After some time, the carriages soon stopped in front of a wooden walled civilization which was obviously a village. The village had very tiny walls and people who were clothed in rags came over to take a look, Tanya didn’t waste any time and opened the door as she walked out first before looking at me with her hand out.

 

Taking her hand, I slowly made my way out of the carriage before a soft gust of fresh air blasted past me. The air over here smelled fresher than in the town, it was a pleasant feeling. The trees that were located nearby made the atmosphere here a bit cooler.

 

“Is this the place?” I turned towards Raeliana and the others before all of them nodded.

 

The village looked lively, but one could tell from their clothing that they weren’t well off financially, people didn’t really want to interact with us but instead gazed from afar as the elderly lady guided us towards the inner parts of the village.

 

Houses were made out of palm leaves and wood, there was an abundant number of farmers all around and a little bit of hunter. It did look like a nice place to retire on though especially with the climate, which was decently cold, making it also a great place for hora-radia or wasabi plants to grow since wasabi plants requires a fairly cold climate.

 

After a few moments of walking, we soon reached the heart of the village which was a larger wooden house that looked a bit more decorated. Immediately, the elderly lady shouted towards the hut while knocking, “Village chief, we have arrived!”

 

“Please wait a bit,” another elderly voice responded as we waited outside, Tanya and the others were looking around with caution. I can tell they were inspecting the place for any potential threats which is something I am not afraid of since there shouldn’t be anyone that can threaten my strength here.

 

Two minutes passed by as the door opened revealing an elderly man who was being guided by his wooden stick, he looked a bit blind as his eyes looked up to me before a bitter smile appeared on his lips, “How long has it been since a noble has appeared in our land?”

 

“I don’t know the answer to that question,” I replied before he chuckled.

 

“You want to negotiate with us regarding the hora-radia plants, is that correct?” he asked before I nodded, “Feel free to make yourself home in the meantime. We can talk inside more peacefully.”

 

“Please excuse us then,” I responded before turning towards Tanya and the others who nodded the same as the three of them entered first which was more like their way of guarding me.

 

After ensuring the place was safe, the three then gestured me to come in as I soon entered inside before sitting down on a wooden couch while felt a bit uncomfortable, but it was understandable, “How about we get straight to the point, there are actually two options I wanted to give, one is to allow us to buy out the entire village while the another was to sign with us an exclusive long-term contract, which one do you want?”

 

“I think you already understand our circumstances, missy. The village has been abandoned by the noble who is supposed to protect us, though as the kingdom’s rules state, we are still under his rule which means we cannot easily allow you to buy out the entire village,” he replied while sitting down on his desk.

 

“Then, how much do you want every year for a long-term contract of sixteen years? The starting offer for me will be at around a hundred silver coins for every sixty wasabi plants that are harvested, is that a fine deal for you?” I looked at him straight in the eye.

 

“I don’t know what you see in wasabi plants that we can’t see but the deal is indeed worth it for us, missy especially for this tiny village which has hardly earned even fifty silver coins in the past few months…” he answered with a bitter smile.

 

As expected, since wasabi plants have little use for the village and for the people, the price of the plant itself would be super low because of the very tiny demand. If they can hardly even earn fifty silver coins within the past few months then that would mean the demand is much lower than I expected.

 

“Do you want to increase the offer more?” I asked before he shook his head.

 

“I think a hundred silver coins for every sixty plants is worth the deal, it may be less than two silver coins every plant, but it is a guaranteed purchase from a stable supply of money. Even if we knew what product you will make from the plant, the chances of us having the capability of reproducing it will be non-existent,” he replied.

 

He is indeed worthy of being called the village chief of this land which makes me feel bad for cheating him a bit. A hundred and twenty-five silver coins would have been a fairer price but since I want to profit a bit from purchasing in large quantities, I deliberately tried to decrease the price to a hundred.

 

“Of course, this price will increase by three-hundred silver coins for every five items we manage to sell within the month. You can expect the price to go up to a gold coin if we manage to sell fifteen items within the month,” I smiled confidently.

 

For every five items, that would mean we earned possibly around fifty gold coins if the price doesn’t drop dramatically. That means we are more than able to provide them a higher price for every five wasabi paste sold which is also a safe zone for us since it is ‘manage to sell’ which isn’t guaranteed.

 

“Then you have a deal there, young miss. No village wishes to forego such a contract especially one like us where the only plant we can harvest frequently is not worth much to the eyes of others,” he said.

 

“Do remember that this is an exclusivity contract which means we will be offering you two gold coins quarterly to provide only us with the harvests, are you still willing to accept?” I questioned him with seriousness before he nodded firmly.

 

“I have no opinion whatsoever, missy. How about we sign the contract on the spot then decide on the place where the transaction every month will be dealt on?” he suggested as I looked at Raeliana who nodded, taking out a contract paper from her waist bag, rolling it on the desk where the two of us made sure there wasn’t anything wrong with the contract.

