When Augustine entered the Alpha City Law Orange Auction House with more than a dozen chests lent to him by the old Count of Clough, the miser who once cut a carriage of meat to him and caused him to still linger in his heart, the city lord Count of Marseille, who had a natural sense of smell for gold coins, personally opened a chest, his eyes immediately burst out of piety far beyond the level, and he bent down with great difficulty, holding a handful of golden Caesar coins, as if caressing a lover's silky and tender carcass, in this world, there are only Caesar gold coins and Bourbon silver coins, for mistresses and slave girls, no matter how delicate and moving, the Count of Marseille is only good at leather whips, candles and ropes。 He once famously said to the bankers: Caesars is a good lover because she can bear you countless children.

Augustine pointed to the box, which was loaded with 900,000 gold coins, and the remaining 300,000 were laid on the ground by Elizabeth, and smiled: "Count of Marseille, these are all yours." ”

In the secret room, the fat and bloated Count of Marseille got up with difficulty, rubbed his hands, even though he had to look at the new master of the dark world of Marceau County in front of him out of courtesy, but the corner of his eyes was still greedily staring at the golden yellow, and said longingly and cautiously: "Your Excellency, in the distant and mysterious eastern country, there is a saying in the Mauryan Dynasty that if there is no fame, there is no profit. I want to know what you need me to do for you to be able to get these cute and charming little ones. ”

Augustine directly touched the bottom line of the Alpha City Lord," I know that you have an unorthodox relationship with some southern slave owners and ordnance traders, which is why the law orange can be so prosperous, don't be nervous, Earl, I am not bringing 900,000 Caesar gold coins to discuss the rigid doctrine with you, on the contrary, I am willing to pay this money in one go, as well as the right of protection of a member of the sacrament department, in exchange for a part of the business of the law orange, in the future, the law orange and the entire Alpha City will be redeemed and purified accordingly, for example, the Count of Marseille has been having a headache for the court priest Guolan, whose family roots are in the alpha but often slanders your reputation in the imperial capital, I can invite the old priest's misguided magician son to go to the poetry and song。 ”

The Count of Marseille, who often boasted that being a city lord was too wasteful of talent and should go to the imperial capital to be a trade minister, rolled his eyes and seemed to be thinking about the trade-off, but Augustine knew that he was refusing, just brewing words, not wanting to upset a new giant of the Sacramental Ministries who had just won a terrible battle. An old priest with high moral standing but no actual right to speak did not pose a threat to the fat Marseille, but only damaged some dispensable reputation, and it was more uncomfortable for him to hand over a part of the rich business of the law than to kill his illegitimate son.

But Augustine was not in a hurry, copying the ancient scriptures at the Abbey of Maideola was a test of patience and perseverance than too many things in the world, and he only gave Lady Fiona, who had come to Alpha with him to settle the business of Champs-Elysée Witches, who duly handed the Alpha Lord a list, and the Count showed admirable determination to the Empress No. 2 of the Marceau County Salon, who had chatted at the banquet several times, and he took the list, which listed a list of dark species that would mean huge profits for any auction house, the warlike Minotaur chieftain, the great gray-blooded mammoth, the rare Fallen Elves, the handsome ImmortalsThe Count of Marseille did not doubt this, he had already heard of the terrible war that took place in the Black Swan Lake, and this was the real reason why he did not dare to face the stunner Madame Fiona. Augustine, who was the first to give sincerity, smiled: "Except for the dozen or so chests that the Earl of Jupiter Clough gave to the castle of Poetry, plus the things on the list, and the right of asylum I mentioned, in the end, I will only collect one-fifth of the profit of the law orange, and if I lose money, when the nine hundred thousand Caesar gold coins are lost, I will withdraw from the law orange." But I believe that with the ability of the Comte de Marseille to operate, I will not have the opportunity to lose money. ”

