"hehe!"
Ed smiled; he knew what Grandet was going to ask. " Mr. Grandet, I've met Mr. Ma Si Ke a few times. Since you're quite familiar with him, we're friends too. And as a friend, I'm willing to share my trade secrets with you. This 'slightly hot old iron kettle' was forged day and night by countless blacksmiths in our territory, hence the name 'old iron.' We've only made three in the last six months, so selling them for five Silver Coins each is quite reasonable, isn't it? As for how it's made this way, that's a trade secret, I can't say."
Ed had never seen Silver Coin before and didn't know the purity of current Silver Coins, so he set the price a bit high. Actually, there are countless cast iron kettles available.
" Lord Ed, from what you've said, the price is perfectly fine. It's been so hard to make just one. It's just that I didn't bring many Silver Coins this time, and I'm also your first trading partner. Could you perhaps reduce the amount a bit?"
Grandet was delighted; Lord Ed had revealed all the trade secrets, which meant he truly considered him a friend. Although there was one trade secret he hadn't mentioned, this was enough.
However, he wouldn't be foolish enough to spend five Silver Coins to buy this old iron kettle. Although he was confident he could sell it for a higher price, who wouldn't want to earn more? And his confidence didn't guarantee a sale; there was still some risk. Ordinary people couldn't afford it, and what if those who could afford it didn't like it? Then he would need to put in even more effort to find someone who would like it.
"Of course, Mr. Grandet, let me see your Silver Coin first."
Grandet assumed Lord Ed wanted to check if he had any Silver Coins, so he generously took out five Silver Coins.
Ed took the Silver Coin handed to him. The design on it was very simple: one side had a flower, and the other side had a portrait. However, the technology was poor, and it was only clear that it was a human head, not an animal head.
In truth, Ed wouldn't even look at the purity of the silver; he wouldn't bite into it if asked. The silver coin also looked rather small, not much bigger than their Grey Castle Territory's copper dragon coin, not the large silver coin he had imagined, and it wasn't very well made either.
He also roughly estimated that the Silver Coin was about the same quality as his mirror, and that five Silver Coins might only be enough to make five silver mirrors. Currently, a silver mirror in the territory costs fifty-eight, so one Silver Coin is worth about fifty copper dragon coins.
" Mr. Grandet, your Silver Coins are very nice. We are friends now, and I'm always very generous to my friends. Since this is your first time here, you can get one free on two items. You only need ten of these Silver Coins to take away three 'Slightly Hot Iron Kettles'."
Ed decided not to sell the kettle in the territory for now, to avoid any clever people taking advantage of it. Right now, the kettle is very cheap in the Everything Sold Department Store in the territory, costing eight copper dragon coins each.
"Huh? Lord Ed, really? Then I'll buy ten." Grandet was surprised; this discount was too good to be true! Something that cost five Silver Coins each was now almost two less. And it was such a beautiful and precious item.
Actually, you can't blame Grandet for this. It's like the price of a warhorse suddenly becoming that of a donkey. Would you buy it?
"Hehe! Mr. Grandet, you seem to have forgotten what I said earlier. There are only three this time. Next time, next time, I will definitely have the blacksmiths of the territory forge them day and night."
"Ah, that's a bit of a shame!" Grandet said with some disappointment. The money earned from this one pot could probably equal the total profit from everything they brought back this time.
"No, Mr. Grandet, there's no need to regret it now. You can pay a deposit first, and I'll reserve the new teapots I make for you. You know, Mr. Ma Si Ke might be coming soon, and if he wants them, you'll really be disappointed next time."
"Really? Lord Ed, is there really such a good thing?"