Kiyomi and Tanigawa both stopped arguing and looked at the man.

He claims to be Viscount Braganza, the man who brought us here. He wears a red gown that looks like something from a play, and a long red cape behind his back. And his clothes were covered with fine and dense shiny stripes. Although there seems to be no problem in language communication, in fact, the Viscount of Bragança is actually a sea man. He doesn't look any different from us, but he wears a black belt with a slightly bulging pouch on top of it. The protrusion is right in the middle of his face, which causes him to look unusually strange.

Kiyomi seemed a little scared of the Viscount Bragansa, and she buried her face back in the plate overgrown with food. However, it is also possible that Kiyomi simply felt hungry. Tanigawa is very interested in Viscount Braganza. She staggered and got up from the pile of pearls, as if to speak to Viscount Bragansa. In order to prevent her from accidentally falling into the pile of pearls again during the conversation, I hurriedly ran behind her and supported her body.

"No, how dare we think that? It's all thanks to you for helping us survive. Tanigawa said, "Besides, you have arranged such a comfortable life for us. And, there are these ......"

Tanigawa reached out and grabbed a handful of pearls from the ground. All the pearls around Tanigawa now are provided by Viscount Bragansa. What we eat, what we wear, even the palace where we live is the private property of Viscount Bragança. All of this is built on the seabed in the depths of the sea, and that alone is comparable to the high-rise buildings of modern society.

"Hahaha! it's great that you like it!" said Viscount Braganza laughing, "we don't know much about the people of the earth. If it weren't for your arrival, we would never have dreamed that what we thought was garbage would be so valuable on land. ”

After Viscount Braganza had said this, he coughed a few times as if he felt a little uncomfortable. Hearing Braganza's self-conscious cough, he had been standing beside him, and the servant in the tuxedo immediately walked over with a graceful demeanor. With a virtuous movement, he pulled out a nearly transparent ball from the pocket of his clothes. The servant first carefully tapped the black bulge on Viscount Bragança's face, but a small ball came down, and then replaced it with a new transparent one.

Viscount Braganza breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fausto, thank you. ”

"It's my pleasure. ”

The servant, known as Fausto, bowed slightly, then gracefully retreated to the wall. Because he had always been one with the wall, I didn't notice his presence.

"I'm sorry, but this seems to be just the time. I have to go to the palace again, and if I don't exchange letters, it will be very troublesome on the way. ”

Viscount Bragança bowed his head slightly to us and apologized. He then ordered Fausto to put the ball next to Tanigawa.

"Then this little thing should be regarded as my apology. ”

Tanigawa happily took the small bead, which was a brilliant pearl. For the sea people who live in the seawater, they need special props to live in the deep water. This prop is the "Pearl of the Sea", which is a small bead that the servant took out of his coat pocket just now, which is almost transparent.

"The Pearl of the Sea is said to be a gift from the sea, and it contains the energy necessary to sustain life. Without them, we seafarers would not be able to move an inch. Viscount Braganza shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated manner, like a character in a play, "To have such a treasure means that we are blessed by the sea." ”

Tanigawa smiled ambiguously and didn't say anything. From the self-titled Viscount of Braganza, to the design of this palace, to the way he spoke, we have always believed that the sea people who lived at the bottom of the sea had a low level of culture. If compared to the civilization on land, their civilization is roughly equivalent to the European society from the Renaissance to the first industrial revolution. It was only during the Enlightenment that the study of biological anatomy was gradually deepened. It was also at that time that Lavoisier discovered that oxygen in the air was essential to support people's lives. Tanigawa and I both thought that what they called the Pearl of the Sea might be the equivalent of a high-concentration oxygen storage device, or some kind of mixture that slowly reacts to produce oxygen, but we couldn't explain to them what "oxygen" was. We can only laugh when we hear the phrase "the energy necessary to sustain life".

"But this thing is worth a lot on land?"

"That's right. Tanigawa thought for a moment and said, "I think so." Many of my wealthy people like the color of these beads and use them to decorate their clothes or other utensils. If these pearls are polished and processed by skilled craftsmen, they will surely sell for a good price. ”

When it comes to the topic of money, Tanigawa immediately becomes bright. I can understand Tanigawa's thoughts. She is now struggling with financial problems, and if she can sell all these pearls as an intermediary, it will definitely greatly alleviate her current predicament. If he has enough money, Tanigawa can also continue his research against demons. From that point of view, I would love to help her too.

Viscount Bragança was also clearly very interested in the value of the pearls that Tanigawa was talking about. For sea people like him, pearls are nothing more than the waste left over from the "Pearl of the Sea". When the Pearl of the Sea can no longer produce oxygen, the previously transparent Pearl of the Sea becomes cloudy. For a long time, the sea people have been contaminated with this cloudy item as a toxin excreted by the human body as the pearl of the sea. As a result, no seafarers found these pearls beautiful, and they failed to discover the value of pearls.

"True fate, I met you, you lovely land-folk friends. Viscount Bragança said excitedly, "I found the records of the landers in the collection of my ancestors, but they are incomplete. Some of our writings have been lost, so we can't read some of the books. But just the books I could read were an eye-opener for me. When I was a child, I longed to go to the land and see it, but the servants around me told me that the land was a terrible place contaminated with toxins, and it was impossible for people to live there. We seafolk escaped from land. However, I believe that terrestrial people must exist. I've finally waited for you, you've been my childhood dream!"

Viscount Braganza happily wanted to hug us. He carefully looked at Kiyomi, who was full of oil, and Tanigawa, who was not covered in mud, and finally walked towards me with a big smile. I smiled and held out my right hand to him, and Braganza barely grasped my hand with his arms wide open for a moment. I'm sorry, Lord Viscount, but I'm not ready to hug a man right now. But considering that Tanigawa and I are both elementary school girls in their prime. In this way, does the Viscount of Bragança have that kind of hobby that which is difficult for the aristocracy to speak, and who cannot vent his twisted desires without a young girl?

