Able, the young man who had come to see Warren, remained silent, but the look in his eyes told the middle-aged steward everything he needed to know.
Sighing lightly, Warren motioned to his new apprentice to sit down, a command Able complied with immediately.
After the young man was seated, Warren asked lightly, "How long have you been apprenticing with me, Able?"
"Sir, it's been 3 years since the Guild assignment me to study under you," Able replied in a formal manner.
Warren had long gotten used to his apprentice's stiff personality, so he paid it no mind and simply nodded, "Indeed, and over those 3 years, what have I consistently taught you is the most important thing for a merchant to consider when doing business?"
"To seek the greatest profit," Able replied again in a blunt tone; however, this time his brow furrowed just a tad.
Seeing this, Warren smiled wryly, "You believe that I should have pressed harder to obtain the production method for the soap and sugar Lady Sasha sold us today, yes?"
Pursing his lips ever so slightly, Able silently nodded.
This young man, barely more than 20 years old, just couldn't understand why his supervisor had not been more forceful; after all, they were part of the Rising Sun Merchant Guild, the biggest, most powerful chamber of commerce on the continent, while the other party was just a countryside noble from a small, backwater kingdom.
"This is why I say you still have much to learn," Steward Warren shook his head, "You are only looking at the surface of the issue, without considering all the implications."
From his apprentice's facial expression, Warren could tell that Able didn't agree with this sentiment, but it didn't matter to him as he calmly explained, "It's true that there are very few people on the Blue Sky Continent that would dare to refuse the Rising Sun Merchant Guild if it insists on having its way, but you must remember that while we are members of the Guild, we do not speak for the Guild."
Raising a brow, Able took a moment to mull over this statement before nodding. His mentor, Warren, was just a Low-Rank Steward, while he, Able, didn't even have an official title, making him no more influential than a simple labourer. The two of them really couldn't represent the Rising Sun Merchant Guild, and if they tried and someone influential lodged a complaint to the higher-ups, they would be severely punished.
Even so, Able still felt that his teacher could have been more aggressive in the earlier negotiations, and made a point of saying such.
Surprisingly enough, Warren agreed with him, "You're right. If I pressed harder, I could probably have obtained not just the sales rights for these two products, but also their manufacturing methods. But let me ask you this, would that really have been more beneficial for me?"
"Wouldn't it have been?" Able asked, now feeling slightly confused, "Both this new soap and sugar are remarkable products which will have huge demand throughout the Rockwell Kingdom and beyond. How would obtaining their production methods not have benefited the Guild?"
"Ah, you see, there's your problem," Warren cut in, his eyes flashing a cunning light, "Obtaining the production method for these two products would indeed be a great merit, and by handing them over to the Guild, I would certainly be given a promotion and a large financial reward, but that would be all."
"The Guild would gain two new products and certainly set about mass-producing soap and sugar, but such a large venture worth tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of Gold, would never be entrusted to a small steward like me. In the end, the ones who would benefit the most are the Managers and Elders of the Guild, while you and I would be dismissed as soon as they dropped a small pittance into our hands."
Able's eyes widened when he heard this, realizing that he had been making a fundamental mistake in his thinking. Just now, he had been considering the issue from the perspective of the entire Rising Sun Merchant Guild, rather than himself as a merchant.
Acquiring the soap and sugar production methods and turning them over to the Guild would indeed benefit him and his mentor, but would the rewards they received really be more than the commission they could earn by simply remaining sales agents for Redwood Town?
After a quick round of calculations and estimates, Able finally realized why Warren had so readily taken a step back and accepted the deal Lady Sasha had proposed.
Seeing the light of understanding flash through his apprentice's eyes, Warren finally nodded in approval.
"Thank you for your lesson, Sir," Able saluted and bowed his head.
"En," Steward Warren waved his hand casually, "This is the primary, and the most important reason I made this decision, but there are others as well."
"Other reasons?" Able lifted his head and asked with some puzzlement.
"Indeed," Warren nodded, "For instance, pushing around an ordinary Town Lady of a small settlement won't cause any issues for a Rising Sun Merchant Guild steward like me, but Lady Sasha is no ordinary Town Lady."
"She's not?" Able was surprised to hear this as over the past 3 years he had been accompanying his mentor, he had never heard Warren mention Sasha having some kind of special background.
"Hahaha," Warren couldn't help chuckling, "You are far too ignorant, my young apprentice. A qualified merchant should always investigate the background of his clients. Even if it's not possible to do so for every customer, the important ones cannot be overlooked."
This was basic common sense for a merchant, so Able took no issue with the statement as a whole. What he didn't understand was how Lady Sasha qualified as an 'important' client.
Fortunately, Warren didn't keep his apprentice guessing and explained, "Sasha is the wife of Baron Charles Newton and the Town Lady of Redwood Town, responsible for all large-scale transactions with our Rising Sun Merchant Guild. This alone is enough to warrant a cursory investigation into her background."
"On top of that, she is intelligent, well educated, and carries herself with an inborn grace that no mere commoner who married into a Baron's household could have, this implies she grew up in either a wealthy or noble family of her own."
