Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  In the end, the result of this negotiation was relatively unfavorable to the merchants because the merchant party had once again conceded and compromised.

  Though taxes were reduced, the aristocratic lords could still send people to be directly involved in the management of the Chamber of Commerce.

  According to the aristocratic party, this was called supervision rights. As lords, they had to ensure that they were able to supervise every force in their territory. There should not be a truly uncontrolled force existing. But everyone knew that this would mean that almost all the chambers of commerce in the various territories would completely fall within the control of the local lords.

  Though usually, they could peacefully and steadily operate their businesses to make money, when the lords got angry and turned against them, they might be smothered and clobbered anytime. There was no way they could think of escaping at all.

  Given such a result, it would seem that Sui Xiong was certainly not going to accept this—who in the world would allow an enemy with a knife into his home? That would certainly be a fool incapable of using his brains!

  But to the merchants, so long as there were fewer taxes to pay and there was nothing affecting their means of income, they could give in to almost anything else. After all, the merchants were most concerned about money. Money was the only thing they ever cared about.

  When the outcome of the negotiations was out, Sui Xiong waved his tentacles and released the fellows in there. All of them smelled so bad that their stench was literally no different from that of rotting bodies. Then he left right away and returned to his God’s Kingdom.

  “Really too useless, no matter what help is given, they are still hopeless!” Sui Xiong said. Back in the council room, when he opened his mouth to speak, this was the first thing he said, “Manissy, the merchant party is really a hopeless bunch!”

  The Goddess of Wealth was a little puzzled, so she asked, “Doesn’t this make a pretty good outcome? There’s no need to go to war.”

  Sui Xiong could not help feeling at a loss for words, and then something came to mind…… this was clearly what was meant by “if the upper beam was not straight, the lower one would go awry”! The Goddess of Wealth herself was just a silly goose who saw money but not danger. How could the merchant party be expected to be canny and far-sighted?

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  Thinking about this, he could not help breathing out a deep sigh.

  “Anyway, this matter is finally brought to a close,” he said. He could not be bothered to further talk about this screwed up matter and steered the topic back to serious business right away. “I feel that our Republic of Northwest should take warning from this matter.”

  “Take warning?” The gods from the Void God System looked at one another as they could not understand exactly where the need to “take warning” was.

  After a moment, Wall asked, “Your Majesty, we don’t have any aristocrats who actually hold real power within our Republic of Northwest.”

  Sui Xiong shook his head and said, “The problem is not here. The problem lies within who should our country rely on? What kind of person should be the core of society?”

  “Shouldn’t it be the merchants, I guess?” Wall said. He thought about it, then said, “The Republic of Northwest is almost a country founded on commerce. The core of the country should of course, be the merchants.”

  “The merchants are simply weak to the core. They’re not reliable!” Sui Xiong said. He shook his head and refuted Wall’s claim. “This time, I’ve personally witnessed their weakness. I’ve clearly forced the merchant party to the same level as the aristocratic party. So long as they had persevered and did not give in, the aristocratic party would have been the side succumbing in the end—the issue with inheritance rights of the merchants is easily resolvable. At most, they could divide the assets among themselves, but would the aristocrats accept the splitting of assets? Once this generation of aristocrats dies, their children would already be beating the hell out of one another just to vie for the inheritance rights, not to mention those relatives with inheritance rights yet not on good terms with the children of these aristocrats…… So long as this batch of representatives die when I catch the next batch of representatives, the aristocrats will have no choice but to give in.”

  “That may be the case, but it seems a little too harsh……” Morani said. Shaking his head, he added, “Must we go to the extent of people dying?”

  “A war will result in even more deaths. So we can say those leaders from the aristocratic party and merchant party have parents giving birth to and raising them, but not the soldiers who sadly have to seek joy amidst the hardships in life?” Sui Xiong retorted.

  Morani thought for a moment, nodded and said, “You’re right. If losing a few great aristocrats or major merchants could solve the problem and avert a war, then we should just let them die.”

