biography of lvan

All present were rather perplexed. Was this young man truly brimming with confidence, or was he merely youthful and impetuous, lacking a proper sense of propriety?

Perceiving that everyone's gaze was fixed upon him, Ivan began to speak in a composed and eloquent manner. "You may not be aware that numerous individuals have approached my grandfather with offers to either purchase or lease those purebred horses. Among them, the one holding the highest status was Duke Fox, the vice president of the Elder Council.

"The status of Duke Fox within France is undoubtedly beyond dispute. Nevertheless, my grandfather steadfastly refused to sell. Naturally, the duke was displeased by this. The duke wields significant power both within and outside the court, and there is scarcely anything he cannot obtain. However, in the end, he still failed to acquire any of those horses. There are certain matters that simply cannot be compelled."

Ivan's remarks were somewhat enigmatic, yet those in attendance grasped at least one key point: Lord Kewell Egrete Juan was so influential that even Duke Fox was powerless against him. How could a minor noble from the southern region possibly pose a challenge?

"I seem to recall having heard of this incident. Duke Fox had taken a fancy to several purebred horses on a previous occasion, yet he ultimately did not succeed in obtaining them. Over the years, the duke has frequently reminisced about it. He once told me about how magnificent and exceptional those purebred horses were. It came as quite a surprise to learn that it was your grandfather, Lord Kewell Egrete Juan, who managed to thwart his efforts," stated Baron Brown, seated beside Ivan.

"Duke Fox is indeed a genuine aficionado of horses. Who in France is unaware of this fact?" interjected the portly gentleman.

"Precisely so. The duke owns six horse farms and nearly a thousand fine steeds. Should one be unable to locate him at the Elder Council, he is certain to be found at one of his horse farms. There is a jest among the people that if one wishes to seek the duke's assistance, presenting him with a fine horse will suffice to resolve any matter.

It is advisable to conduct business discussions with the duke while astride a horse, as he is invariably in the best of moods during such moments," added Baron Brown.

The two of them were working in concert, and the implication of their words was nothing more than to warn Baroness O'Neill that even if Lord Kewell Egrete Juan was in a desperate situation, as long as he presented a purebred horse to Duke Fox, the backer of Baroness O'Neill would surely land himself in serious trouble and have to bear the consequences.

Baroness O'Neill was no fool. Her countenance grew solemn, and she remained seated in silence.

"Just moments ago, in the upstairs lounge, we partook of the tea provided by Baron Lipper. It was truly delightful. I have been informed that the tea was a gift from Mr. Juan.

Is Lord Juan engaged in the tea trade?" inquired the venerable Baron Samson, deftly changing the topic.

"No, the tea business is merely an occasional pursuit for him. Only when encountering tea of truly outstanding quality will my grandfather make a purchase.

However, in most instances, he either sells it at a reduced price or donates it gratis to certain select clientele. In truth, my grandfather cannot be considered a conventional merchant. My family does not generate wealth through the routine buying and selling of merchandise," explained Ivan.

"How is it possible for one to amass such wealth without being a merchant?" queried the portly gentleman.

"Brother, it is rather impolite of you to pose such a question," 

admonished the baroness.

Apparently, Lord Luke was quite intimidated by his sister and promptly fell silent.

Ivan didn't really care about this. In fact, it was a topic he was good at. Odrie had once talked about a unique business method. Mr. Juan had made a large sum of money from this kind of business, but because the risks were too high, he never did it again later. This kind of business could be seen as a fraudulent means in some aspects, but from another perspective, it was completely legal. At first, Ivan had spent two whole days trying to understand this strange business model.

These things must have been unheard of by the nobles present.

Ivan said, "When it comes to trading goods, timing is crucial. Wool after rain and charcoal in summer are obviously goods that are difficult to sell. A family that has been in the southern part of France for a century and a family that has just established itself here can't be compared in terms of credibility or popularity.

So, in the early days, Grandpa only engaged in some commodity trading. That wasn't entirely for accumulating wealth. More importantly, it was to get to know the key people in this business channel. Only after getting familiar with the connections would the real opportunity to make money come. Do you know how much the price of glass differs between Otto and France?"

"Probably five times," said Lord Rupert.

"Yes. When the glass is loaded onto the ship, the price difference is already two times. That's the tax that has to be paid to Otto and the fees charged by the Otto Merchant Guild. When it arrives in France and is unloaded at the wharf, the price doubles again. All this money goes into the national treasury. So, what merchants get after all the hard work is just a break-even deal. And we also have to deduct losses and unexpected costs from it. So, often, the sinking of one ship can bankrupt several wealthy merchants," Ivan said.

