Herald of Steel

Hemicus had fortunately made a full recovery from his injury and soon managed to get an assortment of various unique food items for the group to enjoy.

There was something similar to fish and chips, made of various small cuts of fish, fried and crispy, and drizzled with a spicy fish sauce.

There was a kind of shashlik item with meat and vegetable on a stick.

There were several pie dishes with meat, fish, cheese, and vegetables.

There were simple dishes of various pulled meat such as pork, beef, mutton, and venison cooked in butter with seasonal vegetables, and lastly, there were various cut fruits sold together in a mixed fruit basket.

All to be had with fine wine.

And coincidentally enough, the wine that Hemicus bought from Camius’s shop, which was also situated here, along with several others selling similar merchandise.

Alexander had not actually never seen Camius’s shop up close, due to security reasons but now was given the perfect opportunity to observe it from the corner of his eyes.

Alexander could not spot Camius but found that his shop had been set up at the front porch of a rather lackluster building nobody was giving a second glance at, which was good given it was the main headquarter building of his intelligence agency.

As for the shop itself, it was very ordinary, consisting of stacks and stacks of barrels arranged vertically, all presumably filled with wine.

While the shop attendant could be seen handing out samples to prospective buyers to have a taste before buying, and afterwards haggling over the process.

Camisu seemed to have done a very good job with the shop, as even Alexander, who knew about the specialness of the shop failed to find any from just looking at it.

It was at that point Hemicus returned, and Alexander called out cheerfully, “Ahh, good you are here,” while he was also surprised to see one of his men carry an entire barrel of wine with him, which also made him unable to hold back a smile.

Plastic bottles were truly the modern age’s lifesaver.

Alexander and Pasha Farzah tasted one of every item, while the ladies contented themselves with only the fruits.

And after finishing some of it, Alexander gifted the performers some gold and decided to move on to the next part of the market.

At past the halfway mark of the market, around the center of the market were a few of Alexander’s own shops, which he had asked Takfiz to set up, and placed trusted attendant to oversee.

They were not large by any means, but only sold small quantities of his unique produce, mainly paper, soap, and iron ingots, but also had a series of stalls selling some sugar, a few pieces of beautiful glassware, and lastly weapons, particularly beautiful swords, all guarded by a conspicuously great number of guards, who kept a watchful eye out for thieves and troublemakers.

This central part of the market was actually reserved by Alexander for his own goods, and he planned to develop this part into his own economic zone, but for now, it was still in this infant stage.

“Oh? Is this where you make all your money from?” Lady Inayah teased a bit as she as she looked at the shops, her and the other two women seemingly being very interested in the things displayed.

“Hahaha, hardly.” But Alexander chuckled the denial, saying, “These shops really don’t sell anything. But they are more meant as displays, showcasing to rich merchants who might be interested in buying these things bulk.”

‘Hmmp…so they are used for advertisements?” Pasha Farzah easily related to the stalls, as Alexander nodded and answered, “Yes. The merchants can first inspect the products here. And if they like it, then they ask the attendants where they can buy more.”

“So this is the wholesale part.” The Queen mother commented understandingly as the group then proceeded to check the beautifully displaced products.

The paper shop was beautifully decorated with color festoons, while the actual paper was sold in rolled scrolls.

The glass shop in contrast was a bland-looking stall, with only a few pieces displayed, each showcasing a different type of glass.

Just from the outside it looked pretty pathetic.

But external appearances could be deceiving, as the reason why the stall was not decorated was because there was no need for it, for the products housed in them more than made up for that.

Each of the vases, bowls, goblets, or plates were worth their weight in gold, and most merchants would both be fascinated by the creation and also intimated by the listed prices, which started at the five digits.

The ladies had seen similar products in Alexander’s houses, so were not too surprised by them, but still, they could not marvel at them, as Nanazin picked up on the goblets, and muttered in a silky dreamy voice, “My lord truly as is a genius.”

Her ethereal tone sounded as if she was whispering into the ears of her lovers, and it made the ever-sharp-eared Seelima smirk a bit.

‘Perhaps I can use this,’ She thought.

After the glass store, the group moved on to see the iron ingots which were stacked up one above the other like a pyramid, something the ladies had little interest in, but something Farzah very much adored, loudly saying, “So it is true Zanzan can mass produce steel.”

And then smirked at Alexander with a teasing look, “So, I wonder by Muazz couldn’t?”

This was a reference to Alexander’s excuse about how he learned everything from books in Muazz’s library.

And Alexander could only smirk back.

·?θm Following the iron shop, the group observed the soap shop, where they found the fragrant bars of soap being sold in color paper wrappers, while the foamy liquid soap was sold in beautiful metal and clay containers, with a few even having glass containers, but for these, it would cost a few hundred times more to buy the container than the soap.

Seeing the ladies eye this shop particularly eagerly, especially Nananzin, Alexander decided to gift each of the ladies some as souvenirs, as they then moved to the last shop.

“Good sword!” Pasha Farzah’s eyes caught onto the intricate sword decorated with gems and inlaid gold which was the centerpiece of the shop, that had been originally made to show to the prospective merchants the height of Zanzan’s metallurgy.

Now openly selling swords might seem not like a smart move, as it would seem like arming your enemy.

But Alexander actually had no problem selling high-quality swords.

Because the quality of swords an army possessed did not really affect its battle prowess, at least not in the same sense as crossbows did.

After all, a better sword would not enable it to cut through a wooden shield, now would it?

So swords were more of a fashion statement, kind of like those fancy handguns gifted to modern generals or dictators.

And Alexander was more than happy to swindle nobles eager to boost their self-esteem by having them spend on one of these.

Though swindling might not be the right word as Alexander was giving them the best sword money could buy.

Something Pasha Farzah was easily able to recognize, as he grabbed the short sword tightly and swung it around, loving the sound of the steel cutting the air. 𝘦𝘯.𝘰𝘳𝘨

It seemed to Alexander had the pasha had become twenty years younger, with his eyes sparkling with joy at the new toy.

“I’m glad the pasha likes this. If you want, please have it as a gift from me,” Seeing this Alexander politely offered.

And the pasha did not stand in ceremony, as he boisterously laughed and said, “Good then brat. I quite like this. Hahaha,”

This market visit was turning into one of the best ones he had in his life, if not the best.

While the shop attendant, seeing his boss visit, quickly fetched the scabbard for the short sword, and with this done, the group then at last visited the sugar shop.

In fact calling this a shop might be a stretch as it was just a man sitting behind a bench with colored shade above his head, his product being a small sack of sugar placed on the table in front of him.

There was a small metal spoon inserted into the sack, and several tiny wooden plates laid out on to the tables, while at the door of the store was a large placard with the simple words:

‘Come taste the crystallized sweetness of the heavens. Each spoon only 5 ropals.’

It appeared Alexander’s idea for attracting merchants was to have them taste a bit of sugar and then decided for themselves.

“Hahaha, if someone saw this, they could either call the owner crazy or a genius.” Pasha Farzah loudly laughed, both because of the insane price tag and also because although this type of advertisement was very common, what differentiated Alexander was how indifferent he was to the outlook of the store he was selling the stuff from.

To Pasha Farzah it looked like a beggar was selling something others would not give a second look, but those that would would find white, crystallized gold.

“Hehe, well, it goes to show just how much lord Alexander is confident in his product that he feels even such an ordinary display will bring everyone running. And I think he is right. ” From the side, Lady Inayah giggled.

While the Queen Mother nodded with agreement and said, “Mmmn, this sugar is truly to die for.”