Iver: *I Know Everything*

Iver took a deep breath and held the Little Crow huddled in his arms with both hands.

He lowered his head, poked at the crow's head with his index finger, and casually said, "You gave the Stibnite Person a lot of orders. The alchemists have never seen anything like this before... They thought big business had come, so they kept increasing the number of apprentices they recruited and expanding production."

"And the current King of Star Antimony, Valentine VII, did not initially realize the problem. He blindly increased the state's sponsorship of alchemists, training a large number of extraordinary individuals to become alchemists."

"—Soon, alchemists were overloaded. Because the market quickly became saturated... or rather, the orders you gave them were already saturated."

"And there's a constant stream of alchemists graduating from the academy, so the government has to continuously provide these young alchemists with large amounts of funding. Third Level alchemist can receive a grant of two hundred gold coins a month. But the market is already saturated, which has led to a surplus of alchemical products within Star Antimony."

"The experimentation and development of alchemical products requires a lot of investment, but when there are enough competitors with similar research progress, it is very likely that their research will be halfway done before a rival has already completed production. As a result, their research will either be scrapped or they will be forced to push it to the market with imperfections... Am I right?"

"—You are indeed incredibly wise, Minister."

Grandet gently admitted it, even adding, "With too much stock and a decline in quality, we must lower the purchase price. You should also understand that this is not our fault. It was His Majesty the King's mistake due to his impatience, and it is not our place to make amends."

"Yes, so you reduced the size of your orders."

Iver stroked the raven and said softly, "And that's what sparked it all."

"In the alchemy profession, unless you become one of the top players in the market, you're basically losing money. More and more young alchemists are attracted by the high profits in this industry and are either actively or passively investing in it, which has quickly put pressure on Xingti's finances."

"The Royal Alchemy Association greatly enhanced its status and influence through decades of exorbitant profits. The King Stibium, lacking the power of Path of Authority, was unable to forcibly control the situation. This made it difficult for Star Antimony to abolish the sponsorship system or reduce funding... so they chose to increase taxes, directly leading to an increase in tax revenue."

"Even so, the large number of alchemists has driven up the price of materials; the large number of low-level alchemists are squeezing the market, causing everyone's income to decline. Alchemy Workshop are closing down, alchemists are losing their jobs... they are becoming increasingly irritable. And their way of trying to reduce the pressure in the industry is to use their power to transfer the pressure to the botanists who provide the materials."

That's why the "King's " side has been constantly pressured by the Alchemy Association to lower prices. It's even reached the point where they can't make any money at all, and are even selling materials at a loss.

They can only sell their goods through channels other than designated suppliers... The "King" who chose to bring goods from the Promotion Ritual is probably not alone, and he's not the only one attempting to smuggle them overseas. There are likely many others like him. This will further increase the cost of alchemical products.

This is why Star Antimony, through its connections with Lloyd's and Minister Drost, has been continuously smuggling large quantities of alchemical products into Avalon.

—Because their goods have been stockpiled to the point of madness.

The Goblin Merchant Guild essentially monopolizes trading ports, and even if they manage to seize shipping routes, it's difficult to reopen markets in other countries. Moreover, they know virtually nothing about those unfamiliar markets, and venturing into them rashly would likely only result in losses.

Even under these circumstances, Xingti still decided to start from Avalon and open up the western route.

This shows that they have been pushed to their limits.

Star Antimony appears to be incredibly powerful, but they are already on the verge of disintegration.

They couldn't afford even the slightest defeat, so they never dared to truly wage war against the Iris, instead launching a surprise attack with the full force of their nation, seizing Avalon. After acquiring Avalon, they completely neglected the land...

One of the main reasons was obtaining the "claim" of the Silver Dragon's family.

With this name and the guarantee of the Pillar God, they were able to contact other countries and conduct trade.

After all, messages across the ocean are difficult to transmit in a timely manner, but the apostles can transmit them freely within the temple.

The Stibnite Person could only initiate trade after gaining the protection and approval of the Apostles; their choice to seek the protection of the Pillar God was likely to avoid being targeted and interfered with by the Elves. Furthermore, they probably realized the Crown Lord's dissatisfaction with Avalon and recognized this as a perfect opportunity for NTR (Netorare, a form of infidelity).