  “But the result still ends up with the merchant party giving in. Because the aristocratic party is determined not to ever take a step back—the aristocratic party is resolute in giving up their first batch of people, but not the merchant party,” Sui Xiong lamented. “The side that can afford to lose some people is not willing to bear losing some lives, and therefore, it ends up losing to the side that can’t afford to lose anyone.”

  “This is normal. For the aristocrats, preserving their honor would mean protecting their family’s heritage. So they have the bravery to fight and the courage to die. Almost every family of aristocrats has lost members to war. This courage that is gathered with blood is something the merchants can never match up to,” said Law Brans, the God of Law. He added, “In fact, you can tell from the armies of both parties. The army of the aristocratic party is usually led by the lord in person. Even if the lord is not a trained frontline soldier, he’ll still be fighting at the fore of his army. What about the merchant party? Basically, you will not find them in places where flying arrows can reach.”

  “True. That’s why the merchant party will definitely lose if war truly breaks out,” said the God of Justice, Yorgaardman. He nodded his head and continued to say, “I can prove this with my priesthood of “Courage.” There are many people from the aristocratic party who conform to this part of my teachings, but few from the merchant party.”

  Sui Xiong felt suffocated by his anger as he listened on. He could not help letting out another sigh.

  The merchants from this world, as well as the merchants on Earth, were equally disappointing. However, the aristocrats from this world were stronger than those on Earth.

  From the looks of it, it was no easy feat in moving a step away from the Feudal Age to propel social progress!

  “But I feel that things will change,” said the God of War, Wenner. Everyone had been discussing for a while when Wenner, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke. “You all might not believe me if I were to say this, but I just predicted that there will still be a civil war within the Commonwealth of Gold Coins.”

  “What?!” Sui Xiong’s volume was raised a few decibels as he said, “Aren’t they done with negotiations and have already signed an agreement? Why are they still going to war?!”

  “I don’t know about this. I can only sense that they’re still going to fight. As to specifically why they’re going to fight…… In the end, what will the result be? I’m totally clueless,” Wenner said. He threw up his hands and helplessly said, “I’m the God of War, not the God of Fate. I don’t know exactly what will happen in the future.”

  “So can you roughly tell who’s going to win and who’s about to lose?” the Goddess of Wealth, Manissy, asked with concern.

  Wenner shut his eyes in silent contemplation for a moment, then somewhat puzzled, he said, “It’s strange…… Why do I feel that the merchant party stands a greater chance for victory?”

  “How is that possible?!” Sui Xiong could not help but exclaim loudly. “The merchant party can win this fight? This is absolutely impossible! Just that group of cowards, there’s no way they can win this fight!”

  The gods nodded in unison as if by prior agreement. All these years, there had been a succession of conflicts between some of the merchants and aristocrats from various countries. And the results were almost one-sided; the merchants had never won before.

  “How would I know how they’re going to win?” Wenner said. He was very doubtful too. “I myself feel that they’re not going to win.”

  “Then how did you arrive at the judgment that they have greater chances of winning?”

  “I feel that, that’s a judgment derived from my rational mind. But if I were to speculate using the power of my priesthood, the result will be that they stand a greater chance,” Wenner said helplessly. “I, myself, am also wondering about this.”

  The gods discussed the matter animatedly. No one could figure out a way on exactly how the merchant party was going to win.

  After the meeting, the God of War sent many messengers out to the territories of the merchant party to gather intelligence—he was not concerned about whether the merchant party was going to win or not. But he was curious about exactly how the merchant party would win.

  On the other hand, Sui Xiong returned to Rye Fortress and continued to work on creating his “real-life version of my world.” At the same time, he made a few clones of himself and deployed them over to the territories of the merchant party. The clones would then roam about these territories to gain an understanding of the situation.

  Although he was not the God of War, he was eager to know too. Exactly what would the merchant party depend on to possibly win this war, even when the gods were not optimistic about them at all?