Internal strife only arises when there are true social hierarchies and abundant resources.
So, when Nalot mentioned to him that Lady Aysona wanted Shen Mu to help her restore her kingdom, he understood that the Mount & Blade World should be treated as a real world, not just a vague background.
"Let's leave it at that for now. There's no need to answer them. Just focus on making sure the iron smuggling trade goes well," Shen Mu told Nalot. After all, he didn't want to get involved in the internal disputes of the Calradia continent within the Mount & Blade Warband World right now.
"Understood, Lord Shen Mu. I won't reveal the details to them either," Nalot nodded.
After all, he was just a merchant. He certainly understood how terrifying it was to get involved in political struggles. In the past, even those high-ranking lords or nobles who dabbled in political struggles beyond their level would end up quite miserable, let alone a merchant like him who wasn't even a noble.
He feared that if he angered certain people, his end wouldn't be good, even with Shen Mu's backing.
Political struggle was inherently a life-and-death struggle, comparable to mortal combat on the battlefield.
Shen Mu was quite satisfied to see Nalot deep in thought and immediately choose to shut up and say no more. He liked people with tight lips to do things for him, and when he understood that the Mount & Blade Warband World was also a living world, he couldn't treat it as just a background.
He already understood in his heart that if he wanted to gain more benefits through the Mount & Blade System in those Mount & Blade Worlds and develop further, he should perhaps consider forging better relationships with certain factions within the Mount & Blade World.
Thinking of this, Shen Mu also recalled how King Harlaus's favor towards him had plummeted, even becoming indifferent again, after he had received a portion of the supplies that should have belonged to Harlaus.
Furthermore, the system had also prompted that due to insufficient relationship points, some information about the Swadia Kingdom would likely be much less than that of other kingdoms.
This made Shen Mu thoughtful: "And the key to a faction's relationship value seems to lie with that faction's supreme commander."
It made sense when he thought about it. After all, the supreme commander of a faction was the helmsman controlling its progress, the absolute commander. If this commander couldn't even control his own faction, then he was essentially useless, and his presence or absence wouldn't matter to the faction.
"However, in subsequent prompts, I also saw that the nobles and lords in the Swadia Kingdom had united to overthrow King Harlaus's decree. They didn't stand idly by because King Harlaus's relationship value with me decreased; instead, they were quite eager to maintain a good relationship with me and even actively gifted me many supplies."
Shen Mu stroked his chin, thinking of King Harlaus from the previous game's background, who was also a very wise king.
He would also exile lords or punish certain nobles he disliked for various reasons.
He even dared to declare war on other kingdoms based on meaningless rumors, then led his troops to attack the territories of fallen nations, seizing villages, towns, and castles. Most of the profits would be kept for himself. Even if a small portion was granted, it was only out of necessity, a small compensation for meritorious marshals, generals, and great nobles and lords.
As for the minor lords and nobles, he didn't even bother to look at them, treating them with extreme disdain, as if they were just cannon fodder.
He had long since incurred the wrath of both heaven and man within the Swadia Kingdom. It could be said that he was the worst king in the background.
Moreover, it's important to know that the Rodok Kingdom's split was precisely due to King Harlaus's actions.
This also caused Swadia's invincible battlefield "three-pronged attack"—relying on heavy infantry for defense, sniper crossbowmen for harassment, and heavy cavalry for a direct sweep of the battlefield—to lose its most crucial heavy infantry to hold the line and sniper crossbowmen to harass the enemy.
As a result, although the Swadia Kingdom still relied on the combination of Swadian Heavy Cavalry and knights to sweep away all enemies with their heavy armored cavalry formations on open battlefields, they were much, much weaker in siege warfare, offensive sieges, and rugged terrain.
It also significantly reduced the strength of the Swadia Kingdom.
Even in the game, he was utterly detested. What's more, now that the Mount & Blade Warband World has become a real world, how could those nobles and lords with their own thoughts, and the soldiers under them, truly and completely submit to Harlaus, a king whose legitimacy was already questionable?
"Lord, if there's nothing else, I'll prepare to depart again now. When I arrived earlier, I saw that there are still many captured spoils in the warehouse made of iron. Furthermore, the war between the Swadia Kingdom and the Vigia Kingdom is still ongoing, and iron prices are still soaring. If I don't return quickly, I think it would be a shame to delay making money," Nalot interjected, breaking Shen Mu's contemplation.
"Mm, that's what I was thinking too. You and I are on the same page. I also intend for you to depart as soon as possible and return to the Swadia Kingdom to sell these iron products," Shen Mu nodded.
Furthermore, because he was currently severely lacking dinar, Shen Mu intended to use Faith Power to accelerate the trade caravan's round trip, allowing Nalot to quickly transport these iron products to the Swadia Kingdom for sale, then return to Deherim to reload with iron products, and then return to the Calradia continent to complete another round of iron smuggling.
Shen Mu had already estimated that such a round trip would only require 14,000 Faith Power.
And for Shen Mu, who still possessed over 30,000 Faith Power, he could perform two such operations.
Calculating that Nalot could earn 5,000 dinar in the Swadia Kingdom for each round trip, two rounds would yield 10,000 dinar.
This amount of money already made Shen Mu quite tempted.
After all, his total dinar balance currently did not exceed 500.
