Magic Industrial Age

That night,

Loy spent a sumptuous dinner with Count Raymond at the Provence Manor.

Besides him, only the guard captain, Oliveira, could sit at that table.

Don't underestimate Oliveira; he's a third-tier extraordinary Gale Swordsman, a formidable figure even in Count Raymond's service.

As for Hoover, he could only stand aside, fulfilling his duties as a butler.

During the meal, Count Raymond was visibly in a better mood. He chatted with Loy for a while, inquiring about his courses at the magic academy.

Loy hadn't attended many classes, but he had read enough books to talk for a whole day.

However, Loy didn't stay overnight after dinner.

Provence Manor wasn't small, but it didn't have many rooms, so there was no place to stay.

Therefore, Count Raymond arranged for his carriage to take him back to his rented house in Oakland City.

What?

You say Oakland City has a curfew, and the city gates are closed?

That's for ordinary people; Count Raymond's carriage naturally comes and goes freely.

Even in the Habsburg Empire, nobles are still nobles!

In the carriage, Loy sat upright, his eyes half-open and half-closed, calculating the gains and losses in his mind.

"Deep Blue, how do you think I performed today?"

"Master's performance was excellent, but wasn't it a bit too aggressive?"

"If you want to gain something, you have to pay an equal price; if you want others to take a second look at you, you have to have the ability to make them take a second look.

In any case, look, didn't we gain a lot this time?"

"The problem is, those riches don't belong to Master; Master only has the right to use them!"

"Hehe, Deep Blue, you don't understand.

Sometimes, with power and wealth, as long as they are at your disposal, there are too many things you can do."

After a pause, Loy added, "Besides, didn't I get the money to buy magic potions?"

"Master, is it really okay to spend like this?"

"It's okay, as long as the Raymond family's business in Oakland City gets better and better, reaching new heights.

These are all trivial matters."

This conversation was like Loy trying to convince Deep Blue, but in reality, he was convincing himself.

With a plan in mind, he immediately stretched, put his hands behind his head, and looked calm and detached.

This meeting, this conversation, felt like an interview to Loy.

He used his knowledge and performance to gain Count Raymond's approval.

Count Raymond was also willing to take out some assets for Loy to put his ideas into practice.

He wanted to see how far Loy could go.

He wanted to see how far magi-tech could develop.

In fact, both parties were satisfied with this interview.

Loy was familiar with this model, and Count Raymond was used to this approach, but Loy's predecessor, the remaining consciousness, felt a bit sentimental.

Because the interview was just an interview, and there was no family affection!

...

The night passed without incident.

The next day, Loy went to school as usual, cultivated, read books in the library, and of course, paid attention to the changes in Oakland City.

On the surface, Oakland City was the same as always, with everyone busy and never stopping.

But Loy still keenly noticed the difference. For example, the patrol teams in the security office were driven to the streets and not allowed to be lazy.

For example, the number of night watchmen increased, the streetlights were on all night, and noble carriages were running around, attending banquet after banquet.

For example, the news from Ang that all the gangs had been warned not to cause trouble these days, and all bounty hunter missions had been suspended.

Obviously, the military parade was just the beginning, and there were still many things to be negotiated one by one.

As for the more specific details, Loy didn't know and didn't have the channels to find out. He only knew that Provence Manor was also preparing several banquets.

Butler Hoover took people into the city for a major purchase and also sent Loy some gold Tinders.

This was given by Count Raymond as a reward, and Loy had to admit that he was actually very generous with money.

Loy wasn't polite and exchanged them all for red and blue magic potions, just enough to replenish his supply.

And his breathing technique was still growing at a rapid pace, now at LV3 (5/100).

He could already influence the beating of the life seed to a certain extent and had tried to overlap it with his heartbeat.

As long as he could do this, he would feel the nourishment of that mysterious bio-energy for his body.

He felt the tingling from his bones, the twitching of his muscles, the growth of his fascia, the vitality of his body...

Although it couldn't be reflected on the panel, under Deep Blue's scan, his body was already growing in an unknown direction.

In addition, there was the Swift Swordsmanship. This was Loy's only means of combat, so he naturally took it very seriously and practiced diligently every day.

However, limited by his agility reaching its limit, he could feel that his swordsmanship was stuck at a bottleneck.

Perhaps only by truly becoming a second-tier swordsman would there be a qualitative change.

Then there was identifying herbs. Loy didn't stop, even though he controlled the Raymond family's enormous wealth here.

