Volume 6 39 - Battle on the border
Half an hour later, old man Walford squeezed out of the crowd and left the Moon Shadow Chamber of Commerce’s fertilizer warehouse.
He had a small cart with twenty bags of fertilizer in it following behind him which was being pulled by a healthy leopard beastman, coming to a stop by a small building outside Frestech City.
“Hey, Walford, this is.....” A middle aged man waiting outside the building waved at him, but seeing the little card behind him, he was surprised, “......You’re buying fertilizer?”
“Un, it’s fertilizer. I saw many people buying this thing and felt it was quite good after asking about it. Willis, you are more familiar with the Stantine Duchy, tell me, is the fertilizer really that useful?”
The man called Willis was seven to eight years younger than old man Walford. When he heard his question, his face that was considered quite healthy revealed a doubtful look before shaking his head.
“It is useful, but it’s no use just bringing this bit back. Could it be the people of the Moon Shadow Chamber of Commerce didn’t tell you that with just twenty bags, you can only at most use it on two to three mus of land?”
“The beautiful elf miss did tell me this, but I just wanted to give it a try first. If it really is useful, I might buy a bit more next time.”
“There’s no need to test it, I can guarantee that this thing is very useful.” Willis waved his hand, “The surrounding countries all use this thing, didn’t you see all those people buying it from the Moon Shadow Chamber of Commerce? But just using fertilizer does have some problems.”
Old man Walford was surprised, “Problems? What problems?”
“Fertilizer can increase the yield of grains, but if you don’t use it with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s agricultural magic machines, the effect isn’t as good. Look, a single mu of land in our Yir City can give you a hundred pounds of wheat and even if you use the fertilizer, I estimate it’ll be at most two hundred pounds. Do you know how much wheat the Stantine Duchy can get from a single mu?”
“How much?”
Willis raised a hand.
“Five hundred pounds?” Old man Walford’s eyes popped out in shock, “How could that be possible! How can a single mu give that much of a harvest? You think I haven’t done farming before?”
historical
“Of course I know that you’ve farmed before, but you’ve never used the agricultural magic machines to farm.” Willis had a look of disdain, “Let me tell you, if you’ve seen that thing before, you wouldn’t want to tire yourself to death.”
“It’s that powerful?” Old man Walford looked at Willis with doubt. After thinking about it, he said, “Then, should I buy that whatever you called it......the agricultural......agricultural magic machine?”
“Stop dreaming.” Willis gave a sigh and shook his head, “I already had this idea before, but when I went to buy the agricultural magic machine from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they told me that our Candra Empire hasn’t authorized the import of agricultural magic machines. Even if I buy it, I can’t take it back.”
Old man Walford was surprised again, “Why is that? Since it’s useful, why doesn’t the empire allow it to be imported?”
Willis gave a shrug, “How do I know what those noble masters are thinking?”
Old man Walford scratched his head and looked back at the twenty bags of fertilizer. After hesitating a bit, he shook his head, “Forget it, I already bought this, I’ll see how the effects are first.”
He threw a gold coin to the leopard beastman after saying this and had him bring down the twenty bags of fertilizer.
Watching the leopard beastmen head back to the Moon Shadow Chamber of Commerce’s warehouse, old man Walford couldn’t help saying in an emotional voice, “This Stantine Duchy really is strange. Not only did elves start a company, even beastmen are coming to work here. If I didn’t see others being used to this already, I wouldn’t have dared to hire them.”
“Hey, you’re too inexperienced. If you stay here a bit longer, you’ll be able to see even more novel things.” Willis patted old man Walford’s shoulder, “Alright, let’s wait here a bit, the two transport Magic Cars I rented should be here soon. You can put your fertilizer into my car and bring it back.”
“Un.” Old man Walford gave a nod before suddenly asking, “Right, Willis, you said that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s agricultural magic machines can’t be imported, then why can the Magic Fans, the Magic Air Conditioners.....Oh, right, also the Magic Sedan be seen all over the empire? These things are also made by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, why does the empire allow them to be imported?”
“If you’re talking about the Magic Fan, the Magic Air Conditioner, and the other household magic machines, that is because they were first brought in by Hakanin. Do you know Hakanin?”
“The empress’ younger brother?” Old man Walford curled his lips with a look of disdain.
“Hey, don’t look down on him. If it wasn’t for him, do you believe that you would be able to see the Magic Fan, the Magic Air Conditioner, the Magic Refrigerator, and all the other good things? As for the Magic Sedan......I heard people say that the secret boss of that Belil Chamber of Commerce is related to his highness Frank.....”
“Pei.” Old man Walford spat on the ground, “In the end, it depends on relationships with important people. But speaking of this, why haven’t any of the important people or their relatives taken a liking to the agricultural magic machines? If this thing is as easy to use as you say it is, then why isn’t the empire willing to buy it?”
Willis spread his hands, “I’ll still say the same, I don’t know what those important people are thinking.”
