Chapter 256
Eivass Buys Horse Bones with a Thousand Gold Coins
Princess Isabel, standing behind Eivass, gently patted his shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Mr. King seems to be genuinely unaware… how pitiful he is.”
*You actually call him “Mr. King”?*
*Do you even realize you’re the princess?*
Eivass raised an eyebrow, refraining from voicing the thoughts in his mind. He leaned in close to Isabel, his voice lowered as well, “What, are you planning to pardon him?”
“He still has a daughter to raise… I feel like that’s the truth. He truly regrets it, and I don’t know what Minister Dross is doing.”
Isabel felt a pang of sympathy, but at the same time, she maintained her rationality. She whispered back, “Help me, Eivass… How can we save him without harming Avalon’s interests?”
“As you wish, Your Highness.”
Eivass’s lips curved slightly as he murmured, “Leave it to me.”
—Since Eivass said so, it must be true.
Isabel’s heart immediately settled in relief. She rose and took two steps back, aligning herself with Lily. She signaled that she would no longer interfere in this matter. Eivass, however, turned back, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the King. Just a single glance from him brought immense pressure to the King.
Princess Isabel’s aspiration to become a benevolent Queen was a good thing. As someone whose social connections were largely tied to Avalon, Eivass naturally hoped that the future Queen, his direct superior, would be a kind and wise person. Eivass wouldn’t negate such a positive developmental trend. If Avalon truly needed to take some less benevolent actions, to incorporate a bit of ruthlessness, a thick skin, and a dark heart… well, he was there for that. He just hoped that certain familiar plotlines, like “Eivass, I am the Queen,” or “Isabel, you will regret this,” wouldn’t unfold.
Fulfilling Princess Isabel’s request was actually quite simple. —Because “Mr. King” was unaware of one thing: Avalon was desperately short of talent.
Botanist was a rather rare profession, even in Star Antimony, it was uncommon. Royal Law University and Milton University did not have the inheritance for this profession. This was because the job transfer for this profession was actually more difficult than for an alchemist. The balance of the heart that alchemists upheld was more on the level of “conservation of matter” and “everything has its principles.”
The Path of Balance that botanists had to follow, however, included the balance between humans and nature. This was far more difficult to comprehend than alchemy. Under the influence of Master Nobel, alchemy had developed in Avalon for nearly twenty years. Yet, even with diligent efforts to catch up, it was still far behind Star Antimony.
On one hand, Avalon had not yet formed a sufficient talent pool. Currently, it relied mostly on the older generation of alchemists, and these older alchemists were mostly not natives of Avalon. On the other hand, the development of paths like the Path of Balance and The Path of Beauty required a certain social atmosphere. Everyone’s research actually promoted and competed with each other. Although this would inevitably lead to industry involution and significant talent waste, the overall development speed would not be low.
—So, since Star Antimony had an overflow of talent, why shouldn’t Avalon quickly pick some up! Those you don’t want, we do!
Although “King” himself only considered Botanists an auxiliary profession to Alchemists… after all, Botanists didn’t make a lot of money or achieve great fame, unlike Alchemists who had several complete inheritance lines and promotion routes, and even critically lacked combat power. But from a national perspective, Botanists, skilled in cultivating different plants, inducing directed plant mutations, and rapidly inducing the growth of various rare plants, were far more useful than low-level Alchemists of equivalent energy level. Alchemists only became useful at higher energy levels, but Botanists were useful even at the First Tier.
A First Tier Botanist could, by squeezing land fertility, reduce the maturity period of crops that normally took eight to nine months to three months, while ensuring the quality of the produce. Moreover, lower-level Botanists could handle plant diseases and pests, and continuously optimize crop seeds. This was the reason why Star Antimony’s wheat and corn were continuously exported to Avalon in large quantities. Star Antimony’s imported grains were so superior and cheap that they severely squeezed the income of Avalon’s farmers. Even with a 30% protective tariff, they were still 30% cheaper than Avalon’s grain prices.
Avalon did not have a noble class that privately owned land, unlike Star Antimony. All of Avalon’s land belonged to the royal family, used by farmers who paid rent. The price of these grains made it impossible to pay rent or sell at a decent price, leading to a financial crisis for the Kingdom. Ultimately, Avalon’s arable land was gradually converted into pastures.
The Finance Minister at the time wanted to implement the “Grain Bill.” This meant forcibly setting grain prices and absolutely prohibiting imports when the price fell below the regulated level. He hoped to forcibly guarantee the prices of grains circulating in the market through this method. This would mean a price increase of more than twofold for market grains, along with a concurrent rise in the prices of all agricultural products. Furthermore, the number of factory workers would significantly decrease.
Queen Sophia, who was still young at the time, pondered for a long time and concluded that this would bring about intense conflict and instability to Avalon. Thus, she ultimately did not pass the “Grain Bill.” Without anyone hoarding grain or artificially inflating prices, at least the price could be raised twofold, which was enough to starve people. Moreover, it was uncertain what other events might occur at that time.
As a result, Avalon ultimately became dependent on Star Antimony’s crops. Just as “Shepherd’s Bay Country”’s name suggested, the number of Avalon’s farmers was not only less than that of shepherds but even less than that of fishermen. The remaining farmers were basically growing high-value cash crops. Only a few arable lands were fully invested in by the royal family, growing war-reserve food at a loss, with quality lower than the grains sold by the Star Antimony people.
