Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 5

“Nothing personal,” Liane said. “It’s just business.”

Silence filled the main hall of the Blighthold Merchant Guild. The space was recently used as an inner-city shelter, but the men and women gathered before her were oblivious to its lingering odours following Liane’s statement.

“…it sounded like a threat to me.”

“What’s the point in that?” Liane replied with a laugh, “It’s time to face the facts. The Beastmen ran off with your gold reserves. Your country has a massive trade deficit. Your industrial production isn’t going to be able to make up for it anytime soon. You guys might’ve escaped being gobbled up by the Beastmen, but that ain’t gonna save you from being gobbled up by us.”

Low murmurs rose from the crowd, but they didn’t last long. The Beastman occupation and its consequences were easy enough to understand.

“B-but the Queen will…”

A young man with dark brown hair started to speak, and then his voice stilled. The other Merchants standing around him sighed.

Usually, when a part of the Draconic Kingdom was raided, the Queen pooled her country’s resources to support their recovery. Now, however, the entire country was in the same situation or worse. The only thing they could do was try and claw themselves out of the hole they had found themselves in.

“The administration said that as long as we carry on as we did before, we’ll be fine.”

“Well, what the administration thinks is ‘fine’ probably won’t be ‘fine’ for you guys.”

“Still,” the woman said, “they won’t ruin the country…”

She likely wasn’t wrong. The Royal Court of the Draconic Kingdom – or more accurately, the landlords of the Draconic Kingdom and their tenants – understood that the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Death-series servitors would provide them with all the time in the world to rebuild. With that in mind, they embarked on a traditionalist approach, relying on their primary industries to fuel their country’s recovery.

This was all well and good so long as one had land to work with or worked in the industries that supported them. In the wake of the Beastman occupation, that was almost everyone in the Draconic Kingdom, which effectively gave the Royal Court unlimited political will.

It was strange, in a way. Detrimental events usually had the effect of eroding the power of the establishment as public sentiment for those in power turned sour and competition for resources grew. In the Draconic Kingdom, calamity only made the establishment stronger as the entire country rallied around the crown to bounce back. Other Human rulers in the region could only sigh and wish that they had even a third of Queen Oriculus’ power over her country’s domestic affairs.

There was one group, however, that had no land and could still influence the Draconic Kingdom’s economic landscape. It was that group that Liane and her friends now turned to to undermine the impossible wall that was Queen Oriculus’ court. The Draconic Kingdom’s nobility wasn’t stupid and already recognised them as an opponent, but that only played into the Sorcerous Kingdom’s hands.

“Not on purpose, maybe,” Liane said. “But from where I stand, things are looking grim for y’all. You know your Nobles better than me, so I won’t bother telling you what they’re like.”

Blighthold’s new guildmaster – a middle-aged man she had met before in Oriculon – crossed his arms.

“Then what’s your angle?” He asked, “Doesn’t seem like you stand to gain anything by telling us this.”

“A friendly warning?” Liane tilted her head, “We’re supposed to be helping you guys out, after all. Also, our companies are expanding like crazy, so it’d be great if ya join us on good terms.”

“We’re not finished yet!” A voice rose from the back, “Don’t just go and kill us off!”

“Feel free to struggle all ya like,” Liane said. “I won’t hold it against ya when ya finally come crawling to us.”

With her provocation delivered, Liane left the Blighthold Merchant Guild. Florine let out a sigh after several blocks.

“You didn’t have to be so mean,” she said.

“It’ll stick better that way,” Liane replied. “I can’t do the crazy things you do, after all.”

“They’re not crazy.”

“Look,” Liane said, “if a girl like you walks into a cave fulla hungry Trolls that she’s never met before and leaves with a cave fulla best buddies, that’s crazy. No one will say that it isn’t.”

“It isn’t as if I beat them up.”

“If you did, then at least it’d be understandable. Magical boob powers are not.”

Florine’s hand shot out and pinched Liane’s wrist. Liane let out a yelp.

“They’re not ‘magical boob powers’,” Florine seethed. “Clara can do it too, you know.”

She could, but the effect was different. Clara was cool and distant, like a piece of art to admire from afar. Florine was warm and fluffy, and people couldn’t help but want to grow closer to her.

“Clara isn’t lewd, though.”

“I’m not lewd, either!”