Another reason is that all they want is the western port of Avalon.

That is not Glass Island — Glass Island is located in the southeast corner of Avalon.

That's why Glass Island was abandoned and became so desolate... Iver initially thought it was due to the influence of Shadow Angel. But now it seems that's probably not entirely the case.

Because the Stibnite Person's sights aren't on Glass Island at all!

Its fundamental purpose is to alleviate domestic pressure.

They can cooperate with Avalon, just as Emma mentioned.

In this timeline, Avalon is now showing signs of prosperity. Iver's influence is immense, and the Grand Arbitrator, Meg, was not killed by the Red Phase. The Stibnite Person dare not directly wage war against Avalon, so they have chosen to cooperate.

In the original timeline, they could have done it this way: Star Antimony would provide the goods, and Avalon would be responsible for consuming them; Avalon, with its good relationship with the elves, could also take the initiative to establish shipping routes to the west and even open up trade channels between the Stibnite Person and the Theocracy.

—But in order to avoid being betrayed by Avalon in the future, Star Antimony chose to simply flatten Avalon.

While Avalon's weakness certainly gave the Stibnite Person confidence in a swift victory, the fundamental reason lay in the near-explosive pressure within Star Antimony. This is why they had to risk offending the Crown Lord and choose this dangerous path.

Because if you don't do anything, you'll die anyway.

"Their griffin countermeasure," Iver suddenly spoke up, "Is that the gargoyle legion?"

Upon hearing this, Grandet showed surprise for the first time. "You even... know this?"

Given his deep thoughts, that expression was probably deliberately feigned—after all, he could have easily hidden his surprise. His choice to show it was, in a way, a form of flattery.

Flattery directed at arrogance.

Iver could see all of this clearly. But he chose to go along with Grandet, revealing an arrogant smirk. "I know everything."

"For example, I know you're also in trouble. You've encountered resistance from local armed groups on your three plantations in the southern continent, and you must have suffered considerable losses recently."

Grandet was truly astonished to hear Iver's words.

Because he hasn't told anyone about this yet, and even asked his employees to keep it a secret—meaning that Iver's informants can even reach the Southern Continent.

In fact, this is a reputation-boosting quest for Grandet.

A group of relatively intelligent trolls, supposedly "enlightened from the laboratory," attempted to save their ignorant brethren from the plantation. In reality, however, this group of trolls, seemingly seeking freedom, was a force sponsored by the "benevolent lords" of the Parthian Ancient Kingdom.

However, Iver would certainly not give this information to Grandet.

He simply smiled slightly and raised the crow in his hand slightly.

The raven-red ruby eyes stared at Grandet, sending a chill down his spine.

The Gray-Green creature was too small to even notice the crow's unusual behavior.

But Grandet, who had reached the Fifth Level of Path of Wisdom, realized that the "raven" was a deep darkness, like an abyss or a whirlpool.

"—I already said, I know everything."

Iver's lips curled up slightly as he whispered Grandet's real name, "Grandet Dead-Eye... or rather, ' The Hidden in the Horse's Belly '."

Upon hearing this, Grandet's pupils contracted sharply.

He looked up in astonishment at Iver, who had cast a shadow, and at the faint, reddish-purple light flowing in Iver's pupils. He then looked at the "raven," which he could not understand at all and only felt fear towards.

—Grandet felt fear for the first time in a long time. Fine beads of cold sweat broke out on his back.

Was it this "crow" that told him?

... But to be honest, that's about all Iver knew.

Although he had vaguely heard some background stories from the forum, such as how he hid in a horse's belly as a child and incidentally cured the plague, but this made him incredibly ugly, Iver wasn't entirely sure the details were accurate, nor did he know the cause and effect. To avoid being exposed, he chose to remain silent, only recounting the parts he knew that were absolutely accurate.

No need to say more. The more you say, the more mistakes you'll make.

The rest, intelligent people will fill in the blanks themselves.

"Now, let's get back to this topic."

Iver leaned back, a faint smile on his face, and said calmly, "Let's get straight to the point... what are your demands?"

The exact same problem as before.

But this time, Grandet honestly provided an answer.

