In April, the nations of the North Continent, apart from Feysac, entered the warm, pleasant season one after another. The effects of the World War a year earlier seemed to have faded, and Trier, the world's capital of art and culture, had regained its joyful vitality.
Unlike in the past, goods from other countries, particularly the Loen Kingdom, had begun to gain popularity in the city. Defeat in the war had forced Intis to sign several treaties at the negotiating table, including provisions to relax import restrictions and reduce tariffs.
With its developed industry and rapidly restored postwar production capacity, Loen soon began dumping its competitive products in Intis. Among them was the sugary, distinctively flavored Black Bear Cola. This fizzy drink, which sold for three pence a bottle in Backlund, cost only ten koppe after arriving in Trier, just a third of its price in its country of origin. Returning the empty glass bottle even earned a refund of three koppe, making it extremely popular among ordinary people left strapped for cash by the war.
The Little Trier had published lengthy commentary after commentary condemning this dumping as a threat that would destroy Intis's domestic factories and businesses, and calling on the government to rebuild its tariff barriers. Several workers' demonstrations had broken out at factories in the botanical garden district, spreading across half of Trier. During the fiercest of them, rotten eggs and bottles had even been hurled into Philanthropy Palace, where the president worked.
Unfortunately, it had all come to nothing in the end. Defeated Intis would lack the leverage to raise the issue of higher tariffs again for at least five years.
Yet none of this clamor had anything to do with Red Swan Castle, far out on the city's edge. This important stronghold of the