“Your Highness, I wanted to ask you when I came in,” Hogg looked like he had finally caught his breath, finishing a whole jug of iced water from the barrel. “This painting in the hall… I’m afraid it wasn't painted by an ordinary person, right? Whether it’s the level of realism or the perspective of overlooking the earth from the air.” He paused, lowering his voice, "Is this... the work of a witch?"
Roland looked at Margie, who nodded. "Your Highness, please rest assured, Hogg is an old friend I've known for many years, and he has no ill will towards witches either."
“You guessed right, it was indeed painted by a witch.” Two days ago, after Roland took a hot air balloon for a sightseeing tour near the beach, he wanted to preserve this magnificent scenery. Plus, the decoration of the castle's reception room was simple, without even a single hanging painting, so he simply had Soraya turn the stone wall behind the main seat into a huge mural. With the artistic backdrop, the hall's style instantly improved several levels.
“I knew it,” Hogg sighed, “Although they are promoted as the claws of the devil, those strange and bizarre abilities are really enviable. Ordinary people can’t fly into the sky like them and paint such a magnificent mural.”
“You only got the first half right,” Roland shook his head, “Even without relying on magic, ordinary people can fly, even higher than eagles and faster than swifts.”
“You’re so humorous,” Hogg laughed heartily, “Unless we grow a pair of wings and become lighter than birds.”
Margie was stunned for a moment, “Really?”
“Of course,” the prince smiled, “I can prove it to you.”
Letting the merchant see his various inventions is also an effective way to enhance relationships and expand trade routes – from mugs to baijiu, that's how it is. As for whether it will sell, that’s another matter. Anyway, the caravan will stay in the town for several days. The conventional business negotiation process should be eating, drinking, and having fun before signing the contract. Moreover, Anna is also very interested in traveling by hot air balloon, which can allow her to take a break from her busy work, so it’s a win-win situation.
The Lookout was quickly inflated. This time, Roland simply invited the witches who hadn't been able to ride the hot air balloon last time. Lucia timidly asked if she could bring her younger sister to see it, and he readily agreed.
When the balloon slowly rose, carrying everyone, Margie covered her mouth in surprise, while Hogg gripped the edge of the basket tightly, not knowing whether it was excitement or fear. Ling was too short to see the scenery outside the basket at all. Lucia had to pick her up and let her ride on her shoulders, carefully approaching the edge of the basket, and instructing her not to move around. Lightning, as the navigator and rescuer, constantly circled the hot air balloon, occasionally making faces at Ling.
In this way, the hot air balloon once again wandered along the southern coastline, completing an aerial sightseeing tour.
……
Back at the castle, Hogg’s legs were still shaking. He stammered, “I never thought that looking down from the sky would be so terrifying. I felt like I was going to fall down at any moment.”
“You’ll get used to it after flying a few more times,” Roland laughed, “People who leave the ground for the first time will have this illusion, just like people who have never been to sea will vomit all over the place on a bumpy ship.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Margie praised, “The scenery I saw today was truly incredible. Looking at the edge of the sea from the air, it looks like an azure arc.”
“But Your Highness, I don’t seem to be wrong,” Hogg took a sip of iced baijiu, “Ordinary people did fly into the sky, but it’s still thanks to the witches. Without them, this big guy wouldn’t be able to fly.”
“No, my old friend,” Margie said before Roland could speak, “Haven’t you noticed? Anna xiaojie is just releasing flames. I also specifically asked Lightning, and she told me that as long as hot air is injected into the airbag, the Lookout can rise into the sky on its own. Fire is not a witch's special privilege, Your Highness, am I right?"
As expected of a fjord sea merchant who has gained a foothold in the royal capital, her observation and thinking abilities are particularly outstanding. Roland smiled and nodded, “Hot air rises and cold air sinks, which is why it is called a hot air balloon.”
“You only need to light a brazier?” Hogg asked doubtfully.
“That won’t work, because if you want it to float in the air, you have to keep heating it, and the wood itself is very heavy, so you can’t carry too much. A special method must be used to solve this problem.”
“Can you do it?” Margie asked impatiently.
“Well… I should be able to,” Roland pondered for a moment, “It’s just a bit troublesome.”
“That’s great,” she immediately replied, “I hope to buy four or five hot air balloons from you, not too big, just enough to carry one person.”
“You want to put them on the ship to use?” Hogg asked.
“Yes, the mast can’t be extended infinitely, but the hot air balloon can. Just tie a rope under the basket so that it doesn’t drift away with the wind. With a hot air balloon, the lookout can spot nearby pirate ships earlier. For sea merchants, the biggest threats besides unpredictable storms and tsunamis are groups of pirates.”
“But its cost is probably not low,” Roland estimated in his mind, “I expect it to be more than a thousand gold dragons.”
If hot air balloons don't use witches for heating, they have to use gaseous fuel, and the easiest to obtain is undoubtedly gas. Unfortunately, Greycastle’s coal mines are in the Coldwind Ridge area, which is too far from Border Town. With the current transportation conditions, it is almost impossible to transport it over. It would be easier to switch to hydrogen balloons, but it would also be necessary to solve the problem of gas storage tanks – if they cannot be freely inflated and deflated, they will have no practical value.
“A thousand gold dragons per balloon, how about it?” Margie bargained, “If you really make such a thing, I guarantee that all the caravans traveling to and from the fjord will want to buy one or two.”
“The Crescent Moon Bay caravan didn’t come this time, otherwise they would definitely place a large order,” Hogg drank the baijiu in his hand in one gulp, “I don’t need it. Although hot air balloons look very magical, they are of no use to Silverlight City’s mines. I only hope to get my Steam Engine as soon as possible.”
The price offered by the other party made Roland ecstatic. A thousand gold dragons was a five-fold markup on his estimated price, and he didn't expect the other party to readily accept a price twice that of the Steam Engine. But thinking about it carefully, the goods carried by a seagoing ship are likely to be worth more than that, not to mention the entire trading fleet and the sailors on board. As long as they can avoid being robbed by pirates, this transaction is still cost-effective for sea merchants.
In addition, a thousand gold dragons is not a one-time deal. Whether it is hydrogen or gas, they are all consumables. When they run out, they have to be brought back to the town to be refilled, which is another source of extra income… Of course, if a large number of gas tanks are purchased at one time, discounts or free refills can be considered. In this regard, 4S stores and the two oil giants are his role models to learn from and imitate.
Roland pretended to hesitate for a while, and finally nodded, "Then it's a deal."