$$ fish
80
$$ sausages (advanced)
60
meat 100
$$ pickled fish (advanced)
40
fish 200
exotic spices
400
Novenguard
Goods (100 units)
Gold
Resource
Basic food
Adv. food
$$ flour
40
fish
100
pickled fish (advanced)
90
fish 200
$$ bread (basic)
80
flour 100
Woodhaven
Goods (100 units)
Gold
Resource
Basic food
Adv. food
lumber
50
Claytown
Goods (100 units)
Gold
Resource
Basic food
Adv. food
clay
40
pottery
200
clay 200
100
Turniphill
Goods (100 units)
Gold
Resource
Basic food
Adv. food
gathered edibles
20
gathered ingredients
20
Snakepits
Goods (100 units)
Gold
Resource
Basic food
Adv. food
leather
80
fur 100
200
furs
500
Sageholm
Goods (100 units)
Gold
Resource
Basic food
Adv. food
healing potions
2,000
500
mana potions
2,000
500
Mudlake
Goods (100 units)
Gold
Resource
Basic food
Adv. food
mud
5
What are those towns at the bottom? I asked.
Vic rolled his mental eyes at me.
Not while you’re here to poke holes in me, I said.
I shook my head and returned my attention to the hovering information tables.
“Okay …” I said. “So if I wanted to order a hundred weapons, I need to provide 700 gold, 500 metal ingots, and 100 advanced food?”
“Exactly.” Yeshy beamed at me. “You can purchase the food locally or import it from other places where it’s cheaper, though the downside is that the transit time will delay overall production. Also, we have a small problem with gaining access to metal. It seems the settlements in this region that focus on mining are located in the northern part, along the eastern mountain ridge, outside of your control.”
“That area is still under Everance’s domain,” I said. “So what can we do? My clan’s ore production is barely enough to keep our crafters occupied.”
“Woodhaven already trades wood with Zemitpozes,” the gremlin pointed out. “At the moment, they are being paid with gold, but you can change it to metal then ship it over to where it’s needed. Since wood is highly sought after in Zemitpozes, Woodhaven will get a good deal for it.”
“Let’s do that then,” I said.
“Done,” Yeshy said after a moment, and Woodhaven’s table updated in front of my eyes. They now offered metal, on top of lumber, at the bargain price of 70 gold per 100 units.
“So let’s see if I got it right,” I said slowly. “If I want to order 100 weapons from Storg, I need to provide them with 500 metal, which will cost me 350 gold, advanced food which will cost …” I scanned the tables for the cheapest highlighted option, “… about 200 gold if I buy and import pickled fish from Whitebanner, and then I need to actually pay for the order with another 700 gold, so the whole thing will cost …”
“1,250 gold.”
<1,250 gold.>
Yeshy and Vic answered simultaneously.
I pursed my lips. At 12 gold per weapon, that was a pretty good deal. “New troops will also need armor,” I mused. “So if I want to equip 200 soldiers with weapons and put half of them in leather armor and the rest in steel, the total cost will be … help me out here.”
“7,520 gold.”
<7,520 gold.>
The two repeated their earlier stunt.
“That’s half our current treasury,” I said. “At this rate, it’ll take all we have saved up plus several months’ revenue to purchase gear for a thousand soldiers.”
“You’re forgetting something, Chief.”
I looked at the gremlin.
Yeshy was grinning at me. “As the overlord of the clan, you’re entitled to a 25 percent tax on all trade deals, so everything will be cheaper by a quarter.”
“That’s not bad,” I admitted. “It’s still not enough though.”
“Well, then …” The gremlin’s grin widened. “We’ll just have to increase our revenue, won’t we?”
“I’m all ears,” I said.
Yeshy rubbed his chin. “Claytown produces pottery that’s highly sought after in Novenguard. Sageholm makes potions that can be shipped through Whitebanner’s harbor, so they’ll be interested in buying them. You can establish these as new trade routes. The buyers will pay for the shipments and we rake in the taxes.” He rubbed his hands together.
“Sounds good,” I said. “Let’s ship every type of good everywhere.”
Yeshy shook his head. “Unfortunately, the amount of requested goods is limited. Novenguard will only pay for a steady, ongoing shipment of 200 pottery, and Whitebanner can only handle up to 500 potions per order.”
“How do you know all that?” I asked.
“The Gremlin’s Guilds.” He beamed at me. “They’re not just fancy buildings. The gremlin traders who work there constantly collect information on the current state of the market then they inform me. The current business opportunities are somewhat limited, but it’s a start. We should keep our eyes and ears open for new opportunities.”
“Alright,” I said. “So let’s establish those trade routes you mentioned.”