Old man Walford helplessly shook his head. He looked at the twenty bags of fertilizer on the ground and gave a sigh, not continuing this conversation.
After around twenty minutes, the two large transport Magic Cars that Willis hired arrived. They put the twenty bags of fertilizer that old man Walford bought into one of them and then they got into the same car, heading off in an easterly direction.
Two days later, the two large transport Magic Cars and their cargo had arrived at a certain end of the road to the east of the Rudson Kingdom.
This place was around a hundred kilometers away from the border of the Rudson Kingdom and the Candra Empire. Comparing it, it was closer to the Candra Empire than the Norton Duchy, but because there were no roads here, it was much harder to travel.
This was old man Walford’s first time coming on this path with Willis, so he was a bit surprised.
“There’s nothing to be surprised about. If we go through the Norton Duchy, not only my goods, even your fertilizer can’t be brought back to the empire. Even the two transport Magic Cars can’t enter the empire.” Willis explained.
“Oh? Why?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? The nobles of the empire won’t allow it.” Willis said before looking around and then giving a hand signal to the driver.
The driver nodded to show he understood and with a turn of his hand, the large transport Magic Car charged into the wilderness in front of it.
Seeing Walford knitting his brows after being jolted beside him, Willis gave a laugh, “Just endure it for a bit. After another ten kilometers, there will be a patch of flat grassland near the border that will be much smoother.”
Old man Walford’s expression fell, “Willis, if I’m not mistaken, isn’t this called smuggling?”
Willis gave a cold snort, “Of course it’s smuggling. Those noble masters only care about themselves, they don’t care about the benefits of us citizens, so why do we need to think about them? So what if it’s smuggling? As long as we can sell these goods that we bring back, they won’t be anyone who knows that they were smuggled.”
Old man Walford shook his head. Although he didn’t agree with this, he didn’t say anything else.
Actually, he had traveled all over when he was younger and had seen many things, so he wasn’t that prejudiced against smuggling.
Only this was his first time experiencing it which made him feel a bit strange.
The two large transport Magic Cars drove across the wide open space at around forty kilometers per hour. It seemed like everything was going smoothly at first, but once the green entered their view and the grassland that Willis mentioned before approached, Willis suddenly looked behind them and his expression changed.
“Damn! It’s the Rudson Kingdom’s border guards! Quickly!”
Old man Walford turned back to look and found that one the horizon behind them, there were five strange looking Magic Cars that were quickly heading towards them.
“Rudson Kingdom’s border guards? They actually aren’t riding horses?” Old man Walford had a confused look on his face.
“Other than the outdated armies of our empire, no one rides horses these days. Really......” Willis muttered before patting the shoulder of the driver and loudly saying, “Go quicker! Those fellows are about to catch up!”
The driver stepped down hard and the large transport Magic Car the three of them were in sped up, also making the jolts even stronger.
However, the speed of a large transport Magic Car was limited. It was clear that it couldn’t compare to the Armoured Magic Cars provided to the border guards, so the distance between them slowly closed.
“What do we do if we’re caught?” Seeing the Rudson Kingdom’s border guards were about to catch them, old man Walford couldn’t help shouting out in a worried voice.
“It’s fine, we’ll be fine as long as we get past these grasslands. There’s a border guard group from our empire there and the Rudson Kingdom’s border guards won’t dare chase us there. Quickly!”
Willis desperately roared out and the large transport Magic Car under them charged forward, desperately driving across the several hundred meters of grassland under them.
“You actually bought out the empire’s border guards?” Old man Walford looked at the grassland in shock and saw that there was a small group on horses that had appeared.
Based on the flag they had, they should be the soldiers of the Candra Empire.
Seeing this flag, old man Walford let out a sigh of relief.
Since Willis had bribed the empire’s border guards, everything was much easier.
The Rudson Kingdom’s border guards wouldn’t dare move against the soldiers of the Candra Empire no matter what, it was a road of death.
However, at this time, old man Walford suddenly heard a strange howling sound from behind them.
Turning around, he saw a fireball flying high above them.
“Hong!”
Although the fireball was a bit off, hitting the ground by the large transport Magic Car, there was a strong shockwave that shook the entire car.
“Damn, they actually dared to make a move against us! Quick! Quick! Quick! There’s still a few hundred meters!”
Willis loudly shouted as the large transport Magic Car also desperately charged forward.
The Candra Empire’s border guards had also seen this and after hesitating a bit, they turned and charged over.
While charging over, they raised their flag high up. It was clear they wanted to use the name of the Candra Empire to scare off the Rudson Kingdom’s border guards.
At this time, there was a fireball that suddenly flew through the sky and passed over the two large transport Magic Cars, flying out several hundred meters to land right in the Candra Empire’s border guard group.
“Hong!”
With a loud explosion, several people in the Candra Empire’s border guard were sent flying covered in flames.
Willis stopped shouting and watched the pitiful Candra Empire border guards with the same look of disbelief as old man Walford.
The Rudson Kingdom border guard fellows, they actually.....they actually dared to make a move!