Chapter 174: The Dinner Party
Chapter 174: The Dinner Party
The deacon of the Foster Family led the crowd to a parlor and ordered several other servants to serve drinks and snacks.
“Please stay a moment, I’ll go inform the second young master, Quiller Foster, that he will come to see you soon.”
The deacon then excused himself and exited the parlor.
“The great nobles of the south are truly extraordinary! Look at the places where people live, look at their servants.”
“Yes, look at these vessels, they’re all made of glass just like our place, but their cups reveal a sense of art any way you look at them.”
“Yoo-hoo! You still know art?”
“Why can’t I understand art?”
A businessman’s representative lifted the cup in front of him.
“Look, you guys! Isn’t this made of porcelain? Count Greiman really has sold what his factory produces to Horn Bay.”
“How envious, how on earth did the Earl get on the line of the Foster family.”
Quirk took a sip of the drink that was served.
“Hmm..! What’s this stuff? Why is it so bitter?”
“Haha, Captain, you’ve never tasted it, have you? It’s called tea, it can’t be grown in the north, not something that ordinary people can enjoy!”
“It’s really hard to drink, so bitter, isn’t it spending money to buy a sin?”
“Captain Quirk, you don’t understand, do you? This tea ah ……”
Just as the crowd was talking, a voice came from the doorway, “Young Master Quiller has arrived.”
Upon hearing that the master had arrived, the crowd stood up in unison to look in the direction of the doorway.
“Welcome!”
Quiller Foster sprinted into the parlor and came up to give everyone a hug.
Everyone put their hearts at ease, before they were worried that the other party would pose as a great noble, but now it seems that this second young master is quite approachable.
Starting with Quake, everyone introduced themselves in turn.
“Please sit down! Please sit!”
Quiller greeted the crowd and sat down before opening his mouth.
“I was really shocked when Paul wrote earlier about sending a ship south to open a new route. When I was in the Northwest Bay he said he wanted to build a ship with full sails, I thought it would take a year or two to succeed anyhow, I didn’t expect it to be built so soon.”
Quirk thanked him on Paul’s behalf, “It’s also thanks to you and your family for recruiting so many excellent shipwrights for us, and Mr. Benjamin in particular has truly been a credit to us here in Arda.”
“Haha!”
The Foster family’s second youngest master was beaming with joy, and he could tell that he was genuinely happy.
“It should be, it should be! Paul is my friend and has saved my life, it’s all due.”
Then he carefully inquired about what had happened in Arda in recent months.
Quirk recounted in detail the extermination of the pirates, though for reasons of secrecy he gave a mere passing mention of the battleship Hope and the performance of the musket cannons’ in combat, even though they were holding in his stomach.
Several merchant representatives, on the other hand, described the development of many new industries in Arda, porcelain, paper, salt production, canning production greatly increased, and earnestly hoped to cooperate with the Foster family.
Young Master Foster narrowed his eyes, ”It looks like Paul taught you guys the manufacturing techniques, right? He didn’t reveal a single word about these technologies to us at the time.”
The merchant representatives looked at each other in disbelief and stammered, not knowing how to answer.
Quake, on the other hand, tensed up, he instantly thought of the worst possible scenario: the other party wouldn’t detain us, would they? With the Foster family’s power in the Horned Bay, it was really hard to fly even if we had our wings.
However, he saw Young Master Foster wave his hand and said with a smile, “Haha, forget it, I can understand Paul doing this.” Only then did the crowd put their hearts down.
Queller summoned a servant and whispered a few words, and the servant hurriedly walked out.
“You all are still hungry, aren’t you? Let me entertain you all properly.”
The crowd rose to give their thanks.
Soon a large party of servants with plates in their hands came in and set the dishes on the table, and in addition to the knives and forks, a stack of napkins was placed in front of each person.
“Wow~ How elaborate!”
Captain Quirk exclaimed inwardly, as he quietly looked to either side of him and modeled how to tie the napkins after the others, a few of the merchant representatives were quite skilled.
Although Horn Bay was dotted with hills and the crop yield was not high, but because of the warm and humid climate, there were many types of crops, and Nisborough, as a big trading city, was a gathering place for ingredients from all over the world.
In the eyes of the crowd from the Northwest Gulf, it was simply a table of mountainous delicacies, and everyone ate with pleasure.
As they ate and chatted with the Foster family’s second young master, Quake suddenly felt a bit thirsty, so he picked up the glass of fresh water in front of him and took a big gulp.
“Puff,” a servant’s laughter suddenly came from behind him.
It wasn’t loud, but everyone heard it.
The people from the Northwest Bay were unsure of what was going on, and wondered if the servants were quietly telling jokes.
Quirk picked up the glass of fresh water in front of himself and drank it down.
He laughed and said, “Oops, my family doesn’t have as many rules for the underlings as others do, so I’m sorry for being rude, so don’t stop, everyone, keep eating.”
A merchant representative praised, “Young Master Foster is really kind and generous.”
A few others followed and kissed their asses.
In the Kingdom of Aldo, the nobles didn’t even look at them squarely as merchants-except for Earl Greiman, who was treated with such courtesy after arriving in Horned Bay, and the other party was also a big family that ranked high in this land.
How can this not make a few merchants excited.
Corner Bay, is really the name of the real merchants paradise ah, more than one person got up the idea of relocating to Corner Bay to live.
But also just think about it, their own roots in the Northwest Bay, family business, contacts are there, here in the unfamiliar, even the language does not make sense, and the other side eighty percent in the face of the count of Gleiman to be so good to themselves.
Alas, people always have to compromise with reality.
During the meeting, a few merchants expressed their thoughts of examining the business situation in Nisborough.
Queller patted his chest, “No problem, whatever you guys need, just mention it to me, I’ll help you prepare the interpreters and guides.”
Seeing this gentleman so righteous, the representatives of the merchants thanked him profusely.
After dinner, it was getting late, so the people of Northwest Bay got up to say goodbye, Quake wanted to go back to the ship, while a few of the merchant representatives were looking for an inn where they could sleep comfortably for a few nights.
Quiller revealed an unhappy expression, “You guys are looking down on me, is my Foster family so poor that I don’t even have a few guest rooms?”
The crowd laughed bitterly and explained that they just didn’t want to trouble their master too much.
However, under Young Master Quiller’s invitation, the merchant representatives stayed.
Only the captain of the Southern ship insisted on returning to the ship to be with the sailors.
With secret admiration, Master Quiller no longer forced him to stay and personally escorted him out the gate and arranged for a carriage to take him to the dock.
(End of chapter)