"Oh, you~ Hehehe" Nuir lightly tapped on Jugurt-Ta's shoulder.
"No, you~ Ahehehe" Jugurtta responded with much affection in return...
*Cough Cough* Vivian signaled that she was still there as she cleared her throat, unable to take the overly squirmy and affectionate atmosphere.
"Ah-" Realizing there was still another person besides them, Nuir immediately sat upright and made a business-like expression... Though she was still red from embarrassment.
*Clears throat* Nuir awkwardly smiled at Vivian as she cleared her throat while Jugurtta asked: "So... you like the Ginger Ale huh... haha" seeing that Vivian still hadn't let go of her mug since coming inside the Private Room Nuir led her to.
"Hm? Ah yes, it's very spicy but at the same time sweet... It's really good for stimulating the mind" Vivian responded to Jugurtta's question.
"Hahaha, good ta' hear. See I told ya it would sell well!" Jugurt-Ta slapped Nuir on the shoulder excitedly with his restrained strength of course so as not to hurt her.
Nuir didn't like being slapped on the shoulder though as she responded in a slightly angry manner losing all the blushing embarrassment she had before.
"Yeah yeah... You were right honey..." Nuir accepted unwillingly.
"Hahaha! Of course, I'm right. Oh yes, these are one of our private businesses me and Nuir set-up, lovely isn't it?" Jugurt-Ta proudly asked Vivian, who responded:
"Yes, it is... I never thought a restaurant of this caliber could be established for the common folk" Vivian answer honestly.
"The common folk? Ahh yes, I saw from the background report you were a pampered Princess. It is good for you to see the world like this if you wanna be a merchant. Places like these were everyone is welcome ain't so rare in other places. Brune and the Central Continent is actually maybe the exception because of the large gap between the rich and poor. In the Far South and the Far East people live much more relaxed lives. Some of the middle in those places can even eat with Spices! Can ya believe that?" Jugurt-Ta lectured to Vivian as her senior in being a Merchant.
"People here, though they are superior in strength and technologies ta KILL may actually be the ignorant ones! You too little lady, don't listen to people here lest you be stupid like them. Just because you're stronger, doesn't mean you're smarter" Jugurt-Ta warned.
What Jugurt-Ta meant here was how the Nobles of Brune think themselves superior to the people of the masses.
It was a common notion in Brune that if you were a Noble, you would be smarter and stronger than average. This was because the Nobles of Brune are the upper class of society, therefore are privileged in both education and upbringing because of their money and status, giving them the superior edge in terms of knowledge and in the arts of war. Sadly this just enforced the notion within society that Nobles are simply better than the average human. And since the common people believed it was true, so did the Nobles sincerely think it was their blood and innate capabilities that did this, not the fact that they had money to buy books and tutors and other amenities for improvement.
And since it was also Nobles who had most of the Money that circulated within Brune, due to its strict trade and anti-merchant rules, the Nobles could invest in larger amounts, unlike the average Merchant. And since they invested more, the Nobles also got more...
The gap between the rich and the poor became stronger and stronger, overtime cementing the Noble's superiority.
This was why blood was very important in Brune and in the minds of the Nobles... Because they thought it was the source of all their greatness...
Although most Nobles she had met don't point it out, the only reason Vivian, although she was a woman, could act as liberally as she could, was because other than Pendragon, she also had the last name Alastor, a.k.a the last name of Emperors, they, the Central Crown.
And so she enjoyed relative freedom in Noble society... Sadly Vivian could no longer use her Princess status as she was married into the Pendragons, hence she couldn't just say "I'm a Princess, so shut up!" during the meeting at the Consulate. And also why people didn't bully her more than they would have wanted to during Darius' party, some of the Nobles there even refrained from calling out her name and focused the abuse more on Duke.
And sadly, even if she was still a Princess, a title is, in the end, just a title, she still needed something or someone to back her up to use the title freely... Much like how a puppet Emperor can't just say he's the Emperor if most of the Senate of Nobles don't support him... And the harsh truth was, throughout Vivian's life, she never had anyone like that to support her...
And the reason why Jugurt-Ta pointed out Brune's strength was because Brune was the strongest Empire currently around. It was three times larger and more powerful than the Musani Khaliphates and twice as strong as the other surrounding Kingdoms or Empire wannabees. The only reason the Empire still had a hard time conquering Everything was because of the large number of borders it had...
"Jugurt-Ta! You're being too harsh on Vivian here. There there, Vivian, you're not ignorant, don't listen to this insensitive man here... Though, his words aren't completely superficial. We might not look like it, but we've traveled practically half... no, maybe one-fourth of the world at least... It wouldn't hurt to take his advice haha" Nuir, being more sensitive than the robust and awfully masculine Jugurt-Ta, advised Vivian in a roundabout way so as not to hurt her feelings.
"It's alright, I understand... Thank you for telling me all this" Vivian bowed and accepted Nuir and Jugurt-Ta's advice.
"Oh yeah, have you gotten the Gold quota I gave for you?" Nuir asked Vivian.
"Ah yes... Though is 300 really gonna add to anything? If you look at it, shouldn't you have most of the Profit? Why give it to us?" Vivian asked the question in her mind all this time.
"Well... you could say I'm paying an old old debt... In truth, even if 300 Gold is small, that was just really a test for you... I'm surprised you could earn that much with Maine's current state... Even if you did just borrow it... I thought it would've taken you at least three years, seeing that you had no connections nor industries in Maine. Good work, Vivian..." Nuir praised in genuine admiration.
"I-It's really nothing... I'm more surprised at what Jugurt-Ta had said, haha... It would be more surprising to see common people enjoying spices like it was nothing" Vivian mentioned, remembering something Jugurt-Ta had said previously, as spices in Brune, were scarce, so seeing a person eat with salt, pepper, chili, or other spices was like watching a person eat Gold as most of these products cost their weight in Gold.
"Hahaha, in the East there are many places where the rare plants these Spices come from grow in abundance, some even chew on them to clean their teeth! Hahaha! Some of their Shamans even say it speeds up the regeneration of Manah within the body" Jugurt-Ta laughed.
"You mean Mana? Like this" Vivian summoned a small blue light which was mana gathering within her hands. It was a simple mana-gathering spell that didn't need any chanting to invoke. Every Noble in Brune was taught this during a young age. Heck, even Duke could do it!... Maybe, if he tried... Like really hard... for half a day... Well at least he thinks he can, and that's all that matters!
"Ah yes! Like that haha, sorry tha' pronunciation of the word is almost the same for my language I got confused Hahaha" Jugurt-Ta laughed it off as he usually did.
Nuir, seeing Jugurt-Ta's laugh smiled at him.
Seeing this warm scene, Vivian finally relaxed and thought to herself:
[Yeah... maybe I can trust these two...] Vivian smiled warmly at the two like how she smiled at Duke... [Finally, people I can truly trust...]
...
"Madam, you came..." Silvan made an insidious smile as he stared at the two visitors who just arrived.
"Please sit, please sit here. Welcome to my humble abode" Bermont smiled at the two as he gestured them to sit down on a red sofa laced in amber-brass.
Nuir: "Yes, it's a pleasure to be here... Now, for that business we talked about. I think I've garnered enough of her trust... ha ha ha"
The woman made a genuinely sweet smile that slowly turned into an even more insidious smile than that of Silvan's...