Chapter 85: Imported Goods

Imported goods refer to items brought into a country by ships from abroad. In this world, imported goods shops were like a mix of the import-export companies and luxury stores from before the protagonist’s travel.

Since the trend of extravagance began, more imported goods shops appeared in Karada. They grew from just one shop to as many as six at their peak, but behind this fake prosperity lay a fragile bubble. Although Karada had a permanent population of over one hundred thousand, making it a big city on the Western Continent, the wealthy group needed for luxury spending like imported goods was not that large. Or rather, even among the Nobles in Nohan, few had enough spare money to buy luxury items. Now, only three stable imported goods shops remained in Karada.

Although the three imported goods shops had overlapping business, each had its own unique features. Take the one in front of George for example. It had Teak beams and pillars, with walls that looked like they were made of spliced oak planks. It had unique windows covered with Alchemy paper and a roof covered with thatch. Just looking at the outside, this was one of the few purely wooden buildings in Karada.

“Creak—,” As soon as one stepped into the shop’s door, the unique sound of walking on the pine wood floor gave a brand new feeling. Although if there were many people, this sound would become continuous and even annoying, in a place with so few customers, it could be used as a unique feature.

The air in the shop was filled with the scent of various spices. It was clear that the owner put a lot of effort into this. The composition of these spices was specially blended to help customers relax without feeling sickened. But this was not as simple as making a spice bag. It required a special blend and consideration of the spices’ own properties to decide which spices could be exposed and which must be sealed. Combined with special ventilation and lighting, this overall atmosphere could be created.

‘Fuli Anqiong’ meant ‘The East’ in the Elven language. Here, the shop owner used it as the shop’s name, indicating that he mainly dealt in imported goods from the East. Of course, for Nohan, Kalatu was the East, Nalfio was the East, and Zakara was also the East. However, the unique feature of this shop was that it had many goods from Kalatu. This was one of the main reasons George visited this shop often. To George, Kalatu was a strange Chinese style. It gave George, a soul drifting in another world, a sense of comfort.

“Oh my, isn’t this the Young Master of House Bolerum?” George had not been in the shop long when a slightly tongue-twisting Common Tongue voice came from a corner.

Without looking back, just by hearing the voice, George knew it was Wang Qinian, the owner from the Flying Dragon Empire. However, George still preferred to call him Wang Qinian using the Eastern Continent’s grammar structure.

George turned around and faced the middle-aged man who stood up quickly. The afternoon sun made people feel lazy, and this thin, short man with black hair couldn’t help but stretch his hand to yawn.

His early years of sailing left plenty of marks on his face. The scars, like those made by an iron plow, made his skin look unusually rough. His sunken cheeks highlighted his cheekbones, making his originally somewhat flat face on the Western Continent look less abrupt.

And you say black hair and black eyes? This was very common in Nohan. Don’t think that people with black hair and black eyes were rare on the Western Continent. The main population during the Old Empire period basically fell into the category of black hair and black eyes. It was like the ancient Roman citizens from the world before the travel.

Because George came here often, even though he was not a true big customer in this shop, he had become familiar to the owner, Wang Qinian. And because of George’s half-understanding knowledge of the Eastern world and his extremely cautious shopping attitude, Wang Qinian did not see him as a fat sheep to be easily slaughtered, but as a small fox that was hard to squeeze for oil. However, no merchant would drive business away.

“What wind blew you here today!” The merchant Wang Qinian said with a surprised look.

George pressed his chest and pretended to be sad, saying, “You speak so hurtfully! It sounds like I never spent any Gold Coins in your shop when I came to Karada in any year.”

For some reason, only here could George make such silly actions. Was it because of the Eastern flavor and the alternative Chinese style here? Probably not just that! Perhaps Wang Qinian’s modern-style way of doing things had a bigger influence. It seemed that only here could George let himself loose a bit and do things he could never do elsewhere. Most importantly, this shop was also smart enough not to publicize George’s behavior. This was one of the reasons George felt safe to come here often.

