousse Harbor is still a southern region teeming with powerful landowners. It's impossible for those nobles not to have their hands in, and the various forces, whether overt or covert, maintain a delicate balance of power, preventing any major disturbances.

Moreover, Dick had two backup plans. If the Best family's brand didn't work, he still had one given to him by Prince Heinz, which would be more than enough to handle a mere tax collector.

As for the voluntarily submitted invoice and the heavy bag of "tips," they were like sweet dates after the stick had been lit, conveying a friendly message to the tax official's backers that they were there to do business, not to break the rules.

So, in the evening, an invitation signed by the port governor was respectfully delivered to Dick.

Chapter 249: A Vivid and Engaging Trade Fair

The current governor of Mouth Harbor is Ein Coburn, a court nobleman with the title of marquess. He has a very good reputation in the area, mainly because he rarely interferes in affairs and turns a blind eye to the various forces that have infiltrated the area. This has actually helped to maintain a balance of power between the legitimate and criminal worlds in Mouth Harbor. He acts as an "arbitrator and mediator" in the middle and is well-connected to both sides.

Dick had no prior connection with this man, but he and the Best family were practically related by marriage; the Best family's eldest son was engaged to Dick's "tough lesbian" older sister, Nora.

If we're really going to rank people by seniority, Dick should respectfully address the other person as "Uncle".

By the way, my second sister Nora and her husband have a surprisingly good relationship. They each do their own thing, but they can also hang out together from time to time. They're birds of a feather!

Dick, who had made preparations in advance, personally attended the banquet the next day, accompanied by Ruby Eyes and White Spear Dazai. Ruby Eyes wore an elegant evening dress, while White Spear Dazai wore plate armor and acted as a bodyguard.

Dick also brought along a batch of sample goods, knowing that he wasn't the only one invited to the banquet; many prominent local figures were also present and were very interested in the goods he had brought.

After all, Dick is an "outsider" from the north. If he doesn't want to make things too complicated or take unnecessary risks, it would be best to find a local to be his distributor.

In the southern regions today, weapons are in high demand. As long as the quality isn't too bad, they can be resold for double the price without any trouble finding buyers. Moreover, some factions themselves have a need to strengthen their armed forces.

After Dick and his party disembarked, they quickly arrived at the banquet venue, the headquarters of the largest maritime merchant association in the area, "Flying Waves," in a carriage prepared by the governor.

There's a reason why the governor held a banquet here. The major financial backer of the Feilang Society is the Southern Noble Group. The fleet that supported Laguge during the winter war two years ago was the Feilang Society's fleet.

After entering the hall, Dick was soon led by a waiter to meet Ein Coburn himself.

The other party was a smiling, amiable old man, and standing beside him was a familiar face, the fleet leader who had contacted Dick two years ago to support the fleet. Dick had a good impression of him; he was a very capable fellow.

"Good evening, Your Excellency Governor. It's been a long time, Mr. Minsk."

While Dick was exchanging pleasantries with the local tyrant, guests began to arrive at the venue. Judging from their attire, they were all wealthy and powerful, and there were even a group of guards officers wearing black capes with red trim.

As a royal territory, Mousse naturally had its own Royal Guard stationed there for defense.

In the early stages of the Third Prince's campaign, of his 150,000 Imperial Guards, only 80,000 were centrally trained troops brought from the capital, while the other 70,000 were drawn from the border regions and other royal territories. Mouth Harbor was no exception, with half of its original 6,000 garrison being withdrawn. As the situation on the front lines deteriorated rapidly, the Imperial Guards of Mouth Harbor had to temporarily recruit "auxiliary troops" to cope with the emergency.

Soldiers are easy to find; the empire's south has no shortage of people. The key issue is the lack of equipment.

Logically, the Third Prince only withdrew half of the troops and half of the armory from Mouth Harbor, so half should still be left. However, due to some well-known but unspoken reasons, the garrison at Mouth Harbor now numbers less than 1,500 men, and the amount of armory is so scarce that three soldiers have to share a single set.

However, in Dick's view, the Royal Guard was the buyer he least wanted to deal with, because these soldiers, backed by the royal family, were used to being domineering and had a high probability of wanting to get something for nothing.

Soon, dozens of guests gathered in the hall, most of whom had come for the weapons.

Three thousand sets of equipment is neither a lot nor a little. What everyone really cares about is whether Laguge still has the capacity for further production and how quickly they can deliver the equipment.

Many southern lords have stopped relying on the central government of the empire and are now seeking to protect themselves. This situation is very similar to that of the north two years ago, where, when faced with the orc invasion, they found that they still had to rely on themselves in critical moments.

Some people at the scene even had designs on this strategic resource, known as "natural refined gold," after learning that Laguge had precious cold iron ore.

Given the increasingly weak control of the royal family, it's no wonder that those below them might have ulterior motives.

