Having given the new bore shrews hell energy, Lucius observed them for a few hours till they had reached the same kind of condition as that of the previous two bore shrews. While they had not fully grown like before, they were still one size bigger than the original.
"Time for the nutrition…" Lucius muttered and dropped some food into the cage, which was nothing but potatoes.
~skwee~
The two new bore shrews let out a low cry before getting to eat the potatoes. Once they finished them, Lucius gave them more and waited for their bodies to grow a bit more. Another hour passed before Lucius was satisfied with it.
"Hmm… they should be ready to eat meat in a little while more." Lucius muttered to himself.
~knock~knock~
But just as he did, he heard another knock on the door.
"It's me, Asher." Kiana spoke from the outside.
Lucius quickly covered the cages and send three slivers of hell energy to the first bore shrews to make them sleep. He then went to the door and opened it. Standing there was Kiana, with a stack of letters in her hand.
"What's this?" Lucius questioned.
"The feedback from all the wine merchants and retailers has arrived." Kiana said with a smile.
"Ah! Perfect!" Lucius said as he took the letters from Kiana's hands.
He then put them down on the table before taking a chair and sitting down. Lucius wanted to read the letters in peace and detail. He took a letter opener from the drawer of the table and opened the first letter.
The letter was addressed to the 'Master Brewer of Humble Blaze' which in the minds of the merchants and retailers was none other than Alessa but they didn't know this for sure. Of course, the true creator was none other than Lucius himself, but he didn't care for that point. After all, he himself had made this situation.
He unfolded the letter and started to read it. Lucius took his merry time in reading the entire letter, which took him five minutes, he ensured that he didn't miss anything in the two page letter. Whoever this merchant was he wrote a rather detailed letter praising the wine in many ways.
'Looks like we got our first fan…' Lucius thought to himself as he put down the letter and opened the next one.
This one was addressed to the 'Master Brewer of Humble Blaze' as well, but was far shorter. It read,
"I greatly liked the brew you call Humble Blaze and would like to make a deal with you. I'd like to buy ten thousand bottles of this wine and would be willing to pay fifty percent of the payment in advance.
I hope that you can send me a shipment at the earliest." The letter read.
Lucius nodded upon seeing this letter, as it was to his liking. It was short and concise, just as he preferred. Lucius then put this letter down and read the rest of the letters as well. In total, there were sixteen letters that had arrived, which was a majority of the merchants and retailers they had contacted.
After finishing all of the letters, Lucius put them to the side and rubbed his chin. Kiana, who had been sitting in silence at the side finally spoke after seeing that Lucius was done.
"Well… what did they say?" Kiana questioned.
"Well, the response is overwhelmingly positive with all of them liking the wine and are ready to buy from us." Lucius answered.
But after hearing Lucius's words, Kiana felt like there was something more to this.
"Is there a problem? You don't seem fully satisfied." Kiana questioned.
"Hmm… it's not really a problem exactly, rather it's a benefit for us. I'm just thinking how to make the most of it right now." Lucius replied.
"Oh? What kind of a benefit?" Kiana questioned.
"Well, the merchant and retailers want a far greater quantity than what we will be able to produce as of now. But that is fine since they specified they would like a continued supply of it. This is where the complexity arises.
Either we can have a team of workers recruited exclusively for the transport of the goods, or we can get the merchants to do it for us." Lucius answered.
"How is this complex, though?" Kiana asked, not understanding it fully.
"Well, if we make our own team of workers that can transport the goods to the merchants and retailers, we will be making a greater profit in the future. But if we make use of the merchant's own workers, it would relieve some of our workload and would allow us to focus on the production." Lucius replied.
"I see…" Kiana responded and thought about it as well.
After about five minutes of thinking, Kiana spoke again.
"I think we should use the merchants for now," Kiana stated.
"Oh? Why do you say so?" Lucius asked.
While he had already made a decision in his mind about what they were going to do, he still wanted to listen to Kiana's opinion and see what she could come up with. One thing that Lucius had learned very well was that having competent companions was very important.
And thus testing their intellect from time to time was necessary.
"Since we are already going to make a sizable profit from the sale of the wine, we don't necessarily need to chase after extra profit that is a fraction of it right now. First, we should get out wine out into the market and establish a level of popularity.
Once that is done, we can move on to the next step and make our own team to deliver it. Or perhaps… even a trade company of our own." Kiana said.
Lucius couldn't help but be impressed after hearing Kiana's explanation. The option she had chosen was the one he had chosen as well and was satisfied. Being on the same frequency as each other often made things smoother.