“Yuh-huh. Deny it all you want, but that’s just how it is. I bet that thingy Lady Shalltear gave you will turn you into something lewd, too. It’ll be like your true form. By the way, did it change any yet?”

“No,” Florine frowned. “It hasn’t changed one bit since I activated it. I don’t get what I’m supposed to do.”

“Maybe you don’t need to do anything,” Liane said. “It could be calibrating to you or just working over time. Maybe it’ll add stuff in bits and pieces? Like a third tit.”

“You’re going to make me throw this thing into the sea,” Florine said.

So far, it didn’t look like Florine had any idea what was required to activate the race change item, or else she would have already thrown it into the sea. Liane had already suggested that her friend do certain things that might lead to ‘claiming souls’, but Florine was too conscious of inadvertently harming others and everything Liane came up with was rejected.

Why am I in such a rush, anyway? Florine never even mentions it without me asking.

She gave her best friend a sidelong glance. Deep in her heart, Liane understood that the problem lay with herself.

The Sorcerous Kingdom tested its people in various ways, and many of their methods could be cruel or extreme. They wanted to see if they could transform Florine in a roundabout way, and they wanted to see how far Liane would go for her sake. For her part, Liane was perfectly fine with doing whatever was required, but a sense of foreboding haunted her along the way.

What if they failed? What if Lady Shalltear ran out of patience waiting for results? What if Florine found out what the item actually required? She might not throw it into the sea, but Liane still had no doubt in her mind that Florine would refuse to go through with the transformation if she knew what was going on.

“Liane?”

If that happened, everything would all fall apart. They would lose what they had together. That absolutely couldn’t happen.

『Liane!』

“Huh? What?”

“You walked right by it.”

Liane looked over her shoulder. They were making their way along Blighthold’s wharf. Behind them was a cordoned-off section that took up two of its piers.

“Is this gonna be enough?” She frowned at the sight, “It looks kinda puny now that we’re here in person.”

“We all agreed that it’s sufficient,” Florine said. “A berth with enough room for the necessary equipment and space for a few dozen containers. You always try to add stuff to everything after the fact.”

“It just feels weird to look at, y’know? Usually, you’d have a buncha cargo lots and warehouses too.”

Even though they were the ones pioneering the new cargo system, they had still grown up having old logistical realities drilled into them. It would take a while to get used to things. Several members of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Royal Court occasionally pointed out one oversight or another that seemed obvious in hindsight.

The main warehouse for their operations in the Draconic Kingdom was not in the Draconic Kingdom at all, but in Lagaš. Transportation had become so efficient and modular that they could deliver goods anywhere on the coast within about a day. All that they really needed at each city was space for compatible port facilities and a small office to process deliveries. Everything else was merely a luxury that would be nice if they could get away with it, which they didn’t in the end.

A cargo barge was moored in the port and members of the exclave staff were working to unload containers onto the rocky pier. The Human members of the staff had already been ferried over from Corelyn Harbour by Ruin’s Wake. A construction team was also present and puzzling out how to turn the waterfront into a respectable-looking trade complex. They only had about two hundred square metres to work with, which annoyed Liane to no end.

“That transfer station must be taking up a third of the space,” she muttered. “We wouldn’t need it at all if they’d just use our stuff.”

“I think it’s fine for now,” Florine said. “The construction crews need to learn how to best build them anyway. This won’t be the only place where they’ll be necessary.”

The Draconic Kingdom’s Royal Court was still rejecting Undead labour, which also meant that they wouldn’t be improving their infrastructure to support the Sorcerous Kingdom’s cargo container system. Fortunately, Lord Demiurge’s half-sized containers could still be used so long as wagons that could handle them were employed.

“Hmm…I guess we should split up now,” Liane said. “I’ll be over there pestering the company staff.”

“Mhm.”

Liane left Florine standing near the exclave entrance. Now that they had left their ‘warning’ with the Blighthold Merchant Guild, all they had to do was wait for some of the more proactive members to come searching for a solution to their predicament. It wasn’t a difficult solution – plus it was stupidly obvious – but the cultural gap between Nobles and Merchants that existed in other countries was also present in the Draconic Kingdom.

They – or at least she and Clara – had been blind to what that cultural gap could mean, but this was no longer the case. Once they had the chance, they would have to rework their strategy in the Baharuth Empire, as well. The first of the factional representatives would be arriving in the summer, so it was a good thing that they were made aware of the issue before that.

