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Lorist watched with a pleasant mood as the Second Prince made the purchase with a bitter expression on his face. Today was truly a bright and sunny day — his luck was really quite good. He had actually managed to sell this batch of ordinary furs that were difficult to offload at an excellent price. For the Norton Family, magical beast furs had already become their most stockpiled resource, and simultaneously, the hardest one to dispose of.
The Galentea Continent had no cotton, which meant no cotton cloth, and consequently no cotton quilts or padded jackets — those essential cold-weather supplies. The primary textiles and fabrics were silk, fine hemp, linen, and coarse hemp. For the people of Galentea, who habitually hunkered down through winter, the best cold-weather clothing boiled down to wool sweaters and leather goods. And the finest leather goods were coats, leather pants, leather hats, leather boots, and other warm garments made from magical beast furs — not only lightweight, flexible, and elastic, but most importantly, windproof.
When Lorist had returned to the family's territories to lead the family's military forces in fighting back the magical beast tides that swept across their lands every winter, the family's warehouses had been stuffed to the brim with all manner of magical beast furs. If judged purely by value, these furs were expensive and immensely valuable — but the problem was that they could not be converted into cash. The reason every soldier in the Norton Family's armed forces wore cold-weather gear made from magical beast furs was simply out of desperation. If left unsold and stored in warehouses, they would eventually spoil. Besides, whenever they needed magical beast furs, a trip to the Barbarian Plains with the family's troops would yield all they could ever want.
It was not until Lorist established the sea route from Northland to Shilowas Island that the Norton Family finally connected with the Peterson Trading House, one of the seven giants of the Forde Commercial Alliance. Through them, they received an incredible piece of news: the massive stockpile of magical beast furs in Northland had no market at all!
How was that possible? Lorist clearly remembered an adventurer's quest he had been dragged along on by
However, once the Peterson Trading House's fur trade manager finished explaining the reasons, Lorist was rendered speechless. It was truly an absurd rationale — the main reason so many magical beast furs could not be sold was simply that nobody could afford them. The Peterson Trading House was the largest fur merchant in the Forde Commercial Alliance, controlling nearly the entire fur market across the Alliance. The reason they gave, though laughable, was an undeniable fact.
Magical beast furs were better at keeping out the cold than those from domestically raised cattle and sheep, but the common folk of the Commercial Alliance primarily used cattle and sheep hides for warmth. The price of magical beast furs was two to three times higher than that of cattle and sheep hides. The Peterson Trading House was content to let the furs obtained through the sporadic hunts of mercenaries trickle into the market and earn handsome profits, which similarly drove up the price of magical beast furs.
However, the Peterson Trading House would absolutely not allow the Norton Family to flood the Commercial Alliance's fur market with tens of thousands — even millions — of magical beast furs, thereby disrupting the entire low-end fur market that was primarily built on cattle and sheep hides. At the same time, they warned Lorist that magical beast furs had always been valued two to three times higher than cattle and sheep hides, and that their primary consumers in the Commercial Alliance were essentially freelance mercenaries. As for the common folk and city dwellers, they generally still used cattle and sheep hides to make their winter clothing. They were not willing to spend two to three times the price to buy magical beast furs — they would simply stay indoors more often, stoke their hearths, and hunker down through the winter instead.
The Peterson Trading House wasn't completely out of the magical beast fur business—they just needed the rarer, more valuable types suited for the high-end and luxury markets, earning gold coins from the wealthy. The profits in that segment were practically extortionate. The fur agreement they had signed with the Norton Family was worth only four to five hundred thousand gold Forde, but what they purchased were exclusively furs from rare magical beasts. As for furs from common creatures like magic wolves, magic cattle, and magic sheep, they had no use for them—yet those were precisely the types the Norton Family had in abundance.
Storing magical beast furs was also a delicate matter—insects and rats could gnaw through them, and left too long they would easily rot or turn into piles of ruined hide. This was one of the reasons Lorist had no choice but to have the stockpiled furs sewn into cold-weather clothing for the family's armed forces. Supplies that couldn't be sold were just garbage no matter how carefully they were stored—better to put them to use sooner rather than later.
When Lorist led the Flying Tiger Legion to the Magic Plains for hunts, the creatures they killed most often were the desolate wolves of the plains and various herbivorous magical beasts. But while the furs of these beasts were valuable on paper, they couldn't actually be sold—just like the massive stockpiles of magic cattle and magic sheep hides the Norton Family kept in their territorial stores. There was simply no market for them.
