“In the past three months, there has been a sudden sharp increase in the amount of several kinds of war supplies that the Commonwealth of Gold Coins and the aristocratic party are purchasing,” said Rakanisho Lightning with a frown. He was the gnome in charge of Void City’s bulk trading market. He had sorted out a report and presenting it to the Commerce Minister, Osman Ben Raunegu.

  Minister Raunegu also frowned as he received the report and started to study it carefully.

  After a moment, he asked, “The aristocratic party purchased a great amount of blazing fire glue and glitter dust…… What are they going to do? Are these things largely consumed in war?”

  “As far as I know, blazing fire glue can be used for fire attacks, while glitter dust can momentarily blind enemies, and if well-utilized, it can even suspend invisibility—these are just inferior spagyric products and are only equivalent to the effect of low-level magic,” said the old gnome, Rakanisho. He was once a tribal chief and had fought battles of wit and courage against adventurers for many years; thus, he was very familiar with these inferior spagyric products.

  On a cold winter day more than 20 years ago, he watched how his people were mired in famine because the powerful magic beasts had robbed them of their food reserves. Finally, he decided to surrender to the nearby Dragon-Roar Town; thus, he and his people became alien residents. Because they possessed the ability to control a small amount of Lightning magic, he and his people called themselves the “Lightning family,” Thereafter, “Lightning” became their family name. Among the gnomes of the Republic of Northwest, they were considered to be the first group to undergo “civilization.”

  Now, he was just an elderly merchant in charge of Void City’s bulk trading market. This job was in fact quite idle because with regards to the market, and it was only responsible for providing venues and security. It didn’t associate with business dealings and never had inquired about it before—except in one aspect. When both parties of the deal were done with negotiations, they were required to submit a security deposit along with the trade brief. If neither party had any objection within three months, both parties would be able to recover 90% of the security deposit. The remaining 10% would naturally be used as venue rental fees, as well as a guarantee fee. If within three months, both parties raised objections to the deal, they could head to the Commercial Litigation Court of Void City to start negotiation or even to file a lawsuit. Depending on the needs of the situation, Void City could even deploy Legendary Masters to ensure the reliability of the business.

  The old tribal chief, Rakanisho, was too old for hard work and also, he no longer had the energy for too complex calculation. But he could still rely on his experience in studying and sifting through those trade briefs to sort and compile data. And from which, he could find valuable information.

  This time, for example, he discovered something odd.

  Anyone who was not blind could see that the situation in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins was pretty tense at the moment. Generally speaking, in such situations, both parties would do their best in stockpiling war resources, mainly arrows, armor plates, metal ingots, standard weapons, as well as food and medical supplies.

  These things were not cheap. For adventurers to buy in small quantities, the amount would not be a great deal. But it would be a considerable sum of money for the military to buy in large quantities. So having state power was first and foremost in order to fight a battle. Without money…… it was best not to think lightly of battle, conceding defeat or running away would be more viable options.

  \r \r \r

  At least this was the principle of the tribal chief, Rakanisho, or rather, the former tribal chief of the “Lightning” tribe of gnomes, the old chief Rakanisho.

  Was this principle good or bad? It was hard to say. But at least for the Lightning Tribe, it certainly reaped good results. At the beginning, Rakanisho had no choice but to take a desperate gamble. And finally, he could allow his people to live in stability and prosperity, the kind of life they had always dreamed of.

  Except for the need for family planning.

  This was one of the few basic state policies of the Republic of Northwest. The people of races who were particularly fertile should be restricted from having children, while those who were less fertile should be encouraged to have children.

  The former was represented by the gnomes and the Rabbit men while the latter was naturally represented by creatures such as the Monochrome Bearmen and elemental creatures.

  But it was much more difficult to encourage giving birth than restricting it. The Monochrome Bearmen would only have the impulse to reproduce in a short six months out of an entire year. Most of the time, they were more interested in wine than the opposite sex. The elemental creatures were practically clueless about what “reproduction” was. It was almost pointless in pinning hopes on them to reproduce and multiply their population.

