Salesman

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you are seeing in front of you is our new product, called soap." William introduced.

Seeing that many guests were curious yet still somewhat reluctant to go ahead and take one, he encouraged them.

"Each one of these soaps was carved in the image of the sigils of one of the noble houses present here today, they are gifts that our house wishes to present to all of you, so please go ahead and take one."

With this proclamation, the onlookers went ahead and made their way to the table containing the boxes, each individual or couple heading towards the box containing the soap sculpture symbolizing their house.

The servants supervising the boxes tried their best to keep things in order, there was no pushing around; these were noble after all, and appearances were of utmost importance; the soap was intriguing but it was no chest of gold.

The sculptures themselves were no marvels of workmanship; after all, Edmund had little time to look for and contract artisans for this job. Yet it was enough to be presentable and draw some attention.

It took little time for the first few questions to start to be voiced.

"Young lord, what is this soap as you call it made of?" one of the guests asked.

"I am afraid that this information is a family secret at the moment and therefore I can not divulge it. But I assure you that the content will do you no harm whatsoever, in fact when used correctly it would bring many benefits to your body." William replied.

Upon hearing this, many felt unsatisfied; this only pushed others to ask their own questions.

"How is this soap used?" Another person asked.

"That is certainly a valid question. The process is very easy, all you have to do is wet your hands with some water, then scrub them with the soap, while doing so the soap will do wonders for your skin, it will completely clean them making you feel refreshed and spotlessly clean, after this just wash away the soap with water. This, of course, extends to the rest of your body, the soap can clean all of it, so it can be used not only when taking a bath but it is also recommended for you to use it on your hands before every meal."

This session of questioning went on for a while, as William tried his best to answer the "customer's" questions while making sure to bring to light all the potential benefits of the soap, from the refreshing feeling and smell, to lowering the risk of sickness to the ease of use, its positive effects on the health of the skin especially for the ladies and so forth.

Though many were still not convicted by his words, William was still fine with the overall outcome, soap was going to spread out sooner or later throughout the kingdom and eventually everywhere else, specifically because its effects were so apparent and positive, that in a way it did not really need any publicity or marketing, all William was trying to do here was to substantially accelerate that process.

After the session of questioning had died down a bit, the marquess intervened.

"Fellow noble men and women, I hope that you can accept the soap as a small gift from our house, and I can personally promise that once you go back home and give it a try, that you will not be disappointed."

With the marquess giving his promise, and thereby throwing his weight behind the soap, it gave the onlookers an injection of trust towards the product, though the promised effects were bordering on the outlandish and are probably exaggerated; since the Lord gave his word in the presence of so many, it meant that he held much confidence in it.

With this new injection of trust, the sculptures were gently covered by a white cloth, on the surface of which was sewed the letter L; then the boxes were closed and left on the table until the end of the event, after which the guests could take their gifts with them on their way out.

Soon the little publicity stunt came to an end and the crowds went back to enjoying their evening, though many went on to discuss and speculate about the soap, talking about its potential effects and therefore value. Some even went on to inquire for more information directly from the marquess.

William and after the end of his little performance once more integrated the crowds. He first went to get a drink and maybe something to snack on from the food table; he had gotten a little thirsty, and standing in front of all those people was not exactly what could be called a stress-free experience.

"You overdid it, William!" Surprised by the sudden voice behind him, William almost dropped the glass he was holding in his hand.

Without even turning, he answered. " Maybe, but better to oversell it than the opposite, oh and one more thing, you have got to stop sneaking around and popping out of nowhere Marek, it makes you predictable after you do it a few times."

"Oh really, that is strange, considering I could see your hand almost let the glass slip out of its grasp," Marek answered.

"Alright, fine you got me this time, just wipe that smug smile out of your face." William sighed and admitted, all still without even turning around.

"So this was the big thing you and father were preparing for, is it really as good as you said it was?" Marek asked; he too, came closer to the table to get something to eat.

"You will see, I will have someone bring you the soap so that you could try it, just follow the instructions I told our guests and enjoy the benefits; I believe they are simple enough that even someone like you can easily understand them." William shot back, and before Marek could retort, he continued.

"Plus do you really think that father would support something that he had no confidence in and risk having his reputation damaged just like that?"

"That makes sense, so is this new thing going to be profitable?"

William smiled at this question, looked at his brother, and said in a feigned tone of righteousness. "How can you think about money, this will mostly help our people, the money is just going to be cheap change so don't worry about it brother, don't worry about it one bit."

Marek looked suspiciously at William; he found his answer to be not entirely convincing.

Soon the celebration came to an end; after the marquess said some words to the guest, he retired, leaving the task of taking care of the rest to his two sons. William made sure that every guest had received their gift before they left, while Marek took care of the platitude and sent the guest on their way.

All the people present tonight, either own property in Landow, or in the case of low-ranking and poor nobles who did not, they will be staying with those who did. Therefore, none will leave the city for their own territory this night and will instead stay for a few days.

After all the guests had left, the brothers too, retired to their respective quarters, leaving all the manual work for the servants.