 

After ensuring that the contract was perfect, the two of us signed our signatures at the bottom before a blinding light exploded throughout the room which signified the finalization of the contract. The penalty for failing to do their part is a hefty fine to the failing party, around a hundred gold coins which is practically a death sentence to the village.

 

“We can do the transaction on the manor in the town of Iana for now, the transaction place may change in the future but temporarily, the manor will be the spot where we can exchange, is that fine with you?” I asked before he nodded without hesitation.

 

“This is two gold coins to mark the start of our deal, this is a separate transaction from what is written on the contract. It is mainly to assist the village in the meantime since we don’t want the village we have a deal with to suddenly collapse on us,” I handed two gold coins with a bitter smile.

 

“Thank you very much, young miss,” he smiled before suggesting, “Do you want to take a little tour at the village or do you want to leave for some other more business?”

 

“We will head off back to the town immediately since we have some troubling issues to handle immediately, thanks for your offer though,” I smiled before he nodded as he gestured to the elderly lady to send us off.

 

The elderly lady happily followed as we were guided out from the tiny building, walking down the rough pathway as I looked at the farmlands which were covered heavily, after all, hora-radia or wasabi plants are plants that require special conditions to survive.

 

It was amusing to see a village though since back when I was still Ayumi Ai, I hardly left the city since it was practically my safe zone. Not to mention, Aurora was particularly strict against me leaving the city back then, unless there was an imminent danger to the city, she would hardly allow me to leave.

 

“My lady, need a hand?” Tanya asked as she reached her hand towards me while up on the carriage.

 

Naturally, I took up the beautiful maid’s hand and helped myself as I slowly entered the carriage while Raeliana instructed the driver a few details which I hardly understand since it was about handling carriages. Lia and Faron were both bored out of their minds as they played cards with one another.

 

It didn’t take long before the carriage soon started moving as I looked out at the window with a bright smile on my face, “The negotiations ended way too smoothly, I was expecting us to take at least a few more hours or maybe half a day before we can come into a conclusion.”

 

“Your imagination of a negotiation with a village is way too absurd, my lady. Most villages usually have a hard time feeding their people, especially ones like that one where their main product is something that has little benefit to the people. That is why during the entire negotiation, you had the upper hand which the village chief could already see which is why he gave in,” Tanya said.

 

“Indeed, you could tell from how skinny they were… that village really isn’t doing well, it seems like we need to find a quicker and larger source of income for the town soon since we will be needing a lot of money to expand,” I looked outside with a bitter smile.

 

There were few chances of knowing whether the other twenty-five villages near the town will contain something that will give us a large amount of stable revenue. The planned takeover I have in mind is already risky since our reputation could either plummet or rise depending on how we will take care of the villagers once their villages are under us.

 

It might also be the first time in a long time since a hostile takeover like what I am about to do has happened since most nobles, towns, and cities prefer to focus on strengthening what they already have instead of expanding outwards like what I am doing.

 

“Raeliana, Tanya, Faron, and Lia—can I entrust the four of you over something?” I turned towards them with a serious expression that confused the four.

 

“Is there something troubling you, Princess?” Faron asked.

 

“There is one issue I have in mind and that issue is our lack of information. I want to build our very own underground information network very soon, one that we can rely on giving us reliable and fast information from many places of the kingdom, is that possible?” I asked before all of their expressions turned grim.

 

“I don’t think milady knows yet, but we already have prepared an information network that is ready to be utilized at any point in time. Right now, the Windsor family is using them, but the real owner of the network belongs to none other than you, milady,” Raeliana answered with a bitter expression which confused me.

 

“When did the four of you started creating that information network and for what purpose was it originally?” I looked at them seriously.

 

“The information network was supposed to be used freely by you once you managed to succeed the name of the Windsor family, we wanted to lessen your burden a bit which is why we decided on secretly creating a network of reliable and fast information from all around the kingdom,” Tanya answered.

 

These four… I don’t know what to say, are they plain risky or smart—they were thinking ahead of time for me, but they weren’t thinking about themselves. It aches me inside to know that they did something super risky to help me in the future. Forming an underground information network is one if not the risky tasks you are to be given.

 

It is risky because you are peeking into the secrets of the nobility which they are mainly not fond of, you could gain information about their evil deeds and all that other sensitive information, once they know that you have them, the chances of your head popping off from your neck on your sleep is super high.

 

“Next time, I will prohibit the four of you from doing something risky without my permission. If the four of you dare to disobey then don’t expect me to be merciful. Anyhow, I won’t use the information network yet so don’t expose yourselves…” I said before the four of them nodded, “It will come handy in the future, once the town is qualified to become a city.”