The first performance at the opera house was an overwhelming success.
Compared to the world-famous opera houses of future generations—those architectural masterpieces—the exterior of this opera house wasn't particularly striking. But its interior was magnificently designed. The vast circular auditorium, though only one level, had a ceiling nearly ten meters high. Aside from the wall where the stage stood, the other three sides featured tiered seating in a stadium-like layout. There were no separate boxes, yet the venue could accommodate nearly a thousand people at once.
The interior of the opera house had been specially designed so that even the spectators in the last row could hear the performers on stage. Of course, if they wanted to see the performance in detail, they'd need a pair of binoculars.
Such a grand theater was something the audience had never seen before, and the performance inside completely entranced them. The moment the first show ended, many rushed to buy tickets for the next one.
Then they learned that the opera house only held two performances per week.
Many people expressed regret—they wished they could come back and watch it again the very next day.
"If there were performances every day, I'd move in and never leave."
"Well, you'd miss out on a lot of banquets, but honestly, I'd do the same. The show was fantastic! The actress who played Anna was amazing—I love her singing voice."
"I'm more into Chris—he's just so handsome! I'd love to go on a romantic date with him."
"Oh, darling, is it appropriate to say that in front of your husband?"
"Why not? You can go and flirt with your Anna, too."
"Hmm, fair enough. I remember seeing flower baskets for sale at the theater entrance. Let's go take a look."
"Great idea!"
They were one of those surface-level couples who each did their own thing.
And they weren't the only ones interested in the performers. Many others were, too. But with the Duke backing the opera house, few dared to take advantage of their status to harass the actors. Other than receiving plenty of admirers and fans, the performers weren't subjected to any coercion. Of course, if any of them were tempted and lost their self-restraint, neither Felix nor Wei Wei would stop them. After all, everyone had their aspirations.
The charm of the opera quickly spread through word of mouth. Not only were nobles who hadn't yet seen the show intrigued, but even ordinary commoners began to grow curious about this "opera" that the nobles were raving about. Unfortunately, opera tickets were expensive. Even for those in the middle class with modest assets, it wasn't something they could afford casually. So for now, opera remained a noble pastime.
As opera fever took hold, Felix and Wei Wei welcomed back their fleet.
The team led by Kingsley had been away from Sardinson for nearly half a year. Not long after little Anthony's second birthday in May, Felix received word of their return—and of their successful expedition.
Kingsley had initially led his team to the southern shores of the Mediterranean. With the help of a merchant contact, he managed to secure an audience with the local monarch. Presenting him with various goods brought from home, he quickly won the king's favor and persuaded him to send people to help locate rubber trees.
Fortunately, a local priest knew the exact location of the rubber trees, so the search didn't take long. However, due to the long journey, Kingsley wasn't sure if the trees they'd found were the specific ones Wei Wei was looking for. So, following her instructions, he collected samples of the tree sap and stored them in barrels. He also dug up a sapling and had the fleet bring it back to Sardinson along with other goods purchased locally, hoping Wei Wei could identify it. He stayed behind to handle follow-up tasks.
The fleet returned in late January. After carefully comparing the sap and the sapling with entries in her encyclopedia, Wei Wei confirmed that they were indeed rubber trees. She immediately wrote to Kingsley, instructing him to gather more sap and establish a rubber plantation on-site—the bigger, the better.
Rubber trees typically require at least five years of growth before they can be tapped. Even if a new plantation were established immediately, it would still be five years before they could start producing sap. So if they needed latex right away, they'd have to continue searching for wild rubber trees in the rainforest.
Because of the distance between the two locations, by the time Kingsley's reply came back, the fleet had already almost returned to Sardinson.
This time, the fleet also brought emissaries sent by the local monarch, delegates tasked with establishing cooperative relations with Felix and negotiating trade.
After paying his respects to Felix and Wei Wei, Kingsley eagerly reported everything that had transpired.
After sending the initial sap and sapling, he hadn't stopped searching. When Sardinson's reply arrived, he was still deep in the tropical rainforest, continuing the search for rubber trees. The rainforest was extremely dangerous. Their team faced many challenges, but with help from the royal guides and soldiers, they managed to locate an even larger rubber tree grove—an entire forest.
Once he received the letter from Sardinson, Kingsley began acquiring land and recruiting labor to collect sap and transplant saplings. Compared to seeds, older saplings saved years of waiting time. However, due to the high risk involved, recruiting labor wasn't easy. In the end, Kingsley had to barter a large amount of secondary goods sent from Sardinson with local nobles in exchange for slaves to meet the labor demands.
