Chapter 421
Source of War
“Oh?”
Upon hearing Mr. Grandet’s words, Eivass raised his head with great interest. “Why do you think so?”
Although Eivass himself did think so… this attitude could not be easily revealed.
—We still have to bargain.
“Let’s get straight to the point,” Eivass leaned forward, asking with great interest, “What are your demands?”
Grandet did not answer Eivass’s question directly.
Instead, he shook his head and said, “Allow me to give you a piece of news for free, Minister.”
The standard Avalon language, deep and elegant, was spoken in an orderly and leisurely manner by the goblin merchant: “The Star Antimony people have been researching Anti-Gryphon technology for several decades, and they have recently made considerable breakthroughs…”
The green-skinned goblin casually pulled up the pocket watch hanging from his chain and put it back into his chest pocket, letting only a small part of the golden chain hang outside.
“There aren’t many top Extraordinary individuals in this generation of Avalon. In fact… they are quite rare. The scale of the army is also decreasing year by year. How much combat effectiveness can an army that hasn’t fought for decades and has been living in comfort possess?”
The goblin spoke with a rather magnetic voice: “And you and I both know that Avalon’s true deterrent lies in the Gryphon Legion. And the combat effectiveness of the Gryphon Legion is definitely not in frontal battles.
“As long as the Gryphon Legion can enter the enemy’s territory, they can use their extreme mobility to harass the rear back and forth; they can also use their excellent mobility to cut off supplies, divide and surround, and bomb and harass. Although when Avalon was invaded, the Gryphon Legion could basically do nothing… the Gryphons could attack the enemy’s homeland in turn, launching a bloody ‘rear attrition warfare.’
“It is precisely because of this strategic deterrence that Avalon can maintain its isolated status. But if you ask me, Respected Minister—such days are about to end.”
The goblin merchant’s deep, dark pupils were like bottomless lakes, making it impossible to discern his specific thoughts.
He was speaking calmly and rationally about what everyone already knew, making it incredibly persuasive: “I guess Countess Emma’s visit this time is to discuss the matter of trade ports.
“If I’m not mistaken, she will use the excuse of ‘Star Antimony’s goal is to advance eastward’ to persuade you.”
“That is indeed the case.”
Eivass nodded slightly. “That’s what she said.”
The goblin said: “Star Antimony has the ambition to unify the continent. After Star Antimony swallows Iris Flower, do you think Avalon can remain aloof? Or do you really think Star Antimony will spare Avalon?”
“Of course, I know.”
Eivass nodded and asked back, “So? What do you want to do by coming to Avalon? To persuade Avalon to lift the ban, allow goblins to establish merchant associations, and allow Avalon to open up trade?”
“Precisely,” Grandet said frankly, “Avalon must eventually connect with the world, otherwise it will only be abandoned by the times.
“And Star Antimony… heh, forgive my bluntness, they are most likely making empty promises to you. Because they are already unable to take care of themselves.”
Hearing this, Eivass suddenly understood… why this top capitalist would come to him at this time.
If Avalon truly cooperated with Star Antimony and opened up trade ports… it would mean that all the ports on the western side of the entire continent would be indirectly controlled by Star Antimony and Iris Flower.
Avalon itself had no resources to speak of. Although it produced metal ores, for Star Antimony, whose territory was several times larger than Avalon, that was nothing. Not to mention that Avalon’s food structure was very dangerous—Queen Sophia did not pass the “Grain Law” back then, which resulted in Avalon’s food supply currently relying entirely on imports.
—Imported from Star Antimony.
The real significance of occupying Avalon was to gain a geographical advantage.
To the northwest of Avalon was the Church, and continuing northwest from the Church, one could travel along the Northern Continent. Southwest of Avalon was a sea filled with chaos… it was very easy to get lost there.
The seas in this world were very chaotic and turbulent, and the further away from land, the more dangerous it became—although it was similar in the original world. Directly sailing towards the destination, things would eventually go wrong after a long time. And cargo ships could not afford any mistakes.
Therefore, although ocean voyages were called “ocean voyages,” they could not be too far from land. At least, it must be within the distance where land could be seen with a telescope, otherwise it would be difficult to find the direction.
In the sea, even if it was only off by one degree at the beginning… by the time the destination was reached, it would be off by a whole other country.
