Leaving Lion Castle, Rand went straight to the carriage, perhaps because the Duke of Winton had put too much pressure on him, so when he saw the sunshine of Hexi again, he felt a sense of physical and mental comfort.

This meeting with the Duke of Winton was not as terrible as imagined, at least on the surface, the Duke of Winton kept a calm posture and did not ask too much about the development of the Air Ferry Territory, but only mentioned at the end of the Love who was excluded from the power center of the Air Ferry Domain.

As the Duke's eyes to spy on the Sky Ferry Lord, Rand expelled him from the upper echelons of the Sky Ferry Lord, which was undoubtedly disrespectful to the Duke of Winton, and on the way here, Rand was worried about this matter for a long time, but now it seems that the Duke of Winton doesn't seem to care much about his own actions.

Maybe it's because he thinks that the Empty Domain really has nothing to pay attention to, or maybe there are other Duke's eyes hidden in the shadows besides Love.

Rand thinks that the probability of these two speculations is better than the latter.

......

Night was falling, but the sky was still a little light, in the reception hall of the Lion Castle, merchants and young nobles from all over the Iron Stream were participating in a grand banquet, this exchange event hosted by the Capet family usually lasted about ten days, the open space outside the palace was lit with fire, and even the sky several kilometers away became like day, and the door of the Lion Castle was covered with bright red azaleas.

Before the banquet officially began, people could not hold back the emotions in their hearts, and some shrewd businessmen began to look for their target customers.

Crowds of people are brightly lit, and countless well-dressed waiters weave through the crowd, passing food such as red wine and cakes and steaks.

"Lord Duke is really rich enough......" Storm sat aside, clutching the whole roast chicken in his hand, and muttered as he stuffed it into his mouth, the starving ghost's eating appearance really made Rand and Shadow feel a little embarrassed, and they quietly moved to the side, indicating that they were not in the same group as the hillbilly next to him who had never seen the world.

"The Capet family holds this kind of banquet every year," Shadow asked, "Lord Duke provides these families and merchants with the possibility and place to cooperate, and he wants more than just some intermediate fees, right?"

"The Capetian family is like a big ship, and these merchants are the parts of the ship, and the common interest is the engine of the ship, which plays the role of the driving force," Rand explained. ”

"Money is the most practical. Shadow's tone was stiff.

Rand shook his head: "For the Capet family that has reached this height, silver coins are important, but reputation and credit are the most important things, think about it, in this war-torn continent, there is such a family that is willing to provide you with a safe trading place, provide a steady stream of goods and the next family, when you are a merchant, would you rather spend more money to come to the Imperial City for safe transactions?"

"Cheers!" shouted excitedly, and an emotional young nobleman raised his glass and gestured to the pot-bellied merchant in front of him.

"For cooperation. The merchant gently slammed some glasses with him and drank them all.

"See, everyone who participates in this banquet has to give one percent of the turnover to the Capet family for every transaction that is made, and it will be an extremely terrifying number for many years to accumulate over time. Rand pointed to the crowd of people in the hall talking to each other, "But this money is not earned for nothing, the Capet family will provide them with protection during the transaction, and if they are attacked by pirates or bandits, the Capet family will compensate them in full." ”

That is, it is equivalent to spending money on an insurance.

Rand admired the Duke of Winton's mind very much, and he dared to say that no other family leader on the continent could have imagined it.

Even if they thought about it, their strength didn't allow them to do it.

The Duke of Winton had not yet appeared, and the merchants and nobles in the hall had begun to look for old acquaintances to chat with, or to delve into some knowledge about women, and whenever they said this, their faces could not help but show a look that only men could understand.

Bran was also present at the banquet, of course.

But it wasn't the merchants who came around him, everyone knew that Master Bran didn't like business, he liked to be with beautiful women, and he didn't have military power or territory, and he couldn't trade with merchants.

So except for a few businessmen who greeted politely at the beginning, for the rest of the time, Bran was in the middle of being surrounded by a ** flower.

"Master Bran, I recently met a famous composer, would you like to hear his new compositions, we can find a secluded place, I can sing to you......"

"Tell us the story of your travels on the seas, Lord Bran!"

With a gentle smile on his face, Bran smiled back at every girl, making sure everyone didn't feel left out.

It's a real talent.

"Look, who is this bastard?" Blastwind wiped the food scraps from his mouth, staring at Bran with some envy and envy as he surrounded the girls, just a few minutes before Blaster had pretended to be personable and tried to blend in with the nobles.

But soon he came back dejected.

The ladies were so dismissive of the wind that they didn't even bother to say a word to him.

The women who regularly attend such banquets have already developed a pair of sharp eyes, and they can quickly determine what rank of nobleman or military officer you are by someone's words and deeds, as well as the accessories on your body.

And the wind clearly didn't meet their requirements.

"Looks like a homosexual!" "The wind viciously gnawed a leg of mutton, and he turned his grief and anger into appetite, "I dare to say, he must be a little white face who relies on women to eat soft rice!"

The shadow was silent for a long time: "At least, people have that capital." ”

Poof!

Blasting Wind felt that his heart was stabbed hard, he took a deep breath, and didn't dare to pick up the shadow again, this bastard is a heart, seeing that he is not angry, he also sprinkles salt on his wounds!

"Eh, why is this little white face coming in this direction?" Blastwind looked up, surprised to see Bran walking straight in his own direction through the crowd in front of him.