Chaoter 760.3: Scientific Committee In The Wandering Marsh, Changes In The Southern Sea
Chaoter 760.3: Scientific Committee In The Wandering Marsh, Changes In The Southern Sea
The administrator had already paved the road for them. From the earliest currency exchange agreements to the electronic payment and settlement systems of the Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee. They just had to build on it.
"So..." Sesame Paste asked thoughtfully, trying to digest the complicated logic, "opening new shipping routes is also a way of making the pie itself bigger?"
"Exactly." Sisi nodded in approval before she continued, "It would be incredibly difficult to expand the size of the pie relying solely on ourselves. Buying a few more ships and making a few more voyages wouldn't fundamentally change anything. As such, we should let other players interested in seafaring join in."
"Together, we can grow the entire market."
"Besides, even without us, they’ll eventually discover this route anyway. We've merely accelerated the process."
Although West Sail Harbor had a large population, it still remained Wislander territory. Its circumstances were far more complicated than Port Gallon.
Under the iron-fisted rule of the Wislanders, the locals possessed no political rights whatsoever. They barely even enjoyed the freedom to feed themselves. They existed only as servants to their colonial masters.
If the girls wanted to earn money from those people, the locals first needed to become wealthier. Selling goods to livestock accomplished nothing.
At present, that was the only trade route linking the east and the west. Thankfully, once more New Alliance players arrived, everything would change. As player activity increased, they could even establish a branch of the Order of the White Bear Bank there. They could finance newcomers wanting to start businesses and provide shovels to those hoping to strike gold.
That business would be vastly more profitable than simply transporting cargo.
Tail nodded solemnly. "Exactly, Roro! You've got to think long-term! That's how we'll eventually buy spaceships that can fly five light-years away!"
Roshan couldn't help complaining. "Isn't that just another promise the developers painted for us?"
Tail curled her lips and sneered. "You're too naive, Roro. How do you know it isn't real? After all... nobody's ever been there."
"Was it called Planet Gaia...?" Gazing out through the porthole at the endless sea, Sesame Paste spoke dreamily. "I wonder what it's like there."
"Oh!" Tail exclaimed. "Little Feather's homeland! There must be all sorts of weird tentacle creatures there!"
"Ahaha..." Sesame Paste laughed awkwardly.
Maybe not...
Little Feather was adorable enough. But if Planet Gaia resembled downtown Clearspring City, that would definitely qualify as psychological contamination.
...
The Roro Boat sailing to West Sail Harbor was nothing more than an ordinary cargo vessel.
Neither the girls laughing and playing inside the treasury, nor the drunken sailors scattered about the ship realized that, without knowing it, they had planted the first seed the land had seen in over 200 years.
At the docks, the stevedores watched the sailors enviously. Or more precisely, they stared at the liquor bottles in their hands.
Those were imported goods from the east! Each bottle cost hundreds, even thousands, of Xilande Coins. Some were worth more than the dockworkers themselves.
Clearly, some of the sailors were natives of the Poro Province. The dockworkers couldn't understand why those people, who looked no different from themselves and perhaps weren't even as hardworking, could enjoy lives so vastly different.
As expected... Those damned Moonfolk must have stolen our fortunes...
Inside the Silvermoon Church in the harbor district, Melgio had shut himself inside the attic, pondering what to name the newspaper he was about to establish.
His gaze happened to fall upon the crescent moon outside the window and his eyes suddenly lit up.
He wrote The Silvermoon Gospel across the paper.
The newspaper had originally been intended to spread the faith of the Silvermoon Goddess. Then, considering the local population's sentiments, he paused and crossed out the word "Moon."
In the end, he renamed it the Silver Gospel.
Although serializing entertainment novels in a newspaper with such obvious religious overtones seemed a little inappropriate, the book had, after all, been personally handed to him by the earthly incarnation of the Silvermoon Goddess herself. That surely counted as relevant enough.