Since rubber trees were native to the region, the transplanted saplings had a high survival rate. The newly acquired rubber plantation now had nearly 500 saplings around one year old, and close to 10,000 seedlings grown from seeds. If all went well, they would have abundant rubber raw materials in five years.
Of course, for now, they also had a substantial amount of latex. The fleet had brought back nearly two tons of rubber sap. Wei Wei couldn't wait to have the alchemists begin refining it into various rubber products.
The first thing she wanted to fix was that bone-jarring carriage!
After finishing his report on the rubber situation, Kingsley went on to talk about the other gains from this expedition.
In truth, nearly all of the second batch of goods they'd sent across the sea had been used by Kingsley to purchase land and slaves. Although Felix had sent plenty of gold coins with the fleet, gold wasn't as popular in the region as the goods they brought. Once the locals realized Kingsley was looking to buy land and people, they all insisted on trading goods for those instead of accepting gold.
As a result, Kingsley didn't manage to bring back many materials or merchandise to Sardinson; nearly everything had been invested into building the rubber plantation.
That said, the gold Felix had sent wasn't entirely wasted. Kingsley used some of it to purchase several sugarcane plantations. He already knew that sugarcane could be used to make sugar. Although the production process had long been monopolized by sugar-producing regions—making the actual technique a mystery to outsiders—Kingsley believed that Wei Wei would know how it was done. After all, she had already figured out how to produce sugar from malt and beets; it made no sense that she wouldn't know how to refine cane sugar.
Even though the emergence of beet sugar had slightly reduced the overall price of sugar, it remained a luxury commodity with high profit margins.
Had Kingsley not already built a friendly relationship with the local king, there was no way he could've acquired those sugarcane plantations. In return for this favor, Sardinson would need to sign a long-term trade agreement with the kingdom.
After careful consideration, Kingsley agreed. Though he had decided on his own, he believed the Duke would certainly approve. Sardinson had significant needs for many of the region's resources, so cooperation was inevitable. That said, he didn't have the authority to finalize the exact terms. That was why he'd brought the emissaries with him—they had come specifically to negotiate this deal.
Because most of his funds were spent, the fleet returned with little cargo. The sailors felt it was wasteful to sail back with empty holds, so they simply rented out the ships to the royal delegation. The emissaries were responsible for preparing the goods they wanted to take to Sardinson for trade. Whatever profit they made was theirs to keep—the fleet only charged a transportation fee. This way, they avoided the embarrassment of returning home empty-handed.
When Wei Wei learned that they now owned both a rubber plantation and sugarcane estates, she was overjoyed. While beet sugar was decent, she preferred cane sugar. Not only was the flavor better, but sugarcane also had a higher yield rate. With some improvements to the refining process, their sugarcane plantations could eventually produce pure white sugar—something that could sell for far more than the brown sugar derived from beets.
She even proposed, "Actually, we could just open a factory over there, buy sugarcane from the locals, process it into white sugar, and then ship it back here for sale. That way, we wouldn't need to recruit workers to tend the plantations ourselves, nor worry about annual harvests."
Producing raw materials internally could lower costs, but purchasing them externally was more efficient and less labor-intensive. By buying sugarcane from local growers and processing it themselves, they wouldn't be seen as competing with local planters. Instead, they'd become major customers, which, as outsiders, would make things safer and more stable for them.
Felix nodded in agreement and also scrapped his original plan to personally establish cocoa and coffee plantations. Reality was more powerful than idealism. Given that they were foreigners in a distant land, they were better suited to act as processors and manufacturers. Earning money alongside the locals would build stronger relationships and reduce the risk of conflict. If something ever went wrong, they wouldn't be able to respond quickly from Sardinson—they'd need local allies to help.
It was clear he needed to sit down with Wei Wei and hash out the specifics of their collaboration.
"Since they've come to negotiate anyway, we might as well settle everything now," Felix said to Kingsley. "You're more familiar with them than we are. Over the next few days, take them around and show them what we're capable of. Make sure they understand the strength of Sardinson. We'll talk about the actual agreements in a few days."
Kingsley immediately understood Felix's intent. He was being asked to impress the emissaries with Sardinson's wealth and strength, and at the same time, subtly warn them not to harbor any unrealistic ambitions.
"Your Grace," Kingsley asked, "can I let them watch the knights and soldiers during training?"
Felix laughed. "Of course. You're still the commander of the knight order. That's your call."