For the sake of safety, I shook hands and avoided Viscount Bragança from a distance.

However, Tanigawa does not seem to have taken these delicate issues into account.

"But these pearls can't be sold directly!" Tanigawa said, "although it is very profitable, if you sea people sell all the pearls on land, it will destroy the pearl industry on land." ”

Every sea man needs the Pearl of the Sea. When they were born, the seafarers wore the same nose protection as the face of Viscount Bragança. This nose guard is a special device that has been researched to allow the oxygen emitted from the pearl to be well absorbed. As people get older, they need bigger and bigger nose protection, just like they need to wear bigger clothes when they grow up. The Pearl of the Sea and the Nose Protector are such basic things for them. One pearl of the sea can probably provide more than a month's life for the sea people, and the sea people will "produce" ten pearls a year. It is said that there are about 10,000 sea people living in the village under the sea, which is 100,000 pearls a year. Over the years, the seafarers have piled up countless pearls. If these pearls are full of color and size, it will be a big impact on the pearl industry on land.

"Pearls are a luxury. That is, terrestrial people do not need pearls to live freely. Its value often lies in its artistry and preciousness. Tanigawa explains, "If there are too many pearls, then the pearls will inevitably depreciate." The seafarers have already accumulated too many pearls, and if they are sold in a hurry, the pearls will no longer be worth much. Such a thing of fishing with all the resources is not the choice of smart people. ”

Viscount Braganza nodded. Since he could own so many assets as a nobleman, he certainly wasn't ignorant of business. Although he does not understand the rules summarized in modern business, he can understand what Tanigawa is saying.

"Then things are a little bit of trouble. ”

"Again, I think it's better for us to balance the risks. "The main problem that plagues the modern pearl industry is that people don't know what the color and size of the pearls in the pearl oyster are. In this way, the pearl farming industry and the pearl processing industry are completely separated. All the pearls sold by the pearl farming industry to the manufacturing industry are sold with pearl oysters, and the pearl processing industry of the buyer does not know whether the pearls they buy are of good color. That's a balance of risk. The pearl farming industry directly transferred the risk of 'pearl oysters not producing good pearls' that should have been borne by itself to the pearl processing industry, so that they could obtain a stable income and maintain the operation of funds. ”

"I see...... Viscount Braganza nodded, "but what does this have to do with us?"

"But Viscount, your pearls are not freshly raised, they are ready-made pearls. I couldn't help but explain with a wry smile, "It seems to you that having a hundred pearls is exactly the same thing as producing ten pearls a year for ten years in a row. But in reality, the latter carries the risk of volatility and is also not good for sales. If you only have five pearls in your hand in a bad year, you will lose money. At the same time, your pearl farming industry will not encounter the problem of tight liquidity in the coming year, which will lead to a vicious chain reaction. ”

"Is it possible that I had a good year and harvested fifteen pearls?"

"It's a possibility. I nodded and said, "At this point, your buyer will force down the purchase price of the pearl." If you have 10 pearls, one will sell for $100,000. If you have fifteen this year, you're going to be pushed down to about $70,000. This is due to the fact that the pearl processing industry requires skilled technicians, and the production of luxury goods and works of art requires the work of artists. These artists are saturated with the market, and even if there are more pearls, these artists are limited. Then the more pearls you produce, the price will be lowered. This is not as good as making you more money with a stable output value every year. ”

"That is, risk. Viscount Braganza nodded and said, "I now have countless more pearls in my hands than others, and the value I have is not only the value of pearls, but also the value of free risks." Perhaps the value of the latter is even more important than the value of the pearl itself. ”

"That's right. "You can use the pearls in your hands to reduce your risk." For example, you can partner with the pearl processing industry and provide them with a steady supply of pearls when they don't have enough pearls. The fact that you're able to do what other pearl farmers can't is in itself an unbeatable advantage in the competition. I started by talking about risk balancing to suggest that you should not only sell pearls, but also be a leader in the pearl farming industry and control the balance of the entire market. ”

Tanigawa is saying one idea, but you can actually be a little more daring. I smiled and gave my advice, "You can also go straight to vertically·integrated·monopoly." In other words, you can master all three of the pearl farming industry, the pearl processing industry, and the pearl sales industry. We produce our own pearls, process our own pearls, and sell our own pearls. As we've said before, no one is doing this kind of vertical machining to balance the risk. If the pearl harvest is not good one year, then the whole industry will face a double crisis of capital and credit. But you're different, you have risk-free pearl resources, and you have more pearls than any pearl farmer. As long as you use a reasonable way, you can monopolize the entire pearl industry. ”

"However, monopolies are illegal. ”

Kiyomi, who was listening to our conversation from a distance, puffed out her lips and said. Ji Daimei is really smart, and when she was still a primary school student, she understood the horror of monopoly. Shouldn't Kiyomi be trained to be a business talent?

"Monopoly?" asked Viscount Braganza in confusion, "what is it?"

"It is to establish a sole seller in the market, and the seller manipulates the price of the product at will without competition, and forces consumers to accept only the goods of the sole seller. Out of the monopoly field licensed by a few countries, the general monopoly is illegal. Monopoly enterprises will obliterate normal market competition and obtain huge rights far beyond themselves, which is not conducive to social stability and sustainable development. ”

"So this thing is illegal?"

I smiled at Viscount Braganza.

"It is against the law for people on earth. But you're not earthly, are you? Our laws don't control you. ”