Compared to the Spirit of the Desert, the Silvermoon Church had long since been adapted into a more secular faith.
Its doctrines weren't nearly as rigid and also maintained a far more open attitude toward new ideas.
Moreover, after carefully reading through the secondhand books he had purchased, he concluded that Bore the Awakener was probably the one most capable of resonating with the local people. It was also well suited for oral retelling among the illiterate.
...
Just as the new winds sweeping across the wasteland grew ever stronger, the long-quiet situation in the Southern Seas finally underwent a dramatic change.
Sandbar Island, which had previously been forced into siding with the North Island Federation under pressure from the battleship the Ocean Edge, erupted into open rebellion.
The trigger was the new cabinet's recently signed Overseas Garrison Act.
The island's Guard Station mobilized immediately. First, they suppressed the local military barracks, then they seized the Governor's Office. Finally, they declared Chalas's new cabinet an illegal government and, in defense of the Declaration, proclaimed Sandbar Island's secession from the North Island Federation.
It sounded bizarre, but the island only had 70,000 residents. The combined military forces stationed there numbered less than a single company!
Meanwhile, the Guard Station alone fielded an entire battalion. Furthermore, Chalas's authority had always depended almost entirely upon the battleship. Its legitimacy had been questionable from the very beginning.
The soldiers themselves had little desire to resist. After firing only a handful of shots, they tied up their commanding officers. As a result, the utterly absurd rebellion concluded without shedding a single drop of blood. Even the young men leading the uprising looked bewildered.
They despised Chalas and they despised his puppet government. But, they had never seriously considered what to do if they actually succeeded in overthrowing him.
Even stranger was the fact that after they seized the Governor's Office, the governor himself simply removed his hat in visible relief, tossed it to them, declared, "You win." before resigning on the spot.
They had accomplished exactly what everyone wanted. Yet, no one had the slightest idea what came next.
One thing, however, was beyond question. Chalas would never tolerate such betrayal, nor would the hardliners backing him. They needed the blood of traitors to intimidate everyone else harboring similar thoughts, especially after they had ordered their main battleship to bombard Peace Island.
Realizing retaliation was inevitable, Sandbar Island's new government hurriedly sent a telegram declaring its allegiance to the Southern Archipelago New Alliance.
Behind them New Alliance stood the New Alliance and behind the New Alliance stood the Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee. That tree offered far better shade than the North Island Federation.
Moreover, they imposed far fewer outrageous demands.
After receiving Sandbar Island's telegram, the Southern Archipelago New Alliance government immediately treated the matter with utmost seriousness. Especially after discovering that a destroyer was escorting a converted landing ship departing from North Island.
It looked suspiciously like bait. There was no way Chalas hadn't anticipated they would respond. They felt that the battleship was probably lying silent somewhere at sea, waiting in ambush.
Then again, it might also represent an opportunity.
To ensure complete certainty, Li Minghui ordered fleet mobilization while simultaneously sending an urgent request to French Fry Harbor for New Alliance reinforcements.
Upon receiving the telegram, Ample Time didn't hesitate. After obtaining approval from the governor-general appointed by the administrator, he immediately sprang into action.
Open military confrontation had already begun between both sides. There was no longer any need to maintain appearances.
Besides, the North Island Federation's collusion with the Torch Church had already become an open secret.
The only thing left was tearing away the final veil.
Who knew? The creatures crouching inside those landing craft might very well be mutants controlled by the Torch Church! It wouldn't be the first time they tried something like that anyway!
Two H-10 Overlord transport aircraft stationed at the military base north of French Fry Harbor immediately took off. On board were two full companies of the Burning Corps.
At the same time, two L-10 Thunderbolt fighters also launched. Their steel wings carried a full combat load.
The Goblin Corps' pilots stood ready as well.
Beneath the calm sea, invisible waves were already beginning to churn. A great battle was on the verge of erupting.