The Road of Ice and Snow

British wizards at least had Diagon Alley. Swiss wizards did not even have a little commercial street like Diagon Alley. Otherwise, they went to the black market near Germany's Forbidden Forest, where everything was available. Dark wizards and white magic supplies were sold side by side, and no one regulated it at all.

That kind of market resembled the free-trade market in Jixi, China, near the Russian border. In December 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved. The long Cold War had left Russia heavily inclined toward heavy industry and lacking light industrial goods. As soon as this news reached China, sharp-eyed merchants immediately spotted the opportunity. The international train from Beijing to Russia ran once a week in both directions, but Beijing merchants ultimately did not have Jixi's geographical advantage.

Sleekeazy's Hair Potion was now mainly produced in China, which had gradually begun trading internationally. Switzerland's products were still mainly watches. They did not produce other goods and relied primarily on imports.

An environment like paradise needed protection. Switzerland's pillar industries were finance, tourism, pharmaceuticals, and complete industrial products. They did not engage in low-end raw material processing.

Europe's welfare benefits were good; that was the common understanding of people around the world. Europeans were "lazy"; that was almost another global consensus.

If one did not have work in Switzerland or Germany, then one could have a couple more children. In Germany, subsidies accumulated according to the number of children one had. After a child was born, they could receive subsidies until eighteen, perhaps even until twenty-five.

Nowadays, no woman would make the kind of sacrifice the population farms of Nazi Germany demanded in the name of contributing to the nation. Such a depressed social atmosphere was completely different from China's flourishing scene.

Europe was that sort of place. Not every