Chapter 1429 - 1394: Reckless Fools

Molnar sighed at his self-indulgent nephew, but nodded nonetheless.

"Yes, Shilton is right. Your tax rate is very low. It was calculated by our accountant here at that time."

Tax evasion is feasible, but industries like the Dwarf Bank can’t just replace the legal person with a human to avoid taxes, right?

So they have to pay every penny.

"But speaking of it," Lann rubbed his chin, "this means all the money for waging war against the Squirrel Faction is borne by non-human races? That doesn’t surprise me much."

"But a bunch of warlocks having a meeting shouldn’t be related to kingdom taxation, right?"

"Of course, the warlock gathering had nothing to do with taxes." Molnar poured some wine into his cup.

"But the warlocks’ collective resolutions at the meeting always influence the Northern Territory, and even the world. The aftermath not only affects tax rates, but also agricultural product prices, land prices, and so forth."

"Like now, I really hope the opinions of the great mages at the gathering can stop certain things from happening. For example, if they could curb the soaring prices, I’d be overjoyed!"

Molnar said this looking at Yennefer, because she was one of the key figures in the upcoming warlock gathering.

She is the youngest member of the Warlock Supreme Council.

That is, one of the so-called ’great mages at the gathering’ as Molnar mentioned.

"Speak in detail."

Yennefer leaned back on her chair.

"Yes, just as Lann mentioned." Molnar nodded toward the Demon Hunter on his chair, "I’ve been in this industry for many years, Yennefer. I can see deep connections in seemingly unrelated events like price fluctuations, etc."

"For example, recently the value of gemstones has skyrocketed because the demand has grown substantially."

"Don’t look at me! In the past, our bank indeed bought jewelry and gemstones in bulk to avoid currency and monetary value fluctuations. But this time..."

Molnar’s expression became solemn, and Shilton, also from the banking industry, even though hearing this news for the first time, slowly widened his eyes under his professional instinct.

"Gemstones have an advantage." Molnar seemed like he was diverting the topic, "They are light and small."

"A bag of diamonds weighs only a few ounces, can easily fit in your pocket, yet it’s worth fifty Mark. And what about the equivalent gold coins? That’s twenty-five pounds! You have to carry them on your shoulder!"

"When fleeing or moving, this is a big advantage, friends." Molnar said with deep meaning, "Compared to a big bag of gold coins, a small bag of diamonds allows you to hold your wife and kids in one arm and a sword in the other. The difference is immense."

"Isn’t it a bit early to start talking about fleeing?" Yennefer remained unchanged, "Where can we escape to?"

"Kovir, Bovis, or Humphries, because they’re far away, neutral countries with good relations with Niflgaard."

"Just say it, Molnar." Lann chuckled as he heard this, "What else has increased in price? How is this price increase related to anything?"

"Ships."

"..." Lann was silent at first, then seemed to understand something in an instant, furrowing his brows hard, "What did you say?"

"Ships." the Dwarf Banker repeated.

"All shipbuilders along the coast are busy building ships, it’s orders from King Veltrest’s quartermaster. They are generous, with new orders continuously increasing."

"If you have spare money, Yennefer, Lann. Invest it all in the shipbuilding industry, it’s a gold mine! You can completely build ships with bark and reeds and sell them to the military at the price of high-grade pine sailboats, just split the profits with the quartermaster."

"This is no joke, Molnar." Lann straightened his body from leaning against the wall, "What’s going on specifically?"

Ciri looked up, a bit surprised by Lann’s sudden seriousness.

"Those ships are being shipped south." Molnar stared at the ceiling, speaking absentmindedly, "You can imagine, it’s not because the army wants to start fishing that they’re buying ships en masse."

"I heard those ships are being shipped to Sodden and Brugge regions, hidden in the woods, officers and soldiers are training boarding and combat. For now, it’s just training."

"Dor Angora." Lann almost muttered this place name the moment Molnar finished speaking. "Indeed, it’s the only place."

Yennefer could hardly keep up with Lann’s thoughts before, their thinking speed had a great disparity, and the female warlock had a huge information gap with the Dwarf Banker.

So in the conversation, she was generally more passive despite usually being forceful.

But Lann almost instantly sorted out thoughts from the words provided by Molnar.

"The Yaruga River is entering the dry season. Then in Dor Angora, with a little mechanical assistance, both north and south banks can easily traverse."

"More importantly, the ships sent here can supply Lilia and Yaden... so is this a joint military operation?"

In just a few words, Lann already largely speculated the direction of events.

But this direction is not optimistic.

Lann didn’t have more intelligence about Niflgaard, but he knew, now even a Dwarf Banker can vaguely see the clues, don’t expect the secrecy to stay highly anticipated at best.

