Sword of Dawn

Page 224

Victoria was taken aback - not too expensive, but too cheap! !

Twenty gold coins to buy a sword, if it is an ordinary sword, of course it is very expensive, because a stainless steel long sword without magic power is only worth two or three gold coins at most, even if it is made by a famous craftsman, the price cannot exceed four gold coins, But if it's an extraordinary weapon... sometimes twenty gold coins aren't even enough for materials!

A long sword with the simplest sharpness enchantment can be sold for hundreds of gold coins, and the price of a sword with elemental power can even be doubled, and in many cases, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy it. Buy extraordinary weapons that meet the requirements - because those who can make magical weapons are all supernatural beings with supernatural status, and superhumans themselves are not short of money. If you want to invite them to build weapons, in addition to money, you must also have sufficient status and status.

But in Cecil, a long sword with elemental power only costs [-] gold coins... and this kind of sword is still mass-produced.

"Is the price inappropriate?"

Gawain's voice woke Victoria up, and she shook her head: "No, it's actually much cheaper than I imagined..."

"It's cheap because it has certain flaws," Gawain laughed. "You should already know that many of Cecil's extraordinary weapons are mass-produced, but to mass-produce things with magic power, we must Make some compromises in quality—the sword in your hand is no different from a real extraordinary weapon in normal use, but the magic power capacitor embedded in its hilt will be damaged after a period of time, and then it will become An ordinary weapon."

"No wonder it's so cheap..." Victoria showed a dazed look, and then couldn't help asking, "What happens after the magic mechanism in the hilt is damaged?"

"It can be replaced—in order to make up for the quality defects, many of its parts can be disassembled and replaced," Gao Wen smiled, "Don't worry, the magic mechanism is cheaper, and the new magic capacitor only costs one gold coin, and if You are worried that other key structures of swords and swords will be damaged if ordinary soldiers fail to replace them, you can send them back, and we will replace them for you for free.”

"Only one gold coin?" Victoria confirmed, and after getting an affirmative answer, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Seems... quite a deal?Although the long-term accumulation of constantly changing magic power mechanisms may require a lot of money, compared to buying a real extraordinary weapon, this "melting sword" is still too cheap.

After that, more samples of weapons that could be sold were sent to Gao Wen and Victoria.

Gao Wen ordered the soldiers to demonstrate those weapons on the spot, and he introduced them one by one beside him:

"This is a thermal energy ray gun. It can emit scorching rays. Although the range is much shorter than ordinary scorching rays, only less than [-] meters, it has surpassed many bows and arrows, and its power is not comparable to that of bows and arrows. Of course, it is also a cheap weapon. Its mass-produced extraordinary armament, its focus array is easily damaged - you are a mage, you should know that this is an unavoidable situation. But you don't have to worry about it, the focus array is also very cheap..."

"Crystal grenade, reliable power - there is no need to worry about the service life of this one. It is a consumable item in itself, but it is definitely cheaper and easier to carry than the burst scroll."

"Magic armor, excellent defensive means are equally important to soldiers, and I believe you don't want soldiers who spend a lot of gold coins to arm them to die easily on the battlefield. This armor has a variety of effective enchantments, and the power on the chest The core keeps it running for four hours, which is more than enough for most battles. Its various enchanting effects rely on the rune substrates in the armor's various slots. In other words, replacing the rune substrate or Adding or subtracting the rune substrate can change the magic resistance of the armor, which can deal with very complex battlefield situations, no matter what the enemy is, soldiers can effectively fight against it.”

"How much is this armor worth?" Victoria couldn't help interrupting Gao Wen's words. On this armor, she saw a different design idea—although she didn't know that this design idea was called "modularization." "But this does not prevent her from having a great interest in magic armor.

"Free." Gao Wen said two words with a slight smile.

Victoria thought she had an auditory hallucination: "Free...free?!"

"Yes, the armor is free, because it has different combinations, it is really not easy to price, so we only sell rune substrates, the Kingdom Army can order specific types of rune substrates according to needs, as long as you buy enough three, the armor will be fine. It is given as a gift for free. If you buy a complete set of rune substrates, you can also get three additional crystal grenades."

Victoria felt that she heard a lot of words that she had never heard of from Gao Wen, but the meaning of these words was not difficult to understand. It just took some thinking to keep up with Gao Wen's rhythm-she tried hard to keep up with this rhythm, and then felt... ...seems like a good fit?