The Count of Marseille was stunned for a moment, is there really such a generous and friendly businessman? He quickly calculated in his head, the current annual profit of the law orange is as high as 2.1 million, but half of the cost of all aspects of the dots, the net profit is about one million Caesar gold coins, one-fifth, is 200,000, the amount is not small, but the participation of a young consul, the joining of the dark lord of Marceau, the loss of some big nobles and some archbishops in the pocket of the distressing one million profits, can it be saved? Either way, the deal was a good deal, and the Comte de Marseille was in a good mood. Don't look at the Count of Marseille, but in fact, the small lord of a county is always at a disadvantage when negotiating with the proud and conceited big southern slave owners or military speculators, and each time he has to pay something like a few young people in Tameron* is sincere enough, spends money and consumes energy, but the hateful thing is that the other party may not appreciate it, the consul in front of him is too different, this is the elegant nobleman, the real big man, the Count of Marseille has a bright smile on his face, his fat body trembles with excitement, he carefully folds the precious list neatly, puts it in his pocket, and promises: "I will do my best to make the maximum profit for His Excellency the Consul." ”

Augustine nodded, as if remembering something, and said with a smile: "To correct a small slip of the tongue, these gold coins, which already belong to the Count of Marseille, are just a gift from old Clough to my personal priest, not poetry, let alone order." ”

The Count of Marseille immediately understood, bowed down and nodded flatteringly, "Understood." We sincerely commend you for your sincere friendship with Earl Clough. ”

Augustine walked out of the secret room and said, intentionally or unintentionally, "I and the Count of Marseille should also have a long and pleasant friendship. I hope that ten years from now, when the Count of Marseille will be able to sit in the position of Minister of Trade, not only me, but also Laclough, the Pompeii family, and many friends of the imperial capital, will congratulate you. ”

The Count of Marseille did not dare to hope for the legendary position where he could earn a thousand Caesars gold coins with one eye and one eye closed, but he was quite comfortable to hear such words, and personally bent down to send the Archon out of the Orange, hesitated, and begged the young but new ally to stay for a moment, he ran back to the lower room of the auction venue, took out a bunch of keys from behind a fresco, opened a dark room in a secret room, gritted his teeth, and took out a silver box with the divine pattern of the "King of Angels" Gabriel, silver, which is annotated in the "Gabriel Sequence". "Holy by God's favor" of powerful metal, containing a masterpiece from the puppet emperor von Charlemagne, the Count of Marseille has the wealth he has today, and he does not just rely on the noble titles given to him by his father and the speculative behavior of frequently exploiting the laws of the Empire, he knows better than anyone the balance between giving and rewarding, so it is easy for this fat man to go to the Imperial Trade Agency to teach. Augustine took the small but heavy box, felt the familiar abyssal aura, and finally showed a sincere smile for the first time, and said calmly: "Dear Earl, you and I have taken the right first step, and Rothonchild will not disappoint anyone who expresses kindness to Obsidian." ”

On the carriage heading to Witch Street, in addition to Augustine, who is looking at the pattern of the silver box, and Lady Fiona, who looks adoring, there is also a new species nicknamed "The Viscount", the Lich King.

Driving the carriage was the blonde lame Ares.

and the awakening of the princely servant hidden in the shadows from the tombstone, Dimmit.

After settling the monopoly of Witch Street, Augustine is about to head to Jupiter City, the center of the Empire. There, the second godson, Clough Jr., was to be baptized. Except for this only warmth, the rest is probably a pile of cynical slander and malicious eyes.

Champs-Elysées is the most high-end magical trading place in Alpha City, and the shopkeepers and antique shop owners have good connections and backgrounds, but their reserve and arrogance are defeated by the popular lover of the rich of the empire, the Caesar's gold coin, and Augustine is not easy, he paid all the money he looted from Lauder Castle, and even sold some art, which is a total of seven figures. Spending money like flowing water, Augustine smiled bitterly, fortunately, this dispensable sadness was immediately cleaned up by the surprise after opening the silver box presented by the Count of Marseille, and it was indeed a dark gold puppet of apex quality, the body was an abyss species belonging to the same vein as Augustine's original puppet, and after being summoned to descend on this plane, it unfortunately collapsed into a doll with a length of ten centimeters, but the layman Count of Marseille did not understand that the dark gold puppet was not a dead thing, and it also needed to be fed continuously, causing this dark gold puppet to shrink badly, and it happened that Augustine was going to Madame Quentin's papal antique shop after getting off the car, where there was high-grade bait that the puppet needed。