She wandered over to the side of the exclave boundary, where a half dozen men and women were assembling one of her newer wagon models.

“Drum up any interest yet?”

They looked up at the sound of her voice, then turned their attention back to their work.

“Not yet, m’lady,” the lead mechanic said. “The locals still don’t know we exist.”

“That’ll change once things get going here,” Liane said. “Did you figure out what sort of demonstration you’ll give yet?”

“Should be the standard,” the man replied. “Actually, it’s weird: I’m pretty sure these guys are ahead of where we were back before everything happened. Did you notice that?”

“Sure did,” Liane nodded.

It wasn’t just the fact that the Draconic Kingdom was broadly more advanced than Re-Estize or the Empire, but also the fact that that advancement was seamlessly integrated into its economy, governance and culture. In the north, a Farmer was pretty much ignorant of what was going on beyond their village and the difference between a rural village and a city was stark. The Draconic Kingdom, however, was extraordinarily well-connected and universally well-developed.

The only aspects where the Draconic Kingdom tended to fall short were in areas where veterancy was crucial. High-tier magic casters and a well-developed military were two such examples. The strongest were generally eaten first, so those who had advanced significantly in their vocation tended to not have a chance to pass on their expertise to the next generation.

“How’d you think that happened? These guys are constantly under attack by the Beastmen next door, aren’t they?”

“That’s probably exactly how it happened,” Liane said. “It’s just like how competition keeps us sharp. In their case, they have to squeeze every bit of performance out of what they have.”

“The people here must be made different,” the man shook his head. “You get a little raid in the north and the people drop everything to go screaming for Imperial Knights or Adventurers. Here, they lose more than half their people and just keep going.”

The wagon frame was assembled and the bed was installed within ten minutes. It was rolled over to the transfer station, where a half-sized cargo container was loaded atop it. A Death Knight came out to test the vehicle, pulling it back and forth in front of the exclave.

“Looks like we’re good here,” the lead mechanic said. “How many do you think we should assemble?”

“Mmh…we don’t have much room to work with. You’re teaching them how to assemble their own wagons and replace parts, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then a half-dozen assembled wagons to show off should be more than enough. One of the big draws is how easy they are to put together and service, anyway.”

House Wagner’s vehicle frames were one of the things that Liane was confident would sell well in the Draconic Kingdom regardless of what obstacles faced them in the Royal Court. Steel frames were lighter than wooden ones, and advances in her machining industry made interchangeable parts possible. They were stronger, easier to handle, a breeze to repair and cheaper than conventional wood or iron vehicle frames, so there was rationally no reason to turn them down in favour of anything short of a ship.

『Liane, they’re here.』

“Eh, Gagnier’s under attack. I’ll check in on you guys later.”

“Sure thing, m’lady.”

Liane went between a set of cargo containers before activating her Invisibility item. Then she hurried over to the exclave entrance where Florine was pretending to read a book. Upon closer inspection, she was editing the upcoming volume of Dreams of Red.

She’s not going to release that series all at once here, is she? The entire country’s productivity is going to collapse.

Several sets of individuals were eyeing Florine across the way. Liane couldn’t be sure which companies had sent them, but that part didn’t matter.

『They just gonna stare at you all day? You’re not even their type.』

『More groups keep appearing. I hope they don’t all come for me at once.』

『There’s probably a pecking order of some sort…』

As far as Merchants went, the ones in the Draconic Kingdom were fairly tame. They tended to value collective prosperity over personal profit, which was likely a product of their country’s situation. Every part of the country was attacked by Beastmen eventually, and the guilds counteracted that by ensuring that industries and commerce quickly revived after the fact. This meant that they were compliant with the government – or at least the Queen – and weren’t prone to straying too far from the country’s objectives.

Probably the best way to put it was that commercial competition was in service to a greater goal, which was tied to the well-being of the nation as a whole. The types of destructive interference between rivals that might be common in Baharuth and Re-Estize were dealt with severely in the Draconic Kingdom.

Eventually, a dark-haired man in a tan fisher’s jacket detached himself from one of the groups and approached the exclave. He went up and down the street three times, cautiously eyeing the goings-on within. On the fourth pass, Florine stopped him with a smile.

“Is there something I might be able to help you with?” She asked.

“Um…you’re Baroness Gagnier?”

“That’s me.”

“Countess Wagner isn’t with you?”

“We parted ways a little while ago.”

