in the name of the queen

Chapter 80: Leader, what do you think?
  "I have been there. Of course I remember what my sister said."

Roland responded with a smile.

Seeing Roland's gentle response to Lisa, Sif felt inexplicably irritated.

By the way, I remembered it.

It's working time, that's why she's upset.

"Captain, let me remind you that when working, you address each other by job title. This is what you said yourself."

"Yes, Your Excellency, Chief Instructor!"

Roland responded with a serious face, and then continued to report on his work.

"I first went to the pudding alchemy workshop with the cheapest price, and saw the notice board saying that the boss had made enough money to go home. Then I went to the Baker Street alchemy workshop and met Miss Elizabeth."

He recounted in detail what he had encountered during yesterday's purchase.

Including the incident where I went to other stores after leaving Baker Street Alchemy Workshop, only to find that the prices were exactly the same.

Obviously, this is a premeditated and organized price increase.

"This is a monopoly." Roland concluded calmly.

"What is a monopoly?" Sif and Lisa asked in unison.

It’s not surprising that they don’t know about monopolies.

In this era dominated by feudalism, the concept of capital has not yet been fully popularized, let alone such a high-end concept as monopoly.

Although there were state-led monopolies in special industries in the feudal era, monopolies in the form of business alliances were extremely rare.

Roland transformed into Teacher Luo and gave Lisa and Sif a simple and easy-to-understand economics lesson.

Although Roland himself is half a bottle of water, he has super memory and can draw nutrients from the knowledge base of another world.

He explained monopoly in localized and popular language.

Lisa and Sif listened carefully.

Although my head was very swollen and a little itchy, I could still understand some of it.

"You mean, they use various means to suppress and acquire shops that are unwilling to join the alliance, and eventually form a price alliance to achieve monopoly?"

Lisa asked in surprise.

Roland nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

What a great listener.

Sif frowned slightly, her brain working rapidly.

She had thought of it just now, but it was just a step too late. Now she must have a deeper understanding.

Her eyes lit up and she said solemnly: "The purpose of monopoly is to make more money?"

"That's absolutely true, but the harm of monopoly goes far beyond that."

Roland said in a deep voice: "Do you think monopoly is just to make more money? No, what they want is to have complete control of the voice. They can sell it as expensive as they want and provide whatever products they want."

“Yesterday I could buy something at over 20% off, tomorrow it would be 50% off, and I couldn’t even buy it the day after tomorrow because the merchant thought it was causing trouble.”

"court death!"

Sif tapped the table and asked in a deep voice: "This kind of behavior that disrupts the market and undermines economic order must be brought to justice!"

Roland kept winking at her, telling her to pay attention to his identity, and then said with a smile:

"Your Excellency, Chief Instructor, this matter is under the control of the cabinet minister in charge of finance and economy. What we need to consider is how to replenish supplies for the Knights."

"But."

Sif wanted to say something else, but suddenly thought of something Roland once said.

If the citizens of the imperial capital are not allowed to feel the greed of cabinet ministers, how can they think of the Queen?
  When the imperial capital was in dire straits, the good news of living and working in peace and contentment in the three overseas provinces continued to come from the distance, and the senior people in the old imperial capital could not sit still.

When the time comes, they will naturally know who to support.

Sif fell into silence, carefully recalling the lecture Roland had just given, and even began to think about how to prevent this phenomenon in the three overseas provinces in the future.

While Sif racked her brains to think about the future, Lisa was thinking about reality.

"Captain, what should we do now? How about I go to Elizabeth to discuss it and give us special care?"

Roland shook his head slowly, "They have already formed a price alliance, and Elizabeth can't change anything. Not to mention that she may not be willing to compromise, even if she wants to, she has to consider many factors."

At least Roland couldn't think of a reason for the drastic price reduction.

Even if the price is reduced this time, what about next time? What about the next time? You can't ask for help every time, right? Doesn't your sister lose her face?