  Fortunately, Sui Xiong was not the kind of excessively compassionate Virgin Mary with a clouded mind. He would not go through great pains to specially invite a group of grand masters just for the sake of expanding the population of minority groups in the country. Have trouble reproducing? Then so be it. If they themselves were unwilling to reproduce, how could Sui Xiong still force it upon them?

  It was inappropriate to resort to coercive means in such matters.

  “Chief Rakanisho, what effects do you think there would be if inferior spagyric products like blazing fire glue and glitter dust are used in large amounts?” Minister Osman asked, somewhat hesitantly. He was silent for a moment, then said, “I feel that these things don’t seem to be suitable for large-scale use on the battlefield. The costs are too high, and the returns are too low.”

  “You’re right. All it takes is one group Defense Spell to resist the damaging effects of the blazing fire glue. As for the glitter dust or whatever it is, it’s almost the same. Back when I led the young fellows of my tribe in battles of courage and wits against the adventurers, I have never feared such means, let alone the powerful organic units of soldiers in the army,” said the old gnome tribal chief as he shook his head. “I really don’t see any use for them. Honestly, I think they’re simply a waste of money.”

  “But the aristocrats are no fools either.”

  “I really don’t understand. Maybe the people in the military department will be able to figure this out,” Rakanisho said as he irresponsibly freed himself from all obligations of addressing the issue.

  The Commerce Minister pondered for a moment and felt that what Rakanisho said made sense. So he sent two copies of the document by magic, one to the Defense Minister, Leonard, and the other to the Security Minister, Easter.

  As for how these two professionals think? That was none of his business. He was still busy with other things!

  About half an hour later, Leonard and Easter found time to meet and discuss the matter.

  “This is not normal,” Leonard said. “It’s still acceptable for the blazing hot glue, but glitter dust is definitely not something that can be used in large quantities in a war. It simply doesn’t make any sense!”

  Easter nodded. Based on his impression, glitter dust was normally used by adventurers. In particular, the thieves used a lot of it mainly to create bright flashes before their enemies’ eyes in sudden battles, where they would seize the opportunity to escape.

  But to use this in a formal war…… no matter how he thought about it, he could not figure out how the aristocrats had intended to use it.

  Could it be…… they wanted to throw a hand before a confrontation between the cavalry?

  But the merchant party sent their new army without cavalry at all. They openly used heavy crossbows, strong bows and long spears against the cavalry. They formed an array that was like a sturdy mountain and posed a challenge to anyone with enough guts to charge at them. As for what they would shoot, archers on horseback would never be able to shoot further and more accurately than archers on foot. It was nothing more than turning a quick death into slow death.

  In a world where magic was so widely used, there was no such thing as mobility advantage of the cavalry. Moreover…… it was truly not easy wanting to outrun a mid-ranked warrior in a small battlefield by relying on a swift but ordinary horse!

  The cavalry in this world, except for those who were messengers, were all like heavily armored knights who were fully armed like tin cans. To deal with them, a well-trained army would simply need to form the so-called “Dragon Gun Array” on the ground with their long spears.

  In fact, the heavily armored knights did not usually charge into enemy lines forcefully. Even if they did so, they were sure to first cover themselves with multiple layers of protective magic—therefore, the war became a battle between protective magic and magic of removal……

  Easter frowned and contemplated to himself. Born in a land of mages, he was quite well-versed in the understanding and use of magic. He felt that, by right, he should be able to guess how the aristocratic party would use the blazing fire glue and glitter dust.

  But without waiting for him to guess the answer, Sui Xiong had found the answer through his own channels.

  The aristocratic party intended to form a rapid-mobility troop. With its harassing nature, this troop would specifically attack the merchant party from behind. These blazing fire glue, glitter dust and the likes of them, were specially prepared for the merchants.