Unknown Knight

"As wise as you are, my king, there is a cave in the back mountain of this village. This snow salt is produced in this cave. The villagers often eat this snow salt to get such great benefits. In addition to these benefits, this snow salt has three other effects."

At this point, Axe looked up at Ragnar on the throne, who was obviously attracted. He stared at Axe with wide eyes and nodded, indicating that he should continue.

"The first major effect is that it is good for the body and will prevent you from getting sick. If you eat too much salt, you will get swollen at best, or have a headache or even a stroke at worst, but this snow salt will not cause that. This is why the elderly in that village live long. The second major effect is that it whitens teeth. The girls and boys in that village all have white teeth because they eat this snow salt. In addition, this snow salt can be used to clean the mouth directly, making the teeth whiter and the bad breath much lighter."

At this point, Aix saw King Ragnar lick his rotten yellow teeth inadvertently with his tongue after hearing this. Before Aix could continue, King Ragnar said:

“How do I clean my mouth?”

Aix was waiting for this sentence, and then said:

"It's very simple, Your Highness. Just use your fingers to dip in the snow salt and rub it on your teeth repeatedly. After it's clean, rinse your mouth with clean water. Just like this."

After saying that, Axe put the box of snow salt on the table next to him and dipped his finger in the salt to demonstrate to him. Ragnar also stood up, put away his sword and came over to follow suit. Axe never thought that one day he would demonstrate to a king how to brush his teeth, and he almost couldn't help laughing in his heart.

After brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth, King Ragnar licked his teeth with his tongue and found that they were indeed much cleaner. He exhaled and found that his breath was no longer as bad as before. He could not help but believe what Aix said. After returning to the throne, he nodded affirmatively to Aix and said:

"What about the third advantage?"

"The third advantage is that the food cooked with snow salt is extremely delicious. It is not bitter like ordinary salt. Believe me, Your Highness, you have never eaten such delicious food."

Seeing Ragnar's raised eyebrows, Axe guessed that his strong body must have an appetite beyond that of an ordinary person. He clapped his hands at Bandak and asked him to take off the iron pot on his back and prepare to start his performance.

Accompanied by King Ragnar, Aix and his party came to the royal kitchen of the kingdom. Although Aix was not a chef in the original world, he was single for a long time and eating out was too expensive, so he would cook a few home-cooked dishes to save money. This so-called royal kitchen was just a joke, and it could be described as dirty and messy. He even heard the squeaking of mice under the table. Fortunately, there was no shortage of ingredients. Aix glanced at the ingredients and decided what to make.

The first dish was fried cabbage with bacon, the second was braised sea fish, the third was stewed meat with pickled vegetables, the fourth was stewed chicken with mushrooms, and the fifth was wild vegetable egg drop soup. No more, no less than four dishes and one soup. This was the treatment he would have. Any more would be excessive, Axe thought.

Soon, the esterification reaction produced by the high-temperature frying of oil and the stir-frying of fresh ingredients filled the small palace with the aroma of food. During this time, the country bumpkin King Ragnar came to the kitchen two or three times, smelling the aroma, and kept urging the royal chef Aix to serve the dishes. Aix had no choice but to serve the first three dishes first. By the time Aix served the last two dishes, he had already finished the first three dishes and was breaking white bread to dip it in the sauce. After each bite of bread, he would close his eyes for two seconds and then roll his eyes upwards. It was obvious that the overflowing dopamine had caused his brain to short-circuit intermittently. Seeing that as a king, he had such a failure, Aix couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

After finishing the remaining dish and soup, the king could no longer sit up straight. He leaned sideways on his seat and burped loudly without any image. He saw Aix next to him. His face was full of glory and oil, and his mouth was slanted and tightly pursed. He nodded heavily and said only one word to Aix:

"it is good!"

Apparently this guy was enjoying the meal, so Aix took the opportunity to say to him:

"Your Highness, are you satisfied with the dish made with snow salt?"

"Satisfied, satisfied, so satisfied."

Ragnar cursed directly. Aix had no time to criticize the king's vulgarity and continued:

"Then, Your Highness, would you allow me to sell such a fine treasure in your country?"

Upon hearing this, King Ragnar suddenly put away his radiant face, regained his previous arrogance, and said aggressively:

"If such a good thing were to spread, it would probably generate a lot of profit, right?"