Everything is reasonable—the Cecils have indeed achieved the mass production of extraordinary weapons, but their mass production requires a price. The price is that the quality of the weapons cannot be compared with the real extraordinary weapons. The key parts of the system will break easily and then have to be replaced, but those parts themselves are not very expensive...

Victoria pondered, and then asked: "How many sets of this equipment can you provide? One set of weapons and armor, not counting those crystal grenades."

Gao Wen estimated the efficiency of the production line and the existing inventory, and said a conservative figure: "Before spring, [-] sets will be no problem."

Ten thousand……

This is the first time Victoria has heard of using this unit to describe the number of extraordinary weapons in such a big life.

She felt her heart beating fast, and the role of an army built with ten thousand sets of extraordinary weapons was constantly being deduced in her mind, but after the initial excitement subsided, she immediately realized how huge it would be. a sum of money.

The unit price of Cecil's extraordinary armament is indeed very cheap. Compared with the normal extraordinary armament, it is almost a fraction, but...

Their quantity unit is "ten thousand".

This number is more terrifying.

And this has not included the subsequent replacement of those vulnerable parts and the consumption of maintenance. Although there is no exact data yet, Victoria instinctively feels that it may be a lot of money.

"I'm afraid we don't have so many gold coins," Victoria said with some embarrassment. She was a little embarrassed at first, but considering that her elders were in front of her, most of the embarrassment of being a junior was eliminated. She bluntly stated the current situation of the Kingdom Army. Difficulties, "The eastern border rebels have occupied one of the most affluent areas on the Holy Spirit Plain, and the war in the past six months has consumed a large amount of the Royal Army's reserves."

"Is that so..." Gao Wen showed a look of embarrassment, he frowned and thought for a few minutes, and when Victoria was about to speak, he sighed, "But What I’m talking about is already the cost price, you should know that neither magic materials nor mages fall from the sky... How about this, you can use half of the gold coins and half of the raw materials to pay for it, is that okay?”

Victoria blinked: "Half gold coins and half raw materials?"

"Iron ore, crystal ore, copper, quartz...these common materials are all fine, and they can be converted into the payment according to the market price," Gao Wen said, "This is already the biggest concession I can make-I want to pile up the mountain The armed forces were sent to the battlefield of the Holy Spirit Plain, and they were all built with the resources of the southern border."

Victoria thought about it, quickly calculating all the data in her mind—she could only estimate whether the Royal Army could afford such an astonishing expense, and after finally filling in part of the taxes and minerals in the northern border, she Finally got enough.

For Ansu.

"make a deal."

Chapter 0528 Another Deal

This is a huge expense.

But it's worth it.

Victoria carefully looked at the one-handed sword in her hand—it was a gift from Gawain after the contract was formally signed. This sword was almost exactly the same as every sword she saw on Cecil Warrior. , the only difference is that Cecil's family crest has been erased from the hilt and replaced with the clan crest of the Wilder family in the North.

It is very sophisticated, with rigid lines and meticulous patterns, and almost no flaws can be seen on the surface. As a piece of mass-produced equipment, it is even more sophisticated than the weapons in the hands of the Royal Knights, and there are thousands of them here. The weapons that are exactly the same as it are, and there is no difference between them.

This sense of uniformity made Victoria feel a kind of "strength".

This must not be Cecil's best quality weapon, because no one would be foolish enough to take out the armaments at the bottom of the box to exchange for money except when there is no other choice, but it is at least better than the weapons that the Royal Army currently has, and that's enough.

Looking at the Duchess of the North who was holding a one-handed sword in front of him and thinking, Gawain couldn't help but recall the memory from Gawain Cecil. He thought of the former first generation Grand Duke Snow Wilder, the powerful mage, had a long talk with Gawain Cecil all night when he visited the Southland for the last time.

At that time, the Duke system of the Four Realms had been established, and the Middle Kingdom and the four principalities were working together to build Ansu, but the Duke of the North asked a question that seemed strange at that time: If one day, the biggest threat to the kingdom is no longer outside What should I do if it is the guardian of the four realms, the Duke himself?

Snow Wilder is keen on studying history, especially the history of the nobles of the Gondor Empire. He may have seen some hidden dangers from the four-land duke system that he had to do at that time. Unfortunately, Gawain Cecil did not It failed to give him any answer - three days later, Gawain Cecil died on the battlefield.

