Once we were escorted out of the manor, the guards completely ignored us.
Though they looked like they would stop us if we tried to enter the manor again.
But there was no point in entering the manor again since we had accomplished our goal. Even if it was a bit annoying how the count had treated us, at the very least he had given us permission to do what we wanted to do.
That was enough.
We just wanted to buy some food and supplies without stirring any trouble, so this was for the best. Even if it meant that I was disdained by the count and treated like that, it was all worth it.
But the girls that were with me…weren't as understanding.
After we had moved away from the count's manor, both of the girls started venting about how we had been treated.
"That fat pig is a count? This kingdom really is going to the dump if that kind of person can be a noble." Nicole said in a huffed voice.
"I really can't understand it either. They are supposed to be the ones that protect this kingdom and they're just gorging themselves like that. I really can't help fearing for the people like this." Jessica said in a similar huffed voice.
It had to be noted that even though they were complaining, they were speaking in soft voices. Not to mention, they were currently sitting in the carriage where no one was able to see them.
If they were outside, they definitely wouldn't have dared to say the same thing, even if they had spoken in soft voices.
After all, this was a kingdom where nobles reigned over the commoners and both of them were commoners.
If the count or any other noble heard this, they would have had them executed on the spot.
I was the one difference because I was the one that they were working for and they were speaking up for me.
Still, I knew that it would be dangerous to keep speaking like this, so I raised my hand to stop them before saying, "Alright, alright, let's not get worked up over this. We still have other things to take care of."
Hearing this, the two of them took a deep breath before calming down.
They knew how important this mission was for the town, so they knew that this was no time to play around.
After calming down, Nicole picked up a few pieces of paper that had been in the carriage with them. She had prepared these ahead of time and had been waiting to use them.
She spread them out in front of me and started presenting the information on them to me.
On each of these pieces of papers was a different merchant who was based in this Alandal City. The ones that had been chosen were all those that were considered large merchants in this city, they all ranked within the top companies of the city.
They could have gone to smaller merchants, but it would be riskier going through smaller merchants.
There were many crooks among those smaller merchants who would try to raise the price or provide subpar products for the money that they had been paid.
Of course, it wasn't as if every small merchant was a crook, but they really didn't have the time to sort out the crooks from the real merchants. It was much safer for them to go with one of the larger merchants since they had something to lose if they did something like this.
The larger merchants needed to care about their reputation, so they wouldn't do things like the smaller merchants would.
The problem with the big merchants was their price.
They would be much more expensive than the smaller merchants, but that was the price to pay for premium goods and premium service.
Still, one thing to consider was the reputation of these merchants.
Like with anything, there was a ranking among them depending on how big and successful they were. The ones that were bigger had more resources at their disposal and could provide the goods faster, but they also cost more.
So I had to decide which one it would be best to cooperate with.
After all, even if we did have money, it wouldn't be good to spend it all. There were things that could come up in the future that would require money, so I wanted to save money where I could.
As I listened to Nicole's description of these merchant companies, there were certain things that I was listening for.
For example, while others would care about things like how big the companies were, who their main clients were, and what their main products were, I cared about something else.
I knew that we wouldn't be a large customer, so we would be taken care of by the employees of the company instead of by anyone important.
In that case, I wanted to see how the company treated their employees through salary, benefits, and other treatment.
I knew that a company that took care of its employees would have employees who would be more diligent. They would be the ones that would take good care of us instead of just treating us like any normal customer.
These diligent employees would make sure that we received the best treatment that they could give us.
So I slowly went through the pieces of papers placed in front of me.
But no matter how I looked at it, I wasn't able to find all the information that I wanted from these pieces of paper. After all, there was only so much information that could be glanced from just reports.
Some things needed to be observed to make proper judgement of.
So I made my decision.
"Let's go to this one first." I picked up one of the pieces of papers that had been placed in front of me.
This was the report on the biggest company in Alandal City.
Both Nicole and Jessica were surprised by my sudden action, but since I was the baron, they had to go along with what I wanted.