For this reason, if Avalon’s navy and Gryphon Legion were to block the direction of the Church to the northwest, it would pose a huge threat to Star Antimony’s sea transport routes.
And because of the tense relationship between Avalon and Star Antimony, Star Antimony’s sea transport routes could only go south, along the edge of the Southern Continent. Or they could take short-range routes, from Star Antimony to the Southern Continent for short-range cargo transport, and then hand over the goods to the goblins. The goblins would then transport them to all parts of the world through the trade routes they had developed and maintained over many years.
In this process, the goblins basically did not participate in production, except for “training trolls.” They were only responsible for buying at low prices and selling at high prices, relying on the routes and ports they had established and maintained in various countries over the years, as well as highly synchronized commodity supply and demand information, to continuously transport goods to the most suitable places.
“It’s clear that the Star Antimony people are jealous.”
Eivass chuckled, leaning back slightly, comfortably resting on the back of his chair. “They also want to get involved.”
“Laymen always think that way,”
Mr. Grandet chuckled. “The Star Antimony people are so confident that they are about to explode… They stubbornly believe that they have grasped the secrets of alchemy. They can easily turn low-value raw materials into products worth tens or even hundreds of times more, the only problem being who to sell these things to.”
“Naturally, they can only sell them to you.”
Eivass said with a sarcastic smile.
Grandet humbly corrected: “That won’t happen. Although I am also a member of the ‘Merchant Association,’ the members of the Merchant Association are all free among themselves. No one is the king of another.
“If Star Antimony cannot get rid of the large quantity of internal alchemical products, they will naturally contact the ‘Merchant Association’… Avalon also made a great contribution to this. Or rather… you made the first contribution.”
Hearing the goblin merchant say this, Eivass was slightly dazed.
He realized—
—It was because of Avalon’s tariffs on Star Antimony’s alchemical products!
Before, the royal family was repeatedly cursed and killed. Avalon could not determine whether it was Iris Flower or the Star Antimony people who did it, and could not find conclusive evidence. Because of this, they were unwilling to participate in the war and were dragged into a quagmire by the two opposing countries.
But Avalon still maintained a decidedly hostile attitude towards Star Antimony—this was actually to show the people.
Regardless of whether the source of the curse was Iris Flower or Star Antimony, it could only be Star Antimony. Because Avalon could defeat Iris Flower, but everyone knew in their hearts that they could not defeat Star Antimony.
Constantly condemning Star Antimony was actually a stalling tactic to appease the public and also to numb the Star Antimony people, giving them a feeling of underestimating Avalon… Behind this was Queen Sophia’s plan to quietly activate the “Shadow of Avalon” plan.
Although this plan failed before it could be carried out due to Jacob’s interference…
…But now it seemed that the increased tariffs at that time had actually yielded good results.
Star Antimony and Iris Flower were clearly hostile countries—Star Antimony wanted to annex Iris Flower, but it was difficult to swallow it directly. Because the ideological gap between the two countries was obvious, Star Antimony clearly wanted Iris Flower’s population and talent, not to leave the land and kill the people. Once caught in the grinding wheel of a bloody war, it was easy to generate hatred, so Star Antimony only wanted to achieve its strategic goals through a sufficiently short war.
For this reason, Iris Flower was unlikely to accept Star Antimony’s dumping of goods.
The best way was actually Avalon.
Avalon and Star Antimony indeed had no enmity, and even had a “Ten-Day War” grudge with Iris Flower. Moreover, Avalon implemented a high-pressure rule of the Path of Authority, alchemy was very backward, and the common people were relatively wealthy. As long as Avalon could accept Star Antimony’s dumping of goods, Star Antimony would not need to contact the goblin merchant association.
Thinking of this, Eivass suddenly understood—
Why did Star Antimony smuggle alchemical products to Avalon through Lloyd Society? Why did even low-level thugs like “Big Purple” have “Drunken Dream T” produced by Star Antimony’s alchemical workshops? Why did “the King” complain that alchemists were exploiting the botanists in the country and constantly lowering the purchase price? Why did the alchemists in Star Antimony become so arrogant and manic, while the Demon Scholars maintained a subtle restraint and silence…
In a sense, the culprits behind all this… were these goblin merchants.
(End of this chapter)
