Chapter 1287: Chapter 695 Turning Stone into Gold_3
“Permanent! The electricity inside is just like the Everbright Fla, stabilized forever!” The Crown Princess had clearly conducted experints beforehand.
“Then wouldn’t its effect be the sa as the Everbright Fla? It can serve as a smokeless, permanent illumination tool. The manufacturing price of the Everbright Fla sets the upper limit for this product. If its selling price is eighty percent of the Everbright Fla’s, whenever I undertake related construction in the future, it’ll be my first choice.”
King Yasan leaned forward involuntarily and said, “This lamp wasn’t created using the water in the canal near Nimiel Village, was it?”
“It was.” The Crown Princess nodded and replied, “The manufacturing cost of these glass water lamps is far lower than the Everbright Fla, possibly just a few Gold Coins. However, once packaged for sale, they might fetch dozens of Gold Coins each in competition. Based on my understanding of General Gaven, he would never settle for that. After his operation, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to sell at an even higher price than the Everbright Fla.”
“So, you’re saying he only needs to sell a few tens of thousands of these lamps to recoup his costs, and everything after that is profit?” King Yasan found himself losing appetite. The idea of sothing originating from his land being mined for profits by soone else left him stifling resentnt.
“He doesn’t need to sell tens of thousands to break even. Every single lamp he sells is profit, because the villagers didn’t opt for the million Golden Lions but chose instead the second proposal—a collective shareholding venture to establish a factory.” The Crown Princess couldn’t help but sigh again.
“Explain what this collective shareholding venture is all about!” King Yasan’s curiosity was piqued. What sort of collaborative proposal could possibly lead such shortsighted villagers to forgo a million Golden Lions?
“It’s like this…” The Crown Princess elaborated on the concept of the collective shareholding venture in detail.
“Simply put, he hires those villagers to manufacture the glass water lamps for him. Then, he takes a portion of the profits earned from selling the lamps and distributes it among the villagers in exchange for usage rights to the luminous canal. The more glass water lamps he sells, the more profit he gains—and vice versa.” King Yasan furrowed his brows as he digested this entirely novel form of collaboration.
Profit-sharing wasn’t unfamiliar to him, but the stakeholders involved were typically nobles, wealthy rchants, and royals. Giving a share to simple villagers was unprecedented.
The benefits, however, were evident. Using uncertain future profits to substitute imdiate hard cash also tied the villagers to him—making them work as though the factory were their personal property, at least in the short term.
King Yasan zeroed in on the crux of the matter: “But how do those villagers trust him? Aren’t they worried that what they ultimately receive will fall short of the promised million Golden Lions?”
“His current reputation is the strongest guarantee—many of those accolades were personally bestowed by us.”
Tainalasta heard her own sigh yet again. “Now, the villagers of Nimiel Village firmly believe that he can lead them to wealth far surpassing a million Golden Lions. What’s frightening is, it’s not just them who believe this—I have solid reasons to think he can achieve it too.
He has once again created an entirely new industry. When the ti cos, it won’t just be the villagers of Nimiel who rely on this industry; there will also be those glass rchants. While he may not literally have the alchemy to turn stone into gold, he’s achieved the equivalent in practice.”
“We’re not afraid of him being too capable—our concern lies in him being too weak.” After several monts of reflection, King Yasan said, “Didn’t he invite you to invest in the operation of Styrak Bush recently? Use that as an opportunity to organize a Crown Comrce Chamber. It won’t involve regular trade activities—just focus exclusively on this Conqueror. Any comrcial activities he undertakes in our kingdom, the Crown Comrce Chamber gets a stake in those ventures—not as a controlling shareholder, but as a participant familiarizing with the operational model.”
“Wouldn’t this be too overt?” The Crown Princess imdiately understood King Yasan’s profound intentions. If this Conqueror’s relationship with the Koer Kingdom were ever to sour, the Crown Comrce Chamber could swiftly take over all his businesses within the kingdom to prevent any major disruptions.
“In this regard, General Gaven is sharper than you. He has already made corresponding arrangents, and it’s even possible that he’s kept shares for you at Nimiel Village, awaiting you to simply ask.” King Yasan spoke with absolute certainty. “But you must also be prepared for him to act under your banner while operating in this kingdom. Keep close tabs on him at all tis.”
“Understood.”
“It’s better to act early than late—start preparing for the Crown Comrce Chamber right away.”
“At once.”
Similar conversations weren’t confined to the Purple Dragon Palace; they were unfolding among other royals and in city mansions, all speculating on Gaven’s true intentions.
It wasn’t just Gaven who skillfully employed espionage techniques—the Koer Kingdom excelled in such strategies from top to bottom. Not all operations involved direct placent of spies near targets. Remote viewing magic, detection magic, prophecy magic—all these thods proved effective.
Very soon, however, Gaven’s adversaries realized he was like a cloud of Mist to all prophecy magic, yielding no useful insights whatsoever. Remote viewing magic and detection magic still offered so utility, but their limitations were apparent—only actionable in areas without a Magic Barrier. Any disruption rendered the techniques unreliable.
For instance, when Gaven entered the manor castle of the True Shield Trading Company or returned to Susar City, neither viewing nor detection magic could penetrate beyond determining his general location. Their forces were repelled by Mist Barriers or Mystlock Locks guarding those areas.
It wasn’t long before the pursuers discovered that even all detection and remote viewing magic failed completely. They couldn’t even pinpoint a general location for Gaven—as though he had disappeared from this Plane altogether.
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