Chapter 178: A Big Deal
「Dusk.」
Baron Jick rushed back to the castle.
"Duane, Duane!"
He shouted as he ran.
At that moment, Duane was in the cellar, checking on the beer.
Although the beer had just finished its initial fermentation, it still needed to go through several more steps to improve its flavor, like racking, natural clarification, and secondary fermentation.
Nevertheless, his Basic Brewing Skill Level had broken through to the Master Level.
He spent the 0.3 attribute points he had just gained, adding them to the 2.4 attribute points he had acquired from taking a Magic Potion during his journey on the Silent Sea.
Duane’s Strength Attribute had now increased to 38.9.
Duane emerged from the cellar. "What is it, Baron Jick?"
"What are you doing down here?" Jick asked, quickly walking over.
Duane didn’t mind the question. "I like to brew in my spare time."
"You certainly have a wide range of hobbies!"
Jick didn’t beat around the bush. He pulled Duane aside and said in a low voice, "While I was touring your Territory this afternoon, I saw the rice thresher you built!"
Duane was a little surprised.
The late rice harvest was already over, and the farmers had long since hidden their threshers away at home like prized treasures.
He hadn’t expected Jick to get a chance to see one.
It was a pure coincidence. It had rained a couple of days ago, and one family’s thresher got wet. They happened to pull it out to dry in the sun today, which was when Jick spotted it.
"I want one of those. How about you sell it to me?"
Jick made his offer. "I’ll give you five hundred Gold Coins for the manufacturing rights to the rice thresher!"
He had been captivated the moment he laid eyes on the rice thresher. And after hearing the farmers’ exaggerated stories about it, he became incredibly antsy, his heart racing.
Duane looked troubled. "The rice thresher is designed specifically for rice. Most of the crops in your Territory are wheat, so it wouldn’t be very suitable, would it?"
Ears of wheat are different from panicles of rice. The former are dense and more brittle, so they tend to break when threshed with a rice thresher, which affects the flour yield.
Rice is different; a certain breakage rate is acceptable when threshing it.
Jick quickly shook his head. "That’s where you’re mistaken. One-third of the farmland in my Territory is paddy fields. Another third is for cotton and wheat."
He repeated his offer to buy it. "So, will you sell it to me?"
For Jick, if he could obtain the manufacturing rights, he could produce and sell the machines to the other Nobility on the Silent Shore.
Although five hundred Gold Coins was a lot of money, he was confident he could earn it all back.
Duane considered this for a moment.
The machine was easy to replicate. The only reason Jick wanted to buy the rights was that he didn’t know the specific design.
If he knew, he would never be offering to pay.
If Duane sold it, he would likely only make money from it this one time.
"Baron Jick, I poured my heart and soul into designing this rice thresher. For now, I only plan to promote it on Black Forest Island and have no intention of selling the rights."
"Don’t say that!"
Jick grew anxious. "If you think it’s not enough, I can add a little more. Or, we could do it like the Time Closet you started with my daughter and the others. I’ll set up a factory on the Silent Shore, and we can split the profits."
Duane still shook his head. He wasn’t prepared to spend too much of his energy on producing rice threshers.
Jick gritted his teeth. "Then name your price. What will it take for you to sell?"
Duane smiled.
"Baron, you must know that I owe Count Kais a great deal of money. So, I’m looking to make a big score."
He thought for a moment before saying, "If you can offer five thousand Gold Coins, not only will I sell you a rice thresher, but I’ll also provide you with any future improvements for free."
Five thousand Gold Coins?
Jick was stunned for a moment, then gave a wry smile. "Baron Duane, you have too high an opinion of me!"
He shook his head slightly. "I’m just a Baron. Although the cotton business is profitable, the Count gets a share of it."
"It would be too difficult for me to come up with five thousand Gold Coins!"
He only said he couldn’t afford five thousand Gold Coins, not that the rice thresher wasn’t worth that much.
"That’s simple."
Duane offered a solution. "You could collaborate with other Nobility, like the Count, Baron Cruz, or even some wealthy merchants."
"Five thousand Gold Coins. Cash for the tech!"
Jick’s brow furrowed, clearly considering Duane’s suggestion seriously.
After a long moment, he nodded. "Alright, I’ll go back and figure something out. But you have to promise me you won’t sell it to anyone else before I give you my answer!"
"I won’t discuss this deal with anyone else for the next two months."
Duane smiled. "If you’re serious about buying, then remember to bring a group of carpenters with you next time. I’ll have my craftsmen here on the island teach them the techniques firsthand."
There was a shortage of craftsmen on the island. If he could bring a group over, they could at least help him build rice threshers for three months, alleviating the pressure of insufficient production capacity.
"No problem. I’ll have an answer for you within a month!"
Jick wasn’t even thinking about the craftsmen. Right now, only one thing was on his mind: who he should partner with.
He didn’t want to partner with Baron Cruz, as he had no desire to increase the man’s influence.
Therefore, his options were to either approach the Count again or find a few wealthy merchants and have them "donate" some money.
Seeing Jick’s determined expression, Duane was overjoyed. He quickly invited him to the living room to rest and had the kitchen prepare a lavish dinner.
He hadn’t expected to close such a huge deal with Jick, who was just here to escort prisoners.
’Hmm, I should make some improvements on the rice thresher design and create a wheat thresher,’ he thought.
Relying on his Perfection-Level [Basic Manufacturing] skill, Duane quickly came up with an idea.
Since ears of wheat were dense and brittle, he would change the roller’s design, using a spiked or toothed roller instead.
Since the wheat kernels shattered at high speeds, he would increase the torque and lower the roller’s rotation speed, while simultaneously increasing the crushing pressure.
The design for a wheat thresher was already forming in Duane’s mind.
’Once the rice thresher is sold, it’s highly likely someone will try to adapt it for threshing wheat.’
’If I want to make money from it, I have to design it as soon as possible.’
Duane never underestimated the people here.
The only reason they hadn’t invented such a device was likely due to their fixed mindsets, which made it difficult for them to think outside the box.
Now that the rice thresher was right in front of them, it was as if their minds had been opened up. There was no guarantee someone wouldn’t manage to modify it into a wheat thresher.
With this potential partnership as a foundation, the rapport between the two barons, Duane and Jick, became even more pleasant.
「The next day.」
Duane personally took Jick to the Hot Spring Mountain Range to see the wild Hot Spring Mountain Tea trees.
He also brought him to the new tea plantation to inspect the progress of its cultivation.
These were all tasks assigned by Count Kais, and their authenticity would determine the scale of Count Kais’s investment in Duane.
If he didn’t let Jick investigate thoroughly beforehand, it would be incredibly awkward when the laborers from the Silent Shore were sent over only to find that the conditions here fell far short of their goals.
「The morning of the third day, at the Black Forest Island port.」
"Rest assured, Baron. I will report the situation here to the Count exactly as it is."
Baron Jick stood on the pier, bidding farewell to Duane. "Remember our deal! Wait for my reply!"
Duane patted his chest. "The Brian Clan values integrity above all else. You can count on it!"
"Hahaha, then I am relieved!"
The warship set sail, and Jick departed with all the prisoners.
With that, the incident involving the Gale Corps’ attack on Duane was finally over.
"Let’s go. Time for a meeting!"
Next, in addition to managing the affairs of his Territory, Duane also needed to start exploring the Hot Spring Mountain Range.
First and foremost, he had to obtain the Red Sun Grass as soon as possible.