MTLNOVEL Chapter 1469: Movements at the Rear
Back in the palace, the tension was at an all-time high. It didn't help that there were very injured men fighting for their lives on the floor.
"DAMNIT!"
The Lord cursed, destroying a table at the piles and piles of bad news getting thrown at him! The rest of the servants stepped as far away as they could, afraid to share the same fate as the people who 'bore the bad news'.
Mafo gritted his teeth as he felt his anger getting to his brain, making him go crazy as time passed by.
He was still in the process of determining the truth behind Valov Lord's alleged closeness with some of the people who died in his turf.
He had sent a letter via the Post Office there, claiming that there were rogues in his territory who had killed mercenary teams. It was done to wash his hands, simply because it happened in his territory.
So far, there had been no reply, but there was no reason for the Lord not to listen to him!
At first he didn't know why he was ignored. Until he found out that Hesso, that idiot, seemed to be behind it!
He had called on the brat to beat him up, but then he received news about another problem!
An illness!! An illness that affected his precious elementalist slaves, his source of gold!!
Worse, because the disease was really disgusting, few people wanted to go there at all to check! So now he was at a stalemate with this unexpected problem.
The people of this world, particularly after a certain level, were practically immune to most diseases. And whenever an actual disease appeared, it was really bad and definitely had the potential to kill thousands, if not more.
This meant that even a simple rumor of a disease would be troublesome for him and a huge waste of money.
He had ordered its investigation but he had to delay the auction because of it. Worse, he heard some of the potential bidders had left, as if afraid they'd catch the illness!! There were also merchants who left, though it was because Valov was planning on attacking them soon!
It's just one problem after another, damnit!
Worse, he hadn't even formulated a plan of action when new jerks decided to drop him another piece of orcshit.
Said bastards were now beaten half-dead on the floor.
Apparently, several territories just canceled their orders! For some reason, all their orders for the decorative stone and bricks had lost value. They already had them all prepared! Their downpayment was already spent, too!
"We really needed that money!"
He had invested quite a lot into the production of those! He didn't know when the illness problem would be fixed, so he thought he'd mostly be dependent on those orders!
He had a fair number of guards and mercenaries in his pocket. The taxes he could get could barely cover the costs of them, as well as the weapon production. He also needed money to ensure he had resources, and most importantly, he also needed to buy more elementalist slaves as well as maintain his other luxuries.
"What's going on!? Why can't anyone tell me?!" He bellowed, causing the servants to shiver in fear.
He gritted his teeth and stood up, beating up everyone in the room.
After venting a bit, Mapo realized that they were still useful to him alive.
He gritted his teeth. "Call the healers," he ordered the shivering guards outside the room. "Make sure they live."
"Yes, milord!" the servants saluted, rushing to help out the men. However, rather than concern, taking care of them gave them the excuse to get far away from the irate Lord.
Mapo gritted his teeth and clenched his bloodied fist.
Valov, the illness, and now his industries.
Something was going on, and he swore to get to the bottom of it!
…
Something was indeed going on, but it was doubtful Mafo would have the time to dig so much, let alone get to the bottom of things.
They would keep egging Valov on in the guise of Voumi, they would exacerbate the illness until he'd have no choice but to sell them for cheap, and they would continue destroying the industries he had, which weren't particularly impressive in the first place.
Through Twinwave and Ferrol, they sold rival goods with better quality, increased intricacies, and lower prices. Not only did they have expert artisans in Alterra, the sculptors also taught the craft to some goblins—and they could create them faster!
Of course, the quality and soul the old experts was irreplaceable.
However, the territory did give a deal to the experts to protect their interests. Basically, they'd be receiving 10% of the profits assigned to the goblin they teach for the next 10 years.
Anyway, even after just a couple of days, this led to the creation of superior products that all aborigines unanimously agreed to be way better than most alternatives.
And they were selling it so affordably too!
(Of course, Alterra will forever overprice with aborigines, but to the locals who were used to more expensive things, it was still a win.)
Alterra would hit Voumi economically so that even if they found out about their actions, the latter wouldn't have a lot of resources to cause them too much trouble in case of war.
If Mafo was unable to pay for the exorbitant fees of the guards and mercenaries, if he was unable to give them good deals, would they stay in his territory?
Voumi was also a Level 1 Town. There were plenty of better options out there for elites. Mafo managed to keep them there because of money, and he would be no different from other Level 1 towns when they were gone.
By then, they wouldn't even be a threat and would just be left in the dust by Alterra and even its associate territories. Whether they'd find a use for it in the future was still not determined, but for now, the priority was to neutralize this menace.
Of course, Mafo's fall wouldn't be an instantaneous thing. But it would definitely work, one step at a time.