Chapter 151: To the Florence Principality (1)

It required a pinch of violence and duress, but Robin obeyed Queen Leilas orders and set out to do as she willed. But before he acceded, Robin nagged them to the ends of the earth to guarantee him a performance incentive.

I was going to give him an incentive anyway.

What he did not know was that Milton was thinking as such.

***

The newly amalgamated Northern Region of the Lester Kingdom in other words, the old Hildess Republic.

The late Hildess Republics main industry was mining.

As the majority of their topography consisted of mountains, there were veins of ores abounds; and the iron ore that came out of these deposits were famous for their particularly high quality. In fact, the Hildess Republic was said to be a nation-sized forge by the other Republics. Added to this was that their other main industry was the production and export of weapons.

This naturally meant that their livelihood and economy depended on mining, and their population consequently centered around mining towns.

Conversely, there was a region that became neglected: namely, the coastal areas to the West. The reason this became the case was their comparatively low potential value.

When the Hildess Republic was still standing, their only trading partners were the other two Republics. Disregarding negligible small-scale black-market trading, exchanges between the Republics and Kingdoms were not allowed in the public realm.

As such, interstate trade and commerce between the Republics were limited to land routes. Naval trade was unthinkable: to travel by ship, they would need to wrap around much of the continent, which not only took an exorbitant amount of time but required one to travel through the territorial waters of Kingdoms.

As a result, the coastal region purely devoted themselves to fishing, and the seafood that they caught on their coastlines was the only good that was produced by the Western region. Scraping up seafood from their nets and selling them to the wider country was their one existing industry. Geographically speaking, the area boasted all the requisite conditions for the construction of a large-scale commercial port yet their only livelihood remained their minor fishing businesses.

As such, the coastal region of the West was substantially underdeveloped compared to the wider Hildess Lands.

Queen Leila turned her attention to this point: this region had lagged behind others and become run down through neglect. A region like this was likely to have comparatively lower positive public sentiment regarding the Republics.

What would happen if such a place suddenly underwent rapid development?

Queen Leila mobilized Robin and his ship, and ordered it to be filled to the brim with food products to be distributed in the coastal port towns of the North.

***

Oi, whats that?

Thats one massive ship. Dont tell me is that a warship?

Surely not. The wars over, innit?

The Northwestern locals restlessly whispered amongst themselves at the appearance of this colossal vessel on their towns waters. Paying them no heed, the gigantic ship docked at the town port and began to briskly unload something.

What are they doing?

Dunno. Why would I know?

The fishermen of the coast continued to watch them, half tempered with anticipation and half with fear.

One of the men from the ship approached the spectators and introduced himself.

Now then, everyone my name is Robin, and I am the manager of a merchant company under the direct operation of the Royal Palace. My identity is that of a commoner much like you all, so theres no need to worry on that front.

Although the people were initially on edge at the mention of the Royal Palace, they seemed to loosen just a bit at the fact that Robin was of the same modest upbringing as them. Robin continued his speech.

Ive come here today to sell wheat and barley that Ive brought straight from the Royal Palace.

Hes selling food?

Actually?

From the era of the Hildess Republic, this region highly valued food commodities. It was only a given since the majority of their topography consisted of mountains.

They had tried a plethora of workarounds from slash-and-burn agriculture to planting greens that could survive the harsh mountain environment but the effects on their natural scarcity of food were negligible.

As such, a merchant who came offering to sell food commodities was always a welcome guest, no matter their affiliation.

From when will you start selling? asked one of the townspeople.

Robin answered with an amicable smile, Why, from now of course. Now then, each lot of wheat will go for 80 silver coins, while each lot of barley is going for 30 silver. Its cheap Im telling you, real cheap!

Robin began promoting the goods and livening the atmosphere, a role he seemed familiar with. This considerably enlivened the people.

A lot of wheat for 80 silver?

Barley for 30 silver? Unbelievable.

The townspeoples eyes widened as they heard the prices. They had not once bought food at these prices in their lives.

With how expensive food was in this area, a lot of wheat normally went for 3 gold; and in a year of bad harvests, it had shot up to as high as 10 gold per lot in the past.

G give me one lot no, make that two.

Wait