"Isn't there anyone who evades taxes?" the fat man interrupted.

"Yes. Almost every merchant in South Port evades taxes to some extent. However, it's impossible to get rich by doing so. The South Port Merchant Association manages things jointly. They don't want to see overly blatant tax evasion, as that would be unfair to most merchants and would also cause trouble.

"So, merchants can at most shift losses and unexpected costs into the tax. The Merchant Association turns a blind eye to this. However, merchants' profits are still less than fifty percent. They also have to pay workers' wages and ship rental fees.

"Grandpa didn't focus on this shipping route. He spent a lot of energy and a great deal of money to smooth out several channels in Otto, Xibai, and France. Take the glass in Otto as an example. Grandpa bribed two glass factories and the officials in the Otto Merchant Association who were specifically in charge of glass exports. Grandpa would place orders for the glass to be produced with the glass factories, asking them to produce it in advance. This batch of glass was considered to have been bought by Grandpa. Then Grandpa took the orders to the merchants in South Port and asked them to bid. He sold it to the one who offered the highest price.

"In this way, Grandpa completed a business deal, paid the taxes properly, and got the money. Then that merchant went to Otto to transport the goods back. Any losses during the process were his own business. But he didn't need to pay any more taxes because the taxes had already been paid.

Later, as Grandpa became more and more famous and his reputation got better and better, he didn't even need to place orders with the glass factories in advance. Both the glass factories and the merchants were willing to pay in advance. That's how Grandpa got rich," Ivan explained.

Lord Rupert thought about it for a long time and suddenly exclaimed, "No, that's not right. In this way, your grandpa didn't actually make much money. He was basically working for that merchant for nothing. That merchant spent money to buy the glass, transport it back, and pay taxes.

If the price of glass didn't go up and the price of glass in Otto didn't go down, and if the merchant didn't want to suffer losses, your grandpa couldn't make a single copper coin from it. Even if he made a tiny price difference, it couldn't have made your grandpa so wealthy."

"Right," the fat man also suddenly realized.

Ivan had already expected such reactions from these people because he himself had thought the same way at first. With a smile, Ivan explained, "There are many ways to make money in this. Besides the price difference, joint investment is the simplest way. Grandpa used half of the goods as capital to do business with that merchant. In this way, the profits were shared equally, and risks could be reduced. Most merchants were willing to do this.

"This is one source of profit. The prices of goods fluctuate in different seasons. Making use of this is the real reason why Grandpa got rich. For example, tea. Otto doesn't produce tea. It's also imported from foreign countries. The season when a large amount of tea arrives is from March to May during the trade wind season. At that time, tea is relatively cheap. Grandpa would buy a batch and store it. But in France, tea is quite expensive all year round. So, no matter who he partnered with, he could make money.

"Besides that, another reason for making money is that as the business grew bigger, a lot of Grandpa's funds were on credit or paid in advance by others. There are two benefits to this. First, invisibly, Grandpa's capital was increased ten times, twenty times, or even a hundred times. You know, more capital means more profit. Although this capital is virtual, the profit is real.

"The second benefit is the real source of my family's wealth. With Grandpa's business method, just as the first business deal was completed and the goods hadn't even been loaded onto the ship at Otto's port, a second business deal could already be started here. So, even though the profit from each business deal of our family is much less than that of ordinary merchants, the speed of our capital turnover is thousands of times faster than that of other merchants. Other merchants need about three months to transport goods once, but Grandpa only needs at most one hour to complete a business deal."

"Great, great! Awesome, awesome!" The fat man nodded repeatedly. "Your grandpa is really a genius to come up with such a brilliant business method. However, this business method seems extremely risky. Once there are setbacks in the middle, it's very likely to get into a situation where the capital can't circulate smoothly."

"Yes. So, Uncle is planning to diversify the business gradually to reduce risks or invest in several more reputable merchants. He's really too busy on his own, and our family's wealth has already accumulated to a considerable amount," Ivan said.

"Alright, alright. You're talking so enthusiastically, but we can't understand a word of it. It's so boring," Baroness Lipper stopped this topic that made the ladies feel bored.

"Yes. Everyone should consider the ladies at the table and talk about some lighter topics," the fat man said while chewing on the lettuce mixed with cream.

Seeing that Ivan didn't make a move, the beautiful young lady actually picked out several pieces of refreshing and palatable cucumbers, mixed them with cream, put them on a clean plate, and pushed it in front of Ivan.

According to the strict diet plan that Odrie had made for him, there were quite a number of foods that Ivan simply couldn't eat at all. So, he just touched his lips symbolically.

