Chapter 203 – Three Weeks
Time passed quickly after that. Three weeks later, the war ended just as Angin had predicted. Makji and Taifau managed to trap Thuk’s exhausted rank 7 and kill him. Thuk immediately surrendered thereafter, bringing the brief conflict to a close. They were to pay a relatively small war reparation to the two countries, the sole right Angin allowed to the victors in such wars.
On Geola’s side, the number of refugees reached several thousand by the time the war ended. They had the bright idea of choosing representatives among them and giving them money and carriages so they could go around the surrounding villages and buy the food and resources they needed to survive. It was a very merchant-like solution, as expected of the trading city. It worked relatively well, except for a couple of opportunists who escaped with the money and were never seen again. That sort of money didn’t put a dent in Geola's coffers, and no one truly cared about it either way.
The refugees made their way back to Thuk as soon as the fighting stopped, thanking Geola’s officials for the aid they received. They were given a small amount of money to help rebuild their razed villages, mostly as a way to increase the city’s reputation in the region.
On my side, nothing special happened. Minsto was still working on functional prototypes, Suuru was handling our stall in 6, and I was filling the gaps as usual. Kuini looked like she was hesitating to move any further for now, arguing that she was “preparing” when asked about it. I wasn’t in a hurry and chose to wait until she felt the time was right.
Since I had a lot of free time and the war ended, I decided to resume my international trading attempts. This time, I aimed for trade between Taifau and Makji. They each had goods the other country craved for, but since direct trading was forbidden, it all happened through Geola’s merchants or independent traders.
Taifau was a canine militaristic country, with all civil servants and officials receiving military grades. It was led by a rank 6 sorcerer calling himself General Supreme, who ruled the regime with an iron fist. The laws were strict, and discipline was thoroughly enforced. In terms of population, it was between Makji and Thuk, making it the second most populated territory in the region.
They had large iron, copper, and lead mines, allowing them to produce most of the metal supply that was used by other countries. On top of that, their eastern side bordered the ocean, allowing them to have a thriving fishing industry. All of these were products Makji was ready to pay good money for: the minerals because they didn’t have any, and the fish because it was considered a delicacy there. The last part in particular was something I was aiming for. Due to slow traveling times in the medieval-level outer world, it was almost impossible to deliver fresh fish inland. Using the preservation spell helped a little, but it was still far from a still-twitching, lively, freshly fished marine product.
As for what they lacked, it was good quality transformed goods. There were two reasons for that. First, canines weren’t that good with their hands and usually avoided delicate handicraft work. Then, being an artisan wasn’t considered an enviable job in this country, where group fighting prowess and military discipline counted for everything, because no glory was to be found there.
They often enslaved other species to work for them instead, but those typically ended up rescued by Geola, or even sometimes by Thuk or Makji, the latter usually keeping the slaves for themselves. As for Angin, she didn’t meddle in other countries' internal affairs as long as they had no impact on the trading city. That’s why she preferred rescuing those who were enslaved without a good reason instead of banning slavery altogether. I suspected this also allowed Geola’s troops to have a minimum of practice since they were never involved in any major conflicts. It was well known that Geola’s army was the weakest in the region, by numbers but also by ferocity, and only Angin’s presence forced the region’s situation into a perpetual stalemate.
Makji, as a country with very few mineral resources, needed to do the best it could with what it had, and ended up having very skilled artisans and blacksmiths. As such, the two countries would be perfect trading partners in different circumstances, a situation that benefited Geola’s merchants greatly, and maybe me too in the future.
My plan was simple. Due to selling a lot of vaccines, I had more than enough funds in the outer world. I wanted to see if I could buy a small shop in Makji, and then another in Taifau, and exchange goods between the two places to make great profits. In case I couldn’t buy for any reason, then I would try to rent something. If even that didn’t work, setting up a stall in one of the markets would do. Or I would think of another solution.
I first teleported to Alfiro, which had now become something like a secondary base for me. After inquiring around, I found out that foreigners weren’t allowed to buy a store. When I showed my token, as usual, people weren’t sure anymore. Eventually, I was directed to the city guards, who directed me to the army, who then directed me to Zhuri, the very person who had given me the token.
She and Alfiro’s army had come back home with their heads held high. The Chian duchy was the main contributor during the war, and the army was welcomed with cheers from the population. The mood was high throughout the city, and even the men weren’t treated as badly as usual.
I was made to wait a long time because she was busy handling post-war logistics, which I translated as celebrating their victory, probably getting drunk in some random tavern together with her subordinates.
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