Baldrick immediately stood up, almost knocking over the table and spilling all the drinks.
“You’re right… this beer will definitely become popular within our kingdom! If I sell this beer to all the drinkers I know, then I can bring in a lot of money for this village!”
The dwarf didn’t waste any more time and immediately visited Michael’s house in the middle of the night.
Thankfully, Michael was still awake as he was busy with a project of his.
He welcomed the dwarf and listened to his proposal.
“Hmm… you want to sell beer to the Dwarven Kingdom? I thought that all forms of outside business are forbidden?” Michael asked.
It was a widely known fact that the Dwarven Kingdom refused any peddlers to enter their kingdom. And as far as he knew, even the great Yze Vanderbilt was unable to break through that restriction.
“Yes, sir. But, there are always exceptions. There’s a black market where illegal goods are traded within the kingdom, where dwarves sell products from outside the kingdom,” Baldrick explained.
Michael thought about it for a second.
“Are you sure you can do this?”
Baldrick struck his chest in pride, “I know everything there is to know about the black market, sir. I’ve frequented it a lot of times in search of good ale, like most dwarves. And I’m sure that beer will easily sell within that community!”
Michael thought this was a good idea. He had been thinking of a way for the Reborn company to spread to the Dwarven Kingdom this whole time. However, it was hard because Castelle was a human and would be denied entry before she could even get close.
But with an inside man like Baldrick, they wouldn’t have to worry about infiltration. They would be able to sell beer to the dwarven kingdom and open the doors for even more Reborn products to be sold there.
“I like this idea of yours,” Michael complimented him. “I want you to coordinate with Castelle, Anne, and Lolo about this.
Castelle will help you with purchasing the materials needed to package the beer into a glass bottle that’s easy to transport.
We will need to make more barley for the beer, so we need Anne’s help to expand the barley farms.
Lolo will know the right workers who will help with creating the beer, packaging it, and transporting it to the Kingdom.
After the beer enters the kingdom, you will be the one in charge of selling it. If you need the other dwarves to help you, then you can ask for their help.”
Baldrick was starting to get excited at the prospect of selling beer to the dwarven kingdom. This was the first time he was given such a large responsibility, but Michael trusted him with it without even doubting his ability.
He saluted Michael. “I will make this successful, sir!”
And just as Baldrick was about to leave the room, he suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, right sir. What would you want to exchange the beer for?” he asked.
Michael was a little bit confused with the question. “Doesn’t the dwarven kingdom use gold coins as their currency as well?”
“Yes, sir. But the black market works a little bit differently. Most of the things sold there are products from the outside world. So, the dwarves opt to sell it through bartering instead of gold coins.
Some of them sell it for gems, trinkets, weapons, or even stonework. But what’s most popular in the black market is something that everyone in the world seeks to obtain.
For example, Elven Ale is mostly exchanged for a metal called Damascus, which can only be produced by us dwarves. This makes Damascus steel extremely valuable to the outside world, which dwarves sell for a lot of gold to other civilizations.
This is the reason why a lot of dwarves make their living through the black market,” Baldrick explained.
“Damascus?” Michael asked, intrigued at this new material.
“This metal is a specialty for us dwarves,” Baldrick said, with a bit of his dwarven pride leaking out of his voice. “It is the most durable material on the planet while being even more lightweight than steel or iron. It has a lot of properties as well that make it one of the most sought-after materials in the world.”
Michael’s brain began to work as he imagined all of his inventions becoming reinforced with Damascus steel.
If Damascus steel was as good as Baldrick said it was, then he could finally create a lot of new inventions that he wouldn’t have otherwise been able to create.
“Get all the Damascus steel you can bargain for,” Michael told Baldrick.
Getting Damascus steel in exchange for beer was the best deal he could make in this situation.
That steel was even more valuable than gold coins since he could earn as much as he wanted from selling Reborn products in the entire world, but he would only get Damascus from the Dwarven Kingdom.
And, he could always sell Damascus steel as a Reborn product as well.
“You got it, Sir! I’ll make sure to barter for the most Damascus steel I can get!”
…
…
…
More days passed, and even more batches of dwarves made their way to the village. Thrain became sort of a recruiter in the dwarven kingdom, spreading the word to all affected villagers that there was a safe haven in the Parched Lands.
Most of them lost their entire livelihood in the landslide, so they were desperate enough to take the chance.
Slowly, the population of the village grew to even greater heights, expanding further outwards.
Meanwhile, Baldrick and the HobMankeys worked tirelessly as they began the production of beer, which was now renamed Reborn Beer.
Michael had to create more and more automobiles for transport, each could carry hundreds of crates of beer.
Finally, the first shipment of beer departed from the village and made its way to the Dwarven Kingdom.
After a few days, they finally arrived in the dwarven kingdom at an undisclosed cave hidden in the mountains.
This was where the black market operated.
Baldrick entered the cave and saw the bustling market inside. Dwarves were shouting at customers to try and entice them to buy a new product from the outside world. This made the place extremely noisy.
But contrary to their tactics, Baldrick simply just set up a table and took out a cold bottle of beer.
Then, he just drank and enjoyed beer silently.
After a few seconds, somebody took the bait.
“Brother, what is that you’re drinking right there,” a passerby dwarf asked, unable to hide his curiosity.
“Oh, this?” Baldrick said as sloshed the liquid in his cup. “This is called beer. Would you care to try it?”