For Perfikot, she actually doesn’t like being so ostentatious, but Foster insists on maintaining the dignity due to the Brandlis Clan.
Perfikot has no comments on this, after all, steam carriages were loaded onto the White Gem and shipped from Langton to the New Continent under Foster’s insistence.
As for the knights guarding Perfikot, that was Samantha and Arthur’s insistence.
These two knights, sent to protect Perfikot, always insist she must have enough guards, especially since the independence movement is quite rampant in the New Continent now.
If anyone wants to express some demands through assassinating her, and Perfikot lacks adequate guards, that joke would be too big.
So eventually, after Samantha and Arthur discussed, they left an Imperial Guard Knight and four attendants behind, along with half a flag team of Sword and Rose, while the rest always stuck close to Perfikot to closely protect her.
Thus, it created the exaggerated display similar to that of an Eldest Princess for Perfikot at this moment.
If you add that infantry company, it would really be no different from a queen’s parade.
And this made the residents of New Shaker City take a good look, so when Andrew came to the restaurant led by the knight Perfikot dispatched, his expression was a mix of shock and honor.
Though he has been to Langton and seen the big world, experiencing Langton’s prosperity and the true spectacle of nobility are two different things.
After all, at the end of the day, he is just a regular steel businessman; even in New Shaker City, it’s hard to reach the upper society, let alone a big city like Langton.
However, he still managed to maintain composure in front of Perfikot, slightly reservedly saluting the Lady Baron.
"Relax a bit, Mr. Andrew. I admire the confidence and composure you showed when you initiated conversation with me on the Morgan, which left a deep impression on me." Perfikot, sitting in a chair, took the initiative to speak.
Today, she exceptionally wore a dark velvet long dress and added a fancy hat, making her appear both mature, filled with aristocratic elegance, and carrying a kind of involuntary oppressive feeling.
Coupled with the old butler standing behind Perfikot and the surrounding knights in charge of her protection, a picture of an upper-class noble lady envisioned by a New Continent person appeared vividly before Andrew, inevitably making him feel nervous.
But eventually, he sat down in front of Perfikot, awaiting the continuation of the Lady’s speech.
Besides them in the restaurant now, there’s only the best band in New Shaker City hired by the restaurant owner, devotedly playing elegant music for Perfikot.
And the restaurant waiter tried to ask Perfikot if they could serve the dishes, but was stopped by the old butler, who then delivered the question to Perfikot.
Only after receiving Perfikot’s answer did the old butler return to his position, signaled the waiter to prepare to serve the dishes.
This kind of conduct is just normal for nobles, especially since the old butler is very concerned about Perfikot’s safety now.
However, to Andrew and the restaurant staff around, it seemed a bit overly cold.
Nevertheless, it made them hold Perfikot in greater awe, while also raising in their hearts a longing for aristocratic life.
The dishes were soon served, though all were abundant, made in locally popular styles, but still carried a bit of New Continent flavor.
To Perfikot, this might count as a somewhat novel experience, however, she wasn’t here to eat today.
So after tasting the appetizers, Perfikot began to talk to Andrew about the main topic of this invitation: "Mr. Andrew, I am a person who likes to get straight to the point, so I’ll skip the meaningless pleasantries.
I very much admire your talent and heard you are running a steel company, so I intend to invest in you."
Perfikot’s words made Andrew immediately feel a burst of joy, someone sees potential in him and is willing to invest in his company, which undoubtedly enormously helps his career.
Not to mention this is a noble of high status, even merely spreading the news of being invited to lunch by Lady Baron of Brandlis today is enough to significantly boost his social status and connections.
If he could leverage Perfikot’s connections, even just a little, it would be enough for Andrew’s company to quickly soar and become the darling of the market.
And Andrew himself would also become a rising figure in New Shaker City, or even throughout the New Continent’s social circle.
But at this moment, he calmed down instead, striving to suppress his inner excitement, expressed his gratitude to Perfikot, then prepared to introduce his company to Perfikot and inquire about the crucial detail of how Perfikot intends to invest.
However, Perfikot didn’t give him the opportunity to speak, instead controlling the dialogue with a commanding presence.
"Although I admire your talent, investment still requires caution." Perfikot expressed her thoughts, while beckoning to the old butler behind her, and a prepared document was handed to her: "I will give you a cash amount of twenty thousand gold pounds, it’s not much, but should be enough for you to reform your company and apply the new technology you procured from Langton. Chapters first released on novel★fire.net
This money isn’t given for free, though I’m not interested in investment returns or anything, what I need is for you to manufacture some things for me."
Speaking, Perfikot opened the document in her hand and handed it to Andrew.
Twenty thousand gold pounds might not be a huge sum for Perfikot, but for Andrew at this point, it’s astonishing.
After all, his entire assets now are only a few thousand gold pounds, which is already enough for him to start his career and begin building his steel empire.
Fortunately, Andrew clearly understood there’s no free lunch in this world; he wasn’t overwhelmed by this investment.
After receiving the document Perfikot handed over, he took a serious look at it.
The document contained mechanical parts that appeared to be for knight armor.
"This is a part of the Empire’s newest knight armor, and the existence of this knight armor is currently the Empire’s highest military secret." Perfikot, with a manner that said words are meant to astonish, revealed all her demands to Andrew: "I need you to manufacture the first batch of parts within six months, and the number of finished pieces should be no less than fifty sets."
And having finished going through all the drawings Perfikot handed over, Andrew confidently replied: "I only need four months, if I can solve the material issue quickly, I might even shorten the time to three months."