The man’s head turned as he scanned the exclave, as if to confirm Florine’s statement.

“I see,” he visibly relaxed. “My master sent me to invite you to his residence for lunch. He would like to discuss what might be done about the present situation.”

“It would be a–”

“Hold on a minute!” Another man came storming across the street, “You can’t just run off with her like that! The Antalya Group should take precedence among–”

“Just because you’re big doesn’t mean you have any more right than we do to…”

More company representatives streamed over to stake their claim to Florine’s attention. The Baroness of Gagnier held her hands up in front of her, leaning back from their heated argument.

『There’s more than I expected…shouldn’t this be like all of ‘em?』

『Maybe? I can’t see past the front row.』

The tread of metal sabatons shook the boardwalk as a Death Knight stomped over in response to the rising commotion. Gazes turned up in deathly silence as it came to stand behind Florine.

“I’m alright,” she smiled up at the Undead servitor, then turned her attention back to the crowd. “Now, I can’t exactly go and have lunch with thirty different parties, but I can entertain your queries in the office here. The building isn’t furnished yet, so there should be plenty of standing room for everyone.”

With their choice between accepting her proposal or risking another fruitless deadlock, the agents dispersed to retrieve their masters. Florine went with Rose and Tierre to the office to see what could be done about hospitality, which wasn’t much. Merchants started to appear fifteen minutes later, sporting hooded mantles as if they were on their way to some clandestine meeting. Liane smiled to herself as she watched them collect in the office through one of the windows.

『Muahaha, they’re in the Sorcerous Kingdom now – we can do whatever we want to ‘em~』

『Hush, you.』

Florine looked over the gathering from her place partway up the office stairwell.

“I don’t suppose this means you plan on selling your companies to us.”

“It doesn’t,” Leto Antalya, head of the Antalya group said. “We’d like to know what’s really going on. The directives from the Royal Court and our dealings with your Merchants so far don’t add up.”

“How so?”

“The targets issued for our country’s industrial efforts are to be expected in a situation like this,” the red-haired man said. “But the prices of commodities being shipped to us from your kingdom are queer. The guild officials from Oriculon said that the Sorcerous Kingdom had some sort of special arrangement with the court, but the way things are set up right now, everyone’s basically been told to try and compete with your cheapest exports.”

“I believe that accurately sums up the situation as far as your end of things is concerned,” Florine said.

“…but that doesn’t make any sense.”

“It doesn’t,” Florine agreed. “But we are not here to dictate policy to your Royal Court. We will, however, extend our economic reach into your country. I’m certain you understand that there is no malice involved: it is simply good business conducted within the bounds of Merchant Guild regulations.”

Leto Antalya crossed his arms, twisting his lip as he stared at the ground.

“That puts us in a hard spot,” he said. “We’ve always supported the court’s directives after raids and other major incidents. For the good of our country.”

“Which I find very respectable,” Florine said. “But, as Merchants, you have already sensed that something is amiss. At this point, you should be asking yourselves whether you are truly acting for the good of your country.”

Florine produced a clipboard from her Infinite Haversack, holding it out to the row of Merchants at the bottom of the stairwell. One reached out to take it from her. Heads leaned in as those nearby examined what was written upon it.

“This is the past two seasons’ worth of commodities reports from the E-Rantel Merchant Guild,” Florine told them. “Just like Mister Antalya, you have all probably caught on to bits and pieces of the information here from your interactions with our Merchants over the past couple of weeks.”

“I don’t understand,” the man holding the clipboard looked up at Florine, “if these are regular prices in E-Rantel, then why did the Royal Court issue those directives? Every industry has been instructed to focus on producing basic commodities, but it would be much cheaper if we simply import them. Our trade deficit would be next to nonexistent if we simply switched to these more valuable crops.”

In response, Florine shrugged slightly.

“We are not privy to the deliberations of Her Majesty’s Royal Court. The Sorcerous Kingdom only stands to gain if things continue as they are, so I’m sure you understand that we are not bringing this to your awareness for our material benefit.”

“The Queen’s court is full of young scions,” Leto Antalya stroked his jaw. “In lieu of any court experience, they could just be trying to imitate what their predecessors did.”

“It’s pride,” someone asserted. “They’re trying to preserve our country’s economic independence.”

“But these prices – what they’re doing is hamstringing us instead!”

“I agree. Our recovery would be much smoother if we didn’t cling to some notion of resource security.”

