Gunic came after a while and sat again. He wetted his lips before talking. "It is done. We bought his ten carts of good ore we needed from Värmland to feed the smelting ore furnaces, my lord. It was a big pie from the Gods!"
"How much did it cost? Bjorn inquired in wonder.
"Only two carts of mixed grain." Gunic smiled, showing his white teeth.
"And...it is a lot or what?"
"Not at all. The raw ores aren't worth too much in the first place as they are. It is when they are processed that their value spike dramatically."
"To put it in perspective, it is just like when we process the grain into flour for selling. 2,2 pounds of iron ore in the market of Kattegat varies between 0,2 to 0,5 grams of silver. Our grain of rye or barley in the market, the 2,2 pounds are around 2 grams of silver, but if we process this grain into flour at the same weight, we get around 3,5 grams of silver, which almost doubles its starting price. Brewing the grain, we also get an increase in difference that is even bigger, making it more profitable than making it into flour than instead of simply selling the grain."
"As such, we provide and sell all three kinds of products to the market according to its demands. But the grain raw as it is harvested and stored, is a little part compared to before, when your family needed to sell it cheaply as it was dumped into the market of Kattegat."
"And this ore, how much does it make?" Gyda asked, interested in these matters.
"With the ten carts of ore, we can make the smelting ore furnaces work for a month. From these, we obtain almost half of the ore in wrought iron, which has a price of around 12 grams of silver for every pound of it."
"It is a monstrous difference, my lady. Let's say we paid these ten carts in silver. It would have cost us 96 ounces of silver, and now, after it was processed, we have wrought iron bars with a cost of around 3200 ounces of silver!"
"This is more profitable than raiding any place several times over!"
"A knowledge worth killing and waging war for!"
"You have to know that with the previous technology and methods, this was unthinkable to produce like now, even less in this timeframe we have. It would take far too long, and the amount acquired would be by far less."
"But now...After my lord created such perfect smelting furnaces with his bright mind, everything changed."
"And that is just with two smelting ore furnaces! If there were more... it is a wealth that has no limit."
"Let's not say if part of that wrought iron was further processed in the better iron from the more advanced crucible furnace. From which my lord Baldur is currently making swords and axes, and armor."
"From these five carts of wrought iron, it only needs one and a half to meet the end monthly capacity, producing a cart worth of good iron. This iron is worth several times over the other."
"Just as it is...but where this kind of new iron shiness...is when a swordsmith or armorsmith gets hold of it and makes something with it..."
"It is a good commodity needed for war...That's why...before we have a small army, to protect everything, we shouldn't make too much noise about it."
"A man in a common raid to the east can get hold of around 32 ounces of silver in his name after it is successful and live like a king for a while compared to a simple and honest man working the fields or in the towns."
"A simple and cheap slave in Kattegat starts at 12 ounces of silver."
Everyone couldn't help but suck in air and tremble from excitement. Even Lagertha and Ragnar were excited hearing all this... even if they knew they possessed a lot of wealth compared to years before, hearing it so well explained and clear, it was simply an eye-opener thing as they now had a clearer sense of what they had in their hands.
'It's a hot potato that can explode at any moment.' Baldur nodded inside.
"Are we still pledging to the Earl?" Bjorn asked with doubt. "We should kill him and take over."
Baldur laughed after hearing his brother. "That's bold!"
"How come you came to this conclusion?"
Bjorn scratched his cheek, embarrassed as he answered. "We have so much wealth that we can hire mercenaries to fight for us. Besides, we are in danger currently because of not having a territory of our own and possibly already being targeted by him."
"If we become an Earl family, people will not see us as a fat pig awaiting to be butchered, even if they know what we have here."
"Right?" he said, looking around.
Ragnar laughed. "You are right. We should kill him and take over." Before, he wasn't interested in this...but hearing of the things they have in their lands currently, and possibly his children are already being in the sights of people wanting to hurt them. He couldn't help but think of it.
Baldur and the rest couldn't help but look at Ragnar, surprised at his words.
"But now it's not the time. You have heard Gunic and your brother before; they don't know yet what is happening here, just the tip."
"You and your brother would still pledge to the Earl. With that, we will win time as he would be more relaxed."
"Time that we would use wisely in getting men for our protection. When the time comes that something big happens, we will have a way to turn the tide."
"What about the other guest?" Lagertha asked Gunic. "Isn't he a merchant too?"
"I will call for him to come, my lady."
.....
After a while, Gunic came with a short and a little fat man who was wearing fine clothes at a simple sight, while also sporting jeweled rings on his fingers.
