The Duke's mansion was extremely luxurious, which was expected for someone in his position, but it was still very impressive.
Victor was sitting in the guest room. The Duke entered and asked what he wanted in return, he was already prepared to give many gold coins.
"I want your publicity," Victor said calmly.
"Wait a moment, what do you really want?"
"I am opening a shop in the Capital, having someone with influence talking about the shop is important, so I want you to speak about my store and my products. I will sell potions, some magical artifacts, and scrolls, along with anything else I can find that I consider to be high quality. But your work would not be for free, I will deliver a stock of goods, and if you do not like them, you do not have to promote anything."
The Duke sat down, he had not expected that.
"You are different. At the same time that you are a child, you are also very serious and seem to always think about the future. That is good, but at the same time strange, not in a bad way, it just is not expected for a merchant to refuse money. But there is something more in your proposal. I know that you merchants possess a lot of information, and I think this is not all that you want. Tell me your real intention, please."
Victor was surprised, he really did want more things, but he planned to ask for them over time.
"You nobles have armies, and I know you face some battles with the neighboring Kingdom. I believe your military force is weak, that is why you only had four guards. If that is happening to a Duke, then other nobles may be suffering the same problem. That is why I thought I could help. I can obtain weapons, potions, and items that are useful in battles. Selling them would be good for me and for you nobles, since you will not be able to get something of the same quality as what I have, at least not in Zhara."
The Duke fell into thought. Even though Victor had stated his intentions, the proposal still did not make much sense. He chose not to dwell on it, he accepted and asked when he could receive the stock Victor had mentioned.
Victor placed an item bag on the table, the Duke picked it up.
"There are some items inside. This is not everything yet. I want you to test the quality. I placed two swords, some potions, and scrolls. I want you to have someone test and verify their quality. I do not mind if you ask an alchemist to analyze the potions and scrolls, I only want an honest opinion."
"You trust your merchandise that much?"
"I do not trust it, I trust the one who produced it."
Those words were unexpected. The Duke liked him, somehow he liked him.
"Very well, I will run the tests and if I like them, I will tell you. But even so, I would still be in your debt, would I not?"
"You do not need to worry about that. I am in your home and I am grateful for your hospitality, so consider that this favor repaid it. But at the same time, I do not want you to think that I only did this to receive something in return."
Once again, the Duke had not expected those words. Victor gave a very different impression from the merchants the Duke had known before, and that was good.
"Are you sure he would be good at promoting?"
"Yes, I think he is someone who can help us," Victor said while lying down on the bed.
"They look like bankrupt nobles," Lysandra said while lying beside him.
"They are bankrupt. You can tell they have few guards and few maids, even a baron would have more staff. But he still has to command an army to protect the Kingdom. That creates a question. Did he become poor because of the conflicts, or for another reason?"
"Does that matter?" Niko asked.
"Yes. If it is because of the conflict, we can offer weapons and make the Duke stronger. Over time, we can earn his trust for more confidential and serious matters. That will help with many other things, like improving and expanding our shop. That way we will gradually be able to move more demons. But if it is not because of that, all our help may be in vain. He may have had problems with the duchy or something like that. Debts are always bad, because if a Duke fell into debt, it means he was in a very bad situation, and it may be irreversible. However, in times of peace, the King usually helps that noble with money, since Dukes belong to the nobility. But there is a chance it is not a time of peace," Vans replied.
"I did not see any signs of war."
"War is not always the same."
"Even so, we will keep our plan. If the Duke is bankrupt, we will continue. He is still a noble. Tomorrow we will go to the shop and decide what we will do."
The shop was much larger than they had expected. Victor could sell the potions and items he wanted, along with weapons. The blacksmith they had was the best blacksmith in the entire demon continent, so they would be able to provide the best products and weapons. Victor did not care about offering weapons to the enemy, he wanted to infiltrate and gain influence.
"What did you think of the place?" a merchant guild employee asked.
"I liked it, but we need to renovate and install some shelves. In the back, I want the area where the employees will sleep to be divided, and I want to create a forge room in the rear. How do I arrange all that?"
"If you explain every detail you want to change or add, I can send the request to one of our builders. We work with the best, they can provide a budget and finish in the shortest time possible."
"Alright, I will write down everything I want."
Victor took a sheet of paper and a pen from his item bag. He made a simple drawing of the shop and began writing everything he wanted done and how he wanted it, from the materials to how he wanted the dormitories, the kitchen, and everything else.
The shop was very large, and in the back there was a relatively big house with six rooms. But he wanted the house rebuilt and two or three more rooms added, since he planned to live in that shop with the employees.
The guild employee informed him about a shop behind it that was for sale. Victor agreed to pay another five thousand gold coins. The shop was much smaller and had no dormitories, but he did not mind, since now he had more space to do what he wanted, along with a second shop that he could reduce in size to expand the dormitories and sell some other product.
He finished the drawing with all the notes, reviewed it, and then handed it to the guild employee. The man seemed very happy, since the commission he would receive from the sale and the renovation was very large.
That same day, Victor received the cost, two thousand gold coins for the renovation. So far he was in the red, no profit, only expenses, but he had infinite money. He agreed to pay the amount.
Two men were pushing a cart. Vans grew curious and approached them. They were carrying wasp weed, a large amount of it. Vans asked who the shipment belonged to, they mentioned the Duke.
At dinner, Vans asked about the weed shipment.
"That is food for the pigs and cattle. Those weeds have been growing nonstop and ended up destroying some of our crops. We are making use of them however we can."
"Wait a moment, you are saying there is much more of that weed and you are feeding it to the animals?"
"Yes, since they are useless for anything besides destroying crops and causing losses."
"I will buy them. I will pay one hundred gold coins for each full cart."
The Duke stopped eating and wondered if he had really heard correctly.
"You want to buy those weeds and pay that much?"
"Yes."
"For what reason?"
"Potion production. Those weeds would be very useful for me and for our shop. Besides, with the money you can buy better feed for the animals."
"Very well, I gladly accept your offer. But I want to know one thing. What kind of potion?"