The Demon Hunter ground his molars and pinched his forehead with the hand not holding the wine glass.

"Four reckless fools... Fortunately, they didn’t think to cause trouble in the Brokilon Great Forest, or else they would have encountered trouble halfway!"

"...we’ll pretend not to know who these ’four fools’ you’re talking about," Molnar said knowingly, raising his glass towards Lann in admiration, "Only a noble of your stature would dare say such things."

"Brokilon?" Yennefer, the Female Warlock, noted another point in Lann’s words, "What’s the issue with the Dryads again?"

Ciri looked at the Demon Hunter curiously; she still remembered their first meeting with the Demon Hunters was in that vast, boundless primeval forest.

Back then, she only recalled that the Dryads didn’t seem to be in good shape, yet now it seems Lann implied something...

The Demon Hunter placed his hand on Ciri’s head to prevent her from showing a particular expression because of this name.

He spoke to Yennefer, "I’ve spoken with their [Silver-Eyed Queen] Enid a few times and we’ve helped each other. All I can say is... anyone who wants to provoke her, I wouldn’t be optimistic about their fate."

The Demon Hunter thought again of the Ancient Deer-headed Spirit that randomly entered the New Continent through [Teleportation Technique], and then, with unimaginable vitality, was jointly pushed back into the Brokilon Great Forest by Enid and himself.

This was a vitality so vast that it elevated the Ancient Deer-headed Spirit to be even more troublesome than the New Continent Ancient Dragon.

And that vitality became the ’gift’ for inviting the [Silver-Eyed Queen] to act across the world.

Now that vitality should still be in Enid’s hands or stored within the Dryads’ city, Dun Kanar.

Enid’s essence is the Earth God of Brokilon; she should have been unable to do anything about the forest’s decline, merely withering alongside it.

But back then, during Ciri’s hypnotic state, Enid saw the prophecy through the [Ancient Blood] of the girl.

And the vast vitality personally delivered by Lann made the Demon Hunter confident—now the Earth God of the Great Forest, the Dryads’ [Silver-Eyed Queen], is not solely bound to a path of decay.

Yet the negotiations among Lann, Ciri, and Brokilon, and the later collaboration between Lann and Enid, were too intricate and winding to recount.

So the Demon Hunter merely mentioned it briefly and chose not to elaborate.

In fact, he was still pondering whether to send the plants brought from the New Continent for experimental cultivation to Brokilon for nurturing and observation.

With Enid, the Earth God, watching over, there should be no concern about invasion harm from ordinary creatures, and the Brokilon Great Forest’s vitality is quite robust.

Perhaps the plants from the New Continent could complement and enhance the Magic Forest of the Magical Middle Ages.

"It seems that this meeting indeed requires achieving many agreements before we can start negotiations with the Northern Kingdoms."

Lann shook his head, mumbling somewhat wearily.

A wide-reaching joint military action among the Northern Kingdoms is difficult to proceed without the support of the Warlocks.

Therefore, Lann is focusing his main effort on the upcoming meeting, hoping the consensus reached by the entire warlock group during the conference will pressure the restless Kings.

He certainly bears a grudge against Niflgaard, whether it’s personal enmity, Ciri’s origin, or disgust at slavery; he cannot possibly get along amicably with this Southern Empire.

But shouldn’t one think carefully before making a move? Shouldn’t one ’build high walls, accumulate grain widely’?

Just plunge ahead blindly?

Charge in with neck stiffened, to fight hard?!

Though Lann considers himself to have seen some foolish nobles and incompetent kings, his cultural upbringing never held any reverence or romanticized view of the so-called ’noble class.’

Just thinking of them as ordinary people.

Yet he remains astonished by the short-sightedness and naive ambition of the kings in this Magical Middle Ages.

But speaking of this now is already out of tune.

The best chance to prevent their impulsiveness is the Sorcerer Assembly, where Lann plans to exchange ideas with Henry Gemitis and Tishaya in hopes of securing support from these two most influential Warlocks among humans.

Everything else is naturally easier.

Seeing the thoughtful look in Lann’s eyes, Molnar, despite having somewhat understood from his nephew the first Demon Hunter in history to become a noble, was still surprised by the other’s rapid thinking and acute sense of the situation.

He merely mentioned some scattered intelligence data, and then Lann followed immediately, predicting the key points Molnar hadn’t yet spoken!

This sort of decisive, confident foresight... to speak bluntly, Molnar has only encountered in Wizards who claim to possess prophetic abilities.

Of course, if even one out of a hundred genuinely had prophetic Magic, Molnar would count it as good fortune.

"Alright, since we’ve discussed the data and graphical information..."

Yennefer shifted her gaze from the pensive Lann back to the Dwarf Banker.

"I have some matters that need your assistance, Molnar."