Chapter 163: Two Absolute Genius Idiots!

Leo found it utterly absurd. "Doesn't Riverbend already have cassava flour?"

"It's different!" Freya calculated triumphantly, counting on her claws. "Riverbend has a monopoly on the iron ingot business, so Fesa's iron ingots sell way too cheaply in Riverbend! We should haul them down to Estuary Town and trade them for a mountain of antler cassava flour!"

"Plus, delivering them right to the estuary saves the buyers on transportation costs, so we can sell them for a higher price!"

"Not just iron ingots, but iron spearheads, pickaxes, and rock salt too! We're going to sell kobold-made products to the entire world!"

Leo asked skeptically, "Leaving the entire world aside for a moment, let's talk about Estuary Town. Isn't that also within Riverbend's territory? And there isn't even a blacksmith's shop there! If you ship the iron ingots over, won't I just have to haul them right back to the Riverbend smithy to be processed? This doesn't save on transportation costs at all—you're actually increasing them!"

"Besides, at the small market in Estuary Town, unless a large merchant caravan is passing through, it's usually just nearby villagers trading vegetables, fruits, chicken, ducks, fish, and meat. Selling a hoe or a logging axe is already considered a major transaction."

"With your dozen wagons of goods, unless you set up a stall for two months, won't you ultimately have to rely on purchasing agents from the processing plant to buy them off you?"

"And what about this hand-mill? Didn't the Riverbend artisans build this? You wouldn't even be able to sell it at half-price, would you?"

The stream in the kobold valley wasn't suited for building a watermill, so Fesa had finally begged Riverbend's craftsmen to forge some small, hand-cranked stone mills so they could grind wheat into delicious flour.

To the kobolds, this stone mill was high-tech equipment, and they had been willing to trade an equal weight of iron ingots for it.

Fesa had specifically brought along one of these stone mills, planning to turn a huge profit!

"Uh..." A triumphant Freya froze, exchanging blank stares with Fesa.

Fesa hadn't understood most of what was said, but that didn't stop her from wagging her tail and staring intently at Freya, expecting her to refute that wretched Leo.

Freya squatted down with a timid, deer-in-the-headlights look, stammering and lowering her head without a word.

At a single glance, Leo knew this was a terrible idea Freya had fed to Fesa.

Such an outrageously flawed business sense could only ever hatch from a marmot's brain.

He laughed so hard in the saddle that he nearly doubled over and rolled right off his horse. "Hahahahaha! King Fesa, it seems your business consultant isn't doing her job very well!"

"You two geniuses—didn't it cross your minds to say goodbye to your Sister Olivia before heading out?"

"Even asking Little Mouse would've been better! Was it because Little Mouse is too smart that you booted her out of the Riverbend Three Idiots squad?"

If they had so much as asked Olivia or Little Mouse before leaving, neither of them would have ever let this utter nonsense happen.

Even if Little Mouse couldn't untangle the problem right away, her subconscious would have flagged it as completely unreliable and talked them out of it.

Of course, Olivia and Little Mouse had been exceptionally busy lately and simply didn't have the time to play along with them.

Three thousand refugees was no small number. Though few of them went directly to Riverbend, their subsistence supplies were funded entirely by the Riverbend fief and had to pass through Olivia's ledgers.

Antler cassava wasn't really food meant for humans. The flour processed from it contained massive amounts of plant fiber and mild toxins; eating too much caused bloating and generalized fatigue.

To maintain physical stamina, eating it even once a day on average was a stretch. Unless food shortages were absolute, manual laborers couldn't use it as a staple food.

Conversely, the kobolds, with their much stronger digestive systems, could stuff themselves with cassava flour to their hearts' content without any trouble.

No matter how coarse antler cassava flour was, it was still easier to digest than unhusked wheat. Moreover, it was abundant, filling, and sweet to the taste—virtually top-tier gourmet food for the kobolds.