“Done.”
“That easy?”
“Hardly. Lucrative deals are bound to draw trouble. You’ll have to maintain safe shipping routes to make sure caravans can move unimpeded. The army is currently securing the immediate area around the three towns, but it’s not enough to cover these new trade routes.” He gave me a cunning look. “On the bright side, since we’re not the ones paying for them, I also arranged for Sageholm to import the food they need for production from the most expensive market to maximize tax revenues.”
I laughed. “I like that.” I snuck a look at the interface and noted my clan’s daily gold revenues had risen by almost 200 to 1,735. I scanned the list again. “For now, I don’t need excess gear; we already have enough to provide for 2,000 soldiers.” I felt a presence coming up behind me. “Also, if I’m not mistaken, I can provide the leather required for the leather armor on my own. We have plenty in stock; isn’t that right, Kaedric?”
The mandibled hob’s voice said behind me, “Yes, my lord. Over 16,000 units. I project it’ll take our clan roughly ten months to exhaust the current supply with our standing production rate.”
I nodded. “And it’ll take us too long and cost too much to build up a production line large enough to process that much on our own. Better ship it out to Storg for their crafters to use.”
“
Very astute, my lord.”
I narrowed my eyes at the mandibled hob. His inflection was flat as usual, but I could’ve almost sworn I detected an undertone of exasperation.
Kaedric tilted his head at me. “My lord?”
I shook my head to refocus. “Food is still the main concern,” I said, hoping I wasn’t wearing down the astute seneschal. “I see that sausages and pickled fish only require meat and fish to produce, why the hell aren’t we already making them? We have plenty of both.”
“Those food sources require special processing equipment,” he explained. “We have not the blueprint for the required facilities, nor the food recipes themselves. I’m afraid that, as it is a civilized race’s specialty, our researchers won’t be able to duplicate them. We will need to acquire them by some other means.”
I shook my head. “Not worth the time. We’ll trade for the food we need.” I scanned the Global Economy tables. “We need advanced food most of all. We can import it cheapest from Whitebanner. Let’s say a thousand pickled fish will cost … 2,000 gold for a roundtrip of … 15 days. I want to scale the calculations to a daily basis so, divided by day that will be … uh …”
Yeshy chuckled. “If I may, Chief; spread over a daily basis, you’re looking at a base price of 200 gold for every 100 units of pickled fish.”
“So if I were to spend all of our daily revenue, I’d be able to bring in about 700 units per day, right?”
“That’s right,” Yeshy said.
“I also need more exquisite food to summon casters,” I murmured, going over the list again. “But I don’t see it available here – wait a minute.” I stopped to stare at a specific item on the list. “Kaedric, we have a special dish that requires rare spices, right?”
“Elephant Steaks, my lord. We have an ample amount of fine-cut oxsaurian meat but lack the spice to produce more than 50 units per day. Two measures of food can be produced for each measure of spice.”
“Great!” I felt myself getting excited. “So a hundred spice, at 400 gold, will net us 200 more units of exquisite food in total.”
“Or 13, if spread daily,” Yeshy agreed. “For 26 gold per day.”
“Alright,” I said with determination, my brain working overtime to determine the optimal course. “I want to bring in 600 units of advanced food and 50 spice every day. Set it up, Yeshy.”
“You got it, Chief,” the trade minister said. He concentrated briefly, then looked up at me. “Done.”
I opened the Settlement Interface again and reviewed the changes.
Global Economy
Tax rate: 25%
Daily income: 169 (current treasury: 17,590)
Active trade routes: 5
Active patrols: 1
Global trading
The new expenses severely strained our daily income, though we were still raking in a decent amount. “Can we increase the tax rate?”
Yeshy winced. “I’d advise against that, Chief. Any more and our competitors will be able to undermine our rates and steal business from us.”
“Then are there benefits to lowering the tax?”
“It will encourage requests for new trade goods, thus increasing overall trade,” he said
“Hmmm.” I needed what revenues I could get now. With the deadline of two months hanging over my head, investing in some possible future deals was pointless. “Leave the tax rate as it is.”
The gremlin nodded sagely.
“Kaedric, how does our daily food yield look now?”
The mandibled hob didn’t blink as he answered, “The clan currently produces 1,190 basic, 1,110 advanced, and 220 units of exquisite food.”
“Good enough for now,” I said.
That gain meant we could summon roughly 40 new lieutenants and ten adepts each day. The clan’s food stores were still filled to the brim with basic food, which I decided not to spend carelessly. I could only summon simple warriors with basic food, and I’d already concluded that summoning intelligent and named soldiers was much more efficient.