Lorist remembered clearly that there had been a time when he tried to sell off the family's vast reserves of common magical beast furs at the same price as domesticated cattle and sheep hides, thinking such a low price would surely crack open the Commercial Alliance's fur market. To his surprise, the Peterson Trading House's fur manager had refused just the same.
That manager had declared with righteous conviction that if those common magical beast furs were sold at cattle-and-sheep-hide prices, the price of cattle and sheep hides would plummet. Even after every last magical beast fur was sold off, cattle and sheep hide prices still wouldn't recover. To the Peterson Trading House, which had cemented its hold over the entire low-end fur market, such a scheme was no different from a cup of poison—the fallout would be devastating...
Simply put, every refugee was given one or several pieces of cold-weather clothing made from magical beast furs, distributed to them free of charge. Combined with the convenient and swift snow sleds and sleighs as transport, along with well-stocked rest stops for supplies and provisions along the way, this was what made it possible to complete the migration of several hundred thousand people in a single winter.
If Lorist were to claim that the Norton Family's stockpile and usage of magical beast furs was number one across the entire Galentea Continent—whether among nations or families—no one could credibly deny it. In previous years, when several legions of the family's armed forces had gone to the Barbarian Plains for training, they had brought back nearly a hundred thousand magical beast carcasses, to the point where warehouses that had been emptied out were once again stuffed to the brim with magical beast furs.
The desolate wolf and magic sheep furs brought back from the Magic Plains this time were like chicken ribs to Lorist—too wasteful to throw away, yet useless to bring back. No matter how high the market price was listed, in such large quantities they simply couldn't be sold, and even if he wanted to sell them, there was no market. In times of peace and prosperity, when people's standards of living had risen and gold coins jingled in their pockets, perhaps these magical beast furs would be in short supply. But these were turbulent times—beacons of war burned on every horizon and the common folk suffered terribly. No ordinary citizen would spend money on expensive cold-weather garments made from magical beast furs.
For magical beasts like the mud swamp giant crocodile, their hide was the finest material for crafting leather armor and had always commanded sky-high prices that were difficult to meet. Along with the furs from other relatively rare beasts, Lorist had already shipped those back to the family's territory first before even considering what to do with the desolate wolf and magic sheep hides. Who would have thought that the Second Prince would want to take the entire lot? How could Lorist not be overjoyed? In this day and age, a sucker and a nouveau riche were equally hard to find.
This was why Lorist was not only willing to offer a discount but also prepared to gift the Second Prince the hides of several dozen precious magical beasts. So when the Second Prince, seeing him in high spirits, tentatively broached the idea of purchasing a few thunderbolt catapults, Lorist agreed on the spot—selling an entire thunderbolt catapult battalion of five hundred units from the Flying Tiger Legion's configuration to the Second Prince at a hundred and fifty gold Forde each. Lorist even went so far as to offer to sell an entire war chariot regiment of twenty-five hundred steel-crossbow war chariots, seeing that the Second Prince currently had money to spend. But the Second Prince declined.
In the Second Prince's eyes, the Norton Family's catapults were the ultimate offensive weapon. Even in defensive situations, they were far more convenient and flexible than those clumsy, massive lever-style catapults. At the very least, a few rounds of stone-throwing before relocating was vastly preferable to sitting like a dumb target for enemy ranged attacks, like those lever-style machines did.
As for the Norton Family's war chariot crossbows, truth be told, the Second Prince had been genuinely tempted at that moment. However, with the development of shielded carts, the crossbows' effectiveness had been greatly diminished. Who nowadays would arrange their formations without first deploying shielded carts to guard against chariot-mounted crossbow attacks? Whether on the offensive or defensive, shielded carts had become an indispensable part of any army's configuration, growing sturdier and larger, significantly improving the protection afforded to both soldiers and facilities.
Therefore, the Second Prince rejected Lorist's proposal. He was holding nearly six million gold Forde in his hands, a massive sum, but he had specific plans for that money. Urgent preparations for rearmament and expanding the Kingdom's regular legions were his priority. Although the campaign against the four central duchies hadn't resulted in a mutual annihilation between the Northern Four Families Alliance's forces and the duchies, he was very satisfied with having secured the eleven provinces of the central four duchies at a minimal cost, thanks to Lorist's assistance.