Under the governor's personal introduction, Dick met with the "heroes of the South" present one by one. Some of them were related by blood and tried to appeal to his emotions, while others, having heard that Dick was the youngest Saint-level mage, wondered if the rumors were true and wanted to learn a thing or two about magic skills.

Even more shockingly, he was captivated by the two stunningly beautiful women beside Dick, one a scholar and the other a warrior, clearly harboring some impure motives.

In terms of extravagant entertainment, the southern nobles were in no way inferior to the decadent and luxurious circles of the capital. Some nobles with peculiar tastes even enjoyed exchanging concubines with others, or even actively creating opportunities for outsiders to get close to their wives.

Inviting someone to be a "fellow traveler" was considered by many nobles as one of the upper-class social ways to build relationships, and even an unwritten rule for joining certain small circles.

But some people still maintained their haughty attitude. When Dick greeted him, he just gave a sour look and a nonchalant snort, revealing his inherent arrogance on his face.

In fact, many southern lords, even though they were as anxious as ants on a hot pan, still refused to relinquish their status as old-fashioned nobles.

In their eyes, although Dick's surname was "Best," he was just an illegitimate son of mixed blood, and he had already separated from the family and established his own household. Moreover, his territory was in the remote north, so he was naturally classified as a country bumpkin from the north.

As the saying goes, the nobles of the South are the real masters, while the stinking northerners come here to beg for food!

They think that if a mere count from the North wants to sell things in our great South, he should first pay his respects and follow the rules to share profits with these local bullies. Otherwise, they have plenty of ways to make sure he can't survive in the South and ends up slinking back to the North to eat dirt.

This idea might have been correct a few years ago, but times have changed. The kingdom's military threat is imminent, and now you southerners are in dire need of help. The goods Dick brought can really save the day. If you few don't buy them, plenty of others will.

So Dick only gave these pretentious old folks polite greetings, showing neither servility nor arrogance.

I'm smiling because I'm being polite. Do you really think I'm easy to bully?

Seeing that Dick wasn't very "smooth," the old nobles couldn't help but be a little surprised. Meanwhile, Dick was having a pleasant conversation with several people who were willing to communicate on an equal footing. With Ruby Eyes, whose negotiation skills were maxed out, assisting him, it seemed that the deal was about to be finalized when suddenly some troublemakers jumped out in the hall.

"The quality of these swords doesn't look very good. Even if it's just for a temporary emergency, it's a bit beneath the dignity for lords to arm their private armies with this kind of stuff, isn't it?"

Hearing that someone was clearly stirring up trouble, everyone present looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young nobleman holding a display item brought by Dick, criticizing the swords and armor. His main complaint was not about the quality, which was difficult to discern with the naked eye, but rather that the swords looked too "rustic," and he simply said they were ugly.

The equipment Dick brought was his own stuff taken directly from the armory, the standard equipment for arming rank-and-file soldiers. It was designed with simplicity and practicality in mind, so it looked quite plain and didn't quite fit the "glamour" style favored by the old aristocrats of the South.

Many nobles believed that morale was part of combat effectiveness in warfare, so if soldiers were not properly trained, they could only make up for it with fancy equipment.

Therefore, this criticism of the appearance is a targeted approach, hitting the nail on the head.

Looking at the rich young master who was still nitpicking and complaining, Red Jade Eyes whispered in Dick's ear.

"The second young master of the Ying family owns the second largest iron mine in the south within his territory, and also sells military equipment."

"We're in the same industry."

"Ah."

Dick immediately understood – this was a “business war”! As the saying goes, rivals are enemies. If the other southern nobles’ sour faces were due to long-standing arrogance, then this second young master of the Int family was blatantly hostile. He was here with a mission to cause trouble!

As the host of the banquet, Governor Coburn made no comment, which to some extent demonstrated his stance and attitude.

I'll give you a platform out of respect for the Best family, but don't even think about getting a standing ovation.

After figuring this out, Dick thought to himself, "Fine, no need for you to worry. I'll slap this face back myself, since it's offered up on its own initiative!"

So Dick strode forward and walked straight toward the second son of the Int family.

"Sir, you seem rather dissatisfied with the weapons produced in Lagug?"

"Oh! So this can be called a weapon?"

Seemingly disregarding Earl Dick from the North and disbelieving that he would resort to violence against him in this setting, the second young master made unrestrained taunts, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Dick said nothing, but silently raised his hand. The second young master immediately froze, and his unrestrained smile instantly vanished from his face.

Those in the know at the scene could tell that Dick had forcibly immobilized the other party using his mental power. This mental power was powerful and precise, definitely at the Saint-level!

Under Dick's mental control, the second young master painfully drew his sword with his left hand, and then, in front of everyone, clashed it with the sample sword he was holding in his other hand, smashing it with a clang that sent sparks flying.