In this regard, it considerably alleviated Riverbend's food supply pressure.

Up until now, over half of Estuary Town's food and all of its production materials—aside from those purchased from Isenport—were allocated directly from the Riverbend Peninsula.

Not only did Little Mouse spend every day helping tally accounts and inventory supplies, but a whole group of young kobolds had also been ruthlessly enslaved, reduced to living calculation engines.

Fesa finally realized just how thoroughly Freya had scammed her.

The kobold merchant caravan's venture had suffered an untimely demise right at its inception, collapsing midway before it could even begin, and was now on the verge of bankruptcy!

Yet the two of them—one who had marched straight into shackles and one who had cooked up a disastrous scheme—were equally culpable.

Abandoning any pretense of maintaining the dignity of the Kobold King, Fesa lunged beneath Leo's warhorse, grabbed his boot, and hung on, swaying back and forth.

In a pleading voice, she cried, "Woof woof woof! No way! You have to help me!"

This entire batch of goods represented her total output from the entire past month!

As she cried out, she even bared her teeth, striking a pose that suggested she'd take a bite out of him if Leo refused to help.

Getting bolder now, baring your teeth at me!

Leo flicked his leg and kicked Fesa flying.

Watching her spin twice in the air before landing splat on Freya's back, Leo pondered for a moment before saying, "Why don't you ship this entire cargo of goods over to the Solovy Knight's Fief and have the knight buy them. Oh, and remember to fly your white flag."

The Solovy Knight's Fief was currently building a hot spring resort and mining pyrite, which required a fair amount of supplies.

The recent wave of refugees had severely disrupted the trade routes in western Isenport.

Merchant caravans of under a hundred people didn't even dare step outside, while the large commercial syndicates of Isenport turned their noses up at the meager output of a tiny knightly fief.

The Petukhov family's caravan only had fifty people, and if not for the lord's garrison of Rigolav escorting them along the way, they would have been practically unable to deliver goods to Riverbend or the Solovy Knight's Fief.

Fesa's shipment, if delivered there, could at least somewhat alleviate the Solovy Knight's pressing needs.

As for flying a white flag, it didn't mean surrender. It was customary for emissaries and merchants in this world to display a white flag to signal that they harbored no hostility.

Leo was simply worried that the patrol militia of the Solovy Knight's Fief would spot a massive horde of kobolds suddenly popping up and welcome them with a barrage of arrows.

Hearing the suggestion Leo offered, a spark of light returned to Fesa's eyes. She nodded repeatedly and announced loudly, "Knight Solovy, good friend! I'm going to run a trade route to the Solovy Knight's Fief!"

Having spent so much time together, Leo no longer viewed Fesa as an alien. After all, the little creature had cheerfully led her caravan over twenty miles only to suddenly be told to turn back empty-handed—that was a pretty devastating blow to someone's enthusiasm.

Sending the cargo to the Solovy Knight's Fief meant they wouldn't have to worry too much about the knight gouging them on prices.

After all, anyone with eyes could see that the iron mine in the kobold valley was effectively in the palm of Riverbend's hand. Rather than calling it Fesa's property, it was more accurate to say Fesa was simply managing it.

Though generous, Knight Solovy was also a sensible man and wouldn't hatch crooked schemes over something like this, nor would he engage in petty tricks that offered him zero benefits.

However, Leo hadn't anticipated that Knight Solovy would turn out even more ruthless than him. Once Fesa delivered the massive shipment of supplies to the Solovy Knight's Fief, the knight directly produced piles of pyrite—which was utterly useless to him—to use as payment.

And he was remarkably generous, matching Fesa's asking price fen for fen!

In the end, he traded five times the weight in pyrite for all of Fesa's merchandise, resulting in yet another happy ending for everyone involved.

It even took Fesa two separate trips just to haul it all back to the kobold valley.

Along the way, she remembered to bring back an equivalent value of "brokerage fees" for Leo, courtesy of Knight Solovy!