"It's a pity that Little Pudding's boss has made enough money, otherwise we could have approached him."

Lisa also felt that begging Elizabeth was unreliable, and sighed softly. Roland shook his head slowly and said in a deep voice: "He didn't make enough, but he was 'earned enough.' If my guess is correct, there is a high probability that he will be forced to close the store and leave, and he will even sign an agreement not to be in the store." Open alchemy workshops elsewhere.”

"This is called a non-compete agreement."

Sif woke up from her deep thoughts and happened to hear Roland saying that Little Pudding's boss might have been coerced into quitting, and said in a cold voice:

"Let's go find him and hire him as the armorer of the Knights. I want to see which unsighted businessman dares to be the enemy of the royal family."

"Okay, let's do it!"

Roland smiled and made his decision.

Lisa was stunned for a few seconds and then quickly reacted.

Now that the alchemy industry has formed a business alliance, it will be difficult to break the price monopoly.

Negotiating the price with Elizabeth would be a favor, and would only treat the symptoms.

She had other reasons not to go to Elizabeth.

Roland.

While she once thought Elizabeth was the best choice, that was then and now is now.

Roland is the leader of the Royal Knights and a close confidant of the Queen. He has already entered the upper elite circle.

In Lisa's opinion, it was Elizabeth who was not worthy of Roland now.

To become Roland's wife, she must be a noble girl of noble birth or an extraordinary person with outstanding strength, and she must be beautiful.

I don’t know who Elizabeth is.

Roland is still young, not yet nineteen years old, so he is not in a hurry to get married.

In two or three years, he might be an earl, marquis or even a duke.

Young people should focus on their careers and not be distracted by dating.

Lisa thought seriously, selectively forgetting who was urging Roland to go on a blind date.

Everyone thinks that looking for the owner of the small pudding workshop is the best choice, but how to find him?
  First rule out finding people through military intelligence.

The Military Intelligence Bureau is not so useless that it can't even handle this little thing, but Sif has no right to mobilize them.

Lisa asked tentatively: "Captain, I remember that you have a good relationship with that Alina. It should be no problem to find the little pudding boss through her, right? We can pay according to the market price."

"Of course there is a problem, and it's a big one!"

Before Roland could speak, Sif categorically rejected Lisa's ridiculous suggestion.

"General Logistics Officer, we are serving the Queen of the Sussex Empire! Do you know what Alina is? She is the Golden Kite Special Envoy in name, but in fact she is a standard foreign spy leader."

"Even if there is no extra cost to doing things with her, I don't agree. If the matter spreads, will Her Majesty the Queen still want to lose face? Sussex will become an international joke!"

"Since you have to spend money to do things, it is better to go directly to the mercenary guild. Although it will cost more, it is worse than going to foreign spies."

Sif and Lisa looked at Roland at the same time and asked in unison:

"Captain, what do you think?"

The way I look at it, I just want to pass out immediately.

Roland complained silently.

When girls disagree, no matter which side they support, they will immediately offend the other side.

Girls become emotional and completely irrational.

He'd love to be all for it, but you can't get both sides of the coin.

Then let the coin stand.

Roland said calmly: "I don't think so."

He pressed his hands down, motioned Lisa and Sif who had already stood up to sit down, and said slowly:

"Alina is a friend, but she is also a foreign spy. Between friendship and national interests, she will not hesitate to choose the latter."

"We shouldn't look for her unless we have to."

The corners of Sif's mouth raised slightly, and her smile was as bright as the sun.

Roland coughed slightly and continued: "It is possible to find a mercenary guild, but it costs a lot and is not efficient. It will take at least several days to wait for news from them. It is too slow."

The corners of Lisa's mouth raised slightly, and her dimples were filled with joy.

Facing the expectant looks of the two ladies, Roland said calmly: "Why not tap the potential from within? We have the best paparazzi reporter, and he is now the captain of the investigation team."

(End of this chapter)