They exchanged seven blows in a row, then the second young master placed the two swords upright side by side for comparison. Both swords had nicks on their blades, with the nick on the sample sword being noticeably deeper.

The problem is that the second young master's own sword is clearly a "high-end" product, with gorgeous decorations and patterns on the blade, and it also emits a magical aura of enchantment, while the sample sword is just an ordinary mass-produced product, used to arm the lower-ranking soldiers.

Comparing these two swords side-by-side is inherently unfair, yet after the most basic and unadorned slashing test, it seems like the outcome was a 40/60 split.

Losing isn't shameful; winning is what's truly unbearable!

Only then did Dick slowly and deliberately begin to speak.

"I brought a total of six thousand of these standard longswords, along with three thousand sets of armor, three thousand one-handed round shields, fifteen hundred tower shields, three thousand improved crossbows with enhanced firing efficiency, each equipped with fifty conical bolts, and eight thousand infantry spears. Hearing of the urgency of the war in the south, and driven by a deep sense of patriotism, I rushed here with my own stockpile of equipment. The price is definitely higher than comparable products from Intel, and as for the quality... well, you can judge for yourselves!"

Chapter 250: Eating, Serving Up

During the clash between the two swords, Dick secretly used a little trick, controlling the force and angle of impact to make the nicks on his standard-issue sword smaller.

But this did not stop Dick from proving the quality of his weapons. Among the guests present were some swordsmen, who stepped forward to examine other sample weapons closely, their frequent nods indicating their approval of the weapons' quality.

"Not bad! It can at least be classified as a good product. Can all bulk orders reach this level?"

"Of course!"

As Dick spoke, he then had price tags placed in front of the various categories of weapons on display for the guests to reference.

According to Dick's original sales strategy, there was supposed to be a performance demonstration, but the second young master volunteered to "help" them by serving as a control group, so Dick reluctantly accepted.

After the price was announced, many nobles began to make their own calculations.

For standard weapons, cost-effectiveness is far more important than pure performance because they need to be deployed in large numbers to the military.

While powerful weapons are undoubtedly forged using large quantities of expensive high-end materials and meticulously crafted by top masters over several years, armies can easily number in the tens of thousands. It's impossible to equip every soldier to the same standards as high-ranking officers, and even top masters don't have the production capacity.

Lagug's batch of goods doesn't perform as well as other goods in the same price range, and those with better performance are more expensive. Moreover, this is a critical time, with various lords in the south expanding their armies in order to protect themselves, but local production capacity can't keep up, and the goods ordered from the capital haven't arrived yet. If you don't want your army to go to their deaths with sticks, then you really have no choice.

As a result, those who reacted quickly and had plenty of money started placing orders, while others who knew they couldn't compete with the big shots inquired with Dick about whether they could place an order and how fast the delivery would be.

As for the second young master, he was currently huddled in a corner, staring intently at Dick, who had embarrassed him, as if he wanted to "stare" him to death with his vicious gaze!

Before the banquet ended that evening, Dick had sold all the goods he had brought and arranged a date for the handover. As long as the money was paid, the goods could be unloaded from the ship and taken away on the spot. Dick, a Saint-level mage, would even act as a "gantry crane" on the spot, using his mental power to load the goods onto the truck, highlighting his attentive service!

Moreover, in addition to paying money, Dick also accepted barter, and the South was full of plantations, with plenty of good things such as grains, spices, and various economic crops that could be used in industrial production.

In the past, people in the northern region lacked both access to goods and funds. Now that things have improved, they are naturally eager to make a lot of purchases.

It's worth mentioning that some people present not only wanted to buy the swords from the North, but also took a liking to the people themselves.

However, what caught his eye wasn't the two beautiful women beside Dick, but rather the bodyguards he brought with him. Each of them was tall and imposing, with fierce expressions on their faces, and you could tell just by looking at them that they were very capable fighters!

Although the southern region has a large population and plenty of able-bodied young men of working age, so recruits are not a problem, raw recruits cannot be turned into reliable veterans with just some simple training. On the other hand, the northern region has been engaged in high-intensity physical combat with the wasteland orcs over the past two years, resulting in a large number of tough men who have seen blood and fought real battles, making them ideal junior officers.

So these nobles were thinking, "I've already bought the weapons, can't your men also get some?"

Dick was initially taken aback by the request and wanted to refuse outright.

Because the northern region already had a small population, although Laguge experienced a population surge due to the refugee crisis brought about by the winter war, increasing from 50,000 to 500,000 in two years, this was essentially like raising one side of a trough and causing the water to flow to the other side. Although the water depth appeared to have increased, the total amount in the trough did not increase, and a considerable amount even "evaporated".

But these lords soon offered a price that Dick couldn't refuse... they were willing to exchange people for it!

To be precise, they wanted to exchange serfs who had lost their free status for mercenaries from the North, at a ratio of thirty to one.