A welcoming ceremony is being held on Nicosia Island, more than 120 nautical miles away from Novi Sauer Island. Just a week after the discussion between the Bayer housekeeper and Lawrence was over, Lawrence's father finally came to the island with the last group of people who had organized before. In this way, Lawrence can finally relax and start visiting the surroundings.

"Count August, thank you very much for the gift you gave me—" Lord of Nicosia, Viscount Dionys of Nicosia under the Erythion Empire, smiled and accepted the gift from Lawrence , Went on. "Please also accept my gift in return—"

As soon as the voice fell, the three attendants next to the Viscount walked over with a carved silver tray covered with embroidered white face towels each holding a gift. One of the plates was filled with bread, the other was filled with salt, and the last was a plate. In the middle is a necklace made of flowers, exactly the same as the gift Lawrence just offered.

This is a courtesy gift, expressing the highest respect and warmest welcome to the guests. In fact, offering bread and salt to guests in the west of the Old World is a universal etiquette, regardless of high or low.

It's just that the poor people often only use black bread and coarse salt at this time, while most people use white bread and refined salt bought in the store. The etiquette among nobles like Lawrence will choose fine white bread made from wheat produced in certain places and also specify top mineral salts produced in certain salt lakes.

As for the flower necklace, it is a kind of etiquette peculiar to the sea of ​​stars. It was originally only spread among some aborigines, but after the colonists came here, it became a peculiar etiquette in the region, but not every nobleman. Will use this etiquette. For example, Viscount Nicosia can clearly tell from his appearance that he is a descendant of an aboriginal, so he chose this etiquette in the ceremony to welcome Lawrence.

So Lawrence naturally tore a small piece from the large piece of bread and dipped it in salt according to the etiquette, then put it in his mouth to taste. Then he took the necklace made of flowers from the plate and hung it around his neck.

According to traditional rules, bread and salt represent a friendship and a desire for peace. The flower necklace not only represents peace, but also represents a desire to communicate with others. Newcomers like Lawrence need to bring such gifts to visit those neighbors.

If it is on land, Lawrence needs to visit all the neighbors that border his own territory. And independent islands like this one need to visit all the islands that can only be reached by boat a day after departure from the port.

When visiting the island, both parties need to give these allegorical gifts. If everyone accepts such a gift from each other, it means that both parties are willing to get along with their new neighbors. Of course, this is only in theory. What the actual operation will be, it will naturally be discussed separately.

But the reality belongs to reality, and etiquette belongs to etiquette. After the visit is over, the territory where Lawrence is located can trade with the surrounding territories. In addition, he can also take this opportunity to integrate into the circle of the same status around him. In the future, there will be various social activities, such as dance parties or hunting, before someone will come to visit.

This is the reason why Lawrence didn't like this kind of activity, and he bit his stubbornness to come to participate: After all, if his territory wants to develop, it is indispensable to deal with the surrounding neighbors and exchange what is needed. So even though he always felt that this set of rules of the upper class society was too hypocritical, he still adopted the butler's suggestion and started the tour.

Nicosia Island is the first island visited by Lawrence in this circle, and it is also the farthest island from New Sauer Island. It is also the highest-ranked island owner among the nearby islands. According to the plan, Lawrence will spiral from far to near to visit all the surrounding islands and see what is useful to his island.

For example, the territory belonging to the Viscount Nicosia consists of two main islands no more than 100 meters apart and dozens of islands around 0033, which is about 2,200 square kilometers. There are seventy or eighty plantations on the island, planting a series of tropical economies such as coffee, cocoa, pineapple and so on.

In addition, there is a small coal mine on the island and a small factory for rough processing of these cash crops. If these agriculture and industry are integrated, this territory can be regarded as one of the best developed territories.

Different from the territories on the mainland, the territories that are isolated on the sea and have a large number of trouble-making wild races at any time are often regarded as the fringe of civilization. Therefore, the nobles here are called pioneering nobles. The area of ​​the fief owned is often several or even ten times that of the inland nobles of the same level.

As for Lawrence, it was an individual case. It belonged to the kind of territory that only the duke could acquire even in the wild territory by chance, and could not be copied. Under normal circumstances, the largest land area that an earl can get in this area is 6000 to 7000 square kilometers.

Because it was the first time we met, this meeting was the first contact between the two parties and only discussed some very superficial things, most of which were courtesy greetings.

According to the information collected before coming, this lord's ancestor was the most powerful chief on this island. After meeting the last emperor of the ancient empire called the Senate and the People, he chose to belong to the other side. So he became the Viscount of the newly born Erythion Empire.

After becoming the nobles of the empire, most of the aborigines who were entrusted as nobles quickly integrated into the noble system of the Erythian Empire. At least Lawrence could see obvious signs of mixed blood from the Viscount in front of him.

In addition, according to the information Lawrence inquired during this period. This viscount is not just a lord. Many of his family members have been integrated into all aspects of the Erythion Empire. Although it is a small but relatively influential one in the political arena of the empire power.

Therefore, Lawrence thought that he should be a long-sleeved dancer, who is usually kind and approachable after checking his information. After meeting now, Lawrence felt that his previous judgment was not wrong at all~lightnovelpub.net~ The viscount, who looked a bit general, introduced the surrounding situation to Lawrence very kindly.

Especially when he knew what Lawrence had been building on his island since he came here, the viscount reminded Lawrence very seriously: "Lord August, I think you should join the Star Customs Union as soon as possible. District, because only in this way can you buy and sell various products at a reasonable price."

"Star Sea Customs Union area, what kind of organization is that?" Lawrence asked curiously. "Is it a customs union between countries similar to the New World?"

"Yes." Viscount Niksia nodded and said, "This is a trade agreement signed between a series of islands in the far east of the Star Sea."

Through the narration of the Viscount, Lawrence also began to understand what this so-called customs union is all about: it is not just a customs union in the literal sense, but a cooperation composed of outlying islands in the Star Sea. organization.

The islands in the overseas seas of the stars are different from those close to the new world. Because there are many extraordinary creatures in the sea, the cost of ocean shipping in the sea of ​​this world is much higher than that of Lawrence's last life. At the same time, the management cost of those islands is much higher.

In this case, all these offshore islands, except for islands with important locations or key resources, are all semi-independent entities. They only belong to certain countries in name but are in fact autonomous.

However, in this way, it is often difficult to get support from the home country once something happens. Therefore, people on these islands need to report to the group for warmth if they want to survive. This is why the Star Sea Customs Union zone was established.