What came next was to ensure the Kingdom possessed a formidable military force. This would guarantee that the Northern Four Families Alliance, the Viscount Brunn family, and the three recently subdued central duchies would harbor no rebellious thoughts. Then, in two or three years, he could march the powerful royal army to the Commercial Alliance's doorstep and force them to return the provinces they had forcibly occupied. At this moment, the Second Prince didn't fear having too much money; rather, he felt that six million gold Forde was still too little. If only he could have subdued all four central duchies completely instead of just forcing their submission! Perhaps then he could have gained even more without having to pay any price at all...
A king cannot take his words lightly. Having been caught in his own promise by Lorist, he was compelled to purchase all the magical beast hides in his camp, a fact that still vexed the Second Prince, reminding him of his carelessness and slip of the tongue. What was he going to do with so many magical beast hides? Fortunately, one of his subordinates, a tax official, pointed out that Lorist's reasoning was sound—transporting them back to the Imperial Capital to buy low and sell high would indeed be a profitable venture. The only drawback was that it might take several years to offload the excess hides. With some luck, they might even recoup a considerable sum, beyond the quantity needed for the Blizzard Storm Brigade. This at least provided the Second Prince with some comfort.
The purchase of those magical beast hides had already cost one point two million gold Forde. The Second Prince began meticulously calculating his remaining funds. Lorist's agreement to sell the thunderbolt catapults had been an unexpected bonus. He had previously ordered the Kingdom's master craftsmen to try and replicate the catapults, but the biggest hurdle had been that special spring steel sheet. Without producing a sheet with comparable performance, they couldn't copy the Norton Family's catapults, leading the Second Prince to waste a great deal of money with nothing to show for it, and only earning him the right to curse those craftsmen as useless idiots.
The Second Prince's refusal to buy the war chariot crossbows greatly disappointed Lorist. In truth, he had been operating on a principle of turning waste into value, hoping the Second Prince would be the one to take these items off his hands. Whether it was the catapults or the war chariot crossbows, they were all slated for disposal after this return trip. There was a concept called "fatigue level." This didn't just apply to humans and animals; components like the standard spring steel sheets and steel crossbow arms on the catapults and chariot crossbows also suffered from fatigue.
During this campaign against the four central duchies, the Flying Tiger Legion saw little direct combat, but the war chariot crossbows and catapults in its configuration had been extremely busy. During the assault on the trench and earth-wall defensive positions of the Duchy of Forlundo, the catapults and chariot crossbows had maintained a constant barrage of ranged attacks. Whether providing offensive fire or cover, they had played crucial roles.
Even the longest shots only reached about three hundred twenty to thirty meters. The war chariot crossbows performed slightly better. During the Magic Plains hunt for magical beasts, they had been devastating; most beasts had fallen to their ranged attacks. However, due to their frequent firing, the fatigue level of the steel crossbow arms had increased dramatically, and their range had now dropped from over three hundred meters to around two hundred thirty to forty meters.
Lorist estimated that after another two or three hundred shots, these war chariot crossbows would be ready for the scrap heap. Since the Second Prince wanted to buy catapults, he might as well try to push these soon-to-be-discarded crossbows as well. Unfortunately, the Second Prince thought of the shielded carts and ultimately refused Lorist's proposal.
On the 10th of September in the year 1783 of the Galentea Continent standard calendar, Lorist set off on the road back to Northland in high spirits, a bundle of over a million gold notes tucked inside his robes. At his side marched the Flying Tiger Legion and his personal guard battalion, accompanied by Duke Philim and Duke Shahin along with their household troops.
Of the campaign against the four central duchies, Lorist was of the opinion that the Second Prince, despite having obtained eleven provinces, had not been the true victor. Just as the Second Prince had declared the four central Grand Dukes traitors, the final outcome was that three Grand Dukes submitted while one fled into exile. The Second Prince himself had been forced to admit that the three central Grand Dukes were not traitors after all, and that the war between the two sides had stemmed from a misunderstanding.
What made it a loss outweighing any gain was that, thanks to Count Churchwick's account, the truth behind the original falling-out between the four central Grand Dukes and the Second Prince had already spread far and wide. The Second Prince's harsh and cruel temperament had likewise begun to be known among a growing number of the nobility.
The occupation of the four central duchies had done nothing to bolster the Second Prince's prestige. On the contrary, his reputation had grown even more wretched the moment he simultaneously admitted the misunderstanding—conceding that the four central Grand Dukes were not traitors—yet still seized the eleven provinces of the four central duchies by force. Some of the original landed nobles of the four duchies would rather be stripped of their titles and estates and flee to join the three re-assigned Grand Dukes than serve the Second Prince as King of Andinok.
...