Chapter 433: The Count's Banquet

Although he had gone through all kinds of twists and turns, Lister finally arrived in Collins without any danger.

After entering the city, the name of Earl Bridges came into play, and he met the nobleman smoothly.

"Hahaha! Mr. Lister, I'm sorry to scare you."

After discussing business in the study, Earl Bridges patted Lister on the shoulder and laughed.

"But there is nothing we can do about it. You know, the situation has been a little bit uneasy recently."

Lister could only smile bitterly.

"How about this, I have a banquet here tonight, you can come and attend it, and I can introduce you to some of the leading figures in Collins."

The Earl invited him.

Lister hurriedly stood up and bowed to him, "Ha, thank you, Lord Earl."

This kind of banquet for upper-class people really helped him expand his business, and the Earl did him a huge favor.

According to the Earl's suggestion, Lister went out for a walk and experienced the local customs and customs.

At sunset, he returned to the mansion of Earl Bridges.

After changing into a local-style dress, he came to the banquet hall under the guidance of his servants.

At this time, many torches and candles were lit in the hall, making it as bright as day, and waves of pleasant music floated in it. The earl specially invited artists to the banquet to cheer.

Many guests had come in, both men and women, all dressed gorgeously and well-dressed. Some of them gathered together to chat, and some danced the corner dance on the dance floor to the music.

A long, expensive carpet was laid on the central axis of the hall. It was quiet and comfortable to step on it. Liszt walked along the carpet, passed by twos and threes of guests, and came to a regular quadrilateral dining table composed of four long tables in the center of the hall.

"Oh! Look, our guest Aldo is here."

Seeing Liszt coming, Earl Bridges stood up.

"Everyone, please allow me to introduce you. This is Mr. Friedrich List, the trade representative of the Northwest Bay of Ordo, who is in the corner bay. Let us welcome him together. Their merchant ships are large and numerous, much better than those shabby sampans of coastal people."

As soon as the earl finished speaking, there was a round of applause around him.

"Thank you, everyone. It is an honor to visit your beautiful country."

Lister's heart was relieved. He was still very nervous before.

He was born in a commoner family and always respected the nobles. Before entering the hall, he was worried whether he would be looked down upon. Now it seems that he was a little worried.

Earl Bridges introduced the people around him one by one. There were indeed many big figures. These people were either rich or noble, either high-ranking officials in the court or senior priests in the church.

Lister was a little flattered. It was the first time he saw such a big scene.

Although Corinth is only a small country compared to Aldor, its territory only includes the main city-state of Corinth and several affiliated cities and villages scattered between them. It may not be as big as Arda and Bayerdin combined, but it is still a kingdom. It is small but complete.

I suddenly came into contact with the upper class of a country.

But Lister soon understood why these bigwigs treated him so politely.

"Todd Shipping? I have heard of it. It is a large shipping guild."

"Mr. Lister, you are the first Aldor merchant to arrive in Corinth. Please go back and tell your compatriots not to endure the exploitation of those coastal people. Avoid those greedy guys and come directly to us to trade."

"I have seen your goods. They are all great things. We are not too expensive, but the price-raising methods of those coastal people are clearly ripping customers off."

More than one person expressed such a strong desire.

"Uh... I will try my best to convey it to them, haha."

Lister had to respond vaguely.

But he knew that if he wanted to do business with these inland countries, the coastal countries would have to go through them anyway. Although Aldo had a land route to the inland of the Horn Bay, the land transportation capacity was small and the cost was high. Secondly, there were many territories in Aldo, and there were many checkpoints from north to south, especially through the territories of the Giles family or the Veblen family, two traitorous families.

In this case, I wonder if those coastal countries of the Horn Bay will impose heavy taxes on Todd Shipping, the inland pioneer of the Horn Bay, to serve as a warning to others. After all, these countries can prosper by relying on the identity of middlemen.

However, it is gratifying that the business ability of Aldo (Northwest Bay) has been famous in the Horn Bay area, and even Collins, who is located in the inland, knows it.

After all, Earl Bridges' banquet was not held for Lister, and everyone soon formed small circles in twos and threes to play their own games.

Liszt tried to join in the conversations of some small circles, but he soon found that the different classes of these nobles formed a natural barrier between him and them. Sometimes people told a joke that made people around them laugh, but he never knew what the joke was.

Due to the development of commerce in the coastal countries of the Horn Bay, the nobles and the rich civilians were deeply integrated, and Liszt could still cope with it, but the nobles of these inland countries obviously formed a small society of their own, and he could not adapt to it.

In order to avoid embarrassment, he had to shuttle between various delicacies with a glass of wine.

Exquisite food, silverware, fragrant wine, everything shows that the quality of life of the nobles here is no different from that of the coastal upper class.

Although due to geographical reasons, the economy here is not as developed as that of the coastal areas, it has not affected the ruling class's debauchery.

No mistakes in one sentence, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!

Soon he found someone who was somewhat similar to him.

A young man, tall and thin, with curly brown hair, dressed very plainly compared to those well-dressed guests, sitting alone at the dining table, out of tune with the surrounding environment.

His eyes stared into the distance, with an anxious look in his eyes.

Liszt wondered if he was spying on the opposite sex he liked?

A poor guy, by chance, entered the upper class, met an aristocratic girl and fell in love with her, but the huge gap in their identities made him only guard her silently from a distance - Liszt instantly made up a series of common novel plots in his mind.

He couldn't help but follow the other person's gaze, but he only saw a group of men who were talking.

Well, it seems that he guessed wrong.

"Hey! Hello, my name is Friedrich List, nice to meet you."

Because they were all incompatible, he inexplicably wanted to make friends, so he walked over to say hello.

"Uh, hello...ah, you are the guest Aldo just now, nice to meet you, my name is Cable."

The young man was obviously worried and answered absent-mindedly.

He realized that something was wrong and took the initiative to explain: "I'm sorry, Mr. List. I'm in a mess now, so..."

List waved his hand: "It doesn't matter, if you have any troubles, tell me, maybe I can give you some advice."

"This..."

The young man pondered for a while, and finally said it.

"Well, I'm also very upset about this kind of thing, so I'll tell you about it. Maybe you, a foreigner, can understand the injustice I've suffered."

"Injustice?" Liszt frowned. It seemed that the matter was not simple, but what did it have to do with his identity as a foreigner?

Then Cable continued:

"To be specific, it was the injustice of my mother. She...she was accused of being a witch."

Witch?

Liszt frowned even deeper. At this sensitive moment, it was a fatal word.

But at the same time, a beautiful figure emerged in his mind.