—In Eivass’s opinion, this indicated that Star Antimony was actually quite afraid of Avalon back then. It was during the crucial period when Star Antimony was attacking the Black Hawk Duchy and the Daffodil Duchy to the east, especially the Daffodil Duchy, which was extremely far from the Star Antimony mainland. The Star Antimony of that time did not know the control Queen Sophia, who had just ascended the throne, had over Avalon, nor did they know her governance plans. Therefore, they used this stratagem to prevent Avalon from initiating a war against Star Antimony.
And now, it was almost time to lift the restriction. According to Eivass’s understanding, the government of Star Antimony was also quite strict with Botanists. —Now, perhaps because of the power struggle occurring there, Alchemists were encroaching on the Botanists’ living space. This was because the income of Botanists was essentially derived from Alchemists. It could even be said that the Star Antimony government raised the prices of alchemical raw materials precisely to protect the income and status of Botanists.
According to Eivass’s memory, this was around the time of Star Antimony’s civil strife. The Alchemists wanted to seize power. —From the perspective of the Alchemists, their strongest demand was naturally to reduce costs. Despite the work done by Botanists not being complex or requiring high technical skill, their income was much higher than that of low-level Alchemists of equivalent energy level. Low-level Alchemists basically spent money madly. To cultivate a Third Tier Alchemist required at least 380 gold coins in material costs, calculated assuming all alchemies were successful. If their talent was slightly poorer, this number could easily multiply several times.
If everyone was at the First Tier, why should you earn tens or hundreds of gold coins a month while I spend over ten gold coins a month? Therefore, Alchemists harbored considerable hostility towards “shrewd merchants” like Botanists. And the leading Alchemists, in order to gain the support of the lower and middle-class Alchemists, had to seek benefits for them. Some of these benefits were naturally taken from Botanists, and then, in turn, they extracted them from various classes by raising overall prices.
If Eivass guessed correctly, “Mr. King” would be selling goods at the Ascension Ritual… he was likely being extorted by the Alchemists. If Eivass could recruit “Mr. King” and send out a friendly signal… then as the internal strife in Star Antimony intensified, they might be able to accept the defection of higher-level Botanists. Moreover, “King” himself had decent moral character. As long as his heart’s ailment could be resolved, he could be of use.
“If I’m not mistaken,” Eivass said slowly, “your family is very likely being controlled by the Star Antimony people.”
Upon hearing this, Augustus’s face turned deathly pale, “W-why…?”
“Because Botanists are forbidden from leaving the country. You are probably from an unconventional background, or rather, your level was too low before, so you wouldn’t know about this.” Eivass sighed, a look of pity on his face, “Star Antimony guards the inheritance of Botanists very closely. If nothing unexpected happens, you might also be targeted for assassination by Star Antimony.”
Of course, this was a lie. After all, he was just a novice First Tier Botanist. Star Antimony was in intense conflict. Even for the sake of political correctness, they wouldn’t pay too much attention to Botanists at this juncture, otherwise, it would only further enrage the abnormally sensitive Alchemists. Or rather, with the Alchemists planning to seize power, the leak of Botanist inheritance was already an irreversible future. For Star Antimony, whose desire for war was increasingly intense, when the Alchemists, representing advanced technology, clashed with Botanists, the royal family could only side with the Alchemists. This was the conflict between the nation of “Star Antimony” and the core group of “Star Antimony’s Alchemists.”
“Th-then can I still go back…?”
“What are you thinking? What are you going to say to the people in Star Antimony?” Eivass directly interrupted him and retorted, “You actively exported a large amount of ‘alchemical raw materials’ to Avalon. Although plant essential oil is not classified as an alchemical raw material, do you really think the Star Antimony people wouldn’t know that we would use these to synthesize alchemical products? I’m not afraid to tell you—the person you sold goods to is your biggest spy in Avalon, responsible for smuggling from Star Antimony. And just a few days ago, he was apprehended, interrogated, and executed by us. This happened around the time your cargo arrived, after the contract was signed. And you personally arrived in Avalon with the smuggled cargo. You met me, and you met the future Her Majesty the Queen. Yet, you were not punished in any way and returned to Star Antimony unharmed. I won’t say anything else. Just think about it yourself, what do you think the Star Antimony people will think of you? Do you really think you can go back?”
The more the King listened, the paler his face became. He wasn’t stupid, just somewhat naive. But one couldn’t be brainless to be recognized by the Path of Balance. With a little thought, he understood that what Eivass said was all true.
However, at this moment, Eivass’s tone shifted, “But you should thank our benevolent Princess. Because of our fateful encounter, Princess Isabel intends to help you. We will try to send an Inspector to Star Antimony to see if we can rescue your family. We will also send people to protect you.”
“…What! I am truly very grateful to you, the benevolent and noble Princess, and Mr. Moriarty… Please, you must rescue my family—!” Augustus was suddenly overjoyed, yet also somewhat uneasy, “Th-then what can I do for you?”
“You don’t need to do anything. At least, not for now.” Eivass’s lips curled slightly as he spoke words that relieved Augustus, yet made him even more uneasy, “This is free, Mr. Augustus.”
Update complete!