Wang Qinian rubbed the ring on his finger and said, “It’s not because of that! According to the usual situation, you should still be on your Territory.”

Noticing George’s look at him was a bit strange, Wang Qinian felt a chill down his spine and quickly explained, “I’m not trying to pry on purpose. Didn’t you often say that you would come to my small shop within two or three days of arriving in Karada? Over time, I naturally figured out your cycle of visiting Karada.”

‘He’s right! I never intended to hide anything in this regard. Besides, I couldn’t hide it even if I wanted to! If someone wanted to find out, they could just send someone to Bolerum Territory to investigate. Or they could deliberately get close to the servants at the Bolerum Manor in Karada to ask around.’ Realizing this, George did not argue further about this matter. He casually asked, “I came early this time because of something. Anyway, please introduce me to what new goods you have. If the price is right, I’ll buy it.”

“What if the price doesn’t suit you! You are an expert at bargaining. Every time you see something you like, the price is much lower than the initial asking price.” Wang Qinian put on a pained expression, but the wrinkles on his face turned his bitter face into a blooming one. This was one of the bad effects of loose skin. Every time he saw Wang Qinian in this aspect, George decided to take good care of his facial skin and muscles in the future.

“Hmph!” George made a disdainful expression and said, “Don’t think I don’t know the tricks here. Even if the goods shipped from Karada were sold at twenty times the price, it would be reasonable. The risks at sea and the costs of the journey make the premium and the Caravan’s efforts proportional. But some of the prices here seem too high!”

Wang Qinian didn’t pretend in front of George. He put on a matter-of-fact look and said, “How can I be excessive? Business is business. There are always people willing to buy for us to sell. Since some people are willing to buy things at such high prices and take them home, the things are naturally worth the price they are sold for.”

“I just wonder if you would dare to say that when you were in the Flying Dragon Empire back then.” George’s expression became even more disdainful, almost looking at him sideways with his peripheral vision.

Seemingly stimulated by this look, Wang Qinian changed his earlier “dead pig not afraid of boiling water” attitude. He shouted angrily, “Hey! Hey! If you keep doing this, I’ll turn my face! I’ll really turn my face!”

“Your reaction is always this big in this regard! I think back in your hometown, you must have received such looks often too!” George shrugged his hands and continued to rub salt in Wang Qinian’s wound.

After taking several deep breaths, Wang Qinian calmed his nearly exploding nerves and pretended to be calm, saying, “So what! The life I have now is much better than all those relatives of aunts and uncles back home.”

“So when will you come back home with your current wealthy image? Doesn’t the Flying Dragon Empire have a saying: ‘If a person cannot return to their hometown after achieving success, it is like wearing beautiful clothes while walking in the night’?” This time, George’s words carried no mockery but sounded like a friendly inquiry from an old friend. “You have been running this shop in Karada through wind and rain for over ten years. It seems no one has ever said you closed the shop for more than ten days. The round trip from here to Karada takes at least half a year at the fastest. It shows you haven’t gone back since opening the shop.”

“Although you know our culture very well on the Western Continent, some things cannot be understood unless you have lived there personally.” Wang Qinian sighed.

‘Wang Qinian is right! After all, this is another world. Although there are many similarities, the nation in the Far East cannot be my past motherland. The gap between the Western Continent here and ancient Europa is too vast to compare. So the huge differences between the Flying Dragon Empire and the ancient Tianchao are absolutely normal. Moreover, the current Flying Dragon Empire is still in a state of division. Most importantly, George’s knowledge of the ancient Tianchao comes only from books. You know, history is written by the victors. But how is reality? There must be quite a big deviation here.’ After hearing Wang Qinian’s words, George suddenly felt something. After thinking for a while, he asked, “Where is Jiang Ye? Usually, he is helping you manage the shop at this time.”

“That kid went out for something today! After all, he is at that age now!” Wang Qinian let out an unbecoming laugh for an old man. His mean expression on his face looked just like Chen Peishi.