Chapter 243.4

“How goes business these days?”

“Medicine sales are going well in the north.”

“Ho? Is it the war?　It couldn’t be an epidemic, could it?”

The well-statured merchant knit his brows and asked anxiously.

“Oh, surely you’ve already heard, Helbad-san. It’s the War Princess. She’s turned all the people of the east into slaves.”

Trading houses were generally open places.

For example, take the Hama Company Trading House, the peddlers under Hama can of course borrow a part of the house, but even aimless wandering peddlers can seek information at the trading house and borrow a part of it.

A new company will cause friction with those around it if it grows too quick, but the Hama Company has been trading for a long time under the leadership of the previous generation. Although the leadership has already been passed onto the next generation, it can blend in skillfully with its surroundings without causing problems.

“So, I take it that means if one is looking to buy a slave, the cheapest place would be at the Holy Shushunu Kingdom.”

“No, the owner of the land there is powerful, and there’s apparently not been much change in the price.”

The merchants of Hama who were working as Pale’s fingers were finding every hole they could dig into.

“Yes, but recently, it’s gotten much harder to hire adventurers. They all seem to have found a good job of some sort and now it’s really hard to find any guards.”

“Ho ho?”

The merchants were naturally sensitive to the flow of money. If things go well, this might be a topic that could get them a lot of profit.

The man known as Helbad was in charge of Aluid and the rest of the merchants. His job was to take the information the merchants gave him and bring it to the Elks Clan. Like this Pale managed to create an exquisite information network that could be likened to a work of art.

This information network did not just spread itself throughout the south, but even the Holy Shushunu Kingdom, and the small country of Orphen to the north. Information would come pouring from the thread of intelligence put up in the Jewel Road to Pale, and she would filter out the unnecessary from the necessary, submitting only the useful parts to the king.

The information she was most interested in were those pertaining to the movements of the War Princess. As such, the Hama Company focused its ears toward the north.

◆◆◇

When discussing the pillars of a country, the first things to surface are the names of certain people. Names that belong to the likes of the Goblin King, the clan leader of the Red King – Blanche, the queen of the Kushain Believers – Mira.

And then the next thing to surface are the lands.

Economically, militarily, and politically speaking, in the Kushain Believers’ case, this would be the Holy City of Cultidian, while in the goblins’ case, this would be the Western Capital. The Western Capital was not only the first territory the goblins gained after advancing into the plains where the humans resided, but it was also a city once occupied by the late Germion Kingdom, an important traffic route economically speaking, and was also located in front of the Forest of Darkness, from which the goblins sourced their soldiers.

It was not only a foothold which the goblins used to support their advance into the plains, but it was also a powerful tool that allowed them to rule the south and send expeditions to the east. The Western Capital was a powerful city.

The person in charge of unifying the western region was the elf, Fei.

As secretary to the wise Shure, he had a wealth of practical experience, and he was able to maintain the public order of the western region while reconciling the interests of the humans and the various demihuman tribes. There were two big cities in the western region.

One was the former colonial city, Middled, which was located near the Forest of Darkness, at the center of the Western Region.

The person in charge of Middled was Princess Shunaria, who acted as the governor-general. At first, she had merely been acting as a guardian to the races other than humans, but in time, she grew to take on bigger and more important tasks politically-wise in Middled, and eventually, the king left Middled under her leadership.

As a princess who has inherited the blood of the wise Shure Forni, her reign was a peaceful one. Guard jobs were left to the originally rare-class goblin, Gi Ah, and the new recruits to allow them to gain experience. It was also thanks to them that Middled’s public order was a peaceful one.

Yes, Middled was a city protected by a group of ugly but robust and docile soldiers.

The people entering the city were also handled by the guild. Another display of Princess Shunaria’s skill as the governor-general.

The other city was the Western Capital itself, which was ruled by the former slave gladiator and current governor-general, Yoshu.

Even the area known as the eight fortresses of the west when Germion Kingdom was around was put under his jurisdiction. The people living in those lands included the elves, demihumans, humans, and rarely, goblins. If you add the people in the borders as well, the total population under him would reach over 10,000. Moreover, the Western Capital grew by the day.