Show Me Your Stats! - Chapter 55

Chapter 55

The merchants who had been to Solar looked around and admired the familiar scenery. They really did come out of the mountain range through the cave path and reached Solar. Memories of all the hardships as they crossed the mountain range flitted through his head.

Hess waited until the thrill and admiration bubbled through the merchants and mercenaries before clapping his hands to grab their attention. When they focused on him, Hess smiled–his face a bit pale from fatigue. “Since I’ve proved that this is a safe route, I’d like to make some deals.”

“I’ll sell food and fabric to Solar!” Ronya screamed as he raised his hand. However, many others shouted as well, and his voice was buried.

As Hess observed the various people bargaining and gradually lowering their prices with determined expressions, he opened his mouth. When his melodious voice echoed out, the merchants fell silent. “Let’s save discussions about food and textiles for later. For now, I’d like to propose a different kind of deal.”

Then, Hess the mage–Ayra, the lord of Solar–grinned. “This cave. It’s flat, right?”

The merchants nodded at those words. Ayra continued to speak in a coaxing voice, as if he was trying to cajole an innocent junior who knew nothing of laboratory work to voluntarily help in his experiments. “It’s warmer than the environment outside, right? And, it’ll be easy to pull carts through, yes? The path is big enough to move horses and even larger animals through. And, there’s no danger of ambushes from within a cave, right?”

As he watched the merchants nod, Ayra quickly changed the subject, “As a devout believer of Mollunkaism, I’ve been thinking… Mollunka is a mountain goddess. The one who rules the white, snowy mountain ranges…I wonder if a holy, pure white suits our revered Mollunka.”

Many folks tilted their heads at this random topic; those who were quick-witted already had shining, anticipatory gazes.

Ayra showcased his beautiful appearance to the fullest and closed his eyes, as if to ask everyone to imagine the fantasy with him. “How nice would it be if our sacred temple was built in white. Consider with me: a beautiful temple of pure white carved from white stones. Three flowers, also made of eternal white, enshrined at the altar. The top part of the flower would be painted in a lovely yet subtle red color–a red flower that blooms in the snow. How much more valuable it would be than a mere wooden symbol. What about pure white holy idols or statues? White architecture? The faithful, the rich, and the well-esteemed alike would open their wallets generously for such a wonderful project.”

As soon as Ayra saw how the perfect and smooth path resembled a tunnel from his previous life, he could only envision lucrative opportunities that could be exploited.

Solar had only a few patches of land, the size of a palm, that could be called plains; there wasn’t a single mine in these mountains that constituted much of his territory. Therefore, it was difficult to cultivate crops, and in the midst of this lack, the climate was freezing, making it challenging to raise livestock as well. The denizens barely scraped by, hunting beasts and animals to make a living in this impoverished and cold land. Despite this, Ayra was deeply impressed the moment he first set foot on this land.

A pure white castle, and houses built with brilliant white stone–the same stones from said castle.

Solar had stones, stones, and…more stones. The rocks were white and clean, making it difficult to distinguish them from the snowfall. There was a reason why the legend that Mollunka, the mountain goddess herself, laid down amongst these mountains prevailed in this region.

There was an abundance of stone, to the point that the castle and all the houses were made of it…to the point that Ayra was relieved that he wouldn’t have to pay for the materials to repair the broken castle walls.

Ordinary folks wouldn’t think that stones or rocks have great value. However, stone was expensive. To be exact, stone was an expensive building material, and quality stone was even more expensive. That fact was amplified if stone was used as a building material for a lord’s castle and the castle walls.

Solar’s white rocks were tough enough to withstand erosion and weathering that would form deep basins and valleys elsewhere, yet they were malleable enough to be workable. People in the town adorned or erected symbols of Mollunka, all sculpted using the abundant and accessible stone. Yet, it seemed that no one had thought about selling these stones.

Naturally, the reason was clear.

‘How can one carry stones across a path that rivaled the Himalayas?’

Ferrying these stones would result in many deaths. Even just carrying fabric and straw would be dangerous on this month-long round-trip trading venture. But, transporting stones through uphill and downhill paths covered in snow and ice? Especially when there were still many monster attacks and the threat of avalanches and road collapses loomed on the horizon?

On the other hand, unlike Solar, buildings in Sobleche and Bolney were most commonly made out of wood since forest resources were so abundant. There was no such thing as a pure-white building made out of stone in those territories. Even Sobleche’s Mollunkaism main school was built of dark, hard, and rugged stone…almost like granite. The sacred statues of the mountain goddess decorating the entrance showed a semblance of holiness in its white color, but even that was streaked and impure.

And, most people preferred pure white or pure black colors. In games and in reality, #ffffffff and #000000 were popular colors. ¹ For those not in the know, these are hexcodes. They basically represent colors.

