The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

The third floor of the Kansai Trading Company headquarters.

More than three hundred foreign merchants arrived on time, each holding an invitation.

Also no one.

From the time the invitation was sent to the time they attended, they were given only one hour.

Why can't we just treat them to lunch?

The Kansai Trading Company was unanimously regarded by foreign merchants as stingy!
The afternoon sun was still scorching.

My head is still spinning from just eating.

Many people even felt sleepy.

Without realizing it, I was taken to the third floor of the shop.

Entering the house on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

A strong scent of bitter orange and fir wood assaulted their nasal passages and brains.

There was a "buzz" sound.

The heat and confusion throughout my body were dispelled by this cool fragrance.

It was a rare treat to smell such fine chaff, so many people stood at the door and began to inhale deeply.

then.

The fragrance lingered for quite a while, carried by the coolness of the icebox in the room. The foreigner who entered finally regained his senses amidst the refreshing aroma.

I was so clear-headed I couldn't be more so.

My scalp got goosebumps.

The first to react was a Venetian man in his thirties with pale skin, short black hair, dark brown eyes, a neat short beard, and wearing an Italian-style robe.

He strode forward, his hooked nose twitching incessantly around the chilly ice chest.

It looks just like a hunting dog searching for prey.

No wonder he's a foreign merchant who travels abroad all year round!

There are quite a few people who subconsciously behave like the Venetian merchants.

They inhaled deeply the cool fragrance of the room.

God knows how much they sweat in this sweltering weather.

To maintain their elegance and etiquette, they would apply face powder to the areas of their clothes that were prone to sweating before going out each day.

Perfume favored by royalty?
This is something that money can't simply buy.

Their most commonly used fragrance powders are finely ground nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, agarwood, and frankincense.

The aroma of these spices was so strong that, over time, their noses became numb from the fragrance.

It's rare to smell such a unique and cool fragrance; it's truly a hundred times better than the perfumes they usually use.

Just as these people were making a huge fuss and almost dismantled the thirty-odd ice chests placed in the reception room.

The head manager of the Kansai Trading Company's headquarters walked in with several employees carrying large wooden trays, all smiles.

A foreign translator was following behind them.

The perfume and the translation were both present, and even with over three hundred pairs of eyes staring at him, the head steward remained calm.

It turned out that while the general was sending out invitations and preparing the reception room, he also had scouts find a missionary named Marco Bellady among the thousands of foreigners.

It was the first time they had ever dealt with foreigners, and they really didn't know what the foreign missionary with a cross on his chest meant.

He had only learned half an hour earlier that the missionary had been preaching in South Vietnam for ten years and had only returned to the Vatican last year.

Because he was still preaching in the Central Plains dynasties, he kept a low profile and followed behind a group of Venetian merchants.

Marco Berardi never expected that his missionary identity would be recognized so soon after he arrived in the city.

Finally, he was received by the highest-ranking military unit in Kansai.

He is a very knowledgeable person.

In ten years of dealing with Han Chinese, I have never seen a woman hold an official position.

Women in Nanyue had a very low social status. When he first saw Gan Minglan, he was stunned and didn't react for a long time.

What surprised him even more was yet to come.

This general can actually speak English!

The most commonly used languages ​​in Europe at that time were Latin and French.

English is a language for the common people.

Despite the other person's somewhat strange grammar and accent, he was indeed able to communicate normally with them.

What chilled him even more was that the general asked about their current maritime routes and the status of their existing colonies.

It seems he saw through their intentions even through his missionary guise.

My back was covered in cold sweat.

Verbally, however, he dared not be the slightest bit careless about the translation task assigned to him by the general.

Perhaps this is an opportunity to curry favor with a powerful figure.

Marco Berardi sensed from the man's imposing manner and the subservient attitude of his subordinates that this person was no ordinary individual.

After seeing eight different perfumes, I developed a strong curiosity about this largest land country in the East.

That makes me want to stay even more.

In order to stay, I must do a good job on today's translation.

So, the three hundred or so foreigners heard Marco Berardi point to several trays and introduce them in fluent Latin:

"These are perfumes made by Kansai Trading Company based on an ancient recipe passed down for over a thousand years from the Central Plains imperial family. There are four types of men's perfumes and four types of women's perfumes. The perfume currently being used in this hall is a men's fragrance."

The foreigners were thrilled.

"My God, the royal lineage of the East is so powerful! Not to mention a thousand years ago, even a hundred years ago, we had never seen spices."

"Is Kansai Trading Company trying to sell us perfume? I, Marcoli, dare to promise that if the other seven perfumes smell just as good as this one, I'll buy them all!"

"God, Marcoli, you've really gone too far! You always try to hoard everything good! Don't you want to leave us any way out?"

"What kind of business are you talking about? If you're so capable, then compete with me!"

"."

Seeing that seven or eight people were already arguing, Marco Berardi quickly tapped on a gong that a merchant clerk was carrying.

"Quiet, quiet! You can smell the fragrance first!"

Sure enough, they all quieted down as soon as they heard they could inspect the goods.

Lift the first tray.

They saw eight small, transparent cylindrical bottles filled with perfumes of various colors.

Next.

Spray bottles that can be squeezed to form a mist have become their focus.

In fact, many people were somewhat distracted when they smelled the test strip.

Translator Marco Berardi quickly explained, "These spray bottles that won't break even if dropped on the ground are not for sale!"

It would have been better if he hadn't explained.

Mentioning the ingenuity and special materials of this spray bottle makes everyone even more eager to buy it.

The glassmaking techniques in Europe are now very advanced.

However, the biggest problem with glass is that it is fragile.

No matter how well the goods they brought from afar were packaged, at least 30% to 40% of them would be damaged during the journey.

How could they not be tempted by a transparent, unbreakable material that could last for decades or even centuries?
The translator, Marco Berardi, urged:
"Leaving aside the spray bottles, have you all sampled the perfumes? Don't you all have a unique fragrance? Kansai Trading Company plans to recruit distributors for eight perfumes, which are from the imperial palace that has been used for thousands of years."

Only by becoming an authorized overseas agent for the perfume can one sign an exclusive purchase contract with Kansai Trading Company for this perfume!

As soon as he finished speaking, the foreign merchants immediately became very interested in the Kansai Trading Company's model of recruiting agents. (End of this chapter)