Odbart Adalgiso claps his hands and let the maid bring hearty meals. Grilled whole chicken, a mutton with mushroom stew, butter bread and a large bowl of vegetable soup. Obviously, in this borderland, the high noble like this count hasn’t the slightest impairment of personal enjoyment, Garridan thinks.

Garridan and his assistant's view stop at the maid's face. Her look is extraordinary with her snow white skin without blemish. Her short but voluminous bob hair is jet black which is rare. Her pupils are in crimson colour. Does this count import slave girl from faraway foreign country? the visitors ponder. 

"Please dig in."  The count friendly urges them while the foreign maid smile beside them.

Garridan naturally doesn’t hesitate, he has traveled by ship from Frontiera to Vilvorde, and even with favourable wind it took two days; if it was a multi-masted cargo ship, it would have been even slower, maybe three to five days. There was no kitchen on board, so it usually came with eating dried meat strips or wheat bread. Seeing the billowing hot dishes, he feels saliva surging in his throat.

But thanks to years of training in aristocratic culture, he could maintain perfect dining etiquette. 

"What do you think?" At the end of the meal,  suddenly questions the guest.

"Uh, what?" For a moment the viscount looses his spirit.

"The iron fork, for most people it is a luxury, not to mention a silver fork. When you are eating directly with your hand, it is very easy to put dirty things together with the normal food in the belly. Disease enters by the mouth, you know? "

The viscount doesn’t know how to answer, he doesn't understand the meaning of ‘diseases enters by the mouth’, but according to his understanding of the previous sentence, Odbart Adalgiso was probably referring to the dirt stuck on food, and it would be easy to get sick when eating it. But when someone tries to diagnose the sickness, no one knows the reason why they die.

The count stops eating and takes out two items which both visitors have never seen before.

On his right hand, there is a short stick in green colour. At the end of it, there is very small brush in white colour. 

The maid put a pail filled with water beside him.

At his left hand, there is even a weirder item. Upon squeezed, white substance comes out from its top. 

He then takes the substance using the brush at the stick in his another hand. 

He subsequently brushes his teeth and rinse using water in the pale.

"It that brushing tooth? I have never seen that.."

The maid and the count smile. He shakes the hands with the stick and the unknown item before answering,

"Toothpaste and toothbrush."

They are made to understand that the stick with brush is toothbrush and the item that produces white substance is toothpaste.

"My master is the only man in this world that could produce these.."

The guests furrow their eyebrows.

"Your master...is he his majesty, King of Dioral?"

The maid and count look at each other, smirking. The guests are becoming more suspicious.

"No. That's the past. My region and my vassals. We now pledge our fealty to a new king. Hyuutia and all nobles in the west had done the same."

"What in the world are you talking about, my lord?"

"There is new kingdom. Hezri Kingdom ruled by His Majesty, King Hiro Hezri, who is now our master. He even rules over Redcliffe and Korcari Wilds."

Garridan stands up and hit his fists in the table.

"Stop screwing around!"

His sleeve is suddenly pulled by his assistant who seems to be freaking out. He points towards the maid.

He turns to their side an the maid is now standing on the wall. Her body is now in horizontal position. She walks upper and now standing upside down with her feets on the ceiling.

"What in the world.."

"She is my master, His majesty's personal assistant."

Count speaks as if he is happy to see the guests' surprised looks.

After the girl returns to the floor, the banquet goes on.

There is a fairly awkward atmosphere during the dinner. The count doesn't talk about ore trade as he finds it inconvenient to say anything. 

When the count tells the maid to deliver the dessert, Garridan tentatively mentions the trade. 

"Count, according to the previous procedure, today should be the day when you deliver the ore, but I don’t see any ore in the terminal yard."

Odbart Adalgiso put down his small sticks and nods, "Unfortunately, the northern slope mine collapsed a while back, this month my people can only try to resume production. However, the gravel from the collapse has not been cleared yet. According to the schedule, we will be able to start mining again at the beginning of next year."

The mine collapsed? For a moment, Garridan is stunned, is that a coincidence? However, he quickly realizes that the count does not have the need to lie. Otherwise, if he himself goes to the North Slope Mine, everything would be clear, so it is obvious that with a lie Count would only beat his own face.

"Then... what happened to the ore from before the collapse?"

"That wasn't much, the amount mined was according to the convention, my people were unable to mine more than the amount set by the convention.."

Odbart Adalgiso emphasizes the words in a practiced manner, "Lord Garridan, you should also remember what happened during skirmish with Orlais two years ago, right?"

Of course Garridan remembers it, the cold lasted for four months and in Vilvorde nearly one out of every four people starved to death. The cause of this was Marquis’s avaricious and insatiable greed. Between the aristocracy there was naturally internal opposition, some nobles even wanted to punish the southern noble afterwards. But at the end of this incident nothing happened, only because he was the husband of the King’s daughter.

Now when this is mentioned by the count, Garridan has a bad feeling.

"This time it will be even worse," Odbart Adalgiso sighs, " with what we could mine before, it is probably only enough for two months of food. I will try to support my people,but I'm afraid they won't survive the winter, sir. The old ways of trade must be abolished!"

Garridan and his assistant open their mouth, but they don't know how to refute. They aren't a professional diplomat. In face of such a good reason, they really couldn't point out any problems, so they could only delay the matter for the time being, "My Lord, I have to express my regret. This time will not be a repeat of the tragedy before, I can afford to loan you a month of food, and when your people are able to resume production next year, they can slowly repay the debt."

"I already sold the ore to Lothering, we can slowly repay you with their money."

"But…"

"There is no ‘but’, however," Count immediately interrupts him, "they are willing to buy the ore with gold royals, and at the same time they sell wheat, cheese, bread, honey and more at market price... which we can buy with the royals we got from the former transaction. But, viscount, even if you are willing to lend us a month of food, would the other two families agree with your decision? As far as I know, it isn't even easy for Margrave to reach an agreement with the other families."

Garridan keeps silent, the count has put it right. Not just the remaining two, he even fears margrave wouldn't agree. If they want to maintain the monopoly, it would be necessary to modify the trading scheme, but he does not know how he could have the last word. He is called an ambassador, but in reality, he is just the spokesperson. Perhaps the margrave does not want someone to come to any private agreements with Vilvorde, right? Whether it is during the time of the former King or now with the count, he assign  a different candidate every season, and these people are never the decision makers of the faction.