Your forces have conquered a monster lair!
Due to race incompatibility, the conquered lair wasn’t added as a vassal settlement.
Gained: New unit is available at the Breeder’s Den.
I stared at the notification for a few moments as my mind tried to make sense of it. Did the army go out on a raid or something?
Then it came to me. The bonetis raid!
I eagerly accessed the Breeder’s Den Interface and wasn’t disappointed.
New unit available to summon:
Bonetis: A vicious strain of giant mantis that can be used as mounts. Cost: 10 basic food, 10 limestone.
A mount! I stared at the text in fascination. That simple word was enough to evoke a powerful image in my mind. Hundreds of bonetis-mounted hobs storming our enemies in a deadly charge. It looked like I found use for all that surplus of basic food after all. However, my excitement was replaced with puzzlement as I read the final requirement. “Why the hell do they need limestone?”
As always, Kaedric was in sync with my line of thoughts. “Calcium, my lord,” he explained. “The creatures require it to mature.”
“Well, we’ve been mining limestone since day one, how much do we have in stock?”
“Exactly 280.”
“That’s it?”
“I’m afraid the citywide upgrade has severely taxed our supply of building materials. We require an additional 100 units of stone to fully finish the project. Which will be tomorrow, incidentally.”
I grimaced. “Can we expand our quarrying operation?”
“We can, my lord. We have only two stonemasons, as their yield was deemed sufficient to the clan’s needs. They provide us with 30 units each day.”
“How many more stonemasons can the valley support?” I asked.
“Four, my lord.”
“Summon them and put them to work.”
Kaedric’s eyes went distant for a moment. “Done, my lord. The required energy was expended to increase their level to 10.”
“Good thing I have you around to manage the place,” I said to the monstrous hob, clapping him on the shoulder.
Kaedric bowed his head in submission.
I turned back to the gremlin. “Thank you, Yeshy. I think we’re done with global economics for now.”
The gremlin cleared his throat. “Actually, Chief, I’d like for us to address the issue of road security.”
“What about it?”
“The new routes we just established are very appealing to bandits. There’s a high chance for some of our caravans to get attacked.”
“Even with the army patrols, and that squad of young hobs and Ogres that safeguard the route through the deadlands?”
“Those certainly help to lower overall travel risk, but caravans carrying expensive goods are still appetizing targets.”
“What do you suggest, then?”
“Each caravan should be protected by at least 20 warriors, Chief. You can either hire mercenaries or use your own soldiers.”
I frowned. “That means 100 additional soldiers that won’t be able to join the army, and I already have a quarter of them out there on patrol.”
“Without the army patrol, you would need to double the number of warriors escorting each caravan, which will provide nearly the same amount of protection.”
I considered his words. “You know what, that might actually work.”
The gremlin looked at me, puzzled.
“The army’s upkeep is expensive,” I explained. “The valley’s Eternal Night has a specific blessing that removes upkeep completely. But it doesn’t help the soldiers at conquered settlements. I can apply the blessing there as well …”
The gremlin’s eyes widened in understanding. “So it would be more beneficial for you to recall the quarter of the army that patrols the land, which is about …”
“Four hundred soldiers.” I nodded.
&nbs
p; “And double the number of soldiers guarding the caravans to a total of 200, saving you the need to provide upkeep for the better part of the force.”
“Exactly.” I smiled at him. “And I’m going to summon a lot more soldiers soon, so eliminating the need to feed them all will become even more substantial. Kaedric.” I turned to my seneschal. “What’s the daily food gain projection when only 200 soldiers require upkeep?”
“That will be 2,028 basic, 1,108 advanced, and 225 exquisite food.”
I beamed at him. With just a few administrative decisions, I’d be able to almost double our food gains.
“Very economical.” The gremlin looked at me admiringly.
I laughed. “It’s good to have you around, Minister. I’ll leave it to you to requisition the required soldiers from the army. Now if you’ll excuse me …”
I teleported to the cathedral and stepped through the open portal to Storg, finding myself at the conquered church-turned-Dark-Temple.
A goblin adept bowed deeply as I stepped through. “Shadow Lord.”
“Get me Savol,” I told him.
The goblin sprinted out as if he were being chased.
I approached the altar and brought up the appropriate interface.
Zone Blessings (Affects all followers in the local zone of influence)
● Mettle I: The morale of all creatures increases by +5. Cost: 10 FP
● Physical I: Increases the Physical attribute of all creatures in the zone by +1. Cost: 100 FP
● Mental I: Increases the Mental attribute of all creatures in the zone by +1. Cost: 100 FP
Life Reset: Salvation (Life Reset - Neo Book 6) Page 8