“Foreign trade has been so dismal until now. This is the opportunity that we wished we always had!”

Excited discussion filled the unfurnished office.

“But the directives of the Royal Court are issued by the will of our Queen,” someone said. “Her Majesty wouldn’t just let the nobility do this for no reason.”

The office quieted again.

『Wow, that killed their enthusiasm quick.』

“Did the administration supply you with any rationale for their directives?” Florine asked.

“N-no,” a man in the front said, “we’re just used to facilitating them. It’s always worked out before.”

“I doubt those damn Nobles would give us a reason even if we asked,” someone grumbled.

“Ultimately,” Florine said, “you must decide where your loyalties lie. In the grand scheme of things, a Merchant’s role is to facilitate an efficient market. Profits arise from identifying and exploiting inefficiencies in the market. Competition for profits corrects those inefficiencies. Can you truly say that you are serving your Queen and country if you allow those inefficiencies to be one-sidedly leveraged against the Draconic Kingdom? It is the Merchants, not the Nobles, that serve on the front lines of this battle.”

“It may be as you say,” the man said, “but Merchants are only Merchants in the Draconic Kingdom. We don’t have any land or power beyond company assets. The people listen to the Nobles because they’re their landlords and they represent the Queen. Our country’s industries won’t produce different goods simply because we Merchants say that something else is a better idea.”

“Those Nobles probably couldn’t tell a field of millet from a field of flax.”

“You idiot, we can’t go and have the people plant crops behind their backs!”

“I’m not suggesting that anyone does anything illegal,” Florine said. “Merchants have many methods to achieve the results that they desire, yes? The reason why we brought this to your attention is because the flow of information between Merchant Guild branches is still frozen and, as Merchants, you cannot make the correct choices without it. Once lines of communication are reestablished, you would have identified the problem on your own.”

And, if they ignored the problem, it would hurt. Not only would the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Merchants be undercutting the Draconic Kingdom on staples like food and timber, but they would also be snapping up the commodities that sold for a higher price in E-Rantel. The people of the Draconic Kingdom would be running around naked by winter or dry season or whatever they called it.

“I’ll see what the Nobles have to say about this first,” Leto Antalya said. “If they provide an unsatisfactory answer…well, I’ll do what I can.”

Murmurs of agreement rose from the gathering. Liane left the window once the Merchants started to vacate the office. Hopefully, they had shaken them up enough to see some results.

And if they don’t act, then I guess we’re cleaning them out–

Liane was struck from behind. She fell forward onto the ground. As she lay sprawled on her face, the world was filled with noise and something heavy rolled right up her back. And then another something.

“What was that?”

“Ah, that’s one of the newest vehicle frames from House Wagner’s workshops. The Sorcerous Kingdom has a cargo system that I think everyone here would be most interested in.”

“I meant the strange noise.”

“Strange noise?” Florine leaned out to look at the road, “That’s…”

『Liane, what are you doing?』

『…nothing.』

“Er…we’re redoing the infrastructure in the exclave, so it was probably just a bump on the road.”

“I see.”

The voices faded away as Florine brought a few of the Merchants over to examine the assembled wagons. Liane rose to her feet and brushed herself off. She went over to the container lot and deactivated her invisibility. After checking her cloak for a wheel track, she went out to join Florine.

“Oh, customers already~”

“Wagner,” Florine said, “I believe you’re already acquainted with Mister Antalya?”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Countess Wagner,” the Merchant offered a bow. “Unfortunately, the Beastmen took our animals early on, so we won’t be drawing any wagons any time soon.”

“We got ya covered,” Liane said. “Ruin’sWake will be transporting draft animals for the next few months.”

“That’s wonderful!” Leto Antalya said, “We’ve been pushing our wagons around by hand recently, and menial labour is getting more and more scarce as people are granted land. I notice that this is made from some sort of steel – isn’t that a bit much for a simple wagon?”

“Oh, this ain’t no simple wagon,” Liane grinned and slapped the nearest front fender. “These babies are tested and approved for the Sorcerous Kingdom’s new transportation system. The container you see loaded there is the most convenient thing you’ll ever use. Each wagon is rated for twenty tonnes.”

“Twenty tonnes?!” The Merchant reached out and tested his weight against the wagon, “With just this frame? That’s remarkable.”

“Yep,” Liane nodded. “The suspension’s great, too. You could run over all sorts of things and not notice.”

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