When the plot-skips players into the game world-Chapter 947 - 312: Collapsing Economy_2

Chapter 947: Chapter 312: Collapsing Economy_2

The Royal Alchemy Association is not like those weak alchemists who protect their recipes by registering patents. Instead, they adopt a more direct approach—collaborating closely with assassin organizations and the police station, any attempts at piracy or decryption are dealt with decisively.

And Police Officer Jack continued, “Those swindlers paid a hefty deposit urging my father to speed up production, citing their ongoing road and housing constructions on the Southern Continent, and the need for a large quantity of high-strength bricks. Since they promised more orders to follow… my father expanded the factory with that deposit, and hired a lot of staff with high salaries—to hire people then, you had to offer high pay as everyone was scrambling for workers.

“To expand, we needed more capital. So, we borrowed money from banks run by goblin merchants. Seeing how the family business was booming, my brother even quit university. He dropped out and returned to help my father with the business… Indeed, these businesses thrived for a few years enabling me to pursue university education and subsequently relocate here to Leipzig—it’s fortunate that I found business uninteresting, completed my education, became a Transcendent, and gained control over my own Strength!

“Those good years passed—seeing the business doing well, we expanded year after year. But once the initial contract period ended after five years, those sly goblins claimed their needs had decreased and the technology on the market had improved, hence they demanded a lower purchase volume. Damn it, our family’s brick factory was the best locally, only we sold the highest quality solid bricks!”

“…Is it possible,” a young female police officer couldn’t help asking, “that those greedy goblins actually wanted hollow bricks? After all, reinforced hollow bricks would suffice…”

“Who knows?—But in any case, my father pleaded desperately just to keep 80% of the order volume. However, the purchase price was cut by 10%. This fatal ten percent reduction drop in profits meant we had to produce even more bricks to maintain the loans. And then those damn goblins sent us a batch of new machinery… These new machines were like an interest-free loan, using them allowed us to produce high-strength bricks more efficiently.

“Yet after just two years, starting from the end of last year, we found out that others had these new machines as well. And then damn it—at the beginning of this year, those goblins paid the breach penalty fee and forcefully terminated the second phase of our cooperation!

“—But even with that penalty fee, not even the loans we took from them could be paid off! My father wanted to quickly sell off those bricks… after all, they’re worthless just piled up, and both the warehouse and workers cost money. The loans for the machines, plus the shares owed to the alchemists…

“But there were simply too many bricks on the market, no one was buying. The few that did sell were at prices less than a tenth of the original— even regular bricks were more expensive! Everyone kept dropping their prices, but still, no one was buying.

“Until at last, unable to pay wages, our family’s factory went bankrupt, my father was killed, and my brother committed suicide… By then, those mountains of bricks still had nobody to deal with them, only to be used as debt offsets to our workers. But how many bricks can one carry away? The warehouse manager even had to pay out of pocket to dispose of these bricks… because they were so hard, neither machines nor low-level Transcendents could handle them.”

Jack sighed, “You know? Our little town had just over two thousand people, the population even less than a single street in Leipzig. And those unwanted bricks just piled up along the roadsides, on the streets, indestructible and unavoidable. Some people took them for building houses, but those houses had no value either… When reinforced bricks flooded the market, houses became utterly worthless.

“And those damn goblins, they purchased far more than just bricks from Star Antimony back then. They withdrew orders, they wanted our lives!

“Do you understand?”

The mature police officer patted the female police officer’s shoulder, his expression stern, “Listen to me… if you still want to stay within the ‘safe line,’ and not end up in the White Dove Opera House, it’s best not to meddle. Just living in Leipzig is fortunate enough. At least our local economy doesn’t depend on supplying to goblins… even though the cost of living has doubled within a year, at least wages have risen along with it.”

“…Getting into the White Dove Opera House is considered lucky. The Spirit Summoning Tower and the Association are constantly out of stock too… In this era, living people are the best kind of currency.”

Someone murmured, “After all, Count Leipzig pays well—Earl is genuinely a good person.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, clearly convinced.

There’s a hellish joke asking why the Alchemy Association is the poorest? Why have alchemists become the weakest faction among the several powers of Star Antimony?

The answer is straightforward… their alchemical materials must be procured from botanists, and the development of alchemy, the advancement of alchemists, requires massive amounts of alchemical materials.

The rest have it much simpler—they merely need to acquire “people.”

And in this era, the price of “people” is bound to keep falling. Although it’s supply less than demand now, it’s hard to say about later.

“…Earl is a good person? How’s that?”

The female police officer clearly loathed the White Dove Opera House, therefore she frowned and asked, “Others buy lives, he buys lives too. What’s the difference between buying lives and buying lives? In the end, don’t people die just the same going into the White Dove Opera House?”

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“Because the price is higher. You come from a better background, Liz, so you don’t know… When people are truly desperate, no matter how much money is offered, the things that need to be sold will eventually be sold. The only difference is whether it’s selling one family member, or the whole family.

“Even if Earl gives less money, those poor people still have no way out—they still can only choose between the opera house or an even more miserable future, yet he is willing to clear their debts… When he could have bought these miserable lives for less money, he instead chose to pay more, which was a completely unnecessary ‘loss-making’ deal.”

“…I actually think, this is hypocrisy.”

The woman known as Liz still furrowed her brows: “Because he’s just trading in reputation. Although he pays a high price, his profits are high too, ultimately he doesn’t lose. And even more people come to him because of this reason… I think it’s not necessary to go rotten. If it’s really that rotten, it’s better to go to Iris Flower.”

“Iris Flower isn’t that great either, everyone is more or less the same. And, hypocrisy is at least better than pure evil…”

The middle-aged policeman sighed: “I rather wish there were more big shots like Star Antimony willing to be hypocritical.”

In a place where everyone unabashedly reveals their own sins, people even fervently worship those they know to be hypocrites.

—Because this way, perhaps more people would be willing to do so for profit.

But just then, another young policeman raised a question: “I’ve been listening for a long time… But ultimately, shouldn’t it be the Goblins’ fault?

“Why doesn’t anyone settle accounts with those Goblins? Is it because we can’t defeat them?

“Aren’t all those banks run by Goblins, if we take over the banks, wouldn’t these people have money?”

At this, everyone fell into silence.

It wasn’t that he had said anything wrong, but rather that others also truly did not understand why it wasn’t done.

“Perhaps the higher-ups have their own ideas.”

Eventually, the middle-aged policeman ended the discussion with these words.

However, today’s conversation had still planted a seed in the hearts of all those present.

—Is there really no one in all of Star Antimony who can stand up to lead them?

Is there no better choice than Count Leipzig?

“I actually think…”

The eldest policeman on the scene slowly said: “Anyway, in the end, the church won’t neglect us. They surely can’t just watch Star Antimony collapse, right?

“Don’t forget…Today’s His Holiness is human.

“—The Pope is merciful.”

He said slowly.