Work Prophet
Chapter 359 - 117 Who in the Church Does Business

Chapter 359: Chapter 117 Who in the Church Does Business

Ireya unfolded the parchment, scanning the content from top to bottom, and a look of surprise immediately crossed her face.

She knew that Li Yu had been privately learning the Universal Language of the Continent, and now he could more or less speak some commonly used words.

But that was limited to listening and speaking; recognizing characters was still a struggle for him. Thus, she leaned close to Li Yu’s ear and relayed the contents recorded on the parchment to him.

"The Immanuel Family has decided to grant us the duty-free trade rights of Black Stone City," she explained. "In simple terms, from now on, all transactions of the Arias family and the Double Rest Sect in Black Stone City will no longer be taxed.

"This way, we can save quite a sum of money over the course of a year. The Immanuel Family is really generous this time."

It’s more than generous; the Immanuel Family has actually made a loss.

Of course, Li Yu could understand why they would do this, because it’s common knowledge that the Arias family has been making its fortune from selling carrots for a millennium. Besides that, there were hardly any other special products in their territory.

And since carrots were always considered commoners’ food and nobles didn’t consume much or consume them in large quantities, they couldn’t sell at high prices, and one certainly couldn’t expect to collect much tax from them.

The Immanuel Family, wealthy and robust, didn’t care about these paltry sums and was willing to let them go. As for the pepper that the Lady was selling on behalf of the Double Rest Sect, the Immanuel Family wouldn’t even think of taxing it, and Miss Rabbit would never pay the tax, not in this lifetime.

Pepper is not like carrots, which are hauled out in carts when abundant. It’s just a couple of small packages that can easily be tucked into one’s bosom to enter the city.

As long as one has connections, conducting private transactions is like exchanging salted fish unnoticed.

And evading taxes is not unique to Ireya; it’s quite common in Black Stone City, and the Immanuel Family didn’t have a good way to deal with it (if they managed it too strictly, merchants would just go elsewhere to do business).

Therefore, this part of the income could be disregarded.

Having discussed selling, let’s talk about buying.

With the successful slaying of the dragon, Ireya’s reputation soared, and in less than a month’s time, there was nobody in the western lands who didn’t know of her.

Being famous, one inevitably becomes the subject of scrutiny, examined under a microscope.

Of course, there was a good side to the attention, but there was also an inescapable downside. Especially since, no matter the plane, scandalous rumors always spread faster.

For example, Miss Rabbit’s stinginess was now becoming known among more and more nobles. Except for the time before the battle against the Evil Dragon when Ireya, gritting her teeth, made a significant investment, normally, the Lady herself was more like an Evil Dragon.

Lying atop her treasure, taking naps; anyone who came in trying to steal her money, she would breathe fire and burn them to death.

Diodosi likely didn’t have high hopes for this neighbor’s spending capabilities either.

In summary, granting the Arias family duty-free trade rights did not come at a high cost, but the gesture was profound in meaning. It was better at fostering relationships between the two families than giving money directly, a case of little expenditure for a grand display.

As for the Double Rest Sect, Diodosi probably didn’t think much about it either. He had granted similar privileges to the Silver Moon Church, where the symbolic significance was greater than the practical meaning, as a token of goodwill.

The Church, after all, is about spreading the faith and preaching. As long as it gathers enough followers, it can raise as much money as it wants. You’ve never heard of anyone running off to do business; a proper Church engaging in trade would be considered a diversion from its true calling.

If Diodosi had been half a month later, he probably wouldn’t have thought so. He would rather pay two thousand, no, even ten thousand Gold Coins than issue that Duty-free Trade Order.

Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in this world.

After listening to Ireya recount the content of the parchment, Li Yu was also somewhat surprised, he hadn’t expected the Immanuel Family to be so courteous. Not to mention, from now on, the raw materials needed for production could all be purchased in Black Stone City, which would save a considerable amount of money.

In the future, they could even set up a branch office for Shafu Li there since the Immanuel Family would no longer be collecting taxes on sales.

However, since Shafu Li was willing to leave Black Stone City and go to Green Field, Li Yu also planned to relocate the economic center to Green Field in order to help Miss Rabbit upgrade her castle to a town sooner.

Because the Silver Moon Church had long held a dominant position in the Western Territory, acting as the sole authority, the nobles here were deeply influenced by them, especially by the Church’s tradition of non-militarization which had almost become an iron law, etched into the marrow of every noble.

So much so that when Hirodod, who came from the Silver Moon Church, wanted to break this iron law, he faced unprecedented strong opposition. The nobles of the Western Territory even spontaneously formed an Alliance Army to assist Priest Martina in her campaign against Hirodod, who had already taken control of the Church Court.

Making them accept the militarization of the Double Rest Sect would likely be more difficult than imagined.

Currently, only Miss Rabbit, pushed into the role, accepted all the terms of the Double Rest Sect, relying on the absolute trust built up between her and Li Yu.

Given this situation, it wouldn’t hurt to adjust the strategy a bit, no longer launching attacks everywhere, but instead attracting as many people as possible to Green Field.

Of course, the external propaganda still needed to be done, especially taking advantage of the Silver Moon Church’s moment of weakness, Li Yu had already thought of a plan.

While Li Yu was still contemplating the next plan, Harman suddenly spoke up, "May I take a look at that piece of parchment?"

"Of course."

The Duty-free Trade Order wasn’t something that needed to be hidden away, so Miss Rabbit passed it over very generously.

After Harman received it and expressed his thanks, he carefully read it from start to finish, then scrutinized it again at least two or three times, before finally handing the parchment to Ilkand beside him.

Ilkand, on the other hand, read it quite quickly, only glancing over it a few times before passing it to Rafael.

Rafael also read it very slowly, word by word, taking so long that Miss Rabbit even wondered if the three brothers had poor eyesight.

"It is our father’s handwriting," Rafael said after returning the Duty-free Trade Order to the Lady.

"I think so too, and the ink is very fresh. If nothing else, it must have been written today," Harman added.

Ilkand said nothing, but knowing his temperament, if he had noticed something wrong, he would have made a fuss about it by now.

The Housekeeper waited silently while the three brothers verified the authenticity of the Duty-free Trade Order, without intervening.

It was only after Harman asked again, "We have received several commands from our father in the past months. If father has been able to write letters all this time, then why is he unwilling to see us?"

"Lord Diodosi has his own considerations."

Such a vague reply from the Housekeeper clearly did not satisfy the three brothers, yet this time she did not beat around the bush as before, paused for a moment, and then continued.

"Lord Diodosi suspects that someone within the family has betrayed him."