From a power perspective, they are all viscounts and counts, not much different from Azanen.
From a distance perspective, if we were to trade paper in the future, the transport distance would not be very far.
Many times, the transportation cost of bulk trade is the biggest source of cost, and many transportation costs even exceed the investment in raw materials.
Moreover, Lin Ke was surrounded by so many nobles right after waking up. To prevent the papermaking technique from leaking, it was better to let the villagers go back and rest.
After giving instructions to Butler Billy, Lin Ke looked at Laplace again and suggested, "Why don’t you go first?"
Hearing this, Laplace coldly smiled, "Then I’ll ask the simplest one, don’t admit defeat too quickly."
Saying that, without waiting for Lin Ke to answer, Laplace directly asked, "In terms of our armies, mine is 120,000 more than yours, and the ratio of my army to yours is 7:4. How many people are in each of our armies?"
After speaking, Laplace looked at Lin Ke proudly, with a bit of a ferocious smile in his eyes, thinking: This foolish and arrogant country noble must be dumbfounded, right? Hahaha...
This question, though he said it was the simplest, was actually quite difficult.
It was one of five questions given to him by his teacher, and it was the only one he solved among the five.
Once he posed the question, the nobles began to discuss it animatedly.
"Such a difficult question?!" exclaimed Princess Rica, turning her head to ask Count Giant Sword beside her, "How is this calculated?"
"Um... this... this... Your Highness the Princess, you should know, I am not a [Scholar]." Count Giant Sword’s usual cold gaze showed a bit of embarrassment, "But I can repel Jackal Wolfmen and resist dragons and Frost Giants."
He scratched the back of his head with his stout arm, making his awkward face look even more awkward.
"Well, but I think math problems are much harder than those," Princess Rica pouted, then asked others, who also did not know.
It’s important to know that [Scholars] are very rare because the feedback required to qualify as a [Scholar] comes from learning and research, which is hard to come by.
Whereas [Warriors] and the like only need to fight and kill those possibly obtaining feedback.
So, there are naturally fewer [Scholars] than [Warriors].
Among high-level professionals, [Scholar] type professionals are also much fewer than [Warrior] types.
"Hehe, don’t even know something so simple?" Though Count Akel was not a [Mathematician], as a [Merchant] he was also very proficient with numbers.
He glanced at Giant Sword and smiled.
His relationship with Count Giant Sword was actually quite good. Count Giant Sword was a noble of the first generation, or you could say he earned his count title himself.
And so did he, having built up his own family business, making them relate well to each other.
Furthermore, Count Giant Sword, as a rising count, had a large demand for Magical Beasts.
"Akel’s Shop" specialized in Magical Beast business, including not only Magical Beast cubs and Magic Beast Eggs but also trading ingredients and other raw materials.
So he also had economic dealings with Count Giant Sword.
"So you know how to calculate it? But indeed, you always focus on these things, otherwise, you would have reached level fifteen long ago." Count Giant Sword gave Count Akel a disapproving look.
Akel also glanced at him: "I am a [Merchant]. It’s just that I haven’t calculated enough. Otherwise, I would have been promoted long ago."
"You." Count Giant Sword glared, wanting to retort, but was interrupted by Princess Rica.
"Oh, enough! Count Akel, quickly tell me how to solve it!" Princess Rica looked at Akel with big eyes.
Akel immediately showed a gentle smile: "Of course, Her Highness Rica, in rumors, you are the cutest and smartest, incomparable to an old swordsman like Giant Sword. This question is actually very simple..."
Akel immediately began to explain.
Aside from Rica, several other nobles also perked their ears to listen.
After a while of explaining, a few people around showed a look of sudden realization, but Rica still looked confused.
After another thorough, meticulous, and detailed explanation from Akel.
Princess Rica finally showed an expression that said, "I get it now."
Akel kept smiling, though internally starting to sweat a little.
It seems Her Highness Rica truly isn’t good at math!
Meanwhile, seeing the expressions of the people around him, Laplace was even more proud.
Of course, Lin Ke was dumbfounded...
Isn’t this just elementary school math?
Level three [Mathematician]... emmm...
How is this level even comparable to the King of Gods?
This isn’t a fake body, right?
Marquis of Ice didn’t really have an affair, did he?
Anyway, back then, the King of Gods was still okay, at least spent a long time on a guess, just didn’t solve it.
Lin Ke took another look at Laplace, estimating he was no more than ten years old...
Alright, that’s normal too, if translated, he would be in elementary school, and elementary school math does seem to have such questions.
So, Lin Ke looked up.
"What? Can’t answer it?" Laplace saw Lin Ke looked up at him and sneered.
Laplace had already thought it through, perhaps directly taunting was not satisfying enough, it was best to make Lin Ke admit defeat, to admit that he was the most gifted!
In the world of children, who is the strongest, who is the best, who wins or loses, has always been very important and is always a point of contention and arguments for kids.