For the Avantis, the shock from what they had just witnessed still hadn't settled.
Hampo got up and went to draw the sword from the ground.
"It's light." His brows shot up. He held the sword before his face and examined it more closely.
The sunlight from the windows fell and reflected on the sword's body.
Hampo touched the edge lightly with his finger and immediately, it drew blood.
He sharply drew in air through his mouth and Joules stepped forward with a napkin.
"Lord Governor, is this some kind of new metal?" Hampo asked.
"No, nothing of the sort. What you have in your hand is made from iron."
Immediately, a frown fell upon their faces as they couldn't understand.
"A refined and purified iron. I call it Marc Steel 1.3." He smiled lightly as he folded his arms over his chest.
Slowly, they understood Marcus's words, but it still didn't make them feel any better.
Amsun cleared his throat, a bit nervous to speak. "Milord, if I may… I think every merchant house in Ulha knows not to buy iron from you due to the embargo from the Royal Council."
"I know."
"Then you know that we are not bold enough to take this hot cake from you, right?"
Marcus shook his head. "I didn't think that your merchant house was so docile that it would prevent you from finding loopholes and making brilliant deals."
It sounded like an insult, but none of them took it as such.
Which lord or governor wouldn't be frustrated by such an embargo placed on them?
They have the resources, but even when many need their resources, no one wants to buy from them.
Nonetheless, it did make Hampo's mouth a bit sour.
"The embargo placed on me is for the iron mined from Daze Mountain Range. I am not allowed to trade iron with anyone other than the Royal Army. However, this embargo doesn't extend to products of iron that aren't weapons.
In other words, byproducts of iron are not restricted. And as I said, this isn't iron, it's Marc Steel."
The room came to a silence.
What Marcus said was true. As merchants, they were very much aware that there were loopholes in the embargo placed on Agard's iron.
However, they didn't think that Marcus was capable of exploiting that loophole so soon.
"Now tell me, and don't beat around the bush with me. I am pressed for time. Would you like to purchase my Marc Steel, or would you like to back out?"
Amsun opened his mouth, but before a word came out, Marcus raised a hand.
"Note, refusing to purchase this won't hurt the slight relationship we've built so far. However, it completely shuts down your chances of purchasing Marc Steel, at a lesser cost, till further notice."
Hampo and Amsun glanced at each other and their eyes said it all.
If what Marcus was saying about Marc Steel was true, then this was a huge deal that would further increase their merchant house's prestige on the country's map.
With curious gazes, they turned their eyes towards Marcus again.
"Lord Governor, how do you plan to sell them, and what's the price?" Hampo asked as he returned to his seat.
Now we are getting somewhere. Marcus thought as he resisted the urge to laugh.
"One ingot costs 7 gold coins, and twelve ingots make up a 12kg bar. Each bar would go for 84 gold coins. That's how I originally planned to sell it, however, we both need to make some profit here.
So here's what we'll do. I'll sell each bar for 80 gold coins, in other words, you are guaranteed 4 gold coins from every bar bought."
"Four gold coins… sounds like a lot, Milord, but that won't be enough to cover the cost of logistics. We pay our employees a premium." Amsun mentioned.
Marcus raised a brow at the young master. "On the market now, how much do the strongest, legal metals go for?"
"For an ingot, the price ranges from 11-13 gold coins per ingot."
"Exactly. You don't need to try and crush the price down with that silly excuse of logistics, young master Amsun. Your merchant house can dominate the market quickly just by selling a bit lower than what's in the market."
"Not only is my Marc Steel durable and flexible, but it should also hold some face when competing against those stronger metals.
Moreover, you don't even need to penetrate the market by competing with the stronger metals. You can come with the moderate ones and work your way up from there. Well, you guys don't need me to teach you how to be a reasonable merchant, right?"
Marcus chuckled.
"Of course, you can sell Marc Steel at whatever the market will bear. I'm not capping your profits. But my price to you is 80 gold per bar. What you do after is your business.
So, gentlemen, what do you say?"
Marcus opened his hand wide.
Hampo, Amsun and Joules began whispering amongst themselves.
After a minute or so, they seemed to have come to an arrangement.
"Lord Governor, it brings us great joy that you have given our merchant house such an honor once again." Amsun began with a smile, while Joules got to his feet and walked towards the chest holding the gold.
He opened it up and Amsun said; "We understand that the 3 million is the cost of the license and we are willing to pay that right here and now. As for the remaining 2 million…"
"I requested that as a loan. I am in dire need of funds." Marcus interjected.
"We understand that, however, Milord, rather than giving you a loan, we want to put it forward as payment for 25,000 bars of Marc Steel. This is going to be our first order." Amsun said.
I suspected that this would happen, but still…
Marcus was a bit apprehensive of taking this order, just because it would force his labour to focus on refining and purifying iron over a month just to barely meet half of this order.
He shook his head and said, "That's a lot. And it is an amount that we can only make available in two months with our current production speed."
Hampo scratched his chin and the Avanti group gathered to discuss once again.
"What's your current production cap?" Hampo asked.
"We can make 1300-1700 in a day, if we push ourselves. Half of that we allocate to our use, and the remaining we sell. So around six hundred bars a day. At that pace, it will take around 45 days to meet that volume, then a few more days to verify the quality. In total, 50 days."
Marcus explained.
"Hmm, though it is slow, I imagine that making such a level of iron would require a lot of work. So it sounds reasonable." Amsun started, his eyes wandering a bit. "Milord, how feasible is it for you to increase your workforce?"
"In the next month? Highly unlikely. But if things go well, by next year, wonder will fill Agard."
This claim, though light on the tongue, filled everyone in the room with some excitement and expectations.
"Hmm, Milord, I have an idea." Amsun started.
"Go ahead," Marcus nodded.
"What if we supply you with the workforce? It doesn't have to be our men, or anyone loyal to us, we can purchase a good number of capable slaves, legally, and send them to you.
We will shoulder the cost of everything including their feeding until the orders are completed, of course as a loan, and then moving forward you can pay us back slowly. Either with the equivalent of Marc Steel, or something of value."
Hampo and Joules smiled, the two of them liked the idea that he proposed.
They were well aware that the formula of making such a refined and purified iron is not something that can easily be disseminated to outsiders, hence the involvement of slaves.
However, for Marcus, this idea didn't strike his interest one bit.
Even if they are slaves, no one can really tell if they won't sneak a few spies in there.
"While that sounds tempting, I'll have to refuse that for now. I'm already at my wits' end and I have thousands of mouths to feed."
Really?
The Avantis thought they had concluded that Marcus didn't trust them that much, and that was reasonable.
But there was no reasoning to lie.
"Perhaps we can donate some food that can sustain five thousand people." Hampo joked as he stroked his lap lightly.
"Oh, that wouldn't be enough. I'll soon have way more than that to feed."
"Truly?" Hampo couldn't believe that.
But Marcus only responded with a smile. "Should we proceed with writing up the contract and signing?"
After a beat of silence, Hampo responded. "Yes, Lord Governor."