Chapter 10: 10

Chapter 10 - Wealthy Farmer Carlos

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Bertine was traveling to meet a farmer who was growing wheat on a large scale near the capital. His farmhouse was quite large, the scale of what one would call a wealthy farmer.

As the horse carriage rumbled by, she took in the scenery outside. The landscape in the south was completely different from the empire in the north. The fields spreading out as far as her eyes could see were flat and lush, the flow of the river as wide as a lake gentle. The trees planted through the vast cultivated land grew thickly, providing shade for the tenant farmers working in the fields.

The southern people valued traditions and leisurely working life.

In Bertine's eyes, the people in this country didn’t have much materialistic greed. She often heard the phrase, “There’s still tomorrow, no need to rush it today.” The warm climate and the nutritious soil of this country might be why they could still live without starving.

The northern end of Centor Empire was a harsh land where half of the year was winter. Although the climate around their capital was comfortable enough to live in, the soil was not so fertile.

However, they believed that diligence was a virtue. Thanks to the imperial citizens’ strong greed and desire for knowledge, they had a high standard of life and flourishing culture and art.

That’s why Bertine initially saw the Allies as a country with old values and an old way of life.

It turned out to be a self-assumption based on the values of the country where she lived. Now that she had experienced the generous and compassionate nature of the citizens here, she found out that the Allies had an unobtainable beauty, and had come to question the empire’s way of doing things.

What she thought she knew was an ambiguous image created from the meager information that reached the Marquess family of the small island country.

“It’ll be nice if I can meet him today.”

Bertine got off the horse-drawn carriage at the gate of a large farmhouse and set out to walk towards the building. Today marked her third visit to this farm.

Inside the farmer's house. A wife in her fifties called out to her husband.

“Dear, the woman from yesterday is here again.”

“Have her leave.”

Regardless of his refusal and unkind treatment, the woman dressed in southern clothes but with the aura of an imperial noble kept coming to Carlos’ house day after day without giving up. Carlos’ wife couldn’t bear to leave her alone, which led to them having a conversation yesterday. And now, his wife and his son totally agreed with her. Carlos found them ridiculous.

“Dear, Miss Bertine has a point. You need to listen to her once.”

“No need!”

He had a longstanding relationship with a middleman from the Centaur Empire for many years.

Even if someone told him, “I want you to show me the previous contract, I can make a better contract next time,” or whatever, he didn't want to do anything that would damage the relationship with the middleman.

In the first place, that woman was from the empire. Why would she do something that would be detrimental to the empire? And Carlos was offended. The contract as before was enough for this farm to be profitable.

After a while, he heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” he answered, only to find that woman came in with a smile.

“Why are you here!?”

“Your son let me in. Mister Carlos, you are selling wheat for five large silver coins per wagon, right? You even pay commission to the middleman.”

‘Have my wife and son told her that much?’ Carlos was furious.

“That's right. And I'm making enough money from that. There’s no reason for you to interfere.”

“But you’re selling at a big loss. The neighboring Cyrino Farm took my advice, and they decided to sell their wheat for eight large silver coins per wagon.”

Carlos couldn’t stop himself from opening his mouth in anger.

“What!? He’s selling for that much?”

“Yes. It's 60 percent higher than here. And there’s no commission fee. In the first place, it's the middleman’s job to make money from the price margin when they’re selling the goods in the empire, so why pay a commission?”

The son behind the wife looked at his father, hopeful.

“I've heard that Carlos is a kind landowner who takes good care of his tenant farmers. With more money, you can make those tenant farmers live better life. Please use me. You don’t have to agree with whatever the middleman told you and lose money.”

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“Why are you doing this? That’s what I don’t understand.”

Carlos’ voice had faltered a bit. Bertine took the opportunity to strike there with a smile.

“I’m not from the empire. I was born and raised in Saint-Leuhan, but I got caught up in the politics between my home country and this country.  I have to earn a thousand large gold coins if I want to stay in this country.”

“A thousand... that's impossible!”

“No. As a result of the contracts I have reviewed, I already benefitted this country with a total of fifty large gold coins. Fifty coins in a week. Which means it’s possible for me to earn a thousand.”

The son, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, cut in, unable to stop himself.

“Dad, let her have a look at the contract. It’s frustrating that it's only us selling wheat at a low price. It’s not like our wheat is inferior to Uncle Cyrino’s!”

“Of course! Our wheat is definitely better than theirs!”

After saying that, Carlos folded his arms and thought it over. He didn’t know if he could trust this woman.

“Why do you need to pay a thousand large gold coins?”

“The king of Saint-Leuhan sent me to this country as a bride because he was stingy with the reparation fee. But His Excellency needs the money more than I in order to rebuild the country. So I thought to myself that if I wanted to live in this country, I should pay what my home country was unwilling to give.”

Carlos’ wife took a step forward.

“Dear. This will help us, help the tenant farmers, and help this young lady. There’s nothing to lose here, is there?”

“Hmm, Saint-Leuhan, huh? That country sure did a terrible thing.”

“It’s because Saint-Leuhan is a country that believes money is as important as life. More than anything else, I’ve fallen in love with this country.”

Bertine answered with a bright smile.

“Dear.”

“Dad.”

“Ah, damn! I get it! I’ll show you the contract.”

In this way, Bertine could check their contracts from last year.

“I knew it. They’re buying cheaply, and the commission fees are too high.”

“Really?”

“If you accept this without saying anything, you’ll get ripped off more and more. When will the middleman come again?”

“Two months later.”

“Then, please have everything I wrote here corrected before signing the contract. I will rewrite the contract in the official language. Please read it carefully. Don’t sign the contract until they agree with what we have to say.  And if they refuse the contract, I will go to the empire and find a new middleman who will accept the contract I’ve rewritten. I swear.”

Watching Bertine calculate the price margin and plan for the future, Carlos was stunned to see his profits rising right in front of his eyes.

“Hey, Miss. Can you help the other farmers too? There are many people with farms smaller than mine who can’t read. Those guys are making deals with a verbal agreement. I don’t feel good being the only one to benefit from such a good deal.”

“Of course I'll help them. I can continue to live in this country that way too.”

In this way, Bertine prevented this country's money from going to the empire’s pocket unfairly. She continued receiving another referral from the farmer the contract free of charge and reviewed the contracts free of charge. The effect of Carlos’ letter of introduction was enormous. The number of contracts that Bertine looked through in ten days was twenty-three in total, and the amount of money that wasn’t cheated from this country flourished to eighty-three large coins.

And finally came the day of the meeting with Cecilio.

Bertine received a notification from Cecilio about the date and time of the visit beforehand, and she had prepared all the documents for negotiations last night. They talked about the situation and asked Carlos, a wealthy farmer, to attend.

Bertine and Dorothee stood up at the same time when they heard a knock on the door of their small store.

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