Chapter 838 (1/2)
Chapter 838: Vol V Chapter 198
“In the past three months, there has been a sudden sharp increase in the amount of several kinds of war supplies that the Commonwealth of Gold Coins and the aristocratic party are purchasing,” said Rakanisho Lightning with a frown. He was the gnome in charge of Void City’s bulk trading market. He had sorted out a report and presenting it to the Commerce Minister, Osman Ben Raunegu.
Minister Raunegu also frowned as he received the report and started to study it carefully.
After a moment, he asked, “The aristocratic party purchased a great amount of blazing fire glue and glitter dust… What are they going to do? Are these things largely consumed in war?”
“As far as I know, blazing fire glue can be used for fire attacks, while glitter dust can momentarily blind enemies, and if well-utilized, it can even suspend invisibility—these are just inferior spagyric products and are only equivalent to the effect of low-level magic,” said the old gnome, Rakanisho. He was once a tribal chief and had fought battles of wit and courage against adventurers for many years; thus, he was very familiar with these inferior spagyric products.
On a cold winter day more than 20 years ago, he watched how his people were mired in famine because the powerful magic beasts had robbed them of their food reserves. Finally, he decided to surrender to the nearby Dragon-Roar Town; thus, he and his people became alien residents. Because they possessed the ability to control a small amount of Lightning magic, he and his people called themselves the “Lightning family,” Thereafter, “Lightning” became their family name. Among the gnomes of the Republic of Northwest, they were considered to be the first group to undergo “civilization.”
Now, he was just an elderly merchant in charge of Void City’s bulk trading market. This job was in fact quite idle because with regards to the market, and it was only responsible for providing venues and security. It didn’t associate with business dealings and never had inquired about it before—except in one aspect. When both parties of the deal were done with negotiations, they were required to submit a security deposit along with the trade brief. If neither party had any objection within three months, both parties would be able to recover 90% of the security deposit. The remaining 10% would naturally be used as venue rental fees, as well as a guarantee fee. If within three months, both parties raised objections to the deal, they could head to the Commercial Litigation Court of Void City to start negotiation or even to file a lawsuit. Depending on the needs of the situation, Void City could even deploy Legendary Masters to ensure the reliability of the business.
The old tribal chief, Rakanisho, was too old for hard work and also, he no longer had the energy for too complex calculation. But he could still rely on his experience in studying and sifting through those trade briefs to sort and compile data. And from which, he could find valuable information.
This time, for example, he discovered something odd.
Anyone who was not blind could see that the situation in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins was pretty tense at the moment. Generally speaking, in such situations, both parties would do their best in stockpiling war resources, mainly arrows, armor plates, metal ingots, standard weapons, as well as food and medical supplies.
These things were not cheap. For adventurers to buy in small quantities, the amount would not be a great deal. But it would be a considerable sum of money for the military to buy in large quantities. So having state power was first and foremost in order to fight a battle. Without money… it was best not to think lightly of battle, conceding defeat or running away would be more viable options.
At least this was the principle of the tribal chief, Rakanisho, or rather, the former tribal chief of the “Lightning” tribe of gnomes, the old chief Rakanisho.
Was this principle good or bad? It was hard to say. But at least for the Lightning Tribe, it certainly reaped good results. At the beginning, Rakanisho had no choice but to take a desperate gamble. And finally, he could allow his people to live in stability and prosperity, the kind of life they had always dreamed of.
Except for the need for family planning.
This was one of the few basic state policies of the Republic of Northwest. The people of races who were particularly fertile should be restricted from having children, while those who were less fertile should be encouraged to have children.
The former was represented by the gnomes and the Rabbit men while the latter was naturally represented by creatures such as the Monochrome Bearmen and elemental creatures.
But it was much more difficult to encourage giving birth than restricting it. The Monochrome Bearmen would only have the impulse to reproduce in a short six months out of an entire year. Most of the time, they were more interested in wine than the opposite sex. The elemental creatures were practically clueless about what “reproduction” was. It was almost pointless in pinning hopes on them to reproduce and multiply their population.
Fortunately, Sui Xiong was not the kind of excessively compassionate Virgin Mary with a clouded mind. He would not go through great pains to specially invite a group of grand masters just for the sake of expanding the population of minority groups in the country. Have trouble reproducing? Then so be it. If they themselves were unwilling to reproduce, how could Sui Xiong still force it upon them?
It was inappropriate to resort to coercive means in such matters.