Chapter 2090: Northern Border Permit, Advantages, and Competition

"Spices?!"

Xia Duo felt a shock in his heart, but then felt somewhat relieved; in the past, he and Lord Collins of the Inner Land had been smuggling spices into Comanthar.

From the very beginning, with Ivory Pepper and Laurel Leaf—two common spices with widespread use and massive production—to later ones that were nearly extinct in the Elf Kingdom, the ancient spices.

This business was indeed quite large; even if Xia Duo did not take the lion's share, he still had a net income of nearly 400,000 Gold Coins every year. If this were placed in the old Tower of Time, it would have been completely unimaginable.

If it weren't for the fact that the production on Collins's side was truly limited, and the desire not to arouse the vigilance of Comanthar, this income could have been multiplied several times over!

And of all these profits, Xia Duo only accounted for less than twenty percent; one can imagine how much profit was hidden in this kind of smuggling business!

For Lord Collins, it was almost like earning a Mage Tower in net profit every year.

If this business could be carried on for a long time, it is estimated that all the buildings in the Kelinsi Lingdi could be replaced with Magic buildings in the future.

But obviously, since Golin mentioned spices just now, Comanthar must not have just found out about it now; it was only because of certain reasons that it had been dragged out until now.

And since the other party had taken the initiative to mention it, this business would likely not be able to continue in the future.

In fact, Xia Duo had long had this realization; after all, smuggling was not a good thing. He was more inclined to reach a formal trade agreement with Comanthar, but he was reluctant to part with that annual dividend of nearly 400,000.

After all, once trade was normalized, what reason would Collins have to bring him along again?

However, Xia Duo was not foolish enough to admit to smuggling in front of Golin. He just smiled and said nothing, but such a performance was already equivalent to a tacit admission; if it were not true, he should have denied it.

So Golin continued:

"Lord Xia Duo need not worry. Comanthar has not investigated or banned your spice trade before, and it is unlikely to do so in the future. Currently, our country has a huge demand for spices, especially Advanced spices."

Here, Golin directly used "trade" to define the previous actions of Xia Duo and Collins, which allowed Xia Duo to roughly guess the other party's thoughts.

Next, Golin's statement indeed did not exceed his expectations: "As long as Lord Xia Duo can agree to two conditions for us, then I can represent the Crown King to issue you a formal spice trade permit, which can allow entry through the Taisha port normally, without needing to find other middlemen to act as agents."

"What conditions?" Although Xia Duo could not agree to anything on behalf of Lord Collins, asking about the conditions first was not a big deal.

"Very simple, for Lord Xia Duo, it is not difficult at all to achieve!"

A hint of joy appeared in Golin's eyes. If he could accomplish this, the pressure from within the country should be much less. Then he stated the requirements from the Comanthar side—

"First, all spices sold to Comanthar must have their superior plants introduced to Comanthar;

"Second, some spices can only be sold to Comanthar and cannot be sold elsewhere.

"Our guarantee, in addition to issuing a formal and legal spice trade permit, is that the price will definitely not be lower than the market price."

After listening to the conditions proposed by Golin, Xia Duo could not help but shake his head repeatedly in his heart. These two conditions looked quite normal, but they were full of pitfalls.

He guessed that what Comanthar wanted more were those ancient spices, and as for the common spices widely planted now, after Comanthar recovered from the war, the profit was actually not as much as imagined.

Xia Duo could obtain the shipment volume of spices from Aoruipusi almost every week. One of the most significant points was that among all smuggled spices, the proportion of ancient spices was getting higher and higher.

But now, Comanthar required that all spices sold there must provide superior plants. It is conceivable that once the planting and processing methods of those spices were mastered by Comanthar, could the spices from the Kelinsi Lingdi still be sold?

Even if they were not sold to Comanthar, they would still face competition from Comanthar's products, which were likely of higher craftsmanship, in other countries!

Even with Comanthar's influence, perhaps other countries would not agree to the Kelinsi Lingdi's spices entering the market at all. Would they have to resort to smuggling again then?

As for the condition that they could only be sold to Comanthar, it was clearly the fallback clause for the first one. Even if Comanthar continued to purchase, as long as an exclusive agreement was signed, it could turn around and export the purchased spices to other countries at a markup.

In this way, the Kelinsi Lingdi would become a laborer; the more he sold here, the more Comanthar might earn there.

Although Xia Duo was not Lord Collins, he could basically conclude that as the party that mastered the "core technology," Lord Collins would absolutely never agree to such conditions.

That was simply a contract of indentured servitude; it just sounded better in name than writing a contract of indentured servitude directly, but the essence was the same.

Of course, Xia Duo himself could not agree to such conditions, and it was even less likely that he could agree on behalf of Collins.

After thinking about it, he felt that since the other party already knew about the spice smuggling, they must also know who the participants were, so he said:

"Governor Golin must know that the true provider of those spices is not me. Although I very much want to normalize these businesses, I really don't have much say in this matter."

"Is that so!"

The joy in Golin's eyes disappeared instantly. Although he knew in advance that the source of the spices was not Xia Duo, in his view, Xia Duo, as a Great Arcanist, should have mastered the vast majority of the say.

Of course, because it also involved the relationships of those smuggling agents within Comanthar, Golin did not naively think that a single human like Xia Duo could handle everything; there must be Elves familiar with the situation inside Comanthar participating in it.

After pondering for a moment, Golin did not make things difficult for Xia Duo, only saying: "I hope Lord Xia Duo can introduce us to the true provider of those spices. Of course, before normalization, those businesses need to be stopped first."

Until now, Golin had not used the word "smuggling" to refer to "those businesses," but Xia Duo saw the determination to win in it, and as for the other party saying to stop first, I am afraid that related actions had already begun within Comanthar at this moment.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo could not help but frown. It was not that he was reluctant to part with the 400,000 annual income, but that Comanthar's approach made him truly uncomfortable.

However, from an objective and neutral point of view, no matter what the other party's true purpose was, investigating smuggling itself was completely reasonable. As for the attitude, if it were himself, he might have been even more decisive.

This is actually the part of human nature that is "strict with others, lenient with oneself."

Gradually calming the waves in his heart, Xia Duo proposed to Golin: "There is a saying in my hometown: 'If the deal doesn't go through, the friendship remains.' If your country has any actions, I hope you can ensure the safety of our personnel."

What Xia Duo was actually talking about was the Silver Leaf Family. The number of humans participating in the smuggling was very small, and most of them were active within the borders of Netheril.

But many things within Comanthar were handled by the Silver Leaf Family. Since Xia Duo used them, he naturally could not fail to protect them. As for those agents and middlemen, he did not need to care; that was a pure transaction.

Having the determination and courage to participate in smuggling, one must have the realization of being caught.

However, based on Xia Duo's judgment, those agents and middlemen probably had a lot of connections behind them. If they were really to be severely punished and liquidated, I am afraid a large area could be implicated.

Perhaps a portion of those smuggling profits was handed over to Crown King Yilisaier!

Regarding Xia Duo's request, Golin just smiled faintly, "For a first-time offense, we generally issue a warning first. If they don't listen, then we will punish them. Lord Xia Duo need not worry."

"In that case, what about the entry permit?"

"I will have someone give it to Lord Xia Duo right away. Please, Lord Xia Duo, be sure to convey our sincerity to the provider of the spices. If the conditions are not satisfactory, we can talk again."

Xia Duo nodded, and then proposed to take his leave. When getting off the boat, Golin's subordinate presented an ornament that looked like a table lamp and briefly explained how to use it.