Augustine walked down the Champs-Elysées with Madame Fiona, who had never been here, because two-thirds of the shops on the street were closed, business was deserted, and there were fewer elderly magicians wearing butterfly badges or tulip badges, Alpha City, there was the bloody Lolita slave market, there was the black market of crows intertwined with many shady acts, there was the immoral law orange auction house, but Witch Street was the only clean area before, the members of the Magic Guild in Marceau, even if they didn't buy items, were willing to come for a walk and browse the quaint and quiet architectural scenery along the road, Witch Street was surrounded by an artificial river, and there were no noisy taverns on the riversideOnly private bookstores, churches and magic guilds, which barely managed to make ends meet, turned a blind eye to the few forbidden books that existed in the bookstores to a greater or lesser extent, not to mention that many of them were themselves customers of such books, and did not buy them, but just sat in the bookstore and quietly flipped through a few pages, drank a cup of green tea from the Mauryan Dynasty, or chewed a tobacco that had just become popular on the mainland, and the day passed in full.

Lady Fiona, who had a proud figure, whispered, "Master Order, you are the wisest merchant I have ever met, and will I offend you by saying this?"

Augustine, who was carrying a brand-new dark gold golem and a white-robed Lich King behind him, laughed, "That's a nice compliment, especially from the shrewd Fiona's mouth. ”

The corners of Lady Fiona's mouth were hooked, and her eyes were bright, and she made no secret of her delight.

Augustine was already preparing to hand over Witch Street to the confinement of Viscount Herb, so he talked about something professional, "first pull the expectations of the enemy at the negotiating table to the bottom line." Then gradually rise, the expectations of the two are roughly equal, and then the buying and selling becomes, very simple techniques. Fiona, on this special occasion when operating the Champs-Elysées is more important than profits, you have to pay attention to one word, repeat the game, this is the key to winning the trust of customers, the guests who visit the Witch Street, whether it is a magician or a second-hand gold dealer, no one is a fool, you need to sacrifice a part of the profits to establish a long-term and stable business relationship, don't feel distressed, a few boxes of gold coins, for me, that doesn't matter, understand?"

Lady Fiona smiled, "Because the Commander of the Order only deposited those gold coins in the guests' pockets first, and sooner or later they will be yours, right?"

Augustine was a little surprised, this woman was really a natural businessman, and praised: "Fiona, you are very smart, which is why I chose to let you control most of the Champs, instead of Madame Quentin, who is full of classical aristocratic thinking, so I give you not only the right to operate, but also trust." ”

The lady who made countless nobles of Marceau County and the imperial capital bow down under her skirt was moved: "Your trust is Fiona's most cherished wealth. ”

Augustine smiled silently. Lady Fiona said with a gloomy look in her eyes, "I know that an elegant nobleman like you would not believe the boring babbling of a commoner slut. I'm just a woman with a terrible reputation, and all men think about how to get me to bed at the first sight of me, preferably without paying a copper plate. The Orderman is not like them, whether a great man like you believes it or not, when I saw the deity who dwelled in the castle of Stanesong, I decided to choose another path, one that did not require sleeping with a man. ”

Augustine stopped, stood on the riverside, looked at the river and smiled, "Whisper, perch." Fiona, you've learned a lot of new vocabulary in poetry. That's a good thing. ”

The Sharon Empress smiled wryly.

Augustine turned his head and said: "A surname can bring many things, but it does not necessarily bring nobility to the nobility, nor is it destined to bring humility to the commoners. My godfather once told me that those who consider themselves filthy and sinful, and who are willing to change, may be the closest to true purity, that is, piety, and have nothing to do with bright robes and noble insignia. Fiona, I'm glad you have your own piety, so I can tell you that even if my godfather stands before you, he will talk to you on an equal footing. ”

Fiona burst into tears and covered her mouth.

The godfather of the young consul, that's a saint.

Augustine chuckled, "Every member of the Order, if the clothes are stained with dust, I will do my best to brush them off myself." ”

Not far away from the river, a vicissitudes of life but a loud voice came, "Young man, why don't you say that you want to brush away the filth of all the people of the Holy Empire?"