For Shen Mu, he was at his wit's end and desperately needed dinar to replenish his coffers. Even if it meant exhausting his Faith Power, he wouldn't hesitate, because Faith Power could be obtained continuously, while dinar could only be acquired through commodity trade.
He now had over 30,000 Blue Star Humans living in his Deherim. As long as their safety was ensured, he could continuously gain more Faith Power.
Therefore, for Shen Mu, Faith Power was relatively easy to obtain.
Its main purpose now was to accelerate town construction, soldier recruitment, caravan travel time, and plant growth.
It was a journal system that, through journal rules, absorbed the rules of the Blue Star World and the rules of the fantasy crystal wall system to provide him with assistance.
This was how it should be used.
"Nalot, I need you to load up as quickly as possible and then set off," Shen Mu said to Nalot.
"Understood, Lord Shen Mu, I'll go now," Nalot nodded, without any hesitation, bowed respectfully with a hand over his chest, then turned and left the meeting room.
He came out of the Noble Residence and then called out to his trade caravan guards and Hired Crossbowmen, who had eaten their fill and were resting, as well as the other caravan members, urging them to start moving and head back to the warehouse to prepare for loading.
This, of course, drew objections from these caravan members who had just arrived in Deherim and hadn't had a chance to rest properly.
Especially the trade caravan guards and Hired Crossbowmen, as mercenaries protecting the caravan, they couldn't help but frown and voice their protest.
The mercenaries had already received their dinar, so they naturally wanted to relax and rest in Deherim to alleviate the fatigue from their journey and the anxiety of being on edge the whole way.
They didn't want to set off again so soon and return to the Calradia continent, which was riddled with robbers and Bandits.
That's right, they believed that although there were Undead Monsters here, they were blocked outside by the city built by Lord Shen Mu, and they were very safe and relaxed inside.
If they returned to the Calradia continent, it really wouldn't be as easy as being here.
Here, they only needed to face those Undead Monsters, and they weren't incapable of fighting, so they were all confident. Moreover, Lord Shen Mu had also given them spiritual and morale boosts here.
But if they returned to the Calradia continent, they would not only have to face robbers appearing from dark places or Bandits encountered in narrow areas, but even when they entered villages, castles, or towns, they would be attacked by certain criminal gangs.
It could even be said that even with the protection of city defense forces and the lords, they would still have to be constantly on edge, preventing any mistakes.
After all, these city defense forces and the troops of nobles and lords, who were nominally supposed to protect them,
would directly take off their banners and identifiable armor, change into the armor of other factions, and then become like marauding forces or Bandits from other factions operating in their territory.
Then, after robbing them, they would quickly leave, change their appearance again, and become regular soldiers, nominally their own people investigating the case to protect them.
And then extort them again.
Finally, all that was left was a cold phrase like "go back and wait for notification," leaving these merchants with nothing.
This was quite common.
Therefore, engaging in business in Calradia was truly quite dangerous. If one didn't have large capital, powerful backing, sufficient courage, and resources, then anyone who became a merchant would ultimately face a tragic end.
This was also why many merchants worked for those nobles and lords, earning dinar for them.
If they engaged in independent commercial activities, they would only become a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered, targeted by those lords and nobles.
In the end, not only would the merchants lose everything, but the hired mercenary soldiers would also suffer fatal injuries.
This was also why mercenaries, even if not hired by lords and nobles, could still find work, and why they loved to spend all the dinar they earned, living a life of debauchery.
If they didn't spend all their dinar, and then died in the next battle, that would truly be a miserable situation.
The most tragic thing in life is to be alive but have no money.
These mercenaries didn't want that.
After all, they were currently working for the trade caravan, and the trade caravan could also pay them wages.
Of course, if they were to work for Lord Shen Mu, that would be different, as their view of Shen Mu was quite positive. They considered him a savior, someone they could fight for, and they would have a chance at salvation.
Of course, what Nalot had to face now was how to get these mercenary soldiers to act.
However, his problem was not really a problem, because Shen Mu simply didn't care whether these mercenary soldiers were willing to return to the Calradia continent for smuggling.
He directly activated the power of the rules to force it.
Ding! You have selected the Narot Trade Caravan to once again go to the Swadia Kingdom on the Calradia continent for iron smuggling.
This trade caravan has now departed.
As these dialogue box contents appeared on Shen Mu's retina,
a hint of determination appeared in Shen Mu's eyes.
"Use Faith Power to accelerate the Narot Trade Caravan's round trip time," Shen Mu directly activated the power from Faith Power and the rule level to assist the trade caravan.
Then, new dialogue box content refreshed on his retina.
Ding! You have selected the Narot Trade Caravan to begin caravan acceleration, rule-level amplification.
Ding! You have chosen to pay 7,000 Faith Power, accelerating the Narot Trade Caravan by seven days. They have now arrived at the Calradia continent.
Shen Mu made no unnecessary movements.
He simply closed his eyes again, communicated with the system, and threw out another 7,000 Faith Power to accelerate the return journey of the first round trip.
And just then, a new dialogue box appeared.
Ding! You have chosen to pay 7,000 Faith Power, accelerating the Narot Trade Caravan's return journey by seven days. They have now seen the walls of your Deherim and are preparing to return to your territory.