Gawain came back to his senses, looked at Victoria, and asked a question seemingly casually: "Do you think Anzu's crisis will end with the end of the civil war?"

"If we win, then we will," Victoria looked up, and said in a tone as if stating the facts, "Wales Moen is the orthodox heir to the royal family, as long as the Royal Army can defeat the rebels in the east, then the Ansu nobles must As long as the nobles are united again, Anzu will become a whole again, and the crisis will naturally be resolved."

"...I see," Gawain nodded, "Then let's go back to the city first."

Victoria blinked, a trace of confusion was hidden under her calm face. She vaguely sensed a hint of disappointment from Gawain's subtle expression, but then felt that it might be an illusion. She saw that the other party had already stepped away, and there was no After further questioning, he walked two steps to the side of the magic car, pointed to the car and asked, "Duke Cecil, do you also sell this kind of thing called magic car?"

Gao Wen stopped, looked at Victoria in surprise, and then showed a smile: "Sooner or later, it will be sold, but not now, we can't make so many, at least half a year. And if you want to buy magic If you want to guide the car, it’s best to repair the Kingdom Avenue first after you go back.”

Victoria bowed her head deeply: "I will. Roads are the lifeblood of the kingdom. When the snow melts, my first thing to do is to rebuild the Kingdom Avenue."

After returning to the Lord's Mansion, Victoria quickly bid farewell and left. She wanted to return to the Autumn Palace to calculate how much money the Royal Army could spend to buy armaments. However, Gawain did not stop at the Lord's Mansion. He boarded the magical car waiting at the door, and ordered the attendants driving to the merchant area.

Mechanical vibrations came from the chassis of the car. Sitting in this magical car that was slightly out of date, Gawain exhaled softly, and a shadow suddenly appeared on the seat beside him. Amber's figure emerged from the shadows.

"That duchess seems to be in pain," Amber blinked. Although she didn't know where she was secretly observing, this guy had obviously been wandering around Gawain, "I'm afraid she used the preparation as a dowry." The money is all posted in."

"That's a lot of money. Even if half of it can be converted into materials, it's beyond the capacity of San Sunil's treasury. Victoria still chooses to accept it. It seems that she really hopes that this civil war can end as soon as possible, and that the Royal Army can Win as soon as possible."

"I didn't see you being soft-hearted when you cheated money." Amber opened her mouth and said, "It's really good, that's more or less your junior, and as a nobleman, he is also a good person, but you didn't even get a discount. No fight."

Gao Wen glanced at Amber, and said slowly, "...the Royal Army can't save Ansu."

In the hands of the Royal Army, those gold coins can only be slowly used to fill the battlefield on the Holy Spirit Plain. Rather than let them be wasted uselessly, it is better to let them become the gears and levers of the magic industry.

Amber blinked, then stroked her chin: "Then what are you going to do now?"

"Go and meet another group of people who also couldn't save Ansu."

The magic vehicle passed through the administrative area of ​​Cecil City, crossed the ring road, and soon came to the merchant district on the west side of the city. It didn't take long before it stopped in front of a tall and brand new building——

Cecil's merchant guild hall is specially used to receive giant merchants and distinguished guests.

Behind a window on the second floor of the building, a young nobleman with short brown hair quietly watched the movement on the street. After seeing the magic vehicle approaching, he took a step back and left the window.

There are several other people in the room, all wearing exquisite silk or velvet clothes, wearing brooches or mechanical pocket watches, they all look like businessmen, but judging from their extremely vigilant and sharp eyes and the momentum of their gestures, It can be judged that these people are not just businessmen.

One of them saw the young man with brown hair leave the window, stood up and asked, "Master, what's going on outside?"

"Don't worry, he is here," the brown-haired young man nodded, and said in a deep voice, "With only one follower, he should come up soon."

The few people in the room relaxed slightly, and then came to the door with the brunette young man, waiting quietly.

A moment later, footsteps came...

In the room of the Merchant Guild, Gawain met those special guests.

In the past three days, he has let Victoria and other visitors from the royal capital visit the market, visit the streets of the city, and visit all the places that have been arranged, and he himself is not idle. What he is doing is to get in touch with these special guests .

The door closed behind him, Gawain looked at the brown-haired young man in front of him, and nodded slightly: "Marquis Belk, it seems that you have followed my advice and did not run around."

