Deception

"A silver coin that will definitely rise in price?".

"A thousand times true, my lady."

"Then why don't you pour it on yourself instead of offering me this information?"

"This is, of course, because I don't have that much money on hand right now... instead of selling this information to Miss, who in return needs only 5%... no, 3% of the share of the profit received. "

"Oh, the information merchant." Tilting her chin, Rhea narrowed her eyes and thought.

"Let's start with what you know."

"This ... kid can't go into details yet, but there are two things I can say that you miss."

It is quite natural that all itinerant merchants would not tell others about a business opportunity that could bring them a fortune based on a "verbal agreement".

"Firstly, it seems that a certain country is preparing for war, and the Church and the Mint Council are going to cancel the circulation of silver coins issued by this country."

"The second is that a certain mint is preparing to increase the silver content, and perhaps the currency will rise in price by ... thirty percent."

"Anything more detailed will probably require us to sign a contract and deposit from you, miss, before I can tell you."

Gerian rubbed his hands together and smiled.

"Unfortunately, unfortunately, two daughters will not carry money with them so meekly."

What Rhea said was true: all 2,200 gold coins were hidden in the hotel that Fente rented for a long time, and only about 10 gold coins she actually carried with her when she went outside.

Such a sum would be enough to cover the deposit for some goods, for which, it seemed, it would be possible to get a fortune, and not be too upset if they were really robbed by bandits.

"In which city does the lady intend to sell her goods?".

"Karaflog".

"Oh...Oh, a good merchant like you would really go to this leech city. But I can't afford to go there, entry and exit taxes are so high that I can't make money on those small goods that are imported and exported."

Karaflog is the capital of the Southern Kingdom and has the only railway to the other kingdoms of Aarvgard.

The tax on entry and exit from Karaflog is 15 silver per person for entry and 15 silver per exit.

For only two people, the entry and exit tax is 3 gold coins.

Therefore, although they know that Karaflog is more expensive, most traveling merchants do not go to Karaflog to get rid of their goods, as the premium may not be enough to cover the duty.

Even if the sale is large enough, an entry/exit tax of two or three gold coins is a lot of money for a traveling merchant.

Because of the blood-sucking, hairy nature of the border crossing, Karaflog is called the city of leeches.

The ability to enter and leave Karaflog to conduct business was considered a "strong point" of a traveling merchant.

In any case, Rhea had to sell the apples or go back to dig into Fente's treasury before she had the money.

As a result, Rhea and Gerian decided to meet in the port city of Tauzant, near Karafrog, to sign an official contract in the presence of a notary.

"So, I'll leave you to yourself. As soon as you are settled in Tausent, please go to the Dorent Tavern, where you can contact the young one."

"Dorent"? I see."

After receiving Rhea's reply, Gerian saluted with his naive smile and headed out of the church, carrying a bag full of dried fruits.

It looked like he wasn't going to spend the night in the church, since the rain caused by magic had stopped long ago, and time was money.

The first thing a novice traveling merchant had to do, in addition to business, was to visit those places and get acquainted with local people and things, and at the same time be remembered.

At this time, the most suitable goods that you can take with you are dried fruits or meat sticks, which have a long shelf life and can be sold in churches or inns.

As soon as Gerian was out of sight of the hall windows.

Rhea pulled Gloria towards the kitchen.

Borrowing a pot and kitchen utensils for five coins, Rhea sliced potatoes and cooked them together with dried meat.

"Is it true what that man said?"

At the raw sound of crackling wood, Gloria lowered her voice and asked.

"There's no need to speak so softly, it's not an indecent topic."

Rhea thought carelessly, stirring the pot with a spoon.

Of course, she couldn't believe everything Gerian said, and figured on her toes that Gerian probably said the same thing to other merchants.

"However, it's not unusual for things like currency speculation to happen once every four years, and now is just such a time of year."

"So is it true what he said?"

"What do you think, Gloria?"

"My intuition tells me that he is lying, but it seems to me that he has no reason to lie; it makes sense to instruct other merchants to make money because you don't have it, and then get a share of the profits; if you lie and make it impossible for others to make money, you will also tarnish your reputation and not you'll earn nothing."

"That's right, when you lie, the point is not what you lie about, but why you lie. Let's think for a moment that he is a shadow informant of some money changer, and it would be more logical to use some kind of deception, for example, that the value of silver money will rise to convince us to buy a large amount of silver money, which will actually fall to stop the losses."

After filling the bowls with dried potato gumbo, the two men returned to the room with the bowls in their hands and continued the conversation that had just taken place.

"So, knowing that he's lying, what does Rhea want to do about it?"

"While we are not sure which part of it is a lie: if the silver coin that will rise is a lie and actually falls, he will probably sell us such a silver coin; if the silver coin that will be canceled is a lie and actually rises, he will find a way to bypass the purchase side".

Rhea scooped up a piece of potato: "So, I'll pretend that I don't know that he's lying and agree with his words; if it's true, then you can make money just by agreeing with the situation; if it's a lie...".

Rhea swallowed the potato in one bite.

"If it's a lie?"

"Then we won't be the last to be deceived, we'll just find the signs of a lie and unload the deceived goods to someone else before it collapses."

"By the way, the apples are going to spoil soon, won't we hurry to Karafrog to dump them at such a time?".

"No, we won't be able to lift them up this muddy road if the wheels get stuck in it; let's wait until morning when the road is almost dry before we hit the road."

"The only way to make a stable business is not to take high risks and fight to the death, but to minimize losses."

Waving her finger, Rhea said something that seemed to make sense, following Fente's tone.

After dinner and washing dishes, they hugged, inhaling the smell of each other's hair and falling asleep