Chapter 74 Eliminate Wrong Answers First
Hodge didn't want to provoke the law enforcement team. It would be easy if the original leader of the law enforcement team was still there. It would only take a small threat, and a financial offensive would be able to accomplish a lot of things.
But such means are not applicable to Margaret, or to say, for Margaret , if Hodge dares to do such a thing in the morning, he will be taken away before noon on the charge of offending the nobility.
Although Queen Aundair vigorously supports all kinds of talents from the common people, the power of the nobles has not weakened. Because of the queen's behavior, the nobles now want to take a bite of everyone they see to demonstrate their aristocratic authority.
The losses caused by the Law Enforcement Corps to the Pharmacist Branch cannot be ignored. Hodge had spent a lot of effort to establish connections with the Law Enforcement Corps so that he could smuggle some contraband. Now that Margaret has airdropped, all the efforts Hodge had made have become in vain.
Damn it, damn the airborne leader! Damn the nobles!
Rage continued to stimulate his brain, but Hodge remained calm. At this moment, the situation was no longer in favor of the Pharmacist Branch, and as the president, he needed to remain calm in order to avoid making mistakes.
"Hmm? You seem to have something to say."
Noticing that the masked thief was different from before, Hodge asked his men for their opinions , "What do you think?"
The masked thief hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Some short-sighted views, with many mistakes and omissions."
"It's okay. Go ahead." Hodge picked up the high-heeled glass and tasted the red wine elegantly. "Maybe your opinion will be useful."
Since his boss had said so, the masked thief had nothing to worry about:
"If Master Carl wanted to sell the Glimmering Ointment secretly, why didn't he go to the Black Market, instead of selling it in shops on the street? Also, the speed and quantity of production at Albert House far exceeds that of the manufacturers under our name. With such a high productivity, does that mean that the priest named Mo Cheng has mastered all the formulas for the ointment?"
"Also." The masked thief continued to add, "Since Master [Karl] appeared once, we have not been able to find any trace of him again, and we have not been able to find ."
"I was wondering if there is a possibility. Maybe Master [Karl] and his teacher's mage group do not exist, and the focus is on that priest Mo Cheng? Is it possible that the Glimmer Ointment was developed by Priest Mo Cheng?"
“…”
It was quiet, without any sound. Even Herman, who had been severely beaten, slowed down his breathing. No one spoke a word as they watched Hodge sipping his red wine calmly.
“Puff!”
Hodge suddenly laughed uncontrollably, so loudly that he couldn't even hold the wine in his hand steadily, and it kept shaking. "Hahahahahahahaha, this is really, really, so funny."
After a long while, Huo Qi stopped laughing and wiped the corners of his mouth. "Well, there are some things you can't touch, so you have a wrong estimate when you encounter such things. It's not your fault."
Although he said this, the corners of Hodge's mouth continued to curl up, and it was obvious that he still reacted to the words of the masked thief.
In response, the masked thief did not react at all, as if it was not him who had just spoken.
"Do you know how the [black market] came about?"
The masked thief nodded. "Yes, because some merchants are dissatisfied with the tax rate set by the Queen, so they secretly collude to open a black market with their personal reputation as a guarantee. Transactions in the black market do not need to pay taxes to the Queen."
This is the most widely circulated version and the one that most people believe.
Hodge shook his head. "What kind of merchant dares to conduct tax-free transactions in the capital? And the Law Enforcement Corps and the Knights did not catch him. What kind of merchants would unite to make people believe that the black market is a secret?"
Hotch spat out the answer, two simple words, "Noble!"
Only the nobles with complex connections in Fairhaven can open a black market that will not be traced, and only the black market opened by the nobles will not be closed down by the Knights Templar.
Even only the nobles had the courage to resist paying taxes to Queen Aundair, and they had a large amount of invisible smuggled goods under their hands.
"The reason why Master Karl didn't go to the black market is very simple. With his status as a teacher, he must know who controls the black market. And if he privately used the funds and materials of the investment figures to make the glimmer ointment, it would be easy to find out who is selling it if he took it to the black market. The black market is confidential only for other people, but for the nobles, there are no small secrets."
"If a team of mages secretly used the investor's things to sell, it would be extremely damaging to the reputation of the mages if this was discovered. If I were in their place, I would also specifically warn students not to sell them on the black market."
"As for the fact that the person who developed the Shimmering Ointment was a priest of the Church of Radiance? I never thought you had such a sense of humor."
Not only Hodge laughed, even Herman, who was beaten like a dead dog, was laughing with his hands covering his mouth, "A sewer rat who doesn't know anything about pharmacy... ah!"
As soon as he said that, Hodge immediately picked up his cane and hit Herman, "You have no right to speak here!"
"You think that alchemy is too simple. A new potion requires the mage to find the right combination from various medicinal materials, as well as the most difficult heating temperature and technique, before it can finally take shape."
"To do this kind of thing requires a large amount of medicinal materials, sophisticated instruments, a team with the corresponding knowledge, and a large number of drug testers. If it was really the ointment developed by that monk Mo Cheng himself, then everyone in the Albert House would have died from drug testing before the development was successful."
"Besides." Hodge's mouth curled up with a sarcastic smile, "A priest of the Church of Glory is going to develop an ointment? Isn't it enough for them to pray to Glory?"
For the Principality of Aundair, which has many mages, the superiority of the mage profession has been deeply imprinted in people's minds.
For them, there is a new, effective and cheap ointment. Tell him that no wizard participated in its development, but it was made by a clergyman?
They will laugh at you for being fooled by a bad joke.
By the way, I express my contempt for your IQ.
That situation is like someone telling you in real life that the virus vaccine spreading around the world was not developed by scientists, doctors, experts, scholars, etc.
Instead, a priest prayed to God and found the vaccine by his bedside the next day.
"But you are right, priest of Albert House. We need to investigate. Go ahead. While the law enforcement team is busy with other things recently, find some gang thugs to test the waters."