The brown-haired young man - the eldest son of Silas Lauren, Duke of the East, Belk Lauren bent down and saluted Gao Wen as a junior, and the others also saluted. After saluting, the 20 The young man who has reached the middle level at many years old can't help but say: "Staying in the room is not comfortable."

"Leaving the room will be more troublesome." Gawain took Amber and sat down on the sofa in the center of the room, looking at Belk Lauren who was also sitting in front of him, and said, "The heir of the Duke of the East has appeared in the city of Cecil. That's not a good sign, and I'm sure Victoria would be happy to take this opportunity to make Silas Loren lose her son—you can't beat her."

Belke moved his body a little awkwardly. Although he wanted to control his expression, he was obviously not as proficient in this aspect as Victoria: "You received the envoy sent by the king's capital in the lord's mansion, but let We are hiding among the merchants, does this... express your attitude?"

Gawain couldn't help laughing, he looked at the young man in front of him - Belk was a nice young man, polite, talented, and very smart, but he was obviously too reckless and inexperienced, and he was not very good at negotiating with people , but considering his age, there is no way to compare him with the Duchess of the North: "Frankly speaking, the so-called Kingdom Army and the East Army are the same in my opinion. There is no need for the younger generation to call out the parents to judge This is right or wrong, but considering the geographical location, the connection between the southern border and the Holy Spirit Plain is obviously much stronger than that with the eastern border, and their visit has been made public a long time ago."

Speaking of this, he paused, and then continued: "As for you... I have limited trust in you, and this is only for Anthony Lauren's sake."

"Forgive me for going overboard, but you will see sooner or later that we really want to save this kingdom," Belk said with a serious face, "The nobles of the kingdom who are indulging in peace in the Holy Spirit Plain are not aware of the crisis at all, they They can't see the changes of Typhon, nor the changes of the world. They only know about feasting all night and looting the last copper coins from commoners' homes, but we know——

"Typhon is reforming the land system, promoting education, developing technology, reorganizing the army, and opening up new lands. Their civilians can already eat meat once a week, and our people don't even have enough black bread in winter. Even Ansu Now it is very difficult to catch up with Typhon. Our only way out is to quickly concentrate the power of Ansu in the hands of a powerful new king, so that Typhon will be afraid, even if it is only ten years, or even five years. There is still a chance..."

Gawain interrupted the enthusiastic young man: "Is Edmund the 'powerful new king' you call?"

"Prince Edmund has great foresight and charisma," Belk Rollen said very seriously, with admiration in his tone, "The Plowing War Reward Act, Road Construction Act, Commercial Act, and Farmland Reclamation System that he tried in the Eastern Territory It has already produced effects, as long as the Holy Spirit Plains is willing to send a nobleman who is not blind to take a look, they will also realize who is qualified to be the king-but they obviously dare not."

It seems that the young Marquis still doesn't know the connection between Prince Edmund and the Death of All Things, and he doesn't know the truth about the death of Francis II—maybe he pretended not to know because of his superb acting skills?

Gao Wen didn't care about what Belk knew or didn't know, he waited patiently for the other party to finish speaking, and then nodded: "I probably know something too—it is because I know this that I am willing to try to give you some Trust is the only way to allow merchants from the principality to establish trade routes in the east. You know, I have been lying in my grave for 700 years, and those people I know and trust are basically gone. For any person and force in this era— —Even if it’s the descendants of my former friends—I have to get to know each other again.”

Belk was sitting on the sofa, rubbing his index finger knuckles unconsciously, which seemed to be a subconscious movement when he organized vocabulary: "Yes, my father and I understand this...Mr. I was deeply impressed, the potion he brought is exactly what we need urgently, and my father sent me here to talk to you about this matter..."

"We were discussing this issue two days ago," Gawain nodded, "I know what you mean, you have a huge potion shortage, so not only do you want to order a large amount of alchemy potions, but you also want to buy a factory Equipment, and I want Cecil to help you train a group of people to operate the machines... To be honest, you have asked for quite a lot.”

"We have no choice," Belk Rollen said.

The young Marquis knew that what he was asking for was sensitive "technical fundamentals", something that Duke Cecil could hardly agree to. However, before setting off, Prince Edmund explained to him the necessity of all of this—alchemy potion This kind of thing that is critical to the survival of the army cannot always be controlled by others. Only by allowing the eastern border to have production capacity can it be ensured that one day the southern border will not fall into a too passive situation after the sudden interruption of the supply of medicines.