“Wouldn’t a mountain deity be more satisfied with that which is made from the mountains?” With that said, Ayra showed the merchants, with illusory magic, sculptures and relics made from that pure white stone. Illuminated by magical photo retouching, the items appeared even more beautiful than they would in reality. Many of the merchants and mercenaries were faithful followers of Mollunka, so this imagery particularly resonated with them. 

Ayra smiled brightly as he carefully observed a few people touching old wooden symbols they had taken out from underneath their shirts. “To those who sell fabric and food at reasonable prices, I grant priority for trading the sacred stone from the land where Mollunka rests.”

In fact, they could even attach the prestigious and sacred branding–‘Mollunka, the mountain deity’–to Solar’s stone. Right in front of the merchants, whose eyes were burning brighter with greed, Ayra took out the contract he had prepared in advance, and shook it. “You can take this certificate and go straight to Hess Ru Ginas, the governor in this territory’s castle. Now, let’s start the auction–First come first served for three people!”

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

“The fee to send a message to Solar is 1 cell. It’s 40 and a half cells to send to Sobleche.”

This time, Ayra took out a substantial sum–140 and a half cells–without any hesitation and handed it to the carrier-bird trainer. One was a telegram explaining the current situation to Solar’s governor, the other was a letter to Dalloc Logia, the chief elder in Sobleche’s Mollunka main sect. The contents were as follows:

Dear Chief Elder Dalloc Logia

I trust that your days are peaceful?

I also hope that your body, which had been severely damaged by the incident a while ago, has now recovered greatly under Mollunka’s love.

I’m not writing about anything too big, but I’ve managed to stumble upon a good opportunity.

(Letter Abbreviated)

All of this is thanks to Mollunka’s grace. With that in mind, I wish to donate a portion of the profits from the sale of stones, as well as from the sales of the relics and symbols, to the temple.

Furthermore, considering that the cave that was previously inhabited by malevolent creatures–though now they are purified–would it not be prudent for the Bolney’s priests to bless those that wish to travel that route…Lay rest to some of their anxieties?

It was like composing a lengthy, polite letter to a high-ranked senior during his Labyrinth days, asking them to take a look at his research paper or thesis.

‘Solar has obtained the privilege to export stones bearing the sacred insignia of Lady Mollunka and her brand. However, this sale may provoke Bolney. We are willing to contribute a portion of the profits from the sales, and, in return, could you mediate and perhaps take advantage of the discussions around the cave’s security to negotiate a fee from the Bolney denomination?’

The soldiers detaining Dalloc Logia were wearing armor that proudly presented Sobleche’s emblems and patterns. It meant that Mollunka’s dogma was threatening–to the extent that Sobleche’s lord tried to take the chief elder hostage.

‘And, seeing that the Jobun Family was housing those involved in the elder’s kidnapping and confinement, the Jobun household must be in close cooperation with Sobleche.’

Ayra continued to think as he mentally placed the Jobun family on the list of those whom he should pay close attention.

Although the main school was located in Sobleche, the city’s atmosphere was somewhat secular as a commercial port city. On the other land, Bolney faced a large mountain range, so Mollunkaism had a stronger presence there. Hence, if Mollunka’s main sect managed this cave, it could potentially curtail Bolney’s influence and potentially interfere in their grab for power.

The fees were a bit of a waste, but there was no other choice. Solar did not yet have the strength to oppose Bolney.

“If we sell these stones, I won’t have to worry about paying interest for a while.”

Above all, the biggest gain was the emergence of a safe route to Solar. Even without the benefit of resource trade, money accumulates on frequently traveled roads. The fact that the Solar was no longer closed-off and branded as an inaccessible territory…as well as utilizing religion as valuable capital…was a great advantage as well.

‘If I can set aside some money by selling stones, I can lobby for Solar’s Mollunka branch to be designated as the official temple… Then, people will crowd there. We can build inns, restaurants, souvenir shops… Who knows? Maybe we’ll find ore veins as we dig for stones.’

Ayra sighed as he imagined happy thoughts. He summoned the territory management window. This time, commercial information was added to its stats.

‘Why do I feel like I’m being ridiculed everytime I open the territory management window…?’

Anyway, no matter how hard Ayra tries to feed and keep his territory alive, if he couldn’t gather 10,000 cells before winter or if he faced doom 198 days later, all this effort will have been in vain. Still, the cave tunnel would serve as a suitable evacuation route for the citizens in case of emergency.

Ayra was incredibly proud of himself. Ginas or Bloom would have been of very little use if they were sent on this trip; since he had come forward, he was able to scheme up this sort of solution–another example of why Labyrinth mages were valued so highly.