Ethan was genuinely pleased that Ron had agreed.

Of course, in the future, he could simply try to pull a merchant character from the gacha tickets and create his own chamber of commerce.

But how long would that take?

He already had a solid relationship of trust with Ron and was, little by little, building one of dependence as well.

The merchant’s chamber of commerce would have Goldenveil’s products as the foundation of its portfolio. Without Goldenveil, Ron would never amount to anything.

Making Ron a citizen of the territory and raising his loyalty to the maximum was also one of Ethan’s major goals for the future of the local economy.

Ultimately, he would help Ron establish the largest chamber of commerce in the region.

In return, the merchant would not only become dependent on the goods only Goldenveil produced. He would also live there and pay taxes directly to the territory.

Ron placed all the herbs—more than ten tons of them—into his spatial ring before accompanying Ethan to Goldenveil’s vault. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The place was already empty, but it didn’t stay that way for long and soon, over one hundred and ten thousand gold coins filled the space.

What kind of man wouldn’t smile with such riches in his pocket?

Ethan’s eyes sparkled, his mouth nearly watering at the thought of everything he could do with such a sum.

Perhaps a magic tower for Alice, so she could start accepting more disciples?

No...

For that, he’d need at least a few thousand beast cores.

With the magic vein on the site where he planned to build his future mansion, erecting a magic tower would be possible. But for now, it was better to hold off.

Out of pure curiosity, he took a quick glance at the prices. His eyes widened, shock setting in an instant later.

The cheapest tower had only ten floors and was suitable for mages at the third stage at most. Even so, it cost five hundred thousand gold coins.

When his gaze drifted to the most expensive ones, the shock deepened even further. Some reached billions of gold coins.

On Earth, a billion gold coins would be equivalent to nearly five percent of all global gold reserves.

Even though gold was far more common in this world than on Earth, it was still a staggering sum to amass.

"Don’t you want me to bring anything back from the rest of the continent? I’ll be spending the winter in the warmer parts of the Solene Kingdom and will have plenty of freedom to buy all sorts of things."

Ron remarked beside him, breaking the silence Ethan had held for quite some time.

"Hm..." The handsome young man pondered for a long moment, until something finally came to mind.

A few days ago, he had asked all his wives to make lists of things they needed or simply wanted.

Elena, for her part, drew up her own list and also a separate one specifically for Goldenveil.

Even though Veronica wasn’t his wife, Ethan didn’t leave her out. She made a few requests of her own, though she was a bit more hesitant to spend his money than the others and only allowed herself to ask for more because of Alice’s insistence.

Pulling a five-page shopping list from his spatial ring, Ethan handed it to Ron, who skimmed through it for a brief moment before nodding.

Three pages were filled mostly with women’s consumer goods, while the other two listed items for Goldenveil, all to be purchased in bulk.

Tucking the list away, Ron let out a low, amused chuckle.

Ethan was, without a shadow of a doubt, a man deeply in love with his women.

He would find a way to get all of that during the winter.

Soon, the two of them found themselves walking side by side to the outside of the mansion. There, they both stopped, their eyes rising to the gray skies above.

It was cloudy and cold. Much colder than usual.

Ethan raised his left hand, palm open, watching as a small snowflake drifted lazily through the air.

It landed on his skin and melted into a tiny, icy drop, the chill biting into his finger for the briefest moment.

"Ah... I’d better hurry up and finish my business here. I want to get out before this place is buried under a foot of snow," Ron complained, taking the lead.

Ethan didn’t question the merchant’s wish. It really was for the best.

Although Lake Azur didn’t freeze over during the winter, that hellish cold was still a major ordeal to navigate.

Soon enough, the two men parted ways.

Ron headed off to visit his shop. Upon checking the ledgers, he was greatly surprised to find the establishment was actually turning a considerable profit.

After taking his share and distributing a generous bonus among the employees, he stocked the warehouses with all kinds of goods.

Then he began a reorganization of prices and laid out his plans for the winter.

Still standing in front of his mansion and observing the weather, Ethan lowered his gaze when he noticed Doran approaching with firm steps.

"My lord, we’ve received messages from the ten guards we sent to the goblin tribes. The operation was a success, but we must move the guard soon if we want to catch the goblin camp off guard."

At those words, Ethan’s eyes lit up with an eager gleam.

It was time to begin Goldenveil’s final military operation before winter.

They would wipe out the three goblin camps, rescue all the humans captured to serve as food reserves, and bring them back to Goldenveil.

"Prepare the militia. Five hundred armed men must be ready. Two hundred and fifty will accompany the guard, while the other two hundred and fifty will take up defensive positions throughout Goldenveil."

Hearing the order, Doran didn’t hesitate. Together with Aerick, he immediately began organizing both the guard and the militia, which together now numbered nearly nine hundred armed men.

Tomorrow would be a big day. Before the heavy snow began to fall, they needed to get rid of those goblins once and for all.

If they failed, when winter ended they would find only the devoured corpses of the hundreds of humans those damned greenskins dared to use as livestock for the cold season.

He wanted to destroy the orcs for the same reason. In the end, however, they simply weren’t powerful enough for such a feat, not yet.