It seems that this man is not as rude as he looks, and he still has the awareness of being a king. Fortunately, Aix had a plan in advance, and then said:

"Yes, my respected king, you are so wise. We are going to sell this snow salt for 5 silver coins per bag, but the current production is limited. It is definitely not enough to supply the entire kingdom, so it will not generate much profit."

"How can such a good thing be sold at the same price as Sarande salt? It should be sold at least for 8 silver coins per bag."

It seems that Ragnar was very satisfied with the King's exclusive promotion meeting in Aix. He recognized the value of snow salt. He stroked his shiny beard and said after a moment of hesitation:

"If you bring all this snow salt to my kingdom and sell it, I can grant you a franchise, but...what will I get?"

After saying this, he stared at Aix with burning eyes. Aix was well prepared. He took out two pieces of parchment from his arms, but then he looked back at the guard standing at the door with a guilty conscience and said:

"I have two plans here, but..."

After saying this, he looked at the door again. Ragnar understood what he meant and waved his hand for others to go out.

After watching the others leave the hall, Aix unfolded the parchment on the table and said:

"At present, our snow salt production is only 10 bags per week, and it is estimated that the production will increase to 20 bags in the future..."

Through the long list of numbers in Aix's plan, the illiterate Ragnar only vaguely understood that he had two ways to obtain benefits. One was a fixed annual income of 1000 silver coins, and the other was a 500:1200 dividend. Currently, he could only get about 1300 silver coins each year, and in the future, when the output increased, he might get 500- silver coins. What's more, it was not certain. In case the snow salt in the mine was exhausted one day, he might not even get silver coins. It was obvious that what Aix really prepared for the king was the first plan. If he knew a little math, he would definitely be able to see the routine in Aix's plan. Aix not only increased the cost from % of the selling price to %, but also asked Ragnar to agree to set aside a piece of land in each of the three cities in the Nord Kingdom as a place to sell refined salt.

The Nord Kingdom had only been established for a few decades. If the Khergit Khanate had not defeated the Swadian Kingdom, allowing Ragnar's ancestors to lead the Nord pirates to take advantage of the situation and establish the Nord Kingdom on the coast, he might now be just the leader of a barbarian tribe in the northern continent. In his illiterate mind, there was no concept of commercial areas. Thinking that 1000 silver coins could allow him to support 100 elite Nord warriors or above, Ragnar still felt that the first plan was cost-effective, because his army had less than 300 people, and only more than 100 of these people were elite, so he simply agreed to Aix's first plan.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Aix pretended to be mysterious and said to King Ragnar with a worried look on his face:

"There is just one hidden danger, my respected king."

Ragnar, who had already put the 200 silver coins deposit into his pocket, said confidently:

"You said that as long as it's in my kingdom, there's nothing that can't be solved."

"It's like this. I have already taken control of that village. There is no way any news will leak out. But I am afraid that if the reputation of snow salt spreads out in the future, there is no guarantee that the Kingdom of Swadia will not know the origin of snow salt. By then, the profit share of this business may not belong to Your Highness."

"What should we do, sir, do you have any solution?"

Ever since he saw Aix take out the two pieces of parchment covered with words, King Ragnar believed that Aix's identity was not ordinary, and he consciously addressed him with the respectful title of "Sir".

"The method is not difficult. The members of my caravan are all reliable. Their families and relatives are under my control. As for your personal guards..." After saying that, he turned around and looked outside the door.

Ragnar waved his hand confidently and said:

"Don't worry, my guards are all my relatives, they will never leak a word I say."

After hearing King Ragnar's assurance, Aix continued:

"At the same time, we also need to spread a piece of misleading false information. Hmm, let's claim that the snow salt was discovered by your fleet on a mysterious island somewhere in the Nord Sea. What do you think?"

"Great! Even if the people of Swadia find out that you are selling snow salt, they will just think that you bought it from me and won't think of tracing the origin of the snow salt."

Ragnar got the solution and clapped his hands excitedly.

"As wise as you are, I hope our plans to make a fortune will not be ruined."

"Don't worry, sir. You don't have to worry about the two guards on duty. They usually speak mainly Nordic and can't speak a few words of Swadian. They don't understand what we said just now."

