After the three finished cooking and Galeo finished... experimenting. Duke and Vivian had their first dinner in Maine ever since they journeyed out.
It was a quaint meal enough for the four of them, but Vivian also cooked a little bit more extra as her way of celebrating her obtainment of the RTS contract and Duke's successful Bandit subjugation. Waxer along with the captured Bandits along was immediately sent to farms where they were given a chance to work for their freedom.
Everyone began to quickly chow down on the delicious food. Surprisingly, even Galeo's weird experiment for dessert turned out to be delicious Gelo.
"I-Is it edible?" Benjamin continuously poked the Gelo but eventually trusted it enough to take a taste after Galeo and Duke's continuous insistence.
As the group began to eat, Vivian began to ask Benjamin of the important financial matters of Maine he was managing while Vivian was away.
Vivian: "Sir Benjamin, did any problem occur while I was away?"
"Oh lady Vivian, do not worry. Everything was easily managed" Benjamin reassured Vivian.
"Then how about the funding?" Vivian asked in a vague manner, but even if other people heard of their conversation, only Vivian and Benjamin would probably understand what they're talking about.
"Thanks to the office you gave me, I easily categorized and estimated our future spending... As long as we sell most of Maine's grain, all should be fine" Benjamin once again reassured Vivian, quite content with the office Duke meticulously provided him with.
What the two were talking about was about the future projects Vivian planned to enact and if the earnings from her plan to monopolize grain would be adequate enough to fund the said projects.
Vivian nodded while Duke happily said to Benjamin: "I am happy the office I offered was enough for you. I was a bit worried that I might've made a mistake with the office..."
"Ah, the office was quite meticulously planned to support everything an Accountant like me would need, sir Duke! Everything is perfect!" Benjamin responded.
"Oh yeah, how about you, Galeo? Was the place provided for you enough? Your experiments would probably need a lot of space... especially with 'that'. Was everything you needed sufficient?" Duke asked Galeo next.
"M-My lord! It was everything I've ever dreamed of... Thank you..." Galeo emotionally expressed slightly bowing his head.
Throughout Galeo's career as a Scholar, no one had ever given him enough consideration to offer him a separate place to conduct his experiments and inventions.
The past Nobles Galeo worked for treated him like a mere blacksmith, some even treated him worse than a slave and beat up the old man as they thought his inventions were mere party tricks and felt tricked that Galeo convinced them to fund him. A big waste of money they thought... As if their so-called 'financial' support was even that big. Galeo was practically living in poverty after being forced to sell his home.
This was why Galeo expressed his gratitude while calling Duke "My lord" as Duke was probably the only one outside his family that found potential and even saw some of his true worth. The place Duke gave him even reminded Galeo a little bit of his home and the smithy he had to give up...
[It's a warm place...] Galeo thought to himself.
"Haha, that's great! Your inventions deserve more respect" Duke also responded sincerely to the old man's sincere gratitude.
Vivian nodded, agreeing to Duke's statement as even she was amazed by the possibilities Duke imagined up from Galeo's seemingly useless gizmos.
Vivian elegantly finished her meal, Duke gulped Vivian's cooking down, while the two old men eating with them were fighting over the last chicken leg in the dinner table that night...
Overall it was a very peaceful dinner both Duke and Vivian...
The next morning, a shocking announcement the swept the very economic core of Brune was released by the Pendragons.
{The Pendragons have decided to actively help the economic growth of Maine, as such, our Noble Family will be commissioning Masons, Carpenters, and Labour (Anybody willing enough to work for a minimum wage!)
If any of you are seeking for the opportunity to better your lives, EVERYONE is welcome here in Maine!
And finally, to show oud dedication in this ordeal we the house of Pendragon have decided that the price of grain be cut to 1/4 its market price!}
News of this crazy and almost unbelievable declaration traveled across Brune through Nuir's help by giving the Merchant Caravans a small tip to spread the announcement everywhere they go.
The Nobles scoffed at Maine's impossible declarations as everyone the Pendragons were too poor to actually pull off whatever they were stating in their announcement and ignored it.
The middle-class Commonfolk, already well off in their current situation, were also skeptical of the announcement.
But the opportunistic Merchants and desperate Poor, on the other hand, were a different story.
These Merchants who had nothing to lose by doing so began driving their Caravans through Maine to see if the information was real or not, and so, a large influx of Caravans begun visiting Maine, and on them, were the poor from the different cities the Caravans came from, hitching rides and traveling along the lines of Caravans that journeyed to Maine.
The initial phase of Vivian's plan was a success. Though not as many now, news of validity of the Announcement would soon reach other parts of Brune and inevitably cause an even more massive influx of Caravans in the future.
Vivian made it look like that Maine; selling cheap Grain, was a temporary thing, a sort of Promo to be exact.
This caused the other Merchants from the North and West who eventually found out that the Pendragons were not bluffing to rush and pour through Maine before the Grain reserves were consumed, even clogging its streets with the traffic of Caravans traveling through Maine.
After this ordeal, Maine would get the surplus of labor Duke and Vivian so desperately needed. Enough to enact most of their many projects.
Plus they were also able to sell most of the winter-grown/spring-harvested wheat that would've otherwise perished if not for the large number of Caravans enticed by the announcement willing to buy the incredibly cheap wheat, giving Duke and Vivian a lot of extra gold on hand.
Of course, this victory was not without loss...
The Medici, realizing the sharp decline in their own Wheat sales and with their business savvy attitudes, decided that the best course of action was to publicize Silvan's injury, and Bermont's involvement in selling the RTS contract to the Pendragons, shifting all blame and political heat on him.
That same week, an appeal to impeach Bermont from the Head Councilman seat would soon be a hot topic in Her Noblesse society.
Ending in the Bermonts, Pendragons, and Bourbons (Philippe's family) plus the nine other families from the Humanitarian faction of Merchant-Nobles getting kicked out from the Consulate.
A big loss right now on the outside for Duke and Vivian, but a grand political move in the long run that would soon end the era of Consulate monopoly on southern trade...
Heralding in the era of the Commoners Merchant's Guild, soon to be known as simply:
'The Merchant's Guild'