"Brother-in-law, what's going on with your villa? The thunderstorm was so fierce. If Sinclair hadn't gone to the town to recruit workers, that big tree would have blocked all of us outside your villa," the fat man said.

"This matter is really quite strange. Since we renovated this villa seven years ago, there has always been such a violent rainstorm every few months. This villa was built after our ancestors settled in Piton, and there had never been any mention of such a strange phenomenon before. But seven years ago, my wife and I decided to move here to live.

Since then, these inexplicable rainstorms have occurred frequently, and quite a number of trees have been damaged. Fortunately, no one has been hurt yet, and the lightning has never struck anywhere near the villa, so we didn't pay too much attention to it," Baron Lipper said.

"Could there be some magical beasts hidden in the woods?" Lord Rupert asked. "I once heard Elder Frybay say that when some magical beasts grow to a certain stage, they can cause abnormal changes in the weather."

"Magical beasts? Then aren't we in great danger?" The fat man's wife exclaimed.

Hearing everyone talking about something that interested him, Ivan was thinking about how he could take this opportunity to get Baron Lipper to provide some clues. After thinking it over, in this situation, the best way was to make everyone think that he was an expert in this regard. Odrie had once taught him a strategy called "pretending to be a tiger to prey on pigs", and he also said that this extremely simple strategy was often the most successful fraud technique. Moreover, he wasn't really good for nothing. At least he had a teacher who was a magician, and this was completely genuine.

Thinking of this, Ivan pretended to be deep in thought and asked the baron's daughter sitting beside him, "Miss Fanny, did you dig out any stone statues or stone slabs or something like that? Perhaps, when renovating this villa, you came across things whose uses you didn't know."

The pretty young lady blinked her eyes and tried hard to recall. However, after all, it was something that had happened seven years ago. At that time, she was only eleven years old and didn't understand much.

"Ivan, do you have any insights?" The baron asked. "Your grandfather traveled around many countries, and his insights must be far broader than ours. Your uncle Odrie is also a learned man, as many people here know. Surely you have some brilliant insights about this."

Everyone at the dining table turned around and stared at Ivan. They wanted to see what abilities this young man, who had been highly praised by the baron, really had. Although the strange and unheard-of business method he had talked about just now had already left many people present gaping in astonishment. Although none of them fully understood it, only those who worked in the Finance Department or the Tax Administration Office understood a little bit. As for the others, especially the ladies, they were completely confused and couldn't make heads or tails of it at all.

However, everyone was astonished at how shrewd the Juan family was. No wonder such a family could thrive and prosper.

Nevertheless, this was more of an admiration for Lord Kewell Egrete Juan. This brilliant diplomat and merchant was undoubtedly a genius.

Everything that Ivan had demonstrated merely proved that the old man was also a genius educator. In everyone's eyes, this young man in front of them was undoubtedly the heir carefully cultivated by that wise old man. Although the result of the cultivation was quite outstanding, it should be attributed more to that sagacious old man.

Therefore, everyone was looking forward to seeing what amazing performance this young man would put on.

Ivan frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "I just feel that the accumulation of thunder elements on this land is rather abnormal. The problem lies in the land itself, rather than any plants or animals growing on it.

According to what you said just now, all the magic elements on this land were originally in balance. The reason for the change started when this villa was rebuilt seven years ago.

"Did your ancestors leave any records explaining why the villa was built here? This place is a bit far from Piton, and it mustn't have been safe to live here alone in your ancestors' time, right?"

Hearing Ivan's question, Baron Lipper furrowed his brows.

After thinking for a long time, he said, "This villa was built even earlier than my family's ancestral house. It was originally bought by my ancestors from someone of high status. If you want to know the details, I'll have to go to the study later and check the materials left by my ancestors carefully. By the way, just by looking at the deed, we can know who the original owner was. However, I'm quite doubtful about how useful it will be."

"Oh, dear brother-in-law, please make a trip to the study. Anyway, the main course hasn't been served yet. Do you want us to wait here full of curiosity and lose our appetite because our strong curiosity can't be satisfied?" the fat man asked.

The others at the dining table also egged him on.

"Yes, Father. Maybe this matter is very important. Although the lightning hasn't hurt anyone so far, it's hard to guarantee that we'll still be so lucky in the future. Since Ivan has found some clues, you'd better make a trip," the pretty daughter also cooed.

Seeing that everyone was of the same opinion, Baron Lipper had no choice but to stand up from the dining table and walk towards the study upstairs.

After quite a while, he rushed down the stairs in a hurry, looking flustered. Obviously, he had made a significant discovery.