The negotiations two days ago were deadlocked on this issue, but today Duke Cecil is here again, which means that there may still be talks on this issue.

Gao Wen was thinking quietly—it seemed to be tangled and hesitant, but Amber next to him couldn't help but say, "Our machine was researched at a huge price. It's knowledge, and money can't buy it. of……"

Gao Wen secretly gave Amber a thumbs up, his face was full of seriousness: "But the Eastern Realm is still a part of Ansu."

"But what if we help them build a factory, and they learn the technology directly, not only produce it themselves, but also don't allow our medicine to enter the country?"

Belk immediately said: "I swear by the blood of the family that the Eastern Territory will not do such a thing that violates the spirit of chivalry. Prince Edmund explained before I set off that we built our own factory just for emergencies. We still It needs the alchemy potion from the south."

Gawain didn't believe Edmund's promise at all, but he nodded with confidence: "I am willing to believe you."

Then he changed the subject again: "But I want to protect the interests of the southern border and the interests of the merchants who are loyal to me—so if I want to build a pharmaceutical factory in the eastern border, I have a condition: the merchants and merchants I designate must You build a factory together."

"Jointly build a factory?"

"Yes, each pays half of the cost, jointly establishes and manages the factory, and the benefits are also divided equally. The business representatives in the southern border will protect the core technology from leakage during this process, and will also provide technical guidance to you. This is my goal. That's the biggest concession you can take."

Belk pondered for a while, then got up and discussed with several people around him in a low voice and quickly.

After a while, he returned to his seat: "...I agree, I can represent the will of my father and Prince Edmund in this matter."

Gao Wen smiled: "Very well, then we have to recalculate the price..."

When the final price was estimated, the young Marquis fell into consternation.

"so much?!"

"Isn't this normal?" Gawain spread his hands, "If it was easy to build an alchemy factory, I wouldn't have to hesitate on this matter until today. And I'm going to help you build more than one factory, The quantity of the first batch of alchemy potions you want to buy is equivalent to the sum of the traditional alchemy potions produced in the whole of Ansu in the past three years. Think about the price of traditional alchemy potions, and you will find that the current price is nothing at all gone."

"This...it is true," Belk rubbed his knuckles again, with a embarrassed look on his face again, "but...frankly speaking, the price is a bit beyond our expectations."

Gao Wen said indifferently: "This is because you have made requests that were not planned."

Then he proposed the method he had told Victoria before: use materials to offset half of the cash.

However, this time, Belk still showed a very embarrassed look.

After all, the Eastern Territory is only the Eastern Territory. Although the army is strong and the proportion of extraordinary people in the army is much higher than that of the Kingdom Army, judging from the territory area, population and resource output, it is impossible for it to occupy the Holy Spirit Plain and have the "Western Territory" —Compared with the Kingdom Army supported by the trade line of the Ogure Tribal State.

Obviously, their "ability to pay" is a problem.

The negotiation seemed to be at an impasse, but Gao Wen suddenly broke the silence: "There is another plan."

The young Belk immediately raised his head: "What plan do you have?"

"Is there an area called 'White Sand Hills' near the triangular intersection between the South Border and the Dark Mountains in the southwestern region of the East Border?" Gawain said unhurriedly, "It is said that iron and copper are produced there. There are a small amount of magic crystal veins."

"You want the White Sand Hills?" Belk opened his eyes wide, then shook his head immediately, "Forgive me for my refusal—it's impossible. Although that area has not been developed yet, it is a long-term mineral production area in the East Territory. And it is also a valuable territory in the east. It is too expensive to exchange a piece of permanent land for temporary alchemy potions and factories."

"I don't intend to take it," Gawain interrupted Belk. "I'll only mine it for a period of time—five years, and the southern border will be mined in the White Sand Hills for five years, and then it will still be yours. According to the current situation, this civil war It should be over in five years, when the dust settles and we can just start a new period."

Looking at the serious expression on Gawain's face, the future successor of the Eastern Realm, the young Marquis of Belk, hesitated for a moment.

five years...

He got up again, and quickly discussed with the accompanying advisers and subordinates.

A few minutes later, he returned to Gao Wen again.