"... I originally intended to persuade you to establish the Goblin Merchant Guild in Avalon."

Grandet spoke in a low voice, took out a handkerchief whose craftsmanship indicated it was extremely expensive, and wiped his sweat. "But now it seems that you must have your own ideas."

"I still hope that Avalon can open a trading port. The ' Midsummer County ' on the west side of Avalon has a good port and is very suitable for being transformed into a commercial city."

"As long as you are willing, and as long as the port of Midsummer County is expanded... I can allocate three merchant groups to provide at least eight million tons of goods for import and export each year. Of course, if it is inconvenient for you, I can also send people to repair the port."

"And what about the cost?"

Iver asked with a smile, seemingly quite worried. "Avalon's finances haven't been very good lately. Star Antimony promised to fund the construction of our port and railway."

"What you're saying is—since we're the ones using it, then naturally we'll pay for it."

Grandet wiped his sweat again and smiled politely and elegantly, "As long as you sign the engineering documents here, I can send people to start construction. In addition to the port of Midsummer County, we can also help expand Lloyd Port and Queen Port. I will send my Construction Team over, half of whom are superhumans, and it will be completed in two months at most."

"But Avalon is quite long from east to west... Will the goods in the middle have to occupy the old railway?"

"Iver asked casually."

Upon hearing Iver's question, Grandet was finally certain that Iver also wanted to open a country.

—It's up to you!

Losing some money... that's no big deal. As long as we can reach an agreement with Avalon, the Stibnite Person will have to pay back all the money we lost.

"Three new railways," Grandet held up three fingers, "Running from west to east, through all the major cities. Every city with more than three bishops will be connected. I will fund it, and I will find the people to build it. It will be completed next summer—we can also provide Star Antimony's most advanced locomotives and sell ten of them to Avalon at cost."

"Twenty," Iver advised, "Or twenty-five would also work—our steam trains are too slow and not good for transporting goods."

"Only ten, and only ten."

Grandet shook his head, his attitude firm. "Minister, you can also consult an alchemist to analyze the technique."

"Is installment payment an option?"

Iver said with a smile, "As you know, Avalon's financial situation is not very good... If too much money is allocated at once, I may not be able to negotiate it. Our decisions in Avalon all have to go through the Round Table Hall, and it is not a matter of me and His Majesty making decisions on our own."

"That's easy to arrange. You can have someone come and talk to me later. Just come directly to Ms. Gray-Green."

Grandet smiled and decided to put the topic aside for the time being, "After all, I dare not get too close to Countess Emma. Who knows, those lovely little gold coins might be gone in the blink of an eye."

"However, in order for our Construction Team to get in... you'll need to pass a law that allows outsiders into Avalon. There are quite a few trolls in my construction team."

"Ah, of course."

Iver nodded, knowing he would have to deal with this sooner or later.

However, he still said reservedly, "But I have to talk to His Majesty about this personally... After all, it violates the traditions of Avalon."

"Oh, by the way, Minister—I've heard that the Moriarty Family has been in business for generations," Grandet said with a respectful and polite smile. "Avalon's economy isn't doing so well these days...I suppose the economy is also quite tight?"

"Hmm... I don't know either. After all, I'm not that concerned about the family business."

Iver smiled.

This is a rare truth.

But Grandet would find it hard to believe.

He lowered his voice and gestured a "six": "I can personally provide the Moriarty Foundation with a twenty-year, six million Stibium Gold Coins interest-free loan..."

"How much?" Iver was startled.

That's almost half of Avalon's annual military budget! And judging from Grandet's words, it seems to be a personal kickback for Iver.

It was only then that Iver finally realized what his position truly meant.

He wasn't really interested in money... but he figured he might as well take it, and it might help replenish the national treasury for Isabel.

So Iver nodded and promised, "I will give you an answer before Queen Sofia 'Queen's Funeral is over."

Upon hearing this, Grandet stood up from his seat.

This Fifth Level powerhouse, renowned throughout the world, performed a perfectly standard, and therefore utterly comical, knightly salute to Iver, who was only Third Level:

"—Yes, Minister."

It is not a salute to power.

Rather, it is a bow to power.

Update of over 7,000 words, update complete!