The Sai Ba Long Family controlled Wildfire City's economic lifeline.
Its most important source of external revenue was Ceron Wine. Every year, vast quantities of Ceron Wine were shipped from Bandu Port in the east to the Sea Salt Islands, then distributed southward.
These passenger ships also brought sufficient grain back from the south.
This was the foundation upon which Wildfire City survived.
Ceron Wine was not strictly wine. Though it produced an alcohol-like sensation of blissful intoxication, it contained no alcohol, and its brewing process reportedly involved no fermentation.
It was more like an alcoholic beverage. Ordinary people who drank Ceron Wine experienced intense pleasure, yet their thoughts became remarkably clear and their minds calm, even giving them a feeling close to divinity.
The stuff was mildly addictive, but not overly dependent-forming. Although everyone loved that feeling of heightened Concentration and clarity, losing it did not cause any severe withdrawal symptoms.
At least for Wildfire City's locals, Ceron Wine was a high-end luxury good. Some people hostile toward the Sai Ba Long Family especially hated how they priced local Ceron Wine far higher than the wine sold to southerners.
It was said that the mages of the Eastern Kingdom greatly loved this drink. That was hardly surprising; a beverage that could temporarily increase Concentration and even intelligence would be popular among academic prodigies, even if it was somewhat addictive.
Every year, some ill-intentioned spellcasters tried to steal the Ceron Wine formula.
But they all vanished.
Sebaron's plantations had also received many visiting spellcasters. Most of them caused no trouble and left quietly.
People speculated that powerful professionals were hidden within the Sai Ba Long Family.
But this had also become one of the strange tales surrounding the Sebaron estate.
Some said that none of the mages who visited the