In the Carson family's fiefdom, within a sprawling manor, Galen sat in the reception hall, awaiting the arrival of the manor's owner.
...
The manor's architectural style, like that of Stromgarde, inherited the architectural style of the Arathor Empire from a thousand years ago. The exterior was simple and unadorned, while the interior was bright, open, and comfortable. The building materials used were mostly simple-processed century-old logs, as well as giant stones chiseled into squares.
Standing behind Galen were Gandalf, Omar, and Kimir Carson. Varokal, Fadil, and Flar were leading the troops to set up camp outside the manor.
Kimir was directing the servants in the manor to entertain His Royal Highness the Prince.
Galen and his party left Stromgarde and arrived at Carson Manor in the evening. At this time, the manor was busy arranging the banquet hall, waiting to hold a banquet to welcome Galen in the evening. Galen saw that it was still early, and some of the nobles were still on the way, so he invited the heads of the Dabyrie, Newall, and Carson families to discuss matters in the reception hall first.
Before long, Earl Dabyrie, Viscount Newall, and Viscount Carson entered the reception hall together. The three of them had arrived at the manor in advance through Earl Dabyrie's portal after Galen's ceremony, and then Baron Carson began to arrange the banquet preparations.
The nobles of the Kingdom of Stromgarde are roughly divided into two categories.
The first category is the first-generation nobles, like the ancestors of the Trollbane family. During the Arathi Empire a thousand years ago, they were lords enfeoffed by Emperor Trollbane in the Arathi Highlands. They are true nobles with real power, with territories and private soldiers.
After Trollbane became the royal family, the most powerful of these nobles was Marquis Northford, who owned the precious land of Northford Farm.
The second category is the nobles enfeoffed by the Trollbane royal family. After the Arathor Empire split, most of the lords went to the fertile north, and Trollbane's last bloodline went to the south of the continent, establishing a kingdom in Deadwood Forest.
The Arathi Highlands were almost deserted, and there were not many citizens left in Stromgarde. At that time, the commander of the Stromgarde Guard, the great general of the Arathi Empire, Duke Trollbane, was unwilling to give up Stromgarde and vowed to protect it. The warriors under his command were also willing to continue to follow the Trollbane family.
After renaming Stromgarde as Stromgarde, a new kingdom was born. In order to reclaim the uninhabited land and consolidate the rule of the Trollbane family, a new round of enfeoffment began. Earl Dabyrie, Viscount Newall, and other newly enfeoffed large farm lords gathered under the banner of Trollbane and became the backbone of the Kingdom of Stromgarde's rule.
It can be said that the Dabyrie family, who will be discussing matters with Galen later, are all royalists, so Galen chose them to cooperate in developing the mines.
If Galen had chosen Marquis Northford, it is estimated that not only his father Thoras, but also the coffin lids of the Trollbane family's ancestors would not be able to hold down, and they would rise from their corpses in minutes to strangle Galen, this unfilial descendant.
The king, in this era, is basically the most powerful of the nobles, the noble leader respected by a group of noble lords, and therefore has an additional title: king.
Now, the Trollbane family of the Kingdom of Stromgarde is dominant, suppressing Northford, who is also a first-generation noble, which is the result of generations of Trollbane's efforts.
In Thoras's generation, the kingdom's population and military strength have greatly increased, almost catching up with the third-ranked Kingdom of Gilneas. Galen also wants to promote Stromgarde, how can he give Northford a chance to increase its strength and make himself uncomfortable.
Without making Galen wait too long, Earl Dabyrie and Viscount Newall, led by Viscount Carson, walked into the reception hall.
A new round of transactions is about to begin. Galen has mining rights, but lacks time. He wants a sum of cash to recharge the base, instead of slowly collecting ore. Several nobles are willing to contract the mining area with gold coins. They have time and channels to convert the ore into gold coins, and the profits are huge.
The two sides hit it off.
"Your Highness, the three of us have discussed it and decided to jointly invest in restoring the mine's production, gathering miners, purchasing mining tools and equipment, and we will also be responsible for the mine's defense. We only need Your Highness to send your Scarlet Flame to help us repel the trolls when they harass us."
"We will give you 50,000 gold coins at once, and then you will take 30% of the mine's annual income."
Speaking was Viscount Carson, the owner of this manor, and Kimir's father, a man with mines at home. He has more say in mining than the other two, so he spoke first.
Whether it is out of loyalty to the royal family, or confidence in the prince after watching the military parade earlier, the conditions they offered are already full of sincerity.
But Galen felt that there was too little cash. Even if the annual share was less, he would still earn more gold coins.
"In this way, if you raise 100,000 gold coins for me, I can take one less share of the annual income. You also know that Scarlet Flame has just been established, and I still have the southern mining area to develop. I don't have extra money to maintain these expenses."
After Galen obtained Thoras's permission, he investigated the past output of the southeast mining area, so Galen proposed the condition of 100,000 gold coins.
The three noble families restarted the northern mining area. Personnel, equipment, guards, these initial investment costs, plus 100,000 gold coins to contract the mining area, they can recover the cost in the first year, a business with a profit of ten thousand.
The three nobles looked at each other, and finally Earl Dabyrie came forward and agreed to Galen's request: "Deal, Your Highness, you can wait in the manor for a few days, we need time to raise the gold coins."
"I will wait here for a few days, Viscount Carson, please help me prepare supplies for a thousand people for half a month, all the necessary expenses can be deducted from the 100,000 gold coins."
"This is a small matter, Your Highness the Prince, the banquet is ready, please come to the banquet later, Your Highness the Prince."
"Help me prepare a room, I'll go over after I change my clothes."
"Okay, Your Highness the Prince, please come with me."
A large transaction was discussed in the reception hall. Both sides were full of sincerity and were willing to give up a part of their interests. Rather than a commercial transaction, it was a political transaction.
All 100,000 gold coins are recharged into the base, and 200,000 units of gold can be obtained. Of course, Galen cannot recharge all of them in one go. This is not in line with Galen's concept of comprehensive development, but the base is the main productivity, and most of it is still used for base construction.
Tonight's banquet was uninteresting to Galen, but after just finishing the business deal, he had to give Carson family face. Several noble ladies were young and beautiful, but they were not very attractive to Galen.
Although the body is twelve years old, and has reached the age where he has the ability, after all, the soul is not too young, and he can control himself from becoming a beast chasing hormonal surges in his lower body.
After the banquet, Galen returned to the room prepared by Viscount Carson. The troops will rest here for a few days, waiting for the gold coins to be raised.