In his hand was a roll of parchment. The parchment had already turned yellow, and there was even a black patch on the edge.

"Oh, thank you for your kindness, but you should know that this is a family heirloom, a genuine family heirloom, and I won't sell it," Baron Lipper quickly declined. "I even hope that you won't mention to those two gentlemen that I have these three signatures.

Otherwise, I'm afraid they will also come to ask me to lend them this document, and that would give me a headache," Baron Lipper said with a smile.

Everyone at the dining table understood the implied meaning and smiled knowingly at this veiled remark.

Baron Lipper was obviously in an excellent mood. He announced loudly, "Bring out the main course. It's time for the main course now. Hurry up and bring the good wine!"

Upon hearing the order, the servants quickly rushed into the kitchen. Soon, one dish after another that had just been cooked was served.

The butler went along the dining table asking the guests one by one whether they wanted to drink wine or other beverages. Behind him was a maid who arranged the glasses neatly according to the guests' requests.

The wine was brought in, and the most eye-catching one was definitely the bottle that Ivan had brought as a gift.

That bottle of wine was opened first, and a little was poured for everyone who wanted to drink. There was still some left after going around the table once.

In fact, there weren't many people who wanted to drink wine in the first place. The ladies, of course, didn't drink any wine at all. That old baron seemed to be controlled by his wife and could only drink ale. As for the little boy, he was naturally given milk. Ivan himself didn't drink wine either.

"Good wine, really good wine!" The fat man kept shouting.

"Of course it's good wine. The 'Harvest Wine' brewed by the Robeck family is usually only drunk by their own family and presented to the Pope for tasting," Viscount Terbor said.

"How do you know all this?" The viscountess asked.

"Late Lord Medin was a wine lover and he had a large collection of wines. I was his private secretary, so over time, I got to know these things. Besides, there's the mark of the Robeck family on the glass bottle that holds the wine, and the taste of the Harvest Wine is so unique that it can't be imitated at all," the viscount said.

"By the way, you mentioned just now that the thunder elements here are not normal. How do you know that? Are you a magician?" Viscount Terbor asked.

"I can't really be considered a magician yet, but there's a high possibility that I'll become one. After fulfilling my grandfather's wishes, I plan to learn magic from my teacher, Mr. Lavash," Ivan said.

Ivan's words made the people around him stare at him closely once again.

"I really didn't expect this. Oh, Ivan, neither you nor your uncle ever told me that you would become a magician. This is truly remarkable. But why didn't you mention it before?" Baron Lipper asked.

"This was originally just my personal idea. However, I haven't got the approval of my grandfather and uncle yet. Uncle is very busy, and he hopes that I can inherit the family business. And as for grandfather, he's in his current state. But I really love magic, and my teacher, Magician Lavash, has agreed to take me as his disciple. He gave me this ring." With that, Ivan took off the sapphire ring and handed it to Baron Lipper.

"What a precious gemstone," Baron Lipper said after examining it carefully for quite a while.

The fat man sitting beside him tugged at his brother-in-law's sleeve, indicating that he also wanted to take a look.

The ring then passed into the fat man's hands, and Sinclair certainly wouldn't miss such an opportunity either.

The ring was passed from one person to another. Although none of them could sense the mysterious power contained within the ring, that huge and pure sapphire deeply attracted everyone.

When the ring reached Baroness O'Neill's hands, her eyes lit up and she couldn't bear to part with it. Apparently, she was again thinking about borrowing it for a while.

Fortunately, her husband knew very well that the belongings of a magician were absolutely off-limits. For these special people, power and authority had no effect at all. Moreover, they possessed mysterious powers. If they were provoked and sought revenge, the law would be completely powerless to protect you from the impending doom.

Finally, the ring reached Baron Brown's hands. This man clearly had a wide circle of acquaintances and was well-informed. He skillfully turned the ring over in his hands, brought it close to his eyes to make out the incantations engraved on it, and then nodded as he said, "This is indeed a rare magic ring. It must contain powerful forces that I don't understand. The spells engraved on this ring are more numerous and finer than those on any other magic equipment I've ever seen.

"And look, the metal used to make this ring is Mithril. This divinely gifted metal is so scarce that even our supreme King doesn't have a ring like this. All the Mithril in his possession could only be used to cast a flat disk with a diameter of half a centimeter. Our King embedded that piece of Mithril in a ring and wore it on the ring finger of his right hand, along with the famous 'Angel's Heart' ruby ring."

The baron's words undoubtedly proved the value of this ring and also verified Ivan's identity — that of a magic apprentice.