King
Chapter 88 - 88 87 Soaring Prices_1

88: Chapter 87, Soaring Prices_1 88: Chapter 87, Soaring Prices_1 Bera City, the Governor’s Mansion.

Having obtained an excuse to interfere, Earl Piers was far from elated.

Instead, his brows furrowed even deeper.

Although the Northern aristocracy and native nobles appeared to be fighting bitterly, their struggles were still within the rules and regulations.

Besides those noble lords who were involved in the abduction of domain people, there had not yet been any retaliation on a larger scale, with most of the local nobles still remaining uninvolved.

As for the nobles involved in this storm, aside from a few who joined out of their own greed, most of them had some connection with the Dalton family.

Initially, they had intended to drive out these outsiders with the help of local nobles but ended up with the Dalton family’s lackeys and the Northern aristocracy pitted against each other.

Everyone’s focus converged on the fight over the domain people, and the territorial boundary disputes that were supposed to erupt didn’t even make much of a splash.

This was an inevitable outcome.

There was nobody left on the territory to worry about exclave issues.

Even if the issues were to be solved, it had to be done after establishing a certain economic foundation.

As everything was deserted, there was nothing worth disputing over.

Were the underlings messing up out of good intentions?

Earl Piers wasn’t that foolish.

Even though their abilities varied, their loyalty was unquestionably unwavering.

Just a hint from the boss was enough for them to promptly charge into battle.

Unable to lure all the local nobles into the fray, they nevertheless managed to pull in dozens, which was a small victory of sorts.

Hatred could be accumulated.

Although it seemed like they were only harassing one noble family, they were actually irritating the entire circle behind them.

Those not involved were merely concerned because of insufficient benefits.

Everyone beating up the Northern aristocracy would only help them vent their anger but would not bring any additional benefits.

Even if the outsiders were driven out of the Southeastern Province, the Dalton family would be the one benefiting the most.

This was the primary reason everyone chose to wait and watch.

Of course, Adrian couldn’t be considered in these calculations.

He was the most enthusiastic in seizing domain people and the loudest in shouting slogans before the fight, only for him to give up once the fight began.

Initially thinking that Adrian could drag the Koslow family into the mess, his blundering only allowed the Koslow family, who gained from it, to stand back sneakily enjoying the spectacle, let alone jump into the fray.

As proven by facts, as long as your background is strong enough, even if you do nothing but pretend to be weak, you can still make your opponent feel uneasy.

Here, unable to get the answer he wanted from the Northern aristocracy, he boldly sued at the Governor’s Mansion.

This left Earl Piers puzzled whether he should reward or scold him.

“Send an order, implement the second plan, give a warning to those fellows in the North, let them know who is the real master of the Southeastern Province.

Notify all the fief lords in both counties.

I will personally go to Dardiel City in ten days to mediate the recent disputes.”

The order of the kingdom still stands, and the governor’s duties must be fulfilled.

It’s acceptable no matter how much they fight behind the scenes, but once it’s brought to the table, they must abide by the rules of the game.

Unprovoked attacks on the territories of the nobles are strictly forbidden by kingdom law.

If these rules can be trampled on at will, where would the smaller nobles find their sense of security?

…

Dardiel City, or rather, the ruins of Dardiel.

With serfs recaptured to carry out basic repairs on the city, Baron West finally had a place to settle.

Among the Northern nobles who had moved south, West was faring the best.

While other nobles were still clearing the ruins of their castles, he had already moved into the City Lord’s Mansion.

Especially because he led the Northern aristocracy in a counterattack, reclaiming their domain people, his reputation had soared immensely within the group.

With fame comes trouble, and it wasn’t long before trouble showed up on his doorstep.

The lawsuit from the Governor’s Mansion didn’t count for much; it was merely a squabble.

While he suffered an underhanded loss, the actual damages weren’t significant.

Without causing serious consequences, it merely required the involved underlings to apologize and promise never to repeat their mistakes.

At most, they would pay a symbolic restitution to buy a lesson.

Compared to their damaged reputation, the practical northern aristocracy were more concerned about their internal interests.

“Honorable Baron West, we have come to seek your assistance.

These are truly difficult times.

Shortly after we launched our counter-attack, prices started to surge.

We thought it was due to the tense situation and scheming merchants deliberately driving up prices, but to our surprise, prices soared even more after the war.

Rye has surged from three copper coins a pound to seven; peas have gone from two copper coins a pound to five; wheat prices have also soared to ten copper coins per pound; and even the poor quality table salt mixed with sand and soil have skyrocketed to a silver coin per pound…

In short, all commodity prices are soaring.

It’s one price in the morning and a different one in the afternoon.

In discussions with these people, I was surprised that these unscrupulous merchants showed no respect, adopting a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, and even ridiculing me as a northern barbarian.

In my anger, I ordered these men to be arrested.

However, since then, no merchant caravan has set foot in my lands…”

By the end of his speech, this iron-blooded man seemed close to tears.

Nobles had been truly humiliated.

Such arrogant merchants were rare across the entire continent of Aslante.

To the nobles, face is everything.

If the dispute was with fellow nobles, a few harsh words would suffice.

But for mere merchants to stir up trouble, it was as if they doubted the sharpness of the nobles’ blades.

Even if they did nothing openly, they would take revenge covertly.

A large portion of mysteriously disappeared merchant caravans were indeed the work of the nobles.

“Baron West, what Knight Dailun is saying is all true.

These merchants are too arrogant and do not take us seriously.

They not only drive up prices but also sell increasingly lower quality goods.

In the past, deceitful merchants would at most mix some old grains with the new ones; now it’s a miracle to find a kernel of new grain among the old.

Look at this bag of wheat.

You don’t even have to mill it.

Just shake it and it turns into flour…”

“Knight Justin, stop troubling Baron West.

We are all experiencing these issues.

To be frank with you, not only are prices soaring in the counties of Layton and Wharton, but throughout the entire Southeastern Province.

To be precise, this round of price surges was only felt by us.

Native nobles, with their network of relationships, can still get commodities at fair prices.

We can think of ways to reduce consumption when other commodity prices rise, but it’s impossible for food.

The bigger problem is that this is just the beginning.

What we need to face next may not be the issue of food quality, but whether we can obtain enough food.

I spent a great deal of money to bribe a grain merchant, who revealed shocking news to me – the nobles of the Southeastern Province are very likely to stop selling grain externally this year.”

Baron Bazell spoke shockingly.

Everyone knew the native nobles are not easy opponents to tackle, but no one expected their revenge to be so ruthless.

If they had just brought armies to attack us, we wouldn’t have backed down.

But they threw us off balance by playing the food card.

How are we supposed to respond to that?

We had just won a counter-offensive.

It should have been a time to celebrate victory, but this joy has turned into tragedy.

For the lords of Northern Border, the domain people have become hot potatoes.

The larger the population of the domain, the faster the food consumption.

Once the reserves were gone, everyone would have to go hungry.

Unfortunately, it is the noble lord’s sacred duty to take care of the domain people and cannot be shirked.

After the answer was divulged by someone else, Baron West was slightly displeased, but showed no change of expression.

“What Baron Bazell said is correct, there are indeed signs that the native nobles of the Southeastern Province are blocking us.

The main reason is that we have recently offended too many people.

This round of price surges was orchestrated behind the scenes by the clans of these people.

Of course, it’s impossible to exclude the role the Dalton Family have played in this, in fact, they might be the real instigators behind this.

Their objective is to drive us out of the Southeastern Province.”