"Perhaps so," Able agreed, but still tried to argue, "However, even if that is the case, the fact that she is living out here in a place like Redwood Town must mean she isn't a very important member of her original family."
"Indeed," Warren nodded, grinning widely, "But even the lowliest member of a powerful noble house is not someone who can be dismissed out of hand."
Frowning, Able asked, "Do you mean to say that Lady Sasha comes from some powerful family we should avoid offending?"
Leaning back into his chair, Warren just casually said, "Lady Sasha has fiery-red hair."
"Hm?" Able was confused by this random remark, but after thinking about it for a moment, putting together the clues his mentor had laid out for him, a shocking possibility came to his mind.
In the Rockwell Kingdom, when one mentioned noble families with fiery-red hair, there was more than one, but only one really stood out. Knowing his mentor wouldn't bother paying attention to the daughter of some small Baron or Viscount, yet he cared about Sasha's background, it could only mean one thing.
Thinking so, Able unconsciously exclaimed, "She's a Balfour!?"
"Hahaha," Warren burst into laughter when he saw the incredulous look on his normally stoic apprentice's face and decided to follow up with an even more shocking revelation, "Sasha isn't just an ordinary member of the Balfour Family, she's the daughter of a high-level Elder who is also the son of the Marquess. In other words, she is a true Direct Descendant."
"Tsss…" Able gasped audibly this time. There was a huge difference between being a peripheral member of a high-ranking noble family, and being a Direct Descendant.
Direct Descendants either traced their lineage to the current Family Head, or the clan's Ancestral Founder. This status allowed them to enjoy considerable privileges, including better cultivation techniques, resources, and support from the family.
In short, Direct Descendants were the core member of any noble family, and thus the most valued.
Of course, that begged the question Able couldn't resist blurting out, "Why is a Direct Descendant of the third most powerful noble house in the Rockwell Kingdom living in a remote backwater like Redwood Town?"
To this question, Warren just shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I didn't bother investigating that far. All I know for certain is that Lady Sasha of Redwood Town is indeed Sasha Balfour, and that her name hasn't been removed from the Balfour Family's lineage."
Suddenly putting on a serious expression, Warren said solemnly, "The Balfour Family does tens of millions of Gold worth of business with our Rising Sun Merchant Guild every year, making them one of our biggest clients in the entire kingdom. Even if the Balfours don't value Sasha much, if we were to force her to hand over something as valuable as the production method for sugar, and she complained to her family… Well, let's just say that the Guild wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice you and I to settle the matter."
A chill ran up Able's spine when Warren said this, because he knew it was true. In the eyes of the higher-ups of the Rising Sun Merchant Guild, the two of them were grunts who could be replaced at will. If lopping off their heads was enough to appease a big client like the Balfour Marquess Family, that's exactly what would happen.
"Teacher is wise," Able said sincerely, bowing his head even lower than last time.
"Heh," Warren also sat back and relaxed, chuckling as he slipped back into a casual tone, "I'm not wise, I'm just cautious. My personality has caused me to miss out on some big deals in the past, but it's also allowed me to continue sleeping easily at night. When you become a steward in the future, you will have to decide what risks are worth taking, and which one's aren't."
"Yes, Sir," Able nodded before getting up and excusing him.
"En, go on," Warren waved his apprentice off.
Only after the door was closed and he was certain he was alone again did a serious look return to Warren's face. In truth, none of the reasons he just explained was the real one he had decided not to push his luck today in the negotiations with Sasha.
Despite what he had just said to Able, Warren was confident that he could have reached an amicable agreement with Sasha for the production method of both soap and sugar. As long as she wasn't offended and was fairly compensated, there would be no issues in the future; however, just when he was thinking about trying to bargain some more for these methods, a sense of crisis had descended upon him.
As a steward of the Rising Sun Merchant Guild responsible for the all operations in and around Harold City, Warren naturally had considerable strength. In fact, it was because of his outstanding sales track-record and his breakthrough to the Sea Establishment Realm 8 years ago that he was assigned to his current post.
Since then, Warren had broken through a couple more times, reaching the Third Step Sea Establishment Realm. With such strength, there shouldn't have been anyone in Redwood Town who could pose a threat to him; after all, the strongest local he knew of was Baron Charles Newton, who was just a First Step Core Formation Practitioner.
Reality, though, seemed to be quite different from Warren's expectations.
The moment Sasha had refused to sell him the sugar production method and he had wanted to press the issue, Warren felt a sharp, deadly pressure being directed at himself from nearby. As a man who had met and dealt with numerous powerful people before, Warren immediately realized that this pressure was from the Spirit Qi aura and Soul Sense of a True Cultivator.
This not-so-subtle warning came and went in a flash, but it was enough to get the message across and Warren immediately discarded any ideas he had of trying to acquire the sugar production method, settling for signing an exclusive sales contract instead.
Just thinking back on that moment, Warren shuddered and smiled wryly as he muttered to himself, "Heh, who would've thought that grumpy, unsociable butcher was actually a Mid-Rank Spirit Initiate… My predecessor was right, the waters in Redwood Town are much, much deeper than they appear on the surface."
Warren had consistently taught his apprentice that profit was what a merchant should always consider first, but one needed to remember that the single most valuable possession any merchant had was their life!