Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 356: Chapter 28: Regulatory Arbitrage_3

Winters also discovered a very interesting phenomenon: although Wolf Town produces cotton, hemp, and timber, finished goods such as furniture and fabrics still had to be bought from Revodan.

The estates only produced raw materials, yet lacked the capacity to process them—except for tobacco.

The estate economy was actually particularly fragile, extremely dependent on a developed commercial system. Without external merchants to purchase their goods, the entire economic crop planting cycle of the estates would immediately collapse.

However, these matters were of no concern to him; he simply drew his own conclusions from the perspective of an observer.

What he was most concerned about now was the situation in Vineta, so during the convoy’s stop in Revodan these past few days, he visited all the commerce houses in Revodan.

Xial and Gold set out from Sea Blue quite early and were not very clear about the current situation. Besides, Xial had a limited perspective, while Gold was unwilling to elaborate, resulting in Winters obtaining very little useful intelligence from them.

But one common sense was self-evident to Winters, coming from a commercial republic: merchants always had the most up-to-date information, no matter the time or place.

Although the information he received was somewhat inconsistent, it still made Winters deeply worried.

Various pieces of intelligence indicated that the standoff between The Federated Provinces and Vineta—the twin pillars of the Alliance—not only hadn’t cooled but was escalating.

Merchants from Revodan heard that on the Inner Sea, Vineta and The Federated Provinces’ fleets would intercept, inspect, and seize each other’s merchant ships.

There were even rumors that the navies of both sides were masquerading as pirates to rob the other’s vessels—of course, some merchants said it was because the navies no longer had the resources to deal with pirates, allowing the pirates, who had lain low after the collapse of the Tanilia Federation, to become rampant.

The result was that today, not a single merchant ship on the Inner Sea dared to fly the Tulip or Blood Red flags. Ships were raising the Empire’s flag for self-protection.

[The Tulip and Blood Red flags are, respectively, the navigational flags of The Federated Provinces and Vineta.]

Even more merchant ships simply left the Inner Sea or shrank into ports to wait out the storm.

The once-thriving and busy Senas Bay had now become cold and dim.

The Senas Inner Sea, once renowned for its golden waters, had now turned into a deadly area that sailors spoke of with dread.

The land borders had also been sealed off for a long time, with only a few ports remaining open to maintain the scant personnel exchange.

The Parlatu Congress and Vineta Senate rapidly enacted one embargo act after another, turning what was previously an almost unrestricted internal trade within the Alliance into something where selling anything became illegal.

Now, trade between Vineta and The Federated Provinces could only be routed through Paratu, which made quite a few Paratu merchants wealthy through transshipment business, much to the envy of the merchants in the remote southwestern city of Revodan.

Not seeing a sign for Navarre Commerce in the city, Winters also took the opportunity to inquire with the merchants of Revodan, only to find that the Navarre family’s business was “common knowledge”.

According to the warehouses that purchased raw materials such as cotton and hemp, they were selling their goods to Navarre Commerce.

But the large commerce houses only had branches in the provincial capitals, waiting for smaller merchant houses to transport the goods to them, and would not come down to the smaller cities to collect the goods.

The reason… well, it’s the same as why the merchants of Revodan have to have the estate owners bring the goods to Revodan. The roads were unsafe—it was all to reduce risk.

Winters considered sending a message to Navarre Commerce through the merchants of Revodan but after careful consideration, he decided against it.

He didn’t trust the merchants of Revodan, nor the branches of Navarre Commerce—even if he were to write a letter, he couldn’t include important information.

Now that he had already communicated with Sea Blue, he wasn’t in a rush to send a message back. Who knew whether the Paratu People would hand over his letter to the Parlatu Army?

…

Time passed quickly in the city of Revodan.

After living for over two months in the quiet, spacious countryside, Winters felt somewhat unaccustomed to the sudden return to city life.

In the span of three days, Winters attended to official business, made inquiries at different firms, and on Sunday, followed the congregation into the Revodan Cathedral for mass.

However, the lieutenant regarded his visit as a sightseeing trip and discreetly avoided taking communion at the end.

To be fair, the Revodan Cathedral was indeed magnificent and luxurious, and even when compared to Sea Blue’s Saint Marco Cathedral, it had its merits.

The towering arches seemed poised to crush one’s face from above, making every passerby feel their insignificance.

What genuinely moved Winters was not the miracles of the divine but the wisdom humans burst forth with in their efforts to please their gods.

Just looking at the cathedral before him, it was hard to imagine how the craftsmen could create such a majestic structure using simple tools like chisels, hammers, and pulleys.

To Winters, a Sea Blue native, Revodan could hardly be considered a wealthy city.

Yet, a city of just one or two thousand people had erected such a cathedral, making it difficult to decide whether to call it extravagant or wasteful, foolish or devout.

Of course, what Winters found most impressive was the grandiose vestments of the Revodan bishop and the dazzling gold and silver vessels on the altar.

The lieutenant couldn’t help thinking: Perhaps part of it came from the toll collected by that old man by the bridgehead?

And so, the three days passed swiftly.

On the fourth day, it was time to set off again from Wolf Town, heading back to that remote, secluded, yet charming border town.

However, an hour past the agreed departure time, nearly half the people hadn’t shown up.

After sending the latecomers’ companions to urge them several times, there was still no sign of them, leaving Gerard and Winters anxious.

An irate Winters ordered the companions of the latecomers to lead the way, grabbing his saber and storming off in a fury.

It wasn’t until he arrived at their location that he understood why the guide hesitated to speak plainly—it was a brothel.

“Young master, who are you looking for?” A courtesan inside sashayed up to the lieutenant with a smile, even reaching out to wrap her arms around his waist, “Why don’t you stay a while~”@@novelbin@@

Winters was not used to this.

His face ashen, he kicked open each door, flooring the men from Wolf Town with a punch and following up with a lash of his whip, “Great! Earn a few bucks and it all goes to the damn brothel!”

The bruised and battered Dusack and the workers were rounded up by Winters to the assembly point, where Gerard, with one look, understood everything.

His face stern, he asked, “Haven’t I said time and time again not to distribute the reward money until we’re home? Have you all ignored my words?”

He was not addressing the men who had gone off to drink and visit women, but rather the landowners beside him.

Those caught by his gaze could do nothing but shamefully lower their heads, with the owner of Golden Ear Manor, Vick Hoffman, braving his explanation, “Some of the servants came to me wanting to buy some things to take back, so I didn’t think much of it when I gave it to them. Plus, everyone’s really worn out from the journey, a little relaxation is in order…”

“Shut up!” Gerard interrupted old Hoffman in a thunderous roar, “I don’t want excuses, those who can’t follow the rules, don’t follow the convoy! You bring this on yourself! Don’t you know that the laborers rely on this one-time bonus to save up some money for the entire year?! Don’t you know that the way back is even more dangerous than the journey here?!”

Vick Hoffman, frightened by the sudden ferocity in old Dusack’s eyes, trembled and dared not speak again.

With people and carts roughly accounted for but upon closer inspection still short of members,

Gerard grabbed a worker by the collar and demanded, “Where’s your master?”

“Reporting to the lord, master Bunting left for home yesterday,” the trembling worker replied, “He wanted to get a jump on securing land and forbade me from telling you all.”

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