It suddenly occurred to Aix that the Nordic Kingdom was only established a few decades ago, and Ragnar's personal guards must all be Nords. In this feudal and separatist Middle Ages, many people lived in their native hometowns for almost their entire lives. It was estimated that there were not many Nords in the entire Nordic Kingdom who could speak Swadian fluently. Perhaps only nobles and merchants could speak it. He felt relieved.

King Ragnar was very particular about his work, and after agreeing on the relevant matters with Aix, he called his secretary and asked him to write a franchise agreement for snow salt in both Swadian and Nordic, dripped beeswax on it, and stamped it with his exclusive raven seal with a seal ring. He also agreed that the secretary would take him to choose a piece of land in the city as a warehouse tomorrow, and the official letters for the land use of the other two cities would also be written and stamped with seals.

After finishing all these and leaving Ragnar's palace, Aix took back the sword he had left with the captain of the guard, and saw Bandak and the other two waiting outside the palace. It was already dark, and Aix was happy, so he took them directly to the tavern for a drink.

The three of them had been hungry for almost a day, and they felt much better after eating some food and drinking a few cups of hot beer. Bandak couldn't help but get excited when he thought of the amazing performance at the Sagos Palace Aix today:

"Sir, your eloquence is really amazing, almost as good as that of a famous bard. You are such a good storyteller about the secrets of the mountain village..."

Seeing that Bandak was about to talk nonsense, Aix hurriedly put his finger on his mouth and made a "hush" sound to stop him. Bandak then remembered Aix's previous request for confidentiality, and he shrank his mouth and had to lower his voice to chat with Fatis about some interesting things while drinking.

After looking around, Axe was relieved to find that no one noticed what Bandak had just said. He took a sip of the hot beer in the cup while looking at the other people in the pub.

Ever since he performed heroic deeds in the Tiha Tavern last time, Aix knew that taverns in this era were places where hidden dragons and crouching tigers were hidden. Mercenaries, slave traders, travelers, bards, bounty hunters, merchants passing through various places, and all kinds of people gathered here. All of these people had their own strengths, otherwise they would not dare to walk in the chaotic world of the Middle Ages, and they would not have the spare money to come here to drink and have fun in this era of material scarcity.

Now that he had just obtained the franchise for the Nordic Kingdom's snow salt, it was time to expand and become stronger and create greater glory. He was in urgent need of talents like Fatis and Bandak. He looked around, hoping to find a heroic figure to be hired, and he was not disappointed in the end. He set his sights on a woman carrying a bow and arrow.

This was a woman with a very ordinary appearance, wearing a wrinkled leather coat, and not very strong. What attracted him was the single-body bow she was carrying. This single-body bow was black and shiny, and looked very extraordinary. When Aix was learning to shoot a crossbow, he heard Bandak introduce bows and arrows. He knew that this was a bow made of yew wood. Bows made of this kind of wood are strong and require a lot of arm strength to pull. Even men find it a bit difficult to use them. However, this person's bow was black and shiny, and it was already patinated. It can be seen that this person must be a great archer. So he walked up to her with a glass of wine and said:

"Hello young lady, may I have the honor of buying you a drink?"

"Go away, I'm not the kind of person you want."

This person's face was full of anger, making his already dark complexion even darker. It was obvious that she had misunderstood him. Aix was not angry and continued to explain in a gentle voice:

"I think you have misunderstood, young lady. As soon as I saw your bow and arrow, I guessed that you were an extraordinary marksman. I am a traveling merchant and I really want to make a friend like you."

Everyone who has extraordinary abilities likes to be praised for his or her abilities. Bandak is one of them. Upon hearing Aix's praise, he pouted his plump lips like a black girl and raised his head proudly, obviously enjoying it very much.

Seeing that the atmosphere had eased, Aix continued:

"I'm Aix from Suno, and I wonder if I could have the honor of treating you to a cup of hot beer as a token of my respect."

Then he motioned to the bartender to come over and give her a glass of hot beer.

"I am Desevi from the small place of Kurum. What are you talking about, Mr. Merchant?"

While taking the hot beer handed by the bartender, Desevi looked at Aix and said slowly.

"Let's talk about yourself. I know from your appearance that you must have suffered a lot and endured many hardships, but these can't overwhelm you, because I think you must be a woman with a strong heart..."