May 11th, at Sharuru city.
“I want to buy some salt.”
There was group going around saying that.
“We are in a bit of a shortage of goods at the moment so…”
“I don’t care, I will pay double.”
“I-if so, then…”
And like this, the shops had ran out of salt really quick.
On the same day, the same scene was witnessed at Doppa, Rakuno and Toka village.
Kurain kingdom doesn’t have an ocean. And at the moment, they didn’t know about rock salt in the country.
As such, salt was an imported good and Serroa kingdom provided more than 80% of it.
They knew about the usefulness of salt so naturally, Kurain kingdom also came up with a somewhat plan.
One of which was to stock up salt and other was to import from different countries.
At the capital city Alban, there was a salt reserve which held more than hundreds of tons of salt stocked up. However, the king managed it and nobody could take salt from there without permission.
Moreover, they were also importing salt from the neighboring country, Leonard kingdom, but as it was a closed off country to begin with, the foreign trades from there was insignificant.
Rather, Egelia kingdom’s delivery through Serroa kingdom was more than that.
However, as salt is heavy and they would have to carry it through a long distance, the price being double wasn’t abnormal.
“I don’t care if it’s the normal salt, could you sell me some?”
Such an exchange also took place.
In the Kurain kingdom, all the salt is gathered in the capital and only the merchants, who are given permission by the king, were able to do business with them.
Although, this permission is given to anyone as long as they provide 20% of the selling price as tax.
“I will pay three times the market price!”
“I guess I could sell you some then.”
It hasn’t turned into a monopoly so the marketplace changes with demand and supply. At present, the price of salt was gradually increasing at one part of the Earth.
“We have bought quite a bit, huh?”
“We also used quite a lot of money too, though.”
“That doesn’t matter. We can just sell them back at the right opportunity. If we are able to sell properly, we would also be able to profit.”
There was a group having such a conversation. They were Earl Walter’s subordinates.
Salt intake differs from person to person but it is approximately 8 grams per day. Considering the waste as well, it would reach around 10 grams per day so that would be 300 grams per month.
If there are 5 members in a family, that would be 1.5 kg. Salt is also used in pickling so an average of 2 kgs of salt will be used.
At present, the amount of salt they bought was about to cross 4 tons.
“Seriously, even though it’s only 30 toll per kg in Elias kingdom, it’s 150 toll here.”
“We don’t have seas so it can’t be helped. It’s 50 toll per kg in Serroa kingdom, you know? And since our country is buying from them, of course it would cost more.”
“Buying that costly salt at an even higher price of 450 toll, seriously what is Earl Walter thinking?”
“As if I know. We just have to do what we were told.”
At the end, they had bought a total of 5 tons of salt that day.
The following day, 12th of May. Rumors brought salt merchants to Sharuru city.
Among them, an interesting merchant was present. It was a merchant with a golem.
They had let the golem pull the wagon while the merchant was peddling. That caught quite a lot of eyes and gathered many customers.
“Ohh, this is some good salt. Pure white, smooth and dry.”
“Right? It’s the salt from far away, Elias kingdom! It’s a bit pricey but the taste is guaranteed! Now, come buy some quick!”
“Give me 1 kg.”
“Yes, that would be 200 toll.”
“1 kg for me too!”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
Seeing the situation fold out like that, Earl Walter’s underlings signaled at each other with their eyes and approached the merchant.
“Oi, I will buy some.”
“Yes, how much would you like?”
“All of it.”
“Wha?”
“I am saying I will buy all the salt you brought.”
“Thank you very much. However, but the amount other customers will buy…”
“Stop nitpicking and just sell them to me! I will give 600 toll per kg.”
“O-oh…”
“I am telling you to sell them!!”
Said the man, striking the stand. Seeing that menacing look, the customers who had gathered also dispersed and the merchant gave up.
“I-I understand. But, it is quite a lot, isn’t it?”
“How much do you have?”
“Umm…”
The merchant looked at his account book.
“I have about 5 tons.”
“5 ton, you say?!”
“Yes. And so, I don’t know what you will be using them on but how about taking 2 tons for now?”
Said the merchant, but,
“N-no, I said all of it so gimme all.”
The man didn’t yield. Being told that many times, even the merchant had no choice but to comply.
“T-then, please inspect the salt in this wagon yourself. I have sold about 60 kilos already so there’s 4940 kilos left.”
“Alright, lemme see.”
Saying that, the men got in and brought out the salt. 10 kgs at a time and confirmed the weight.
“…There’s no mistake.”
After about half a day, the men had finished weighing all 4940 kilos of salt and looked exhausted.
“Here, the money.”
Saying that, he handed over a bag of silver and gold coins.
“Thank you very much.”
The merchant quickly counted the money, which was a total of 2,964,000 toll, and then disappeared into a city corner with his golem and wagon.
“Fu, idiot. It doesn’t hurt us no matter how much we pay.”
The man said. And then made eye signals to a man standing far away.
“… Be as happy as you want with the money you just got. We will be taking it back this night, though.”
Such a scene could also be seen at Rakuham, Saww and Zuk.
That night.
“…What happened to the peddlers?”
“Th-that is…”
“I am asking you something!”
“…They disappeared.”
“What?!”
“After the encounter, we were following the merchant stealthily but after going around a certain corner, the golem and the merchant disappeared, leaving the empty wagon.”
“There’s no way such a thing can happen! It’s one thing if it was just the human but for a huge ass metal golem to just disappear into thin air?!”
Even if he says that now, it isn’t like they would come back.
They had paid the 2,964,000 toll planning to take it back but had failed miserably.
＊ ＊ ＊
[Good job, Regulus 35, Land 54]
At Hourai Island, Laojun was praising the Quinta Regulus 35 and Army Golem Land 54 for their work as the merchant.
Pairing these two up, he sent them to Sharuru town to sell salt.
“As expected, there were people who came to take back the money.”
[Just as My Lord’s knowledge suggested.]
“Yes, although we had to leave the wagon.”
[That’s not a problem. It’s just a mediocre wagon. More importantly, making that Earl suffer a loss was good.]
They did the same at other places. With Regulus 36 and Land 55 at Rakuham and Regulus 37 and Land 56 ta Saww. At Zuk, Regulus 38 and Land 57 went and they all sold salt at a high price.
[A total of 20 ton was sold, eh? That makes 12,000,000 toll. This will hit him hard financially.]
It is quite a big sum of money for an individual.
And then, Laojun played one more move.
[After a few days, let’s start selling salt in a small scale. At the previous price of 200 toll. We must not sell these to those guys.]
With this, he plans to maintain the normal market price of salt.
[It’s only costly because there’s a shortage of it. However, if there’s too much salt in the market, the price will have to go down.]
Jin was not that familiar with economics so Laojun couldn’t also scheme better than that. But it was more than effective to make Earl Walter suffer.