And through these days of persistence, he had tasted all the common herbs and analyzed and recorded their medicinal properties through the 'Health Monitoring Module'.

To say that there were herbs that could relieve muscle fatigue, there were indeed dozens of them.

The next step would be the combination of different drugs, the fusion of different medicinal properties, which would be much more complex, but in any case, it was a step further.

Thus, time passed day by day, until ten days later, an explosive piece of news suddenly appeared in the Oakland City newspaper.

After a long period of negotiations, the Habsburg Empire and several neighboring kingdoms and principalities signed a series of friendship agreements.

The content of these agreements was naturally extensive, including political and economic aspects, and even the export of magi-tech weapons in the military, etc.

However, Loy immediately saw the most striking item in the agreement—a trade treaty.

It stipulated the specific tax rates for import and export commodities and strictly prohibited unilateral increases in tariffs.

And the countries that signed the agreement included the Duchy of Normandy.

Obviously, even though Loy told Count Raymond about the Habsburg Empire's plot, he couldn't change anything.

In the face of absolute strength, conspiracies and tricks are meaningless.

According to official records, this was the so-called 'Oakland Multinational Convention', although it didn't cause much of a stir among the people.

But for those merchants, this was good news that was enough to spread the word.

On this day, Count Raymond left the Habsburg Empire, without even meeting Loy again.

That evening, a person moved into 19 Lombardy Street: Oliveira, a third-tier, level 14 Gale Swordsman.

This time, Butler Hoover directly rented Mrs. Cassidy's rental house, all four rooms.

He added 30% to the rent and requested a full set of hot water and food supplies, which made Mrs. Cassidy very happy.

Of course, Loy also made a request that the two spare rooms were on the first floor. After clearing the furniture and opening them up, they became a place for cultivation.

Although the area was still a bit small, it was very good here on Lombardy Street, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.

Then, Hoover, with a thick ledger, finally found Loy.

Evening,

19 Lombardy Street, second floor, in the room.

Loy sat behind his desk, flipping through the ledger, with a blue light flashing in his eyes, scanning page by page into Deep Blue's storage module.

In front of the desk, Butler Hoover was still wearing his neat gentleman's suit and standing respectfully.

Of course, he was also a bit dumbfounded because Loy was turning the pages too fast.

A moment later, the last ledger was finished. Loy closed his eyes slightly, pretending to be tired, and rubbed his eyebrows.

The 'Data Analysis Module' was launched smoothly, and various information had been exchanged, giving the final result.

Looking up again, he looked at Butler Hoover and said, "In other words, the three perfume shops are actually the most profitable for the Raymond family here."

"Yes, my Raymond family is also known as the Perfume Family because the Flower Territory has the most variety of flowers.

The perfumes produced are most popular with nobles, and Oakland City is actually a transit station for perfumes entering the Habsburg Empire.

Therefore, there are as many as three shops here, as well as Provence Manor."

Loy nodded slightly and said, "The next source of income is the hundred acres of fertile land around the manor and a mature gold exchange route."

Hoover continued, "These lands are actually a tradition of the Raymond family. Every area where the family's power extends, they will buy some land to establish a foothold.

However, because of different policies and taxes, and after deducting the remaining income of those farmers, the actual income is not high."

"Then what's this gold exchange route?"

"This is because the gold and silver exchange rates are different in the Duchy of Normandy and the Habsburg Empire.

The ratio is higher on the Normandy side and lower on this side. As long as you transfer gold and silver back and forth, you can get a huge profit."

After a pause, Butler Hoover added, "However, this route is independent and has dedicated people to take care of it. My accounts here are only responsible for checking, but they don't pass through my hands.

Therefore, this part of the money is actually not within the scope of Master Loy's disposal."

Loy already knew, so he didn't care. He nodded slightly and said, "So, the wealth I can now dispose of, not counting the change, is two thousand one hundred gold Tinders."

"Yes, this is all the family's income for the first half of the year. It was originally going to be sent back to the Flower Territory, but the Count has suppressed it."

"In addition, the Count's carriage has also been left behind."

This was to allow Loy to use Count Raymond's title to do some things.

Loy nodded slightly: "Since there's money, what's there to say?"

"Butler Hoover, tomorrow, go to the Champs Elysees Magi-tech Textile Factory again and have a good chat with Mr. Maruna."

Across trade, tariffs are the most important!