The place where Fente brought the apples was a chamber of commerce called "Goddess Gauntlet".
The Goddess Cup Chamber of Commerce was a chamber of commerce whose main business was the sale of luxury goods, and was considered an above-average chamber in the whole of Karafrog.
All the Fente apples for the last four and a half years were sold to the Goddess Chamber of Commerce, packaged under the name "Apples of Golden Autumn", and with great publicity the rich merchants of Karafrog said: "To be officially in autumn, you need to eat apples of golden autumn."
It was clear that he was selling fruit, but Fente went to the Arbor Goddess Chamber of Commerce, which sold luxury goods, not only because of the higher prices offered by the Arbor Goddess Chamber of Commerce, but also because the Arbor Goddess Chamber of Commerce had branches all over the world where a large amount of information was concentrated.
And when he started thinking about the currency speculations that Gerian mentioned, the first thing that came to his mind was to come here to the Chamber of Commerce of the Goddess of the Glass, and maybe find out something about the young traveling merchant that Gerian met in the church.
After all, the most sensitive to changes in currency quotations, in addition to money changers, are traders who cross borders to do business, and for whom the use of several currencies is not a means of speculation, but a practical necessity.
The Pavilion Goddess Chamber of Commerce is far from the checkpoint and half an hour away by carriage through the city, closer to the railway station than in the city center.
From afar, he saw a sign depicting a beautiful goddess with a cup, and was sure that he was not lost.
Karafrog, which expanded and updated every day, was like a maze.
The Gazebo Goddess Camera Store has a spacious carriage entrance to the boardwalk leading to the railway, making the Gazebo Goddess Camera Store seem like the largest store of its kind.
Spacious entrances and exits demonstrate a wide range of goods; a large number of goods are brought into the store, as if demonstrating the prosperity of the store to a constant flow of people.
Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce of the Goddess of Cups, which sells luxury, operates in the same way.
Other chambers traded with the help of long-established contacts and did not put their money in a prominent place, because it was not necessary.
Fente stopped his carriage in front of the unloading yard of the Goddess Arbor, and the clerk came out to greet him: "Welcome to the Goddess Arbor!".
The shop owner in charge of the loading platform was clean-shaven, his hair was neatly styled, and he was well dressed, like a male intern offering special services to middle-aged noblewomen.
The style of the Chamber of Commerce "Goddess of the Glass" is unusual in that the loading platform is, as a rule, a place where bulky men with the appearance of mountain bandits shout and yell while going about their business.
"I'm Fente, there are golden autumn apples here, sorry for the delay for a day due to a sudden downpour on the road."
"No, no, of course you can come, Mr. Fente. Mr. Hans has been waiting for you for the last few days, he was worried that you took your apples to another chamber of commerce to sell them."
"Where is Herr Hans?"
"Just keep going straight and then turn left."
Fente nodded, took the reins in his hands and, following the instructions of the shopkeeper, led the carriage through the entrance and exit to the unloading yard.
Furs, stones, watches, jewelry, all kinds of things filled the loading platform, and the shopkeepers were constantly moving vigorously.
The unloading platform was a great success for the Goddess Goblet Chamber of Commerce in Karafrog.
Fente squinted as he watched the clerks busily loading and unloading goods, and continued to make his way to the store when a call from the store stopped them on their way.
"Hey, Fente, where have you been the last few days, I thought you were selling apples at another chamber of commerce!".
Looking in the direction from which the voice came, a large, muscular man with a tanned face and a steamed body appeared in the field of vision.
"Hans, you're still the same, more of a porter than the head of the Chamber of Commerce."
When Fente finished, the two men met eyes and laughed loudly at each other.
Four years ago, when Fente didn't have access, this man, who looked so rude that he looked like a porter, got carried away with Fente apples and after some packaging had great success, and with the help of this successful marketing, he was promoted to manager.
..... Of course, the desperate Fente sold a wagon of apples at a very low price, as a result of which there was no profit at all after paying sales taxes, entry and exit.
"The carriage will stop here!".
Fente followed the instructions and led the horse to Hans, who held it in front and gave the command to stand still. Perhaps influenced by Hans' excess energy, the horse followed him, snorting.
"Well, well, what a horse! This one seems pretty strong."
"He works very hard and never whines."
"If there were whining horses, then you could buy half a Carafrog for them!".
"A magical beast like a talking horse wouldn't cost that much, would it?".
"A magical beast is a magical beast, and a horse is a horse, how can you generalize?".
The two men laughed at each other.
After Hans brought the horse to the far end of the unloading yard and tied it to what looked like a solid wooden fence, he called someone to come over.
The person called was a thin, quilted suit, an employee of the purchasing department responsible for identifying goods.
"It is logical that after four years of working together there is no need to evaluate any of your apples, but these are the rules of the Chamber."
"That's for sure."
Fente shrugged his shoulders to show that he didn't care, picked up the covered wolf skin, casually selected an apple and handed it to the other man.
No one was allowed to touch goods that were not the subject of trade, unless he was the owner of these goods.
This is the "rule" followed by chambers of commerce and itinerant merchants in Aardvgaard.
It is not uncommon for people to touch someone else's goods at random, and then receive a large sum of money.
Taking an apple from Fente, the appraiser began to examine it, and after looking at this one apple, he did not look further, but took a pen and paper and began to make calculations.
The person monitoring the decision-making does not ask to check the condition of other apples, such anonymity will only make it difficult to do business, and this is the key to buying goods. No buyer will want to check all the goods, but no seller will want all the goods to be checked.
"These are really golden autumn apples, yes, and of excellent quality, now they ripen in the best way, how many of them are in this cart?".
"Three hundred kilograms."
"In that case, how about 240 gold, with payment in Kabul gold coins."
The Kabul gold coin is a gold coin of high value, is among the top five in terms of gold content, one costs 600 copper coins, is very stable, the gold content has never changed, and is the favorite coin of all the big chambers.
"240 gold? In previous years it was 250 gold, I think."
"The fruits you brought are overripe, even if we start putting them on the shelves tomorrow, if we don't sell them during the day, they will become dull in color or even deteriorate."
"So, if we can't sell them all in one day and have to keep them, we might have to summon a time mage to use delay magic, and considering the cost of delay magic, I think 240 gold is a reasonable price."
Although only samples provided by merchants were considered, no chamber of commerce would meekly announce the price, it was a crossroads of vanity, etiquette and desires, a place where merchants fought with chambers of commerce.