The family looked at him with interest as Gunic did the same trick as before.
"May I present you to Ragnar Lothbrok, the man who owns these lands, the farm, and this place, and everything else that is happening under his holdings."
"Alongside him are his wife, Lagertha the shieldmaiden, and their children Baldur, Gyda, and Bjorn."
"Greetings, lord Ragnar and his family." The little fat man had a weird Nordic accent as he spoke while doing a short reverence in salute to everyone. "My name is Dümăs Popovic."
Ragnar was interested in the little man's looks and accent. "Greetings, Du-Dumas?" he awkwardly recited his name.
Dümăs lip twitched a little at his name being called in such a broken way. "Yes."
"Good, good." Ragnar laughed freely. "From where did you hail, Dumas?"
"I'm from the trading city of Lübeck."
"And where is this city of Lübeck supposed to be?" Lagertha inquired, not knowing of such a place or having ever heard of it. The rest was like her.
"The city lies across the strait of water, my lords. All the way past the south of the lands that you know as Denmark. These lands of Denmark have as neighbors limiting them the lands of the Obotritic. I'm from these lands, and at the limit between these two neighbors lies the town of Lübeck, from where I hail."
-AN: Maybe I also should start using the word 'country' even if it appeared 500 years later.-
"Oh?" Baldur made a sound of interest. "So you are a merchant or a traveler, Dumas?"
Dümăs looked warily at Baldur as he felt in the presence of a dangerous animal just looking at him, to say that his family also had an aura imposing enough to know they were no simple peasants and farmer family. "I'm a merchant, this time I came with my crew to trade along the Swedish coast all the way upwards till we touched Kattegat as our last stop before going back again."
"Interesting. And what goods do you haul for trading?"
"A little of everything. Fine fabrics, perfume with marvelous scents, silver and gold, but mostly jewels, I dedicate to the trade mostly of precious gemstones."
"Wonderful. Those are interesting things that you carry around." Baldur exclaimed. Intending to get things from him already, like jewels and gemstones for his women, the fabric and perfume too! He could already premonition that he would waste a good amount of silver in this little fat man.
"Did you carry these things here, Dumas?"
"Err..." Dümăs hesitated for a moment before answering. "I don't have anything here at the moment, my lords. They are in Kattegat with my crew of men."
"Then, to what purpose did you come here, Dumas?"
"For your ale, my lord." Dümăs excitedly said. "I have tasted every kind of ale in Kattegat that comes from your brewery, and I must say it's the best one I have tasted ever. The mead is a delight too!"
"I'm willing to buy every single barrel of ale and mead that you have."
Everyone looked at each other with a wry smile.
"Are you sure about what you are talking about, Dumas?"
"It is not a small amount of silver for what you are asking for."
"We have currently around." Baldur looked at Gunic to speak.
"Around 660 barrels of ale and 70 barrels of mead, my lord. This sums up the production of last year's harvest."
"Its amount would be as high as 272 pounds of silver for the ale and 112 pounds of silver for the mead".
"There you have it, Dumas. It is a big amount for any man. Maybe you should first think about it and come again at another time with a new offer?"
Dümăs did the math in his mind before replying firmly. "No, I will keep what I say before. I want every barrel you have."
"Well... I don't have enough at this moment to pay for everything, to tell the truth. But I can carry half of it and come later for the rest."
"Are you a wealthy man from where you hail, Dumas?" Lagertha questions with skepticism about the ability of the little fat man to have so much wealth.
"I have a bit, but it is mostly from my family, the Popovic, that is a merchant family that forms part of a guild of merchants, my lords," Dümăs explained with a proud look.
"What is that?" Bjorn asked, not understanding anything of it.
"Yeah, what is a 'guild'? Never heard of it." Gyda asked.
"A guild, my lords, would be something like a group or association of people. In this case, a merchant guild that my family forms part of is a group of multiple different merchants."
Baldur was interested in that. A guild, a term he had only seen being coined in video games and isekai anime in his last life. "And what kind of benefits brings to your family for being part of this 'guild'?"
"A lot, my lord. But the most important thing is that we can easily transport and trade our cargo without a problem across different lands ruled by different kings. As some members of it are wealthy and with enough influence in the lands of their respective kings."
"This ale and mead that you brew here, it is a delicacy! I'm sure it would be a success and easy to sell everywhere."
"That's why I want to buy every barrel you have, and I even want to establish a partnership to continue buying your production."
"Well, to us, it sounds like a good thing if you can keep up with your words, Dumas. So, let's celebrate it in hopes of creating a long and prosperous friendship."